Mike Kaminski

Well dedication and attitude are top things when choosing any crew i suppose but being a 1st AC can be a stressful job and theres nothing more unwelcome than a resentful camera crew. You know, forty percent skills, sixty percent attitude, all that stuff. But also experience is especially necessary for the vast array of technical skills a 1st AC must have. A good resume and a good attitude basically. Also make sure they are familiar with camera system being used.

It kinda depends on what your resume is for--camera/DP stuff or art department or whathaveyou. If it is for camerawork then you can view professional IATSE resumes at their website; here is the Toronto local, organized by department: http://www.iatse667.com/producers/availability.html You can check out IATSE resumes for departments other than camera as well if you check out their websites. But if its just a miscellaneous "everything" kind of resume and where most of the crew has been yourself it might be best to simply put the title, your position, the format (DV, 16mm) or genre (short, music video, commercial, etc) and production company if applicable. These types of resumes rarely get you any worthwhile work though, you usually see them for students or people who are just starting out and dont have a lot of experience but i guess you have to start somewhere. Specialization is key--if you are applying for a camera position no one will care if you can boom op or edit and if you are applying for an edit position no one will care if you can set dec and do dolly grip. Seeing as even if you are specialising you have still done most of the work yourself, following the IATSE template may not work if you are listed as "producer" "director" "DP" and "Cam op" for every credit; you may want to use the other method i suggested, which is essentially the same only ommitting any listed crew members.

I dont think tape is going anywhere for at least ten years. I mean, Digibeta, BetaSP, DVCam, HDCam, all these relatively high resolution formats arent going to dissapear overnight; even miniDV is as popular as ever. People will always need hardcopy transfers to carry around and P2 cards and the like wont replace much cheaper tape storage for a while. Once HD takes over SD tape will begin to fade away but for low-cost transfers and field work it wont be obsolete for at least 10 years, likely much more with all the HD tape developments that will ensue--and even then, tape will still be used by consumers and low-budget filmmakers, plus all the third-world dumping that will inevitably result.

It really depends on the school. Most of them list what they are looking for in general terms on the school website but talking to the program or admissions advisor will give you a specific idea. Generally they want to see that you are talented and creative--a lot of them even demand mediums other than film/video (since most students have little experience) such as still photo and painting. But if you have a good portfolio of film or video i would think that would easily trump the above-mentioned. As for genre i don't really think it matters but a mix of formats, genre and subject matter would show you have creative range. Good that you are thinking about such things early in life, you will definitly have huge advantages. I should also mention school grades. It seems dumb, but if you are applying to universities obviously you need good grades--not just moderate but GOOD. Theres literally thousands of applications to the good university film programs each year so they can afford to accept the ones who have 80 averages and higher because there are enough people who are both academically smart AND creatively talented. If you have an outstanding portfolio perhaps you can get in with some less than impressive grades but they may eliminate you solely on grades before they even see your work, which is usually the second stage of acceptance. Stage one usually consists of the application itself (with grades transcript of course), then they ask for an essay or something along with your portfolio, and then if they still like you they interview you and select the final class. This may differ from school to school and i myself didnt attend a university film program but i did apply to some.

As far as i know the only difference is the extra-bright eyepiece and Arriglow, but the 4S introduced a whole slew of changes such as quieter mags with swing-away rollers, pitch adjustment, external mag timing adjustment, lubrication-free movement and i think some subtler internal upgrades.

Your depth of field is also much shallower, making hiting those focus marks all the more critical. Most lenses go to about a T-4 or so, and focus is still critical at that but Panavision now makes the E and C-series anamorphic primes that open up to T-1.3 i believe. You can see these used in the low-light interior scenes in Memoirs of a Geisha. Poor focus pullers!!

when you put the magazine on make sure the top leaf is flush otherwise you will get light leaks.

I see it for sale ALL THE TIME on ebay! Check there if you are interested.

There sure is a market for them! They sell regularly on Ebay for about 10-20 a pop depending on the issue. If you have the 1979 issue that covers ALIEN i would DIE to buy it from you! I can never find anyone selling it!

Poor Terry Gilliam! I had no idea the film was such a disaster--can't he make a movie in peace?? I'm surprised he hasnt quit the industry by now!

yup, Alien is one of my favourite films and in terms of cinematography I've studied that more than anything else. Don't know what he is up to nowadays but i think IATSE lists him as being an active member of 667.

A lovely camera, very clean and high resolution images, if that is what you like. Personally i find it too crisp and clean, and most DP that use it put pro mist or some kind of difusion filter in it. The major drawback of course is that it is interlaced and not 24P. So if you dont mind a more television kind of motion and look its a nice camera, and I've found that it handles stylized lighting pretty well, but again, very crisp and edgey.

It was to be finaled on DVD I'd just shoot super 16 and save half the budget right off the bat.

Domino was also push-processed, sometimes by as much as two stops, so i think this is the main factor in blowing out highlights and getting those crazy colours; when this is combined with the cross-processing it makes for really vibrant colouring. As Mike Williamson pointed out, theres a really good article in American Cinematographer that you might want to check out from November.

Well, firstly, make sure the footage counter/ guide roller isnt dirty, on both feed and takeup. This shouldnt have grease on it, but it have dirt that shows up as grease-like. Are you sure its grease? The next step would be to dissassemble the throat of the magazine and check all the internal rollers and do some general cleaning. Be very careful when doing this and make sure you put it back together correctly; if you dont know what you are doing i wouldnt even try it. If i were you i would just send the magazines back to the rental house and either let their techs do the cleaning or request new mags. Shouldnt be a problem.

If they are all like Underworld (ie cinematography that sells, but devoid of any story, character, or hint of a talent in its writing and directing) then i sure am glad that the UK doesnt have a film industry. Underworld is a terrible, terrible movie, obviously cashing in on the then-current success of the Matrix by emulating its style (even using the EXACT SAME SEQUENCE--the opening train shootout that is obviously derived from the climax of the matrix) with attrocious acting and writing, and absoluetly abysmal directing. Yeah, it looks pretty. Its slick. But its all technical; theres absoluetly no emotion in its cinemtrography, its just jumping on the matrix trend, and that is what i consider BAD cinematography. I believe they were even sued for stealing the story, but who would want to claim credit for that script is beyond me. This film just screams HACK. I cant believe they made a sequel; maybe the learned from their mistakes (something tells me no though). Anyway, sorry to derail this, this film just bugs me in a very certain way.

The HR's breathe so much; some assistants call them "Heavy Respirators". Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?

uh, DI vs optical print is not the same as film vs video.

I have no idea but i am assuming it went through a DI like the rest of the film.

I remember the final scene of 28 Days Later was shot on 35mm film, while the rest was on DV. There was a difference, but the contrast was intentional, however i don't remember it being as jarring as you may think. If you have 90 minutes of nightime HD footage and then cut to daytime 35mm footage, the audience will realise that something is visually different--they just might not realise what. This is what was intended in 28 Days Later, going from long night scenes on DV to stark day scenes on 35mm. So maybe this is what you are intending? Just be aware, the format shift will psychological affect the audience, in a very subliminal way--maybe this could be an advantage. If you are trying to blend the two and make it invisible (i.e. minimal quality difference) then what is the point in shooting it in 35mm at all? Why not just shoot it all HD?

Not to stray off topic, but can any of the pro writers here give advice to submitting NON-fiction manuscripts? I'm going to be tackling this sometime this year but all of my knowledge pertains to screenwriting.

If its stop motion then I wouldnt beat your head too much, just shoot it as stills if that is easiest for you--you may even want to consider doing it digitally for a much, much cheaper cost. Heck, Corpse Bride was shot using digital SLR's.

I'm not dropping anything on any cameras, I'm just an AC. I just thought since i've assisted on the BL before and will be in the near future it might be helpful if i have some kind of reference manual. But i guess Fauer's book is a good investment anyhow.

Thats what i was afraid of. Didn't want to have to drop 50 bucks. Oh well.

Is there an online manual for the BL4? I've been searching but I cant find one...