Chris Sharman

Shaeden, 6k 2:1 is a spherical format on the RED which uses nearly all the sensor but crops off a little at the top and bottom. If you use anamorphic lenses like the Kowas with a 2x squeeze you'll end up looking at a 4:1 frame once de-squeezed. Obviously you can then crop either side in post to get your 2.40:1, but IMO you'd be best off using one of the anamorphic options, 6k anamorphic is 6:5 ratio if I remember correctly which will only use the useful 'centre' part of the sensor in the first place (and give you a correct de-squeeze for monitoring). My point was that the Alexa sensor is closer to the correct size and shape for anamorphic than the RED, being almost the size of s35 4-perf film. So I wouldn't have thought that the OP would get any benefit from cancelling his order of Alexas and changing for REDs. When shooting spherical, there is indeed a significant benefit to the RED at 6k over 16:9 Alexa, if what you're after is a larger 'format'. Provided your lenses will cover the extra sensor area without vignetting, many cinema lenses don't.

Don't compare the sensor sizes for spherical, as they're used in different ways when shooting anamorphic. The Alexa mini has a full height 4:3 sensor which it can use all of to achieve the anamorphic ratio. The RED's sensor is larger than S35 for spherical, but not as tall as the 4:3 so it can only achieve the correct frame shape by cropping off the 'sides' of the sensor and using a smaller area in the middle. I can't vouch for the quality of this video test, but at least you can see how there more 'crop' with the RED, i.e. the lens on the Alexa appears wider:

I'm a big fan of the diva-lite for interviews, I usually shoot it through a diffusion frame or trace, fairly close to the subject. It's small enough that you can do that fairly easily without things getting cramped or uncomfortable for the interviewee. Re the colour issues, I never use the on board dimmer as that ruins the colour of the output. Regular kinos dont have a dimmer, you just turn tubes on and off from the ballast so they don't have this issue. I also keep 1/8 and 1/4 plus- and minusgreen gels to hand, I particularly find that some camera systems read the light very magenta.

Personally I would be tempted to go the filters route. Though your idea is akin to the lightflex and arri varicon systems which used to be fairly well used. You could always see if Panavision still has a varicon that you could test?

Hi Rick, I'm not familiar with that camera, but I will say that here in the UK all the broadcasters use 2/3" cameras for ENG. 1/3" solutions are usually considered 'professional' rather than 'broadcast' which is an important distinction in terms of the build quality and feature set of a piece of equipment. I know that Sky News shoot on P2, while the BBC are rolling out the PMW-350 and 500 across their news and documentary output. For an ENG tripod, you won't go far wrong with a Sachtler Video 18 or 20, or I've found the Miller Arrow 55 to be excellent and a bit cheaper. Battery-wise I used SWIT V-Loks for years, they're cheap and cheerful but I never had any problems with them. I would also say that not many ENG crew lug round HMI's, other than the battery-powered sun-guns. I'd say have a look at the Kino Flo Diva-lite 400, it's a fantastic interview light - soft, portable and you can change the colour temperature just by swapping out the tubes. Hope you find some of that helpful.

I go to my local 'Poundland' store and buy a few pairs of el cheapo reading glasses of varying strengths. Stick them on a clear filter in front of the lens...works great for the split diopter type of look where just part of the image is blurred. Some of the foreground stuff in that video is much more opaque though. Try sticking anything in front of the lens, so long as you can't tell what it is, you can experiment with edge shapes and colours. I've also in the past brought the top flag of the matte-box down just into shot on a really long lens - giving the impression of a heavy grad filter. Just to illustrate the type of effect. Hope that helps

Go for low contrast lighting, and make sure your sets and cotumes are suitably dull. Underexposing slightly will help the gloomy feeling. If you want to take the colours down even more then just desaturate in post. Very easy to do, particularly on video. Play with the chroma on your field monitor to give the director an idea of what this technique will achieve. Cheers, JM

You can walk into most branches of Jessops and buy a Lastolite collapsable reflector for about £35 if I remember rightly. Get one with silver on one side and white on the other and you're pretty much covered. You'll probably end up using the white side for fill far more than the silver, which is pretty harsh on the new Lastolites (a few years ago they were much softer and more flattering, though not as reflective). Not sure how much use you'll get out of a gold reflector if you're aiming to augment/balance daylight, but if you're desperate you can get gold Lastolites as well. In my book these are invaluable...and probably the one piece of professional equipment which offers true value for money. JM

Out of interest, can you use this kind of bulb on a dimmer? JM

Hi, I'd use the 2ks as your moonlight - give them a bit of CTB (half to full will work best) and use them on the background and probably as a backlight for your actors. Think about waving branches in front of the lights to break up the beam a bit since it's set in a forest. My favourite trick for simulating firelight is gelling up a spotlight with as much CTO or amber as you like, then bouncing it onto the talent off of a bit of loosely-hung gold lame fabric. Waggle the fabric around randomly for a nice flickering firelight effect. You can gently bounce in a little more fill if you think you need it, but remember it's supposed to be dark! Gel it Amber to match the firelight. Don't neglect the eyelights if the actor's faces are kept pretty dark...you can get away with an awful lot of shadow so long as you can see a glint in their eyes. Hope this helps and best of luck with the project. JM

It's always worth using a properly set-up colour monitor to check colour balance, particularly if you're mixing colour temperatures. Then you know exactly what you're getting. JM

A good trick I've used for simulating a flickering firelight: take your lamp, warm it up to taste with Amber or CTO and direct it onto a loosely-hung piece of shiny gold lame fabric in your key position. Then get your lovely assistant to gently flap the fabric...hey presto, flickering flames. JM

The advantage of shooting at -3dB is that it allows you to open up the lens half a stop for a shallower depth of field. JM

Hi, I'd try and keep it as natural as possible, just using your reflectors for a bit of fill if you need it. Maybe bring along a small battery light in case you need to get a little twinkle in the eyes. If you're unlucky and it's overcast and very flat-looking, think about using a black flag or reflector next to the face as 'negative fill' just to help the modelling a bit. Good luck with the weather, it looks a nice location in the sunshine...personally I love shooting people in 'dappled' sunlight under the trees. Cheers, JM

You should also investigate a wide angle lens or adapter for your xl1 (unless it's a huge lift!) JM