John Sharaf
Forum Replies Created
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Joe,
Given the 10th floor situation, you might consider using a Source Four Leko to manufacture the appropriate window pattern with the choice of a gobo (pattern maker) that “matches” the actual window treatment in the room. Otherwise, some hotel rooms have small balconies from which you could squirt the artificial morning “sunlight”.
JS
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Joe,
I don’t know about your bedroom, but in mine, the sun comes streaking through the windows with a hard, warm, contrasty light in the morning! This could be recreated by a strong source from outside the window, gelled warm, and taking care to “tent” or otherwise control the real sun which will move during the time it’ll take to shoot the scene. We’d probably use an HMI light as big as a 12K depending on the logistics of the shot, but in certain circumstances maybe an 800w or two would suffice.
The important thing is to actually observe the morning light you wish to emulate and note the quality, direction and color which gives its’ unique character, then use the lighting tools at your disposal to recreate the effect.
JS
BTW, the etiquette for many reasons is not to double post these questions. Your query rightly belongs here in the Lighting Design Forum and you’ll find that mostly the same people frequent this and the Cinematography pages.
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Gary,
Sorry I missed the last day of the Varicamp, but I had a pressing assignment! I really enjoyed the camp, learned a lot and met some very interesting folks.
My FW damage occured almost a year ago, so your lecture would not have saved me, but I am amazed that still there is no official notification from Panasonic as to the necessity of powering off for connections. I had a major screaming match with them over the repair, for which at first they quoted $5000 and three weeks turnaround! Fortuneatly we came to a much more favorable and quicker solution.
It’s interesting to note that I recently had occassion to need repair for onen of my 8.4″ LCD monitors; the pigtail connecting the control box was damaged, and I discovered that the factory broadcast repair shop will not handle this item; they refer you to a third party repair facility that must do answering machines and toaster ovens! I suppose this is both good and bad, but it did cost over $200 to fix a connector.
JS
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Leakn’,
I think you are actually correct; there is only one tech in LA (Tom) who works on Varicams, and recently he’s been up to his neck in the software upgrades they forgot to tell us about.
It’s the same with the 1200A’s, there’s only one tech who works on those, but this is not dissimilar to the situation at Sony, Iky and the rest, you must understand that this gear (except the decks themselves) is inherently very stable and troublefree; it’s usually misuse, abouse or plain out-and-out dropping that results in most camera service calls that I’m familiar with in more than twenty years of owning professional video cameras.
As far as your shipping story, UPS should definately have required a signiture for delivery, unless yours is on file and they normally don’t require one for each occasion. To insure such a shipment costs about $1/$100, so a camera body would be over $600 in insurance; do you want to pay that? In the case you describe, UPS would have been liable, but probably not for the full amount! I routinely deliver and pickup cameras and other equipment of such value rather than trust UPS or FedEx when possible, I know that geography and other circumstances do however come into play.
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Yeah, it’s true! I fried my FW card the same way. They will not officially admit it, but the FW connection is not hotpatchable, like FW is in general, so always turn off the deck when connecting or disconnecting FW cable.
JS
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Vic,
What’s the problem with your Varicam?
As far as service goes, you’re kind of stuck; Panasonic factory service in LA or NJ. While they are not really “user friendly” or fast, they do get the job done in their own time. Compared to Sony, they’re princely, you might actually get to talk with the technician who’s working on your gear, but you must give in to the fact that there’s no where else to go and be accepting of the situation. If you are getting nowhere, contact your dealer (where you bought the gear) to intercede on your behalf.
I don’t think it’ll do any good to take it to Hoffamn or EVS, they’ll just send it the factory shop.
Good luck,
JS
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Jeremy,
Lighting car interiors in not generally an easy matter! First off, assuming that it’s a day scene, the supplemental light must be daylight balanced, and of a quantity to balance for the lighting outside the car, preferably HMI. Of course you can ND and/or color correct the windows, but this can be difficult to do without noticing bubbles and other imperfections and may have to be adjusted per shot in density due to direction and time of day.
Furthermore, there’s the consideration of powering the additional illumination. Deep cycle batteries and an invertor are often used.
One of the main concerns however must be safety; namely that you’ll be aiming bright lights into the drivers eyes and creating a hazard. Conventionally this, and some of the other problems like power and camera angles, as well as providing a platform for the director to view the action and the soundperson to mix the audio, is solved by towing the picture car from a “camera car”. This also can provide a suitable platform for car-to-car photography.
Many commercial camera cars provide a generator, tow hitches or even trailors on which to mount the picture car, not to mention skilled drivers to operate such a rig.
On feature films, the grips often cut ND plexiglass to fit the windows and control the exposure. Also reflections on the windshield often need control by a solid black “roof” further necessitating additional lighting to replace the daylight that has been removed.
Proper camera mounts such as door mounts (hostess tray) and hood mounts provide the necssary angles to see the two people in the car in two shot and/or closeups.
Finally, it’s often required that proper police escort be implemented to satisfy insurance and or legal requirements for operating on the open road.
Obviously, you’ll need both technical and production assistance to pull all this off! An alternative might be to stage the action in a static car and use a green screen to create a key into which you can add the appropriate backrounds.
Good luck!
JS
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Kendall,
The Panasonic website is very helpful in finding the closest rental houses and owner/operators who rent cameras. You could give it a try. Otherwise there’s always:
Wexler
Bexel
Plus 8 Digital
Birns and Sawyer
Claremont Camera
AMPAnd of course John Sharaf Photography. Contact me off list at john@sharaf.net if you’re interested!
JS
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Shane,
I’m sure you can use a program like After Effects to “pull” 24 of the 60 frames to make one second of footage in a 24p project, but it will never look like it would have if shot at 24p or on film!
When you shoot at 24 (with 180 degree shutter) there is a particular motion effect, blurr and the 2:3 pulldown that imitate film and has come to be known as the “film look”. It can really only be accomplished when you choose this speed on the origional photography.
This is why it’s so important to know in advance what’s to become of the footage; will it be shown on TV, DVD or in the cinema, what aspect ratio do you wish (sometimes two will dictate a compromise in frameing) and obviously what frame rate is dictated (film llok, 30 fps progressive or “realistic” video or live look)???
Only through experience (making mistakes usually) or by employing the services of an experienced DP, DIT or Post Production Superviser/ Editor can these issues be resolved in advance, which is when they should be. You’ll soon be an expert yourself, at least as regards frame speeds!
JS
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Ray,
I have to say that I’ve experienced a similar phenomenon several times; I have no explaination other than perhaps a dirty head or maybe a tape drop out. All I could recommend is a good head cleaning. Let us know if this persists!
JS