Todd Terry
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COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
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[Vince Becquiot] ” I’ll take Diva 400 over an LED panel any day.”
In studio, yes, definitely.
On location, no… or rather “rarely,” if ever.
For the last two years we’ve moved almost exclusively to LED lighting, and it is all battery powered (mostly with AB goldmount bricks). With the exception of big-area shoots when we’re breaking out the HMIs (which we still do on occasion) I never ever have to arrange a genny or look for AC power.
If I never have to look for juice… or lift, load, or run a stinger again as long as I live… it will be too soon.
Compared to the “olden days” here… I do sometimes give up a little bit of creative control, but it is minimal… and lighting a scene is twice as fast, twice as cool, and with gear that is a fraction of the bulk and weight as before.
I usually travel with about a dozen LED instruments ranging from fairly big to tiny… and it’s a breeze compared to our tungsten/flo/HMI days.
It is amazing how freeing it is to “cut the cord” and no longer be dependent on external power.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hi Matt…
I would say that bears a side-by-side test (same scene/action, shooting it both ways), which should be easy enough to do.
My suspicion is that the results would be identical.
I don’t shoot the C100, but I do shoot the C300 and whenever I want to slow-mo I shoot in 24p mode in the special “slow mo” recording option where I can then adjust my frame rate, up to 60fps. One of the differences for me is that my camera generates .MXF files no matter what mode, so I don’t have to worry about the mp4/AVCHD issue. For me, it’s just more convenient to go ahead and shoot 24p, PLUS on location playback shows what the actual slow-mo would look like, if I need to adjust anything.
Another reason to shoot 24p, is that I have control over the frame rate. Shooting 60p only gives me 60fps. If that’s what I want, that’s fine, but maybe I don’t want it that slow… if I only want it 2x slow, for example, I can shoot 24p at 48fps… or whatever other frame rate I want. If I shoot at 60p, I’m stuck with that as my only speed choice. Again, I’m speaking about the C300, but I assume the C100 allows those same choices.
Again, I’d be interested in seeing the results of a side-by-side test (but apparently not interested enough to have ever done one myself…ha).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Yeah there are definite solutions we could employ, if I chose to bother… which I don’t. It’s not a problem, YET.
We host ourselves on our own servers in our building, which does make it a little more complex to employ some of the solutions, should we feel the need to in the future.
I just thought it was odd that it suddenly started happening, and in a way that at least seems technically impossible… at least for a human visitor (the multiple-selected radio buttons). And the site uses no PHP or WordPress, as Jonathan mentioned.
Ah well…
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I refuse to believe that. Live a little, Mark! Touch those bulbs with your bare hands as naked as a newborn! Giggle with the unapologetic naughtiness of it all!
Honestly… I’ve had tons of flo bulbs “go bad” over the last 2+ decades, but I’ve personally never had one break or “explode” during use (nor ever heard of that happening to anyone), which is the danger of skin oil on high-temp bulbs.
I guess it could happen though, anything is possible. I’d say the risk of that though is so minimal as to be immeasurable.
Personally I just live on the crazy wild-man edge though, and use my bare hand like an animal. No ill effects……. yet.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’ve never heard of any reason not to touch flo tubes, whether they be CFL or otherwise.
Skin oil would certainly have little to no effect on them, unlike halogen, HMI, or other “hot” burning blubs. While I never ever ever touch my HMI globes, I’ve handled all kinds of flo tubes for years, never with any ill effects… or even heard of any (nor have I heard that advice before).
Yeah, you might snap the tube if using it to screw or unscrew it (grab it by the base), but there’s not going to be any danger in touching the tube.
It’s probably best not to handle it any more than you have to, but I certainly don’t think you have to be militantly vigilant about it like you do with hot bulbs.
I think any warnings not to touch it for fear of damage/disaster are either just someone being waaaaay overly cautious, or simply an old wive’s tale.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Mads Nybo Jørgensen] “My opinion is that a setup in China, India or Russia can do it much more cost effectively using human beings, rather than robots – so don’t be surprised if there are an actual person on the other side.”
Hmmm… if humans are driving it, they are at least robot-assisted in some way, they are not actually filling out the feedback form like a regular visitor.
Our contact page has two “multiple choice” questions… one legitimate, and one silly…
These aren’t html “check boxes” where you can select as many as you want, they are “radio buttons” where you can only pick one answer, it won’t let you choose more than one item per question.
BUT… the emailed results show that for both questions all the answers were selected…
…which is technically impossible for a regular human visitor to the website to do.
Weird.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I should note that my focal length suggestions are for Super35mm format shooting.
Those numbers won’t be the same if you are shooting with a smaller-sensor camera (2/3″, 1/3″, 16mm, GoPro, anything else), but you’d want to try the equivalent of those focal lengths.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Calvin Gaunce] “Handheld won’t work for me here though, because the subject will need to use their hands on camera.”
Oh… so you camera operator is also your “actor” and has to use both hands that appear in frame? That I didn’t know, and makes a huge difference. Then a stabilizer won’t work, as the camera operator needs both hands. Steadicam won’t work either, same exact reason. You can sometimes use one hand when handholding, but not both, obviously.
So, if your camera op is the actor, and must use both of their real hands, then the only real choice is a head or body-mounted camera… no need to really even consider anything else.
[Calvin Gaunce] “I’ve read in a few places online that a 50mm lens is the closest match to a human vision. Thoughts?”
Eh, yes and no (mostly no). A 50mm lens does approximate the focal length of the human eye, that much is very true. That’s why when you look through a camera with a 50mm lens everything is pretty much the same size as it is to your naked eye. BUT a 50mm lens is nowhere near the field of view of the human eye (it’s much much tighter), and that’s what’s important in this case. It would bear playing with to see what looks good to you, but I’d suggest starting with a 28mm. If that looks too wide, try a 35mm.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Well you certainly could go the Steadicam route… or come up with some Frankenstein head-mounted rig like that. Both would work, but each would give a very different effect… if just depends on what you are looking for.
There’s a difference in what is truly realistic, and what people think is realistic… and it’s an important difference. We see Steadicam or dolly shots all the time that are supposed to be someone’s POV. But the next time you walk down the street or hall, really take a look at what you are seeing… your view actually bobs up and down as you walk, quite a bit… but you likely wouldn’t want to do POV footage that bobs up and down nearly as much as a human head actually would.
Two things I’d suggest as an alternate… one is to use a stabilizer… a MōVI or a Ronan or one of those clones. I think that would more approximate an actual person’s POV than a Steadicam would.
The other suggestion is probably what I would do, and that’s just plain-ol’ garden-variety handheld. I personally think that gives a more realistic POV style than most anything else.
And as for short focal lengths, yes, wide lenses are fine… as the human eye is the equivalent of a very wide-angle lens, obviously.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I was fully prepared to cringe when I read ” This is the first time i’ve done cinematography for anything”… but I took a chance and watched anyway.
Surprisingly really REALLY good work. Quite nice, I wouldn’t have pegged you for a total beginner, some shots with really nice composition there.
I definitely look forward to seeing what you can do on down the road.
If you are looking for any criticism, I’ll give you one obvious one… I wouldn’t end a showreel with a suicide. Or even include one. You have much better stuff for an ending scene anyway. I know you like the way it looks and syncs with the music hit for a finale, but while it doesn’t bother me at all I can envision lots of people who would find it offputting or inappropriate.
Good work. Oh, good logo design, too.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
