Barry Wilson

Hello I want to start simple in my education. 2 people are facing each other talking In windowless room. The cut would be from person to person. A 2 shot to establish they are together but then each cut is one person talking and no over the shoulder. Should all the lights be exactly the same length from each subject and should they be coming from the exact same angle. Should I measure distance and and angle from the first subject and then replicate it when lighting the second. I ask this to learn and while practicing at home I have to be both people as I have no one else to help me. Thank you Barry

Thanks very much for responding and responding quickly. It sounds like I am better off sticking to one type of light. 5600K compact fluorescents. I am experimenting with my camera to learn how to light. I have built my own Softbox for a keylight as well as the other lights. While I don't have lens filters yet The effects plug ins for premier pro have helped improve the Picture when needed. Thanks again.

Thanks for the help. I have been studying how to light. But there are so many kinds of lights Tungsten, Halogen, Incandescent and what I am using now Daylight CFL's. In my ignorance I don't know if combining them hurts getting the right look. Or does it matter. Is total wattage from different sources better than lesser from one type? I use the daylight CFL's because I planning a comedy and want a general overall look. No special moody lighting. A Sandra Bullock Comedy type. I figure I can use filters and other means to get the look I like. So the main question is, Can I have different kind of lights with different K's or light with 5600 K daylight Compact Fluorescents?

Thank you so very much Paul, While I have a hundred questions, This is fantastic. It also gives me something concrete to do. Back light everything. When learning something blanket statements are great. I'm sure professionals have many nuances but if everything has the same lighting that that shows all the detail that's what I want. Plus making sure I have that Shallow DOF. I just hope that when I finish a shooting script I can get some help behind the camera. I know enough professional actors. I don't know anyone interested in the other side. But maybe somebody will know somebody. Take care and I as well would be happy to give you feedback on anything you wish. Here is an email that I have that I don't mind if other see. though I doubt anyone in these forums are trolling for emails to send spam to. jumpmuffin(at)gmail.com All the best Barry

Hi Paul, I am glad you thought it was helpful. I have found that one has to create a mindset, a way of approaching something that after time becomes second nature. But still are open to feedback. In comedy or suspense action drama, I stay away from films that reviews say are touching or emotionally powerful or where anyone is dying in it. If I need to feel despair and unhappiness I can just go home. The great thing about the first Diehard was the humanity and flaws that John Maclean had. One has to look at the idea and find the twist. Learn from what works and then use that as an inspiration to replicate the feeling but in a new way. That is how I have evolved. Plus reading and listening. You are an educated man but it's great to acquaint oneself with subjects you have no interest in. Have at least a superficial understanding across a spectrum of subjects. You never know what you can draw upon. That's why I like the idea of experimental film and theatre. They may not always be enjoyable but out of it may come one or two ideas that can be transferred to more mainstream formats. So here is my question, which is probably a dumb one and simple for real cinematographers such as yourself. I want to shoot a short film based on the script I am writing. I want to finish the first draft so I can start rewriting. But as for the technical side I have been reading online as much as I can. But there is one thing that is at the top of my list of worries. When you shoot a scene, you can do the master and then all the coverage. I plan on doing plenty of coverage. I understand continuity for the actors and props and stuff. But how do you make it all look seamless when cutting from one shot to another. I could go from a two shot to an over the shoulder shot to a closeup. This involves camera movement and lighting changes. For budgetary reasons I want to do most things outdoors. I want to understand when you go from a medium to a close up or whatever how to make the subject has the same look. I think I mean what do I do with lights or reflectors to make sure the actor has the same light on his face or body that corresponds to previous angles. And one would be doing this over a couple of hours I guess. I hope you understand the question. I want the film to be lighted very mainstream, Characters well lit and look like they are in the same movie. I was watching the recent True Grit as I am doing a western, with no budget. But I found a way to get around that. and the look especially noticeable during daytime whether indoors or out was the same. I have wandered from my initial question. How do you keep the lighting on the character(s) the same from one angle to the next? The best I can do camera wise is a Panasonic HDC TM900 with a Letus adapter to get a shallow and more film like depth of field. As for lighting, I have no idea what I need. Boy can I write long messages. If you ever need any other feedback let me know as I enjoy helping out people who have talent. Barry

Thank you very much Nick, That helps a lot. Previously I didn't pay too much attention when they were moving things around to get a different angle. I just have to learn how to make the lighting consistent. Thank you again Barry

Hi Paul I am a professional actor(not that much work but I am in the union) I have done a small amount of freelance TV writing. A few sketches for the Canadian Broadcast Company. I created very succesful stage shows and am a professional Improviser (all that means is I do corporate parties for a lot of money from time to time. I am also a highly regarded improv teacher, I think that when I really started deconstructing stories. In all genres and media. My mind can't stop being analytical of what and how something worked and spotting the flaws when watching movies. Of course all the comments are from my perspective but I do try to be objective based on what I have seen work and what I have seen fail. But these comments are from my way of thinking so use anything that makes sense and disregard if you think its ridiculous. I will be honest but don't want to be harsh just constructive even if I think something is just wrong. My main aptitude is comedy. It goes without saying all the lighting and cinematography is excellent so I won't comment on that. Based on the last frame promoting the Baseball thing, I guess this was supposed to be a way to interest people. Of course you have to engage people immediately especially in short films. This is I assume a parody of Field of Dreams. So I think your goal was to be funny. Funny is hard. I have done it for years in a ton of situations. I know. It's important to like the main character and in this form start out positive as I think that makes the audience wonder what he did? All my line and scene suggestions are being thought of on the spot, so they may not be hilarious but I hope it's giving you something to think about on where to go in creating something. As you know rewriting is writing. "I just created something totally illogical" isn't funny and takes away from his achievement" Having the hero looking over the field without the audience knowing what he is looking at would be a good opening shot. He says enthusiastically "I have done something totally awesome. But it almost drove me crazy" So the audience wants to know what is so great and why did it drive him mad. The sidekick could then come in with something a little funny. "That's what I like about you, you've always been one strike away from going nuts" Whether that's funny or not, it is good to throw in references to the main theme. Baseball in this. I think the caption "First Came the Voice" is not needed as obviously the audience will hear the voice. When they hear it they will automatically make the Field of Dreams connections. Perhaps " Two days earlier" or whatever amount of time makes sense. That signifies the start of the journey. I just had this idea when watching him in bed. He is asleep and the voice says "If you build it they will come" But since he's asleep he doesn't hear it. So the voice gets louder maybe just a touch irritated. "IF you build it they will come" The hero turns over still asleep Now the voice is pissed off. It shouts "IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME!!" He then bolts up and looks around. When you do parody, look for ways to play with and exaggerate the original material. The voice might say other things as well. But we can get to that. The Scene on the Bench. I don't know your time or budget but a static shot is less compelling than going from the opening to another angle. I don't know what your actor's range is but acting is reacting and he doesn't react. He's a little confused but just accepting an unknown voice is talking is not enough. Instead of acceptance, showing an emotion is better. He is scared or angry or frustrated as he doesn't know where it's coming from. He could really look around and if you are restricted to that angle he could look under the bench look across the street, the hero is often the audiences surrogate. What would any normal person do is something to think about as that can often be funny. Or take it to exaggeration. With no concerns for budget, He could stand up look around, if there is a sewer drain in front of the sidewalk, look there. He could look across the street intently, then you can cut to a close up of a dog tilting his head. Be careful what you write on things the audience can see. In this instance, above what he is writing it says " What Field? What goes in the field?" The voice nor anyone else has mentioned a field so that is giving something away. This is a parody so maybe he's not building a field at this point it could be anything. The line"I don't like grass. It's itchy" is funny but those lines give too much away. An idea, "What am I supposed to build" is already there along with various possibilities. A water slide A really big sandwich A statue of James Brown and so on. He could add to that list. In the next scene we finally know our hero's name Seth. Unless I missed it before. It's easier to identify and root for a hero if we at least know his name. The sidekick could have used it in the first scene. "that's what I like about you, Seth" But now he's using the line. It breaks the rules the film has established. Isn't that frustrating especially in horror flicks. First the monster is afraid of water then he attacks someone in the shower or whatever. So if a rule is broken then it should be noted. Sidekick says "Build it Seth, they will come" The voice says "Hey shades, that MY line and you can't even get it right. It's IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME, Back Off Mr Mysterious voice wannabee." That's 1,000 words. I have no idea if they are helpful. I tried to say why I thought something didn't work. If you want me to continue on let me know. If you do get something useful out of this I would like to ask you a question about lighting and cinematography. Take care Barry

It's great that you want feedback. It's how we learn. I will start working on my thoughts throughout the day about the content. I'm sure you know this but for the record, one person's opinion, especially on a message board is not neccessacarily correct, but hopefully there will be something in there that you can find useful. I will get back to you, as I enjoy giving advice. Barry

Hello The production values were comparable to some mainstream films. Great work on all the technical aspects. Before the end credits the film was about 11:35 min. I don't know how you would classify the film, experimental or perhaps produced to concentrate on getting great production values. I like movies that are entertaining, engaging, interesting. Something that makes me want to know "what happens next" Based on that, I think one has to condense things to fit the 11 and a half minutes. The 2 main characters were neither likable or unlikable. Just there. They wandered about a party for 5 minutes, they didn`t do anything of note. Their actions didn`t seemingly cause any consequences. The main character or characters don`t spend their whole time responding to things. They take action, that turns out well or turns out poorly. The BAD GUY was not established as being dangerous. His sort of girlfriend didn t want him to see one of the Zebras but that s it. Neither zebra interacted with him which would might have given him a reason to want to set him on fire. The reason could have been innocuous but he wasn t shown to be demented or quick to anger or anything. The first half of the movie had no point. The second half at about the 6 minute mark had a conflict. His friend was missing. For me at least that didn t mean anything as I had no reason to care about him. Suddenly when they arrive to see the Bad guy ranting and pouring gasoline. Some suspense could have been created. Perhaps the Bad guy s friends could block the Zebra and he had to use his wits to save his friend. I could think of a bunch of ways to make that scene more interesting and suspenseful. But he just throws the Bad Guy to the ground and then doesn t bother to untie his friend. Maybe there is some symbolism in the mysterious girl who untied him that I missed. In a short film that is meant to involve the audience and since the second half did have a conflict and quest and a rescue I think it did, then everything has to be tightened. The film should have started with them arriving at the party, then do something that made us like them. The bad guy should have shown he was bad and they should have had some direct involvement with him so the second half made sense. Well that s a lot of words that may be of no help so I will not go on. But brilliant use of lighting, cinematography, camera work, sound and every other technical detail I could never do those things. I don t know your budget but you used it to make the picture look great. I envy that you had all those people working with you. I want to shoot a short when the final draft is ready, but can t think of even one person who will help me behind the camera. you will have a great career as a DOP or in some other creative technical position Good Luck Barry

Hi I wanted to make sure of a few things. Since no one has given you feedback since January, do you still want feedback. You co wrote and co directed and were cinematographer. Do you want feedback in all those areas or just one? Right now all I will say is although it is listed on YouTube as a Western/Action. It is only a western. People shooting each other, often from a distance does not constitute action. Let me know if you still want a critique and what areas do you want critiqued? Thanks Barry

Hi I am learning cinematography so I have no specific notes about that. I am an actor, writer and directed stage shows. It looks excellent. Except a couple of seconds at about the 28 second mark where the sun is blinding for 2 seconds. But maybe that's okay. It just seemed to take me out of the video. I was going to go into a critique of the story and writing, then I noticed on Vimeo that you were the cinematographer. I am hoping to make a short film and would be very lucky to have you in that capacity. I have to learn it from the internet. Since you don't need any critique about the actual film, Good Job Barry

Hello While the answer might be simple, It concerns me before I go into production this summer. I am using a HD Video Camera with a Letus Adapter. When one shoots a scene, and they do a master then lots of coverage. How do you make sure everythig looks like it took place in that 1-2 minute on screen period? With close ups and over the shoulder and a two shot and so on. Thank you very much, It is probably simple but I want it to look good. I'm a professional actor but first time Director and I guess Cinematographer for a short film I am writing and producing on very little money. Barry