John Allardice

IIRC, far back in the mists of time, it was pretty handy for mounting a mini-jib on, but it's also a damn sight heavier to lug around than a set of sticks. J

IIRC, its a multiple of 2.5 to convert 2/3" to 35mm academy... in other words a 25mm cooke s4 would have the equivalent FOV to a 10mm fujinon on a 2/3" eng setup J

In Phil's world it's ALWAYS overcast and raining J

In the case of commercials it is, and is always gonna be, a comfort factor for the agency and the client. The more they can see on the shoot,( and, of course, the more obviously they can see their money being spent) the happier they're gonna be, and if they can park themselves on a nice overstuffed leather couch near craft services at the side of the stage and watch a HD feed on a couple of 24" Dells or Apple Cinema displays, they're gonna feel more confident about the result. The more confident they feel, the more you can get away with creatively. Remember, most of the commercial business runs on fear, ( anyone here who's ever shot commercials will be nodding sagely by now) anything you can do to help alleviate that fear is a damn good thing. J

...and don't you forget it ! J

Pop down a sheet of mylar,( a thin reflective flexible plastic sheeting) onto the floor, that'll reflect both the greenscreen & the talent. In the comp you'll need to rotomask round the guy's feet, to seperate the area that's going to be distorted as the puddle "splashes". Try to light the mylar sheet as little as possible, just let it reflect. J

Thanks for the info Jan. Are we going to be seeing any actual footage from the engineering mockup posted anywhere after the official launch tomorrow? J

well, having had (by the time I first moved over)14 years experience in first practical, then digital FX, I qualified for an H1-b, the visa you'd need to get up to 6 years over here. After two consecutive H1 visas: 1 ok year with Digital Domain, 5 GREAT years with Foundation Imaging. I'd garnered enough material to move to an O1 visa( Alien of extraordinay ability: Arts, Motion Picture or Television), this is permanently renewable, I'm on my second one now, but I'm still gonna go the whole hog, Green Card, Citizenship, anyway. ...and BTW, when you're working for guys like Fincher and Romanek, you NEED specialist knowledge. Its not just a case of the employer 'claiming' it so you can 'wangle' your way in. J

Actually I've just moved on from DD now, but there's still a couple of of ex-amiga brits there, Cris Blyth & Rory McLeish, we all worked together at 'Team 17' in the UK, doing intro's for stuff like 'Worms' and 'Alien Breed' and each, with a few years in between, migrated over to LA...all to DD. The DD thing was because we all used Lightwave...still the staple of the DD commercial division.

If you mean mags like Amiga Format, about ten years ago, then yeah...guilty as charged.

Jeezus Phil, you're not really happy about anything much, are you? I wouldn't say the comment is glib...it's actually more indicative of the different attitudes on either side of the pond. After having tried to make a go of the industry in the UK for 15 years and (along with most other people I knew) not having much success, I decided to go where the work was. The choice as I saw it, was either to lapse into a typically British attitude of, 'Woe is me, what happened to our film industry? Look at all you lucky American bastards". Spending the rest of my life jealous and pissed off.... OR to simply get off my arse and do something about it. I chose the latter. I arrived here knowing VERY few people..not having any network to speak of, but I worked my arse off and the results were astounding. In the UK hard work is very rarely rewarded. An all-pervasive attitude, not just a film industry one. Trying to 'better yourself' or 'improve your position' is looked upon with deep distaste, (frankly, I think it's a throwback to having such a fixed, stultified class-system )not to say contempt. The US is however the complete opposite. There is enough work going around to employ a good chunk of the competent people in the industry, but you're still not going to excel unless you're really willing to put the extra effort in. As I said, I started over here from scratch, eight years ago, with no contacts. I've since shot a metric buttload of stuff, directed a decently budgeted feature, been nominated for 3 emmys, won 5 Clio's, several AICP awards and am just starting out on what looks (so far) to be a pretty promising commercial directing career. I'm not exceptionally talented, I just work hard, and I NEVER give up. In the UK that and five quid would get you a pint....over here?...well I dont know where I'll end up, but I'm still not there yet. It ain't glib...over here it's just the truth. John Allardice

and y'know what? Thats the directors perogative. Like it or not, at the end of the day, we work for them. John Allardice Digital Domain

I cant help the feeling that you're missing the point, people don't admire him for the violence in his movies, most of his acclaim comes from the somewhat unique voice that he, and therefore his characters, have. Definitely unrealistic, but unique. Dismissing violence in films as lazy filmaking is actually just lazy reviewing. If you can't see the difference betwen an eighties slasher pic & 'Kill Bill', maybe you need to watch a few more thousand movies before considering embarking on a directing track. I'd hate to hear what you think of Sam Peckinpah. John Allardice Digital Domain

Panasonic are also releasing the camera at a $9999 price bundled with two 8Gb p2 cards, this'll give you 16 minutes of storage at 1080 24p, which this camera is also capable of. Once you've shot the cards can download to laptop through the PCMCIA slot( which the P2 cards plug right into) whilst you're preparing the next setup, and viola, you got the equivalent of a permanently self-loading 1500' mag John Allardice Digital DP Digital Domain

Funnily enough, whilst watching the Live-8 concert the other week, I noticed that the performances from Paris were obviously being shot 24p. It was the first time I'd seen live stuff being broadcast in that fashion, one odd side effect of this ( may just be me, but I dont think so) was that it didnt feel 'live', the whole subliminal effect of the 24p gave the impression that one was watching a pre-recorded segment. Possibly a reason that this format will not catch on for news gathering? John Allardice Digital DP Digital Domain

yeah......like those other little-known works, The Time machine, The Invisible Man, First Men in the Moon, The Island of Doctor Moreau etc.. It's not exactly as if H.G.s' work would have faded into obsurity without Orsons' contribution

Maybe its just wishful thinking, but I always figured they do so much business with the C-Series because those ones have the best-looking artifacts and abberations ( the ones most of us grew up watching)