Thomas Fossgard

Thanks for the input guys! We ended up shooting the whole thing with a backdrop picture, as the time and resources for keying didn't allow us a bluescreen. Of course a talented and eager post-guy from animation jumped on last minute and want to animate people disintegrating in the nuclear explosion at the end.. but anyway, here's the some shots from the first day of shooting! 1st year cinematographers Tato Kotetishvili and Joaquin Del Paso on the RED, forgive me for the stills, I just screenshotted them from a medium quality RED-reference file with a "look" setting. The data in the RAW is much better, (yes with fill light in the blacks!) I'm just the director with a serious bug of cinematography sickness. The story and the actors might be bad, but at least it will look good! Best and thanks to all of you Thomas Fossgard CHECK THE PICS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24967193@N05/...57616050707145/

But is blur the same as "out of focus?" :blink: (Or as beautiful?) I hope this thread will catch up some speed now, but please don't forget my original question! All the best, Thomas

Thanks, but I'm aware of this. I should have been more specific saying that. I have to broaden the question a little bit then: Is there a good way of blurring the foreground in post, or is there a good way of working with a blurred key? I might be chasing windmills into a nightmarish post-production here.. :-) I'm not a compositing expert, but I would guess I'm looking for some kind of overlay/replacement of greens going towards blacks/other dark colors) all help welcome, and please say so if you think it's hopeless! Thomas

(Please move this post to another section, if you feel it belongs there.) Hello! Currently a student of the polish film school, I have an idea for a shot I very much would like to achieve. It would be pretty straight forward it was shot on location, but I am severely limited in this regard, so we want to build the room in the studio, with a large window with a greenscreen outside. I suspect the question appeals more to the post-crowd than cinematographers, so point me in the right direction if this is the wrong place to ask! Description: Black screen, sounds of person entering room. The black becomes a silhouette of a character, with the room, and a window with view over the city in the background. I want the focus to be on the background, and the motions of the character revealing bits and pieces with his movements in the very near foreground. (like keeping your fingers close to your eyes while reading this! :) Possible solutions 1. Find a perfect location in a scyscraper/highrise... 2. Find a room on ground-level, and build a greenscreen/box outside. 3. Using a backdrop (Out of budget to make one specifically for this) and what I'm thinking of: 4. Building the room in studio with a large window with greenscreen outside. Advantages are of course choosing the perfect view from anywhere in post, mood, light, studio-shooting, longer days, almost free etc. I've been pitching the idea for this shot around the school and most say I should blur the characters in post, but I'm sceptical to this as it has to end up beautiful and realistic.. Does anyone know how to key an out of focus area? Is there a trick to it? Some filter combination or tool that can do it? It will be mostly silhouetted out of focus foreground.. Any tips or pointers most welcome. best regards, Thomas Fossgard (Available shooting formats range from DV, HDV, DVCPRO HD(HVX), Progressive Digibeta, XDCAM HD, and perhaps the Sony HDCAM 750) All with 35mm adapter.)

Hi folks! I'm looking for some advice or ideas on a good way to light a small cabin on location. This could turn out to be a nut as there are certain limitations! (as always..) My idea is to try to make a low-key, gloomy/dramatic look, with hairlight/sidelight(?) motivated by the location sources for the night shots. Hitting som blue redheads in trees outside to get something outside windows. For twilight shots, i was thinking of the windows as main sources. (but not so much that the room will be lit competely by them!) Problem is, the lack of lighting equipment. The budget is stretched so if you think that adding one special equipment is necessary, I should try to keep it under 150$ for 3 days rent. :-) Equipment available: 3 800W Redheads 2 300W Arri fresnels with dimmers 2 Auto poles LOTS of diffusion filters, ND and 1/2 CTB (CTO might be a good investment..) Reflectors Stands We will shoot on DVCPro50 with 35mm lenses. (P+S Pro35, Zeiss superspeed T1.3 18,25,35,50,85, SDX900) Thanks a lot in advance, this is one of my first jobs as DoP. I have experience mostly in natural light, and as lighting technichian for TV, music videos and TV-Drama.. Following is a floorplan, and some pictures of an unprepared location. So geniuses! Have any ideas? :-) Thomas Fossgard Wannabe. B)

Thank you very much for interesting and helping replies guys! So I have decided to go with a generator, and for lights I'm thinking of taking the old 1k openface blondies they have at the school, so i will get the most punch pr.W. Is it a good idea to not use full CTB on them, since the director has asked for a golden, brownish look anyway? I am now talking about lighting for longshots of the actor and the forest. How little CTB can i get away with? Anyone have experience in this using DV? Thanks again for your help. Regards Thomas Fossgard

Hi everyone! I have been lurking in these exellent forums for quite some time by now, and the time has come when i have to apply some skills in the field of lighting, for a short film shot on DV, here at my filmschool in Denmark. Here is my challenge. A short film shot on three days in april, in a spring forest without much green in it yet. The director has asked for a consistent look, and also want a golden look similar to Kieslowskis "A Short Film About Killing" from Dekalog, although not that extreme. Here is my thoughts about equipment setup. Mirrors, reflectorboards, diffusion filters, and molton to draw light from sides of faces. Camera filters include, grad filters (to make the forest look more interesting and less flat), Tiffen gold 1, and maybe a promist. (Some shots call for beautiful images of the forest, and i thought a subtle pro mist coult enhance the highlights.) I would like to try to avoid electrical lights, becouse of budget strain with the renting of a generator + we have only studio lights up to 2k available. (My thinking is that it is a lot of hassle and that a 2k with ctb and diffusion would loos a lot of punch in daylight and might be applicable only for obscure closeups, and that i might be better off without the trouble) I am going to do tests at location in a couple of days, and one of the more interesting things is how well will the DVs latidue handle the extreme contrast of a sunlit forest? What do I do if the weather changes to overcast? What would you think about this reasoning? As I said I have limited experience and rely heavily on theory here :) Do you have any tips or stories about what i should look out for lighting wise on this shoot? All tips and help would be greatly apprecciated! Regards Thomas Fossgard Denmark