Jon Kline

Maximize the distance between the talent and the wall. The only way you'll want to use big soft sources is with flags/eggcrates or by using distance to keep the wall dark. It will help if your lights are as close to the talent as possible. You'll probably move your key and fill wider and higher than you might otherwise. If you can keep your BG really underexposed, you can use harder sources to add shape and drama as you like. If you're letting the background go dark in spots, you'll probably want a nice edge on people, especially for their closeups.

Don't judge your potential in any career based on the number of people currently working in the field. You should be looking at where the future is going, and your level of skill, passion and dedication relative to the other people in the field. It doesn't matter if there are only three working DPs in your country. If you're creating top-tier work, telling compelling stories, marketing yourself, and making connections, you can be one of them. The most valuable thing you can get from film school is a network. I wouldn't spend money on a certificate or yearlong program. Use your money to get a nice tripod, or a light kit, or make a short film. Meet people, volunteer, and Google everything. There are SO MANY tutorials online and so many people willing to answer your questions as you go. There is no magic that happens inside a university, other than combining resources, knowledge, and time.

Until then, three old raquetballs would let you use it indoors, at least.

Definitely get all your talent lights up before you even start to light the cyc. You're probably not going to need much, depending on the distance between things. Are you thinking you want a dirty white look where the corners vignette into the 80%s, or are you hoping for something more dramatic? Remember, even if you light the cyc to a flat 100%, if your lenses vignette, your corners won't clip anyway. You might not need as much shape as you think.

The F3 has 3.36 effective megapixels. That means a maximum luma resolution of about 2440 x1372. Assuming a traditional bayer array, you have 64% of the spatial chroma information needed for true 4:4:4. Of course, you'll also have bit depth, which will be much higher coming off the sensor than you'll be recording into the video file. So assuming the debayering algorithm is working well, you'll have a lot more information available than can fit into 4:4:4, even with the limited chroma sampling sites. It would not be expected to perform as well during green screening as a "true" 4:4:4 camera with more photosites. But for everyday work, the extra bit depth information will exceed the resolution limitations. For green screen, you probably want a 4K camera anyway.

Fifteen takes for a shot like this seems like not nearly enough. There comes a point where the cinematographer has the right, or obligation, to turn to the director and say: "I think there is a better way to tell the story." A cut, a fade, a camera move, or blocking change can all be considered. There are a lot of tools in the visual storytelling toolbox. DSLR filmmaking is usually about creating the "film look" illusion. You can't maintain that illusion when your camera operator is doing the job of three people, with the equipment of none of them.

If you have the time to get involved in post coloring, I think you're right to take whatever camera will give you the log option. On indie productions, it's too easy to misexpose or lose highlights if you're rushed or the cloud cover changes and you're not catching it in the monitor. Take the camera that will let you make a few mistakes. 12x12 is useful, but cars are so reflective and curved that big things can be a real nightmare, too. Add a dolly move and suddenly you can see the entire video village in the chrome or your AC in the glass or mirrors. Definitely spring for a large confidence monitor and hopefully someone on your team can help you be conscious of what's in the reflections. Leave more time for setups on your first day so you can get the bugs worked out. I usually bring a ton of ND 0.6 gel and have the gaffer do custom cuts for each window. Then add and remove them as needed. I've sometimes used an 8x8 frame with single net for spot background reduction when I'm doing closeups, this is usually faster than moving the car. A 4x4 shiny board can be a real help getting daylight in as edge/backlight, especially in the middle of the day when you're otherwise going to be pretty flat.

Really nice look! Did you have many rolling shutter issues on the A7s?

Keep your contrast reasonable and expose to the right. With DSLRs, you'll also want to keep the sensor cool. If you can power down between takes, or alternate between two camera bodies, you can lose a lot of the fixed pattern noise.

If you're shooting a lot around this vehicle, you definitely want a process trailer. It will make producing, acting, and sound easier, too. If you're totally run and gun, a stabilizer like a MoVI, combined with a good driver, can give you some options. Take a little air out of the tires to help smooth things out, too. But it's pretty much impossible to get the same take twice once you're working with two vehicles that aren't attached.

Very practical man!

I think he means 360 degree simultaneous shooting. The biggest hurdle is workflow. Followed by data management. Followed by jamming crew members underneath the camera platform. You're going to have a TON of data, assuming you're using cinema cameras anyway. I think someone has figured out how to do this with a GoPro rig, which obviously comes with its own limitations.

The 1x1 led panels with V-mount are becoming the standard kit to fly with, for sure. If you need more than four lights, you should almost certainly be renting locally. The cost of a grip or gaffer with a van and basic lighting package is usually not prohibitive. It can really help to have an extra hand on set, if you're dealing with more than a few lights.

Oh yes, the Sony CineAlta 6-lens set is a crazy good value after the price drop a few months ago. Nice primes are something you'll probably keep until you retire (and then sell as part of your retirement plan). Get financing if you need it, but buy something with long-term value.

If you're open to used, and you're patient, Zeiss CP2s can be had for around the same price as new Xeen lenses. Since they will likely last for 30+ years, buying used doesn't seem like a big negative to me.

The A7sII is the camera to use for low-light 4K. The pixels are more than triple the size of the A7rII, so you'll get a lot less noise in the very dark. But exposure is still important, of course, so don't go shooting two stops under and expecting miracles.

I think you're making the right choice with the FS7. It's the camera that producers are asking for right now. The FS5 will be the junior cam, suitable for drone work but not much else. Nobody wants to use an external recorder if they can help it. Too much can go wrong!

Yes, the Rokinon Cine 14mm and 24mm are great options for this style of shooting on a Canon 6D. You may be able to find someone in your area who owns a gimbal stabilizer like a Ronin, M5, or similar, and get them to shoot a day with you for cheap or free. It seems like there are a lot more of those stabilizers than there are projects for them. Having good lighting will make a big difference. Plus, if you're moving around, you don't want to be worried about focus all the time. If you can light to f/5.6, you'll be glad. You might want to consider using a camera with a smaller sensor, since the 6D's chief advantage isn't really well-suited to this kind of video. Videos like this are really just a LOT of shots, mostly wide, moving around, and then cutting them in a dynamic way. Plan on hours of dancing to get each minute of great shots.

If you really want the experience of film, you're probably better off renting a 16/s16 camera for a week than buying a s8 camera. Since a lot of them are sitting on the shelves at rental houses, you can probably use one for near free, if you're nice and you make a good first impression. Once you look at the cost of a year of super 8 shooting, you'll see the "dent" in your wallet is a lot bigger than just jumping into a GH2 or other similarly-priced camera.

If they want to be involved in short films, it's probably better to call them a "patron" than investor. The number of short films that were made at a profit could probably be counted on one hand.

Is this in-person only? I'm looking through my contacts trying to find someone I could send there.

Never, ever, only have one memory card for your camera. If you have a problem with the card, remove it, format another, and attempt to recover the files from the card with the problem. I wrote a blog post about how to get data off a corrupted card. If you have more than one problem with the same memory card, just throw it away. $30 is nothing compared to having to tell a client that you lost half their day.

Use lights and a tripod. And maybe take a few workshops or classes, or lower your expectations a bit, before shooting your first video project.

Definitely master in 1080p. You'll be a little soft on some shots, but you'll have a lot more data than if you master in 720p. Once you put your project in the wild, factors like YouTube compression, out of focus projectors, sloppy engineers, and other issues will hurt your quality a lot more. Do everything you can to give the highest quality file, and then expect it to be poorly handled by pretty much everyone who tries to get it to your viewers.

I can't seem to find an update post feature.... new address a few blocks south, and now renting multiple Sony 4K cameras including the FS7 and Z100. MKE Production Rental 159 N Broadway Suite 202 Milwaukee WI 53202 (414) 939-3653