Oron Cohen

The technology has evolved, the lenses I mentioned like Alura, angie etc, are sharper, almost as fast or faster, lighter, better CA, less fall off, so what are you gaining for using those Vari-Primes? If they were that good they would have come out with a V2 for them and people would have gone crazy on them on the second hand market, there is a reason why they are not in demand. At the time those lenses came out, they were the first of it's kind, things have changed since then, and they are now history. Again, the only reason to use them, is if you tested them for a particular project against other lenses and decided that from some reason you like the look..

I had the luck to actually see this lenses in person years ago, they are massive!!! Consider you have today Alura 15-40 and 30-80 or the Angie 15-40 and 30-90 EZ do the same job, and weigh about 2Kg...Why would you use those monsters unless you really like the look? - They also breath pretty heavily The Standard are lovely lenses, beautiful classic look, cheap, very small and lightweight and very sharp wide open. make much more sense the 3 mega monsters that you need to swap all day.. :-D

Actually B&H are having a sale now for the Panasonic GH4 including the V-Log add on for on 1K USD. Add a Metabones Canon EF adapter, a 17-50 or 24-105 (look at B&H used section) lens and Rode mic, and you'll have a workable package for around 2K ish. Or for around 3K including a lens get a used C100 markII + lens , only down side it's only 1080p, but it's a wonderful video camera with all the bonuses you want for a video camera, like XLR's input, good in camera mic, auto focus, native EF mount, exposure and focus tools and very nice to handle in a documentary situation. Although it's only 1080p, the image is very sharp and crisp, and I did some test blowing it up to 4K it's still look nice. Just my 2c.

Hi, I've sent you a pm.

I'm really looking forward to see this one! Hopefully I'll watch it on 70mm. Recently watched Kubrick 2001 on 70mm and was blown away, also watched Interstellar on 70mm IMAX and loved the experience (but not so much the cuts to 35mm).

This is tricky, because we don't know how much you guys talked before hand. Did you ask the director how he works or plan to work? did you made a small test shoot before hand? did you discussed how to you both see each other working together? did you discussed in depth the visual style of the film? If the answer to some of the questions is NO, so I believe you should suck it up and learn that next time you will, as you can't just tell him he is not doing what you planned (many directors work in the way you describe, like Coppola on apocalypse now). However the answer to all the questions is YES, you should stop doing what he asks, take him for a chat and discuss with him what's going on and why his he doing what he's doing, especially if you feel it will heart the visual style of the film. If the answers don't satisfy you you can place your red line there, and say you're not going to do it (this is an extreme example though). usually you can sort something out, if you listen carefully to the director. This is my perspective of course, sure people have more to say.

Totally agree with what everyone said here. To the OP: You said it yourself in the beginning, you haven't done much cinema filming, people get confused and think shooting a music video or a corporate film it's the same thing as shooting a film, so guess what: it's 100% NOT. Cinema is an art form, you're creating a language, something that should be a one of kind creation aiming to tell a specific story, the all working process and approach is different and you need to tune your mind to a different channel when you're doing a film. My other note will be that, as opposed to commercial work, filmmaking usually needs more then just a working relationship, you need to have a human connection with the people you work with, it's more intimate..I'll quote from the end of this great article with Larry Smith: https://www.theasc.com/magazine/oct99/sword/pg1.htm "Reflecting upon his collaboration with the one of cinema’s greatest directors, Smith concludes, "Working with Stanley was a great privilege, and I’m very thankful that I met him and got that chance. However, I don’t think my lasting memories of him will necessarily relate to our interactions on the set. The moments I’ll always remember will be those times when we’d be in his office or at the house, drinking some coffee and talking about cricket, football or movies. Stanley had a great sense of humor, and he always had this mischievous little twinkle in his eyes. That’s what I’ll miss the most."

Brenton, you write on your info "other", could you please specify what do you? If you are a Cinematographer or want to become one, you do need to know those things on a basic level I feel, as your AC will sort out camera cables etc anyway. a few methods to learn about connectors: 1) Go and look at videos from companies making accessories like Wooden Camera for example, they have a tone of videos on youtube showing different methods of connecting things, Arri have some good videos as well and Abel Cine and I'm sure there are more. 2) If possible go to a local rental house and ask them either to pay for a few hours of explaining or even work for them as an intern for a few days in the camera department, learning the equipment . 3) look for a 1st AC that does TV or fiction and ask him if he got a shoot you could join even free or for very low wage. Hope it helps.

I don't want to start a long discussion here, but from real life experience on sets, BM is not a factor in pro environment, the usual suspects are (at the moment): Arri, RED and Sony F5/F55 and I really think Panasonic Varicam should be used more as it looks amazing! There are reasons why pros prefer those cameras. As for Raven, Raven is giving you a LOT of what Weapon are giving you, which is a 30-50K camera. Also, r3d is now native for most editing systems and you don't need a super powerful computer to edit it(but it does need to be powerful), as the editing software just drop the quality for playback or you could shoot now prores LT/DNXhd combine with RAW in camera. On a side note, I see you are a Cinematographer, why do you want to buy a camera? In any case if you do decide buying, in Raven price range, I'll say, it doesn't have any real competition for cinema use. I do think that if you are on a very tight budget, Scarlet-X is a nice camera for half the price. Last thing: RENT before you buy! :-) p.s: you can shoot a feature film on 4K 7:1 or 8:1 on well lit scenes easy. I'd say including backups you'll need around 12TB-16TB per a film.

I was actually torn about leaving Sunset Boulevard and Alphaville out, great picks!

5 films is not much :) so just films from the top of my head and that I really like the Cinematography in them, but there are so many more! - Ivan’s Childhood - The Night of the Hunter - Vivre Sa Vie - Tokyo Story - Europa

Hey Brenton, I think a budget will help, "not huge" isn't clear enough, for me, an inexpensive PL super16 lens is around 3-4K USD at least. If it was me, I'll suggest one of the Canon zooms, like the 8-64 or the 11.5-138 , those are for most part sharp, and you could actually shoot a film with one, I would prefer it over primes which are quite expensive on super16 and will limit you as you probably don't have a budget for a set, so you will be stuck with one or two focal length. Another option is the G.L optics PL conversion lenses, they have a Tokina 11-16 and 16-28 PL lenses as well as Sigma 18-35 PL, all of them are useful focal lengths for super16 and you could use them later down the road with super35 cameras.

Storaro is known for being elegant dresser, I still remember the behind the scenes of Apocalypse Now and how well dressed he was in the middle of the jungle :) he got Italian class.

I respect what you're saying Freya, but honestly I don't understand where you get this? as I commented before, I was absolutely certain you are being sarcastic in the beginning saying C-stand are not used in the UK. I could understand why they will be less C-stands or no stands on an ultra low budget shoot, that's mainly due to the fact that many people in London are amateurs that claim that they know what they're doing and they just don't know how to use lights if they did they would have rented some c-stands, sand bags and flags as its really cheap to rent and make it all the difference, are you're suppose to cut and shape light shooting interiors? On TV it's different, TV lighting (like BBC you mentioned) could be very different then proper film lighting in many ways, it really depends on the show. From my experience, on every professional film shoot or drama shoot in the UK, US, France or anywhere else, they will be a bunch of C-stands waiting or used at any given time.

C-stand rare in the UK? what? are you being sarcastic?