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Roger Alexander

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Everything posted by Roger Alexander

  1. Hey guys, I apologize for the long email, I just want to make sure you see the big picture. I've got a potential deal on the table that I feel like is a little too giving on my end. I plan to meet back with him and go over my concerns, ask questions about potentially changing the deal, maybe making a counteroffer. But I want to have my guns loaded, be prepared, knowledgeable and know what options are available on this subject before I do so. I've got some questions, and I also feel like there are questions that I'm unaware of out of ignorance that I should be asking. I've broken this up into parts so you can follow along and get all the info. Background on Me: I'm director/DP/editor in Atlanta. I dabble in different things but the majority of my work comes from hip hop/rnb/pop music videos. The work in my reel stands out and my quality is considered to be in the top tier for directors in Atlanta. You can see the reel of my work at www.alphamalevisuals.com/reel I'm still relatively new to the city, and I have realized that it's not the best directors or cinematographers that get the opportunities to shoot bigger budget videos with bigger artists (which is one of my goals). It's all about your network and who you know that will recommend you to do a particular job. I moved to ATL in March of 2016 where I started completely fresh from ground 0. I started networking and really didn't start making money until around July. Since then, my momentum as slowly been growing as I go out and try to network and get into different circles. However, alot of my work has been from out of towners or "smaller" local artists from instagram or youtube with ok budgets. I do have a decent IG following for a director (40k followers on instagram) and I have been getting my own projects. But I haven't broken into the bigger budget/bigger artist scene yet as a director. I've only been hired on those jobs by other directors to light/dp/ and shoot for them. In 2017, I'm trying to break out into the big stage as a director and ultimately be able to charge these higher prices and make more money. My Dillemma: I've been approached with an opportunity to have a "manager" who is well connected in the industry and could be "that guy" to plug me into these bigger jobs with bigger budgets and artists. He has worked with a couple well-known directors in the past that I have actually studied and looked up to. He didn't necessarily manage them and get a cut, but he referred clients to that director for work. Now that he has seen my work and I'm a new face, he sees a financial opportunity and has put an offer on the table to form a team where he will push my brand and make connections and referrals for me to get bigger jobs. Once he starts getting me the first few jobs, it will turn into a snowball effect and the door will open for many more bigger budget/bigger artist jobs....supposedly. Over time, we would begin to charge higher prices. The catch here is that, if he's going to plug me in, he wants to sign a contract that states he will receive 20% of ANY project that I shoot going forward. Even the projects that he doesn't bring me. My Reaction: This sounds like a bit much to me, but maybe because I've never seen what a deal like this is supposed to look like. I assume this is the equivalent to having an agent or representation from a company that can get you jobs you normally couldn't get yourself. I just start thinking about the amount of work that goes into doing a big production because I am the director and the DP, so I spend days preparing, figuring out how I'm going to light it etc. I'm also the editor, so I spend days after the shoot editing it. I'm wondering if taking out that much for a manager would be worth it. My Questions: 1. What's the average percentage a manager like this should be getting? Is 20% a fair number? Should it be 20% of what I'm getting paid or 20% of the total production budget. For example, the total available budget a client might have to spend on a video is $4,000. I would be getting paid $2,000 and the rest would go to location rentals, props etc. other expenses to make the production. Should he be getting 20% of my pay $2,000 or the total $4,000 2. Is it fair that he would get 20% of jobs that he didn't reccomend me for? I do have some relationships in Atlanta and it's slowly growing over time. I feel like, getting to where I want to be is ultimately a task that that I could reach on my own without a manager, but it would take MUCH longer to build that reputation and name. I'm worried that, I sign the contract, I start getting these bigger budgets & working with bigger names, but a large portion of the money is coming out, I'm not getting paid the money that I feel I should, then I feel like I'm stuck, or the amount of work that I'm doing isn't worth the money I'm getting. etc What good is a good name if I'm not making good money? I don't want to regret signing it. 3. I also work on projects that don't have to deal with the music industry; feature films from unrelated clients, small business commercials, reality tv. Should he be getting a cut from those? 4. On the flip side, I do understand the possibility that once my name starts getting bigger, clients may start reaching out to me directly instead of going through him, and then it will be hard to tell if it was a client I wouldn't have gotten if it wasn't for him. 5. What about jobs I already had lined up before the potential signing of the contract? Should he get a cut out of that? 6. I'm thinking that if I DID sign something like this, there should be a specified time period that it should be in effect for. It shouldn't be an indefinite deal forever. How long should a manager contract like this last for? 7. If I feel at some point during the term that the deal just isn't worth it anymore or I feel like I'm not getting the return that I should, what are my options of getting out of the contract? Can I get out of it? How should this section be written to protect my best interests? 8. When I sit down with him to talk about making changes to the deal, what are some other points that I should bring up that maybe I haven't brought up to protect or be in my best interests? I'm looking for any type of advice from people who have seen something like this before and what my options might be.
  2. This is great. I will run some tests. for the shutter, are you saying 1/360th or 360 degrees?
  3. I want to simulate a red carpet scene for a music video where the aritst gets out of the car and is bombarded by multiple photographers when getting to the red carpet. They are flashing and taking photos all in his face. I want to see the flashes but without the rolling shutter effect (example attached) while shooting on RED dragon. Does anyone know of alternative ways to achieve this? Is there a special type of light/strobe that is long enough not to see this effect? My first thought was to shoot this scene on a camera with global shutter, but Id rather keep it all on my RED dragon and not have to color match later. Is there a particular combination of frame rate and shutter speed I can set to fix this?
  4. I recently bought a new 4 ft. kino. I don't want to spend $200-$300 on a case to carry it in. I'm looking for a cheaper substitute that will fit the dimension of the fixture just to be able to protect it from scratches and preserve it looking new (assuming I won't drop it on the ground at any point). I'm not so much worried about shock absorption, mainly just a general protective covering. Any suggestions?
  5. In the middle of Feb. I will be DP'ing my first feature film. I will be providing my personally owned lighting and grip equipment as well as a RED Dragon cam. I will be lighting the scenes,camera operating, and providing directorial advice to the director. Shooting is scheduled for 3-4 weeks. There is a budget for me to be paid an (ok) rate in installments over the course of those 3-4 weeks. The film will be submitted to bigger studios/reps/investors for consideration of being picked up or bought and being produced on a bigger scale with bigger budgets. In the event that our version does actually get picked up, I assume the the producer/production team is compensated for it correct? How exactly does it work? Is it one payment or is it like royalties? I'm currently typing up a contract that is due in 24 hours to define the terms of work and payments for the project and I want to make sure that if there is backend compensation from getting picked up, that I get covered and receive a piece of that compensation. How should I word this in the contract? Any advice would be greatly appreciated?
  6. In the middle of Feb. I will be DP'ing my first feature film. I will be providing my personally owned lighting and grip equipment as well as a RED Dragon cam. I will be lighting the scenes,camera operating, and providing directorial advice to the director. Shooting is scheduled for 3-4 weeks. There is a budget for me to be paid an (ok) rate in installments over the course of those 3-4 weeks. The film will be submitted to bigger studios/reps/investors for consideration of being picked up or bought and being produced on a bigger scale with bigger budgets. In the event that our version does actually get picked up, I assume the the producer/production team is compensated for it correct? How exactly does it work? Is it one payment or is it like royalties? I'm currently typing up a contract that is due in 24 hours to define the terms of work and payments for the project and I want to make sure that if there is backend compensation from getting picked up, that I get covered and receive a piece of that compensation. How should I word this in the contract? Any advice would be greatly appreciated?
  7. At a shoot awile back I saw this T-bar being held up by a c stand with a silk hanging from it. Whats the official name of the t-bar so I can type it in online and buy one? Along with the piece that slides into the grip head? I just want the T-bar not a whole frame.
  8. They have these "levitation-like" shots in a zero gravity space ship. https://youtu.be/L8eRzOYhLuw?t=1m36s At first I thought maybe a wire harness or they did this with a chroma key/green screen Then I believe the closeup shots around 3:01 gave it away. Pause at 3:01 and it looks like she's laying on a glass layer that for the most part looks invisible but here you can see small scratches on the glass. Also how her hair appears to be laying on top of something instead of floating in some of the closeup shots. Anyone know what the name of this "invisible glass" is or is it just regular glass that they hid with lighting and post?
  9. Whats the wire rig suspended from usually? A Condor crane? Is there a cheaper option for this?
  10. How did they do the various levitation shots here? starting at 2:14 and then there's many different shots that continue throughout the video. In normal levitation photography, you have them propped up and posing on something like a stool/chair and you compoosite it out. This is much easier with a still photo. In this video though, the subject and camera are both moving. My assumption is some places they use the same concept of propping him up on something and then doing a hell of alot of post work to edit out the stool? Rotoscoping and what not. In other wide shots I'm thinking maybe they have a condor/crane with a wire harness that's holding him up and is edited out later? Are there other methods to achieving this that I'm not aware of?
  11. Their claim seems pretty blasphemous to me. But I would love if it were true and if I could see proof of it. They claim this dimmable LED light Intellytech F-485 puts out the same of light as a 4k-6k watt HMI, I call BS. They have 1 or 2 videos circulating that talk about the lights but no tests out there that show a head to head comparison against the 4k-6k hmi light. If I could see that they were equivalent I'd maybe give it a go but I don't see any proof. I left a comment about doing a test, no answer. Anybody know anything about these lights or tried them? -Dimmable -Bi color -Low Power -no heat -DMX control -low fan noise
  12. I plant to shoot a music video next weekend at an airport hangar. The scene will be the artist getting out of a nice car and heading into a jet to conduct business. The car will be parked somewhere in front of the jet and we will do a performance scene here. We will shoot it at night and I want to wet down the concrete area that will be seen in the shot to reflect the lights used for the scene. We will have a large area of concrete to wet down under the car and jet. What are the best solutions/options for wetting such a large area outside and keeping it wet in between takes? The budget for the video is under 10k, so I'm looking for the most cost effective way to do this. My first thought is a water hose and a mop? But I feel like that would take forever. Also, what to do in a worst case scenario if I dont have access to a hose?
  13. I currently work with a bunch of tungstens that have been getting the job done. I would like to buy an HMI but they are just so expensive. I would like to spend 1000-1500 for one so I have to choose between buying used or buying one of the cheap ones from China new. My main motivation behind buying an hmi is to be able to light people during the daytime while the sun is out. My two options are: A. to buy this new chinese 1200w hmi for $1240 here There's a video review of a guy who tested it out (embedded in the site) and says that it's worth the money and risk of buying off-brand compared to the more expensive arri brand. B. buy this used Luxarc 1200w mini hmi from craigslist for $1200. (picture attached) The guy claims this light/brand is the workhorse for alot of production houses. I'm not sure if he's telling the truth or not so I wanted to check with you guys So my questions are: 1. Is Luxarc really a trusted more reliable brand? Would you buy a used Luxarc and the risks that come along with used over a new chinese brand and its risks? 2. Do you think the Luxarc would have more light output or would they both be the same? 3. My main purpose is to be able to light people during the day. Do you think 1200w hmi is enough to achieve that or would I need to get higher wattage for that? Thanks
  14. I usually carry an extra bag with me onset with my spare light bulbs incase a bulb on one of my current lights goes out. Then I will have a replacement to put in immediately. Currently I just put them in a duffle bag but it's not very safe and I fear if I drop the bag or bumble something I'll break some bulbs. I was curious what other options are and what other people use to transport their bulbs around in a more secure and safe fashion? It's important to me that it's portable.
  15. Sometimes when my scene is too dark and I want to brighten it up without raising the ISO (and without adding more light) I will slightly raise the shutter angle from 180 degrees to like 225. Conceptually, I know that 180 is like the standard and doubles your frame rate. When you lower the shutter angle, the shutter speed is faster for that choppy look, and if you raise the shutter angle it slows the shutter speed and adds more motion blur into your shot. (Hopefully I don't have this backwards lol) My question is, how high (slow) can I move my shutter angle above 180 before I start to notice extra motion blur in the image? My goal here is to raise the shutter angle as much as possible to brighten my scene more without a noticing the extra motion blur. I plan to run some camera tests myself but I was curious if there some sort of formula or pre-completed tests on this?
  16. I've seen this "ghosting" thing in a few videos but I'm unsure of how it's done? I assumed it was a tilt shift lens and they just mess around with it while shooting or is it something else? Maybe they put some sort of glass/prism in front of the lens to obscure the image? You can see it in this video from 00:15-00:18 https://youtu.be/YUYjxf9rHCY?t=13s Also, there's heavy use of flares in the video. Normally with flares, you shine a light along the edge of the lens. Sometimes you can see the light fixture come in and out of frame to create the flare. However, you never see any fixtures here in this video. I'm curious if I'm missing something here. Anyone know how to reproduce these flares? I thought maybe he was doing it in post, but the subject's image is effected by the flare which makes me think its practical. You can see a good portion of the flares at 2:50-2:55. I'm sure part of it has to do with the lens he is using and how it refracts light? or do you think its added in post?
  17. Flares are common in music videos. You always see the coming in and out of the frame during performance shots. I know the concept to achieve them is to have a light moving in and out around the edge of the lens to create the flare. I know the lens build also controls the look of the flare. I have tried recreating this with a flashlight a few times, its ok, but I don't get the big beautiful look that I'm used to seeing. I'm curious if there's a specific type of light that's best to use to create these edge flares or not? Any best practice tips in recreating would be great.
  18. A few days ago, I did my first "real" test on my Raven with a victoria secret-esque beauty shoot as a personal project. Though I'm a director, I also wanted to showcase my DP abilities for hire as well as the slowmo capabilities of the camera. I shot the whole project at 4.5k at 60fps with some at 95 and 120fps, ISOs ranged from 640-1600 (and some at 2000). I really am impressed with the skin tones, lighting started to fall apart in the splashing scenes but the rest of it I'm happy with. Please let me know what you think and if you have critiques! https://vimeo.com/174891932 Please connect with me via Facebook & Instagram! www.facebook.com/AlphaMaleVisuals www.Instagram.com/A_M_Visuals P.S. - off topic, I was not impressed at all with the test video that came from the new 8k helium sensor "Underdog". It didn't look much different from footage I have been getting from the Raven which is the entry level camera of the brand. I would expect the highest level unit of the brand (that costs a million times more) to blow the Raven away but I did not see that at all. Now who's ready to fight me? lol
  19. A few days ago, I did my first "real" test on my Raven with a victoria secret-esque beauty shoot as a personal project. Though I'm a director, I also wanted to showcase my DP abilities for hire as well as the slowmo capabilities of the camera. I shot the whole project at 4.5k at 60fps with some at 95 and 120fps, ISOs ranged from 640-1600 (and some at 2000). I really am impressed with the skin tones, lighting started to fall apart in the splashing scenes but the rest of it I'm happy with. Please let me know what you think and if you have critiques! https://vimeo.com/174891932 Please connect with me via Facebook & Instagram! www.facebook.com/AlphaMaleVisuals www.Instagram.com/A_M_Visuals P.S. - off topic, I was not impressed at all with the test video that came from the new 8k helium sensor "Underdog". It didn't look much different from footage I have been getting from the Raven which is the entry level camera of the brand. I would expect the highest level unit of the brand (that costs a million times more) to blow the Raven away but I did not see that at all. Now who's ready to fight me? lol
  20. When doing research on different filters to put on lenses/cameras I hear so many different names thrown around and its confusing as to what those filters actually do and the differences between them. Even when watching vimeo tests, sometimes it's hard to tell the affect it has on the image when you get to the higher grades. Not sure what I'm looking for. I hear things like Names like Promist Hollywood Black MAgic Classic soft pearlescent low con ultracon digicon etc. etc. Some of them are easy to see such as lifting the blacks, blooming highlights. Others are not, even when you get to the higher grade versions of the filters like 1,2,3,4 etc. Is there one finite list somewhere of all of the different filters that are available out there and what each one does (or is supposed to do)? I would like to have one place that lists them all instead of finding bits of pieces here and there all over the internet, some with conflicting information and confusing people. Some of them sound like they do the same stuff.
  21. I see these in alot of "dance breaks" in music videos. The location will be dark-ish with people dancing and bright strobe lights flashing from both sides. What are the names/models of these lights? https://youtu.be/yx11zFhOvrM?t=1m56s At 2:15 you can actually see the people holding the lights and flashing them on the girl. Is there a special name for this light other than a strobe? Where can I find these at? I'm currently in Atlanta. Is there a DIY or cheaper alternative to getting that look? I assume they are pretty expensive
  22. For shooting music videos, and you don't have the access to plexiglass for the "shiny floor with light reflections" effect, I'm usually forced to just wet down the floor with a water bucket and a mop and then shoot really quick. Problem is, this water dries up super fast. Especially when shooting on concrete. Are there other options for maybe using a different solution to put on the ground to make reflections that won't dry up as fast as water? Or maybe tips for shooting that will make the water last longer before drying up? (obviously minimize the wind or draft in the room, but anything else?)
  23. I'm looking to recreate something similar to this but with fake snow (plastic) or some other type of particle falling from the sky and umbrella. picture attahced or at: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8L_0yaef0PpeUdOUzZtQTRqOTQ I previously looked at options like building this overhead rig and propping up on c stands and shaking it. Seen at 1:41 in this youtube video https://youtu.be/g_1SAF9eiG0?t=1m41s But I'm looking for other alternatives that may be easier to transport. Has anyone else used a different type of tool or rig to dump things from above? I will be in a black cyc studio that does not have a second level to drop stuff from.
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