Tom Banks

I really enjoyed the first one. Great stuff! Second one was good too! can you tell us some of your techniques on the first video?

Hey Guys, I am about to start color timing a short shot on HDV. We are using the basic color correction effects found on an Avid Adrenalline/Media Composer. The problem is that the only monitor that plays an HD signal from this system is a 50" Plasma HD that I know is not color accurate. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could go about calibrating this monitor? The best way I can think of so far is to open up a SD project and match the Plasma monitor to a field monitor (that only plays SD signal) and match the Plasma to the field monitor by eye. Thanks guys, Tom

I think you guys might be going overboard on this just a bit. The majority of film students at Chapman, or at least the ones that will make an effort to take advantage of this equipment, have their heads on straight and realize that this is not the only way to go about making a film. We are not so tunnelvisioned to think that the equipment we use at Chapman is the only thing and the only way out there. Our teachers' priorities are to teach the art of storytelling, not to teach us the technicalities. If any of you know or have studied under Bill Dill A.S.C.(our cinematograhy department head), you know he is a fairly levelheaded and practical guy. While the "wow factor" might attract some incoming freshman who actually know what the equipment is, I have a strong feeling that the students really utilizing this will be the upper level grad. students. As for where this money is better spent, Chapman already offers a large amount of scholarships to its students. Myself and a number of colleagues are on scholarship given to us based on our creative portfolio. The money spent on the new filmschool wasn't from taking a cut out of our tuition; it was a very generous donation given specifically to the new facility, so why not use the money? The student film production budget will still be the same (as its out of tuition), as will our methods of going about production and learning the craft. Again, the students with their heads on straight will hopefully realize its a privelage, not a standard; so why not take advantage of it while we can?

I am also a student at Chapman. From what I've heard from Bob Basset and Bill Dill A.S.C., I believe their aim of an in-house telecine is more of an convience factor, as well as eliminating the price of a third party telecine. But yes, I've heard rumors from Dill that the program is looking into either a DaVince 2K or a few Scratch systems. I have only heard talk of an Arrilaser (same convience/cost factor) although I don't think its for sure yet.

I'll take it!

Ditto on that note. RIP Hawk you were a good guy. and a great video. Just worked on Bun B/ Wine-O video yesterday and a Lil Keke/Paul Wall video last Wednesday. Houston's on the band wagon!

on that note, I am wondering if anyone has any explanation as to how this video was done. Here in my home town of Houston, TX. www.southfortressfilms.com The video's pretty slick. I've been trying to get in contact with the guys who did it.

Along the lines of John's post and the relationship of sounds and their locations, there is an interesting mic that has been around for a number of years called a Binaural Microphone. This microphone is a human sized head, with very realistic ears (inside and out) on each side. Two small microphones are placed in the ear canal where our ear drum would be. The stereo sounds recorded from this mic sound exactly as though they would in real life. The reason is: we subconsiously calculate the source of the sound by which frequencies do or don't reach our ear drum. As the sound travels, it bounces off various parts in our inner and outer ear. Depending on where the sound is (infront, behind, above, below) certain frequencies will always be present (or lacking) and after years and years of hearing these differences, our ear is trained to determine the location of the source. Listening to a recording from a Binaural Microphone sounds unbelievable in headphones, but I can't go as far as to say how they would sound in a Theatrical 5.1 or 7.1 setting. Maybe the reason why this surround setting doesn't quite do the job is that: Although the ear can distinguish (through frequencies) where the speaker is, the sounds comming from the speaker don't quite match up (in regards to frequencies) with where they sound like they should be. PS - Some recordists usinig the Binaural Mic will even set it on a dummy and put a coat on to compensate for the minor, but very distinguishable, differences in frequencies that wearing a jacket will create.

I wouldn't let the number of tracks or the number of microphones used determine the quality of the sound. That doesn't make sense. "He is his belief that good mono sound is far better than really poorly recorded stereo sound." - Now that makes sense obviously. I would personally like to sit in a theater and experience 5.1 or 7.1 rather than mono any day! Some factors you might be forgetting that affect the QUALITY of the sound: - What format it is recorded on? Some of the most experienced Production Sound Mixers still record on Nagra's (which are mono) because the tape sounds much better. Other options are DAT or Hard Disk - The budget of the film, which in most cases (but not all) affects the ability and number of people in the sound department AND their ability to eliminate extraneous noises on set (AC, traffic, etc.) And as far as the two-microphone argument with the jazz band; entire symphonies are miked with only two (high quality) microphones. In film sound, the recording process is quite simple: get good dialogue. Good Production Sound Mixers will do all they can to capture the dialogue only (eliminating footsteps and all other noise). Most of the creative sound work is done in Post.

I had a wonderful time there, what a great opportunity! Had the privelage of chatting with Andrew Lesnie, Lazlo Kovacs, Robert Yoeman, Rodrigo Prieto, and yes, M. David Mullen. All of which were extremely intellegent and offered very good advice and insight into their own creative process. Looking forward to the next one!

I just saw this thread and thought I'd share my experience (not having anything to do with the DI 35mm/65mm process) I had the privelage of visiting my sister in Austin where she was working as the post production office manager for the film. I got to hang around the negative cutters and peak into the AVID room where one of the editors was working on an opening sequence. If it is to anyone's interest, I didn't see any 65mm being cut, but it was surreal to see a film of such huge expected perportions being edited right infront of me. Later on Terry arrived at the office to begin work. I also attended the premier in Houston. Although Terry couldn't make it, the cast playing the Native American family (Kilcher, Studi, Schellenberg) was there. Going into the movie with an open mind, I too found it on the boring side. I expected a slow movie, and it wasn't the slowness that disapointed me much, but the fact that the plot with Pocahontas did not come around to payoff (which is why you invest 3 hrs. to ingest a story like this). Saying that, I thought the photography was beautiful! Lubezki gave a very natural look to the film, as well as capturing beautiful landscapes. I caught a special on HBO on the making of The New World, which explained a lot of the set construction and shooting techniques. As Terry is often doing his own handheld work, the crew had to prepare each setup for a possible 360 degree view of the set (this is done a lot on Days of Heaven too). The Q&A after the film was also interesting. Some of you may have heard the story that Terry didn't let Kilcher and Farrell meet for the first time until moments before shooting their first scene, the kissing scene in the field. They also mentioned that they would only have a vague idea of what was going on before getting on set. Much of the overall directing would be done right before the take. In regards to much of the symbolism that happens throughout the film, a lot of the actors didn't quite understand what Terry meant. In particular, if anyone remembers towards the end of the film, a Native American painted in blue flees the room that Pocahontas had just died in. An audience member asked Kilcher what she thought Terry meant by this, but Kilcher couldnt' give a good explanation. The more I look back on the film the more I would like to see it again. I think this type of film is one that will grow on you with time. I don't want to relate it to 2001: A Space Oddysey, but it shares many of the same elements. Hope some of that was interesting, Tom

If you haven't found anyone yet I can forward you some people.

Hey guys, We just finished logging the rest of the footage and I was able to get some more frame grabs. I put them all up on a website www.banksfilm.com/valdemar None of the footage and framegrabs have been corrected yet. Everything is taken directly from the camera. Here are a few frames: Let me know if you have any questions, opinions, or suggestions! Thanks, Tom Banks

Thanks guys! David and Matt, your advice will definitely help us and elemite much trial and error.

Hi, I have a shoot which requires an OTS shot of a guy kneeling at the edge of a pond looking at his reflection. The pond is relatively small so there will be minimal to no ripples on the surface of the water (depending on wind). Originally I was thinking I can just shoot it straight, but I am considering more shooting the OTS angle and then a reverse of looking up at the character's face and then matting the two shots together. I am unexperienced in shooting with the reflective properties of water, so I am not sure which way is best to go. Here isan example of what I am talking about from the film Hook: You can see some stills from previous weekends on this shoot @ www.banksfilm.com/valdemar Thanks Guys! Tom Banks

I just got done shooting with the Z1. I used Cineframe 30p and shot usually w/ a shutter speed of 1/30th. www.banksfilm.com/valdemar has stills from footage.

Chris- As I'm sure we all know, the Sony HDV cameras do not capture true 24p, they are always recording at 60i. However they have a mode called Cineframe that will mimic either 24p or 30p. I did some tests and found that the 24p mimic mode looks overly stroboscopic and almost like 15 or 10p so I decided to shoot on 30p. This looks much more smooth and fluid. I also tried to shoot with a shutter speed of 1/30th a lot of the time to give the motion a better look. I have not had time to look over a lot of the footage, but I paused on a few frames and I didn't find any interlacing artifacts. Probably the best thing to do is shoot in 50i and maybe use their 25p mode, but I did not want to fool with converting it back to NTSC. We also used the Cinetone 1 setting which basically lowers the black levels a little bit. They have a Cinetone 2 setting that lowers the blacks even more, but you wouldn't want to use that in chance of loosing picture information on the lower end of the spectrum. If I'm not satisfied with the black level it can always be lowered more in post. So far no color correction has been done. All of those stills have come straight off the camera. I was very pleased with the camera's color pickup! Much better than I had expected. I will post up more soon. We're shooting in a studio set tonight and then at a plantation this weekend.

Here are some frame grabs from weekend #1 out of 2 of a film I'm doing. Not only am I the DoP on this film, but out of necessity I am producing it. It is a semi-student project with very low budget and unpaid actors, although we were able to get the majority of our equipment and camera free of charge. The film is an adaptation from an Edgar Allen Poe short called "The Facts of the Case of M. Valdemar" We decided to set the film in the 1920s because that seemed suitable for the subject matter. This weekend we filmed at a ranch house in Brenham, Texas (about 2 hrs. outside of Houston). Next weekend we will continue shooting, on Saturday in a 1800's plantation home, and on Sunday back at the ranch and a scene in Houston. This is the largest production I've ever had the opportunity to shoot and light, and I am currently a freshman in film school. Critique is greatly appreciated, and lighting this was probably one of the better learning experiences I've ever had. I could use some tips on trying to mimic candlelight. Here are some stills: I'm not too sure about the ND Grad, we shot another take without it. A frusturating attempt at mimicking candlelight. So thats about it. I'll post up some pictures next week after we have completed filming! -Tom Banks

To give you some more options or advice: I started filming freelance in highschool (10th grade) I had no expereince, but landed a job filming shows for a Six Flags park in Houston. Without any professional experience I put my going rates at $30 per hour when filming and $40 per hour when editing. Two years later I decided I was way overdue in upping my rates after many more jobs filming. My going rate now is $50 an hr. filming and $70 an hr. editing. I figure shooting on an XL1s simply as an operator I cant really charge much more than $50/hr. When putting together larger projects that would involve longer hours or a set in stone final product I would usually meet with the client and work out a price according to their budget. I would add in the time it would take to film and estimate the time it would take to edit, then figure out the standard price. If their budget could not accomidate that I would knock however much off, still keeping a reasonable price, until it worked for them. Just never undersell yourself though.

If anyone has a PC, Cyberlink's PowerDVD is really easy to grab frames. You can specify where to save them under preferences and then there is a button to click on the player that will grab the frame.

yah, there are numerous shots in there that I am not proud of. The director was very unorganized and we were rushed for time due to fading daylight. I should have another one up in a day or so, this one I have invested much more time into. However, I am still figuring out positioning/choreography between interacting parties (also in the Seduction) Although again, lack of time and preperation made it a little more difficult to get every shot I had planned for. This comming project was written, shot, and edited in 2 weeks (along with plenty of other school priorities). But I shouldn't be giving excuses.... Thanks everybody!

haha, I can just imagine! exposing the sky is possible on a still camera, shooting with an ISO around 800, f1.8, with a shutter speed around 2 minutes. but obviously it would be quite difficult to shoot this slow with film.

I'm not sure if the manual film camera is intirely necessary if it is out of budget, but it will be much closer to shooting film for movies. If you do go digital, take all the auto controls off. One advantage to manual film is that there are no ways to get around manually setting exposer, etc... I would check around on Ebay for a cheap old camera. I use the Pentax K1000

The film bug caught me when I was a freshman in highschool. I am now a freshman in filmschool in CA, but in between then and now: - I studied "The Filmmakers Handbook" and a few other cinematography books. This was my nightly reading and "homework" Since I didn't have a film class offered in highschool I took it upon myself to learn as much and as soon as possible. A year later was on the same page as a friend that was taking a intro college course. - Watch anything you can, movies mainly. When you're watching, take a step out of the story and just look at the picture. Ask yourself where and how far back they place the camera, where each light is comming from (by the shadows they cast) and take note on certain movements and what motivates them. This can be one of the best tools to learn. - Either start shooting still pictures on an old manual film camera, or invest in a camera that will let you manually control Iris, focus, gain, etc.. or do both! This will allow you to get familiar with the properties of the lens and especially taking pictures will improve your composition incredibly! - Get ahold of anyone you know in the film business to ask about either an internship or a job. If you dont know anyone, put together a resume and send it to the smaller local production companies around. This will get you familiar with what its like on a larger filmset, versus shooting a DV movie with friends. Thats about all I can come up with now, but best of luck!

To solve the problem of it unrolling on its own weight, and depending on how big your role is, you can use clothes pins and clip the top of the roll on each side so that no more paper can be unrolled. As for rolling it up, sounds like you may just have to do it the old fashioned way. If that isn't practical, you may be able to attach some sort of makeshift handle onto the inside of the roll that will make rolling it up easier.