James R Blann

It was a 416. Any chance that the wrong kind of battery could cause this? Incorrect voltage (too high even) or something? Yeah i'll mention it to the rental company. Thanks

Usually on a block, this shot definitely was. Didn't notice anything strange... Sound all synchs up fine too. Something along those lines does seem plausible though... maybe we had a dodgy block.

Hi all, I found some unexpected light artefacts on some recent 16mm rushes that I can't find the cause of. Any clues? Image attached. Everything was shot 25fps (UK), 180 shutter, only straight ND filters. Shot with 35mm Master Primes. Possibly a slightly out of phase shutter? The weird thing is it came and went without any adjustments. Any thoughts welcome, cheers!

Hi all, I'm coming up to an exterior night shoot setup behind a big barn, to be lit largely by industrial floodlights that we will be bringing in ourselves. I have a few main questions that i'm struggling to find answers to elsewhere: 1) What is the relative brightness of a 400w metal halide compared to 400w tungsen or hmi? 2) Does this change when you use a coloured bulb variety (primarily blue)? Do these coloured bulbs equate roughly to full CTB/CTO or are they more effecty? 3) Is there another way of achieving different colour temps other than with the coloured bulbs (something a little subtler)? Wikipedia tells me that colour temps of between 2500 and 22000 are possible. A decent touchstone is the cool tones that Rodrigo Prieto achieved on the streets in Biutiful (attached).. only slightly less cool. Shooting on 7219 so am keen for a decent punch. I'll be testing these things out myself of course but it'd be great to get an idea of the best things to test. Thanks in advance!

Hi folks, I'm shooting a project that requires a shot rigged onto a swing set in full swing, 3/4 front, probably around 2' from the talent. I'm sure this kind of shot has been done many times but I can't think of any examples atm . Shooting ideally on Alexa Mini, but willing to consider options on smaller cameras too if the overall footprint becomes smaller, quicker, closer etc. Any ideas would be great! Thanks.

Hi all, Looking for leads on a colour IVS unit for my Arri SR3. Mine exploded and they're pretty tricky to replace these days. Preferably London or UK based. Cheers!

Hi all, Struggling to find a comprehensive answer on this so thought i'd throw it out to see what's what. Hope it's not a recurring one. What is the current position of shooting anamorphic on the Alexa Mini? I understand the firmware is in beta testing at the moment but i'm not sure what my pros and cons would be at this stage. Cheers, all!

Thanks for the advice, guys. DMX controlled Atomic 3000's on order!

Thanks guys. I'm trying to avoid rolling shutter basically, may be shooting at frame rates up to 200fps also.

Hi all, Apologies if this has been over-asked but I keep running into brick walls looking for answers. Shooting strobes in the UK and looking for a solution that doesn't mean shooting on Epic with a motion mount. Any suggestions on strobe units or any things to look out for would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

Thanks, Robert, i'll have a look for that rig. As it's an interesting technique, here's the rig used on that second video, shot on a gopro -- http://callumcooper.com/art.html

Hi all, What kind of rig do you think was used in this promo? I know that recently a Metronomy video (also below) used a custom made skipping rope looking thing but as this seems to have been shot on 16mm i'm wondering what they would've done differently. - Pulp - 'Do You Remember?' - Metronomy 'Month of Sundays' Thanks!

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm definitely thinking twice about the Secced head. Will just keep on at ebay and hope for a bargain at a car boot sale :)

Cheers, Adrian. That's definitely going onto the watch list. Has anybody had any experience with Secced tripods and heads? -- http://www.secced.com/ Their prices seem very good but i'd never heard of them before.

Hi all, I'm looking to buy a relatively inexpensive head for an SR3 setup and am wondering if anyone has some good advice on something more modern that might fit the bill as opposed to an old F4, of which there are a few on ebay. I guess it could do with taking 25lbs. Looking at around the £1000 range. Any expertise would be great! Cheers! James Blann

Haha no, I made this account quite a long time ago after buying an Empire Junior camera; my real name is James Blann. Less exciting, I know.

Hi all, As there wasn't a response here it may be that there weren't many examples to show for the question. The finished product is below; I thought someone might be interested to see it. I ended up over exposing between 2-3 stops and pulling 1 on the first section of the film. I wish i'd gone further now but as it was a cloudy/rainy day it was tricky to get exactly what I was after on the exteriors. The perils of shooting in the UK!

Hi all, Does anyone have any good leads for pl mount macros for 16mm? Thanks,

Thanks for the response Dirk! The commercial looks fantastic.

Hi y'all, I'm wondering if anyone has any examples of Alexa footage that's been printed to 35mm and then re-scanned/telecined? This might be a common thing, possibly not. I have no idea but i'm keen to see how it compares to straight out of the box Alexa. Cheers!

Hi everyone, I'm shooting a short soon and due to budget reasons have a selection of stocks that have to be used. I was wondering if anyone had experience of a pull process on 5203, 1 or 2 stops. We're going for a pastel, soft contrast look which i've seen great examples of on Kodaks' faster stocks but was wondering how it might come out on 5203 as it seems naturally more vivid and contrasty. The kind of look is seen in the Gordon Parks image below (something comparable in an exterior). cheers!