Ryan Ball

Thanks for the replies. Seems like they could have used 16mm and had the benefit of more compact cameras for all the hand-held stuff.

Really liked the look of the film. Had a grainy, gritty look. Looked like super 16 to me.

That's on a 60D, by the way.

If you really wan to save some money, get a $10 M42 mount adaptor on ebay. Then you can get some really cheap M42 screw mount lenses (also on ebay or craigslist). I picked up a nice little Mamiya Sekor 50mm for $30 on craigslist and I use it all the time. See the image for quality example.

Go to your local thrift store and buy an old leather jacket. Cut off one of the sleeves and slip your camera in there with the lens pointing out where the hand goes. You'll be amazed how well this works. Not perfect, but great for run-and-gun situations.

I thought the film looked great and I generally like to see a lens flare every now and then, but it becomes a little distracting when you realize they were posted in. Still an awesome movie.

They went a bit crazy with the lens flares in the new Trek flick. I assume a lot of them were added in post?

Try having your actors chomp on some ice before takes. I've heard that works for the misty breath effect.

Yeah, I'd love to work as a camera assistant on a shoot. However, it's been my experience that smaller films offer more opportunities to jump in a get your feet wet. I've worked on several student films and a couple low-budget features and got a chance to wear a lot of different hats by the time the shoots were over.

I think I can throw in a free T-shirt as well, Tom. Let me know when you're going to be at your favorite watering hole. Ryan

Okay. Fixed it. Thanks. I thought it defaulted to public.

It should work. I didn't password protect it.

Hi all, I'm building my DP reel and was wondering if any professional cinematographers living in Los Angeles would be willing to share some of their knowledge with me. I'm interested in learning more about lenses and working with 16mm, 35mm and HD cameras. If nothing else, lets have a beer sometime. I'm buying! Thanks. You can see my reel at http://www.vimeo.com/4308446

I don't quite understand the logic of shooting day for night under a plastic tent. Sounds like a lot of extra work as opposed to just shooting at night.

You can always slap a filter on to get your wide establishing shot with the windows open, then black them out and use artificial light to light the actors using the windows as motivation. I a living room, you can also take advantage of practicals (household lamps, etc.) tor round out your lighting scheme. I like to use soft boxes on actors for nice soft, even lighting that looks natural. These can easily be made using foamcore and putting some diffusion over the fronts. For diffusion, I'll buy a pillow-case cover for a couple bucks at Wal-Mart and cut it up. This will cover two soft boxes.