craig bass

I have spent a year, on and off, attempting to find a way to measure the tint of my LED's and Fluorescents. I rented a Sekonic C-700, only to find that this was not capable of reading the green to magenta bias. This was roughly a year ago. I just called Sekonic customer support to ask if an update had been made: whoever I spoke with told me that the meter was only capable of reading Kelvin. I have also purchased the Luxi Metering Sphere for the iPhone, pairing it both with the Luxi App and the Cine Meter II App. Every time I take a reading with this device, I receive a different response. I could stand in the exact same spot, and take the same reading twice only to receive 2 different answers. I am at a point where I am totally lost, and feel that I cannot maximize the potential of my entire lighting arsenal. Can anyone help? Thanks! Craig

Hi everybody! I have owned a slew of ALZO 85W CFL (advertised as "kino match", in terms of color temperature) for over a year now, and I have never found the correct gel combination to make them match 5500K Kinos. Has anyone used these lights, and cracked the gel code to make them usable? They certainly are spiking in some areas, and are far from a kino match. Here is a link to the specific product: https://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Video-Lux-Daylight-Temperature-Incandescent/dp/B002GJRR1I Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, as I feel these could be a powerful part of my arsenal if they were the right darned color temp. Thanks! Craig

Thank you, Satsuki, for your input. I pretty much figured that was the case, but I was curious if there was a way, perhaps with fans, to control the rough location of the fog. Seems I am probably fighting against physics here:)

I apologize if this isn't quite the right forum to post this question in, but I wasn't sure of the specific category, and I've always had great luck here with the kindly assistance of other filmmakers. I will be shooting a music video this coming weekend, for which I want to have smoke in the background of a scene. This scene will be shot in my, relatively small, studio: 1,500 sq. ft.. Every attempt that I have made to do something similar has failed, as, once released, the smoke tends to move through the room--as it will--and simply fog up the entire image. Is there anyway to relatively reliably control the smoke so that it is confined to half of the space. This may seem like a silly question to many of you, but I am hoping that some member may have a secret technique they'd be willing to share:)

Hi Everybody, I have, for some time, been wanting to rig single bulb fluorescents up much like in this sample: https://vimeo.com/67403192 And, I am hoping that someone here can help steer me in the right direction. How would I do this? What bulbs should I use? How should I wire them? How would I hang them? I have a wealth of Kino 4X4 bulbs in my inventory, and was wondering if it is possible to utilize these, as they would be superior in terms of CRI and flicker. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Craig

Robert, thanks so much for the insight! Greatly appreciated, and makes total sense. If I was in a similar situation with a Fresnel, would it be the same story? Perhaps tying the bowline around the yoke? Thanks again!

Hi All, I know this is an extremely basic question, but I was hoping someone could shed some light on utilizing rope and knots to secure lights to a grid. For instance, say I was attaching a 4 X 4 Kino to a grid with a Cardellini clamp, and did not have a safety chain. Say I was to then utilize a length of rope to tie the light off to the grid as a backup measure. What knot would I use to tie the light to the grid, and at what point on the Kino. What knot would I use to tie off on the grid? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Craig

Thanks for the insight David! It's funny you mention shooting an actual CRT screen, because this was something I was already contemplating! My only confusion regarding it being shot on an old interlaced-scan camcorder is how would it then be widescreen? Weren't all camcorders 4:3, or am I totally off base? If I was to go for purchasing an oldschool camcorder any idea on where I would look for information on what would be the ideal camcorder for the job? Sorry to sound so ignorant, just not sure how to go about achieving this look. Thanks again! Craig

Hello All! I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to create the 90's VHS (sorry, best descriptor I could think of) look of this video: Do you think this was done in the grade? If so, any suggestions. And, if not, any idea how to accomplish this practically? Actually shoot on VHS? Any particular era-specific camera I should ebay? Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Craig

Hi fellas, Thanks so much for the insight! I am going to look for a prism filter to utilize with my Zeiss ZE E-mount lenses. Any recommendations on which specific filter to use/where to start? Thanks! Craig

Hello all! I was hoping that someone on the forum might have insight on how to achieve the effect present at 48 seconds in the following video: Additionally, a still is attached for reference: Is the filmmaker simply placing a prism in front of the lens? If so, any recommendations on the best sort of prism for this? Would love to hear your thoughts. Craig

First and foremost, I apologize for not being able to better articulate, within the title of this post, what I am looking for. However, that's what a reference image is for :D In the image below you can see the refracted image look that I am hoping to achieve; any suggestions on what to put in front of the lens? I considered using a prism, but all of the samples that I come across from primisming have a great deal of colored light streaks and bits, from the prism itself. I much prefer this more muted look. Thanks! Craig

Hello everybody. The question I am about to ask may seem a bit naive, but as I am self taught in the art of lighting (and still very much a novice) I was hoping that someone would be kind enough to help me out. My question is: how can I simulate a light coming from a practical source in frame (say, a desk lamp) without A) lighting up the fixture itself; B) casting a shadow of the fixture; and C) motivating the direction of the shadows. This far I have been attempting to shine a beam in the same direction as the practical, from behind it. This always causes the practical to cast a shadow, which is ridiculously unrealistic, as no light casts a shadow of itself in such a fashion. In addition, I generally end up lighting the practical itself within the beam, causing it to be too "hot" or "lit". I am attempting to work with a scene where a lamp is right next to an actor on a desk, and cannot seem to figure out how to make this work. I could shoot from down low, so as to try and skip the fixture, but, considering the resulting "monster movie" appearance, I am pretty positive this is not a method employed with any frequency. Again, any help is appreciated.