robfowler_dp

Landon, Why are you going to rent the equipment ? You should let your DP rent it. Most experience DP's have established relationships with rental houses and know where to get it from and probably know what house has what equipment and often can get great deals because they have already established a long relationship with a rental house. Also, some DP's have their own choice for dolly, jibs, cranes. Why would you rent brand-x when you don't even know how it works and force your DP to work with equiptment they probably haven't even worked with. Also, most DP's have built relationships with their gaffers over the years who can also procure any equiptment the DP desires, and also know what they want. RF

Hello, I began to read this thread and I want to share my experience. A friend of mine who introduced me to this board is on the same boat that I am, total novices when it comes to cinematography. The difference is that he has been reading American Cinematographer since 1988 because he loves filmmaking. All the time in his head he thinks about shot composition, how they lit this and that, what type of camera and the always plays this guessing game and looks out for quirks and stuff that I couldn't think of when looking at a movie, commercial, etc. To tell you how crazy this guy is about cinematography and how I realized how much I was missing, I invited him to watch Pirates of the Caribbean with me when I got the DVD. He thought, since I am also in the process of starting a cinematography career, that we were both going to study the lighting of Pirates of The Caribbean and he brought his issue of AC with the article about P(irates)O(f)T(he)C(aribbean). I played along since I never seen someone so enthused about the art of cinematography and he made me rewind, and replay scenes while reading and drawing diagrams based on the article. Needless to say, I was impressed to see him break down an analyze the lighting of a movie like he did, and I was impressed with his knowledge about the art and craft of cinematography that I invited him to one of the sets I was gaffing on and he and the DP of the short I was working on hit it off like there was no tomorrow, and so much knowledge my friend has amassed that at one point the DP was consulting him on how to light certain scenes. I saw my friend go at it like someone who has been doing this for many many years. Why I am writing this ? because even though my friend chose a different career path way back 20 years ago ( meaning, he decided to get a steady paycheck ) he never stopped reading and learning about cinematography even though he couldn't actually do it because his work prevented him from doing it until about a year ago when he decided that he has had enough of his career ( meaning he made a lot of mone selling his stock options ) and decided quit his work and jump into cinematography. My point, he dreamed of playing with the big boys one day, and even though he is far from it, and beleive me he is *FAR* from it, this guy knows more techical stuff than some of the people I have worked with, and as a good friend of mine once said to me, "If you are good enough to bullshit your way into a job, you deserve it". In order to get big, you have to think big. Thanks David for your contributions to this board and everyone else here. Rob.

Thanks all for your valuable feedback. I had a sense of how it was done but it is always good to hear from the pros. Thank you again for taking time to answer what was on my mind. (shhh, bugging me ;) Later, Rob

Mitch, That is exactly what happened in one of the scenes. Using a dolly to go from one room to another. Outside of the room it was lit with several 650 watts, gelled down, and then a "practical" outside of the room. By the time the scene was finished, the f stop went from a 4.6 to a 1.8 which I beleive is the max on a XL-1. I cringed because I could see in the monitor the difference in the stops knowing how bad video does with low light situations I couldn't help but feel distraught that knowing, a tad bit more, it could have been lit much better. Thanks for your feedback. I welcome other's to provide amplifications as well. Thanks again, Rob.

Howdy folks, Been a while. Been very busy. I was asked to gaff a independent short not long ago. The DP was a twenty year film veteran, not a twenty year DP veteran. He has only DP for about six months. With his film credentials, he has been able to land several DP gigs. This short was shot on a Canon XL-1. Someone please help me clarify the following, As a gaffer I was in charge of placing the lights, the dimmers, stinger, gripping, etc. (remember this is an independent short). As I went about my business I had my light meter and I metered the light and took notes to keep the same F stop throughout the scene. As I did that, the DP told me that it was unnecessary t o meter the light because we were dealing with video. That he could adjust the iris accordingly. I tried to explain that it didn't make sense because of iris continuity could be detected from scene to scene specially if they cut back and forth between master and close up. He scolded me because he was the DP and I was the gaffer and I shouldn't question his twenty years of experience. Once that happened I just did my business and didn't question anything else throughout the three days of shooting. But I was grinding my teeth throughout because the light continuity was awful. I learned lots from reading on AC and from this board and from being on sets that you don't mess with light continuity. That once a DP is set to shoot on a specific stop, the entire scene from master to close up is kept at that F stop and they don't fiddle until it looks right. Even for my own projects I try to keep the f stop the same throughout. And even if at some points it is rather impossible I look for a multiple that I can then stop down/up using post. I haven't seen/heard/ of anyone just setting up the lights and then going about fiddling with the iris from scene to scene. Can someone amplify for me the above? How do you go about it ?