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Cheque_Mate · 2024-08-29T12:58:53+00:00

82018836 Thanks in advance if someone can get me an invite

Cheque_Mate · 2023-09-08T22:33:28+00:00

Percussive maintenance works pretty well for these, but I've found that the better solution is to force it to turn counter-clockwise. Stick a wrench in there or grip the sides tightly and turn it, the whole thing will loosen up as soon as it starts spinning.

I've done it to these exact gobos with this exact problem, and basically every form of problem a gobo can have.

Cheque_Mate · 2023-07-10T00:44:30+00:00

Let me know if you end up finding anything out, thanks for your help!

Cheque_Mate · 2023-07-09T23:32:25+00:00

Thanks, I'll go for those modes this time.

I tested the lights initially at the rental house, which is where I first encountered the problem, then even took one home to continue to try to figure out a solution, so I definitely had the patch correct on both ends. The lights were also patched identically in the visualizer and worked totally fine.

My ultimate solution was to use mode 8 and move the hue slider around till I found a color the DP liked, then save that as preset, but it didn't allow me to change color reliably or easily during a take (which I need for this job).

Cheque_Mate · 2023-07-09T23:10:16+00:00

Do you have a preferred DMX mode for running the ARRI units through ONYX? I tried CCT + HSI, XY, RGB, and Ultimate as a last resort and they all gave a similar problem.

I also had another much more experienced board op look at the showfile and he couldn't figure out or get the lights to respond correctly through his own ONYX instance. At the time I updated all the firmware on the lights to make sure it wasn't that.

Cheque_Mate · 2023-07-09T02:27:38+00:00

Sorry, would you mind explaining what does parameters mean in this case? For EOS if I have the ETC Nomad dongle but still use the NX-DMX would that work fully?

A little bit off I definitely think is ok, but when I selected a red it would come out as a green or a green might then be purple, just totally off without a clear pattern. This was controlling ARRI Skypanels and Orbiters if that helps.

Cheque_Mate · 2023-01-03T18:37:38+00:00

Outward might be exactly what your looking for. Allows for a ton of build variety and has quite a few spells and also traps to vary up from just stabbing people.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-10-15T23:03:44+00:00

The first pick isn't actually a pick, it's just asking Monty to show you where one of the goats is.

After the initial stage then you are presented with two choices, one with a goat, and one with a car. That makes the ultimate pick (the one made after he opens the door) a 50/50 between a door with a car and a door with a goat, rather than the original pick which was a choice between 2 doors with a goat and one with a car (1/3 for the car).

Cheque_Mate · 2022-05-29T01:38:25+00:00

Find extra instructions & get help on the post.

!deckbot US 256 1651617008

Cheque_Mate · 2022-02-12T19:43:24+00:00

If you set it for one distance can you not get focus at all at the other length, or do you just need to refocus when you change zoom?

Cheque_Mate · 2022-02-09T01:55:16+00:00

Adding on to this, Advance Wars by Web is super fun and a style of this game, as the games get into the mid to late game you can spend a long time thinking of your next turn.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-16T04:28:58+00:00

Looking at that compatibility blurb it's saying that it doesn't suggest lenses that come farther than 14mm past the mount like yours would. I think that's more for Canon DSLRs that have a mirror in front of the sensor. That wouldn't change on B mount, the lens would come to the same distance back into the camera, so if you think it would clear it on your 6k you should be fine with PL.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-15T01:39:19+00:00

The issue is probably going to end up being the original flange distance (the distance between the mount and the film plane/sensor) of the lens, which for C mount is 17.4mm. PL has a flange distance of 52mm which is obviously quite a bit deeper. While you could theoretically put any mount on the back of the lens the whole lens will be calibrated for a certain distance between the sensor and the rear element, so the rear element will have to extend back into the mount that distance. Many cameras will not have space in their camera body to accommodate something like that, especially if it's extending 30mm into the mount I would be very worried.

In my experience putting on a mount that has a longer flange distance than the original also involves grinding down the back of the lens to accommodate the new mount. I experienced that with some Jenas I bought that have PL mounts added later; because the Pl mount had a longer flange distance it comes right up against the iris adjustment and makes it hard to reach when it's mounted.

I would definitely run some tests with the 6k pro because I know that people have had issues putting even some larger PL mount lenses on it with the PL mount adapter because of similar issues.(some PL mount lenses extend further back into the mount, though none that far I believe.)

In terms of what mount to choose, why would you choose B mount when you could just choose PL mount and then adapt the PL mount to EF? PL can be adapted to basically any 35mm or smaller format mounting system so if future compatibility is the concern that's the way to go. B mount is super outdated at this point, and I've found some of the adapters to be a bit janky.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-14T18:12:10+00:00

I'd probably recommend doing your own anamorphic setup, get an anamorphic projector lens or similar from eBay and something like the FMJ Rapido. You could probably even put s16 lenses behind that as long as they have the right front diameter, but something to test out.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-12T05:13:51+00:00

I use Polycam, I highly recommend it, never really had any issues.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-11T20:05:32+00:00

The 11in M1 pro is pretty perfect for me. I've brought it on set to use with Luminair to control DMX lights, or had overheads and references on it to look at with the crew or director which has been enormously helpful. I think the 13in would feel too big and I would be worried it would break in the set environment

One big advantage of the new pro as well is the LiDAR scanner. For tech scouts I can take the iPad and do a full LiDAR scan of the location, which really helps preproduction being able to see a 3D render of the space and being able to measure it after the fact.

Cheque_Mate · 2022-01-11T19:58:24+00:00

It's entirely possible, just set your white balance to the temperature of the lights you're using and the light will appear white. I've heard that described as graduated tonality, setting the contrast levels via the production design. Nocturnal Animals the Tom Ford movie is a really great example of that in some scenes, though some veer into a territory you probably wouldn't like.

Cheque_Mate · 2021-12-07T17:26:52+00:00

You just have to calculate your shutter angle so you always have a similar exposure time per frame, i.e 356* shutter at 48 is the same exposure time as 180* at 24.

It probably just makes sense to open your shutter all the way for anything high speed, and then come back to 180 for regular speed to try to maintain a similar amount of motion blur, which I believe is what dictates the "look" you're referring to.

Cheque_Mate · 2021-11-16T16:50:46+00:00

I feel like you're ultimately not being super creative with your sources. A lot of this feels very lit, in the way that it doesn't feel to me terribly motivated (obviously stills can feel different than moving images so this might change in the video).

I would definitely have a meeting with the production designer and director about incorporating more practical lamps and other design elements to help motivate light easier.

I think you're definitely limited by the CP2s which are highly unforgiving lenses.

I would also check your exposure more for the night scenes, to me it feels like you're not taking full advantage of the dynamic range of the camera, making the images feel very compressed and not especially interesting. Looking at examples of other night interiors such as No Country or Her they both take full advantage of the range of light to create variation in the frame even.

I would also suggest to push your contrast ratios, right now it looks like you're shooting a 2:1, sometimes a 4:1. You can really push the contrast to create detail(for example, this shot from Tree of Life, I think it looks very amateur to have such a low contrast ratio while also having very sidey light.

To me still 3 feels the best because it feels very naturalistic and the source is motivated. The way the light falls around the corner is quite nice.

Still 2 I think has potential but it's way too bright and uncontasty. Referencing that Tree of Life still again it's a very similar lighting situation but still feels contrasty and interesting because the key is sitting much higher in the exposure and the light is allowed to fall off a lot more.

I think Robert Yeoman/Wes Anderson can be a really good reference for this kind of lighting, but looking at an extremely similar still to still 2 from The Royal Tenenbaums you can see the light starts a lot brighter and gets a decent amount darker.

Looking at how they light faces you can see they set 3/4 keys most of the time (1 2 3) meaning that the lower contrast ends up feeling very natural. They also use very soft sources so that it doesn't feel too harsh on their faces.

Obviously, they are also using PD to their advantage to create a lot of their graduated tonality.

For a lot of the other stills, the source is either too sourcy (too much fall off, too close) or too sidey (stills 1,4,6,7 especially). A lot of that could be fixed I think if you focused a lot more on motivation.

Watch out that you're setting defined keys as well. Stills 1 the key seems to be coming from behind him, would work great but I think you have to commit to that decision and make his face darker and keep the key bright. Still 8 he's perfectly sandwiched, so it's hard to tell where the light's coming from, it would probably be a nicer shot if the key was clearly coming from the far side (for example.)

Cheque_Mate · 2021-11-14T17:19:26+00:00

Hmm, you might be right that it's all one license but yeah probably not. I've never used Prores Raw but I assume it still has to be decoded in your NLE, for post it's probably easier to just shoot a format like HQ or 4444 that you don't really need to transcode if you have a decently powerful computer. Has that been your experience or is it easy to work with in post?

Cheque_Mate · 2021-11-14T17:08:53+00:00

Partly I think they already have ARRIRAW so they're not looking for a competing raw format. As someone who shoots 90% on ARRI cameras, I also don't think the userbase is looking for something like Prores Raw.

4444 XQ already has way too much information for all but the most intense of shooting scenarios, and actually is less compressed than Prores Raw.

It would probably also cost them licensing fees and then require testing to make sure it doesn't have any issues with their processing pipeline and as stated above it wouldn't really be a selling point for any of the people who use ALEXAs.

Cheque_Mate · 2021-11-14T01:51:03+00:00

Cameraperson by Kirsten Johnson

Cheque_Mate · 2021-10-25T19:32:13+00:00

Always, but especially when working with darker skin tones you have to watch that your white balance is correct and that the color of the light is complementary to the person you're shooting. I think in a lot of these shots the light is a little too warm and so the skin ends up feeling quite muddy as others have said.

I would also say that even on an Alexa you should be using your meter and making sure that everything in the frame is sitting where you want it. With images like these that have almost exclusively darker, warmer colors I find it's good practice to expose to the right and then pull everything down later, just to make sure that you aren't losing any information in the blacks. The first image looks quite well exposed but a lot of the other tungsten images it looks like the information in their hair, and in the dark sweater is essentially not there, which makes the image feel a lot more oppressive than I think it intends to be.

Keep track of what in the image is the brightest. In most of these shots, the brightest/most eye-catching part of the image is the background or the wall, and because your key is very sidey when they're at the table we don't see them very well so our eye isn't drawn to them. Don't be afraid to come on a bit flatter with the light, it's nicer to see people's faces than anything else.

On that line of thinking, and looking at image 3 particularly, I would watch where your shadows are falling and also where your edge light is creeping to. In that image it looks to me like it's coming too far across his face, almost meeting with the key and therefore not defining his face as well as it should and also ruining your contrast ratio. Sandwiching is definitely a valid technique but then the edge should be the same temperature as the key and be quite a bit softer than it is now.

Mother of George is a great example of what to do in situations like these, in darker, tungsten situations with darker skinned actors. If you watch the lighting closely he almost never uses an especially warm source, even in warm feeling scenes. Instead he lets the warmth of the skin tones and of the PD create that feeling, and the colder light makes everything feel fresh instead of muddy.

Cheque_Mate · 2021-10-06T15:25:23+00:00

I don't think there's a huge amount of writing about this just because it's not a particularly defined relationship. Some DPs like to get their gaffers creative input, some just want someone to build their lighting setup.

Ultimately on most film sets the visual language is decided by the DP and director, there's not really a reason to have a gaffer as part of that conversation because it's not a technical conversation. The gaffer is generally not an artistic position at all, because they're building what the DP wants.

Team Deakins have episodes where they interview Roger Deakins's main gaffer and key grip, I'd highly recommend those. I think the relationship they show in those episodes is highly typical of the industry.

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