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MattGrover

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Everything posted by MattGrover

  1. FYI Luxan keeps being reccommended to me by other rental houses over there, but I haven't heard from them yet. www.luxan.ch also Megarent (www.megarent.com) seems quite major, but they're in Zurich
  2. Hi All, Anyone know of a decent grip/lighting rental house in Geneva or local area?? Got a crew going out there in May and need to get some quotes together. Many thanks Matt
  3. Hey, thanks to you both, I'll check them out :) Matt
  4. :blink: Looks like you've got a friend for life there Matt :lol:
  5. Looks pretty cool! How have you backed up the rushes, from the Mac as that's the one thing that hasn't grabbed me with P2 yet and that's the total lack of a physical backup on aqusition.
  6. What's the principal behind getting it right? Sounds like something handy to learn, also got any videos of it being used (albeit that you shouldn't notice it! :blink: )? Cheers, Matt :)
  7. Hey Morgan, re the VMI courses.. as I mentioned in my original post... "Due to the level of this course, only experienced Digi Beta camera operators and DOPs should apply." "only experienced film camera operators and DOPs need apply." :( For some reason I didn't notice the NFTS one last time I looked on there tho but unfortunatly "The Freelance rate for this course has been subsidised by Skillset?s Film Skills Fund, in order to qualify for this rate you must have been working predominantly in the ?film sector? of the UK industry for the past two years." and I've been in factual TV, I'll look into it tho thank you :)
  8. Hi all, I'm curious to know where people in England go for their lighting/film/video consumables, specifically things like gels, cinefoil etc. I've come across the Panavision store (have yet to get over there tho) for some stuff, and a few random companies online, but I think there must be at least one major dealer in London somewhere at least, or do u just go to hire companies?? Cheers Matt
  9. Hi all, I was wondering if anybody knows of any short (prob 1-5 days) HD training courses in the UK? I've been browsing SkillSet and a couple of other sites (rental places etc) recently looking for some but all I can find is a proliferation of Z1 courses and any 'proper' HD courses I've come across are only open to experienced DigiBeta/Film operators and DPs. I'm looking for courses that covers the HDCam and/or Varicam (and Pro100) and that will offer a good grounding into shooting on these cameras. (NB: I shoot on DSR-570 so not completely unfamiliar with the form factor) Any pointers would be greaty appreciated and if they're subsidised for freelancers that's even better ;) Many thanks Matt
  10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politeness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manners :blink:
  11. Hi all, I have just been given a Quarz 5, standard(regular/single)-8 camera, bonanza! :) Now if I remember my lessons correctly, std8 is basically 16mm stock run through the camera twice, once each way, each time using half the film. Correct? After having a brief look online for stock (in the UK), I've found one place that sells B&W 8mm stock (http://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/cine.php#std), but that's it, so I was wondering if I could use pretty much any variety of 16mm neg/rev film?? If so, brill, but with that I presume I would need to go to a Soho lab to get it developed, and ten would they even deal with std8?!? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :) Cheers Matt
  12. That's probably the funniest thing I've read today, just goes to prove how absurd the concept of "political correctness" has got. And how blatantly stupid some people can be. :lol:
  13. Hi Greg, Thanks for the HUGE posts!! ;) before I answer what i can, I forgot to mention that the rushes were desaturated and cropped in FCP. The XL1 shot in colour (can you get the viewfinder b&w???) and we worked to 16:9 framing guides. Lens = standard 16x Canon (XL 5.4-86.4MM), unfortunatly in my infintie wisdom I forgot to run off any log sheets and thus didn't note the poxy stop! :angry: The low angle shot relates to the 2-shot where she's holding his arm, he's got up to walk away from the conversation and she's stopping him, the camera is just off to the left of her (on the pic there's a small part of her face, bottom right, just outside the safe area). I do like this shot, although looking at it I think maybe there should be a shallower DoF, throwing the celing out of focus?? The profile shadow on the wall, at the time we thought looked quite good, we did shoot a bit with the Actress conversing with the shadow, not sure if it works for this scene. I used two lights for this because of the 2-shot conversation setup, one key for each actor, we could have done with some bouce for fill I think, but because of the noir feel required, I'm trying to figure out the whole shadows over light thing. The camera was tripod mounted at all times, so I'm interested to know why it appears handheld to you. The test was shot 25fps and the 'real' shoot probably will be as well (because of using Z1). Hi Dimitrios, I'm guessing what you're saying here is the lights (on Amber for example) should've been further round behind her, as it's currently lighting her too much from the side?? Also I thought I was overexposed and that was bad?? Would moving the light further round, direct less light onto the wal?? Thankyou both for you comments :)
  14. Hi all, For any of you who've seen any of my other posts on here (yeah, cos I've posted sooo much and I'm sooo popular! :blink: ), I've been asked to DP a noir film for a director friend who I've previously cam/lighting asstd for on a couple of his shorts. As this is my first time lighting something where I had to decide rather than be told where to put it, I've been fretting more than a little!! :( So basically after doing some research, asking some questions and reading through various books and notes from film school, we managed to get a short test shoot done. I've pasted a hyperlink to the page I just put up for the director to look at and would appreciate any views or comments anyone has on the grabs there :) So you know, we're prepping for a Noir thriller (ignore the lack of costume and set dressing in the shots, it's a very early test), more than likely shooting on a Z1 and for my first "DP" (quotes cos that's what the director's calling me!) job, more than a little challenging. This test was shot on an XL1s, we had a kit of four 800W redheads (+various diffusion bits), in the shots on there at the mo, only two were used. Thanks and I look forward to hearing your comments, initial impressions, etc. Matt http://www.mattgrover.me.uk/uru.htm
  15. MattGrover

    XL1 guide

    Basically a few page reference guide/sheet, that shows basic operation and how to find the basic settings (WB, etc). I've downloaded the manual from the Canon website, but a quick ref guide would be handy.
  16. MattGrover

    XL1 guide

    Hi all, could someone please point me in the direction of an XL1 Quickstart guide. many thanks Matt
  17. Ok, this may be where I'm getting a little confused..when I've been talking about scrims, I've been thinking (from what I've handled before), white fabric stuff rather than metal mesh plates, presumably the two methods offer different styles (?) of light reduction?? Thanks for all the replies on this by the way :)
  18. OK. forgive me for the basic question here, I'm unable to locate my notes from film school :huh: What does the 18% Grey card represent? I've been working on the basis that it (thinking hard now) represents a similar level of reflection to caucasian skin, I'm now starting to think that this is completely wrong and I really should find those notes! cheers Matt
  19. MattGrover

    Noir on Z1

    Hey all, I've read a few posts on the sensitivity of the Z1 with regards low light. I'm going to be working on a short in a couple of months that will be a Film Noir style piece, which is obviously charcterised by the shadows more than the light (looking to shoot colour and desaturate in post), so after reading the posts I'm concerened that our current choice of Z1E for this may not be that great. I'm organising some tests in the new year but would like some hear some thought on this. Bear in mind the budget is uber-low, the light kit may only consist of 4x 800W redheads and after reading on one of the posts (By Bob (forgotten surname sorry!)) "...two 5k for backlight and still not enough...", I'm starting to wonder!! Cheers Matt :)
  20. as far as I remember (from the BBC) it's to do with blowing the image up from the cropped 16:9 on the DV cam, ARCing a 4:3 image gave better quality results than a 16:9 cropped image from a DV camera. (sample from BBC/DV Solutions guide to shooting widescreen) Test results: ? Content, choice of camera, and good operating skills has more significance than the technical process. ? The anamorphic lens generally gives the best picture quality, but only in its limited zoom and focus range. Users dislike it because of this. ? ARCing in post production or using the in-camera 16:9 setting is preferred by users ? The Snell and Wilcox ARCs and the Leitch MonARC are the best ARC boxes. Still pictures are well defined, without ?jagged diagonals? or flickering on horizontal edges, but these artefacts are more visible when the camera or subject moves at certain rates. The Snell and Wilcox ARC 125 ? The in camera 16:9, the other ARCs, and the Avid re-size are all similar to each other. They show the 'jagged diagonals' and flickering on horizontal edges all the time, and are much coarser. Movement makes no difference however.
  21. Hi all, Thanks for all your replies!! It seems that there's a multitude of people's preferences (as usual!! ;) ), I'm going to be doing some tests in the new year, having briefly looked at scrims, just to add further confusion for me ;) there seems to be loads of different types. Is there a bog standard type of scrim that I can pick up when I get the lights, that will enable me to try out various ideas and suggestions, or will I need a selection of different types. Thanks again everyone!! Matt
  22. Well, that's an iffy title! Basically I would like to know, what the best way is to reduce the light coming from a plamp without using a dimmer. E.G. If I'm working with a kit consiting of 4 x 800w redheads and I want to get different levels of light from them, is it best that I use ND gels or scrims? I understand how ND's work, haven't come into contact with scrims yet, although I've read a bit about them. Cheers :) Matt
  23. I thought, the zebras (on camera) show correctly exposed, not over exposed???
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