I’ve really started to look forward to Sundays now when I post the new edition of “Comment Corner.” You have seemed to take to the idea voraciously and the comments on this blog are sometimes more useful than my posts. Keep it up, it is great to see! This week brings five informative posts by you, the reader, listed below.
Filmmaking Tips and Advice
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How to Calculate RED Camera Data Rates
You don’t want to be caught shooting RED with no inclination of how much footage can fit on a drive. So, I’m going to share with you the formula I use to determine how much data is pumping through the camera.
7 Things Camera Assistants Can Learn from Twitter
Camera assisting and Twitter couldn’t be further apart. One requires a strong technical knowledge of physical equipment, while the other centers around sharing brief messages with friends. But despite that, after spending a few years tweeting, I’ve seen that Twitter has a few things to teach camera assistants — even if they are fundamentally different.
On Set: Standing In, Standing Out
In no way would I consider a career as a stand-in. Not even for a decent paycheck would I dayplay on set doing the job. I’ve done it enough before to realize how terribly awkward it can be, like being on a blind date while other people watch.
How to Align the Camera and Match Shots
There will often be times where a cinematographer wants a camera assistant to match two shots, such as a close-up of one character to be identical to the other. There will also be times where you may be asked to come back to a shot and match it exactly. Doing this isn’t hard, it just takes a little bit of time and a trusty old tape measure.
The Two Types of Camera Tape You Need
The world of film production adhesives is a confusing one, but tape in its various forms is integral to the flow of a film set and an essential part of a camera assistant’s toolbag. If you’re building up your kit, make sure you have these two types of camera tape sitting pretty waiting to be tabbed.
Comment Corner: Week of Feb. 28th
It’s Sunday which means we’re back with another edition of “Comment Corner”, the feature where you, the reader, provide the content.
How ARRI Film Cameras Are Built (Video)
Believe it or not, ARRI makes more than the Alexa and cool internet web-apps. The company built its reputation on precision film cameras and even though most their press comes in the way of digital offerings, celluloid is still ingrained in ARRI. Now you can watch a cool video about how one of their cameras, the Arri 435 Xtreme, is built courtesy of “How It’s Made” and YouTube.
On Set: Making a Director’s Finder Near the Pimp Plaza
A director’s finder is a useful piece of gear to have. It can save a good amount of time since a director or cinematographer can tangibly visualize a shot without having to position the camera. Unfortunately, on a lot of low budget productions, there isn’t always room in the budget for a finder. So I decided to make one instead.
Slating the Alphabet from Apple to X-Ray
On many productions, scenes are slated with numbers accompanied by a letter, such as 27A or 56D. When slating, the 2nd assistant camera must then shout out those scene numbers, but instead replacing a corresponding word with the letter, much like the military does. So, which words go with which letters?