Albion Hockney

I would try to work with the practicals if you can. I would go over and run some tests with your camera and cross your fingers its possible to turn off the banks in rows that work in your favor. A joker 1600 would be enough to get a bit of your edge, I would personally try to get an M40 though If I could as I'm guessing you want to underexpose your toplight while still getting a brighter edge light. Also nice to be able to option diffusion and get the light as far away as possible. Lighting a space that big for soft top light is a big assignment. My guess would be more like at least 6-8 Lights (3-4 on each side spaced out) and something like a 20x20 ultra bounce would be what would be required to get soft and overall over half the rink - maybe you can do a 12x but it will be semi sourcy over a certain part of the rink. Sounds like a full day of pre-lighting. Rigging will take some serious time and you might want to think about controlling the light off the background with some skirting on the 12/20x. You could probably use standard 1200 HMI's though. If i was in a place I could get my hands on light tile (not sure if an g/e house in Montreal has it) I would do a 12x of that stuff.

wow, thanks for the information.

Stuart - are you sure about the above? That is essentially saying moving a diffusion frame closer and farther from a subject will change the brightness. That doesn't seem correct to me. Or am I misunderstanding what you are saying?

Can I ask, where did you see that listed? That is the same as full grid, seems not quiet enough but maybe that is true!

Has anyone ever got a reading on how much light is lost with magic cloth. I can't seem to find the information anywhere.

Miguel, would you be able to break down the lamp placements in the spot you shared?

The range is compressed on screens. A camera can film 14-15 stops of range and then when its put it a color space like Rec709 that latitude is compressed but still present. If the camera couldn't capture the whole range though it will show as blown out or as solid black. I'm sure it's more complicated, but that is the basic idea.

Certain DP's get very enamored with a specific fixtures quality of light. it might be similar to a normal soft push of light, but it will have some unique traits that seem to mirror the parabolic reflector style lights. It's also 400W of LED (that is 3-4 Astras of power if they are similar LED's) and its 8LBs (A Celeb is like 20lbs and needs a junior mount)

haha, the game of thrones point is pretty accurate! I think its very easy to be cynical about the state of things though - so I try not to do that too much and just ignore all the awful stuff. I haven't been to a major cinema in several years, they for the most part, don't play films with any real heart or soul - big or small.

I've seen people use 90's they go fast though. A lot of people have the sharkfin with two 90's. Keep in mind TSA limits batteries over 90 or 100W/h

I have been following this conversation a bit. I wanted to say a few things. Sandra, I believe all of the movies you mentioned involve a strong attachment to commerce - From Big to Monty Python to Ben Hur. The film industry has been a business since its beginning hence the film "industry". Any major motion picture of any time period involved large amounts of money and filmmakers always made sacrifice and compromise because of money - That compromise goes beyond simple production choices (we need to use this small set instead of this big expensive one) but also from its very core film has favored entertainment and ticket sales. That said I would agree that things have changed. In the past the balance between commerce and art was maybe split evenly or sometimes even favored art. Now, major films certainly always favor commerce. In the 60's people like Bergman, Godard, Woody Allen could be artists and make commercially viable cinema (not without a fight, but they did). this is no longer the case. Now this all said, there has ALWAYS, and will always continue to be a contingency of people interested in art first who make films, and I would certainty argue that the most important pieces of work are always battling the business interests of the film industry. Art and business don't actually have anything to do with each other - they just happen to be interwoven to a strong degree. Welcome to capitalism... it is called capitalism for a reason....people want to capitalize, make money! further to the point maybe that has changed a bit though where in the past business people capitalized on artistic talent and now they are just pushing the artists out of the way to go straight for the money Many of my favorite contemporary films don't make money, it is a success when you do festivals and make there money back - but now with the way major festivals have gone (Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, etc) even that can be hard sometimes. Moonlight was not the only interesting powerful piece of indie cinema last year - there were many! Not to say I'm a fan or not of Moonlight, but the point stands - times have changed and much of the most interesting cinema goes well below the radar of the mainstream.

I think you did a really nice job mimicking a Hitchcock film - the camera work and pace...brings back all the fond memories and fun of his films. For a first short I think it is a success and you should keep going! Just wanted to say 20min is a really hard length for film festivals (it means you take the place of 4, 5min films or 2, 10min films - so it needs to be really amazing). Also as the film is such a strong homage to hitchcock and that period of cinema it might not be exactly what festivals are looking for. I urge you to build on this work with more of your own voice. good luck!

This is a side point - I think for 100k you can shoot on 16mm Film - it will cost more and be a harder shoot with more sacrifice (IE you can't do many takes and you have to really have a solid plan - but if its the look you want and your DP is into it then it can work out. Make sure you are working with a DP who is confident in the choice though. You and Her/Him should really be on the same page. I wanted to say you sound like you don't have a ton of experience and this being your first feature project I would really recommend work with as many experienced more veteran crew as you can. IE I don't know why you have a sound person telling you not to shoot on 16mm that is a mute point and not an issue. this person sounds inexperienced. I would also suggest having a DP who is really on the same page again and if possible someone who has shot features before ....or make sure to have a producer or AD who has done this several times before ....people who you know have your back and you can listen/learn from. best of luck!

every DP has a different path to becoming a DP and a different way of working. Some come from Camera/Lighting departments and know everything there is - others come from broader backgrounds like photography - every DP also does different work. IE working on a feature film that is very "naturalistic" you need a different set of knowledge then being a DP on say a car commercial or shinny pop music video That said I think most successful DP's have been around long enough to know at the very least the same as a moderately expereinced Gaffer and you need that knowledge to make good choices a lot of the time - especially if you are working with a variety of gaffers

Adam, do you have an example of doing the ceiling bounce with color in it? Would be very interested to see the results from that however subtle it is - that is a cool idea.

I don't know if I would use the tungsten heads to simulate daylight. Unless you have several 2K's or it will be really dark you won't gt much output. depending on exact situation I would probably shoot mostly with natural light and maybe try to bounce in daylight with a large bounce outside the window - if it is overcast I'd use silver lame

Bigger is always better I think - but you might even get away with an M18 for that if you need too. I would try to get an M40 Though. The powerade spot for sure is using some diffusion - since the window isn't very big so even a strong diffusion will give you some beam shape and shadow quality. If this is your biggest setup though save the budget and the big genny - get a putt putt and an M40 and you will be solid.

I think often people assume photo lenses are lower quality optically because they are cheaper then cinema lenses. Those new Sigma lenses are probably much sharper then a lot of the vintage spherical and anamorphic lenses people choose to use. It also of course depends what stop you shoot at. at F 4/5.6 it would probably be hard to tell the sigma lenses apart from master primes for almost all viewers. I'd say sharper is certainly not always better at all - but if you want a sharp image you shouldn't have a problem getting one with those sigmas, especially stopped down a bit.

This is a all really interesting and a good point - but wouldn't it be possible to still limit the dynamic range of a given film, scene, or even a shot if you wanted to retain an older style look? with HDR you have more information so similar to shooting on a higher end camera maybe it can open up new creative options.

I can't believe that they had SD video on the force awakens! I remember seeing this in or around 2011 - seems reason enough to use them over panavision or anything else

pretty much every narrative project I've done either a director gives me a shot list they want to stick to or we collaborate together and we talk through it either way. Then the AD works up a basic schedule based on their industry experience and then the Director AD and myself all sit together and talk through it (usually I have more concerns then the director and the AD wants to know how long lighting setups will take and sometimes I need to consult my gaffer on that)

I have a friend who swears he can't shoot on Red and every time he does it looks crap. everyone has a thing I guess. Use the Fs7's alot - I like it just fine. Never shot on an F55, but have seen good images out of them.

....its probably just because us young guys just run around shooting "cinematic docu" style and half the time if we had EVFS we'd bounce into walls if we couldn't see around a monitor were shooting so fast.

Yep : ) haha.

You gotta pay for it though its going to be priced over two grand. will probably be the new standard on camera operating monitor though. I never liked viewfinders