Leo Ticheli
Forum Replies Created
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Shooting in a moving car, especially one with rigging, is extraordinarily dangerous.
You need cops and professional drivers on closed or tightly controlled streets.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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Only if you’re trying to say the car is occupied by monsters.
Lighting coming from below is often described as, “monster light.”
You’re tackling one of the most difficult lighting assignments. You’re dealing with limited space, funny glass tints, and reflections.
My very best advice is to hire someone experienced and adept at this.
Think about the way people actually look in a car and then direct and shape the light to make that look better.
Fixtures are often mounted on the car using a car-mount kit and/or on stands on a process trailer. It’s not easy, fast, or cheap.
Sorry there’s no simple answer to a very difficult and complex assignment.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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I feel your pain.
There is no rental facility where you shoot and you wish to avoid the extra weight of conventional batteries.
You can either smuggle on board the lithium batteries and possibly kill a couple of hundred people in a flaming plane crash, or use the conventional batteries which are safer but may incur extra luggage charges.
It’s your choice, but please let me know your flight schedule if you’re going the lithium smuggling route so I can catch another flight!
I should think a call to Anton Bauer can give you the best options.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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The difference between incident and spot meter has nothing whatsoever to do with the basic unsuitability of using a light meter to set the iris on your camera.
They are both analogs of what’s really happening at and beyond the CCD.
If you persist in setting your iris with a light meter, ignoring what you see on even a modest quality LCD, you do so at your own peril.
LCD monitors are very inexpensive these days, probably about the same or even less than a high quality light meter, and are far more accurate for judging exposure than any light meter.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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No.
A light meter only tells you what the light meter itself is getting! It has no idea what kind of exposure you’re actually getting.
The lens on an HDV camera is marked in f-stops, not t-stops so the actual transmission is probably far different than the light meter assumes. The lens stops on an HDV camera are most certainly wildly optimistic.
Don’t forget that the light transmission and t-stop can change with the focal length!
Furthermore, the response of the CCDs may not be linear, so the “ASA,” the exposure index changes depending on the amount of light.
The best light meter is the one built in, both in the camera and in you, your eyes and your monitor.
You can use your meter to light your set, but not to set your camera aperture.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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Go wide.
Good shooting!
Leo
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Check this out:
https://www.antonbauer.com/li_ion_trans_faqs.htm
I believe a battery fire is extremely rare, but they have much more potential for harm than we usually realize.
Because they are so heavy and the airlines are so much more weight sensitive, we often rent batteries at the shooting location rather can fly with several. I do always carry on a couple.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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I once had a battery catch fire; it happened to be just sitting on the studio floor, not subjected to any trauma or heat; one moment all was well, the next it was alight.
The amount of flame & heat was significant. Luckily, it was not attached to a camera or charger and was not near anything flammable. By the way, why do “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing?
Certainly enough impact to make one think.
I’d hate to go down in flames because someone thought it was cool to illegally pack their batteries in the cargo hold of my airplane.
I think I’ll waste some time writing a note to the TSA advising them to train their highly skilled staff to this potential deadly problem.
Good shooting and best regards,
Leo
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Generally speaking, shooting outdoors in bright sunlight is a challenge, especially with cameras with more limited dynamic range.
Unless you have sufficient crew, time, and equipment, flying a large silk and kicking with a big HMI to emulate the snap of the BG light is not an option.
You can use a small silk, but you are then limited to very tight framing.
The easiest method is to shoot in the shade; easy on the talent’s eyes and can be very pretty as the open sky is a large soft light.
If you can’t use a shaded area, put the sun to the subject’s back and fire away. This looks best when the sun is to one side at about a 45
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Please don’t be misled by these cover stories about the tape measure being used for focus!
This is right in there with the, “chroma key to the gen-lock.”Everyone in the union is required to sign a confidentially pledge not to reveal that the tape is actually used to determine which size apple box is required to bring actors of short stature up to the eye level of actresses.
To avoid embarrassing the actors, the subterfuge of saying it is for focus marks was agreed upon. In fact, on the west coast the practice was called “pulling a Ladd” after the actor Alan Ladd.
On a drunken binge at a Hollywood party, Alan Smithee, the famous director, was on the verge of revealing the truth, but he passed out before he could finish. The studio was so outraged that they replaced him on the film he was shooting. This occurred in 1997 and poor Alan Smithee has not been able to find work since.
Since I’m not a union guy, I can reveal this previously unknown secret; next time you see the tape measure pulled out, you’ll know they are working with a short actor.
Good shooting!
Leo