Gillian

Your earlier post just killed me! Annie wrote: I always joke that if I ever do have a kid or two someday, they will be trained like little monkeys to do all my dirty work. First sentence will be "Camera ready". One will label the mags and the other will clean lenses. Bwahahaha.? Speaking of which this is a photo of me and my nieces and nephews taken in September. Notice what my nephew is reading! (Gilly with yonger sis and a few "friends") He asked for that as his ?bed time story!!!? I?m totally not kidding! As soon as it stops raining Auntie is taking him out to ?make movies? with his video camera. Never too young to start them off right! LOL We have a joke in the family that as soon as the rising generation is tall enough we?re putting them to work! Currently the eldest is 10?just another 6 years? Re?:Faking sick to get out of class? these days we?re all ?faking well!? LOL

I was really glad to see this thread! I think a lot of us struggle with compatibility of mate and career. It?s been difficult for me to find someone who is as passionate about his work as I am about mine. Usually, when this is the case he is in one of these unusual and spectacular fields! When I come home, I want him to be just as fired up about his work as I am about mine, and I want to be as interested in what he does as he is about what I do! Let?s face it, looks can fade with age, accidents, and hardships! Compatibility and the ability to work through things through thick and thin?that goes all the way! Actually my (favourite) sister-in-law handles being the wife of her composer hubby rather well. When I went out to work in their studio as a sound editor I saw first hand how to live with the insecurity of the ?feast or famine? mode that is the norm for much of the film industry-and I also saw how a really great husband/wife relationship should work! Pamela, (sis in law) is the queen of ?the bargain? even in the feast years she?s careful and frugal, knowing that a repeat of ?the black year? could always happen again! She?s totally involved, friends with all her husbands? friends, employer?s and coworkers (and wives). My brother states loudly and frequently that without her, he NEVER would have made it! Now, while she is not part of the business, she is his main support and she is interested in his work! Incidentally, at the beginning of his career, she worked a full time job with health insurance!!! I feel that having one?s significant other interested in what one does is if not vital, then at least desirable! You have the option to educate your potential mate! You?re excited about it! So get HER (or him) excited about it! Tell her why you love it and let your enthusiasm rub off! Teach her! Sit down; watch her favourite movies WITH her (this is how Gilly roped her current boy friend! Grin) and then explain why she was feeling what she was feeling, and teach her about the shots, camera work, lighting etc! There is no better teacher then one who knows and loves his subject. Annie & Ellen - I loved hearing your point of views and it?s great to see more ladies on the board! Mitch??With comment #1 in mind, I will say that I find a woman wearing a toolbelt quite sexy.? LOL Gillian Thomas

Thanks everyone! I?m learning so much and I really appreciate the time you take to answer all these questions. Okay, but I am feeling pretty stupid here because I didn?t get the term ?ND?. I understand everything else though. A bit of fan mail, David- I picked up a copy of Cinematography 3rd edition at Boarders about a month ago and it?s fantastic!! I really like the new images. My last copy was very tattered-pages were falling out, and I was considering re-buying it when I saw that the new edition was out! How very fortuitous. Let me know when you?re doing book signings! :) Thanks also for recommending "Film Style & Technology: History & Analysis" by Barry Salt It was exactly the book I needed. Thanks again, Gillian

Scissors! LOL I was thinking ?hole punches? myself, but either way, poor props department! Gillian

In a recent article I read an interview of a director whose television show recently made the switch from 35mm to high def. When the interviewer asked for Peter DeLuise to comment on the differences he said ?I slap on a longer lens and call it ?good?. Okay, I?m thinking that there is a lot more to it then that, but the interviewer didn?t seem to know the right questions to ask, so I never got a satisfactory answer. I not that interested in the differences of working with HD from the directors perspective but I would love to know how different the lighting for HD is as opposed to film. Thanks! Gillian

Landon D. Parks wrote: ?I don?t think this is so bad though, as for some movies, you may want to "animated" look, like for fantasy films, ect.. From the Previews, The Chronicles of Narnia looked like it was shot on HD, until I seen the behind the scenes thing on apple trailers...? That?s what I thought when I saw it as well, is ?Lion? shot in HD? I want to learn a lot more about HD, any good books you guys can recommend? All my friends work in 16mm or 35mm? Gilly

FrankDiBugnara wrote: "A great use of the technique is when the audience can't really identify the shot as being tilted, but yet experiences the psychological impact of a slight Dutch". Yes, I totally agree, something I?ve noticed with very subtle angles, vertigo zooms, and other ?effects? camera work. Film really is about emotion, isn?t it? Filmmakers are like the great painters of the past, but now were ?painting? with movement and sound as well as images. Can you name any films or television where you felt this effect was used particularly well? bob1dp wrote: "If you are looking for a single film that inspired the use of Dutch angles I would start my search with German expressionist films of the 1920?s. ?The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? for example". Thanks! I really am working on filling in my HUGE enormous gap in film knowledge, so any films that you really feel made an impact on style, or where a big technological advancement was made, anything that you can recommend, I?d certainly appreciate it! Gillian

Thanks for all your informative and evocative answers! No one could remember if it was a single film that spawned the ?Dutch Angle? such as Hitchcock?s ?Vertigo Zoom? from the film Vertigo, or it like ?Film Noir? a name for a genre. I tend to like the use of the Dutch angles, but then I like pretty much everything but the repeated use of the ?doc style? so there you have it, <grin> no accounting for taste! :) Thanks again, Gillian

Quick question, does anyone know what the actual name of the Dutch movie that we got the term ?Dutch Angles? from? Thanks!!! Gillian

Batman Begins is a beautifully lit movie. I will see Cinderella Man tomorrow night-which most people are saying is the best summer film so far, until then Batman Begins is the best I?ve seen. Thanks for the info on the blue flower/hallucination sequence! When I saw it I was like ?how did they do that?? I had a few ideas but it was nice to hear what pros in the field thought. I worked in professionally in post-sound design-so I?m relatively new to the camera and lighting end of filming. I was very impressed by the contrasts, the deep shadows and the interesting lighting. In such a dark movie it?s easy to get too black. I never felt that with this movie. -Pfister did an amazing job. I hope if Christopher Nolan films more Batman that he brings Pfister along as DoP! I 2nd Marty?s question? ?Am I to understand the whole process was photochemical, no DI? What stocks were used? The blacks were definitely there and I noticed some really nice detail in shadow areas that I was afraid would be lost on the drive in screen (which is not only pushing it for a dark print, but our screen is in bad need of painting)??Thanks everyone for your insightful and interesting posts. Gillian

Or in this case Canada... (That report was from CBC.ca, at http://www.cbc.ca/news/, I saw it this morning) I go and see the movies that really interest me in the theaters and I save the rest for rentals.

I love television but I seldom have time to simply sit down and watch it when it?s on. Who does, right? Luckily now we have DVDs! As we all know, most television is very formulaic and does not vary from much from one episode to another. So, once you?ve watched one season, you?ve seen pretty much seen everything that they have to offer. Some shows are different-experimental and visually creative. I was wondering what television shows you thought were lit and filmed in visually interesting and innovative ways. Though I?m interested primarily in shows that can be purchased on DVDs (for region one) I am also just darn curious what shows you were interested in--what shows you find exciting and really enjoy watching! Thanks! It?s been a real treat reading these posts every day. Gillian

Well, you already named most of the ones that I was thinking of, but the new Battlestar Galactica movie (mini series) is chalk full of snap zooms. I'm not sure it counts as it is intentionally done in the Doc style! (grin) I didn't watch it that carefully-not that interested in it-although it is BEAUTIFULLY lit by Joel Ransom (Director of Photography--he also worked on Band of Brothers and The X-Files just to name a few.) As a general rule unless the zoom is slow I tend not to be in favour of the use of too many zooms, but the zoom certainly has its place and others have pointed out films where the zoom was beautifully used to further the story point of a scene. Gilly?s opinion: In a scene where the story point is all about what someone is saying/feeling and you want the background to be rendered unimportant and drop away more quickly then it would in a push in, then the zoom is the way to go. Because you are actually narrowing your depth of field; narrowing your focus, then the viewer has a tendency to focus more on a single important thing in the frame. I guess what I am saying is that if it works with in the confines of the story that the director is telling then by all means the zoom should be used. The zoom is a tool that should be used, like any tool, when and where it is appropriate. As TimJBD stated -- Zooms are noticeable! They sticks out--so when the story justifies it then it should be used. I seen it used best when it makes an important point-and/or creates a noticeable "pause" in the visual flow of the story. Cinematorgaphy.com is one of my two ?stalked? web sites! I count myself a ?student? and I enjoy popping in and reading all these posts nearly every day. Thanks for making this site fun and informative! Gillian