James Brown

Hi, Great story. A lot of long hard work finally pays off. Congrats on landing the deal and best wishes for the shoot ahead. I'm sure you will be keeping us updated in the months to come. Again. good work. James.

Hi, Your planned attack sounds good. If it's a hair and make up 'test' wouldn't they want a very similar look to the production? It seems odd they would send you into an already functioning set that the cinematographer has lit, tell you to turn off the lights and bring in a bunch of flash heads. A lot of the time a stills guy will steal one of the electrics to help him push around some lights with the matching gel combo and maybe ask "did such and such have a backlight" or in reply "we usually gave what's her face an eye light". the only time still's seem to bring in their own light's are on Cyc work or shooting talent for a billboard, spots ect.

Are you talking on Commercials, Tele-Series, Features? There are a number of variables including who owns equipment, who's doing a deal ect. For commercials in Australia on a 8 hour day it goes a little something like this. DP- Anywhere between 1,000 and up over 5,000 Key Grip/Gaffer charge 500+ for wages and then there is their equipment which could be $2,000+ depending on the set-up. Focus Puller and Best Boy is around 400-500 ( focus pullers usually rent out their truck/split/dark room facilities ect), Clapper Loader is 300-350 There is no industry set rate, just set rates for certain people. ie: one DP will always charge $3,000 per day. One Gaffer will always charge $600.

Hi, They look good. Cheap and easily portable but i'm not sure how durable they would be compared to something like Kino. Maybe a good cheap pack for a documentary film maker or someone that does a lot of interviews. Even the way they are marketed is "cheap and easy to do it" sort of thing with girls in cocktail dresses. Nothing about these units really appeals to the professional filmmaker.

Hi, You would not believe what happened. After last week's mad rush of changing tubes, power supply and ballast's and still not being able to rectify the problem. I walked in this morning turned, them on and left the room for a few hours. I came back and everything was fine, no pulsing, no anything. This doesn't really help the cause because if it happens again i'm not sure how to solve it. It could have been low voltage but that does not explain why the other soft boxes were not pulsing. Anyway, thanks all for your help. Regards, James.

Adam, I could not have asked for a more thorough list. Much Appreciated. Thank you, James.

A quick search would have helped your cause. http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...p;hl=Ultra+16mm http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/lo....php?t8314.html http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...p;hl=Ultra+16mm http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...p;hl=Ultra+16mm http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...p;hl=Ultra+16mm James

Hi, I have recently been on a mission to accumulate as many different DP's showreels, commercials and music videos. I'm trying to build up a library of different works, looks and styles that are easily accessible through my lap top. These two are great. ? Sheldon Prosnit Agency - http://www.lspagency.net/dp.html ? New York Office - http://www.nyoffice.net/cinema.html The best thing about these websites they give either links to personal websites and/or online showreels. I have found a bunch more but none that give links to DP's work. Can anyone help? Regards James.

Below is an email forwarded to ACS members from John Bowring in respect to Will Gibson. "It seems incomprehensible and a real tragedy that we have lost Will Gibson. A top bloke and a brilliant cinematographer who was well on his way to being globally recognized for his work. Will started his career casually assisting John Hawley and then joined us at Lemac in 1988 for nearly six years assisting me and Noel Jones. A very intelligent bloke, a quick learner and so so enthusiastic for his craft, Will was soon shooting - and in all formats. With us he did corporates, promos and ads - his last job on staff was with me as 2nd unit photography on Clive James "Postcard from Cairo" which led him to a lot of work for the BBC. More recently his stunning cinematography on the low, low budget feature "Wolf Creek" was the job that finally made people sit up and really notice. He won Gold at the ACS awards in 2005 for it. "MacBeth" followed and he cut new ground in digital cinematography. His last feature "Rogue" and the cutting edge TV drama "Kick" - we've all yet to see - and it is so sad that he will not be there to receive the inevitable accolades. We've all been so proud of Will and his achievements. I never knew - until his death - that Will had battled all his life with bi-polar disease - which apparently one in five sufferers ends this way. Just recently, after a long hiatus, Will's dark cloud came back, so last Monday, Will went flying at his favourite spot at Apollo Bay. Wouldn't it be great just to be able to wind back the clock just a bit. We will all miss him. Our sympathies to Jarrad and Jody John Bowring, ACS

>if I have some "daylight" type lights it's possible to turn them into "tungsten" type with some gels, am I wrong Exactly. Your wrap them with Full CTO. I suggest renting, then you can get a feel of what you like. You cant pick up much for $500. Here 1 C-Stand is around $200AU. But you can surely borrow an old one from a gaffers shed for next to nothing. Par Cans are 1k. They are 'Spottier' then a 1k Fresnel. Which means it's more direct with a sharper light. But par cans tend to have a hook on the them rather then a spigget which makes it hard to put them into stands. You can always get spiggets put in them. If you want to buy some lights. Sure, Go to your local home depot and pick up some fluoro's. The trouble is mounting them because they are made to screw into a wall where Kino are made to mount on a C-Stand. Everything is quite expensive. Gels, Gaffer, Blackwrap, extension cables There's a couple of hundred dollars there without any lights. I suggest Renting some small fixtures and purchasing a few correction gels and diffusion. Regards James.

Hi, HMI's are made to match daylight. They are powerful and very punchy. Maybe you wont need a HMI if you are in a 'interview type situation' 1k's and 650's are one of the most common and cheapest film lights out there. They are rated at 3200K which means they have a warm colour to them. The same as your Tota. Kino's, i think, are a must. When you are learning the basics you can put one of them up on a 3/4 frontal position hitting your talent and it will give you some nice soft shape. No nasty red head nose shadows! Then you can backlight your talent with the 650 and then put some shape on the back wall with a 1k. All this is cheap and can run off house power Just remember. If you shoot Tungsten (3200k) and you have windows in shot and/or daylight flooding in you will need to make your lamps a bit blue (with CTB) (Download the Lee Art of Light catalouge from Lee- Click Me Get some Diffusion (It softens the light) and comes in strengths of 1/4, 1/2 and Full. You can peg this onto the barn doors so stop the hard shadows.

Hi, A few more details would be good. If it's day or night. How big is the room, will you see the windows ect. If your shooting daylight I would get a 1.2k HMI (These are daylight balanced ie: Blue) A Kino of some sort (which is a soft light) probably a 4 foot 4 bank or 8 bank 2 foot (daylight tubes) A 1k (This is Tungsten so you will need some correction gels, a Full CTB to correct it to daylight or Maybe only use a 1/2 CTB and use this a warmer backlight) a 650w (This is Tungsten also, so all the above comments for the 1k follow through) If your shooting Night you will need a full correction for the HMI (FULL CTO) and Tungsten tubes for the kino. This is a very basic list and without more details it makes it hard. For $500 Dollars you can get all this and more but then it becomes a bit harder to carry on a train. If you can only have two lights i would say the kino and a 1k or 650.

Hi, >I assume the others are 8' fixtures? Sorry maybe a typo. The ones vertical are 2 Foot. There is four all together. Two linked together and each run into a circuit in the roof. They are fine for about 5-10 minutes and then start pulsing. But they all start at different times. Then turning the tubes upside down they wait about 10 minutes then start pulsing. The weirdest thing is (which i forgot to mention) we also have 2 x 4' and 2 x 2' in a light box at the end of the room running off a completely different circuit and only one of these four tubes pulses/strobes. The gaffer nor the electrician understands what the problem is. >Have your electricians meter the voltage at each unit, and see if that's the culprit. Thanks Michael, i will get try that 1st thing monday morning. This all happened friday morning before a make up test so we only had about an hour to try and fix the problem. >probably a silly question: do they strobe in a horizontal position as well Havent had the time to try these exact units horizontal because they have been fixed to the pillar already. This shouldn't be a problem though as we have mounted a many fluros vertical without a problem. James

I think CTB steals an extra 1/3 of a stop over 85? >This was all half-blue moonlight The key still has a bluish kick to it- If it's a half correction did you give it that look in Post?

Hi David, Do you remember what size Kino unit you were using? Your not getting a lot of wrap with it. Did you use a Gel Combo or leave it Daylight? I'm starting to go back to bluish night light comparing to the now usual no colour 1/2 correction. Looks great.

>but did the operator take his eye away from the eyepiece With the extensive testing they did to find the problem this is not it. When you take your eye off the eye piece it 'Foggs' and is very obvious when you see it happen.

Hi, I did one bedroom scene where i had 2 diffused mizar's on a dimmer giving slight, soft slashes on a bed. These were around 3 Stops under (on 7218). If anything the light bouncing of the bright pillow keyed his face too much.

Its really luck sometimes who you get for catering here in Melbourne. Sometimes it's brilliant, healthy, fresh and so many options. Sometimes your looking at brekky searching for something that isnt smothered in oil. We have been lucky on our TV series and get the top caterer. It really does make you happy after working a long day and being rewarded with restaurant quality meals whether it's on location or in a studio. In terms of the long working hours. On Tele Series here they try not to go Overtime too often. It's a standard 10 hour day then you have your Lunch ect on top of the that. So your at work for 11 (prob 12 with pre-light/wrap) Plus you need to get to location and back. There is no life during the week. I believe it's acceptable but not practical (i'm a young, single man). Trying to run a family must be difficult if not bordering on immposible. You may enough time to come home check your email shower and bed. On Commercials i don't mind doing OT. Once your start doing three or four hours OT the Pro's of your pay outways the cons. I don't think people really know what there getting into. I was stoked when i first started working in the film industry that i didn't think twice about the life/hours. Once it becomes your 'life' you start to wake up a bit.

Hi Richard. The Ballast(s) are all new and we have used the same brand from the same batch (except in four foot) in many other areas of the set. These have been placed vertical which is the only difference. The power coming in should be fine as other fluorescent fixtures we have on the same circuit do not have the this problem. I tried to run a mains feed directly from another circuit and still had the same problem. That's why it's got us all stumped. Could it be anything else?

Have you checked out I have never had to do Telecine in Adelaide but Oasis seem to get a good wrap from others. www.oasispost.com.au. Digital Pictures in melbourne is Top of it's class.

Hi, I'm in the process of pre-lighting a set for a new series. We have encountered an unusual problem with some fluorescents that have been mounted vertical on support beams. They are gelled, in a diffuser, and will be in shot. They are all on the same live circuit (4 in total) and after about 5-10 minutes of being active they start to strobe slightly. A slight pulse that eventually gets worse. After trying to eliminate all possibilities (the tubes, the power source, the unit itself) they were still pulsing. The in-house electrician came in and said that turning the tubes upside down should fix it as it's probably a gas buildup. Sadly it still strobes and the electricians are out of answers. Has anyone had this problem? Regards, James.

Hi, How big is the budget? How much power do you have? Keeping lights in shot is a great idea - Then you can mount a whole bunch of cheap flood lights and not worry too much about hiding them. If you have a big Generaor a Dinette would be great (not sure what you call them: it's, 12 1k par lights) Really high up on a crankavator through some 216 giving a nice soft flood. A couple of 1.2's wouldnt do it. Maybe a couple of 4k's

Below is a notice from screen hub. "Wednesday 21 March, 2007 Will Gibson, cinematographer, has died unexpectedly. The Melbourne independent production community is in a sombre mood about the unexpected death of Will Gibson. He was the cinematographer on Macbeth, Wolf Creek, Kick and Rogue. He was an excellent DOP, who worked well in difficult conditions, on low budgets, able to provide the angles and the look which made each of these films visually memorable. He embraced and encouraged the use of HD, in which he was an expert. Between films, he was looking forward to new projects, courted by producers eager to involve his eye and skills. Words like passionate, charismatic, infectiously energetic, physically and mentally strong, and a true leader are used by crews for whom his death leaves a painful absence. We understand he was away from people close to him for a few days, and his body was discovered in Apollo Bay on Monday. A fall was involved. We will provide further information with the approval of his family." I'm not at liberty to provide any further information. This is a huge loss for the Australian film community.

Richard, Your absolutely hysterical. I had a good laugh. Comedy is always a good way to stick it up em..... James.

Hi, A few pointers: Are you using a 4k HMI? because you mentioned adding more CTB to this unit. If your already shooting tungsten and adding more blue to a 5600k lamp it will be ultra blue. I would suggest adding maybe 1/4 CTO or CTS so you still have the 'blue tinge' you wanted but a bit more realistic colour i would even add 1/4 + Green or WFG then adding a hint of CTB to your tungsten, but thats just me. If you remove the silk and go direct you will not have a soft ambient night light. You will have quite a hard light and once this light starts hitting your actors your Tungsten units will be find it hard competing. If you want to go with a overall night light it needs to be soft and then go hard with your side key(s). The way to get your pools of light and/or your actors walking in and out is to separate the the tungsten lamps from each other and not have them so close. Also be careful with your eye light. This should be at a fairly low level so not to flatten out the faces and give a glint. A mix of 1k's and 650's would be good. Be careful with the inconsistency of smoke. On EXT night's it blows away very quick and you could have the problem of it being dramatic in one shot and not there in another. I nor anyone else can tell you exactly how to light this. The best is what looks good to your eyes. Have a play, drop the fill, add a backlight, whatever works for you at that time in that scenario for the that shot is the way to light it. Have fun. James.