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Everything posted by Justin Hayward
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Should I buy an Amira??
Justin Hayward replied to Wilson Graham Skinner's topic in General Discussion
Nice! Can we see them? To answer your question to the best of my knowledge... yes, I have heard of cinematographers buying a camera people are using these days and getting cinematographer jobs because of it. -
Tips on lighting "white void" scenes
Justin Hayward replied to Akie Yano's topic in Lighting for Film & Video
And if the background is pure white, then anything in the foreground that has any sort of color (even skin tones) will feel like color contrast and not flat in my opinion.- 4 replies
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I know you specifically said "narrative DP's" and because you labeled yourself, "cinematagrapher", not "director", ... I want to preface my point with where I'm coming from which is the advertising world... In advertising the storyboards almost never involve the DP. The first boards are drawn up by the agency and then go out to directors for them to pitch their ideas through a phone/zoom call that gets narrowed down to the top three. Then the director writes a treatment ( or hires someone to) that involves loads of sample images. Then if the director wins the job, they do their own boards with their own storyboard artist. Obviously it's all totally different in feature films. For me personally, if I get to make a feature from any one of the scripts I've been working on, I would board the whole movie and shoot and edit the boards with sound and everything to show people for feedback. Then I would collaborate with the DP on their ideas for shots and lighting. I'm excited to get to that point... the collaboration.
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I agree, but I wonder if it's something new or something we forgot about due to the pandemic lockdowns. When I built my home movie theater (which I'm very proud of and have mentioned several times on this website, because I'm a huge jerk:) when I built my home movie theater and installed the sound system to it's specs according to what the filmmakers intended, the first thing I noticed was if I turned the volume up so I could hear the dialogue, the moment any sort of action happened, it knocked our socks off. It was so loud I had to scream at the top of my lungs to my wife sitting three feet away from me to pass the popcorn. After a certain movie blew two of my speakers I decided to do some of my own sound mixing. I turned up the center channel almost four times louder than the rest of the speakers. That way I could hear the dialogue nice and clear, but wouldn't blow the rest of my speakers the moment something got a little louder and I could talk to my wife in a almost normal voice in the loud scenes. I'm old and I like it better that way. I lived with that set up for a year and a half in lockdown. Then vaccinations showed up and I went back to the movie theater after a full year and a half... And yes, the sound blew my hair back and I was totally shocked how freaking loud it was. But I had to ask myself if that was because I accustomed myself to my own personal sound system for a year and a half and forgot about what movies in theaters actually sound like... OR... was it my shock of reality getting back to the world? Or have big film directors decided to blow our ears out with sound in movie theaters simply as a way to remind us why we all need to go back to movie theaters in the first place? I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I totally agree the sound of some of these movies in theaters is too loud.
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So I've heard! Sounds like they treat their members well. They sent me a package full of cool stuff to go thru... nice letters... magazines... all sorts of cool stuff. Like I said, my 12-year-old self is beaming. ?
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It is. And that's Denzel Washington in the background which means this is a behind-the-scenes shot of "Philadelphia." I'm a little surprised it's not Howard Hawks or John Ford or whoever since they essentially founded the DGA, but of course Jonathan Demme is a great director in my opinion, so... ?♂️
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Thanks! I am excited about it. Don't think it will help me get my feature made, but it's cool to be a part of a somewhat exclusive club of people that do what I've wanted to do my whole life. Feels nice.
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It doesn't change my life all that much other than I get some cool screeners and a pension, but my 12-year-old self is super excited. ?
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I want to see a movie shot in 2.40:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic lenses that’s cropped to 4:3 in post and the only camera moves in the whole movie are pan and scan. edit: for artistic purposes
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???. Yeah and I watched the original version before it. The filmmaker in me had to compare the directing choices. I couldn’t help myself.
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I’m watching this movie right now and I would be really impressed by anyone that could give me a good artistic purpose why this movie is pillar boxed to 4:3 for any other reason than being noticeably different. Edit: I feel like whole performances from actors were pillar boxed out of this movie.?
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It wouldn't be so bad if they at least masked the letter-boxed area with something. They don't even bother doing that anymore. Just looks like a giant TV. For my projector room I cut strips of foam core, painted them dark brown to match the walls and stick them to the letter-boxed area with clear velcro for 2.39 movies. Much more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion.?
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Ever notice the aspect ratios that were meant to provide a "bigger" experience are now providing a smaller one? 2:39 was meant to be a "wider" viewing experience in theaters. You swapped to the scope lens, the curtains would open, and the screen would get physically wider. Now they just letterbox it... even in a lot of chain theaters, but always on home viewing which is all we get now, so the 2:39 image is actually smaller than if you had just shot 16x9. Lately IMAX movies shoot 1:33 for a much taller/bigger image in the theater than 1:85 or 16x9, but this movie isn't going to IMAX, it's going to HBO Max where it will be pillar-boxed to literally be the smallest aspect ratio we could possibly watch it in. If I ever get to make a movie I think I'll shoot 4:3, then letterbox it to 2:39 so there'll be a small rectangle in the middle of your TV. Then I'll recommend you watch it with binoculars for the full viewing experience. ??
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Does anyone have any idea why this might be 1:33 aspect ratio other than a way to differentiate it from the other version?
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Cinematographer? Fake it till you make it.
Justin Hayward replied to Stephen Sanchez's topic in General Discussion
Totally agree. It's very difficult to make anything look good in my opinion, but I don't believe a lot of people in this business have an honest subjective opinion if something looks good or doesn't. Now that digital has democratized the process (as Tyler put it) now you only have to eyeball a decent exposure and tell everybody it looks good and they'll believe you. With film, you had to have some experience in the technique just to get a decent exposure. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not a crazy film nut. I don't think I've shot on film for ten years. I'm just saying in the days of film, 24 year olds weren't getting $3500 a day to DP anything. -
Cinematographer? Fake it till you make it.
Justin Hayward replied to Stephen Sanchez's topic in General Discussion
I said in the eyes of the layman, not other filmmakers or support crew. I'm always thinking in terms of commercials these days, because that's pretty much all I do and the "layman" in the commercial world are agency people. Trust me when I tell you, they don't know what a focus puller is. I spoke to a gaffer not to long ago that was on a multi-million dollar commercial with a 24 year old DP that didn't understand ratios between dimming lights and adjusting the stop. That would never have happened in the days of film. -
Cinematographer? Fake it till you make it.
Justin Hayward replied to Stephen Sanchez's topic in General Discussion
This is the only reason I miss anything considered professional having to be shot on 35mm film. There was a technique to it that had to be learned and the person that could put film into a camera and spit out a beautiful image the next day was thought to be a magician in the eyes of the layman. Those days are GONE... Gone... gone... -
Obviously if it's the weekend, it's going to be a little easier. We could do a LA-11am, New York-2pm, London-7pm (if that's the right time difference). Or a LA-3pm, New York-6pm, London-11pm... if that's not too late for you Phil. Or somewhere in between. There's really no way for Phil to do the morning without the rest of us going really late or Phil getting up at like 4am, so... Whatever you all think works for me.
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Time frame on my little "movie club" has been one of the hardest things to negotiate. New York to LA is a three hour difference and we all want to do evening. Obviously the other side of the world is a bigger issue. As far as picking a movie... there's not much to it... something streaming.... something people would talk about.... I'll give five I just watched that I feel are worth talking about.... "Blue Jasmine" A fantastic take on "Streetcar Named Desire" in my opinion. Streaming on Prime for $3.99 "Agatha" which I just reviewed on my movie club based on a facebook post by David Mullen. I'd never heard of it and his ranting and raving about the cinematography made me take a look. Streaming on Prime for $1.99 "Catch Me if You Can". A near perfect Spielberg film (in my opinion) streaming on Netflix right now. "Goodfellas". Obviously a movie we all love, but when I watch it in my old age, it feels like a horror film to me. I'm scarred to death of this movie, as much as I appreciate it. Netflix "Chef" streaming on Netflix. This may be one of the best movies on the craft of cooking I've ever seen.
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I watched it on Prime on my projector and the blacks looked really washed out, but it just occurred to me the movie opens with that slow push into that old super washed out black and white TV which turns into the actual movie. Maybe he wanted to maintain more of a washed out TV look from the 50's, but in a darker, low-light, modern, style?