Michael Collier

why not use your VX or GL series camera, if the audio doesn't need to be any better. Seems that would be the most convinient solution, since even with the film camera, you'd likely need the video camera as well for pickup shots that you don't want to burn film on.

Yup. sounds like college. I wish you had made it though. Would have been hillarious to see the hung over sluggish storm trooper.

What about the noise? Are they quieter than petrol or deisel generators?

Not to hijack the thread but has anyone used a propane genny? I have been seeing small ones at Fred Meyers lately and I think they are new. The one I saw was 3500 watt and maybe 300-400 bucks. I don't know much about them but it seems like they would be super quiet, and they might be xstall sync. Or more accurately I think they might not have an alternator, but rather a generator (DC) that goes to a high-watt inverter. At least thats what it looked like, it had 12v full rated load out, and it didn't seem like a transformer/rectifier assembly (why have 12v out unless thats what the generator produces natively) If it is native 12v then the 120v AC lines would almost certainly be xstal clocked, and work with magnetic ballasts?

if this is a student film then I don't see why you should spend on a studio for something like this. Find a quiet parking lot where you have access to the night lights. You may still have to put curtains of duvateen behind the car to block any distant city light or glow. I don't think a fan would be nessisary, unless you wanted to blow smoke over the car. fans in my experience don't push water enough to make up for their trouble, and its not very noticable anyway.

I will back up matt. don't overload any point in the circuit. This includes the rating of the socket. If you need to, usually you can have someone replace the socket in the unit. You could go over the UL rating and have someone switch it off between takes, but that complicates the g&e crews responsibility to make sure its off. It also adds worry of fire to everyone who knows your overloading a socket. If you do start a fire, controlled or not, there will be no where to look but the electric department, with the DP as fall boy if he told his key to over-draw the socket (unless he can skillfully throw his crew under the bus, also not a nobel effort). Sometimes in production its a good idea to play the numbers. If a socket can't support the wattage you want, wire in a new socket or think of something different. Unless your rolling several cameras, or a long steadicam shot you should be able to light from off camera. But those to me seem like your options. I have always been one to light from off screen if possible when a practicle is in shot. It keeps the practicle from being to harsh and glaring, but of course thats a stylistic choice best decided based upon the intent of the shot. i have seen some beautiful shots where the practicle lights everything and is completely burned/flared out.

Is this question coming from a production standpoint? Because I can tell you that as a DP I keep none of what you mentioned. I might keep equipment lists for each day, though I expect production to have a copy and act on their pages. I might keep an estimate sheet from the vendors I use to provide a record of what we were quoted, in case production needs to referance it to dispute any charges. It seems like your question is based around the production side, which few on this board I think would be willing to comment (I am not going to tell a plumber how to fix my toilet, I won't tell a producer how to do his job...sort of thing) Is your question about cinematography/camera department records that need to be kept or production? Because I can tell you at the end of a production, I turn over everything I think might be relevent to production. I do keep my production binders, but its out of superstition. I think its terrible bad luck to either 1.) throw away a production binder, or 2.) replace a production binder mid-shoot. (as an example, I was on a pic once where I left my production binder on the grip truck after an 18 hour EXT night shoot, it was in winter, as we drove away from location the binder flew off, shattered into a million peices and was picked up by my key grip who was following the grip truck. Out of superstition I retained the peices and duct taped it back together, bending the rings to make the thing work. I still have that production binder today. It is terrible bad luck to ditch a production binder mid-way through a shoot. I take great pride in my binders that are falling apart, held together by duct tape. But then I am a man who prides himself on his home-made duct tape wallet, simply because I can get 5 wallets to a roll, but it doesn't matter because a duct tape wallet will last me at least 3 years. wow. long sidebar.)

Most action blocks I have shot involve establishing the imaginary action of all charecters in an overarching plan, even if all ideas aren't ultamately shot (and some are added as the process develops). If its a car chase, we will plan on paper the path of the cars and major stunt/action beats, if its a fight scene we will block the scene in small progressive chunks (stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 fight etc), also somewhat on paper. Then we plan camera placement around that idea. Once the camera starts to move, its easy to cheat blocking and geography. Usually I will start with the director and decide which charecters or action is important. In most setups, no matter the size of the actual scene, there is one idea that needs to come through. Once you plan that out for each set up you will do, then you can place extras in the background where they will logically be, along with what looks good for the balance of the picture. Working quickly with the director and 1st AD early in the day/setup turnaround is key here to keep things moving. You may not need to do an individual plan for each setup, some setups can be blocked and then 2 or 3 or more actual angles can be shot. One thing to keep in mind that can make the sequence cut together better, every now and then place the action of one setup in the background of another. It doesn't nessisary have to be geographically correct, there is a lot of room to cheat here, but to have that bit allows the editor to tie multiple locations together to give a sense of cohesiveness. This is where breaking down the feeling of each stage of action helps. You shouldn't put action from stage 1 into a shot of stage 2 action. Action scenes are tough but definatley one of my favorite things to do. I don't get to do them enough, and a WWII pic is my dream, so feel privilaged to have such a rewarding challenge. Plan well and you will have time for experimentation and fun on set.

Put one on a hostes and on a hood mount. Like was said before, just use the CF card and you'll be fine. HDD may skip some frames from vibration

At 60i you should have no troubles with flicker. If you do, make sure your shutter is turned off. If budget allows you can rent some Kino Flo tubes to replace the ones in the unit, that way you won't have to worry about a green cast or matching your lights or matching to window.

Alaska is going to be THE hotspot (no irony intended) in the coming years. It has already started, our production rate has jumped 10 fold this year over last year. We just passed a film incentive deal: 35% general credit for every dollar spent in state. 10% credit for local hires 1% for shooting off season (fall-spring) 1% for shooting in rural areas (not sure what counts as rural, but I think some communities on the road system do count.) Those credits are in addition to the fact that there is NO TAX for films anyway. Your credits come in the form of tradable paper, that you can sell to an oil company who does have to pay taxes. Add to that we have the most gorgeous state in the union, and can fake for several locations, both US and foreign (makes a perfect double for Canada) We also have lots of industry in our state, so if you need a warehouse to double as a studio, look to palmer/wasilla. We have transpo down (we ship large oil rigs all over the damn place, rail, air, truck, barge, etc) The economy is doing well and prices in town are good (a bit more expensive than LA, but once you factor in the absence of a sales tax its about the same.) (and do we speak english? You Betcha!)

1. Magnetic ballasts set their running frequency against the cycles on the AC power coming in. If your power isn't exactly 50 or 60 hrz, you can have flickering on camera. Not a big problem on xstal sync gennys, but if you can only get a put put you need an electronic ballast. Electronic set their frequency internaly with their own xstal, so they can accept a widder spectrum of power conditions. Also with flicker free you have a little more freedom in frame rate/shutter speed without visible flickering presenting. 2. Power brokers, but I beleive they won't just sell one. Great if you need to drop 25k into lights, but not so great if you just want one 1200. There must be other places, I sure others can chime in if they know. 3. Par means Parabolic Reflector. The light is positioned inside a parabolic mirror, so light output is controlled very acurately. Instead of having a flood/spot control like a fresnel, you have a kit of lenses you drop in front of the PAR to control its beams spread. You can plug any HMI light into house power up to 1200w. After that the striking draw might pop your breaker, and even if not a 1200w head uses close to 2000w due to inefficiency in the ballast.

I have shot down to -25, and other than putting some scrims in the light as they cool it doesn't seem to be any problem. I would note that you should wear gloves of some kind, on one shoot a friend of mine got frostbite instantly when he went to pick up a mombo combo stand that had been out all night. Even thin gloves will help prevent instant frost bite. Try a thin glove/heavy glove combo and you'll be fine. now that I think back, I would say its really not a concern once it gets really cold. Those lights and lenses never heat up in tempature that cold, so temp differential isn't really a concern. Big guns are another story though, not sure about those

The date seems to be sort of a hint. Could it be that dec. 3 they will announce the list of features shot on red that made it into Sundance? Since dec. 3 and 4th the sundance announcements comes out.

(sorry double posting...worked too long yesterday lighting for elections)

Don't know of any pre-made solutions, but if the ripple doesn't affend your asstetics too much then you can apply bits of velcro to the cut fittings of ND and on the sill. Then at night rip them off and store it for morning. You'll get ripple of course, thats the trade off for the flexibility. If that doesn't offend your astetic too much then go for it.

your trying to get a lot of light in if your trying to get to 1-1.5 overexposed outside. On purely bus power (that which the alternator provides) you will be hard pressed enough to throw enough light in, Esp. during sunny days, or days where the sun backlights the road. I know ND seems out of the picture, but if the band is always at the back of the bus, then why not ND just the back windows, leaving the forward windows to let un-attenuated light in. That way soft light will flood in from the front of the bus and make a nice soft frontal light. Then you can boost the ambient even further with kinos down the length of the bus.

Understood. Note that it would not be 'homemade' but designed by qualified engeneers and built by some of the best welders and fabricators in the world. But if any questions of saftey preclude me from getting a professional op to work comfortably and with confidence, then the shot is a non-starter anyway. Good insight, I will have to ponder that option. Sounds like I need to rethink the blocking so the crane does stop. I am sure that is probably the most workable option. Like has been said before, there is no reason to risk saftey just for a shot. I can probably amend the design with added saftey in mind. In the end I will always trust the advice of the person in the hot seat, saftey is not a joke and no movie is worth risking everything. The cable rig with platform is tempting, but I think the sucessive shot needs steadicam to be pulled off, a platform carried by 8 people might make the last bit of the shot (ultamately the most important part) needlessly tricky or impossible. Likewise with the techno on an insert. I think I sacrifice a lot less just simply stopping the crane before the stepoff. very poigniant message. I am hoping it will be beautiful, but under no circumstances will I tolerate any exposure to undue risk for anyone on set (for any shot). Thats why esp. on this shot I want to solicit the advice of anyone who has done a shot like this. I will take all of your comments to heart as I push forward. Thanks all for the advice, and keep 'em coming if you think of anything else that might be a concern, or equipment I should look into.

I am designing a complex steadicam shot, and I need to get an idea of how I will do it for budgetary reasons (at least the basics so we can plan the schedule). Its a crane shot, high overhead on dolly, the crane dollys with the motion of the charecters below running, then booms down. As the crane reaches bottom the steadicam op will stepoff and complete a long shot. The crane should be 25-30' in length, the dolly pull should be around 100-150'. The dolly must match running speed (aprox 10 mph at a fair jog) My question is the crane on dolly issue. obviously a jib can ride on standard rails without too much pain in setup, but a crane with a person riding needs something entirely different. I clearly won't be in charge of rigging this, but just to get an idea of what to look at for the producers standpoint would be good. Is there a rail/crane system that is cheaply rentable, idealy in seattle? What is the gross weight of such a system? I am split between renting a pre-made crane system, or having one fabricated in town. We have at our disposal lots of raw steel we can rent (yes, rent!) have a design made by an engeneer, built by one of our oil service companies (there are a lot of them here too) and eventually disassembled and the steel returned. This would save greatly on shipping charges to the state, but I don't know if union rules requires certified cranes to be used if a steadicam operator is to ride one. Either way I would love to know what the standard way of doing something like this would be. There is no chance for a dance floor, its and EXT shot. My next question has to do with the stepoff. Idealy I want the stepoff to be done in a manner that maintains the backwards moving camera. I doubt I can time the stepoff perfectly to maintain this motion, is it possible to choreograph the operator step off as the dolly is slowing its roll but still moving (as fast as 5mph), and have him walking backwards off the platform as soon as he hits ground. I don't know if that makes sense, but the idea is he maintains the backwards motion of the crane as he steps off, slowing slightly. I imagine it would be like getting off an escalator standing backwards. Doable, but complicated by the steadicam rig and the uneven ground he will step onto (and the slight drop) Are there steadicam ops crazy enough who would do that, or would saftey rules preclude a move like that? is there a better step off point that I am not seeing? cable cam is a no go because of the shot that follows the crane bit.

All electronic optics are affected. Some more than others. In my experience I haven't noticed one being more sensative to it than the other. If you need anymore proof of their sensativity to infrared and near infrared, point a remote control at the lens and hit a button. if you see the LEDs light up in the viewfinder its picking up IR. I think the reason this has come out recently as a problem, is DPs are far more likely to use ND than any other users of CCD or CMOS technology in video, and are prone to being more particular about their effects. ENG and EFP users don't really use ND, other than the built in ND filters in their camera (and usually not anywhere near in the ND9+ range common on daylight shoots we might do) Heavy ND without a hot mirror will magnafy the effect. You might not see weird coloration with a certain camera, but throw an ND 1.2 on and you might. I would use one with any measure of ND if possible, but definatley over ND3 should have either a coating or a seperate mirror. You can use a mirror with regular NDs (like you said, don't stack multiple NDs) the problem with this is the same problem with using too many filters. The optic track will be effected. If that flare artifact doesn't matter much to you, then go with it. If you don't like it then get the ND set with HM coating. Also consider if your ever caught in a situation where you need ND, Pola, 85b. Do you really want to add another peice of glass to take care of the hotmirror? Or will your matte box even allow for another peice of glass? If your looking at getting a new set of NDs, I would get the mirrors, because it won't have an effect on your film work, but you'll be covered for video work. If your renting, maybe sometimes its cheaper to rent the hot mirror set only when you need hot mirrors.

a gentle touch on the lens/handles is key. They might shake, but its your job to prevent that motion from transfering to the lens. Also use your shoulder to compensate (if its shoulder mount) little position changes can do a lot to smooth out video, and because the muscles that control shoulder height are leveraged, you have a finer touch on your shoulder. And like anything else, practice practice practice. You will start becoming aware of why and when your will have a little shake and be able to compensate/quash that as you get better.

Funny you should mention clockwork. I just returned clockwork orange today. 2001 is on its way (I am on a kick to rent all the kubric movies, figuring the blu-ray disks might have a better transfer than the DVDs I own. clockwork certainly did.) I still need my bigscreen, I have a very out of spec CRT. So I might find myself re-renting these movies to watch again in HD. The special features on the blu-ray clockwork were awsome too.

The JVC is a decent cam. My last short was on a 110 and I couldn't be happier with the end result. I will warn you though, its chip is made of black velvet....meaning its very very slow. I rated between 200 and 160 depending on the scene, so Graffs excelent advice will be easy to follow. I would caution against true wide open, since the lens that comes stock (I assume the same fujinon the 110 has) is not very plesent wide open. But its measured in fstops so in my experience there seemed to be only a 1/2 stop difference between f1.4 and f2. Check that the markings on the barrel are relatively accurate and pull focus from measurements, both the LCD and viewfinder are under-ressed to pull focus from directly. Alternatively zoom in and grab focus marks prior to shooting, or get a high res HD on set monitor and pull from that. Good luck and don't forget to have fun.

I think Brian hit the nail on the head. We are advisors in all areas where art meets the technical. Sometimes you do have to carefully tread across the boarder and suggest things more forcefuly, but in the end we are advisors. They are the director and that position must be respected, even if the person has lost respect for boneheaded moves in the past. The end goal is not to be able to claim you saved the day, or it wouldn't be half the project without you, but to get the best product out while maintaining the traditional hierarchy. I think if it ever got to a point where I needed to 'take over' then I clearly misjudged the whole production team from the begining and might need to start thinking about recusing myself and finding a replacement for myself. Thankfuly that has never happened that I have had to completely take over (I wouldn't want to). At most I find the weak areas of a director (usually they are self-admitted weak areas) and try and fill in as best I can, while allowing them to utilize their strenghts to guide what I do. Its always a first question in the interview/prepro. What are your weak points as it would relate to my job, and where is my time best spent (understanding that if I take over their weak points, it will give them more time to spend on their strengths.) Some directors are great with the mood, but need help with coverage. Some know their coverage really well but don't know lenses. Some know lenses but don't know light. Some are like Bergstrom and are bomb at everything so I just stand there point at things, mugging for the EPK photog. That is usually the understanding I go into any project with. Its the best way to work. I feel like i am contributing, and not usurping an area a director would/should be strong at. Colaboration at its most efficient/productive.

Just bought a PS3. Not much of a gamer, but wouldn't you know it, I have an affinity for movies and its one of the cheaper blue ray players out there. Hooked up to my bose surround its awsome...my 50" is comming in a few days, then I won't have to leave the house all winter. Good thing too, it snowed today for the first time. Good thing it didn't stick. I was pleasently surprised to find that to add Blu-ray discs to my netflix account, it costs a wopping $1 extra a month.