JA Tadena

Its very nice and very inspiring. Really nice work. It excites me to work on a small feature soon. Good luck! Anyway, I love the edit and music too. :)

Hi David. They look really great! I like the car scene coverage. I wonder how long it took you guys to finish that scene. =) I liked the crane shots too that looked like they were really near the windshield as it was moving. You must've had had a really great team and really good drivers. =) Anyway, I cant wait to see more of it.

Hi thanks. It was a mixture of several things I used. The most effective foregrounds for me that time were plastic bottles, crystals and different types of corrugated glass. I usually hand held the materials myself so I could give it a slight movement while the light hits it. It always needs a very minimal backlight or depends on the effect or intensity of reflection you want. Your right, I only chose isolated areas and not the whole part of the lens. Some effects happen unintentionally and it just looks really beautiful so you just try to keep it at that position.

I really like it. Its very nice. I shot a commercial (visit link below) last year and I used a lot of glass and clear plastic foregrounds with the help of some lens flares. I hope I was able to make some shots look like yours. Nice work. =) http://ja24fps.multiply.com/video/item/90/Nescafe_Maestro_30s

I finished shooting using the Phantom HD at 1000fps. I did not see any flicker using the 18K flicker free with a DC generator. I only used the 18K once since most of the shots were available light.Thanks

Thats very interesting. Im using the Phantom HD next week on exteriors and we plan to shoot 1000fps. I''ll have an 18K, 12K and 6K on set. I hope it does not show any flicker. This is the first time I'll be using HMIs for the Phantom HD although I'm planning to use available light if necessary. Is there anything else I have to watch out for? Thanks

Good luck and God bless you on your recovery. Think positive. Your contributions have been very helpful to all of us. Wish to see you recover soon.

Got it . Thanks a lot guys

Ok. I havent checked the HVX manual yet. Your'e right I guess the 24P/1080i must be some HVX term for the pull down your saying or something else. But that weird format is really in the recording format option menu of the HVX-200. I'll look into that as soon as I can.

Yeah i recorded at 24P/1080i. The recording format options are: 1080i/60i, 1080i/30P, 1080i/24P, 1080i/24PA, 720P/60P, 720P/30P, 720P/24P, 720P/30PN, 720P/24PN, 480i/60i, 480i/30P, 480i/24P, 480i/24PA. The factory default option is 720P/60P. (http://www.jkor.com/peter/hvx200.html) so i guess 24P/1080i is interlaced then. Then HVX-200's 720P/is the only true progressive. Should this be right? thanks BTW, david how did you find out that there is a pull down when you say 24P/1080i? thanks

Doesnt it look like it was shot from a video camera and uploaded in "you tube" ? I guess its hard to tell how the original images looked like especially with You Tube. I hope they have a downloadable link of their samples.

Yes I also wanted to clear this. I just shot something with the HVX-200 this morning on blue screen. We also had a pc setup so we could capture the video afterwards. We set the camera on 1080i/24P. When we played back the video in the PC we saw interlaced frames on some images. I thought when you set it at 24P then your scanning each frame entirely for all the 24 frames. I guess I was wrong and thought the same as Mr. focus71. We should have just set it at 720P/24P if we wanted a true progressive scan since the HVX-200 doesnt have a 1080P. So how come I get interlaced frames with a 24P/1080i? Thanks

Hi guys. Ive shot a few car ads and Im just recently wondering how you guys boost down the car's headlights. I usually put ND gels on top of it (cut exactly the shape of the headlights) but the problem is when the car needs to turn off the headlights then you can obviously see the nd gels on top of it. I guess the only way is to boost down the voltage of the electricity or wattage of the bulb unless your not allowed to touch the car like that. Anyway, maybe any of you have suggestions or tricks on this. Thanks.

Looks very nice. I wonder if its going to be released here in Asia? BTW, its sad to say but I recently was walking around here and saw a pirated DVD of "Akeelah and the Bee". I guess its released even before the orignal DVD is out. I remember I attended a small film festival locally with Fernando Meirelles attending for his film City of God. At the end of the awarding ceremony, someone asked to have a signature on the City of God DVD. Fernando Meirelles was shocked to see a DVD of his film before it was even released in his country. Each DVD copy is sold for about 75 pesos(about a dolloar and a half). I know its killing the film industry but DVD piracy is just everywhere here. Thats really sad for the film industry but happy for all the film dvd buffs locally. Anyway, I hope to see "the Quiet" in cinemas around here? What lenses did you use?

Well Im not sure if your scene is supposed to be sunny or not. But ideally the best is to get your sources as soft as possible. Maybe bounce off an 18K to a white griffloyn to a limit where you camera wont see it. If your lens is too wide or you cant afford an 18K maybe just use a frame with diffuser and light it with a 4-6K Arrisun. I also would get some small kinos (diva lights, or 24" kinos) to be safe for closeups. Lighting the car interiors is easy. Getting your camera inside is the tough part. I usually rent a T-REX lens if you CANT take off parts of the car. You'll also need a super panther dolly or magnum dolly with a u-bangi or sidewinder to push in the T-REX further inside the car. (im not sure if the terms i use are the same in your country) The T-rex works like a probe lens but you can tilt, zoom, and rotate the lens according to your framing http://www.pstechnik.de/en/trex-trex.php Good luck.

I think a spot meter would be very helpful in many situations. Using the zone system, it would be easier for you to place your skies or mountains at a certain zone level you prefer(ofcourse with the help of certain filters like graduated ND's, polarizer etc). I usually use a spot meter when I have an actor involved. At certain times, I like my blue skies a stop brighter than middle gray(on a reflective reading). So the spot meter tells me if I need to put a bit more light on my actor so I can get my perfect blue skies. Well, this is just my personal preference. Other DP's have different styles in reading light.

wow. That must have been really great to have worked in Conrad Halls last film. I was hoping you could share some lighting setup experiences with him. How was he like explaining what he wants? I think Road to Perdition was really beautifully made. I think it takes a lot of experience (and ofcourse a great eye) to make that kind of cinematography happen.

Hi im not sure if I should be posting this here but since you've also mentioned day-for-night, could anyone of you help recommend a good bluish filter that could be interesting to use for a day for night scene . From where I live, the only blue filter available is the 80A/B filter (which is normally used to correct daylight balanced films to tungsten as you all know). What are recommended blue filters that maybe good for day for night? It would be great if you could site samples of films where it was used. Im planning to buy one for my personal collection because its nowhere available where I live in. Thanks very much for the help.

I guess that leaves you with nothing but moonlight. I think David's suggestion is the best you can do. I suggest you go research on paintings, photographs, and films if your having a hard time imagining the light. Im sure you'll find numerous moonlit scenes from older films too. Good luck

Oh yeah thats a great idea. Thanks a lot.

Thanks a lot. So you think 40-50IRE is what i should work at? How do I find out which is the best IRE setting for which camera i use? Thanks again.

I think it depends how you talk about this with your director. If he is strict enough not to allow any practical lights in the box then the best you can do is to use a moonlight. Probably you can create a patern on the wall. The light bouncing on the walls can be your ambient source inside the box (probably side lit or under lit depending on the direction of your moonlight). A great sample of this again would be Rembrandts paintings where you have one source. If your going for a more fictional, abstract etc feel then maybe you can check out Robert Richardsons lighting in Bringing Out the Dead(just check out the overexposed whites and use of diffusion filters). You can maybe cheat the moonlight/ or maybe an unestablished light source outside the window to enter the room and be a little overexposed with the use of some Promist filters/Soft classics etc. Make that as a source through out your entire space. I shot a film before and used warm sources outside the windows. I was trying to make it look like sodium vapors outside but without it being shown( because there were really not existing outside). I guess thats the magic of making movies. Just make sure your director doesnt establish too much outside.

Hi guys. Would anyone know what IRE rating should I place my blue screen and green screen at? I had a problem with a shoot with the F-950. I rated the camera at ASA 125 using the PRO 35 adaptor since you lose 1 1/3 a stop with the adaptor(setting my lens opening at F/2.0). I was shooting on blue chroma and getting the same f-stop reading in my incident light meter on my (person)subject and blue chroma. I usually underexpose my chroma by half a stop but in this case I thought that the blue was good enough. My HD technician was saying that my chroma was somewhere between 20-30 IRE and she thought that it was a bit low for a blue chroma. I checked the waveform and saw it but I didnt know what IRE the blue should be on. My talent(sublject) was pretty ok hitting 60-70IRE on the waveform. So I told her that I think I have to trust my meter since I wouldnt want light the blue screen stronger than my subject. Anyway Im sorry if i missed some threads on this.

I got this from a website: (i forgot which). I did some test and it seemed accurate Engraved T Stop on Len Stop Loss Throughthe PRO35: 1.9 - 1 2/3 stops 2.0 - 1 2/3 stops 2.8 - 1 1/3 stops 4 - 1 stop 5.6 - 2/3 stop 8 - 1/3 stop 11 - 1/3 stop 16 0 22 0 Ive used the pro 35 only once with the F-950 and Im glad I used it on day exteriors. Imagine if F-950 is usually rated at ASA320, one more f-stop loss is a big factor if your shooting night scenes. But depending on the opening on your lens, you lose a stop or 2. But I wouldnt recommend closing your aperture higher than f/4 because it becomes too grainy (showing too much unwanted artifacts from the rotating ground glass). I kept my opening as wide (although mostly I had problems with shallow depth).

Hey David I just saw the trailer. Looks like its gonna be a good film to see. :) Im just not sure if it will be distributed here in the Philippines. Anyway, one of the things I really hate is working with an actor who wears eye glasses. Especially if they're required to wear it in all their scenes. I wonder how you have managed working with this through out the entire film. How do you avoid obvious reflections of your lights(ofcourse unless your using windows as available light or something)? I know theres always a sacrifice in the way you have to position your key lights. Anyway, Congratulations. I hope to be able to catch it on print. Thanks a lot.