Jacqueline Donaldson

Hi there everyone, thanks so much for the great advice! I've heard about the Diary service, sounds like good advice. I have been in and out of this business mainly in production (yawn) for several years, so I don't believe I have unrealistic expectations about what it's like, plus I have spent the last 5 years of my life traveling and working all around the world, i'm used to workin freelance and balancing my life and finances, I have done more during my travels than most do in their entire lives. I'm strong willed, have enough energy for about 10 people and I'm extremely adaptible as well as being talented, I DP & direct short films, film & produce live theatre productions and I'm involved with several experimental film projects, i want to start working in features and I have no doubts that I will have a successful career in this biz Phil and I hope you find what your looking for and go and get it! So thanks to everyone for advice on how to start in this area. Jacqueline

HI there, I've been butting my head against the wall, trying to figure out how I go about getting a job as a camera trainee on a feature film in the UK. I know there must be loads out there - the last film I saw had about 4 of them on different units in different locations listed in the credits. I applied to FT2 and was rejected, they place trainees on major features, but apart from that I've looked everywhere from the BBC to C4 and although they provide areas to pitch ideas for programmes and Doco's, none of them seem to have any camera traineeship connections. I've applied for BBC work experience on TV studio cameras, but I want my hands on film & HD camera as I want to operate one day. I'm thinking I should contact the production companies directly, but don't really know where to start with that one. I already have some experience using a 35mm cam, loading, focus pulling, changing lenses etc...and I'm thinking of upgrading my skills such as taking a 35mm assistant and Op course as well as a 5 day steadicam course, but these all cost alot of money, and I'm afraid I'll still be stuck in the same position - skills, talent, passion, but no outlet. Any advice?? Anyone out there from the UK know where to get started down this path?? What's the deal with foreigners coming to the US to do paid training, I'm guessing not good - ie. talented US citizens lose out to foreigner.

Thanks David!

Can anyone reccomend a good book on the characteristics, function & use of HD cameras?? Something that I can get a good HD grounding in, not to heavy on the tech to start with? Thanks Jacquelne

HI, I recently shot a short on a PD 170 - it was my first time using the camera. I did some tests as to shutter speed etc...and got something I was happy with, however I've heard alot about using this camera in progressive mode but when I checked out the manual it suggested only shooting in progressive if you want still shots etc...as the image would be blurred otherwise, I'm a bit confused as to what this is all about, I understand the basics of Progressive scanning, but not sure how to use or manipulate it?? I'd like to try it out next time I shoot, which should be in a few weeks. Can someone please explain how to set up the cam, why & when I would want to use it and any tests I should do before I commit myself to Progressive scan. Thanks, Jac

Hi there, I also think Cinematography by Blain Brown is really great - covers alot of different aspects of cinematography, conceptual as well as technical. I also invested in "The Set Lighting technicians handbook" I think it's invaluable as a guide to learn about different types of lighting/diffusion/supports availible and their characteristics, I keep it close by when I'm concieving ideas for a new project and have been trying out as many different types of lights and light sources as I can. Jacqueline

Thanks David, I will do some tests, and try out your 50/50 method! Jacqueline

Hi there, I'm shooting a short on either Mini-DV or HD (not likely) soon and I'm having conflicts with the director about when to add the colour - we want to have very strong colours throughout the film and these colours will change during the performance, the director wants to film in clean white light and then add the colours in post where as I would like to light using a system of coloured gels and gobo projections, I want to light it the way it's going to look in the final film and I think it's also important to help the actors understand the environment and atmoshpere and use that experience in their performance I'm also worried that as we're only using Premier Pro to edit that the post colour available to us is not only limited but when I've used it in post before it taints the shadow areas with a wash of colour that look cheap and nasty. Does anyone have any advice on which way is better? Is it better to get a clean image to start with rather than getting stuck with a colour you can not then completely remove or change?? Thanks Jac

Hi, I've just shot (mini DV / XL1) a short in a noir style, low lighting and shafts of light/colour, the problem is that to get the look and intensity of light & colour i wanted with the limited lighting & space I had, i ended up using the gain on Auto (actually by accident, I'm still learning the cam)when I realised I made adjustments to the lighting conditions and tried to get the same look with out the gain which was impossible as F1.6 was still to dark and I tried to use the AE shift to compensate, but it was just to dark so I decided to go back to my original settings and go for a consistent look throughout the film - the rushes look beautiful except it's kinda grainy - is there anything I can do in post to clean that up?? Thanks

Thanks, I'm going to light for daylight and balancing the cam for that and then add a soft/filter to give a nice glow to the interiors, she wants it kind of glam. Thinking about a warm black pro mist. Haven't shot anything is so many years,that I'm not too confident in making my decisions and there is not really a budget either, so that helped thanks David. Jac

I'm just surfing the net trying to work out what all the lights are, what output and colour temp, does anyone know of a good website that explains all these, or a good book I can buy. Also I'm trying to work out how to light this apartment, the director wants if quite warm looking, but the daylight coming is in a little cool, I'm thinking about using some arrilites 800w(3200k) (apartment is small) to light our actors and gelling them maybe just 1/2 or 1/4 CTB, will this look wierd and how can I create a warm glow on the walls, can't gel the windows they are floor to ceiling, huge, can I flood them with something? I want it to look like a warm summer light, but since it's just end of winter here it's kind of a harsh grey. Maybe I need a 1k just incase? Thanks Jac Or am I better as I'm using the natural day light as my motivation and main source to rent Daylight balances lights and gel some with CTO to create pools of warm colour?? jac

I'm just surfing the net trying to work out what all the lights are, what output and colour temp, does anyone know of a good website that explains all these, or a good book I can buy. Also I'm trying to work out how to light this apartment, the director wants if quite warm looking, but the daylight coming is in a little cool, I'm thinking about using some arrilites(3200k) to light our actors and gelling them maybe just 1/2 or 1/4 CTB, will this look wierd and how can I create a warm glow on the walls, can't gel the windows they are floor to ceiling, huge, can I flood them with something? I want it to look like a warm summer light, but since it's just end of winter here it's kind of a harsh grey. Thanks Jac

Hi, we are shooting on mini DV, when i went yesterday, it was very sunny, it's on the 14th floor, so no outside area availible, there was alot of natural light availible, but I want to be prepared incase it's a dull day, and I I don't want it to look too flat, so i guess some soft daylight sources Or should the soft for the background and use a harder light for lighting faces, and neg fill control the amount of light bouncing off every wall? I'm looking for lights probably less than 1K as there are small spaces to light. I'm so confused about all the different names of lights, when i studied more than a decade ago it was just much simpler. What size of kit should I be ordering, I'm thinking 3 daylight balance lights at around 600w and 2 smaller 150w lights just as kickers, will these even show up with all the natural light or am i wasting my time? A couple of relectors and a couple of neg fills, it's just a one day shoot. Thanks Jac

Hi there, I'm shooting indoors with lots of natural light and I'm wondering what I should be using just to add a nice eyelight to my actors? Also I will need to use some soft daylight balanced lights as were shooting one long through the day and the natural lighting is going to change a bit and I have some areas that need to be lit, space is tight though, what do you guys recommend?? Will some small Dedo's be enough for the eyes, or is there something smaller? I'm gonna use reflectors to help bounce the natural light, there is already alot of white walls and neg fill to help me mould faces. What soft, broad daylight sources are availible? Thanks, Jac been a long time since I lit anything!

Hi there, I'm shooting indoors with lots of natural light and I'm wondering what I should be using just to add a nice eyelight to my actors? Also I will need to use some soft daylight balanced lights as were shooting one long through the day and the natural lighting is going to change a bit and I have some areas that need to be lit, space is tight though, what do you guys recommend?? Will some small Dedo's be enough for the eyes, or is there something smaller? I'm gonna use reflectors to help bounce the natural light, there is already alot of white walls and neg fill to help me mould faces. What soft, broad daylight sources are availible? Thanks, Jac been a long time since I lit anything!

were using the XL1, I've used it a few times before, but just for live performance stuff, so I've never had the chance to be creative with it. Jac

HI there, I'm shooting a short next week and I visited the location today, we are shooting on Mini DV and the location is an apartment with alot of light, huge windows and lots of white walls, I'm going for natural lighting as much as possible, but the director wants to enhance the feeling of the apartment being this unnaturally beautiful serene place, like heaven (when actually in the script it's really the opposite), almost dreamy and warm, I'd like to use a filter to enhance and tweek the natural light bouncing off the walls, what one should I use? I'm thinking about a warm pro mist, or just a white pro mist? I've never used either and I can't go and try them out, this is a no budget project, I'm not sure at this point if we can even get hold of them, but I like to be prepared. Would either of these give the desired effect and are there any suggestions as to any other filters that might give me an interesting effect. Also, I haven't alot of stuff on Mini DV, and it's been about a decade since I last shot on video, do I have to lay black down on all the tapes before we start to record, or is th T/C recorded automatically as we shoot? I know, dumb question! Thanks Jacqueline

HI there, I'm shooting a short next week and I visited the location today, we are shooting on Mini DV and the location is an apartment with alot of light, huge windows and lots of white walls, I'm going for natural lighting as much as possible, but the director wants to enhance the feeling of the apartment being this unnaturally beautiful serene place, like heaven (when actually in the script it's really the opposite), almost dreamy and warm, I'd like to use a filter to enhance and tweek the natural light bouncing off the walls, what one should I use? I'm thinking about a warm pro mist, or just a white pro mist? I've never used either and I can't go and try them out, this is a no budget project, I'm not sure at this point if we can even get hold of them, but I like to be prepared. Would either of these give the desired effect and are there any suggestions as to any other filters that might give me an interesting effect. Also, I haven't alot of stuff on Mini DV, and it's been about a decade since I last shot on video, do I have to lay black down on all the tapes before we start to record, or is th T/C recorded automatically as we shoot? I know, dumb question! Thanks Jacqueline

Hi, I'm would like to know what you guys think was the best cinematography and /or camera work in film or TV in the past year. Thanks, Jacqueline.

typically you want to give your subject a backlight to help cancel out reflected green that could be a problem in compositing. In terms of the limited space, I'd say try to take advantage of the "inverse square" rule. If you use lower output lights closer to your actor, it will cast less light on the backdrop than if you had a stronger source farther away. Softer sources will also cast less shadows, but the farther away they are the harder the shadows too. Thanks, that helps alot.

Thanks guys, why didn't I think of just testing the lattitude, Yuh, hello! I guess sometimes we just need the obvious said. One more thing! I've never lit a blue screen before and I know that I may have a problem with space in front of the blue screen as well as height. So, whats the best way to light evenly, how bright does it have to be? I'm guessing lighting from the top is best, but if I don't have room above and limited space in front, how do I light the screen without catching the actors and casting their shadows and does this cause problems?

Hi there, well the reason is because I don't want anyone but me to touch the masters, and they are half way around the world, so I don't want them sent to me either just incase they get damaged. But my family know someone who can duplicate them for me. Quality is not such a problem at the moment as I went to art school, the philosophy was content over quality, (the quality of some of my stuff was quite gritty, which worked as I was tackling gritty issues)in our school the idea was that the poorest film student was an equal with the wealthy, ie. money and aesthetics were not the highest priority and also most of my work was as a Director / Producer, not cinematogrpher, though I did light and shoot all the stuff myself, actually it was very autuerish (can't spell this) anyway, it'd would just be great to have some of my work cut together to show when needed. SO I think duplicating to DV is the best thing right?? thanks for all your suggestions jacqueline

Hi guys, I've been out of film for several years, but now I want to get back into it, unfortunately all my show reel stuff and films are stored with my family in another country, I want to know what is the best way to duplicate my VHS copies of my stuff ( i don't dare let anyone in my family touch the Beta Masters). Can I transfer the information from VHS to Mini-DV, or is that not possible ( this would be ideal as I can then load it into the computer and cut an updated showreel together. Or is it possible to transfer to DVD? If so can Ithen transfer the information from the DVD to the comp for editing? I have no idea about this. thanks

Hi, Can anyone tell me if there is a significant way of lighting for HD than ther is for Film. I've heard al sorts of stories about problems creating depth of fields and back focusing etc... Anything I should consider before planning to light an HD shoot? thanks Jacqueline

Hi guys, I maybe about to embark on my first DPing job for someone other than myself and need some advice. OK, It's a short film, lots of actors, like an ensemble cast, they all at some point become superheros we want shallow depth of field as we have problems with consistant locations etc...and also we'd like to use a blue screen to key the superheros, I'm not sure what the backgrounds are as the project is in the very early stages. So here is what I need to know. The director wants to shoot on HD, he thinks the higher quality might make the project easier to sell to the TV market (ps. I live in Hong Kong). I suggest DV as I've heard even Prosumer HD cams have had alot of problems. I'm not experienced with HD, but from what I've heard it's difficult to create shallow Depth of field, there are problems with keying because the compression causes the images to appear blocky. What do you guys think? I guess they both have pros and cons, so I'd like to hear your view in view of my lack of experience. Also Lighting maybe very limited as everyong involved wants to do this on no budget and our own equipment, so I think I'll probably use some chinese lanterns (easy to find here, it's China, kind a) , maybe some kind of key light and a reflector to fill and a small light on the cam for the eyes. Any suggestions of what kind of light I can put in my lanterns and run them off a regular source? And a key light that can be used in small spaces as locations in HK are usually cramped. I'm sure I'll think of more later, Thanks Jacqueline