Stephan Guldenpfennig

Good day Mr. Rhodes It seems like I will have to go the montage route then. As for shooting anything, it seems unlikely at first. To me it seems like the company just wants to see that I have had practical experience. Thank you for the swift reply. Regards Stephan

Good day I am a cinematography student in my third and last year of studying. Thus far I have shot a handful of short films (3 of which may be considered noteworthy) as well as various short documentary videos such as interviews, musical performances, a music video, etc. I am applying for an 18 month internship at a television network in Germany and I am required to send in a DVD containing some of the work that I've done. My understanding of a showreel is that it is a short sequence displaying your work. This is where my enquiry comes in - how long/short should it generally be? Is there specific pacing of such a video sequence? Is there any type of music that works specifically well with showreels? Any input would be appreciated with regards to this topic. Stephan Güldenpfennig

Good day Adrian. Thank you for your thorough and detailed reply, I am certainly updating my shopping list. I have a few questions about some of the things you mentioned, which google didn't manage to help me out with. What is (a) Panchro? Also, what are Panchos? I only managed to find a Mexican buffet restaurant, which I assume is not what you were referring to. Otherwise, I will try and get all of the above-mentioned.

Good Day I am going into a three-day shoot for a student film as the cinematographer, essentially being the DOP of the shoot. I would like to get some input on what the essentials would be for a cinematographer to have on set - I am talking consumables to make the shooting process easier, not any kind of gear. Here is a list that I've made so far, please feel free to add to the list if there is anything useful that you have found. Gaffer gloves - for preventing barn doors and lights from burning your hand off gaffer tape - for, well, everything. plain markers - marking gear, making notes and for focus pulling Black wrap - that magic black stuff that wraps around any light to flag off spill light Washing pegs - for putting gels on lights dust-off - an absolute necessity deodorant - if someone marked the clapper board with a permanent marker, works well to get it off. Plus it's just convenient for everyone else if you don't smell like a hobo Maglite - taking focus, finding things in the dark Lens cleaning kit screw driver set Allen keys (also known as hex keys) multitool - the one with the toothpick, you never know when it might come in handy. Please add things that you may have found to be practical and helpful to getting things done easier on shoots.

Yes David that's also my assumption. The character on the far left's hand moves down from her forehead to her chin at a noticeably slower rate than the actual character, it's a combination of good set design and the use of 2 way mirrors. I wanted to try this shot for my project but I don't think that would be able with my budget. I didn't see the different coloured sleeves before you noticed it, that's quite an obvious mistake, strange. In an interview with the DOP he mentioned that they had to "remove" a focus puller's shoulder that came in shot at one point, strange how they didn't manage to notice the obvious continuity mistake. Nevertheless the shot is a cool effect

Thank you Chris. Another excellent example I found with a slightly different approach (no visual effects were used) is the following example from Sucker Punch:

Thank you for the reply Alan. Fly-away wall noted. Would you be able to give any input as to how the character's movement, although not perfect, was so accurate? Because you can see the character's body almost swaying to the sides as he approaches the mirror, so this would look very strange had he not moved so accurately on both shots.

Good day Please see the following link to a scene out of the 2009 film Mr Nobody filmed by Christophe Beaucarne. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90CpBg7J-DY I would like any advice on shooting a shot similar to the following scene: A character walks towards a mirror in a room, the camera follows from behind. We see the character look at himself in the mirror. The camera tracks into the mirror and it moves to show a full frontal POV shot of the character looking directly into the camera, as if he is looking at himself in the mirror. The camera then follows the character out of the room, even though it appears as if the camera is moving further into the direction of the mirror. I was able to work out that the character is looking into, what was on set, a green screen. By excellent blocking, the actor was able to mimic his movement that was taken on another shot almost perfectly (a very small delay is seen in his head movement when looking towards screen right). My question to the forum is whether anyone has advice for a cinematography student shooting this scene for a short film on how to pull this shot off. How is the shot taken that was masked in the green screen? i.e. the “reflection of the mirror” shot. Was the camera in a static position until the movement took place where the camera moves around to face the character directly face-on? Did the production designer have to “flip the set” in order to make the shot in the mirror look like an actual reflection? How does one block an actor that well when he is only looking into a green screen and has no reference point? I have a cricket dolly and steel tracks as well as a steadicam available to shoot this shot, so either piece of equipment could be used to pull off this shot. I apologise for the long post but there are many questions that I am asking myself, and for the life of me I cannot exactly figure out how this shot was achieved so seamlessly. Regards Stephan Guldenpfennig