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Good to know.
As a German, I have a difficult relationship with my country’s film industry (decade long nepotism of public film funds and a lack of identity outside WW2 and Stasi/GDR themes are parts of the problem).
“All Quite On The Western Front” is one of the better films but I can’t help but remain critical. I didn’t like the changes in story compared to the original, as they added nothing and didn’t work for me. And the cinematography was inspired a little too much by others for my taste (a typical treat of German productions that try to do “Hollywood”); some night/fire/silhouette scenes were basically copied from “1917” in my opinion.
I may react too harsh though given my personal stance.
I’m not sure what made anyone believe that James and Roger lost interest in the site. They literally run it for us, not for them. Not a single ad. They answer every question.
This site to me has and always will be one of the very few, precious bastions in a shallow but screaming online world. Even after years I’m still in disbelief that these two industry giants engage with me at eye level, so…
Thank you James and Roger!
Personally I’ve never been on a set where all monitors looked the same but it might be different on higher end productions.
Try to get the DP’s and director’s monitors as close as possible. Same brand/model/ settings might help, check backlight settings for example. Btw budget monitors are looked down on but they improved a lot the last years and there are good options.
Generally I am of the opinion that small differences don’t matter much.
Intuition is the greatest ‘fundamental’ that I have, but it took decades for me to understand that and even longer to fully trust it.
As to camera knowledge, I think knowing how to best expose it is critical.
One difference between digital and film cameras is rolling vs global shutter. Although cinema cameras like Arri and Red have very fast readout speeds (<10 ms) your brain might still pick out something there if you can even see it at 24fps (I definitely can’t see anything odd in, let’s say, any Deakins/Alexa movie when watched on a ‘controlled’ screen).
There are instances where it’s justified to walk away if you’re working for free but it’s impossible to give advice from a distance.
Your safest bet is to give the best you can right n0w – simply because that way you will feel much better once it’s all over. But very hard to give advise without knowing the exact circumstances.
None of the cameras you mentioned has a better sensor and/or will give you better image quality than the S5.
I think it’s a bit harder to get V-Log footage to a good grade compared to REDraw or Braw, but once you found a way, the S-line sensors provide great dynamic range and color.
As already mentioned, a BMD VideoAssist or Atomos Ninja V will let you externally record Braw/Prores Raw for even better image quality.
It looks like all the talents’ skin and hair were brightened with makeup/powder. So set design, costume and make-up combined make for this “chalk-ish” look in the bright scenes.
I’d like to disagree (except about large HMI units won’t be replaced for many years to come).
LEDs are getting better and cheaper at a lightning speed. Even affordable LED film lights already have good color, heck even the newest dirt-cheap Chinese (non) brands get the accuracy pretty good by now. At this point, output punch is pretty much the only thing HMI still has the upper hand and I think large HMI units are the one’s that will stay around the longest.
Btw, I won’t miss the consistent color discrepancies from rented HMI, and needing to swap units or bulbs so often, at all.
The less you have, the more important the quality of the story.
If you have extra money, put it in talented people, proper catering and solid sound. A worthwhile film can be done without any film lights or cinema camera if you’ve got the minds for creative solutions.
Limitation propels creativity.
If you start at zero, there’ll be limitations every minute of your way, so you want the right people on your side to make maximum use of these limitations. Good catering because bodies and minds must be fueled. Good sound because that’s the only thing the audience will not forgive if it’s bad.
I’d also say it depends. On the scale of the production and the ‘culture’. I’ve had colorists crank up my exposure to ‘see more’ despite killing all of the – clearly intended – mood. I don’t even know who’s decision it was because in many productions I am out of the process once shooting is done.
Roger said in this forum that he sits with the colorist through every single shot and overviews the decisions (very minor tweaks in general).
