Matt Lazzarini

Depends on your budget, ofcourse. With a few grand, I'd get a quad-G5 or one of the newer MacPro's with Final Cut Universal. Ideally, a 20" or 23" Apple Cinema Display along with it. For post-'film look', I'd invest in Magic Bullet.

Maybe Vancouver has stringent rules, but in Toronto you don't need 'permission' so to speak to become a P.A. You just ask around and eventually someone will hire you. I've never heard of a 'P.A. Helper' position around here.

I know several issues of American Cinematographer include lighting plans/diagrams. Perhaps you can try their website, ASC Magazine, and wade through their archives?

I find I have the most trouble coming up with a creative and interesting lighting plan for the dreaded 'basement apartment' scene. For some reason I've had to shoot a lot of scenes in such locations, and they always have white walls! Ugh :angry:

Heh it just reminded me of picking up the Tetsuo dvd in a store and doing a double take when I looked at the credits :P

The credit list for this film is quite humourous. It lists Shinya Tsukamoto as: director, writer, producer, dop (along with Kei Fujiwara), editor, and art director. He also acts in the film :blink:

Interesting. I was looking at this very same question the past few days, and from what I gathered through online research, capturing through firewire is virtually identical to sdi capture. Firewire should just be an exact transfer of bits from source to computer. For example, these links: Capturing DVC Pro50, FireWire vs SDI SDI vs Firewire at dvcreators HD for Indies

Beautiful trailer. Can't wait to see it projected

Wow, footage looks great! Good job! Now I'm even more excited about getting my Kinor :D

I'm not holding too much excitement about RED, but I am definately pulling for it to succeed at least in some of its goals, so that the 'big dogs' of the camera world will be forced to provide a competitive alternative.

True, it would only be useful for closeups or medium shots from far back, but from my limited experience with swing and tilt lenses, they work best as closeups anyway. Plus there's a Raynox .65x converter for it that'll change it from 50mm to 35mm, so there is that option.

I wonder if anyone's ever tried using a Lensbaby on a K-3 or other 16mm camera. There's a version available with an m42 mount. All lensbaby focal lengths are 50mm from what I can gather. I've heard conflicting comments about this lens. Detractors say it's cheaply made, but for every negative comment I've heard positive things. And some of the stills I've seen look pretty nice. Maybe these could be used as a cheap alternative (and let's face it, if you're using a K-3 as I am, cheap is the operative word :P ) to swing and tilt lenses? Don't know, could be a useful item for music videos. For those interested in this lens, check out this website for info and examples: http://www.lensbabies.com/

Have you tested the Canon XL H1? The lens is superior to the HVX, and from what I've read online in terms of comparisons, the picture quality is superior as well. I've been using it on doc/ENG type shoots and am really impressed with its quality (gotta love HD/SDI out!) though the infinity focus of the lens gets annoying quickly. I have heard though that there's supposed to be a manual 16x HD lens coming out later this year.

As evidenced by the posts here, basically some people have gotten work, others haven't. My own experience, obviously up until this point I've gotten work without owning a camera, however I've also seen quite a few jobs going strictly to people with their own camera (be it film or video). As someone who is just beginning like myself (shot about 5 shorts, 1 feature, 1 music video) one is often required to shoot for little or no pay on small budgeted shoots. And if owning a camera helps me get that job, then all the better. Again though, that's not why I got my K-3, or the Kinor. I see it as a potential plus, that's all. I will note further though that almost all the d.p. interviews I've gone in for, one of the first questions I'm asked is what gear (usually camera, but also lights) I own/have access to. That's the nature of the low budget indie world right now, and since I'm just beginning, that's where I find myself. As for the sunset comment, that was meant more as a joke than anything else, but let's face it, I've seen tons of reels where there were shots in that same vein - ie. looked like they may have been snatched rather than as part of a project per se. Sometimes a pretty shot is a pretty shot, and if it impresses people ... ;)

I'll throw my own 0.02 into the mix, even though I'm far less experienced in the matter. I've recently acquired a K-3, and am on my way to getting a Kinor 16 as well. Both are reg 16 for now but I may upgrade in the future. The main reason I picked up these cams were for my own projects. To experiment, to shoot some interesting/experimental things that I wouldn't try on a commercial project unless I had done them before. In that sense I think a film camera of any kind (Super8 included) is definately beneficial. And who knows, grab a few nice sunset shots and add them to your reel :P Another point is that since I've told former employers that I have a K-3, there's been some definate interest in shooting projects. A music video may be in the early stages pretty much as a direct result of me having this camera. Basically it boils down to this - if you can afford it and want to use it, get it.

Hi all, I'm about to get my K-3 (fingers crossed that it works well) and was looking around for an adaptor that would let me use C-mount lenses on it (it's got the M42 mount). I know there are adaptors that go the other way, ie. an M42 lens on a c-mount cam, but I'm having a hard time finding what I'm looking for. I did find this: Borg C-Mount to M42 AD adaptor " Borg C-Mount to M42 AD Adapter. Allows you to use a C-Mount lens (normally used with a 35mm SLR camera) with an M42P1 camera body. Features: * A Side: C-Mount Female * B Side: M42 P1.0 Male Light Path: 7mm" An M42P1 camera body? Could this conceivably work with the K-3?

I'm very impressed and a little jealous lol :P I'm getting my K-3 in two weeks and your rig will definately be my inspiration!

Ahh ok I know whom you're referring to. Nope, not Busey (I wish!). Oddly enough, there was an actor in an earlier reel that looked like Jesse Ventura. Eerie :P New reel uploaded. Knocked a minute off and rearranged it.

Yeah I noticed that. My main issue was trying to get a big enough picture without making the filesize outrageous (I have a 320 x 240 version but I find that too small, at least on my 19" inch monitor). I'm exporting a version as we speak that is 1.5x that, which would make it exactly halfway between 320x240 and 640x480. Hopefully that works. The usher spot at the beginning was put there on advice from a dp friend of mine, basically since it's recognizable (in Toronto) because it was shown before every screen at the '05 Toronto Film Fest. As for celeb-content, what celebs? Did one of the actors on there hit it big? :P Cut it down tonight, about a minute less now. Also put the 'First Patrol' footage right after the Usher commercial, followed by Snapshot. Thanks for the comments. They are much appreciated B)

After some feedback I'm gonna cut it down a bit. New version will appear at the URL tomorrow

Hi all, Just posted my new reel (Quicktime 7.0 required): http://www.thenumberoneman.com/lazz/demoreel.html Hopefully it's not too dark. It's fine on my monitor, but I'm at 100% brightness, and I know not everyone is. So I may upload another version tomorrow that's brighter in spots. I'm still waiting on footage from a music video I shot back in November which will add another aspect to the reel. Obviously not quite up to the standards of some of the amazing members here, but hopefully some of you will like it ;)

By Sunday/Monday I'll have some example (stills anyway) of a feature I shot on the XL2 back in November. Hopefully I can get a clip out as well.

Guess I'll buck the trend here and say I didn't really enjoy it. Stewart on his show can be funny, but after a while he gets tedious, like a sarcastic friend who nevers stops. I was quite happy that Wallace & Grommit won for best animated feature, good for them. And I found the push to 'see films in theatres' (by both the MPAA prez and the 'epic' montage) was a little much. Funny how most of those 'epic' films were made quite a while ago; maybe the studios should start making films worth forking over 13-14 bucks to go see?

Here in Toronto, like everywhere else, rates vary. I've been on low budget features where all techs made $50/day. I've been on commercials where I've gotten $300/day. I'm not union, but the rates seem to mirror B.C.'s, usually $375/day.

That's what I was firs taught, and what I think to be correct. But every now and then on a shoot I'll be told by someone higher up or with more experience that it's the other way around. Sometimes it's actually a little insulting because it makes it seem like I'm a complete noob. Assuming the above is correct lol, the way I was taught to make it easiest is to position the stand with the big leg facing forward, and the gobo head's knuckle on your right. Proceeding from there should result in a perfect orientation.