charles pappas

Thanks for the work and for posting this.

I think there was a miscommunication: to pay homage to sepia toned one-reeler horse operas was mis-heard as homage to sepia toned soap operas.

I just saw the widescreen masterpiece "Earwig," in a theater and must say that the cinematography and visuals of this film were staggeringly good. It's hard to believe that a small group of humans could accomplish such lighting, composition, visual effects, and set design. And I also include sound and soundtrack design, which in this film (as in a few other films I've seen) is interwoven with the cinematography.

I did enjoy your ultra-short very much. Especially thought it was very imaginative. Great use of the shower trope. No quibbles.

Yes !!! The EMP: your post had apparently not all downloaded when I replied. I read the linked ad and the camera was much more advanced than I had remembered (what, 20 plus years later). Thanks so much for saving me the time and trouble.

My gut reaction is no, but it could be.

This thread reminds me of that very tiny 16mm camera that used to be advertised in American Cinematographer back when. I believe it had a crystal motor and used a 50 foot spool. I think it was called the EMP or IMP, and was marketed as a crash cam, if I remember the ads correctly. It was for a 10mm lens and a wire frame viewfinder, I think, and about half the size of the Ikonoscope, again IIRC. I'll look through back issues of AC over the next day and post a photo, unless someone can beat me to it.

Looks extremely good and an inspiration to the low budget filmmaker. (I made a small donation to the charity - probably too small, 10#, will increase.)

I have nothing of great import to say but I did see a Beaulieu News16 in a glass countertop in a tiny storefront film lab/football film company in a run-down part of Waco, Texas in the mid 80's. The place had probably been a cigar store or something earlier. I asked about buying the camera, but the guy said he didn't want to sell it.

West Texas. Junk storage.

Regarding Chinese theaters, back in the day I had occasion to explore a couple of abandoned Chinese owned movie theaters. One was relatively new and had only shown Chinese language films. The other was much older and smaller and had changed to porn before been being closed (abandoned). Both were basically unlocked. The thing I got a lick out of was that behind the screen in each theater were the remnants of a gambling den. Chairs, gaming tables and small bars - all too beat-up to be worth moving out.

If you think I can self-teach myself to use the oscilloscope and you can include instructions in the video for adjusting with the oscilloscope, then put me down for one.

Thank you for your response, however, the oscilloscope requirement is too much for me for possible later use or resale. Of course I will continue to follow your project.

This is strictly hypothetical I know, but if there were any way to just plug the controller into any CP-16 I would buy it if only for later re-sale. If I had a CP-16 I would do this without hesitation.

To save film stock and costs Rick Schmidt in "Feature Filmmaking at Used Car Prices," advocates what he calls the "freeze method." This means pre-editing each scene in your mind before filming it, discussing the edits with the actors and then saying freeze instead of cut so the actors maintain their positions and attitudes while you quickly have the camera and lights shifted as necessary for your next set-up. So in a 45 second two actor scene, instead of say 2 full takes of a master shot, two full takes of a two shot and two takes of each close-up you would do two takes of a ten-second master shot and two 15 second shots each of a 2-shot and the CU's (for example), slashing the shooting ratio. Would experienced and talented actors ever win an Oscar under that method? Never. Would they in fact storm off the set saying you were chickens..t? Probably. However, if you were using non-actors, beginning actors and inexperienced actors (which you probably will be), would you get much better acting using the "freeze," method, instead of expecting them to execute long takes? In my limited experience, yes. Also in regards to lowering shooting ratios and just general utility, don't forget to have a enough cut-away shots in reserve to be used as needed.