Maxim Ford

A few years back I was having problems lighting a scene. It wasn't a problem with the back light or the key but with the tiny amounts of fill light I needed, just a few footcandles. As time went by the problem became worse as cameras became more sensitive. Quite often after putting trace and gels on a light more light was coming out of the back of the light than the front. So as DOP are want to do in their down tie is play around with building a light with some LEDs off ebay. I was quite excited with the result and thought I wonder if any engineering company would help. In the past engineering companies would not talk to you unless you wanted to make 100,000 units. So it was just for interested I phoned a company just outside London in Harlow. To my surprise that invited me to meet with them, at the meeting invited in their designer and together came up for this soft LED light. As a DOP I wanted a light without the multiple points of light, running of a generic 12 volts DC, went up in stops and was well made in metal, with snoot and egg crate and no light leak. So here it is I I hope this is of interest, more info http://www.softylite.com

Does anyone know of any online camera tests comparing different bit rates? Or showing comparison of S log with and without?

Who are these workers that have keys to the city? You want to stop nespotism? Then lets have all freelance jobs advertised so that all can apply for them. Stop employing your mate the loader cause he makes a great cup of tea, employ the one that knows how many lumem per watt and HMI gives. It may well be a better industry. Can we create more jobs? Well if you came to union meetings you would know that BECTU commissioned a report on the financing of the French film industry and is proposing raising money by a levy on those that use film, cinemas, tv and dvd makers, say about a billion pounds a year to fund a British Cinema.

QUOTE Of course, you could dispel my concerns in an instant by making it clear that anyone, without reference to personal contacts, can take the required courses to gain the certification you're talking about, without anyone in the union having any authority to choose who can and cannot obtain a place on the course. But that's not how you're doing it, is it? A prospective camera assistant will need the approval of an existing camera assistant, won't they? QUOTE NO, not true, the camera branch is making no such decisions. Show me one person who has been denied training by BECTU. You have as much power in the union as I do, if you can be bothered to come to meetings and argue your point there rather than rant here.

https://www.bectu.org.uk/news/2243

You ignore the points I have made and continue with your accusation without any evidence to back it up. Show me one action of the union designed to stop you working. Working on a set with maybe 50 kilowatts of 3 phase electricity, staging stunts with cars, smoke, people tires, sets held up by heavy wieghts, lights wieghing 20 kilos on wind up stands..... Yes people should be properly trained to work in the film industry. I would not want to get on a crane with a grip who had not been trained. Every time I have filmed on a building site I have had to get trained, So I would expect film makers to know what they are doing too.

Your enemy is not the closed shop or the threat of one. There are Universities up and down the country selling film courses and making big money at it. Producing thousands of want to be film makers who all think if they work for nothing they will be successful. BECTU is trying to hold on to better wages and conditions, to make producers pay a proper wage, to have a minimum freelance living wage for starters, to have a financed British film industry. Red Heads are far from dead, and a 6 kw HMI will still be needed unless the the Sun stops being 7000 footcandles. Professional film making is dangerous.

If you say a film set is safe I honestly do not know what sort of film making you are talking about. A trailing lead of a Red Head lamp a person triping crashes a hot and electrified object onto another person. A few weeks ago I watched as a film crew lit some primary school children with 2 2.5 HMIs in light rain. No sparks and trailing power leads through the wet grass. People who say film makiing is safe are the people who really should do a safety course. Yes the grips are concerned about low paid and unskilled grips lowering wages and de skilling their jobs. Should a person be allowed to operate a crane with two people and a camera a height without training? The answer is the people on the low budget films should join the union and demand proper training, wages and conditions too. BECTU is trying to stop the falling of wages but people prepared to work for nothing help cut each others throat. The closed shop made sure that wages remained high and that it was possible to have a career. And yes it was difficult to get in, it took me 3 years. How many people now will be able to survive or will be forced to leave?

Film making is dangerous and I think all depts should be aware of the dangers, DOPs and directors are often hands on, a 2 kw lamp falling on someone will hurt, putiing two lights together from different phases will give an exciting 480 volts if they are faulty.

Two questions here. 1) should grips be trained to be safe and not kill the crew and cast ? 2) should being a grip be open to all who are prepared to work safley? BECTU says yes to both. The free market has created more film workers than jobs, the union supports workers joining together to protect wages and conditions, that all have an equal opportunity to work, that training is improved, that we create a film industry with more work

I have come across university courses for film making, where they do not seen to teach any photo science, no optics, exposure, lighting etc.... Some have no lights other than a few Red Heads....and yet claim to be training DOPs This courses are approved by Skillset. It is very difficult to get a true picture of whats going on, colleges say all is fantastiic and what student wants to just say I have finished a crap film school? How many colleges / film schools are really teaching cinematography?

What have I been missing? I have been bust promoting my LED light Softy Lite and here I am the subject of a thread. Yes I stood for the NEC of BECTU and I have been elected. Why? I have been pushing the Union to come up with a plan to support the British film industry in the same way as the French support theirs. I want to see the Union fight for a freelance living wage. I want to see film students get a good film education with real film making practice and teaching and not just a money making scheme for universities. For or against, just turn up to meetings and get your voice heard

All universities, educational organisations, most industries, Health service, political bodies.... Have to advertise jobs, have to obey employment laws against discrimination, and have to employ people with the right qualifications. http://jobs.newscientist.com/en-gb/ So you first attack unions for cronyism then defend it for yourself, Then you lie about all others doing it. You are a poster boy producer for union recruiting.

There is a meeting on these matters.... Short notice as it started off to be just for the crew but has since gone viral http://filmindustrynetwork.co.uk/bectu-invites-filmmakers-members-discuss-film-standards/2658

In this situation I am in agreement with Nick. The nonsense and ill informed nature of your remarks make it a waste of time writing on these forums. You don't think people working on film should be trained and qualified. I do and so do the majority of members of BECTU. We also thing that pilots should be trained to fly planes and train drivers have the skills to control trains. I have seen the dangers caused by unskilled workers, HMIs running ti the rain with trailing cables, Cranes not supported properly. Poorly earthed lights. Mixed 3 phase lighting. This is not to stop people working, but to work in any profession you need the skills to do it, not just the willingness to do it for less money.. If producers can't run a safe film set and pay proper wages they have no business in this industry. Producers employ people not unions, why don't producers advertise all their jobs? Why because that's where the cronyism comes in. Producers don't hire on merit (would they know ?) They just employ who they know. Its not what you know its who you know. So producer advertise all your jobs and let all apply for them based on merit. Different countries have different histories and I have no knowledge of the Canadian Unions, but unions do nothing for working people, they are just a framework for workers to organise to do things for themselves. If workers don't actively take part and fight for what they want don't be surprised if you don't get the Union you want. Producers distributors and owners of production companies spend a fortune getting what they want, they sit on all the film bodies the BFI, the Film Review. no workers are invited , no actors ...on the last Film Review there was no one who worked on a film set on the committee. And of course no trade unions. BECTU rallies what all the members of the production branches think and tell the politicians. BECTU had Chris Smith the head of the Film Review and there we told him about the state of the film industry. About the falling budgets and long hours.... Or maybe you think they sit around reading this forum? Is that your plan B? When a union fights and campaigns for better conditions, do the non members, who weakened the campaign, who whined on forums, who didn't take the time to come and discuss with their fellow film makers, do they take advantage of that? Are they just freeloaders?

This is from Nick Ray grips branch of BECTU... Hi Maxim I have read the conversation, I find it full of ignorance on their part and beneath contempt for me to reply. As far as our qualification is concerned it is government sponsored and only supported by the union as with many other good causes the union supports. I find so many of the facts being discussed are from a background of little knowledge. If the other participants wish to have a face to face discussion I/We would welcome the opportunity rather than hiding behind a keyboard . Cheers Nick Ray NVQ Advanced Level 3 Grip

No one is preventing anyone from being a grip. Get the training do the job. Do you think anyone should be allowed to operate a crane with a camera and 2 people at 10 meters high? How about driving a train? Any training? SFX people? surely we should let anyone who wants to have explosives and set them off on set? Don't want to stop people working. So not only all the "facts" you mention here are wrong, Martin Spence is a full time official for BECTU and has never been a cameraperson. Before that job he worked as a production manager at Trade Films in Newcastle. No one is being prevented from working, but the Union wants to prevent people from getting jobs "just" by undercutting the going rate for the job. I will say there is no money in film when I see the producers travel economy. Les Mis which at the time of shooting had so little money the crew were told went on to take 441 million US dollars. (only the below the line workers though) Now if film workers cannot organise and demand proper wages, I am sure the producers will find away of spending the extra money. Private jets are expensive. Just because film making is glamorous does mean it is not a proper industry like screw manufacturing. Its workforce should have proper wages, reasonable hours, holidays and a safe work place. There are a lot of cinemas, TV stations and Blu Ray factories, they need product, tons of it. They should pay the proper price for it. Producers that cannot make the grade should be put out of business.

Producer I know, he's the guy that asks you rate and then offers you half of it...but what is a Co-Producer? Associate Producer? Executive Producer? It seems i am waiting longer and longer for films to start as we wade through all the producer credits.

Producers are very well organised. The have PACK in the UK and lobby the government very effectively. The film review consisted film film producers and the owners of the film industry. Workers who are organised in unions earn more money and have better working conditions. They also have an organisation to defend them. Ask the hair and make up on "Les Mis" how they managed to shorten their working day. A producer would say you don't need a union, every 1% he knocks off your wages adds a foot to his yatch.

Martin Spence is not the ex head of the camera branch he is assistent general secretary of BECTU. It is not someone else job to fix for you long hours and poor payment, It is the job of all film workers. You are not doing your share because you are moaning here instead of going to the meeting and campaigning for a better industry in an organised way. A union will not do it for you, it provides the framework for you and others to do it for themselves. The grips are not in the camera branch. But what the grips have done is not to undercut each other on the rate. That is what it is about, to stop film workers from cutting their own throats by agreeing to work for less and less money. The camera branch, at the meeting you did not attend, talked about organisng a simular arrangement for different grades in the camera section. Will you be supporting it?

If a person says 2 and 2 is 4 you can either prove it is untrue or try and blacken the name person who is saying it. You I see find the case I am making to hard to answer and therefore make up stories to discredit me as a person. A person who works for a living and is anti union is a fool. They are duped by people who are only to willing to exploit low wages and bad conditions. Do you think it is not only OK for a producer to work you long hours, to pay you low wages, but then to blow you up? If you have evidence that I have exploited anyone you should produce it and not just slander with your suspicions.

You complain about the union but the union is you. There was an AGM of the camera branch in London a few days ago. Did you go? Did you propose any resolutions for the annual conference ? Did you propose anyone to stand for the president, or a representative of the camera branch to the National Executive Committee of the union? This is democracy, it is the only organisation that is there to hear your voice. You prefer to write here where it will change little. The Union did have a closed shop, it made it difficult to become a member, i had to get a job as an engineer and wait two years to move into the camera branch. When I did I earned a good wage with great working conditions. That was destroyed by Thatcher and wages and conditions have been falling ever since. The door maybe made of light wood but it is a matter of its velocity. Fire paper from a gun and it will kill you. If that door had hit the actress she may have been killed. That is why the producers are taking the video down as soon as it pops up.

Wide angle lenses do have more depth of field than telephoto lenses. Sensor size is not important to this question. The more the lens makes the image larger the more the plane of focus is revealed and the less the depth of field. Lenses do not change perspective. They only make the scene larger or smaller or wider or smaller angle of view. (lenses may distort but cannot change perspective) .......

The item keeps being deleted. Not for copyright reasons. The union has been instrumental in making sure the SFX film workers are properly trained and safety aware. The union does not stop anyone from working on any film. Although asked to help when all goes pear shape. Attacking the union is attacking yourself. The union is the only organisation that is there to represent film workers. The union wants to see a film industry where all work safely and are paid a proper wage. Anyone who watched that video can see that if that door had hit the actress she would have been killed or in hospital.

Interesting that DOPs don't know what knowledge is required to be a DOP. All I am pointing out is that a showreel is a good way to hire the wrong DOP. It would be good for the industry if it educated directors and producers about what the skills of a good DOP are so that they can at least have a clue. The first step would be to ignore the flash and look for the skill. Watch whole films shot by a DOP , maybe even a low budget documentary or short drama rather than a showreel. There were different systems of camera training from working your way up through the grades to full time education. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.