[Todd Terry]

I agree…. let the client know upfront what your rates are, and what overages there are for work done above and beyond the call of duty.

Here we bill our usual rates for M-F work done in the 9am-5pm window. Anything within a couple of hours earlier or later than that window is time-and-a-half. Anything outside of that window (say before 7am or after 7pm) and you are getting into double time.

It’s rare, but every now and then an “emergency” project will come in that requires overnight weekend work… even though I hate working those hours we love the jobs because then you are getting into the triple-time neighborhood.

We’ve never had a client complain about the rates… although we’ve had some decide they actually didn’t need it all that quickly after all and “emergencies” became somehow magically not so urgent (“Hmmm, you know, we can probably wait until Monday to do this”) but the rates themselves have never been an issue.

Just be upfront. If a client expects you to move mountains for them, let them know you will be happy to do it, but that it will come at a price.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Hy Dylan…

Yes, IF the rest of your project is 24P (well, 24F with the XLH1), you can shoot footage and slow it down by about 40% and it will still mix fairly well.

Firstly, make sure the footage to be slow-mo’ed is shot 60i…. then bump up your shutter speed to about 1/120th.

Works fairly well, and mixes pretty cleanly.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Hi Diego…

I’m probably not going to be very helpful here….

[Diego Araujo] “i read that one of the cons of super 35 is that the DI or optical printing is much more expensive than with regular 35mm”

Hmmm, I really don’t know that is the case. With optical printing, perhaps, since you are going from an S35mm frame to a regular frame. But with a DI (which are expensive, anyway) I can’t imagine a cost difference, I would think neg scanning would be neg scanning, regardless of the format. I’m not the right person to ask, I’ve never done that exactly…. you should inquire of your lab, they should be able to easily address that.

[Diego Araujo] “is it possible to convert your 3-perf 35mm to 2-perf?”

Well, yes, technically… all 2-perf and 3-perf cameras are “converted” cameras… that is, they all started life as full-frame cameras and were converted to either 2-perf or 3-perf. But if you are asking is it possible to just “swap out” from full frame to 2-perf or 3-perf or back and forth, the answer is no. Perf conversion is a pretty complicated and complex operation, it’s not like simply swapping out some parts… conversions are usually considered permanent and result in a “specialty” camera that remains that way for it’s life.

[Diego Araujo] “any literature you can recommend on super 35mm (outside the asc manual) vs anamorphic?”

Not really… just do some Googling. Many 2-perf converted cameras are Soviet, either Kinor or Konvas, so there is probably some info on the konvas.org website.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Well…. tricky question, as the answer is both yes and no….

To use a true full 35mm frame and get 2.35 (and utilize all of the frame area) you really must shoot anamorphic.

The alternate way to do this is to shoot “2-perf.” A 2-perf camera is a regular 35mm camera using regular 35mm film and regular spherical (not anamorphic) lenses…. but it has a modified gate and modified pull-down movement so that instead of shooting a 35mm frame that is four sprocket hole perforations “tall”, it shoots a frame that is still 35mm wide (actually Super 35mm wide) but is only two perfs tall instead of four.

2-perf yields a native image that is 2.39:1, frequently cropped to 2.35:1 during the optical printing or DI stage.

One of the big benefits of shooting 2-perf is that you save half of the filmstock… and a 400′ roll now lasts twice as long because you are actually shooting 32 frames per foot rather than 35mm’s usual 16 frames per foot. 2-perf cameras also tend to be slightly quieter than their full-frame brothers because the film doesn’t have to travel as far as fast. Spherical lenses also tend to be faster than anamorphics, so there is that benefit as well.

(By the way, there are also 3-perf cameras, which are probably more common than 2-perf. They shoot full Super35mm width, three perfs tall… yielding a 1.85:1 image).

You won’t find them on every streetcorner, but some dealers (and rental houses) do offer 2-perf cameras… usually Eclairs, Arri 2Cs, and Russian Kinors (and some Russian Konvas cameras).

Of course, you can also use your 35mm camera just as is and mask off a 2.35:1 shooting area (either in post or with a hard matte when shooting), but you are basically wasting half the film.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Hi Ben…

I agree it can be a little bit confusing… you read the specs on all the rags but can never be sure just how much diffusion the various products offer. I’ll admit I’ve bought one or two silks through the years only to find it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting as far as transmission quality.

Your best bet would be to find someone who is using exactly what you want, or seeing if anything is available at a rental house… and seeing which exact silk that is.

I’d say your second best bet would be just to directly call Matthews… talk to Ed or one of the guys there, they will be happy to help you. If you describe exactly what you are trying to do and the particular lighting conditions and instruments you will be using, I bet they can instantly tell you what would be best.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

No no, completely wrong attitude, Nick.

I for one plan to use Sharon and Fred to my full advantage. We are already planning to sub out all of our production work to them.

I’ll simply be phoning in all our client orders to them from the beach.

I’s a win win WIN.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[reggie ronconi] “Do you mind letting me know how using 500T might change the situation, since you seem to have an ASC manual nearby?”

Don’t have to look that one up, that’s easy breezy… 500T is going to be about a stop and a half faster than 200T… ergo, 500T will need less than half as much illumination than 200T (considering same frame rate, shutter angle, and iris).

So, if I am understanding you right, you will not actually be shooting at f11, but will in reality shooting with the lens wide open (f1.9)… but due to the filters you are piling on you will be shooting at an effective f11… is that right?

[reggie ronconi] “I had actually ruled 500T out as possibly giving me too much depth of field”

I don’t think that’s a worry… with that much filtration I think you are still going to have to shoot pretty much wide open, unless you have a couple of 12Ks as lighting instruments (or decide to shoot outdoors in direct sunlight). If you are still worried about the depth of field getting too deep, keep a pack of ND filters handy (.3, .6, .9) so you can open the lens back up… but I’ll bet the farm that you won’t need them.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

Wow, man… that particular combo (200T, f11, 1/60th) is a very very tall order.

I’m not sure why you want that particular combination, but I’m guessing you need very deep depth of field, and also fear that faster film (500T or whatever) will give you huge grain.

It’s doable, I suppose, but there’s no way that three 600w instruments is going to illuminate that scene satisfactorily. If you must stick with those parameters (the film speed and the f-stop) you are going to need a lot of light. A LOT. How much exactly, I can’t say… I tried to look it up, but even the American Cinematographer Manual (under the “Incident Tungsten Light Table”) doesn’t even bother giving footcandle ratings for 200 speed film for anything higher than f8… it would be just so unusual for anyone to try to shoot interiors under tungsten with film that slow with such a high f-stop. (By the way, the ACM for 200ASA at f8 lists the need for 400 footcandles, but that’s for a 175 degree shutter. To go to f11, you would need to double that to 800 footcandles… and on top of that to go with a 150 degree shutter you’ll need even more, maybe 1000 or so).

I’d say some testing would be in order if you are committed to those other parameters. But definitely 600w tungstens won’t cut it…

[reggie ronconi] “…maybe be able to intensify the illumination with barn doors…”

Well, barn doors are never going to intensify illumination… they are only going to flag/cut (i.e. reduce) illumination.

If you have to use that iris/film combo, I would guess that some HMIs are in order if you have to do it that way.

Can you tell us more about your project, and why you have to have that very specific film speed and iris?

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[Mick Haensler] “who are you using and what has been your experience.”

Well, I too COBRA’d for as long as I could before seeking other insurance. After that, as a single-person company I got Blue Cross / Blue Shield as an individual.

Now that we have employees, we have BC/BS as group insurance. My employees would probably mutiny if we were to change to anything else.

They’re ok, I suppose… I will probably never rave about any insurance company… but at least there’s the knowledge that Blue Cross is pretty much accepted anywhere and everywhere.

We also make supplemental policies available for accident, intensive care, and cancer coverage from AFLAC.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Todd Terry]

[Jason Jenkins] “It’s not quite the same without those weights…”

Umm, no, not quite. 🙂

[Jason Jenkins] “Creatively, I’m in heaven with this new setup.”

You’ll like it… I’ve been DoF adapting for about two years (Canon XLH1 and P+S Technik) and since I started doing that I have not pulled even one frame of film… and I used to shoot a lot of 35mm. I should sell the film cameras, but just can’t seem to part with them.

[Jason Jenkins] “The next step is a mattebox with a polarizer and some graduated ND’s.”

You may want to put a good follow focus unit on that “next step” list… maybe even at the top. Focusing is going to be critical with that setup, especially if you are using SLR lenses (which are much more difficult to focus than cine lenses). Following a subject with ever-changing focus is a challenge when you have an extremely shallow DoF, and a FF unit will really help.

As for matte boxes, the Redrock folks are finally releasing their matte box after a long wait. It looks like a good unit, and the price is really right. The best part about it is that it’s a swing-away, so it will make changing those primes much easier. I’m probably going to buy one and sell my old matte box.

Happy shooting,

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com