Max Field

1 hour ago, David Mullen ASC said:

So is the problem predictability or unpredictability???  Seems like randomness isn't really a solution to storytelling.

Literally the only films that entertain me anymore break most conventional screenwriting rules. And they aren't weird art films. The Visit, Crank 2, The Guest, Freddy Got Fingered: pictures like this are gaining sizable followings with the 16-30 crowd years after release.

Watch Tim & Eric Awesome Show or The Eric Andre Show, these are big hits utilizing a more extreme form of visual prose.

I've had tint issues with kino flo but moreso them dipping a bit more green and needing to add magenta.. are both errors possible?

I feel like unpredictability will eventually take over in the mainstream.. but it'll be about 20 years from now. People under 30 tend to get the most excited over films that have wild things happen out of nowhere, the non-sequitur is becoming increasingly popular thanks to shows like Eric Andre.

Like a bank robbing movie, should everything go as planned? Would probably be boring, but it's what you stuff into the going wrong that keeps people wanting to see more. Having the boss shoot one of the characters in the face for barely any reason with no warning in a film that isn't advertised as horror is what makes a film go viral now. 30 minutes in some background robber with no development shoots the boss in the face and everyone just goes with it. The unexpected is the essence of amusement.

Just to clarify, I don't find new features technically bad or any worse than before.. It's just having personally written and produced so many things I feel too hip to the tricks that screenwriters/directors will use. I saw Joker and thought it was great, I saw Uncut Gems and thought it was great, but I didn't really feel consistently entertained by either of them. So often I would see scenes implanted and would just think "Okay yeah I know what trick they're doing here, let's wrap it up".

For example in Uncut Gems there was a scene where the door buzzer was jammed which hesitated a big gem stone being returned and literally all I was thinking was what the screenwriter was thinking when they wrote that scene: "Yeah see the audience thought it'd be an easy return but NOPE we'll just put this problem in to raise the tension even higher!"   ...I almost called it "artificial drama" but literally all drama on the screen is artificial..

Does anyone else have this problem? What's a way for overcoming it?

Sound designer chiming in on the audio thing:

The big reasons people will record in 96khz is future proofing and flexibility. Slowing down sound effects that are 96khz retain far more of the high-end frequencies as opposed to slowing down a 44.1khz sound effect (or song for sampling, whichever). The needing to hear in 96k dips more into the audiophile realm as opposed to the engineering realm.

I've never heard of putting a low pass filter when mastering modern-sounding audio because every program just does that automatically, was there a time when it had to be done manually? I can't even hear anything past 17khz and have never gotten a mixing complaint.

Could be a lot of things. Strong hairlights, deep sets layered with light and dark spots to make them look even deeper, lighting that changes throughout the scene or even the shot, color variation between key and hair light, lighting that triggers a higher contrast within the exposure.

You should shoot fashion commercials, it had that in-your-face look to it.

On 2/9/2020 at 12:26 AM, Robin R Probyn said:

WW2... ?  

German engineers can't help their leader's insanity leading to self-sabotage.

6 hours ago, Patrick Baldwin said:

Rode mics are emphatically not trash!  However, avoid the NTG2. Very low sensitivity. An NTG3 is a very viable alternative to the 416

Given that MKH416s on the used market are within a couple hundred dollars to NTG3s, it's a no brainer to go with Sennheiser. Literally every Rode mic I've used is thinner than it's competitors at a similar price point, natural bass retention is essential the farther you move from the subject (is essential for the human voice in general to be honest).

German engineering is undefeated.

On 1/27/2020 at 6:51 PM, Miguel Angel said:

Am I the only one in the world who liked this movie?

I know a couple girls obsessed with it.

Yeah I'd suggest the H6 way before the H4N.. it feels like the H4N is known so much more because a ton of media programs make them available to their students. H6 has better preamps, better GUI, and 4 inputs if you need to record roundtable situations.
All the audio I've done in the past 3 years has been with an H6 and I've never really had to look elsewhere since.

However if Neve, Motu, or Neumann start making portable audio recorders then my H6 is going directly on eBay because the preamps still leave a bit to be desired if you work audio regularly.

As for shotgun microphone It's really the Sennheiser MKH 416 or nothing at all (Schoeps has a nice one for too much money in my opinion). I see you're Australian but Rode microphones are trash, please do not buy an NTG mic.

The key thing for most trades is experience. Tricky part is; how does one get experience when there aren't many opportunities in general to even do free labor on professional sets? Start self producing shorts to build that experience up as well as building portfolio.
Film school (at least in this era) gives you a baby-level workload compared to what's actually required to have competent knowledge.

Doing everything on your own is the only way sometimes. Recently had my first 1stAC gig on a music video shoot among some media school graduates and was head and shoulders more knowledgeable than anyone there when it came to the camera/lighting departments.

You can't wait for knowledge or experience to come to you.

2 minutes ago, Uli Meyer said:

While the tools don't make a film, they are part of one's style. If you dismiss that, you are limiting yourself. The cost of film might not be worth it for you but it is for others. By the by, I am currently working on a big budget film where a lot of money is spent on a whole post production department to make the digital footage look more "film".

And then once technology advances to automatically capture and apply those characteristics of making digital look more filmic, film will be gone for good? Because it's coming soon to a Davinci Resolve near you.

Remember when people thought the talkies were a trashy gimmick in the 1930's? Man would hate to be those guys (because they're dead, not because I'm making a great analogy).

37 minutes ago, Manu Delpech said:

it's important, it looks better, it feels better, it stands out, it transforms it.

Little things here and there are definitely cool with the characteristics of shooting film but it's just not worth the cost. Like the number one thing industry veterans preach is great production design and great story, the canvas capturing it (with the exception of really cheap stuff) means nothing to me as a filmmaker. I don't really want an Arri camera all that much, but I have to have one to turn the heads of others.

I live for strongly saturated hair lights, whip-pans, stabilized handheld tracking, flashy bokeh, gigantically soft key-lighting, and backgrounds flushed with advertising. Film accomplishes literally none of those things. The more you consider your own style, the less you consider what captures it.

Digital won't kill film. Alexa Minis dropping to $3,000 each by the 2030's will kill film.

I've only been enthusiastic about shooting film from a period piece perspective. A "young filmmaker" gung-ho about celluloid wouldn't admit it, but are just trying to impress most of the people on forums like this. Printing film for projection is another story, I love the coloration it creates while not affecting on set workflow.

I'm seriously wondering who's going to theaters once the baby boomers and Gen Xers die off.

28 minutes ago, Richard Boddington said:

I hear the IP argument, day in and day out.  What IP was Star Wars based on?

R,

To be fair 1977 and 2020 are 2 very different eras. Due to the internet and widespread cable television, the western world is addicted to familiarity, especially childhood familiarity.

3 hours ago, Daniel Rocque said:

Just letting people know that this camera is still for sale ? 

Great condition, well taken care of, works great!

Selling for $6000 yet?

When speaking with artistic communities I find it difficult to get across the importance of certain athletes and Kobe was definitely one of them. Now that he's dead I hope it will encourage people to learn about how deep his mental process went and incorporate some of his insanities into their own workflow.

Thanks guys, oh one last thing. When it shoots in 2k does the sensor get cropped? Or does it capture the whole thing and downscale?

I know many here are CineAlta fans (and haters) so I'll dump the following questions here:

1.Without the expansion box, what is the highest possible quality of recording? ProRes 10 bit? Something comparable?
2. Is the dynamic range really 14 stops?
3. How are the skin tones?
4. Does it chew through batteries?
5. Is it good at around $6000 or will the camera go lower?
6. What is the sensor size? I know "Super35" leaves a bit of variation in millimeters..

Thanks to any and all who can answer!

The simple way of putting it is you need to be true salesman, sell them on how extra money towards the camera/lighting department will significantly improve the overall quality of the project. Realistically, the most common thing you have to deal with at early stages is the producer just not having money in general.

Knowledge is power. If you can go on and on about other things where money saved the project (while making it entertaining to hear) then you'll have a better chance of getting what you want. I have no idea how anyone quiet could make it any business.

Additional info: Setting these up has been a 1-man job so far. I'm able to get them nearly level but not perfect. How essential is it to get it right on the nose? Also when I put in the lock to do the final extension to wedge into the ceiling, is there such a thing as over extending them into the ceiling? Or the tighter the better?

I bought 2 of the Impact Varipoles for a shoot, wedging them between a standard 8 foot drywall ceiling and a thin piece of wood over a carpeted floor.

Before I begin hanging a speedrail between them, what tests should I do to make sure these won't slip out from the ceiling? I really do not want a lawsuit on my hands.

Thanks for any tips!

I was in talks with Tom Pickard but their plan made it so you had to get the general liability with injury coverage etc and I didn't need all that. I got Athos Insurance this year.