James R Blann

Wikipedia says it best; Onion skinning is a 2D computer graphics term for a technique used in creating animated cartoons and editing movies to see several frames at once. This way, the animator or editor can make decisions on how to create or change an image based on the previous image in the sequence. In traditional cartoon animation, the individual frames of a movie were initially drawn on thin onionskin paper over a light source. The animators (mostlyinbetweeners) would put the previous and next drawings exactly beneath the working drawing, so that they could draw the 'in between' to give a smooth motion. In computer software, this effect is achieved by making frames translucent and projecting them on top of each other. This effect can also be used to create motion blurs, as seen in The Matrix when characters dodge bullets.

Hi all, I'm shooting a pixelation project on 16mm in the next few weeks and am after a modified Bolex with some kind of videotap in order to do a bit of an onion skin for the animation. I've seen pictures and read that they exist but I suspect it's more of an enthusiast thing than a standard. I've been around the major rentals without much luck. We're shooting in London so if anyone can be of assistance around that area then that'd be great. Our backup is an SR3 with an intervalometer, but i'd really like to shoot standard 16 and use the Bolex lenses that I have. Also if anyone has any advice on the possible pitfalls of shooting on either the SR3/intervalometer or Bolex for stop frame, your input could be invaluable! We're mainly doing a 2 meter track in as pixilation happens, nothing too tricky. Thanks, James

Hi all, I'm currently in my first year studying cinematography in the UK. For our end of year film there is no grading and probably minimal lab work to see, I guess, what we can do with the negative as we're shooting on 16mm. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience playing with colours by lighting the grayscale in different ways to adjust colour temperature. Of course there's the typical 3200K/5600K balance but has anyone ever played around with different combinations? Cheers!

Hi all, There are lots of similar threads to this out there but I just wanted to clear something up. I'm shooting a music video in a couple of weeks time in which there will be an element of UV paint and blacklight. There's a very limited budget so I was wondering how tricky this will make lighting a room with blacklight? Would the effect be any less if I were to bring up the exposure with standard tungsten lights gelled and keeping smaller, cheaper blacklights close to the subject to bring out the paint? Thanks in advance! I'll be shooting on 5D.