Dustin Supencheck

Hey Everyone, This is the first time I've legitimately run into this problem. I'm loosing out on some work/precious pay on one job because of the out of town travel on another and of course they are not offering any pay for the travel day. What is standard practice for travel days? I've heard some friends argue for a full day rate or half day rate. Also, what about shoots that are out of town and you have "days off?" Is it better to just negotiate a flat rate for the entire project? Just wanted to get everyone else's opinion, maybe hear what the union standard is. I am by no means anywhere near union however. Thanks,

This is always a tough time to shoot. What it's coming down to is some intense pre production. I would say some of the short you HAVE to shoot during these two 30 minute windows. Yes I think you can shoot in the morning and at night. They are marginally different. Which over 4 days of shooting only gives you apprx 4 hours of actual shooting time. That stated you need to know exactly where your camera is going and what your blocking is far in advance to production day. If you have enough pre planning you can knock out a lot of shots in this short amount of time since you are simply using all natural light. (maybe have someone run around with a bounce for some fill) And make sure that you are metering quickly before every take because the light levels will be changing rapidly. I would probably underexpose a bit for this look. A set of fast lenses will obviously be quite beneficial to buy you more shooting time. Now 4 hours is probably not enough time to shoot even a short film. This is where it will take some ingenuity. What is it that you like about this blue hour? I'm assuming it's the quality and the color. I love this time of day myself. I try to utilize it as much as possible. The quality of the light is extremely soft and appears quite low contrast and the blue gives it such a beautiful mood. You can recreate this. Maybe not for your wides, but certainly for your close ups. Ideally you could get your hands on a color temp meter and go out during your favorite time of day and read what it's at in terms of color temp. Take this reading and use it to find the right filtration to match that color. Now it's quality you need to worry about. If you get a really cloudy day you may be able to make this work. I would recommend that you don't see the sky for the shots you are "faking." It will appear blown out and white unlike the beautiful blue you are going for. That or you could use a frame of some sort of thick diffusion (grid or muslin, hell if you're on a budget I've used bed sheets in the past) but you don't want the background to be brighter than your subject so you need to cut that down as well. Like I said you might only be able to fake your close ups especially if you don't have a huge budget. Try doing all of this to get your image as close to the look you are going for and if worst comes to worst tweak it a bit in post and you'll be spot on. Also be sure to take a bunch of test stills beforehand. That's how I do all of my pre production. I hope this wasn't too much of a jumbled mess! Happy shooting!

I would probably use a 2'x4 bank kino with grid cloth and maybe some sort of blue to match the look of the dash. A mini flo might be a useful tool for specific closeups. Depending on how tight your space is it might be a difficult task keeping the kino out of frame and rigging it. You can also make a very light soft box out of a shoe box, incandescent light fixture/bulb, and diffusion. Something similar to this link. http://www.diyphotographystuff.info/474/diysmall-softbox/ Just replace the flash for an incandescent and you have a very soft and very light fixture.

I worked at a rental facility where we would drive a remote control car around practicing our operating, focus pulling, and driving skills. Good way to waste some time.

One of my most useful bounce sources I made was a 4x4 piece of bead board (foam from home depot) fastened to foamcore for support. Then I covered the foamcore with muslin I purchased from a fabric store. Cost less than $20. The great thing about fabric stores is that you have so many options of quality and color in the fabrics for half the price. The film tools stuff is expensive in the same way that clothes pins are cheaper than "C-47's"

Even with the ability to change white balance in post doesn't negate the fact that the daylight is a different temp than the fluorescents. I have shot things that a mis match in color is appropriate, but it gives it a much less "pleasant" look. One thing I would consider is not using the fluorescents at all. If you have large enough windows that light will be enough and window light looks beautiful. That depends on if you're seeing the fluorescents in the classroom. Don't know how many bulbs or even how much time/money you have, but you could also gel the fluorescents. Not sure this would end up being much cheaper. I'd say talk to your rental house about cutting a deal on daylight bulbs. If I were doing this on a budget I would probably kill the fluorescents and add a little fill artificially.

A little late to this forum and a little off topic. Has anyone had any experience with scanning super 16 at 4k? Is this overkill?

I've been reading a lot of film vs digital budget breakdowns and everyone keeps forgetting the cost of 35mm camera equipment. In your case you own the camera but in many they compare the raw stock, processing and scanning to the rental of an Alexa. Well what about the cost of an equivalent 35mm camera and aks?

Another thing I've not been so clear on is the difference for "super 35" is this simply adding the soundtrack area in the negative? In which case you get same aspect ratio as 2 perf plus extra resolution from exposing more of the film negative. Plus 1/4 the cost of course.

And it takes years for these guys to get good at this job. Unsung heroes who only get noticed when they do a bad job. Especially with the popularity of shallow dof and handheld.

Do Dop's often get residuals on a project? I was thinking more in the vain of indie features.

Sometimes people confuse "dim" with "soft." Mustn't be afraid to go a little bigger.

Hey everyone, I'm shooting a short film in the Boise, ID area and I'm looking for a solid g/e rental. We require some larger set ups (18k, 6k space lights, etc) if anyone has any recommendations in the Idaho/Washington area please let me know. Any help is greatly appreciated. PS Idaho is such a beautiful area and I'm shocked more films aren't shot there. Thanks

Plus I just realized the widest panavision lens in c series is 40mm. Not a good lens to get wide landscape shots. If I get the opportunity to shoot tests I will be sure to post.

I too have been doing research on shooting 16mm anamorphic. Does anyone see a huge issue with shooting with 35mm lenses? I'd like to shoot with the Panavision C-Series lenses to get a very classic anamorphic look, but it's been very difficult to find any information. Obviously shooting some tests before principle photography would be ideal, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the budget to do so. I'd also like to use a 2x anamorphic to get the most drastic effect. Which would lead me to shooting standard 16mm. Leaving me with a native aspect ratio of 2.66:1. I've considered simply leaving it as this aspect ratio. Would this be a huge distribution headache considering it wouldn't fill the entire screen? We will be entering festivals in 2k or 4k so I don't foresee an issue, but I'd like to hear other's opinion. The other option is to crop the sides, but I don't like the idea of loosing that resolution. Thanks in advanced for any tips/advice!

Haven't used the tracker dolly, but my only problem with the Indy dolly is that you can't ride on it. Makes it very difficult to operate complicated moves. It is pretty smooth for simple tracking shots though.

You can also use an 80a filter to convert tungsten heads to daylight for cleaner image, but unfortunately you lose 1 1/2 stops of light.

What stop were you shooting at? If you had "big" lights it seems hard to believe you had troubles getting exposure. With photos I don't even like shooting with a shutter any slower than 1/100. Might just need a faster lens or higher wattage lights?

Careful with mixing fire/lamp light and moonlight. I always feel this can look a little silly. You just want a base level of information in the trees behind them. Like your eyes would see sitting around a fire. As go your lantern, I don't think you'll have problems with getting exposure from the lamp depending on the lens/camera choices. Barry Lyndon was shot with JUST candle light for many scenes but its not about simply getting exposure when you are lighting a scene it's about setting a mood.

I'm a big fan of the fight club bar scene. I hate this word, but it has a gritty look with mixed color temps and I recall a bit of fog. Also social network ha a pretty distinct look for a bar scene at the beginning of the film. The fun thing about bars is that you can really go crazy with the lighting schemes. Killing them softly is flooded with beautiful soft sunlight. You can mimic the neon signs. Pool tables always have an awesome look. To me be scenes are a huge collaboration between the production design and what you choose for a location. Pick a bar that has the right mood for the scene and then accentuate the practical sources that are there.