timHealy

Generally speaking, I think a green screen may not be a great idea for a phone with reflective glass and aluminum surfaces. Just saying. I'm sure there are times where green screen could work, but a black or white background may be better. I can recall one Samsung series where white was the background and another series where black was the background. One had a motion control camera and a turntable, and the other most phones were attached to a grip stand or held by an actor's hand which in turn was supported by a grip stand and pad to keep steady. Best Tim

I have worked on one series of Samsung tabletop commercials and these things are way more complicated than everyone here thinks. (except David) There are a lot of reflective surfaces including the screen. that need to be lit and dialed in. They typically do a few commercials in one day or over a few days. These phones are not CGI. They are selling the product. However the screens may be embellished depending on what is on the screen at the time. This may look relatively easy but tabletop photography can be surrounded with large sources, fill lights, reflective fill lights or show cards and bounce boards, Silver and gold show cards, mixed daylight and tungsten sources, and solids for unwanted reflections. Tabletop can be mind numbing and tedious. Just saying Best Tim

Instead of Chinese lights try Chinese lanterns. Really easy to use and they are cheap in comparison. They are great lights for beginning filmmakers. In thought spaces though they can be hard to control but if you have larger sets the falloff is quick.

I kind of described the extremes. Often the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Backlight or Production design. See how the woman is separate from the background? Her dark hair against a lighter backdrop? Not so much for the background behind the guy. Other wise use a light. In this case I would use something soft and wide to cover the two. A chimera, a half dome, a westcott. A 4 foot kino with diffusion and all with and egg crate. Something like that. Best Tim

With video compression I see something but not sure what I am seeing. Could it be Moire pattern of the fabric? Best Tim

I agree with Brian. That first video in that first post is a bunch of crap. It looks to me like it was color reversal film or an edited work print with a shitty transfer. On top of that you don't know how it was compressed to video or digital format and then compressed again for the youtube format. For all we know the original footage may have been super 8. Just saying don't judge 16mm film and bolex by that video. Best Tim

I was going to suggest doing it the way Bruce suggested using no glass and VFX. And then adding what David suggested using the little bits of rubber effects glass. You can't tell that stuff is not real. Trying to do it for real would be dumb. Sugar glass isn't really optically clear. If one would try to do it for real you would need special effects guys to blow the glass just before a stunt guy would hit the glass. I worked on War of the Worlds and the effects guys blew glass in the scene where you first see the martian tripods come out of the ground in Newark. Thats kind of what I was thinking. I can't recall what kind of glass they blew, but they did take the original glass out to use some sort of "movie glass". Best Tim David I do have that tool. I actually worked on a commercial for it in a junk yard. Must have been in the early 90's. That thing breaks the door windows ridiculously easy. Something big and blunt like a baseball bat or a crowbar takes many times an a lot of strength. The owner of the junk yard started getting annoyed as we go a little carried away breaking windows not realizing we were chipping away at his income.

It totally depends on the relationship between the gaffer and DP. Some DP's who like to light, are knowledgable, experienced, or possibly are just control freaks, reduce the the gaffer to a technician who tells his crew what to get and where to put it. Some DP's who maybe are not that experienced lighting, or know their gaffer can light better, or are busy with planning the day with the director and AD, may trust a gaffer and their crew to get something started. But usually there is a conversation on the scout about ideas in broad strokes, and the grips and electrics can do the rest and make adjustments to the camera when shooting begins. It is also important to note that light meters are used less and less by some when we shoot in video and there is a DIT guy and a monitor on the set. I'm actually working on a film right now with Ed Lachman and he's got his classic Spectra Professional out for every shot. The old Spectra meter with slides. Something about that meter is elegant to me. Sometimes digital does not mean better. Best Tim

A friend of mine has been his gaffer post oceans movies. Peter Walts. But You can easily find crew names for particular movies on IMDB.com Best Tim

One gaffer I work with loves using source 4 575 watt pars or 500 watt par cans especially when you have to run them off a putt putt down the street from a set and theres no power there. There are some other odd wattages and voltages available if you want to search for options. There was a time when guys use to put in ACL Par 64's in Dino lights with a harness in series. They are 30 volt bulbs. I can't remember if that was before fire starters were available. But there are smaller pars available. There are Par 56,46,38,36,30,20,and 16. Maybe you can find the fixture you like that wasn't made in China but you may have to do some bulb research. Many tungsten bulbs aren't made anymore. Every time I talk to the sales people at Barbizon, less and less spot par bulbs, In the smaller par size, and medium base edison R bulbs are available. Also have you tried experimenting with the Source 4 LED leko's? I don't think they are powerful enough to replace a Joe Leko, but they could be worth a shot. And of course there are some LED par 64's available but I have not used any yet. Might be worth a trip to B and H or a larger theatrical house like 4 Wall to see what options are available that you may like. I know someone at 4 Wall if you find yourself in NY and need a contact to say hello and arrange a demo. And I mistyped in a prior post. I think you can still get 300 watt par 64s. Not 250 watt. Best Tim PS The gaffer I mentioned is one of the two guys who created the Ruby 7. I actually really like that light.

Hey David, Have you tried 500 watt or 250 watt par 64 bulbs instead of the standard 1k? Or 575 watt HPL bulbs instead of 750's for your higher ASA work?

We use par cans and lekos all the time on films and TV. It just depends on the scene, location and depends if it's the right tool for the job. Depending on the gaffer and DP, a typical shooting electric trailer will carry a half dozen lekos and par cans with a variety of lenses (lekos) and bulbs (par cans). And if it's a job with a rigging crew, they may be picking up lekos and par cans for locations work. Best Tim

I lie working on Soderburgh movies, The days are short, and there is no video village. He's the director, DP and operator. He sees everything through the viewfinder. No need to see a monitor or playback.

I've been using sun seeker for a few years now. I like it when it works. I can take a picture of the sun path on a scout and save it so I know when it'll come between two buildings or what time we will get sun or lose it a few months later. Since I work in NY, it comes in handy because of working around skyscrapers. But sometimes it gets confused or malfunctions. When it malfuctions it seems like it is not aligned right. I have used it on an iPhone 4s and 5s. I have never been sure if it was a app problem or iPhone OS problem. I will try some of the others. Best Tim

All this crying about lights. An experienced DP will use the right light for the job. Sometimes that means lots of lights and other times in may mean no or not much at all. That means a DP will consider everything including the budget and size of the film. And if he or she wants to work the same people again. Also lighting rentals are usually a day or a day in a half for the week. Depending where you are in the world and how badly the rental house wants to land the job. best Tim

Cosmo/Ianiro "redheads" have been work horses for years. So has Ianiro "blonde" open face 2k. Was never a big fan of the cosmo open face 2k but it'll work. Arri's open faces are good too. I even like the new HPL 750 open face replacing the 1k open face. The light comes with a ring that a chimera bag easily fits in.

Adam's reviews is spot on. I'm a big fan of Atomic 3000's as he suggests for low budgets but make sure you get the Atomic Detonator to control them. The come in 120v and 208v AC versions (in the U.S. anyway.) Depending how small your shot is, you may be able to play with some LED light fixtures that are DMX controllable. But if you are looking for tried and true, down and dirty, and cheap, then go with the Atomics. Best Tim

That thing is a hot mess on a small set. It's lighting up the whole room like a chinese lantern. Maybe it works better on a stage or a large set with higher ceilings and where it falls off before it hits the walls. Just saying. Best Tim

I've had the chance to work on two Spielberg movies and if there was one thing I noticed is that Kaminski likes to use a lot of light and the work requires rigging electricians and grips, the shoot crew, and straight power and dimmer lines up the wazoo. In that photo there is probably a full truss system and as Andrew Ward suggests, it's the "whole debacle". To me that means several bay lights across the room and par cans, lekos and 2k fresnels hanging from the ceiling just in case. There may even be several 5k's up there for good measure. I haven't seen the film yet but it's on my list. So I can't really say if it is a practical location or a stage. I have friends who worked on the NY city portion of the film. I could try and find out. If it is a book light for the key. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a 12x clay coat (sp?) bounce with a 12x grid cloth frame with a soft egg crate with a couple of maxi brutes or a half dozen mini brutes/fay lights into it. Not to mention a 12x solid for negative fill on camera right. Since I have not seen the film yet, can someone describe the action in the scene? I can ask a friend what they did. Best Tim

What Phil said, twice.

I have always found open face lights are great for bounces as they will always put out more light than a comparable size fresnel. It always keeps the set cooler too if you are bouncing something in a small room. It doesn't mean a fresnel won't work. It's just an open face will be more efficient. Sometimes I'll use par can for a bounce if the bounce is up high. That way you can easily hit a bounce with more punch and keep the light a little further away for more spread on the bounce material. Best Tim

What size cable are you using for your main cable runs? I would imagine you would have 5 wire number 2 banded. Is 2/0 available? Also how large is the generator you are using? How far will the generator be from the set? How long will the cable run be? All these questions are to find out how to cable up your set and consider load and line loss. Not knowing any of the above, if you have 5 wire number 2 banded you can run 125 amps on each phase safely. to balance the load for a generator you can put the 12k on red and blue. the first 6k can go on black and blue. I would put the second 6k on Black and red. That will be the best you can do. When you can it is best to balance and plug your big lights first. Tim

I have always not minded the rolling shutter where you can see the strobes come in and out of sync at the end or Alien where Sigourny Weaver gets on the shuttle with the cat. But there's lots of stuff going on visually.

What is the shot size? ... That's a rhetorical question Best Tim