LucaM

Posted on by

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 12 replies - 136 through 147 (of 147 total)
  • Author
    Replies
  • in reply to: “Edit” option in the forum #215136
    LucaM
    Participant

      I sometimes can’t even comment in a thread at all, mostly when I have already commented. I also sometimes have trouble logging in. It’s a “too many redirects” error, not caused by my cache/cookies as I have this issue with different devices, browsers and when trying with deleted cookies/cache or even over a VPN. That means it must be the website itself but is anyone else even having this issue?

      I had some similar problem some time ago but It seems the issue i had with login, password recovery etc are not showing agaib. A strange thing it’s actually that, as soon as i post a thread i see the “edit” option, that disappear in a few time.

       

      Just to clarify: i am not complaining or anything, the forum is great as It Is, It’s Just a little suggestion to add a simple feature that i think a forum template usually allows (in other words, i suppose It could be an Easy fix to do). 🙂

      in reply to: “Edit” option in the forum #215134
      LucaM
      Participant

        Talking about errors…correct spelling it’s compulsive behavior, ah ah!

         

        in reply to: Million Dollar Baby lighting #215090
        LucaM
        Participant

          It’s very possible that Tom Stern and Clint Eastwood just “felt” that high contrast, hard lighting was just “right” for the film. Relying entirely on their artistic intuition without really deconstructing why they felt that way. In my opinion, I find lighting is usually more about the feeling than the logic.

          Yes, i agree with you on that and that’s my point : the lighting feels “right” for this story but my impression is that they tried to give to the majority of the scenes the very same feeling (because it’s elegant? to underline the moral meaning of the movie? because it’s cool? i don’t know but that’s there) more than aiming to a realistic approach. Of course one could suggest that i feel the lighting so “right” because that’s why i experienced the movie, but as a mental exercise i tried to think how the movie would look with different lighting and if “feels” different.

          This is the frame that somehow triggered my curiosity . There’s the composition of the image, the elegance of such a solution and many other things of course, but it made me realize that characters in this movie seem to costantly emerge and drown in the shadows and many scenes are made only by few details in a sea of black shadows.

          https://www.rogerdeakins.com/wp-content/uploads/hm_bbpui/215090/8qhcvyr2gzgu1jxchj3knj8d1pxnwyy3.jpg

          In my opinion, I find lighting is usually more about the feeling than the logic. It’s less of a clearly defined microcosm of the films complete themes and typically more of an individual component that works in harmony with the rest of the film. But I like your theory a lot. Very clever.

          It’s an interesting point of view, it shows that lighting a movie is not just recreating a  light for a right scene, but also adding a touch of artistic and personal view to the entire movie.

          But I like your theory a lot. Very clever.

          Thanks a lot, i do appreciate that!

          I apologize if i don’t use a correct terminology but my experience is with illustration, drawing and painting (that’s why the shapes created by lights and shadows and their edges grab my attention, it’s the core of painting reality) and i’m doing my very first steps in understanding cinematography and cinema in genera and i think Roger’s site is the best place i could find to begin the learning journey. 🙂

          in reply to: Building a tunnel of diffusion #196705
          LucaM
          Participant

            You could make hoops of 1″ plastic pipe to hold up a ‘tunnel’ of diffusion. There is a white industrial plastic that is equivalent to a 216 diffusion and comes in a wide roll. I used this on a film when I needed a lot of diffusion, instead of paying far more for something from a film supply company. You could rent seamless grid cloths or silks, which might be the cheapest option.

            It’s comforting to know that even you resort to a bit of DIY for some scene. 🙂

            in reply to: ‘EMPIRE OF LIGHT’ Lighting Set-Up #191131
            LucaM
            Participant

              Turtle Base, they are the bottom or ‘feet’ of a c-stand. Essentially the lowest position you can get on a stand without a babypin nailed to a piece of plywood.

              Thanks! I didn’t know they had a specific name! I learned a new thing and it’s a good day when  it happens!

              in reply to: ‘EMPIRE OF LIGHT’ Lighting Set-Up #190937
              LucaM
              Participant

                Please Roger, don’t get angry, but…

                … 2K Blondes set on turtles…

                …I can’t take away from my mind the image of this charge of 2000 blonde girls riding turtles. That must have been a wild movie production indeed! Did you have brunettes on platypuses too?

                Just kidding (i try not to take myself too seriously) ! Now that i think ashamed myself enough with silliness, may i ask you what “turtles” are? I not very expert about lighting terms, but i’ve never met this one before and it seems i can’t find it anywhere!

                in reply to: Asking for Living Abroad Advice #182490
                LucaM
                Participant

                  I suppose every story is different, but i’d say that with Internet, video calls and so on it’s easier than in the past to get in touch with family and friends even when far away from them.

                  Without knowing nothing about you and your story i could be wrong of course, but i’ve the impression that it’s the magnitude of the new adventure you are going to live (going to university, living abroad, leaving your world behind for some time, etc) that is somehow scaring you, more than the fact that it’s a different country. You know, that kind of “worried excitement” before a big jump.

                  Live it like Bilbo would do : run away without a handkerchief shouting “i’m going to an adventure!” . 🙂

                  in reply to: Age factor? #179043
                  LucaM
                  Participant

                    In my opinion being a cinematographer requires a high level of fitness. Age probably is a consideration when a producer and/or a director is hiring but, as I only learn of the offers that come to me, I have no idea if I miss out on a job because of my age.

                    Is it because you do your own camerawork?

                    in reply to: Best movies to study lighting and cinematography #179042
                    LucaM
                    Participant

                      Absolutely! A beautiful sunset doesn’t necessarily further the narrative.

                      In one of the first podcast episodes  you talk about telling a director that the cool shot he wanted was didn’t suit the story and you rejected his idea  (i am going by memory, sorry if i am not correct). I find it very interesting.to see a DP “stepping back” to preserve the story. In my ingenuity i thought that should be the director first interest, not the cinematographer’s one. You were caring about the story more than the director himself.  Have you ever thought to direct your own movie?

                      in reply to: Best movies to study lighting and cinematography #177536
                      LucaM
                      Participant

                        Thanks to you all for your replies and suggestions, about the subject and about the suggested movies to watch!

                        I think that the point is finding what i really like and focus on that, to understand why i like that. And i realized i tend to like the movies done always by the same cinematographers,  so at least i have a starting point, let’s say a style that i constantly like.

                        About the “bad cinematography”, would you include in it great movies with stunning images but that are so beautiful that you tend to forgot what’s their purpose and you simply stare at them?

                        in reply to: Age factor? #177535
                        LucaM
                        Participant

                          Maybe it depends also on the position and duties?

                          I have no experience about cinema world but i think it’s a situation common to many other fields:  young people are preferred by employers because they usually are fine with lower pay rates given the lack of experience, even if the present young generation seems to have a different approach to this way of thinking than the previous ones (that’s why they shift jobs very frequently and refuse low paying jobs).

                          This said, i think you’ll want someone that actually knows the job for a decision making and responsability position and that’s not related to age (but it’s easy to think that an older person that has been doing that job for years has more experience and knowledge). As i said i have no experience in cinema but honestly i can’t imagine a production that could have the chance to work with a famous artist in a relevant position (as a DP for example) and refuse because that artist is not the younger around.

                          As far as my little world is concerned, i prefer to work with smart people. I know a lot of stupid young people and clever old ones, as well as i know incredibly smart young people and absolutely stupid old ones. There’s too focus on age, with should focus on stupidity. 🙂

                          in reply to: Best movies to study lighting and cinematography #176140
                          LucaM
                          Participant

                            I once wrote my own list of personal favorites of cinematography and there were dozens of titles per decade of the history of cinema. Anyone can recommend five movies with great cinematography… but as soon as you watched them, there would be five more to watch, and so on! I think what movies you want to learn for depends more on what specifically would you like to learn. It’s similar to when someone asks what five books they should read on filmmaking. In my mind, if someone is a fan of a subject, they will read everything they can find, good or bad. Imagine someone saying they were a huge fan of U.S. Civil War history but then saying they want to only read a couple of books on the topic. I would just start watching good movies.

                            Yes, i understand your point and i agree with you, but that would apply to every subject. There’s always something new to learn , new artists, new scientific discoveries, etc.
                            Cinematography is a wide subject – and i know so little about it – that i am not aiming to collect a global knowledge about it, let’s say just a valid starting point (even if i realize that there’s a subjective element in it) . 🙂

                          Viewing 12 replies - 136 through 147 (of 147 total)