Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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Well sounds like you are going to have to yell at the big boss again… if it irks your contacts (the producers), so be it. I think the best you can do is explain to them that you know it’s not their fault… but that you do enjoy eating and living indoors, and that you’re not a bank. If they can’t understand that, sounds like a bigger problem brewing.
I would of course say that in the future in a situation like this the master doesn’t leave your hand until the check is in it. I know it doesn’t help now (and we break this rule all the time ourselves), but not much else seems to be a solution.
Closest similar situation I was in, an agency client of ours asked for new dubs for a commercial we had done a couple of years earlier (some store’s Christmas sale). We made the dubs, and called and told them they were ready, and that they were welcome to come pick them up as soon as their open invoices were settled (they had several overdue, going back quite a few months… this is, by the way, a company notorious for late paying… not with just us but every vendor in town). Well, one of the partners came down, stomped her foot in the lobby, accused us of holding their tapes hostage, and vowed to find someone else to work with. She wrote a check and took her dubs away in a huff. I think there may have even been tires squealing in our parking lot.
Next month, they were back. And have been ever since.
Sometimes you do have to ruffle some feathers to get attention.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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“What would be a convenient time today for me to come down and pick up a check? How about 2pm?”
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yeah, pretty much…
The Mini35 actually came out first, P+S Technik debuted it in early 2001. I belive the Pro35 came out later that year, or maybe early next.
A Pro35 for $10K???… never seen a deal like that, but if you do… snap it up. That might be one of the older models that doesn’t have infinitely variable speeds and a few other improvements.
Interestingly the Mini35 (the one I use, for 1/3″ cameras) comes in about about $11,000… while the Pro35 (for 2/3″) is $26,000. BUT… the one they have specficially for the Sony EX3 is $20,000, yet it’s still a Pro35 with just a different relay lens specifically for the EX3. I think that probably shows there’s a lot of fat (i.e., profit) in the Pro35… they do sell it for a lot more to the big-camera shooters pretty much because they can (like so much of the high-end equipment in our biz).
Still, at Rolls Royce prices I have always found everything from P+S Technik to be worth every penny (although I know that I will never be able to justify their $30K snorkle lens relay… although one can dream).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Great, Chris… I think you will be happy with that setup.
As for 4:3 vs. 16:9… I dunno. I’ve never used the SDX-900. You are free to shoot whatever it will, and whatever your project requires. I freely swap between 4:3 SD and 16:9 HD depending on the project needs, and I use very similar primes. That’s got nothing to do with the lenses or adapter, and everything to do with the camera. The lenses and adapter will readily do either.
One word of warning: be careful with that setup or you will definitely get hooked once you see the images… and unfortunately that converter is not cheap (about $26,000) and those lenses probably a heckuva lot more than that. That’s exactly how I got sucked in… ha. Never looked back though, it’s great.
Happy shooting, tell us how it goes.. and post some frames if you get a chance.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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FYI, Grant… I just tried to email you, it bounced back as undeliverable. Gimme a shout sometime.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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You’ve been doing that less than a year??
Good gawd, son… you’re pretty darn good. You should see some of the reels I get from kids with a lot more “experience” than you. They really stink up the place.
I don’t have any real advice for you on how to get work though (others will chime in to that, I’m sure), other than to say I wouldn’t hesitate to call you if I needed something you can do.
Good job.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Sorry Laura, but I believe you have stumbled into the wrong room.
This forum is primarily for lighting designers of theatrical events and cinematographers in the motion picture and video production industry.
Sounds like you need some expertise in the electrical or HVAC realms. I’d ask an electrician or a building contractor.
Good luck,
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Chris Blair] “…although I’ve never been a fan of the original Magic Bullet stuff.”
Yeah, me either… I completely agree. I was never a fan of MB or frankly any of the film simulation software or plugins. More of an anti-fan, actually. Painfully slow and less-than-great results. In the pre-24p days we always did our own (which we called FauxFilm®) by using a bunch of little tricks that much more closely emulated the filmstocks I liked and did a much more pleasant 3:2 pulldown than any of commercially available voodoo.
However… I was fairly impressed by what this latest batch of Magic Bullet stuff will do. I’d still never use it to add a pulldown, but some of the things this suite will do (including the DoF simulation) look pretty cool. I’ll keep you posted.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Chris Blair] “it’s obvious to me just by looking at photos that the P+S Technik adaptors are smarter products than their competitors.”
Yeah, I’m a huge champion of P+S Technik. Their products are really second to none. Expensive as heck, but great.
[Chris Blair] “In post I end up building mattes around subjects and defocusing background elements”
Yeah, I used to do that too… tedius, sometimes. Interestingly, I got an email a few days ago from the people who make the MagicBullet software. One of the features of one of their new suites is a thingy that does just that… you define a focus area and the amount you want focus to fall off outside that area (and how much, and how much blur, and where it falls off, etc), to focus the eye and fake a shallower DoF. They said they were going to send me a NFR copy of the software to review, but it hasn’t arrived yet. I saw a little sales pitch video on it and it does look interesting. Seems to work easy-as-pie and the results were pretty darn good. It works either as an AfterEffects plugin, or as a stand-alone program. I’ll give it a look and shoot you some info off-forum when I get it, hopefully early next week.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Chris…
Something had slipped my mind, but it’s relatively important…
Before getting a little sidetracked (which I think was my fault), your original question was concerning primes vs. zooms…
Unless you get lucky and can rent one that does, the vast majority of zooms do not have gear rings. Ergo, you cannot use a follow-focus unit with them. And while you don’t absolutely have to use a FF unit with a DoF converter, it certainly is a huge advantage to do so… especially if you are doing any kind of tracking to moving subject at all. If you are shooting static scenes or still lifes, nah, you don’t need one… but in almost any kind of conventional shooting you do.
So… if you decide you prefer a zoom to a set of primes, be sure you can get one that has been geared. Or… get one of those clamp-on wrap-around gear strips that you can install yourself.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com