Max Field

lol just realized I need to buy a dolly

Got a gig for a commercial emulating turn of the millennium style kids commercials. In the directing style of those, what are some things that stand out to you from that era? What I have on my list so far is: wide angle lenses, dated CG, happy-go-lucky music, frequent use of fast-motion, saturated colors, and either a very dire or very youthful narration. I'll link a few to give you an idea. Burger King circa 1999 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5PqgPjIk4 Sour Bubble Tape circa 2002 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGuomwEUhy4 Kool-Aid circa 2001 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT9wT-1VOZo Gameboy circa 2001 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTS1WIf9W1s Thanks for any pointers if you have 'em. Link others of this style if you have something that further contributes to the feeling of that era.

Used RED One still seems like the most economic option of all of them.

Oh sorry. I thought people were just assuming it rather than it being a major selling point.

Purely only trying to critique things that are not budget involved (because with your lighting style, a camera with better dynamic range would really ease things up for you). The opening shot of the camera moving past the crowd and towards the talent was a great idea, but like you said, needed a bit more stabilization to be perfect. Other guys were a bit down on the crowd crossing in the foreground which, stylistically, I didn't mind so much. Lowering your f-stop to keep the band at the center of focus/attention the entire time would make the crowd crossing a less intrusive thing for me. As for the singer, a lot of times he seemed off sync in performing his own song. Shoot could've been rushed or it might've been the fact he recorded multiple tracks of himself for the vocals and didn't have another guy there singing to help the video match that sound. Either way, shaky syncing doesn't feel right. Someone else mentioned getting more light on the band themselves, I'd fully agree with that. And, again, I know this was rushed, but getting more angles other than frontal ones would really flesh this thing out. An idea that could play to the concept of limited space and only using one angle would be making that in/out dolly shot (with a lot of stabilization) a one take thing for the entire music video. With that, you need to make sure the talent you're working with are up to doing it over and over until it's right. Without budget, that will be the hardest thing you have ever faced in life up to this point. Overall, watch more music videos of all genres, steal and tweak some shots and get back in the game.

Anyone catch word on the 4.6k fixing the low light noise issues of the 4k?

Is that implying there's no, or very little, cinematography knowledge involved with creating the shots of a 3D film? Or am I reading this wrong?

His body of work is plentiful, but from what I've seen of the BttF trilogy (I guess all of it since I've seen all 3) it doesn't hold the impact that a (quick example) Robert Richardson brings to the table for me. It's probably just the era and genres Cundey has dealt in which is why I don't view him as top-10 from a single performance basis. Like I mentioned before, the people who did those 2 examples weren't doing anything incorrect, but at the same time it didn't scream "style" to me like a Spike Lee or Scorsese film would.

Absolutely. I see tons of Youtube movie critics that write entire pieces of work off as "s**t". To me, if someone labels something with a negative absolute with the connotation of fact rather than opinion, they should also be implying that they are capable of better. Putting said fatalists to that test is generally humorous to see.

I feel like it'd be fairly difficult to find objectively "bad" cinematography from a DP who got to the point of working on a title considered "mainstream" (unless nepotism's afoot). Movies that comes to mind with, not bad, but not extremely creative shots would be Good Will Hunting or Back to the Future. Both of these movies are incredible works of mainstream media and didn't need a top-10-active DP. Where it gets tricky is taking a widely loved title and saying it did X and Y wrong, that may lose the audience you're attempting to educate. Now if you just need ANYTHING under the sun that doesn't come off as very inspired, you're bound to find a 5-6/10 80's title on IMDB that'll match what you're looking for to some capacity. Again, leaning towards "uninspired" rather than "bad".

This sort of goes into why people who rarely get behind a camera disregard the majority of efforts by studios for any given film. All the average person sees is plot and acting, which is a big part of film making, but still only a part. A director explaining his process with the word "story" might just be for the people beginning their learning process of film.

I've heard from multiple sources that consistent video editing wears down a solid state drive in less than 2 years. Have they created an SSD which attempts to counteract this issue? I know RAID with USB 3.1 is an option for Windows users, but I'd rather not use external drives (my motherboard does not support RAID).

I thought there would be a million of these threads but after a quick search I couldn't find one for the last 2 years. These are the two flagship cameras that I see used the most for modern features, is the general consensus on these 50/50? 80/20? Does one have features rendering it much easier to use than the other? Would love to hear the thoughts of guys who've worked with both of these, cause I definitely don't have the cash/connections to get my hands on either.

When I go for the look I -think- you're going for, I throw on a moderate to slightly heavy pixel filter, then follow it up with a light gaussion blur and it gets that "photoshop blew it up and tried to correct it" look. If you mean a VHS effect, I'd recommend going for the real thing. Purchase a used DVD-VHS recorder, burn your footage onto a disc, record it over to your tape, and use a capture card to get the colorized footage back to your NLE. We live in the microwave generation so if that sounds like a hassle, a program called "VirtualDub" has some VHS mod for it that's pretty decent (still does not hold a candle to the real thing). Now if you wanted low quality FILM emulation, I'm still trying to figure that one out myself. If someone could reveal a plug-in technique or a cheap hardware workaround I'd also appreciate that.

That sounds like the best deal he's seen so far. Does that include sound? If not, how much extra would sound be? As for why not 2k, he's just really into the concept of owning this cartoon in 4k because "it's funny".

The toon was released in 1999, company definitely still holds copyright. That's why I said it was a "lawful disaster" lol.

Think you'll get a good laugh out of this. I have a friend in California who recently bought a 35mm reel of a cartoon short that clocks in at about 25 minutes. He came to me with great excitement over his purchase with the expectation that his uncle could scan it in 4k and he'd have the only 4K copy of this short on the internet. He proceeds to call up his uncle to ask for the favor, as it turns out, his uncle only has the ability to scan 8mm in 720p from home. So then he researches the cost of a company to scan it for him. With over 2000 feet of 35mm film, he was going to need about $3000 (for a reel that was only $100). The most ridiculous part of all of this to me, was that he attempted to make a GoFundMe crowd funding thing, thinking strangers on the internet would actually fund a fiasco like this. Both logically and lawfully, this is a disaster. If you wish to see his GoFundMe page, PM me. Skip here if you don't care for the story: How does this guy, no matter how desperate, go about converting the 2000 feet of film he bought to 4k in the cheapest way possible? Even if he has to scan the frames one by one himself, what is the best method of doing it? Feel bad for the guy and just want to give him at least a strain of hope that doesn't cost $3000. Thanks.

Hmm, odd that you say that. Not disagreeing with your experience but I remember telling people I loved the brightly saturated warm color tones in Easy A and they responded with "it looks like a Clorox commercial" Could you link some examples of commercials that illustrate what you're talking about?

Carbon Copy and Back to the Future if you're in to the marketable screenwriting element of it all. As far as visual technique, maybe Taxi Driver? Everyone's pretty much already said the common titles thrown around in film school.

I don't have a problem with digital projection either, but this is a question of false advertising, not viewer preference.

I ask because it seems you've read into it a lot, what are (or were) the specific reasons drive-in theaters are being phased out?

Hey what's up? I shoot digital video but would like to try to get deeper into film. Because while film can have its visual advantages, digital shooting is much easier when you get to post production. That's only a fraction of the debate, and I don't care to debate it because both are nice in their own way. Over time I can see film costing more, you can't re-record over it like a hard drive or SD card. I couldn't care less as to what's shot on film vs digital when taking in a movie. To give a motion picture less merit because the director wanted an easier time transitioning their vision from the head to the screen is silly. With that said, if a movie intrigues me specifically for the camera it was shot on (happens every now and then) then I may find myself seeking a film specifically for what it was shot on. If a movie is trying to sell you with the fact it was shot on film, and I go to the theater and watch it projected digitally, I'd feel ripped off.

Pretty much what Jay said. Pulling of transitional illusions like that isn't so much making sure every detail in the frame cuts, just the things the eyes focus on the most. A giant cloud in the center of the frame would qualify as that. Another way of pulling off stuff like that is using momentum in the frame to carry the viewer into the next shot.

Gotta love living in the future

This was exactly what I was searching for, thank you. Know if they have any plans to release one capable of 35mm scans?