Shawn Sagady

I love Black Magic and what they’ve done but I wish someone would concentrate on a sensor with amazing photos sites like the Alev3 and less on big pixel numbers.  I feel like no one but Arri gets it. 

7 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Since you've read the book, tell me -- does a photon actually get slowed down when traveling through a medium or is it just taking longer to get through because it is zigzaging, bouncing around, etc.?

According to traditional physics the speed of light is constant so it would have to be the route being longer.  Like photons generated in the sun take thousands of years to reach the surface but they are always traveling at the speed of light, they just keep bumping into crap and bouncing around. 

58 minutes ago, Robin R Probyn said:

Maybe not a studio concern.. yet.. but I remember shooting in LA a few years back on actual locations.. and many large buildings had some sort of green energy rule, state law ?.. actually banning the use tungsten lights .. had to fluorescent or LED.. .. so if your a doc ,corp camera person in the US something to think about .. 

I would think that only legally applies to permanent fixtures. But I’ve had clients give me some weird ass rules before. 

5 hours ago, Feli di Giorgio said:

CML just did a test. Tungsten vs various LED. Very interesting results...

https://cinematography.net/LED-Camera/LED-Camera-Index.html

 

I love the look of tungsten. It's very lush. But heat and power draw are big issues. You can't run anything bigger than a 2k on house power. 

Tungsten has gotten something of a new lease on life with digital camera being able to shoot at higher asa settings that film and still deliver great IQ. You can do a lot with a few of 300w/600w/1000w lights and a sensitive camera.

But sooner or later you're going to run into the problem of not being able to run anything bigger than a 2k on house power or maxing out the amps available in your shooting location. Or the heat overwhelming the A/C.

If I had the money I would shoot tungsten/HMI etc, simply because I like the way it looks. But if you are on a tight budget LED lighting is the miracle we all dreamed about for years. The reduced power draw of LED can make a production possible, that previously would have never happened due to the need for generators, A/C, permits etc.

 

Those tests are great. Nice to see the work done so thoroughly.  A quick browse through the LED units and you can see the crazy dips and gaps in the spectrum vs the relatively smooth falloff of tungsten. Some of them are getting much better though.  I remember some tests from a few years back and there were literal holes in the spectrum.  

9 hours ago, AJ Young said:

Wild pitch, but I also believe you should have a "common denominator" monitor: a simple TV from an electronics store set to factory settings.

It's obviously the right idea to color grade with actual monitors for color grading (like the ones everyone has mentioned), but it's also good practice to see what your grade looks like on the mediums/formats your audience will be viewing your film on. This avoids the problem Game of Thrones had with their major night battle on their last scene (news article).

Even though we trust our audience will view our project in the best conditions possible, we'd be lying to ourselves. Most people have their TV's set to factory settings, are watching your movie with sun light blasting through windows, or are consuming the film on their iPhone while riding the subway. Having a "common denominator" monitor gives you perspective into how your project will look on the crappiest of settings which you can then account for.

100% You can and maybe should review your content on a consumer monitor before mastering but the wild variety of looks and settings between brands and even generations of the same brand means there is no middle ground consumer monitor to use as reference so you MUST have something that is reliable and reproducible as your reference monitor.  Grading as close to accurate as possible is the best bet to put you somewhere in the middle of all the wild variation in the consumer market. 

You’ve had a lot of great answers. Personally I love tungsten for the light quality.  LED is great and I own LED lights and not tungsten but that’s because you can’t be sure of power on small indie shoots so the LEDs efficiency and small form is great.  
that be being said if I have a stage or a budget for grip tricks and generators I’ll take tungsten any day.   Just look at the spectrum from a tungsten or even HMI light compared to LED and you can see the huge gaps and sharp falloffs.  

Flanders Scientific is the way to go.  You might be shy of a 10bit monitor at 3000 unless you can find one used.  Those monitors are bulletproof though.  

8 hours ago, Todd Pinder said:

Heck at least a monopod! Easy to carry one of those hiking. Unfortunately for most, shaking hand held footage = Super 8

Those cameras are small enough just about any modern gimbal could be used as well. I get there was a lot of constraint on the shoot and they were just embracing the simplicity of 8mm.  But would love to see 8mm with some production value 

https://shotonwhat.com/cameras/sony-hdw-f900r-camera
 

best I can find.  

A lot of trailers are done by separate houses than the films actual editorial team. They may be getting a rough grade or even ungraded footage to work with so they just do what they think will tell the story outside of the desires of the DP etc.  Usually the director has some input but again these trailers are usually cut way before the final grade is done. 

They did some serious work to degrain and clean up that footage. Makes me wonder why bother with 8. Could have shot 16 and had more control on the look.  I guess because they can.  

On 5/13/2020 at 2:14 PM, Andrew Skalak said:

Christian, thanks for this. I am definitely guilty of a lot of the suggestions here. I disagree on the level of music, in that I actually do think it is important to create a rhythm and energy. I see a lot of DP reels that can be downright boring/too slow, often due to music. Then again, I am not a big time agent or producer.

To be fair I’ve seen a lot of reels I turn off in the first 20 seconds because the music is incredibly obnoxious and does nothing to tell me about the cinematographer except they have terrible taste in music. 

That being said I agree music helps but it can’t just be your favorite song, choose something that heightens the imagery and lets you be almost narrative. 

I’m curious if maybe you could find a maker lab and 3D print some milk crates or custom crates 

Great stuff.  I’m so torn between film and digital. But my requirements are getting stiffer. If it’s not an Alev3 sensor then I’d wrather shoot film.  I’m looking to build a new kit and have been planning on picking up a classic Alexa for shooting shorts with but then I see great stuff like this, which I 1000% agree with and I wonder if I should be chasing down a nice Aaton or Arri SR3 

12 hours ago, Webster C said:

I asked this question recently to a couple of pros and they said to store your lenses on a shelf. That's not always practical, of course, so I ordered some of the desiccant to keep in my pelican cases. 

Is there some additional detail like uncapped on their sides so sunlight gets into the optics or capped and standing on end fine?  

My father recently passed and owned several boiled Rex 5s that we’re passed down from my grandfather. Once this horrible plague is over I’ll be able to find them hopefully.  That and an old eclair 35mm he used for timelapse.  I really want to use them to shoot some stock. Good way to remember him. 

Even in theatrical live environments where we use LED for scenery etc we turn them waaaay down, often to their minimum settings and still sometimes as you said do black transparent layer over all of our media to notch it down even more just so it balances with stage lighting and is easier on the audiences eyes.  
 

Any high end LED wall will be able to make some major color timing adjustments.  Can you get the company that installed them to come balance them to your lights?

This is heartbreaking and any time we lose someone who has had such an influence on films.  I’m glad he put a lot of effort into passing on his knowledge and experience. 
 

and screw this virus.  Seriously.  

15 hours ago, Phil Jackson said:

I should point out that Cinematography is one of the few categories where the you get head scratching moments of movies that should've been nominated but weren't, however its usually hard to argue with the five films that actually get Best Cinematography nods, and sometimes hard to argue with the winner. As I went through the list I first found myself indignant (like "how did Richardson not win for The Hateful Eight?", but then realized The Revenant did and its like "oh okay, nevermind." That being said Hugo is a good movie and artfully done -- its freakin' Robert Richardson -- but it beat The Tree of Life? Really? Avatar (which is more visual effects than cinematography) beat both Inglourious Basterds (for which Richardson probably should've won) and Bruno Delbonnel's work on Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince? This kind of thing doesn't happen often with cinematography but when it does it makes you shake your head. 

It is much, much worse in other categories however. The Original Score category is particularly problematic. It seems almost outrageous when you think about it that John Williams hasn't won an Oscar since Schindler's List in 1994 when you consider the films he's scored since then like the Harry Potter films or six Star Wars movies, in addition to all his work with Spielberg since 94 (he literally lost to Brokeback Mountain -- a movie with almost no score!). Thomas Newman, who has never won and Hans Zimmer are similar stories (the Newman family is cursed at awards shows). It's almost like if you are a popular composer you get punished at the Oscars. Williams has 50+ nominations and five wins none of which are recent. That might be the worst win/loss ratio ever. 45 times Williams has shown up for the ceremony and gone home with nothing (I'm sure he wipes his tears with dollar bills but still). Music tends to reward up and comers and newbies. The Social Network score is good, no doubt, but I don't know that its better than Inception, which it beat back in 2011. 

Visual Effects is another category that gets weird winners. Somehow Babe beat Independence Day in 1996 and Apollo 13 wasn't even nominated! I never understood the Academy's tradition of letting all the members vote on the winners not just the specialists because then it becomes a popularity contest. If cinematographers nominate cinematographers, then cinematographers should be able to decide the winner. That's doubly true for a technical category like Visual Effects or Sound Effects Editing. Like what the hell does Meryl Streep know about raytracing engines? I can see opening up categories like screenplay or acting or directing to everyone. Certainly Best Picture. But you can get some weird winners otherwise.

 

It’s interesting what you bring up. There is a definite bias for awards that tend to favor a certain movie and I think this is due to the collaboration that is inherent in film making. 
 

while subjectively film A may have better cinematography than film B. If film B also had the best actor, best sound, best costume design etc it is going to alter people’s perceptions and possibly subconsciously pull up the perceived quality.  Especially when it comes to voting months after you saw the film you are likely to remember the better overall films cinematography over the objectively more deserving film.  
 

ive been nominated and won some awards in the live theater world and this seems to hold true across to film as well.

On 4/16/2020 at 7:04 PM, David Mullen ASC said:

"Blade Runner" -- which won the BAFTA!

And "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II".

I’m shocked at that list of snubs. Especially blade runner. 

The x70 is an awesome light doc camera with built in ND and a wonderful ziess lens. Fantastic travel camera and yeah you can upgrade it to 4k, though the 1080 image downrezzed from the 4k sensor is really sharp and crystal clear.  

Huge props to James Friend for his work on this show. Just the first episode alone has some really incredible work and thrilling story telling.  Never felt quite as in sync with a schizophrenic drug addict as I did with these visuals. 

https://www.sxsw.com/film/2020/amazon-prime-video-presents-the-sxsw-2020-film-festival-collection/
 

thought this was pretty cool.  With all the festivals being shut down online versions sound great.