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In reply to: Blackmagic or something else??
Honestly I’d keep using the S5 id you already own it. I just bought one myself. Better sensor and low light performance than the BM cameras IMO and I find Panasonics V-Log and color science one of the better LOG profiles. The IBIS in the S5 is great. I hate to say it but if you can’t get the images you want from the S5 the other cameras are going to be any better, Id invest in lenses or if you are wanting better recording codecs an external recorder like the BM Video Assist or Ninja V. IM not sure there is a better camera under $2k.
Hello, Mr. Deakins and all the Cinematographers over this fantastic forum. I hope you Mr. Deakins and Mrs. James are well.
I would like to ask you (Mr. Deakins, Mr. Mullen but also who wants to join the topic), if it is possible, your thoughts about the focal length paired with the sensor size.I know (if I remember correctly) that you had shot ‘Empire of light’ with an Alexa LF as well as for ‘1917’.
if I remember correctly for ‘1917’ you choose a 40mm lens that resulted in the field of view something near a 35mm-lens of a 35mm full-frame sensor in order to have a similar feeling to some still photographs that you researched as inspiration for the movie.
This kind of “calculation” is something that you did also on ‘Empire of light’?
Let’s say that you had to shoot an OTS and for that kind of OTS you were going to shoot with a 32mm (on a super 35 sensor/stock) but now with an LF sensor your 32mm is something like 24mm (roughly) field of view (but not for the perspective distortion). In this case, do you maintain the 32mm focal length moving forward the camera to have the “right” composition, or do you use another lens (probably a 40mm)
Furthermore, even the depth of field is differently related to sensor size.To be short, did you think about the sensor size when you had to choose the lenses during the shooting in order to have your desired field of view (same thing for the T-stop and depth of field)?
I own a super35 sensor camera with a high crop factor (something like 1.56) so sometimes when I have to shoot something wide I have to use a really wide lens like 16mm in order to have a field of view something like 24mm.
I won’t deny that sometimes it confuses me because it doesn’t let me choose the goal in a totally free way.Sorry if my English is not good enough and the post could result in confusion. Thank you in advance for your time and your availability.
I wish you a peaceful day.
Max.<p style=”text-align: left;”>I know that as a junior member of any team I’m on, I’m universally expected to keep the spirits high (a job I take pride in doing). However, at the moment, I’m on a union feature in LA, and they’re not paying me, yet we do a minimum of 16-hour days, and tonight I go into overnights. I’m finding it damn near impossible to be positive because I’m more upset at myself for taking this job. I’ll add that personal/at-home problems are also at play here, but I don’t want that to get in the way of my work.
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Any advice ?
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Topic: This Week’s Episode
Hey Gang!
This week’s episode is great! Martin Parr is a spectacular photographer, and listening to him discuss how he gets his stills is a real treat.
Check it out and let me know what you think!
G
Dear master Roger after a couple of months i come to online. I want to ask you one thing a blown out window tells a story? When to use blown out window. It’s not just not seeing about exteriors. Some people’s using very consciously. What’s your thought about blown out window and have you seen any good movie like blown out window used to tell a story.
In reply to: The Goldfinch – Theo in his garage box
This storage room was a small set and it was lit using a 4′ x 2 tube florescent overhead. I tried to control the spread of the light with silver wrap and I also used 2′ x 2′ silver stipple reflectors to get a little bit of light into Theo’s eyes on certain shots. There was no deliberate intent to change the color or the softness of the light from one scene to another. I think that was simply a case of returning to the same small set many weeks after our first visit.
In reply to: Forum Problem
Hello Mrs. James, Thank you very much for your intervention! I know that you and Mr. Deakins are so busy with’ ByWays’ and I didn’t know that are you the moderator of the topics, otherwise I’d just wait. (actually I thought it was an issue on my account). I’m so sorry for doubled topic. Next time I don’t re-open a topic but I will just wait for the moderation time.
I wish you a peaceful day and a great time during the “tour”.
Max.In reply to: Forum Problem
Hello Mr. Deakins and Mrs. James, I retry to open the post cause I tried 10 days ago but it never was published (moderation pending).
It was fantastic to meet you both in Italy, as I write in the picture that we made together “It was a dream that came true!”. I was the first guy in the book signing session on 16th November. I will always bring with me your last words to me just before I go out “happy shooting”.Apart from this indelible memory that I will have of that day, I would like to ask you, if it is possible, some questions about this scene of ‘The Goldfinch’ (I attach frames below)
As repeatedly said, this movie is one of my favorites in terms of lighting (but all your works are unique) and this scene in particular (Actually all of the moments where Theo goes to this location) often triggers my curiosity about your lighting choice.
The location seems to me really tight so it is difficult to light the subject without ‘wash’ entirely the walls. The light was so soft but also fairly controlled on Theo.
Looking at the angle of the light seems to me that comes from over the door with an angle that is narrow toward Theo. Is this location had a ceiling? Because if it is so it seems to me even more difficult.
Wich kind of ‘fixture’ did you use? Maybe silver stipple reflectors to project and control more the beam?
In this other moment in the same location, the light appears more “spread” (also a different color temperature of light seems to me) and here I would like to ask you not only about the lighting technique but also why you decided to change the overall feeling of the location when Theo goes to see if the painting was there.
It was “purely” an “aesthetic” choice to have image variety of the same location or your intention was different?
As usual, I would thank you for your kindness and your patience. We are very privileged to be able to ask you questions and learn from your experience.
I wish you a peaceful day.
Max.Hello Mr. Deakins and Mrs. James, It was fantastic to meet you in Italy, as I write in the picture that we made together “It is a dream that comes true!”. I was the first guy in the book signing session on 16th November. I will always bring with me your last words to me just before I go out “happy shooting”.
Apart from this indelible memory that I will have of that day, I would like to ask you, if it is possible, some questions about this scene of ‘ The Goldfinch’ (I attach frames below)
As repeatedly said, this movie is one of my favorites in terms of lighting (but all your works are unique) and this scene in particular (Actually all of the moments where Theo goes to this location) often triggers my curiosity about your lighting choice.
The location, seems to me, really tight so it is difficult to light the subject without ‘washing’ entirely the walls. The light was so soft but also fairly controlled on Theo.
Looking at the angle of the light seems to me that comes from over the door with an angle that is narrow toward Theo. Is this location had a ceiling? Because if it is so it seems to me even more difficult.
Wich kind of ‘fixture’ did you use? Maybe silver stipple reflectors to project and control more the beam?
In this other moment in the same location, the light appears more “spread” (also a different color temperature and saturation of light seems to me) and here I would like to ask you not only about the lighting technique you use, but also why you decided to change the overall feeling of the location when Theo goes to see if the painting was there.
It was “purely” an “aesthetic” choice to have image variety of the same location or your intention was different?
As usual, I would thank you for your kindness and your patience. We are very privileged to be able to ask you questions and learn from your experience.
I wish you a peaceful day.
Max.Hello, Mr. Deakins and all the DP’s over this wonderful platform. I hope you and Ms. James are well and I can’t wait to see you in Bologna next Wednesday! I already bought train tickets (the best 4hrs of my life) and pulled out my copy of Byways. Unfortunately, I can’t stay on the 17th also because I have to work (so sad to not hear you live 😕 ).
Ps. If someone here in the forum will be there in Bologna we can meet there, would be a great day!I would like to ask you if it is possible, a question about these three kinds of lighting in the bathrooms, maybe two of those are discussed before in the old forum but I can’t search anymore:
In this shot of ‘Sicario’ seems to me that light comes from outside the shower at quite a high angle. It was a lamp bounced into the ceiling or into some bounce material? The spread of the light seems quite wide so maybe there weren’t flags to cut the spread? I love the softness of that light but also the underexposure on Emily’s face, so real and organic.
In the second shot of ‘NCFOM’ the light seems to me more projected, focused, and controlled off the walls (that are darker than the subject but are also so close to ‘Anton’). Is that a ring overhead light, or the subject was lit from the “real” window that appears in other shots – Maybe with a narrow angle of the lamps outside (or maybe both)?
It seems to me (especially in the close shot) that there is also some fluorescent light overhead that “fills” shadows a bit, but maybe I’m wrong.
The last shot is from your last masterpiece, I don’t attach the image because I don’t know if I can (but is a frame that I saw in the trailer) and I don’t know if you can talk about the lighting of that shot. If not I understand of course and waiting for the release to ask for some detail.
here is the link to the trailer where I see the shot in the shower:
As usual, I want to thank you so much for your time and your availability.
Can’t wait to see you!I wish you a peaceful day.
Max.Topic: 90s/00s Aesthetic
Hello Roger and everybody else!
I have been wondering for quite some time about a certain late 90s early 2000s aesthetic, which i cannot really put my finger on. Maybe you can help me understand.
In movies like American Beauty (1999), Scream (1996) or Donnie Darko (2001) there is this weird feeling to the image that i cannot describe. Maybe some kind of processing in post i don´t know about. Anyways i am not fond of the mood this creates. Don´t get me wrong, the three movies i listed are among my favorites of all time (especially American Beauty), but this feeling still lingers in the back of my head. After compiling some screengrabs it seems that i don´t appreciate desaturated, blue-ish imagery but that cannot be it. I have watched loads of movies with scenes looking just like my description, but without this feeling.
Below are screengrabs of Donnie Darko, Scream and American Beauty.
I wasn´t sure where to post this, i hope here is fine. If this has been talked about before, i am sorry. I couldn´t find a thread on this topic in the forum.
Thank you for your time! It is a blessing to have you answer our questions.
Michael Bachinger
The T12 created the sunlight effect and the 2Ks were set to bounce soft light into the corridor and the room. There were no lights inside the set. I was shooting the opening scene of ‘Sicario’ on set and a deeper stop, with more depth of field, would, in my opinion, felt more like it was shot on location.
Thanks for the time and reply Sir!
I am currently in my 3rd year at Liverpool John Moores University and I am studying Media Production. I am now completing my dissertation on how cinematography can help to create a distinct genre, specifically thrillers. I’m looking at the cinematography in ‘Prisoners’ to support my research and was wondering if you could share the process and approach to representing a specific genre.
Many Thanks Joe
Hi Roger, I hope you and James are well.
I had a few questionings on the opening sequence of Jessie James. My apologies if you have already answered these questions in the old forum. Hopefully the old forum can be merged with this latest incarnation at some point so we don’t loose all of that useful information.
I was wondering how much of the montage was preconceived and storyboarded. Did you spend a chunk of the shooting schedule focused on that montage or did you capture the cutaways as you went along. An example- did you know you wanted to capture a rain storm ahead of time, or did you just happen to to be out shooting other scenes and train your camera on a distant storm that just happened by?
I also wanted to reference a specific shot that has always enchanted me. There was a cutaway of grass moving that had a very interesting look to it. I’ll upload the image. I was wondering if you used the same augmented lenses that you shot the other sequences in the movie (“deakinizer lens”), or was this done with a tile/shift lens. I’m aware of the unique focal plane look with these lenses that you have previously talked about, but this shot appears to have something else going on with the center background in focus, but also the foreground having some center blur AND focus. It’s beautiful and very interesting. Also, the light looks very interesting in the sense of the foreground being lit with sun (or a lamp), but the background sky looking dark and stormy. Can you speak to capturing this shot? I know it’s inconsequential to the movie as a whole, but it’s one of my favorites of the film that has always stayed with me.
Cheers, Michael
CBE, ASC, BSC
