Dimitrios Koukas

Hello there,

I would be probably using 6k cinepars thru a wide softening material, somewhere in 3/4 for backlight, but really high, a crane would be great, and really far away from the scene, but for this u need something in the water!

Another solution is the helion balloons, that provide soft light and are good for large areas.Also very good for backlights from high above.

Your thoughts about the set up looks really good, and as long it's in the budget go for it!

U need to replicate ambient light mostly, so the light of the torches will stay strong and not washed out form big sources.

Do u have any shots that u will need more than 25fps?

That might be tricky.

What film stock u re using? or it's video?

Regards

Dimitrios Koukas

Lol,

Nice advises, most of them will do the effect, it's just what is the film sensitivity?

Are u shooting 25 fps? or 150 fps? Super duper telephoto lens or a high speed one?

Regards

Dimitrios Koukas

i'm just wondering if anyone can direct me to some websites or books that are good for learning the basics of lighting.

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I believe one good one is Vitorio's Storaro's ''painting with light'',

From the American cinematographer magazine book store.

(I haven't finish my book yet, to suggest it to you!)

Dimitrios Koukas

I've been reading some of the posts here about Eclair ACL cameras.  One of the most important things stressed is the cameras problems with pulling 400' mag loads.

 

So, a heavy duty motor will be fine - what is the other motor known as?  The motor that wil have trouble pulling the load?  Is it a "multi speed motor"?

 

Will the non-heavy duty motor pull a 200' load perfectly?  Is it only a problem with the 400'?

 

What exactly is the problem with pulling the 400' load and how often will such a problem occur?  Is it guarneteed to happen everytime?

 

What if you load a 400' mag only half way (with 200' of fiilm)?  Can this be done?

 

I know - tons of questions.  I expect a full report on my desk by Monday morning.

 

Thanks.

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Keney,

I ve done one feature film with eclair ACL and believe me it was a really painfull experience.

There have been many mods done to this cameras and some of them were from Eclair.

I want you to describe me how the take up side looks like, or post a photo of it, so I will know wht type of magazines you are using, the old ones or the newest ones.

The older ones have a weird mechanism with a rubber sprocket inside the take up side that attaches to the exposed! film and winds it up. This has to be about 5mm thick and not aged, if less than that then u will have a jam at about 30 meters of film.

About the loop, too big will make the film ''scratch'' itself in the magazine sides, I believe the best loop side (that Eclair recomends) is 12 -14 frames, for 200' mags and a minimum of 14 frames outside the magazine for 400' mags.

No problem if you easy the load with 200' on a 400', if u have a new magazine,wich I suppose you don't, (none of us have!), but If I don't have any description of the magazine then I can't be more specific.

I have repaired both of the ones I was using with some new sprockets that I ve found in a video repair shop! that worked excellent.

No jams no chips.

Also the heavy duty motor, most of the times has to do with the currency u are providing to it, u definately want new fresh batteries or more amperage batteries that can handle the load too.

Regards

Dimitrios Koukas

Hello there fellow Dp's

I have started an everyday tv series (Drama/ shoap), and was asked from the production office and the directors to change the way Antenna tv channel treated all the programs of the same type untill know.

You see I come from the advertising field, so they have choose me for this.

Problem is, that I have realise that there aren't any good reference monitors in the whole production facilities.

The technical advisor of the whole TV channel told me to look only the osciloscope.

Hehe, that has nothing to do with art and aeshtetics anyway.

Also he insists that the ikegami monitors we use are great, even that I believe that are of a monolithic (80's) technology.I can't see any whites in them!

Now check this out. I discovered that the guy that is doing the cameras calibration, prefers to go with the knee adjustment knob full right, something that ok it gives me the whole latitude of the ccd's, but crushes the highlights too much.

I have corrected this by going somewhere in the middle of the knee.

Question. Where I should go for the faces? 60-70% for day interiors, and 50-60 for the night interiors?

All the shooting is in a tv set.

I have big windows everywhere, wich I have them overexposed to give the bright sunlight that burns the winow effect. Sometimes I go over one volt. Is this ok?

Regards

Dimitrios Koukas