Albion Hockney

If you want to be a DP - especially on indie film or more artful projects NY or LA is necessary. I would rec moving early and building up there. Spend a lot of time just meeting up with people and networking. hustle.

I'm not positive on this but from my experience you can't record the full 4:3 sensor @ 200fps which is why the options are grey'd out. Anamorphic shooting tops out at 120fps on the mini. The only way to shoot 200fps is in 16:9 HD

Yes. I Love Ozu's transitional shots. Those shots are always metaphoric and carry a lot of meaning and intention! the contemporary filmmaker Koreeda does a similar thing very effectively.

I'm not sure how much lighter those fixtures are? how big do you need the source? if something around 4x4 is desired and you don't need a ton of output I'd go light mat spectrum 4 or maybe a small array of astera tubes through 4x4 diffusion. Much lighter options. The Max menance arm which is what is in your reference picture is rated at 75lbs - so you could use a skypanel if that is what you are getting. I would guess the rigging would take time to be done safely though. A goal post could for sure carry an s30 though - not sure if you will get much frame clearance though as you would with a menace arm

Yep. this is what arri says "This intensifier panel for SkyPanel* increases light output by up to 50% while maintaining a soft, even beam of light. The increase in output is achieved by capturing some of the light going off to the side and refocusing it in a more forward direction. " Love to see this tech be used on other lights and extended further. with intensifier they say the s60 beam spread is 74degrees, be interesting if they could get it down further.

I think its good to note that "establishing shot" and wide shot are also different things. An establishing, used purely for a sense of setting, in my opinion can feel unnecessary if it doesn't have any further motivation or feeling to convey - but the wide shot is just a tool of camera language. I don't think its a simple as would we get better production value out of staying tighter - that is a larger conversation about the intention of the filmmaking and the feeling a wide shot might illicit that a closer shot could not achieve.

Hmm, I don't think it can narrow the beam pattern though - only appears to widen it. The narrowing is the key ingredient I think. I wonder if you could pack led's with lenses tightly enough to resolve the multi shadow issue, If you do place a fixture far enough back it does limit this for the most part with the Spot Astra fixture. OR yea just one lens over the top could maybe work?

Rosco Opti Scult seems to be focused on the theatrical world and more like just normal diffusion. (Video Below). I do wonder about a large array LED with narrow lenses built onto each diode or something. Would be amazing to have something like a LitMat 4 with a narrow beam angle built in. The Aadyntech holographic lens looks closer, but I wonder if it has the ability to narrow the focus of a light or if that is just further spreading the light? If anyone has any more info about trying to do a thing like this that would be great!

I stumbled up on this video (posted in another thread). This DIY fellow is saying that there is a fresnel lens layers in edge lit tv's that project the light forward. In essence this creates a much longer throw and can focus the light of a soft led array forward...As if you could use a lens like this as a sorta optical honey crate. Any truth to this crazy idea? anyone have more information ?

Bradford Young had custom kino rigs that bounced the bulbs upward and back down....so super super soft quality top light. I believe that is how he achieved the reflective look in the skin. Now days with litmats would be a lot easier!

The simple answer is that you need to balance the exposure on the sky and foreground. The sky will be brighter in backlit situations since you will be shooting toward the part of the sky with the sun in it. here is an example of that at sunset: At Sunrise/ sunset the brightness of the sun is less intense, but I haven't found this dramatically effects the exposure between the sky and foreground with the exception of just before sunrise or after sunset at magic hour. In general if you shoot front lit or even side lit you can usually get a strong blue sky. The quality of the camera you use does for sure matter - most modern digital cameras with 12+ stops of latitude can easily handle the brightness of the sky - pulling down highlights in post production will also help.

There wouldn't be any real benefit to underexposing the white seamless. It would likely take more lighting effort to bring down the backdrop exposure to where you want, especially to get a dark gray color. If you were to light a white seamless to match the same shade of grey as a dark grey seamless theoretically there wouldn't be any discernible difference. There isn't a reason the underexposed white would be any cleaner of an image since you are under exposing it in camera to match the same shade of grey. The evenness of the light on the background is a product of having a light that evenly hits the whole background so it is the same level of brightness across the whole surface. if you have access to a spot meter this would be a good way to make sure the whole backdrop is lit evenly at the exposure that will result in the dark grey you like.

You should look into the cinematography of the lighthouse which was shot on Double X with a custom color filter.

I think sometimes the banding can look cool. Remember before easy rider when lens flares where though of as mistakes?

Yea the LED light companies over the hype the output on all of these lights so much!