Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Yeah, Rick… thanks for the thoughts.
The blue glass filters I have for my tungstens aren’t very blue, just lightly tinted… maybe not even as much as 1/2 CTB. They give a good color match to the HMIs, but do really drain the output. I haven’t put a meter to it, but I’d swear they are sucking up well over a stop…. well over.
1/2 CTO on the HMI is definitely much more forgiving, outputwise. The half-stop loss is probably a good guess… doesn’t even look like even that much to my eyeballs.
I frankly don’t mind if a back/hair light is out of balance a lot of times… in fact sometimes if it is a tad too warm or a bit too cool it can be an interesting look. Ergo, I think I might indeed try painting a bounced to see what happens.
One of the things that I do sometimes (especially if it is a shoot where we are starved for time and/or gear and/or crew) is use a single 1200w HMI as both a back light and a key light. I’ll put it well behind the talent on a high junior stand and shoot it into a 4×4 in front of the talent as a key. Usually by monkeying around with the instrument focus and barndoors I can get a nice back/side spill onto the talent directly from the instrument, while the bounce is the key. I did that completely by accident one day, and now do it lot. If I were to do that into a painted bounce, we’d get a tungstenish key with a more daylightish backlight. Not right for every setup by any means, but sometimes it might be a cool and appropriate look.
Thanks for the feedback.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Wonder why they had him pull the plug?…. hmmmm.
Glad I was fast enough on the draw to have saved the full HD version.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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What Michael said.
In the video world, rely on histogram, viewfinder zebras, and a good monitor to determine exposure… do not rely on your light meter to expose. Unlike the film world, you can instantly see if your exposure is good… so go by that. If film cameras had an absolute exposure-accurate viewfinder assist, cinematographers would be using those for primary exposure calculations, not the meter.
The meter has it’s place, but not for primarily determining exposure for video. I have three meters that have not been out of their cases since our last real film shoot.
And yes, primes are going to always be so much faster than zooms, as you know. It’s the simple optics of light going through four pieces of glass rather than 16 or 18. My primes are all T1.3 (super fast), whereas my fastest zoom is T3.4 (slow as molasses). With my matched primes, my f-stop setting stays pretty much the same when I switch lenses, but if I change to another prime that is not part of the matched set, I often have the need to tweak the exposure as there are other factors involved. In the video world your eyeballs are a much better tool for exposure than a meter.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yeah, I saw that a while back, Gord…. pretty amazing.
The funny part is, that lens is worth probably around 20 times as much as the camera body it’s stuck on. My lenses are worth a lot more than my bodies, too… but not as much as that!
I’m guessing that Panavision put a Canon EF mount on that lens for him… since Panny lenses natively have either Panavision or PL mounts. Not sure how it could be made to work otherwise… I’m not aware of the existence of any kind of Panavision-to-EF adapter.
Interesting to note that real 35mm cine lenses (if properly Canon mounted) will work on the 7D, but will not work on the 5D. Well, that’s not entirely true, they will work but not completely cover the image area. The 7D’s sensor is more akin to the size of a 35mm cine frame, so a cine lens will cover that.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Great piece.
I haven’t quite been able to put my finger on what there is about the “look” of all these little DSLR movies that are cropping up. They don’t look like video or DoF-converted video. Nor do they look at all like real film, of course. They have a look that is more… geez, well, I don’t know what to call it. But it certainly is a look all its own.
A lot of times I personally don’t think that “look” works very well for some projects… and other times it does. I think with “Nocturne” it’s pretty appropriate.
If any of these DSLR cameras could take real PL mount cine lenses (and who knows, some might, or might in the future), then I think we might really have something.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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My first question is why is there such a disparity in the “real” rates vs. the “published” rates?
Why are you actually working for a rate that is less than the rate you say you will work for?
It would seem to me that is either scaring off potential clients who think they can’t afford you when they actually can, or forcing you to work cheaper than you want.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well, firstly, a couple of questions (seven, actually)….
What stock are you shooting? 7277 might be ok, 7274 or anything slower than that and you are probably going to be facing some exposure challenges.
How fast are your lenses?
What kinds of instruments (and wattages) are in your three-point kit?
What is your action/blocking? A couple of actors standing and talking in a hallway is one thing, but if they walk-and-talk 30 yards down the hallway that’s something else.
What kind of available light (if any) is in the non-classroom areas? Any windows? Flos?
Are any other lighting instruments available? Even non-photographic instruments, such as shoplights, clip-ons, or halogen work lights?
What kinda of “look” are you going for? Something beautiful? Something grittier more documentaryish/natural? Other?
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Craig….
Sound blankets could be your friend… by hanging lots of them around the perimeter of your room, you can deaden it a bit and cut some of the “live” sound you’re getting in audio. Secondly, being black (well, some of them are), they will give you a matte dark wall surface that will kill the reflections and light bounce you are getting. Thirdly, since they are opaque, you could hang them over the windows to both kill the incoming light and deaden the audio reflections you are getting from the hard glass.
You don’t have to wallpaper the room solid with them, some are better than none. Some judiciously spaced and placed ones could make a world of difference.
Now, you could call up Matthews or some other film grip supply company and order a boatload of them… at about $50 a pop. OR you might have a Harbor Freight Tools in your city… a place that has tons of cheaps tools etc. where you should never buy a power tool but for other stuff you can find great bargains. There they have those quilted furniture pads which are basically the same thing (maybe not quite as well made, but good enough), for only $4-$7 depending on the size you need.
We’ve bought tons of these through the years, and almost stopped using “real” sound blankets completely.
If you don’t have a store, you can get them on line…
https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93162
https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=47262
https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93156Uhaul also sells cheap mover’s blakets, but they are a little more expensive there (and if I recall, I think theirs are blue).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yes, Emre… and that’s what I still look like thinking about it.
Gotta let that one go.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Whether they be “pro bono” or actual “freebies,” sometimes they can make you feel very good about yourself, your work, and your place in the world.
And sometimes they can bite you in the butt.
Couple of months ago we were asked by a non-profit organization that we deal with to do a project to be shown at a convention in another city a few hundred miles away. Because we had some time that week, and because some members of one of our best paying client were involved, and because we were in a good mood that day, we said “Sure.”
Did a fair little bit of shooting both on stage at our place and on multiple locations, did a quite a bit of editing, a fair little bit of special effects. Got a national-quality narrator to donate his voice tracks. Got a local (and very good) actor to participate, gratis. We produced an infomative (and very entertaining, in my opinion) several-minutes-long video. It was very specific and time-sensitive… good for a one-time showing at the convention.
It didn’t really cost us anything out of pocket, just our time and energy… but they got a $10,000+ video for free.
After the date of the event, we inquired as to how it went. We were told, “Oh, they forgot to bring the right cable for the DVD player so they didn’t show it.”
I have rarely been madder. Maybe never, in fact.
And I’m feeling less charitable these days.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com