Ofri Margalit

Thank you all very much for your help! I will definitely implement your ideas in the next shoot! ??

Hi,

I shot some sort of a 'ted talk' in a big hall and what was asked was to light the stage and the speaker with soft light, without lighting the background (there were slides showing on a screen)

I used a 1k tungsten light through a 24*36 diffusion as a key light, and an aputure 600d with a softbox for the fill... I fortgot to bring flags to cut light from the background

I'm not really happy with the results, and next week I have another shoot like that

I thought maybe using bigger sources with from far away and flags to flag light from the background

What are your thoughts? How would you approach the lighting?

I'll mention that the lights in the hall itslef are no good and I'm also tight on budget...

Thank you very much ??????

5 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

It's all hard lit with multiple tungsten fresnels with cutters, flags to top the light and separate areas. More or less the drummer and pianist are in one key, then the singers when they are forward are in a separate key. Backlights on everyone. No lighting diffusion.

Thank you for the reply! 

Would you rather use fresnels like they did, or use newer light like LED's?

9 hours ago, Frank Wylie said:

I would say you don't need the diffusion at all if you want the sharply defined shadows. 

This is pretty typical of television overhead grid lighting with small Fresnel lights of 750 to 2K watts;  you have multiple light sources here, not just a few.

Thank you!!

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming project I'm gaffing and we need to recreate that music video:

https://youtu.be/4-43lLKaqBQ

How would you approach the lighting?

I thought using big fresnel light far away, maybe through a light 4*4 diffusion, and using a lot of cutters to shape the light.

Any ideas or recommendations will be appreciated ?

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming project I'm gaffing and we need to recreate that video clip:

https://youtu.be/4-43lLKaqBQ

How would you approach the lighting?

I thought using big fresnel light far away, maybe through a light 4*4 diffusion, and using a lot of cutters to shape the light.

Any ideas or recommendations will be appreciated ?

Hi everyone,

Would love to hear your thoughts on my new cinematography showreel:

Showreel link

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I would like to share with you my new showreel:

Showreel link

Any advice or suggestions will be welcomed ?

Ofri 

16 hours ago, Eric Eader said:

Ofri,

Is the rain supposed to be visible to the camera?

Hi, no it does not

Thank you everyone, using griff makes sense

Hi everyone,

I'm gaffing a shoot next week and we're doing a day for night interior.

I'm going to create large "boxes" from 12 by black cloth outside and push through with Aputure 600C's.

The thing is that it's supposed to be rainy, and I'm a bit scared that the rain will be too heavy for the top 12 by, putting stress on it.

I would like to ask if someone has ideas on what I should do.  

Thank you!

Thank you David and Stuart, your examples really made me understand!

 

8 hours ago, David Mullen ASC said:

Distortion is determined for the position of the lens and its distance to the subject. If you match field of view (and depth of field) between formats, you would not see a difference if you match distance. 

So only when I change my distance to the subject, then the distortion will change right? 
And as you say, to match frames between a full frame to S35, the only thing to do is changing the focal length, so what are the benefits of using a full frame sensor? 

Why movies like 1917 and the revenant chose larger sensors? Is it a different look?

I guess the only advantage for me, is if I'm shooting in a small space like a car, than a full frame sensor will give me the option to go wider in terms of frame size if I need to...

17 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

I'm no longer a focus puller but when I was, I would use the hard tape for short range quick and dirty measurements from the camera position, especially for steadicam and handheld shots. It was much faster than than getting out the soft tape and didn't require walking out to various marks. But the soft tape was a more accurate tool and I preferred that if I had time.

Laser rangefinders like the Leica Disto sort of replaced the soft tape, but you have to be very careful with it around actors since nobody wants lasers anywhere near their eyes. I usually aimed at people's chests or their feet, so the reading was more of a ballpark estimate. The laser was more helpful for long distances where it would be awkward to run out tape, or to measure out a location before the actors showed up to get my bearings. Also very helpful in prep when checking focus marks on lenses off a chart, saves a lot of walking back and forth if you have a lot of lenses to go thru.

I also frequently used the hard tape to measure camera/lens height when the DP would set the frame with a director's viewfinder, or when taking notes for VFX shots. This is probably the most common use for hard tape today. Not sure how often 2nd ACs take camera notes these days on non-VFX shots, but back then we would typically at least write down focal length, stop, focus distance, camera height, and filter stack for each setup in case the DP requested that info. It helped for matching over the shoulder shots and if we had to shoot pickup shots later on.

Thank you a lot for sharing! great info!

17 hours ago, Satsuki Murashige said:

Just a basic one without a clapper is probably fine. A few companies like Filmtools still sell them, they're pretty cheap.

Yeah I've seen Filmtools insert slate but isn't it weird it doesn't have a clapper? I know a lot of inserts are MOS but sometime you do need sound. 

Thanks Satsuki,

Why would you need a hard one and also a soft one, isn't the soft one good enough? On what situations would you use each one?

I have another question a bit of topic, do you guys have a recommendation to an insert slate? (I'm still 2nd AC most of the time and I need one)...

Thank you!!

Thanks everyone, 

I think I thought it does matter, when I've heard Roger Deaking interview about 1917, there he said he liked shooting in the alexa mini LF - "I love the LF format, because you can shoot a close up on a 40, and it doesn't have the distorion of a 35 or 32."

So I'm a bit confused haha, can somoene explain what Roger means by that?

And also thanlks Abdul for the episode

Well, I can. But a lot of wide lenses have a bowing affect I would like to avoid, if you have a recommendation for a budget cine wide prime without bowing that will be great

Hey everyone,

I'm just starting out working on a pre production of a new shirt film, which all be shot in a car.

I was thinking shooting with a full frame camera because of how small the space is.

The thing is, right now in the market there are not a lot of cinema full frame cameras and the ones who do exist are a bit out of our budget.

Do anyone know if there is a good and possible way to make a super 35 camera - full frame? Or at least wider?

And also, if somebody have exprience shooting inside cars as well, I would love to hear from your experiences.

Thanks everyone

Thank you!

I will try and ask bright tangerine.

Christopher, can you recommend me a hard or cloth measure tape?

Hi everyone,
It's my first post here. I'm a 2nd AC now for almost 2 years, and I'm starting to work as a 1st AC in small projects.
I have a question about measuring tape, can someone recommend me a good cloth measure tape?

Also, in the same topic - do you guys even think I should have one for pulling? I've worked with many young focus pullers who all worked through monitors but I've also worked with senior focus pullers who still likes to measure everything, I know they still work that way because that's what they are used to.

I was thinking as a new 1st AC, that it will be better for me learning the job through measuring and then figure out next my way of work, what do you guys think?