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ben jones

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Everything posted by ben jones

  1. Simon Thankyou for you response and for your concern! Hardly in a mess with over a week till shoot. Yes the camera is switchable between PAL and NTSC, yes I do have a manuel and yes you do run into potential problems when shooting certain frame rates with certain lights, according the the native power frequency. Im fully aware of the differences between film and video, but you dont hear people referring to digitally originated full length motion pictures as "Feature videos" Just a thought.
  2. Hello. Coming over from the UK to shoot a short in arizona (CANON 7D). I'm concerned about the right format to shoot with regard to the difference in power hz. Is there a way I can I still shoot in PAL and avoid the potential flicker from flouros and other lights? Or do I need to be shooting in NTSC. The film is to be finished in the UK with all editing/post/sound work being completed back home. Thanks in advance to all suggestions and advice. Ben
  3. Hello All. I am trying to find the correct method to rate my cameras ASA/ISO. I have searched the forum and the net, but cant seem to find anything simple enough to carry out at home. I have a sekonic spot/incident meter and JVC GYHM700. regards Ben
  4. Hi all. Coming over to arizona next month to shoot a short in the Black Canyon City area north of Phoenix. Was wondering if anyone can recommend good route to getting local cheap camera support/lighting deals? I've done a bit of research already and phoned a few places but would appreciate some more advice on where to find help. We already have the two cameras (7D EF mounted) but ideally wish to use cini lenses with a PL adapter or CP lenses. Regards The 'left hand billys second sollution' crew - uk
  5. Hi all. I own a canon xm2 which for the past 4 years has been excellent and fun to work with. However, over recent months, the zoom had started to play up something chronic. It in sometimes completely unresponsive whilst using the main rocker (complete loss of control - it starts zooming by itself at any speed it chooses) and so I have had to revert to the tiny zoom on the handle. This however is now statring to suffer exactly the same issues so my suspicions lead to the assumption that they are connected! I no longer have a warrenty and dont really see the point in giving canon more money to fix the thing so my questions are - has anyone else experienced this? if so did you manage to fix it and how what things can I try aside from complete destroying by pulling it to bits? Thanks Ben
  6. Dear Annie - As far as I know, they are shooting a lot of HD in the UK, but mainly for dramas and documentary. Some dramas that were being shot on digibeta are switching over to HD for their next series. I cannot speak on behalf of ads and promos as I have not worked on any so far. 16mm is very much at large as well in all areas. As I said I would like to dp as thats what I got to do for 3 years at college, but there is a huge jump between student film and industry practice and thats something I need to fully understand before taking more creative responsibility - As I said there is no harm in shooting anything you can. Music videos are a good way to practice because if the artist has just been signed, they tend to let you have a lot of control and are willing to pay the costs - (never be out of pocket for anyone else - work for free, but make sure it doesnt cost you!) regards Ben.
  7. Hey all! My name is Ben Jones and Im 23 working in England. I studied cinematography for 3 years at my college (surrey institute of art and design) Where I got to dp many varied projects on many formats (music video, narrative drama, documentary, club visuals, and art films?) I left uni and went straight on to a 6 month camera trainee job on a BBC drama last year (Hotel Babylon) which was shot on HD (SONY HD750) - now im working 9-5 in a school to earn money to travel from november till april, where I plan to really make a go of it in London. I want to dp in the future, but now Its time to learn from others - Still dp anything I can get my hands on because If you get the chance, I believe thats just as valuable experience! If anyone wants a friendly and extreemly enthusistic Englishman on set that can second guess anything from a proper cup of tea, to an optical flat, then give me a shout for sure! www.cardboardboss.com/videos for my reel (s) and cv on request (still making it!) 01962 867218 (uk) Ben@cardboardboss.com Kind regards, Ben.
  8. Dear Jonathan. Thankyou for you reply and infomation - you have helped me enormously. I will use this system from now on. kind regards Ben Jones.
  9. 38 - an eccentric D.O.P who force feeds you jack daniels mixed with cheese flavoured crisps. 39 - a stedicam. 40 - a light meter. 41 - a digital intermediate. 42 - a jump cut.
  10. Hello all. I have a similar question - about to shoot a music video with a braun Nizo s56. Im shooting on vision 2 500T using manual exposure, and mostly interior. I have been told to rate the stock at 400 asa to compensate for the stop loss from the beam splitter. If I were to then shoot exterior, what would I now rate the asa at? Also, would anyone be kind enough to give me the asa ratings if I were to shoot 200T in the above conditions? thanks - Ben :lol:
  11. Jeff Cronenweth for his work in one hour photo. Eduardo Serra for his work in girl with a pearl earing.
  12. Hey all. Ive only done one job as a trainee/loader on a major BBC series last year. We were rolling 2 cameras most of the time, and I was taught to call "A and B cameras common mark" if both could see the slate. If only one camera could see the slate however then it would be called as follows. "A camera - B on the end" (or vise versa) and then jump in to end-board which ever camera missed the begining of shot. It was a very fast passed production and sometimes getting an ident on the front end was hard, but the assistant editor did have a stern word if the slate info confusing so - yes try and help the editor as much as you can. Ben
  13. Hello all at cinematography.com You may notice I do not post regularly (working in a school at the moment so not shooting as much as I want) but I do visit and read posts all the time and find its an excellent way to keep updated for when I do shoot. A big thankyou to everyone for teaching everyone! I emailed Tim Tyler yesterday and approached him with the idea of a cinematography.com podcast. Maybe someone has already thought of it (I couldnt find anything here though). I have recently discovoured the potential of this medium and would agree that it can work as a fantastic learning tool (the music ones are pretty cool too!). For example, people could record instructional audio sessions on "Different ways to light a shed" or "top 10 HD do's and dont's" or "how not to annoy your gaffer!" Even if people were super enthusiastic they could do weekly or at least regular updates from the set. Maybe some of the sparks out there may want to put together basic electrical saftey podcasts with inexperienced film makers in mind. Video podcasting would also be useful for maybe step by step guides on how to build budget lighting solutions or even small lighting demonstrations, with the actual footage on the end! I think it could be really fun - I would subscribe! Plus, I assume everyone on here likes to shoot stuff, so who better to do it! well, theres my idea. I would be really interested to see if anyone thinks this is worth developing. all suggestions welcome! Tim suggested I post the idea to see what response it got. Maybe its madness or maybe its another way to make a great site even greater. Thanks again Benjamin Jones (formally Major B) winchester UK
  14. Hi every one. I have searched the forums for an answer before posting, but Im still confused. I have just shot some footage for a friend using the dvx100 (pal). I shot at 25p (1/60th shutter) and now its going to be captured using a canon xl2 as a deck. My editing friend would like to know what settings are best suited to capture 25p in premier pro 2? Any guidence would be much appreciated. regards, Ben Jones - U.K
  15. Dear Dominic and John. Thankyou also for you response - You have helped my understanding of this process. I imagine you cannot ask people to push or pull super 8 stock? I just thought it may be a cheep way of testing this process on the vision 2 stocks. John, Yes that was the software I meant. Thankyou for your links. I watched your acceptance speech too! congratulations (5 years late!). Thankyou both once again. regards Ben Jones
  16. Dear John. Im impressed - Your spot on with that. It looked extreemly grainy. Even though it was supposed to be a kind of grimey kitchen sink drama, i think the grain was a little over the top. I guess the only way to really understand it is to shoot tests myself. Alternatively - We had a representative from kodak speak to us recently and demonstrate the new software you guys have developed to play around with all stages of processing with still images. Where can I see this in action again (I imagine its not downlaodable freeware!) Thanks again Jonh. The information you have given me will clear a few things up when going back over the forums. kind regards, Ben Jones.
  17. Dear John. Thankyou for the infomative link you posted. This has been extreemly helpful my understanding of these processes. I must add, that I always perform searches within the forums before posting for advise. In this case, I was left confused and needed some concise and simple guidence. I understand that most people like yourselves are industry reps and professional camera people and I do not wish to waste anyones time unecessarily. So to test my understanding, You could chose a low contrast stock (like 7229 or 7218) and make a decision to over expose it a stop with the intension of pulling a stop do decrease noticable grain? On the other hand, you could achieve more contrast within either a high or low contrast stock by underexposing by a stop and then pushing by a stop? An extreem case - What would the similarities in image be if you were to use a low contrast stock and under/over expose by an extreem amount (say 3 of 4 stops) and then correct by either pushing or pulling? I will of course search my self, but will appreciate any knowledge you have to offer! A friend of mine made a consious decision to underexpose by a couple of stops on his graduation film and then push 2 stops. It looked terrible - I would of course love to go through the process myself, but do not wish to ruin someone elses project (and thier trust in me) in the name of my experimentation! Thankyou once again for your time, Ben Jones.
  18. Hello everyone. I feel quite silly asking this question because I probably should know. On the other hand, I am still rather inexperienced using 16mm film, and hav'nt been given the opportunity (or maybe more precicely the money) to play around with lab procedures. What Im asking for is if someone could please tell me me the basics of push and pull processing. Is pushing mainly used if you dont think you have enough light? What are the main effects of pushing stock? For example, If you decided to underexpose by a stop and push one stop in the lab, what would the main difference be between the images (one being a correctly exposed image) in terms of quality, detail, colour etc? I know that this must all depend on your stock decision, but I just need some basic direction if any one would be so kind. Is it the negative actually being treated differently? Or is it a process attached to the telecine procedure? Thanks for your time everyone, regards, Ben Jones (no longer a student, but not worthy yet of being a professional ;) )
  19. I bought a manfrotto video tripod kit recently. It consists of a 503 head and 575 aluminium legs with spreaders and a padded case! The head is fantastic and designed to take a weight of up to 8 kilos (so more than sufficient for most high end dv/hd cameras) I only paid 360 of my hard earnt UK pound sterling - a steal! hope this is helpful. regards ben.
  20. Thank you once again Hans That could have lead to a very frustrating mistake. just hope I can locate it in the UK.
  21. strike that, just found the post - its in the news and events forum - "new focus iris control for HVX-200 and AG DVX100B" plain as day - check it out. cheers, Ben
  22. Thanks for that! Looks good - The one I saw was on a wire and plugged into one of the ports in the dvx. still, this looks a little more mechanical and probably more reliable? hope its available in the uk!
  23. Hey all. I noticed recently that there was a post regarding a new bit of kit allowing greater control over focus for the dvx100. I wonder if anyone has used this, and if so how effective/accurate it is? Also, is it available for hire in the uk and at what cost? Im shooting a short this summer with the camera and found that last time I used it, I felt somewhat limited whith no real control over focus. I even tried putting markers on the focus ring and the lens, but because of the servo or for what ever reason, it was'nt consistant. thanks Ben Jones
  24. If you go to camera image festival 2006 this year (poland) you can talk to him in person - he usually goes and does a seminar. Last year it started at 11 o clock in the evening, and went on till 2 am! He gets quite drunk - rock and roll. hope this helps?
  25. Thanks guys. really helpfull. Ive taken on board what you all have said - From the small experience I have had with chroma key practice (dv) I know that Final cut pro HD is terrible at pulling a good key. I think this time its being done in something like key light? Any how DV is what I have been given, so fingers crossed. I planned to so something similar to the drape idea - I plan to just turn of the screen lights altogether. thanks again, regards Ben Jones.
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