[John Sharaf]

Dennis,

Your remarks about cutbacks couldn’t be more true; in the time between my last post and your reply ABC canceled my return trip to Las Vegas for the completion of the Siegfried and Roy special. They’re “scaling back” meaning they don’t care about getting the job done right, just that it come in under budget. I’m having a problem getting paid from another account for a half day job last November from a company that has offices in NY, Chicago and LA, and has been in business for 27 years. What’s a fellow to do?

JS

[John Sharaf]

Your desire to shoot 24p requires that the two cameras be genlocked to assure the pull down frames occur at exactly the same cadence on both cameras. This requires that the selected camera model has a gen;ock in connector and that you can supply both cameras sync from either an external sync generator or from the luminance channel (Y) of one of the cameras. For cameras in this price range you might have a problem, an to ignore this will result in disturbing motion artifacts that will appear blurry.

JS

[John Sharaf]

You can block light from windows with anything opaque; duv is standard but is expensive, unless you already have 4×4, 6×6 or 12×12 from overhead set. Otherwise you can use foamcore, showcard or even dark colored visqueen (cheap). Of course if you need ambience in the room you could also use grip equipment outside the window to block direct sunlight and create in effect “northlight” or even use white diffusion (or silk) over the window. As you can see there are many options, just keep in mind the movement of the sun and anticipate its travel in your planning.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Dennis,

Yeah, another year of Oscar specials, which as before there’s rumors that it will be the last. All the usual suspects involved; Chuck Lofthause as LD and I provided my four Varicam kit in LA for Anne Hathaway and Mickey Rourke and also traveled to Dallas for the Jonas Bros shoot and used a local five-Varicam Bexel package.

Also watch out for the 20/20 Special on March 6 about Siegfried and Roy. Same deal, my Varicams plus my lighting and grip truck. Shot at their ranch and backyard rehearsal stage.

First time in more than twenty years though that I will not be working on Oscar coverage, as GMA canceled their usual big deal and has cut back seriously, but I will be lighting and providing video facility for the Weekend GMA live remote from the Fashion Institute in LA. Sign of the times!

Thanks for asking,

JS

[John Sharaf]

Ryan,

You must be mistaken about the 1500 and 2000 watt units. The Kino Flo Image 80, which is a gigantic flo unit only draws 9 amps; two of them on a white wall would be like daytime. I don’t get the ND filter either, just set the iris wide open and start turning globes off.

The white cyc look hardly motivates a side light key. One expects a high key frontal source on the foreground to match the quality of the light on the back wall. With the black bg you can take more liberty with a low key or contrasty look, just be careful to use enough backlight so your dark haired subject doesn’t disappear in the darkness. In addition to the backlight for seperation you might consider a “scratch” light on the off key side.

Furthermore the direction and quality of the foreground lighting ought to be recreated on the props if one is to believe that they exist in the same environment/space.

I’m not going to be as harsh as Dennis here, but I think you’re overthinking things. Think about how the lighting creates a reality; what would be the logical source of the light and what’s the best way of recreating it? A window, an open garage door, a street lamp, the sun, etc.

[John Sharaf]

HD-SDI output is 10 bit on main output spiggot

[John Sharaf]

If lighting to a monitor you must have a BVM CRT ot if LCD only Cinetal and eCinema displays offer correct brightness/gamma. If you’re lighting to any other LCD you will have false brightness and you will most likely underexpose the shot.

JS

[John Sharaf]

As regards meters, knock yourself out, just don’t drop them and be sure and calibrate every year or so.

Seriously, I still carry my old analog Spectra and some kind of spot meter (I can’t even remember the brand) in my workbox and I can honestly say that I haven’t used either in twenty years, except for one film shoot a year ago with Barbara Streisand.

She insisted on being shot on film (although she didn’t specify 16 or 35 so we shot 16 because it was cheaper) for an insert in the Oscar telecast. I rented another Spectra with the camera package (rather than pay o have mine calibrated) and wasn’t really too surprised that the three meters on the set (my old, the rental and the camera assistant’s) all were different. We exposed at the average of the three and had no complaints.

Say lightmeter for video and I say waveform monitor. Literally I would not do a video shoot other than run and gun without one, either in the Panasonic monitor or my trusty Leader LV5700 or LV5750. I couldn’t imagine lighting a green screen with out it or how else would you set the skin tone level to 60/65 ire on a consistent basis?

I also would feel naked without the Vectorscope function and my DSC Chroma du Monde chart, which I use to touch up the matrix and create accurate and colorful pictures (after I’ve set the exposure on the B&W chips).

You asked!

JS

[John Sharaf]

Ikegami is still hanging in there, mostly making studio and OB truck cameras that are very good, but have been effectively frozen out of the camcorder market because they were not able to secure HDCAM decks from Sony or DVCPRO100 decks from Panasonic. This is what forced their strategic alliances with Avid and Toshiba for other non-linear recording products. Also their security camera business is strong (especially since 9/11). I understand that Sony offered them the decks from the F900 camera, but they had to buy 5000 of them, which was totally unrealistic.

It is unfortunate because Ikegami’s innovation, quality of build and service is second to none. It is true that some ex-Ikegami designers were responsible for the Varicam which makes a very-Ikegami-ish picture; warm and film-like.

They are also the only of the big three camera manufacturers that is developing, building and selling professional CMOS cameras, not that they are better, but it definitely shows how Ike wants to distinguish themselves by leading-edge innovation.

[John Sharaf]

Yes I’d be afraid. Why ask for trouble? Why defy logic? If you want the color to be the same in both directions, use the same lights. Don’t buy lighting instruments that will last 20 years or more on the basis of saving a few dollars. I don’t mean to be harsh, but this is the logic that usually comes from the people we work for that makes our lives difficult, and makes doing a good and efficient job more difficult. Do the right thing here and buy the Diva. You’ll be happy and sleep better at night.

JS