Raffinator

I'll be doing some shooting in Northern New Jersey in about a month, and I am looking for a reliable video equipment rental house that offers a small DVX100 A or B rental package, which would include tripod, quality boom mic, simple lighting/grip kit (for interviews). If anyone from the area has any recommendations or links, I'd be much obliged, as I'm not familiar with the place. Any rental houses near the airport in Newark or in the Westwood area would be ideal. Thanks so much for your help. -Raffi

Saw Zodiac this evening. Fantastic film. Maybe Fincher's best work. Not your typical serial murder movie. Much more honest. I'm sure some people are going to be dissapointed by its anticlimactic approach. I, for one, found it refreshing. I'm guessing this was shot in Hi def? I had no idea until I saw a few scenes that looked suspiciously like video. Personally, I would have preferred something perhaps a bit more hard edged, less soft, than what I saw. Still, it really worked. Wonderful cinematography. The man knows how to set up a shot. Some of those scenes in the SF Chronicle offices looked like fincher was quoting "All the presidents men".

I thought the first two-thirds of this film were really really effective -- great atmosphere, good character development for a horror flic, you could feel the tension mounting with each minute. But right after the "monster aspect" was introduced and revealed, the movie fell apart for me. The characters and plot became overly cartoonish and I lost interest -- it turned into a pretty low grade action movie with few surprises. There was no longer the fear and the great sense of dread that was present in the first two-thirds -- and quite frankly there wasn't much payoff at the end. I would have actually preferred that the film take the "disaster" route instead of delving into the supernatural -- I was much more uncomfortable watching the cave exploring, and the resultant claustrophobia, than the monsters. On to the cinematography: I liked the contrast between the cool, unsaturated look of the forest scenes (bleach bypass?) and the warm dark look of the caves lit by the headlamps and flares -- I thought this was a great choice. This is a dark film, as it should be. The oppressive shadows work on you -- you are constantly aware of the negative space around each character. Excellent use of motivation as well. I almost never questioned where light was coming from -- I could imagine a cave set 2 miles underground could be pretty difficult to light when all the head lamps are supposed to be off and you need to come up with a logical source. Looked like Fuji stock and super 35? Anyone have a link on the cinematography?

Check out just about any film from Martin Scorsese up to "Last Temptation of Christ"; Catholicism/Christianity penetrates every aspect of his art. He isn't trying to "teach christianity" (if that's what you are after, I don't think it is) rather, it's such a huge part of his life that it finds its way into a lot of his themes, conciously or subconciously. If you look for it, there is a fair amount of Christian iconography in these films, and it seems like every character is searching for redemption, in one way or another. Scorsese himself has acknowledged the extent of the influence of his Catholicism: "It always will be in every piece, in every work I do, even in the way I act." I love the cinematography in the first three: The Last Temptation of Christ Taxi Driver Raging Bull Mean Streets Boxcar Bertha "You don't make up for your sins in Church; you do it in the streets; you do it at home. The rest is bullshit, and you know it." -Charlie, Mean Streets

Matt, I definitely agree with you on this. That's what scares me -- when people can't accept debate or the intelligent questioning of any issue, regardless of whether their take on that issue is right or just. Ideology is sometimes just an escape from thought.

Wow, great find for $15. I thought I got a steal on my r8, I paid $250 for one on ebay that was virtually new. Hope this isn't too far off topic, but does anyone know if these Nikon r8/10's can still be serviced or repaired professionally? Thanks.

Sweet! Thanks for the info, I am definitely checking some of these out. Re: "Titanic", as I recall, the James Cameron version was shot in 35 anamorphic. Is this a different production or just a blow up? If its just a blow up, then I hardly think it qualifies for that list.

I agree. That was one of the most breathtaking scenes that I've ever watched. Left me speechless. No, I didn't agree with the politics, but who could argue with that kind of filmmaking? Amazing.

Absolutely. An image is a means of conveying information: storylines, relationships, moods, emotions. These things can be beautiful or horrible, depending on the story that's being told. I've seen great films shot on low quality video with horrible lighting and piss poor resolution. I've also seen terrible films that were beautiful to look at.

Hi Peter, I have an R8, great optics on this camera -- I'm really happy with it -- and it most definitely uses Super 8 film cartridges. I'm not aware of any Super 8 cameras that don't use cartridges, but I've been wrong before...

Interesting article from an MIT professor giving a contrarian view on the global warming debate: http://www.examiner.com/a-173632~There_is_...al_warming.html Check it out.

The 1.5 volts are much more readily available at most camera stores -- 1.35v are a bit more of a specialty item, I believe.

Gentlemen, thanks for the help -- very much appreciated. Honestly, I did a search on this Super8 forum for "Nikon AND Battery" and came up with nothing, so hopefully this topic will, in the future, serve those in need. I'm going to draw the conclusion that zinc batteries don't work in these cameras. Thanks again.

Hi, I am the proud owner of a Nikon R8. Had not used it in a while and I noticed that the internal light meter was not functioning properly -- I would get a exposure reading of f2 in bright sunlight using 100 ASA -- where my hand held meter gave me something like f22. I am assuming that the batteries had lost juice (it had been a year since I last used it) I purchased some zinc 1.35 volt batteries ("max battery" model mx 625) but noticed that now the internal meter gave me no response at all -- battery check button "M" indicated no power. Can anyone recommend a good replacement for the standard mercury batteries that are required on this camera ( I believe the number is Px 615 or 625) -- all I can find are 1.5 volts which are not correct, I'd prefer not to have to make the exposure adjustment if I didn't have to. I like to use it for travel and shoot on the fly, so sometimes a hand held meter is more than I want to bring along. Thanks.

Thanks gents, and those quotes were very helpful. I'll keep it in the cellar or somewhere cool and dry until we shoot -- if production continues getting pushed back, I'll fridge it.

I recently received a shipment of recanned 7218 for a short I'm shooting -- unfortunately, due to an injury to one of the actors, production has been put on hold for two months, possibly more. My question is, should I consider storing this "long term" (in the fridge) since production could be delayed for more than two or three months, and, if so, is keeping recanned raw stock in a fridge a safe practice (since its no longer factory sealed). I'm guessing it should be fine, but I just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

Might it be possible to mask the viewfinder/diopter? That way, you won't be interefering with the zoom problem or affecting the lens performance in any way, and you would still be able to approximate the framing for your desired aspect ratio. It might not be exact, but you could then add the mask in post and not be restricted. Just a thought. Raffi

Just saw The New World and I was really taken in by it. I'm not sure why. Obviously, its not conventional storytelling (although the pocahantas/john smith love story seemed somewhat conventional), it is slow in many parts, the characters don't have much to say, and when they do, none of it seems particularly enlightening. And still, I found myself sucked into it's "new world", forgive the pun. I think it had this affect on me largely because of the moods it created, visually and aurally. Sometimes I believe that there is a stronger emotional response to mood, ambience, "texture" so to speak, than there is to narrative, dialogue, moral conclusions and the like. To me, it had the feel of a dream, a distant and yet powerful memory -- this is how I reacted to it, emotionally. Yes, the film is uneven, but in a way, that's how the experience of life is. In the end, I was moved by the story of this woman, her place in history, what became of her. Of course, this all so subjective I can't fault anyone for not liking it. I also found Lubezki's cinematography stunningly beautiful, but not in a typically overt, glamorous way. Save for a few scenes, I didn't "see" any lighting, everything came across naturally, unforced, real. Raffi

I believe you are reffering to the actor Michael Lonsdale, playing the part of "Papa", who was also in "Day of the Jackal" (the original version), a great film, BTW. I agree, he gave an outstanding performance. Wonderful to see him in a high profile movie again. Makes me long for the days of the 1970's when actors of his ilk were far more prevalent. I enjoyed "Munich", thought it was a good film, and although Kaminski's work was by no means the most original approach to this type of material, I felt it was expertly done and lent a great deal of immediacy to the film. Also loved the zooms! Raffi

Thanks Justin. Yeah, I figured that the small size of the web image would hide some of the grain. I will be shooting a low budget project fairly soon that will use a fair amount of super 8, and though I am not planning on buying a workprinter or sniper, I may just send out my footage to them for the transfer. I have used Cinepost once in the past for super 8 telecine and was pleased with the results, but the prices for this outfit are a bit better. The project will be a short that has a mix of 16mm and Super 8, and I want the two gauges to look distinctivley different, the super 8 footage will be black and white, trix and plusx, and I want it to retain some of the grain that is inherant with super 8, but still look pleasing to the eye. Raffi

Really nice work Justin, interesting compositions, enjoyed the high contrast look -- immpressive, given the circumstances. Didn't see that much grain for super 8. How did you transfer your footage? Raffi

Hey, this is a bit of a longshot, but does anyone know of a place to purchase super 8 film in Amsterdam, Netherlands? I will be there in a few days and want to bring my camera along but will not have anytime to hit the local suppliers before I leave. Thanks in advance. Raffi

I can get K40 processed at CALA foods (Supermarket) in San Francisco for about $4 bucks a roll (not including tax). Raffi

Overexposing a 1/3 of a stop gives a "healthier" negative, generally improving the grain structure, not necessarily reducing the "softness" of the image. To quote John Pytlak, kodak's technical specialist: "Slight overexposure generally helps reduce the graininess of color negatives, since more scene information is placed on the finer grained mid and slow emulsions. With more exposure, the image captured by the larger grained fast emulsions are the deep shadows, so they print darker making the grain less visible." Raffi

I'm curious, how did you get the people racing past to blur? Raffi