James Brown

Hi, Smaller wattage Fresnel's are not anywhere near as common anymore, therefor they are cheap to get second hand and are a good quality versatile light, but, a lot of them are NOT flicker free. Par's are the way to go, if you want a lot of punch out of a small unit, It's always better to have more light and take it away then not enough. If i can put a suggestion in i would say to mix your lighting expenditure up with a HMI, Tungsten and some Kino. I would find it very hard to light talent and a blue screen with 1.2's only! but then again you probably have it sorted. Couple of Blondies, pup's, 650's, a 1.2, a four foot four banka, wallo'light 2 foot 2banka, china balls, par cans ect would be (roughly) the same price as 4 1.2's. James.

Hi, Depends on how big your area is and how much your seeing. I wouldn't be too bothered about having a few shadows otherwise you will be fighting trying to get enough soft light in there. You could use a 1.2 through a frame of diff (prob 216 or 250) washing down the shelf from behind camera and getting some nice spread.... I find a bit of hard light in a wide shot will make the products glisten and give you some nice highlights. All depends on your budget and size of supermarket but a hmi will do the trick. James

Hi, I think it looks great. Stylised realism in a way. Looks like some good use of handheld and a very natural look. Please let us know when it comes out. Main criticism: When the Kanye West track kicks in it loses all its substance. The eastern music and the opening shots reminded me of Babel, then, i became distracted and disappointed. On the photography: Congrats. James.

It is hard to actually know how much green is in these tubes... ? You can replace the tubes with either daylight or tungsten tubes from home a home depot store which is considerably cheaper then Kino's. ? Put the sufficient lighting gel on your film lamps and correct the whole scenes colour in post. ? You could gel all the tubes but this is time consuming and can be expensive. ? Sometimes it looks nice with a Fluorescent Top light and your key or fill a different colour. You may want to motivate a nice big soft daylight source or some tungsten bouncing off a desk, this, contrasted with the fluorescent top light can look quite interesting. James.

Easy as changing any fluorescent tube. The only difference is that the Kino tube is larger.

Hi, Depending on the scenario I have always loved the look of a baby soft with half straw plugged into a flicker tricks set at random increments. Recently a Tungsten source with 1/2 85 bounced into a loose gold reflector. Just give the gold bounce a bit a wobble and looks great, very believable. But the bounce should not be on polly and just stuck loosely in a 4x4 frame so it's got some place to shimmer. James.

No offence, but why would someone enjoy that. I'm pretty upset that i watched it until end. James.

I agree on all the above points. In the day this video was the most talked about hit within the skateboard circle "have you seen the new chocolate/girl vid" often rang out high above the skatepark. "Style over substance" makes ordinary people enjoy a sports movie even when they dont like the sport. James.

This film was shot so long ago back when it was the norm for skateboarders to just film each other. All other skateboarders wanted to see was the tricks and no-one cared too much about how it looked, Chuck a fish eye on, point, and hope for the best! Have you seen his newer skate dvd "Yeah Right" It pretty much reinvented the way skateboard films are made. Motion tracking, some heavy post effects and the odd keying out of a jump ramp really did bring the level up. On that note, 'Transworld' were the first company to really start focusing on the art of film production rather then the local coverage of tricks. Others seemed to follow pretty quickly. It's good too see Skateboarding, Snowboarding and Surfing originating on 16 or 35mm these days. James.

I stumbled across this magazine a while ago but i am still waiting on a reply to see whether or not they will deliver it too Australia. BSCINE under publications.

Negative fill and bounce, shooting at correct times of the day and breaking light up with shadows from trees, buildings ect. I find ext b&w can be very flat.

Hi, I stumbled across this the other day: Aerial Cinematography

Hi Stuart, I had a look at "Mummy's Boy" on your site. Looks great, you portray the mood of the story so well visually. James.

>have 6 1K globes A lot safer then the ones with Red head bubbles in them! Would you ever use a 12K in a Studio situation like this? Where you gelling the 20K or leaving it warm? Would seem weird to knock the heck out of a 20K with CTB when reproducing sunlight when a HMI is on hand. I haven't worked in a studio situations of this size and i guess it's cheaper to burn a 20K then a 12K Bubble. In that second picture - What wattage is inside the lighting balloon and China ball? Just wondering how much you need for that sort of luminance. Thanks in advance, James.

I find hospitality was a great "second" job when trying to get work. The only job where you can call up and say "hey, i need the next two days off can you do my shifts?" or "I'm off for two months, have i got a job when i get back?" The main problem is whatever second job you have needs to be unbelievably flexible because you will constantly be getting called up the night before or that morning being asked if your available. Tough Gig.

Almost all decent films that come out of Australia have been government funded (there are some low budget exceptions) FFC and AFC along with the state funding groups help make all these features and together usually fund at least 80 percent of the budget. The rest of the world occasionally see?s these films because the reality is that a large majority are abysmal. As soon as a director starts to see some international stardom they become international directors. Our government cannot afford the budgets of the films they want to make and our society/economy/industry is not set-up to support private funding/studio?s. These organisations also fund a lot of really bad short films. I would say less then 5 percent of these shorts have seen international success. The funding situation here in Australia is really bad also. The films barely get watched, barely get the marketing budgets for people to want to watch them and usually are bad scripts. Of course there are a few exceptions. Rolf De Heer for one has stayed in Australia and makes Australian films.

Hi David, Two quick questions - How many space lights did you have to light that set? What wattage lighting balloons are they? Thanks, James.

> "plasticy" I agree. I just don't think it looks at noticeably digital as other genesis projects. Superman, Click and Scary Movie (these last two i only saw previews) look "digital". Apoclyto, at times not as much. Do you see any major benefits that would push you towards it for your next project?

Hi John, Great to here that your back on your feet. We are all missing your very insightful posts. Best wishes that the speedy recovery continues. Regards, James.

EDIT: For some stupid reason i did your homework. Here you go. Click Me, Here , another ,Green , Screen ,Lighting , Tutorial, Here , Click me , Here , Here , This ones a good one , Here , Here , Here , i'm over it James

Hi, Is it a full body shot or a are you only seeing the back wall? Poor man's process. 2x Blondies with Full 216. Make sure the light is even all the way across. Also stage your talent up stage a little so they don't have green light bouncing on their backs. (2 floppies helps control the spill) Separate your talent with a 650 or 500 backlight and key them with whatever light your have left in your budget. Search the archives as this topic has come up a lot. James

> Only networking will get you into the film industry > What matters is that you get along real well with people Brian makes great points. If you start throwing your reel at people screaming "hire me hire me, i went to UCLA/SAIL/AFI" you will be quick to get the cold shoulder. People from all disciplines need to warm to you. Be courteous, confident and passionate. School doesn't teach you that.

Hi, Chayse - Thanks, some great additions Tony - Great site and some great work of yours Thanks, James.

Never look at the sun through the eye piece. Place many upon many ND's in the lens and then adjust framing with your split. There is a link on Eclipse Photography Here James

Hi, James Cameron declares "never shoot on film again" - Maybe he should stick to swans. Some info Here Also some random articles Here, Here, Here and Here James