Ian Blewitt

Bokeh. The better the lens, the closer they are to a perfect circle. If the lens used is a cheaper lens, you will get hexagons (or any variety of "-gons" also possible... haha) Though I don't think that's related to circles of confusion at all.

I use fatcow.com for hosting and if you google cheapest web hosts and follow a fatcow link you can get it for something like $44/yr unlimited bandwidth and space, unlimited email accounts, one domain name included, and easy installation of thingslike joomla and wordpress. I have had it for 3 years and have had less than a day downtime, probably less than an hour. If you go with them.. Refer me! :) Stylistic advice; keep it simple. Avoid flash if possible (many industry people may have and iPad or something...) and have your reel on the first page if you can.

Ha! I actually live off Crane Ave I know exactly what EatNPark you're talking about! Sounds like a plan!

Next time I'm in Philly I'd be happy to grab ya a beer! >:)

I just wanted to take a minute to say "thank you" to all the helpful and knowledgeable members of this site. People like me (students/newbies) have so much to gain from this community of professionals. I really enjoy reading all the conversations and have learned so much since I joined here.

Thanks John, There really isn't any editing yet, and the footage that is small and in a box was taken from a low quality version that I have as a place holder until I can contact the director for the original footage. Once I tighten up the editing I will repost. Thanks for your advice on the car piece and black levels. The shark piece was actually just something random that I thought would be cool to shoot when I was shooting a band at the zoo/aquarium. I'm glad someone liked it!

If you're savvy with compositing this would be very easy to do by taking footage of the lead up to the key hole and then the footage you want to be seen through it and compositing it in the hole. Practical with foam core would probably be fastest though.

I've learned the most outside of being on set by watching movies and television. Do yourself a favor and get Netflix and a way to stream it HD to your TV (AppleTV is what I use which is 720P, but there are more like Slingbox or even Xbox360/PS3.) I have learned more about composition and lighting by watching the "Experts" than any book could have taught me.

problems with this, I know, but* Sorry I couldn't edit my post for some reason (assuming because it is a new topic)

I LOVED the opening shot where the camera followed Natalie (her dream,) I was blown away by that shot.. and it all went downhill from there. I think shaky-cam should be reserved for intense action. It works in things like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers because the characters are running and stuff is blowing up and such. With shaky-cam like this, it doesn't affect me emotionally, it distracts me from the story. When it's overused all I can think about is how much I hate shaky-cam and end up missing important things that happen. It was definitely merited for SOME of the shots it was used in but when it wasn't used,.. I was able to enjoy the film much much more.

Personally I didn't care for the way Black Swan was shot as much as most people I've talked to. I didn't see The Kings Speech yet but out of the other ones I would go for Inception or True Grit. I thought the acting in Social Network was great but the cinematography wasn't breath taking. ...I am a big fan of Wally though, so I hope he wins.

Take a look at your Matte and see if the background is grey instead of black. It seems like it is not keying everything out.

There are tons of problems with this right I know but I wanted to get some critiques on the content for right now (not the editing or music choice which is likely to change.) I still have to convert some of the footage to the correct size from the originals so excuse the size differences Thanks so much for any help and advice, I really appreciate it.

Thank you again for the advice. I'm working on my website now, and I had another opinion-type question for anyone here: I have a domain credit, and I wear several different hats and have multiple sites with portfolios up all branched off from www.ianblewitt.com. As of right now I do the most Photography work, but I intend to do more video work after graduation. Do you think it would be more beneficial to get ianblewittfilm.com or ianblewittcinema.com, or should I get ianblewittphotography.com? I eventually intend to get all of them, but I have a credit on my account right now.

Be sure to shoot your background plates first, that's the most important thing when chromakeying, then light your green screen footage to match. Personally I think depending on what your talent is wearing it might be easier to just do a full circle in the bedroom and rotoscope him out and add the background. Then you won't have any gear in the shot either. Is the shot a medium or close up, or a full body? I can offer some more suggestions too if you let us know what kind of shot it's gonna be.

Haha, "good paying" is enough to pay bills and my student loans without needing to work at Starbucks too. :P That is a good thought though to do lower budget and DP. You're absolutely right about the VFX thing, because I know a lot of people in the actual media production major at AI can't light for chromakey or any of the specialty stuff really well. I am thinking this will probably be the route I take, as it is likely the best way to achieve my goal. Another question I had is does it really matter if you put "Cinematographer" or "Director of Photography" as say a title on a business card? People at my school have it drilled in their heads that you can't just say you're a cinematographer, you have to "earn" it. By definition a cinematographer is a movie photographer so the logic behind it doesn't make sense to me. I just don't wanna give off the wrong impression on business cards and such. Again thank you so much Brian for your thoughts and advice.

Thanks Brian! I have worked on several shorts and an independent feature, as well as tons of student films. I actually had an opportunity to travel to Australia to work on a set there. That was all free work, so I have experience in doing it, but I guess my question would be if there were any advice for someone relocating trying to get paid work, what would that be? Is it necessary to join IATSE to find good paying work? I am definitely going to pick up that book, too! Thanks again!

I have to say this was a very interesting and informative read. Lately I have had the privilege of working with some nice Zeiss ZE Primes on a 5D and I will have to agree that going to that from a basic photography lens made a drastic difference in my image quality. Also, I have heard that there are places you can get your still Zeiss lenses modified to mimic the internals of the CP lenses for a fraction of the price? Has anyone else heard of this process?

Hey everyone, I am nearing graduation from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. Throughout school I found that I preferred being on set, so I focused on learning everything I could about shooting, cameras, lenses and general gripping throughout my college career. I am planning to relocate to Los Angeles after I graduate, and was wondering if any of the experienced people could give me some advice on finding jobs as a Grip or an AC. Inevitably I would like to become a Cinematographer on feature films, and I know that is a long way away, but I feel starting as a Grip or AC would be the logical next step. I am in the process of cutting a reel with my camera work, would a show reel be necessary for these types of positions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Ian