Jump to content

James Steven Beverly

Basic Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,167

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by James Steven Beverly

    what microphone to buy

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I actually have an Audio Technical 14 in shotgun that works perfectly and has no discernable issues. I fit it with a faux fur cover I fabricated and have used it a LOT. There good mics. I have several mics but that's my favorite one.

    Miniature Smoke ?

    in Visual Effects Cinematography

    Posted

    A few things I tried that were successful while I was experimenting with miniatures for storyboarding purposes was lighting cotton fibers with gels and or paint to mimic smoke. I also had some success using canned smoke, cigarette and cigar smoke in aquariums where the air inside was not significantly effected by the room's turbulence. It worked best when the ambient temperature was stable letting the smoke just hang in the air.

     

    There are ways to make scale models look VERY realistic but 1/35th scale tends to be too small for a realist look in general terms. The detail tends to get lost. I actually prefer 1/6th scale, myself. For a ship, I'd probably look for a model that is close to say 6 ft long minimum as water also has scale issues and you'll want the bow and waves to scale reasonably well. Just my opinion.

    Shooting on Cell Phones and cameras that looked like cell phones

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I don't know, shooting to shoot is educational and quite frankly, essential to the learning curve of production but on the other hand, film is, at it's essence, storytelling, so to me story is the alpha to omega of the venture, and being so, execution is essential to it's understanding. I have at times put up some throwaway footage where execution was let us say a bit lax myself, but in hindsight regretted doing so because it wasn't my best work. Even free content has the price of someone's time to watch it so I'm always most preoccupied with the audience, how I sculpt the piece to make a statement and create the strongest impact for the audience. Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic but I don't like work that's not my best getting out. There doesn't seem to be much of a percentage in it.

    Shooting on Cell Phones and cameras that looked like cell phones

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I just very recently got back from Palmdale Cal. where I was working on a project as an actor and some second unit camera stuff. Some of the "behind the scenes" stuff was shot on cameras that looked for all intent like a cell phone. The resolution was over 4K and the cameras cost over about 2K. The footage looked surprising good considering . After seeing what can be accomplished with these new, fangled toys, I have to wonder if this is the newest trend in film making. If so, is it coming down to who can find distribution among a torrential flood of product as it very well seems to be at this time? I have embraced to new technology and yet the horizon looks dark and stormy when one looks out across the vast seas of production. The cream, of course will always rise but it does feel like one could be lost amidst the forces of the market awash in overproduction. Any thoughts on this?

    The 10 Most Exquisitely Lit Films Of All Time

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    It's hard to take that article too seriously. He doesn't give much credit to the cinematographer in each selection on his list, otherwise he might have noticed that the hot top lighting he credits to Tarantino(!) for "Django Unchained" was also happening in "Bringing Out the Dead", which is also on his list -- because both were shot by Robert Richardson (not to mention, I'd pick any number of Richardson-shot movies over "Django", from "Inglourious Basterds" to "JFK"...)

     

    There's nothing wrong with his list, per se, they are all nicely-lit movies and many are my favorites as well... but it is a somewhat haphazard selection that is biased towards the past 20 years of cinema. And to call those ten as the best of "all time" for lighting is rather debatable. What about "Barry Lyndon", "Blade Runner", "The Duelists", "Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes", Figueroa's work in "The Fugitive", Morris' work in "Moulin Rouge", etc.

     

    But as a list of ten movies worth checking out, it's fine. It's the "of all time" notion that I trouble with, it implies something beyond a subjective opinion, something more than a personal favorites list.

    Honestly, I actually very much agree with you. The point of posting the lists was to strart a diolog on the crafts involved in the film making process. The glaring exclusions you pointed out show the need for such discussion in my opinion. People need to realize cinematography has been around since before 1990 and we can learn from these wonderful examples.

×
×
  • Create New...