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Kyran Ford

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Everything posted by Kyran Ford

  1. How do you all feel about demo reels for gaffer credits, as well lighting tech credits? I have seen it done, even by grips. First, a bit about myself: I am an electrician; I gaff some smaller stuff; I aspire to be a DP. I would like to make myself a demo reel (since I am consistently asked for one) but have not photographed enough for a DP reel. I figured it to be silly to have a DP reel with credits as gaffer and/or electric included, but I wanted to ask publicly for opinions. If I did, I would have titles on each piece with my position - if gaffer, including the DP's name; if electrician, including the gaffer's name and DP's. Look forward to hearing thoughts.
  2. Agreed with Stuart. 1/2 soft frost overhead, forced negative fill (8x solid), reflected edge (shiny board), small bounce under the lens for eyelight. Shoot the wides at sun rise and leave grip work to control the closeups. ND and Pola if you want to shoot for 2.8 or 2.8/4 split.
  3. If you want a rolling stand you can get up high, your best bet is the triple-riser junior stand. The Matthews ones get to about 13'. American Grips go slightly higher but are more expensive. A crank stand is overkill for a flathead 80 in my opinion. No reason it should take two people to man it unless you're that uncomfortable with it. Also potentially safer and even cheaper to just buy a rolling stand than to put casters on combos...
  4. Take the battery cover off and make sure the last tab is flipped from still to cine, then just continue to use the scroll wheel past shutter speeds until it automatically switches to frames per second.
  5. It's a device used for measuring exposure and amounts of light with an incident and/or spot meter. Since you're asking about digital specifically.... You can dial in your settings (shutter speed and frame rate) and easily get an exposure reading in aperture stop for your lens. Incident light is the reflected light, or the amount of light falling on your subject or an area. Spot meters are typically used to measure the exposure of a specific 'spot' juxtaposed to the varying exposures in the remaining areas in your shot. I use my spot meter to keep myself in a safe zone with the latitude whatever camera we're shooting on has. Read up on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_meter
  6. Kentucky Grip & Lighting http://www.kentuckygrip.com/ KENTUCKY GRIP & LIGHTING 10005 Bunsen Way Louisville, KY 40299 phone: 502-548-5833 Studio facility plus 1-ton, 3-ton, and 4-ton grip vehicles, as well as lighting, generators, etc.
  7. DR&A http://www.griptruck.com/ DOUG RICE & ASSOCIATES TV & FILM PRODUCTION SERVICES 45 Willow Street Nashville, TN 37210 phone: 615-256-6200 | fax: 615-256-6236 Studio facility plus 1-ton, 3-ton, 5-ton, and 10-ton grip vehicles, as well as dollies, generators, lighting, etc.
  8. Citation Support, Inc. http://www.citationsupport.com/ CITATION FILM/TAPE SUPPORT, INC. 6737 Centennial Boulevard Nashville, TN 37209 phone: 615-298-5252 | fax: 615-298-3835 Studio facility/sound stage plus 1-ton, 3-ton, 5-ton and 7.5-ton grip vehicles, generators, lighting, etc.
  9. Bought a couple from a user here. A mod can remove this now.
  10. Guy always kills it with his posts -- loads of invaluable info! Adrian hit the nail on the head in his first post. I assisted before electric work, and a camera assistant once told me a way to improve my distance judgement would simply be to guess the distances between objects and then measure to see how right or wrong I was. I ended up starting to use this trick (and I still do) for light. I simply eyeball the exposures, and I've developed a pretty good eye for it. Of course you can rely on the meter for accuracy with half stop or third stop increments.
  11. Yes, if you can, go to locations beforehand and perform any tests needed. This will also allow you and/or your gaffer to solve any potential issues before the shoot, as well as discuss how you are going to light. Your best bet would be to watch out for a good deal on an older used color meter on eBay or forums. Glad I could help.
  12. Your first question you should always ask yourself as a DP is what kind of look and feel you are going for. As a DP, I typically stick to lighting a scene using units with the same temperature (just what I've picked up from more experienced DPs) unless I'm going for a look or feel that should require something else. I'll use a color meter if I'm gaffing and the DP wants to mix color temperatures. I recommend always dialing in-cam. Gray cards are pretty impractical unless accurate and of decent size. Sometimes it's simply a budget issue; for example, say the larger units needed are HMIs when the rest of the scene is lit tungsten, in which case I'll gel those lamps -- not ideal because of lost intensity but it works. This is what I recommend you doing when mixing your tungsten and Kinos (unless you're using tungsten bulbs in those). Otherwise, you can find a balancing point if you're OK with that.
  13. Need another. Money in PayPal ready to go. Feel free to email me at kyran@sleepingsunfilms.com or give me a shout at 270.392.4607. Thanks in advance.
  14. Stupids questions are the ones not asked. Sometimes, all that's needed is a little clarification. It's part of how we learn.
  15. You should be able to work with your package, especially in a smaller space. Just gel your tungsten sources with CTB. You won't get the same exact look as HMI, but you'll get a similar effect.
  16. Yeah, you don't need welding gloves. That would be a bit ridiculous. I hardly ever use gloves anymore. Even when I do, it's usually only when removing scrims or lenses while a lamp is burning. As for your foam core/bead board, 3/16", 1/2", and 1" are the typical sizes. It doesn't really matter what height/width you get. You can even cut it up to fit your needs. I don't know if I would trust that cheap of dimmer. If you're trying to stay cheap, just build your own in-line out of a socket dimmer and socket adapters on each end. It will be good for dimming down your china balls or blown out practicals in your interview setups. As for stands, agreed with Scott, rent. You can also rent a 4x frame when needed. As for a DIY PVC frame, I actually built one (8x) several years ago just for shits and giggles. It ended up being sort of pricey for what I was expecting to pay (~$40), but I did come up with the most sturdy possible build, which was still wobbly. That being said, I wouldn't do it again. Just rent whatever you need. Should you ever be on a tight budget without the ability to rent a larger frame like a 12x or 20x, then you may build one and rig it in its position to stay firm -- not ideal but acceptable on a micro-budget. Edit: Ha! First post! Have been a lurker for a couple years, finally joined last year, and now finally made a post.
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