Albion Hockney

Do you know any directors? or do you want to direct your own work? Knowing directors is like half the battle for an upcoming DP. You need good work to shoot. If you want to direct your own work, make something short/small that you are passionate about that can demonstrate your skill and be seen. If the goal is to work as a DP make sure you focus on something you can make look great and do lighting. Like anyone if you make good work and get it seen you will find success.

I don't know what you mean by "superior" quality when the point usually in using these cameras is too have the artifacts and problems in the footage. Mini DV will be a similar look but cleaner if that's what you want. The 3 chip ones have better color, the VX1000 has nice color rendition.

Hmm this is interesting, I think it varies of course. But in much of Asian cinema I do notice a tendency toward brighter interiors in various films. I'm watching "a touch of sin" right now by Jia Zhangke (Chinese film) and noticing the interiors are never dim. I think you could make the argument American cinema sometimes over dramatizes. I mean our first impulse (atleast mine) for day interior in America is to turn off the lights and use window light, but in the "real" world few people live this way.

Interesting. It is surprising to think all these masters (Hitchcock, Bresson, Ozu) all touted the 50mm as normal, when it was somewhat long. a 35mm would have been more "natural".

I don't think there is ever "right" or "wrong" This is not an unpopular style though, I see it often used to create tension.

what is the magnification factor from 4 perf 35mm to full frame 35mm still?

if the sun is in the shot there is nothing you can do, if the sun is out of the shot you need to cut the light off the lens with the mattebox. look at front of the camera and make sure the light is being cut off the lens.

I'm just saying, I can't wait to see those 17 stops of dynamic range. lol.

Yea I think everyone agrees, looks not good. They just aren't going to compete with the top of the market with Sony and Arri anymore. Who would use this? I guess owner operators who Direct and Shoot their own work and for some reason don't like any of the better more ubiquitous options on the market The built ND is the perfect example of them getting it wrong. Its just such a simple and needed feature these days.

Sachtler 15 and 18's are great lightweight options. but maybe a little light for a full alexa package.

Are you going to leave the windows partially open like in your location photos. I think its ok to blow them out as long as you keep a little detail in the open windows. in your reference photo the windows are also "blown out" but they just kept some details in the curtains. Putting ND over the windows will also cut the light coming in through them....so if you are lighting from outside that doesn't really make sense. If you want a similar look to the ref photo, you will need direct sunlight or HMI's to create a similar look. It might be hard to do that on house power. is your location on the first floor? if your doing a wide shot like the reference photo at minimum you'd need one M18 per window. Ideally you would have larger lights considering the window size

I don't know if there is a good answer these days. the old tv logics where accurate, but small and very dim. I feel like the quality has gotten better over the years and certainly much brighter, but if I want to really look at what I'm shooting I ask for a large panel onset and if we are shooting daylight it needs to be tented since none of the high bright monitors seem all that accurate. The small HD 703 seems to be the industry standard, but I don't really trust it. curious what others think.

Sounds like you have a good plan. Personally I would probably avoid 20xs except to knock out lights on the fill side and just get as a big a lamp as I need to over power the stadium lights. But hard to tell with out seeing the location I’d just say don’t forget all the 20xs are doing is knocking out stadium lights — so let your grips find the simplest solution to get those off the talent. I don’t think you should need the overhead one. id also say if you make this 20x box and have one big soft source on the ground. The ground might feel sorta artificially lit in the wide shot - which is why I’d try to work with the natural stadium lights as much as possible or plan to try to bottom off your key light so it’s focused on talent and isn’t front lighting all that grass. stadiums naturally are pretty contrasty Because it’s still night exterior. The only thing that can make it flat is the fact often stadium lights are coming from both sides cross lighting so if you get rid of that issue you will be in good shape.

are the stadium lights going to be in shot? I think the easy way to do this is just big neg fill from one side and then make sure any of the stadium lights go through the same diffusion the M40 will go through on the other side so you don't get any hard light on the front side of the talent. in that case you can get away with no more then 2 20x20 blacks..maybe just one ...and then just a big 12x or 20x diff on the other side. How wide are the interview shots?....do you need to create this huge box of 20x's just to cut the stadium lights....I'd just let your gaffer or grip work that out and see if there is an easier way.