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Matthieu Abily

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  • Occupation
    1st Assistant Camera
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    Paris

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  1. Hey, if the diopters are still up for sell, i would gladly take those out of you hands ? Best, Matthew
  2. Hello Marc. My Thesis is entirely on this subject. It is written in french, but you'll find in it a good number of pictures and movie references. I could send it to you.
  3. To add to what said Giacomo, Sun seeker is a nice application too. Combine it with panascout (i like this one) but artemis or cadrage or an aps - c dslr will do the trick. But in your case, as your working with 24x36, you might as well take the a7s. Dont forget to bring a compass, and take note of the gps coordinates. (In case your phone is not working for whatever reason)
  4. Hello Esther. Youre very welcome. Hard to tell, most of the time youll have a hard time with the establishing shot. You can put it on the floor, with this establishing shot, most of the time director will allow the frame to take a small portion of the ground. If the sheets is large enough, it wont make a weird lighting, but help have a smooth lighting, control contrast. About silhouette : it can be an artistic decision. On a common note, any dp is free to disagree with me and ill gladly discuss it. The best exposure on a technical point of view is on always on the verge of saturating the sensor. But, it is risky : a overexposure would render most of the time quite badly. You could say that staying at least a little under the 80 percent for texture would be a safe bet. So youll fight contrast, to keep highlight in the range if it is something you want. But as the sun is a strong source, using large frames of white foam (2 meters by 1 meter for example) will bounce most of the time enough to help. In those situation, the frame must sometime be a little bit worked for the light. Its not the perfect way of doing things, but the cameraman help quite often the dp.
  5. Hello Esther. Diffusion and Silk won’t be easy to use : you need a grip crew, and light crew to Rig it quickly and in a secure way, which on a beach is not that easy (wind and no point to knot the 12x12 frame). The diffusion frame should be large enough to make a difference and be easy enough to use for the talent and the continuity of the shot. You could get some bed sheets, which have a nice effect and it is quite cheap, to use on the floor with weight, or between c stands if it is bot too windy, even as a diffusion. You could get small mirrors, or depron tape to wood plank to get a nice hand reflector. Your best friends will certainly be your nd filter, but as you won’t be starving for light, you should add a polarizer : it will be a quick and effective way to get rid of strong highlight areas on faces. For black people in general, you should not overlit them : if your are using a lightmeter, one stop under what it says would be a nice place to start for keylight (it is a generic Advice, you’re free to do as you may find better). Anyway, a cosmectic help will help tremendously (but i don’t know about moisturizer, better leave that to a pro). You absolutely need to go there : look at way of framing with the director, which shot you’ll begin with, and why this one next, how it should be framed, what will tell something of the story and the emotion to the audience. A nice image yes, but only if it helps the story. Look at the lighting : how the sun is moving around, at which speed, and how you can cheat to make the sequence seamless and beautiful at the same time. If lost, side lighting and backlighting will be an easier way to get something nice
  6. Mr. Brereton, Mr. Sierkowski, Thanks for your insight. It seems kinda impossible for a french technician to work for an US production. I should focus on working on french productions, that could possibly one day help me work under the us flag, but it would come more naturally, and wont be a target anymore. I have the answers i was looking for. Feel free to contact me to share a beer in France, if you come by. Best, Matthieu
  7. Hello Mr. Brereton. Thanks for your time. In substance, i need to get back to school in the US, something like the AFI or to do my time in France as an assistant, work on nice projects and then try to get the O-1. It seems that i should focus on keeping working in France. I coul eventually try to go back to studies in the USA, but i won’t be able to be financially sufficient anymore (family can’t keep up forever). It was instructive anyway, i’m glad i asked. Feel free to give your opinion on the matter, i’ll try the US embassy but the only option i’m seeing is France for now.
  8. Hello everybody, I'm posting on a specific matter. I have just achieved my studies in cinematography, and my thesis is over, i have yet to post it, for those who helped on cinematography, especially M. Mullen. I working on sets in France, as a trainee, for commercials or tv series. I was wondering if some of the members of cinematography.com would have some advices, for a french student to set foot on LA or NY, and try to get some work as a trainee, or even if some of you would be like to discuss with me the possibility of recruiting a french students on an american set, as a trainee, third camera assistant.. If you recall stories from some of fellows assistants, or crews.. I know that it could mean craiglist, or working my way with an embassy ? Is the "market" as hard as it is in France ? Best wishes to all of you, Matthieu
  9. Hello everybody. Sorry, i took some time before coming back to you. I wanted to say that my teacher agreed with me upon the dynamic lighting subject. He told me that it would be something suited to me. He gave examples, such as "One From The Heart". So i wanted to say thank you everybody. I'll be coming back to you soon i think. Especially you, Mr. Mullen, i have recording your references trough Zotero, i'll make sure i dig into all of these movies. If you think of any book or movies that might be useful around this subject, i'll gladly go trough them. Of course, once my thesis will be complete, i'll do my best to translate it and upload it. I hope that i will be of any interest to you. Once again, thanks everybody. If you have any other advices, go ahead. I'll stay in touch. Best, Matthieu Abily, Marseille France.
  10. Hello Mr. Mullen ! That is exactly the idea ! I have been thinking about "One from the heart". I have gathered intel from Reflections, from Mr. Bergery about Storaro, and "One From The Heart". Yes, Clouzot's Inferno with the famous Romy Schneider shot would be one of the subject, amongst others of the same "kind" if i may. Maybe the Batman from Mr. Goldblatt for example. Thanks for Wagner and Tucker, i'll dig into them. Reading the book from Mr Storaro seems to be "de rigueur", as we say in France. The example of JFK is a good one, i hadn't thought of him. But in the same spirit, i was thinking of the evolution in the sequence of Fearless, from Peter Weir and Mr. Allen Daviau, in the room of Rosie, with the nice warm light getting trough the windows and the curtains. There is a t-stop change, and the light is fading from their faces, as the character speaks of his father death. Is that what you mean ? By the way, thanks to all the people giving time for me. I really do appreciate it, and it is helping.
  11. Hello Peter ! Thanks for getting involved, and for your kindness. Yes, i would love to write on something that is more than "dynamic range" or "expose the skin in C-Log".. Those are good subjects, but i would like to get on something more about lightning, less about camera technology. I have been there, i love it like everyone, but i don't think that dop and 1st assistant are crazy in love about those things. That is a really good idea. And as a matter of fact, about a year and a half, i have been working on these specific scenes, with the famous f/0.7 Zeiss Lens, the special mitchell camera etc.. Yes ! I love that one. Going in if it is to become the subject of my thesis, i'll submit the idea to my teacher when defending my subject. I'll send it to you guys, once it will be achieved (at least for those who want it). Is there any others problematic of importance, for you Dop and 1st Camera Assistant, that you would like to see studied more deeply ? (by the way Mr. Weelander, the idea is also to speak about changing t-stops in the take, to be able to meet 1st Camera Assistant, to maybe get some work after)
  12. Hello Tyler ! Thanks for your answer ! Yes, that is exactly the kind of idea i'm looking for. I would like to know what kind of "technical / artistic" problematics D.O.P would like to get information about. I would love my thesis to be a serious and valuable source of information for the professional, and i plan to do it seriously. That is why i'm so picky about the subject. Don't you think the the film noir look have been already quite a lot studied ? But i'll add it to the list, glad to know you're interested in these subject. What do you think of the idea of working on "living sources", like flames, lightning ? And by the way, your post about the BMPCC is what finally pushed me to get one, instead of an a7s. So thanks .
  13. Hello Guillaume ! Thanks for the reply ! Yes, i could be working on high dynamic range in the projection aspect, or with monitoring. An older guy, someone who already choose his subject is working on the proper to expose for camera with 14 to 16 stops of latitude, maybe this idea will be close (too close ?) I had some new ideas, and i selected two of them : diffusion yes, but how ? a thesis around net / grid cloths / optical filter / diffusion gels. I have been thinking about dynamic, but dynamic lighting, like chinese lantern moving around, elements in the frame that suddendly become sources, and t stops change during the take. What do you think about theses ?
  14. Hello everybody. This is my first post, i'm used to be more of a reader. I would like to get a little help from you, if you're willing to give your opinion : i have been a student in cinematography for almost four years now, and i'm starting to work on my master thesis. Thing is, i had quite a few ideas, but there is always something wrong : i wanted to work on minimalistic lighting, with the increase in sensitivity these years, but an older student is already on the subject. I wanted to speak of the correlation between being a dp on set and being a dp on post, for Wall E with Roger Deakins for exemple, or Life Of Pie, criticized by Doyle, this kind of problematic. But our master thesis is supposed to help us find someone to hire us, and i'm more of a set guy than a post production one. I wanted to talk about ENR, ou Bleach Bypass, but the subject is too old and so on.. So, if you could help me brainstorm around a good subject, it would be really nice of you. I'm would like to met DoP and 1st Camera Assistant, because i plan to begin as a third ac. I'm more of a core guy, interested in ratio, contrast, motivation for lighting, dynamic, latitude, t stops etc.. The core of our work, like really specific light techniques, from Rousselot (lantern) Khondji (negative lighting), more than virtual reality or these kind of things. I like the 90's movies a lot, and i'm really into analog photography amongst others things, like RAW for Digital etc. I wanted to tell you a little about myself, to help you help me. Thanks a lot guys. Hope that it will be of interest for you. (i'm french by the way, please excuse me for the potential mistakes)
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