Albion Hockney

can you share a link to the spot your talking about? any specific questions ....that seems very broad

On 1/25/2022 at 7:27 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

OOOOOOOOO hahah, so they didn't even get a positive out of it. 

what is the difference in the resulting image compared to traditional processing as reversal?

The show looks great regardless of how much that has to do with the ektachrome

Gimbals have always been the bane of my existence, especially the time between going off a gimbal for a handheld shot and then back on.

Is there any short cuts or tips to make the balancing process faster?

do you need to spool film on special reels for this camera, since they no longer make them?

what is that process like?

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.

Totally different career paths. I'd say in a small market maybe you could dabble and get color work on a home setup... but in LA, your not going to make good money on that if its a side hustle. if your a talented DP or Director its easy to find Jr colorists who already have those assisting jobs to take on work at super discounted rates as they are all also building reels. The only work left is the less desirable stuff with small budgets that post houses won't take on.

I'd say if you really want to be a DP then you for sure want to get on set and be apart of production. Color skills are great and helpful to you as a DP and for your own work possibly, but as a career path its just so different.

For sure easier to get a camera rental job and then work as an AC, that's a classic path for many DPs

any friendly Rental house you have a relationship or worked with before should help you out and let you play with one. If your getting this unit from a rental house deff ask them to spend sometime with it.

Build a reel from work you can find.  Music videos, short films, etc. Maybe reach out to JR dp's whose work you think is great and try to color their stuff and then try to get a assisting gig at a color house or a post house that does a good bit of color work. Very many of the successful colorists started assisting at the post house they still work at, so that's the ideal pathway if you can attain one of those positions. I'd email colorists you respect directly for advice and share your reel with them.

The light on Newman is pretty dim. often dim subtle light is confused for a soft light.

The vibe of this shot is more from the fact he is near silhouette in front of the window. the light on his face is just a subtle touch, if it was a soft light instead of the semi hard approach the look wouldn't be that much changed.

even with the dream vibes and small portion of the track I'd fight hard for a location with control of the stadium lights. They will bring up your background too...if you just have lights on talent and shoot at night you might loose exposure on background so all the production design you have left is the track on the ground and then blackness behind it, but maybe that is good for what you want?

are you tracking with a moving runner on steadicam? I'd say even like an area of 50ft or so is a lot for one 4k.

If you get a place with Musco's which are pretty common they should be around daylight balance I'd have 1/4 and 1/8 flavors of CTB/CTO Green/Magenta just in case.

with only two on g/e even a couple 4k's is a lot to deal with, but a maybe one 4k could create a nice edge or wrap the stadium lights a little, especially as you say if your in a single position on the track.

If you go with no stadium lights Maxi's are a great option, but you'll need a big generator and more then two on your crew for sure. just mounting one of those takes two or three people and very heavy stands or scissor lift/condor especially if you want them at all high up in the air.

good luck, stadium locations are always awesome.

I think the best thing you can do is find a great location with stadium lights you can control. Shooting into the stadium lights is very dramatic and usually you can control each light tower individually so you can turn off the ones on the near side and shoot into them backlit. The real lights are great piece of production design as well, they look awesome in the deep background of shots. An M40 will do some work, but one M40 isn't going to light up the whole track. you'd need Dinos or 18k's to do that sorta thing way up high. that is a huge budget thing. If you need some fill or to shape the light on talent you could use M18's or M40's for tighter framings, but if you are shooting a person sprinting down the track I wouldn't count on lighting that with your lamps with out a very large budget or using a very small area of track. 

Another thing to consider is you may be able to shoot your wide shots at magic hour and get a little blue in the sky which is a very pretty look.

Often the best solution is the most simple, don't over complicate if you don't have to.