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Chris Clarke

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Everything posted by Chris Clarke

  1. Here's the making of... Interestingly it was shot at 358 degree shutter and 50fps. The real location shots were at 1000 ISO.
  2. I'm reading a great book at the moment called 'The Conversations, Walter Murch and the art of film editing'. Walter Murch talks about how he edits scenes initially without the sound just to create a rhythm through the visuals and the cutting. Afterwards he tidies up the sound mistakes that have come about from the technique.
  3. I worked on a film shot in the desert with 500 ASA stock and it is a real problem. The only practical solution is to use Panaflex's and rear gel them. You end up with T8 on the lens and an 85 N9 filter. Almost impossible to adjust your eye to when the ambient light conditions are so bright. The main unit that I worked on was fine with rear gelled Panaflex's but the 2nd unit really struggled with their 435's. It got to the point where the operators were having such a hard time that they had Panastar's sent out! It wasn't really an option to alter the processing of the stock as the whole point of using it was to be able to see into the shadows more.
  4. I might be working with Vistavision soon for VFX plates. I was wondering if anyone knew what lenses are available for the format?
  5. I just read the interview in Masters of Light, thanks for the tip. Here's a link to it: Masters of Light I've managed to order a back issue of the May 1975 American Cinematographer with a feature on Chinatown. Thanks for your replies.
  6. I'm going to see Chinatown on Sunday at the BFI. I've seen it on DVD but never projected. I know that a lot of it was shot on 40mm lens but would love to hear others views on any info that you have. I think it was covered in the May 1975 issue of American Cinematographer but it's not available as a back issue. It's one of my favourite films and would really like to know more about it's techniques.
  7. Make sure you shoot a frame leader. That way you will know that the mask you apply in post matches exactly the lines you drew on your monitors when shooting.
  8. A focus puller showed me a trick a few years ago with an SR3. Remove the magazine, shine a torch through the gate at the same time as through the eyepiece. Now phase the camera and you'll project your ground glass markings as well as the full aperture (flickering alternately) onto a wall. Makes it very easy to compare what you are actually shooting and how much safe area you've really got.
  9. If your final grading will be tape to tape and not a re-transfer then consider having a technical grade done when your neg is first telecined. This is where they transfer it as a best light and slightly lift your black level and lower your white. It doesn't look too good during the offline edit (kind of flat and lacking in contrast) but it gives you far more options in the tape to tape grade.
  10. Having a polarizer on the camera would necessitate more light on the subject due to the stop loss, wouldn't it? I'm not sure whether this would outweigh the benefits of the Roscoview?
  11. Recently, when shooting abroad, I've taken a grid test projector with me. I don't know what it's proper name is but engineers often turn up with it on set for grid tests. It attaches to the camera's mount like a lens and projects a grid that can be rotated by twisting. You power it off of a 12v battery and it has a dial where you set your film speed. It's so useful if you arrive in the country your shooting in and have to steady test 5 bodies on a truck full of assistants (with everyone wanting to get to the bar as soon as possible!)
  12. The light produced is similar to a chinese lantern. They come in different sizes with the largest producing 1.5K (I think? Someone correct me if I'm wrong). The big advantage though is that you can leave them on in an interview situation without having to worry about them catching a light!
  13. How about a Jem Ball in the middle of the 2 subjects just above frame? Nice soft light on both of them. You could clip some net or ND to the interviewers side to bring them down a bit and give you a little overexposure on the lady in question. A few C stand arms or a goal post should get you clear of being in shot.
  14. If you are shooting with video being your final destination then yes, you would shoot 25fps with a 180 deg. shutter. If the project is for a worldwide theatrical release then you shoot in the standard 24fps with a 172.8 deg. shutter to compensate for the flicker induced from 50hz electricity. If you were to shoot a television screen then you would revert to the 25fps/180deg shutter in order to stay synced (and tell the sound dept!)
  15. Have a look at Philip-Lorca di Corcia.
  16. Panavision London rent Arricams. You can even have them fitted with PV mounts. That's how Casino Royale was supplied (shooting on S4's). When JDC was bought up by Panavision, they acquired all their Arricams. The current Harry Potter is shooting on Arricams from Panavision.
  17. I was working on a film today that was shooting anamorphic (C and E series) and we were shooting vfx plates on spherical primos. I asked the vfx superviser from Double Negative about the issues regarding the mixture of formats and he said as long as you have grid tests from both sets of lenses it's not a major issue. Out of focus highlights can be a bit tricky though. Shooting the plates on spherical worked better just because of the aspect ratio of open gate.
  18. I heard today that it will be 3 perf on the main unit, and 4 perf on the 2nd unit.
  19. A bit off subject.... I've just been working with a DoP who was using Formatt Antique Suede's for colour correction. We were shooting with 5212 and 5217 with mostly an Antique Suede 2 (2 stops) to correct the daylight light instead of an 85. Haven't seen any rushes but look forward to it. You might catch it later in the year: HBO/BBC "Churchill At War".
  20. Thanks for the suggestion Sam. I've read through some old posts on the Vivid 160T and it sounds like a great 16mm stock. We won't be shooting faster than 75fps now so I think I should be fine with one stock. If it's completely overcast then we can't shoot anyway. On another thread.... What do you think of the pros and cons are of shooting uncorrected tungsten stock in daylight? I know there's the uneven exposure across the red and blue layers but so many DP's I talk to say this is far outweighed with the options available in the TK.
  21. I'm shooting a promo in a few weeks on a beach. I'm looking for as fine a grain stock as possible as I'm shooting on 16mm and the director wants a clean, colourful look. We'll be using a pola throughout together with a 90deg shutter when shooting at 25fps. There is the possibility of higher frame rates, no more than 150fps, which would be at 180deg. So I'm looking for a slow/medium speed stock with the potential to lose 4 1/2 stops without going wider than T2.8/4. I'm considering using an unfiltered tungsten stock (correcting in TK) as their is too much of a gap between the 50D and 250D stocks. Considering we're shooting in the UK with it's unpredictable weather I may have a roll or 2 of a higher speed up my sleeve on the day. Any suggestions or experience are very welcome! Thanks, Chris
  22. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll be interested to see how the incident and interpreted spot readings compare.
  23. Hi all. I'm off to the Swiss Alps for a few weeks on a film next week. I was hoping to take some stills whilst there on slide film. I'll be using an older camera so all my exposure will be through a meter (incident and spot). I got to thinking about how to judge the correct exposure allowing for the snow and ice reflections and thought it would make an interesting topic generally for snow scenes, bright skies etc. I love the way the snow scenes were treated in Fargo, but equally I'm interested in the epic blue skies and mountain vistas of the Alps. I look forward to your ideas.... Chris.
  24. Thom I'm thinking of using the HVX200 with a MovieTube for an upcoming promo. Do you have any screen grabs of wider shots from your short? It looks as though the camera performs very well in close ups, but I'm nearly always disappointed when I see a master from a small camera. Thanks, Chris.
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