Brian Wells

What's the negative connotation of DV matteboxes? I'm just trying to understand as you're wanting to use it with a DV camera... My personal choice is the Vocas MKII Wide for several reasons. I feel it's built rugged enough (made of carbon fibre) and it's lightweight, which is nice. It costs about the same as Chrosziel but offers much more flexibility in setup for different lenses. Instead of "step-down" rings that must be purchased specific for each lens, the one I've got included these cut-outs that fit into the rear of the box for different lenses--so it's compatible with a variety of lenses right out of the box. What I didn't like about the other brands is they required adapters for different lenses and this one was more universal. Century Optics distributes them here in the states. Hope this helps. bw

I once read a book that told me how to buy real estate with no money down and how to "flip" my investment property and earn a profit with lots of free time for vacation in the Florida keys... Does that mean it's true? Probably not. People will write all sorts of things to sell books. You'll learn to recognise the phonies as you get older. BTW, I think the book you read was a Hollywood tell-all on how to get into the circus performance industry. But, don't fret.. I used to believe the same lies about becoming wealthy without education and without hard work, but they were only that: lies. Save yourself the trouble. All the big stories in the world won't get one anywhere. Hard work is the best investment one can make. If you have indeed been paying your own way since you were 16, I'm sorry to hear that. That's a burden I never had to endure so young. Even the internet here gets pricey! I hope things start to work out well/better for you, Landon. bw

For as much as we love the archivability of film, what is there in the way of long term sound archive? DAT's are succeptable to the same short life span, aren't they?? I guess if you've got a print of your final project then you'd be safe... Just curious. Brian

Comments from a naysayer: I'm curious to hear about the results. Additional optics would appear to do little for the quality of an image, actually quite the opposite. 2x extenders? I'm just looking at the numbers here. Zeiss Ultra Primes are rated to resolve at 100 lp/mm, I believe, and so are the FujinonHD lenses. Maybe the only way a film lens would resolve better is when forming comparison to an SD lens. HD lenses should resolve as well as finest film lenses for the purposes of a 2/3" 16:9 imager. Of course, there's the lovely warmth of Cooke S4's among other characteristics of high-end film lenses that may be desirable regardless of resolving power. Proof of the pudding is in the tasting, of course. Brian

Oh, believe me.. I stay informed of productions in the area, at least independent film happenings. I lived three minutes away from Keystone Twin Cinemas, okay!!

While on this taboo subject... I often did freelance work for the Presentation Services departments of various hotels and the convention center when I lived Indianapolis two years ago (where I grew up). Let me inform you the guys recording lectures on cassette tapes and the folks setting up overhead projectors (the kind that use transparency "paper") were compensated very, very well. Even though we were paid $25/Hour, our employer was billing $40-$80/Hour. As has been said already, paychecks vary wildly in this business and generally it seems the least creative roles often are the ones that pay well and provide (subjectively) consistent work. But, do I really want to be a cassette tape operator? I think not. So, I moved away, interned with a film company, and I'm moving back to Indianapolis this fall and continuing my education towards a business diploma.. and I will hopefully be involved in film as projects arise.. And, they will. But, I can't reasonably expect to make a living as a cinematographer in Indiana..... I'll need to find some other way to make a living, at least in the beginning. I think making a living as a cinematographer takes a lifetime to achieve and ultimately the reward is not financial. Mail room staff at Eli Lilly (in Indianapolis) earn $15/Hour. ($31K/Year) There are plenty of ways to make a living besides being a D.P. The D.P. seems more fulfilling and expressive, though. Brian "wishes he was a working d.p." Wells

This is a sensitive topic and as a young guy I appreciate your upfront and humble way of tackling it. Great, thank you. I see that "The Quiet" and "Shadowboxer" are both in post production, according to IMDB. "When Do We Eat?" sounds particularly dark and brooding as well as interesting. I haven't found anything on availability, but be certain that when it is ready for consumption, I'd like to see it. The photography looks beautiful. I love your "scope" widescreen compositions! Best, Brian

Respectfully, this just doesn't seem as high of a rate as I had thought. Like you've said on here before your interest is in making movies not becoming wealthy--which is a wonderful thing. When you consider that as a feature D.P. all the equipment is provided (contrast to a commercial d.p. who owns gear) you get the best of all worlds: getting to do what you love without having notes on equipment. What you do is really cool and is what I'd like to do someday.. This isn't a "let me know how to succeed" post, but more like "you lead a cool life and it's admirable" type of post. I hope this makes sense. Best wishes (from a college little guy). As an aside, what are the three screengrabs on davidmullenasc.com from? I really like all of them, especially the first one. I'd like to see these projects if they are available. Thanks, Brian

Thanks everyone for your insight. I am really considering S8 at the moment. Will search through the forums and ask questions as they arise.. seems like there are features I could access more affordably in S8 equipment (variable shutter angle and more framerate options) that I just aren't available in a S16 equipment package like an LTR7. There would be obvious compromises in image quality, but I think having more camera features would be more valuable than a bigger negative and sharper images, at least at this point and for what I need to do. Thanks again. Brian

I've seen quite a few Ecco's lately. I have an older pair of hand-me-downs my brother gave me try out and they're nice, although a little too small for my feet. Another D.P. I know has the same shoes. Kind of funny, I think.

This is cool. Thanks for sharing. Brian Wells

Some call it 540P, but that's a misnomer because only horizontal lines are affected, not vertical. Since vertical lines remain unaffected it's still "about the same". 540x1920 every 1/60th of a second 720x1280 every 1/60th of a second Brian

My big brother faces a similar scenario here in Amarillo. They're building a new sanctuary "in the round". It's a design which offers maximum seating capacity for the lowest denominator yet creates enormous technical considerations.. For example, the worship leader here moves around the stage quite a bit... With eight cameras plus a jib following the movement, focusing on any camera could be a real chore as the distances with lenses already at telephoto could vary greatly as the guy moves from one side of the stage to the other.. Does that make any sense? The solution may be in Fujinon's box lenses which have a tracking focus capability that is purported to be quite accurate. So far as camera systems, I don't know if a decision has been reached. The technical merits of both systems (1080i60, 720p60) have been discussed by minds much broader than mine and both systems are currently in use today. I think the 720p60 is "good enough" and coincidentally consumes the same bandwidth as 1080i60 in a recorded or broadcast stream because of the difference between full frames vs. fields.. The term "1080p" (SFAIK) refers to 1080p30, which is really 30PsFps recorded within a 1080i60 package, in which case, it, too, consumes identical bandwidth on all levels as both 720p60 and 1080i60.. So, it's really a matter of where the "HD" is, either in resolution (i) or full frames (p), in a manner of words. 1080p30 is sort of the better of both worlds but still leaves something to be desired as 30 motion samples a second is really pushing it for live events, imho, but great for feature production. Could recommend a great television systems engineer/designer if your church is looking for a good guy to help sort of some of the technical stuff and no, it's not me. His name is C.R. Caillouet. Hope this helps. Brian

Sony PDX-10 is pretty affordable as a second-hand camera and has reasonably high acclaim for its' native widescreen recording format. It records 40-minutes in DVCAM (more robust format than miniDV, but uses the same tape.. you need a Sony DVCAM for playback, though). This camera isn't hardly "on the map" with the independent film community, probably because of what Panasonic has been doing lately, but is a very capable camera. This is one I'd feel okay about on eBay as it's not so much a target for fraud as the dvx100 has been. Hope this information didn't come in too late.. I saw this thread was a bit "dated". Anyways, Good Luck. Brian

Believe me, "I'm not in the industry" like others are. I'm a college kid. I'm broke. But, I have lucked into some gigs before. Heck, I was even a day player as a sound mixer of all things on this little CMT show called "Popularity Contest" shooting here in town last fall.. anyways, my "career path" has been all over the map and really I'd like to get into music videos as well as a cinematographer.. but, in no way would I consider being a P.A./audio playback or behind-the-scenes editor on 2 projects in 3 years me being "in the industry" like others here are "in the industry" I'm the low guy on the totem pole and boy oh boy I sure wish I could afford (or justify financing) a film camera to pursue this career further, but that isn't seeming like a wise investment at the moment. Good luck getting into music videos. I hear they are a blast. Sigh. Brian

Hi, I'm a student and know very little about the industry. I did meet a music video director at a festival once. I think he and his crew were making the rounds and handing out business cards and making contacts. He was (imho) not a very good director, all 40 of the videos he had made since his graduation from Duke University three years prior didn't seem inventive or well executed, from a storytelling perspective, but he had a superb crew that made his videos look like a million bucks. So, I guess the answer is graduate from a first class private university and head over to L.A. when you're finished. Be a go-getter and make sure to have a top shelf crew to support you. If wanting to work on crew, then maybe just be "in the know" with folks in the area who make film/video projects and get involved with them... maybe they'll have a music video project come up and you'll be the person they turn to. I've worked on two hi-def music videos shot on the Varicam up in Indianapolis where I used to live and all because of just knowing the people who were making the videos. They weren't cash cows, but they were fun ways to get my feet wet. Hope this helps. Good luck! Brian Student

Saw your name come up on the DVXuser.com birthday list and thought I'd wish you a happy birthday! Cheers. Brian

Thanks, Nathan. I guess I'll have to think about my options some more. I know that many of the catalogue optics retailers (edmund, thorlabs, etc.) offer beamsplitters and wondered if you would be able to tell me what type to look for. If there's a way to do this mod as a hobbiest-type project, then I'd kind of like to give it a shot.. So far as a camera, I don't exactly have a camera. While I'm bidding on one right now, there's no guarantee I'll win the auction. Trying to explore all options at the moment and this eBay one looked alright for the money. It's #751, and I'm doubtful that it has an Option R or Pellicle, but I will contact the seller to find out. Thanks. Brian

Hi everyone. I've brushed up on some available options and wanted to hear your thoughts. The thread at CML was very helpful, however, no mention of the Visual Products video tap was offered. It looked very attractive given the low profile installation and I wonder what tradeoffs may (or may not) have been taken to achieve this type of compactness. Has anyone used this mod? How would you rate it compared to other options? Any D-I-Y methods that have worked for you? Aaton LTR-54 Video Tap http://www.cinematography.net/Pages%20GB/A...R54VideoTap.htm Visual Products Internal Video Tap for Aaton http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProduct...ctID=741&Cat=11 Thanks, Brian

I think crushed blacks on DV tend to pick up compression and blocky pixels on occasion.. maybe that's viewed as "grain" in some contexts. In Final Cut Pro, I have a "Black Restore" filter which helps reduce the visual effect of noise/grain in the blacks. However, I feel that more likely what you're seeing is the by-default low contrast look the DVX has out of the box, which can be adjusted for a higher contrast look using the "Master Pedestal" I like this visual explanation of "Master Pedestal" provided by Jarred Land, specifically for the DVX. http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/MP/ Hope this helps, Brian

Thanks, Sam. As they say, "you hit the nail on the head." It's unfortunate the only way to view a $25 re-canned negative is through a transfer that costs exponentially more than than the film itself. That's debilitating at best. Here's to the future of the Apple iTelecine. (jk) :) Brian

Thanks, Robert. To clarify my involvement in commercial shoots, I've worked as a P.A. and Slate Boy. That's it. So, while I'm pretty familiar with watching others use the tools and techniques associated, I really have no first hand/hands-on experience with any film equipment. I'm wanting to change that. My indecision is that I'm woefully uneducated on the acceptable comprises that may be taken to achieve similar results. I like the idea saving wherever possible and certainly short ends of a very recent stock (i.e. - Vision2) from eBay seems a reasonably safe bet considering it's still fresh. Thanks for the tip. Hope your footage comes out better than imaginable!! My interest here is shooting some stuff (what, I dunno, hopefully something well planned and executed) with the intentions of assembling a "film" reel to shop around to some local independent film groups and maybe a small ad agency. It could include a spec spot or two and maybe a short film. The idea is to finally shoot some film on my own dime to develop my craft--and hopefully have a usable marketable product in the end.. And, keep shooting on a regular basis to stay "in the groove". Hope this makes sense. Does this seem like a waste of money/resources or reasonable to learn motion picture film aquisition, telecine, post on my own time and the mentoring of folks who are a phone call away? This is kind of a weird idea, huh? Brian Student

Hello group. I've been toiling over how to approach film aquisition for a while and I'd like to hear thoughts about justifying the costs of S16mm or even S8mm aquisition and how you handle the post production side of things for different types of work, i.e. - transfer to tape, print for projection, etc. Here is where I am at and a little about me. I'm a pretty young guy in college and am pursuing a non-film related degree, for practicalities sake, I suppose. I'm learning film through internships and becoming involved in production on any level possible. The exposure I've had to film has been on regional commercials where they're using SRIII's and Spirit transfers, in other words, systems way outside of the reach of the "average guy" who's trying to learn hands-on. The other world I see are the folks shooting reversal s8mm and projecting it. What's the middle ground here? What I'm sort of on the line about it the idea of purchasing (only because there are no rental houses within driving distance and shipping becomes prohibitively expensive) a LTR-7, shooting 400' of a different stock every other week ($120) and transferring at Bonolabs using the "tapeless" transfer option, which costs $162.50 for up to 15 minutes of runtime, plus a small charge for shipping and the hard drive rental. Has anyone else tried to learn film using something similiar? I'm completely overwhelmed with the idea of a $750/Hour spirit session and while that type of service could bring excellent results from excellent footage, I believe my hard earned dollars (and my parents dollars) would be better spread out over time. My question is really indistinct. I'm sorry for that. I really wish to pursue this and am trying to make the numbers work. I'm from a family of engineers and well, we tend to deliberate over things a little too much, it's in my nature... please work with me. I'll do my best to study as much as I can on my own... and be reasonable with my concerns. HELP ME!! What I'm really trying to ask is, what's the way you would encourage me to "get into film" using S16mm and transferring to some digital medium, even miniDV tape if necessary, to learn and hopefully be able to do this for a living someday.. Is reversal 8mm the way to go? It just seems like every way to shoot negative is expensive... at least to me.. either print it or transfer it. What other choices are there? How should I approach all of this? Thanks.

"Q4 2005" which probably means "December 2005 or maybe sooner"

I understand exactly what you're saying David. I'm working as an intern with S16mm equipment right now for a local D.P. and also work with a DVX100 for my own little projects.. I feel like all of it (film) is expensive to shoot. If I go the direction of paying for it, it would be nice to have the nicest possible results when I'm done. One of my tasks as an intern is logging boxes of telecined tapes. The stuff from the mid-90's transferred on a Rank Cintel does not look anywhere near the quality of the newer stuff transferred on a Spirit. The tapes are labled which system was used. I guess if I shoot film, I'd prefer to have it look the best possible--and that costs money. So, I'm not sure if I'm heading that direction, frankly. I still have much to learn.. I'm young. Perhaps naive. However, the price of a transfer isn't any cheaper in this (narrow minded students) observation when shooting 8mm v 16mm. So, that's where I'm coming from. ..Still trying to sort this all out. Working as an intern is helping tremendously.... Brian