Darrell Ayer

I know this is an older post. If you're using a mirrorless cam, you can always experiment with shooting stills at a continuous frame rate and longer exposure times. You'll be limited by the buffer memory but if you play it back at 4 fps, you may have something. You should be able to import into DaVinci and an Image Sequence and adjust the frame rate accordingly.

I've been working in super micro budget projects in NYC weekends for the last decade. My life has uprooted me into the DC area and I'm looking to find out what is around here in terms of film community. Anyone have any leads?

I am currently doing some tests in blender using footage from miniatures shot wider to combine with footage shot at a normal focal length and tracked.  I'm shooting minis with a 9mm zero d as plates to put behind a live action plate. This way I have a ton of bleed over for the action. This doesn't work if everything has to be higher resolution than HD or some 4k.

I'm choosing blender so I can just atmosphere if needed digitally to create the scale, like you would if you shoot an all miniature environment.

Also look into the BTS from "Slice of Life" on youtube for some great pointers, also "In Camera" is a good resource. 

I have been treading water as a novice for almost a decade. I'm about to be able to start making a real effort to get into cinematography in any real sense within the next year.  I feel that my website/reel is okay but any advice about how I can really make it appealing would be great.

http://www.darrellayer.com

Blender used to be an UI nightmare.   It's come a really long way from those days.  You're a doughnut way from using it for whatever you want to create.  I learned it at the end of 2019 and it's a great tool to have in your back pocket.  I would totally suggest doing the Andrew Price doughnut bit and then when you're comfortable, cggeek and ian hubert will have the right information to help you pull this off.

I learned about Sodium process from it's use in Mary Poppins. It's a brilliant solution to Matting and Disney should have used it more since they kept it to themselves.

I love the inventiveness of optical techniques.

I went thru something similar. I created a PDF of a legal form letter from me and they responded the next day and paid what they owed me.

It's nice to get paid for your work tho.

Darrell Ayer

I saw a breakdown of all the movies he's lost to over the years and every one of them was deserving of their Oscar, it's just bad luck. It's just a perpetual near miss until this year. I'm very glad he won, I can't wait to see how his work continues to push the envelope.

 

 

But how does Gaff know about the dreams.. thats the crux.. no matter what they are about.. unless they are programed in .. in which case Deckard is a replicant .. and Gaff has access to his "files"..

Gaff doesn't know about the dreams. The fact that she's a unicorn because of her memories is what draws Deckard to her, and Gaff also understands how unique she is. It's just a symbol. This works with and without a the "dream", which i always thought it was added to drive the point home.

This is why Gaff yells, "too bad she won't live."

Gaff leaves the Unicorn to say that's why he didn't kill Rachael, because he understands how rare she is.

The only person dreaming about Unicorns is Deckard, Rachel has other memories,,,, But it's all up to the viewer in the end,

I interpreted it that he was dreaming about her.

I never considered that it was Deckard the Unicorn referred to. I always thought it was Rachael. She's a replicant with memories and therefore the experience to develop empathy. It would be something that Gaff would also know from an APB posted after she escapes. Even when he was dreaming in the special editions, it could represent how he finds Rachael unique and starts to fall in love with her. It always seemed pretty straight forward to me. But this is just my opinion.

I'm gonna miss the anamorphic flares but I can't wait to see the world thru the eyes of Deakins. He's got the mood down pat as far as I can see.

You would want a 50/50 for what you are attempting because you can more easily balance your exposures on both sides. I would try to smaller in glass because of the $$$ and get closer to the lens.. shoot thru the mirror to your subject and reflect your miniature.

You can probably put a matte behind the mirror with a cut out for your subject and put a flag to block out the place on your minature so actors can be ^projected^ on it.

I bought a 4x5 inch piece and it cost 35 dollars so i am sure the 18x18in will be quite expensive. It is optcial glass so I don~t think you would have any issues with ghosting or refections, like you would with a regular mirror, it~s what was used to do this type of work back in the day.

Did you find that the blade runner thing really needed 50/50 split, or could it have been less?

I havent yet built it, but it was the most even loss. 1 stop to camera 1 stop from the light. I just need to finish building it. Im sure I will post it when I do.

http://www.stereoscopicmirror.com/

I was able to pick on up to do a blade runner effect, i have yet to build the thing but the glass was perfect, shipped in a great level of protection.

With the third episode it only gets better. In respect to the first film I have a question. The Gunslinger / Android infrared vision, how would that have been achieved in the early 1970s?

That was the first use of CGI in film too, "fun fact"

http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/October2016/Westworld/page1.php

Here's the article on Westworld from American Cinematographer

David Mullen, just answered a quiestion rolling around in the back of my head for a long time. Thank you sir.

Also don't discount the use of diffusion filters on the lens. Many of these soft flares are just halation from the filtration used.

 

Could it be the pet project that crippled an empire?

priceless.

I love a lot of interesting placement, like behind a book case. or between the building supports and the window at the beginning of episode 2 when the business guy looks out. I need to continue the show to look at more of it's visual style. I feel that it's interesting while not distracting. I doesn't feel overly superfluous

I just started this show. I'm 3 episodes in and I already know to watch for how the title is going to pop up. The camera angles and placement in this show is breathtaking. Now I just have to get back to binge watching the season.

Since I just lost Hannibal, this is going to be my new show to watch and really enjoy the cinematography.

Here's my newest reel for consideration. Feed back is awesome, but I mostly hope you enjoy it.

Thanks!

Do you need the extended capabilities of (the free version of) Resolve 10 to do Grading and Editing of HDSLR footage? Looking at the program, it's robust hardware requirements are a bit daunting for the level of work I would need it do. I'm trying to get away with replacing my 7 year old macbook pro with a mac mini and loading up the ram... Does anyone have any advice on this.

Stephen,

I am starting out as a DP and I have to say that your profiles of these guys have have been inspirational as well as educational. The format is clean and allows the power to straight to the frames that these guys create. I am sure it takes quite a bit of work to genereate each one.

Thank you for doing this, please keep it up.

With great appreciation,

Darrell

I mean, I thought the cinematography was the art of telling the story visually. I didn't know that everything had to be only one way.

I thought that selling the story with both a 70's news feel was clever and worked to root the story in the time. Not only the slightly video-y aesthetic, which I didn't find it to distract in the same way the the hobbit HFR did.