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It would take too long to write in detail all the things I learned at this year’s DGA Digital Day, so here are some of the notes I took.

VIRTUAL SETS

On the topic of Virtual Sets, we saw some amazing “virtual backlots” composed of either stitched HD footage or tiled photographs.  Virtual backlots are background elements for compositing.  These can be locations like Time Square, the Library of Congress, or the Redwood Forest.  Image stitching or photo stitching is the process of combining multiple images to produce a panorama or larger image.  Some of the footage was nearly impossible to tell that it was a green screen shot.  The still photography stuff was of particular interest to me since they were using HRDI.

HRDI is High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR or HRDI photography) which is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e. a large range of values between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques.  The way it works is you take multiple exposures of the same image and combine them in post by keeping the best exposed portions of the frame and discarding the portions that are over or under exposed.

Stargate Digital made the comment that Arri D20 strongest channel is blue and therefore considers it a good choice when shooting bluescreen.  I just read in “Below the Line” magazine that they have been a long time development partner with Arri by testing and developing software for the Arricam, 535 and 435 as well as being among the first to get an “Arrilaser this side of the Atlantic.”  In fact this season they’re replacing all their film cameras with Arri D20s.

Vendors: Stargate Digital

STEREOSCOPIC CINEMATOGRAPHY

A note to cinematographers when finishing a stereoscopic film is to print brighter to compensate for the loss of light with the polarizers.  By how much, I’m sure is a subject for testing but a good note nevertheless.

IRIDAS has a color correction pipeline for finishing your stereoscopic project.  I’m gonna pay them a visit  in a couple of weeks to see the product first hand.

A couple of terms came up worth mentioning.  Theater space is the area on which an image appears to be on in front of the theater screen or over the audience.  Screen space is the plane on which an image appears to be on the same plane as the theater screen.  Depth Script Budget is a graphical timeline that measures the eye fatigue the audience is experiencing.

Bouncing depth from shot to shot can cause eye fatigue.

Given what I saw this weekend and with the support for stereoscopic productions by Cameron, Spielberg, Rodriguez, and Zemeckis, I believe we’re looking at the future of cinema.  The footage I saw was amazing and the potential to expand the artistry of cinema seems to be with in reach finally.  I’ll be writing much more on this topic in the coming months.

Vendors: Real D |  3ality | Imageworks

CUTTING EDGE APPS

Two companies showed what can be done with digital life casting.  Life casting is a make-up term where a copy of the face, appendage or full body is made.  Here the copy is a digital data set.  Three methods were shown.  One with the often seen face marks (marker based tracking) which use dots placed on the face and head and then tracked using infrared cameras that generate data marks.  This is useful for skeletal motion but limited when capturing the nuances of facial motion.

Mova is using a phosphorescent makeup built into the actor’s make-up.  The actor stands before multiple cameras that record either visible spectrum or grayscale .  The visible spectrum footage make up the “skin” for the depth mask created from the infrared spectrum footage.  This system is able to capture subtle detail in deformable surfaces like tendons, wrinkles, and cloth down to a tenth of an inch.  Image Metrics is doing something similar but do so with the use of only a video image – no special make-up or use of multiple cameras.

While the uses are generally obvious like swapping the face of a stunt actor with that of the lead actor.  But one suggestion that was made was to manipulate the actor’s face to match the facial expressions of a native speaker of another language. It’s a way of capturing the nuances of a foreign language speaker.

Vendors: Mova | Image Metrics

DI FOR LOW TO HIGH BUDGET PRODUCTIONS

The necessity of the DIT (Digital Image Technician) might be on the decline.  As explained by the panelists, the notion of a DIT is a TV idea that was translated to the film world.  As more cameras shoot in Log and more cameras are designed with software that is tailor made for film cinematographers by reducing the number of options, the need for a DIT could be diminishing.  Still other panelists argued that as the need to maintain monitors, cabling, and IT data management of raw data grows in demand the role of the DIT is secure.  The concern most directors seem to have with the DIT is that of getting between the DP and the director with concerns to the image.  Also, several have had problems when the director and DP are ready to shoot but then have to wait while the DIT is, as one panelist put it, “putting their final touches on the image”.  There is also a concern with the need to have a “temple of technology” on set to accommodate the engineering tent.

With concerns to Log image capture, it’s becoming more common to not “bake” the look of the film on set through image manipulation instead waiting until post under ideal conditions to finalize the look.  That’s not to say that current technology is a “fix it in post” mentality.  Put simply, between the camera and the viewing monitors are LUT (look up table) boxes that are predefined during preproduction testing to show you on set what the image will look like given your post work flow.  As on panelist described, you get to smell what the image will look like but not taste.
My favorite sayings from the event…

Talk is cheap, fix it in post is expensive! – Leon Silverman (LaserPacific)

Don’t pick the camera to save money, pick it because it’s right for your story. – Leon Silverman (LaserPacific)

There is no ideal solution for all, but always an ideal solution for each project.

Studying for the test – Leon Silverman (LaserPacific)

Or, as I like to say… “do your homework!”

Vendors:  Local Hero Post | LaserPacific | EFilm

Today I shot a green screen element for my friend’s short film.  Someone else had shot the foreground element.  I was shooting the mid-ground element of a man falling.  Don’t try this unless you’ve very experienced at mountaineering as well as gripping – you or the actor can get very hurt if you don’t know what you’re doing.

 
: : preproduction notes.
: : in mid take.

We used two steel speed rail poles, C-clamped to the top of two 12-step ladders.  Using spectra runners and a static line rope attached to the actor.  He’s wearing a climbing harness and is supported at the shoulders with more runner material.  Underneath his face are two fans and his tie has a thin line to have it fly about.  Our poor actor was on and off the rig (mostly on) for nearly two hours – he was a great sport.  One thing I didn’t take into account, was that the ladders flare out and creep in because of linear perspective. Fortunately it didn’t affect the shot but it’s something I’ll take into account next time. 

(16 May) I got word today that someone I know made the top 50 finalist for the show “On the Lot”.  I met Mateen while at Chapman University.  He was a 1st assistant cameraman on one of my first short films while at university.

UPDATE (26 May):  Mateen makes it to the second round.
UPDATE (28 May):  Mateen’s still in the game.  Congrats.
UPDATE (29 May):  Still in it!

: : a little grab from the show’s commercial

(25 July) Very sad to say Mateen is now off the Lot.  It was great to see someone from school make it  so far.  Congratulations for making it as far as you got Mateen. 

The film community has been hit with another loss this year with the passing of legendary cinematographer Laszlo Kovaks.  According to the Hollywood Reporter he passed away Saturday night in his sleep.  For me, he’ll best be remembered as the cinematographer who shot my favorite film, Ghostbusters.  Thanks for the memories and the shoulder to stand on.

: : L>R – 1st AC Leigh V. and 2nd AC Vince S. as we shoot the emulsion test of the 5299

At long last, I got to shoot a film test again.  Most of the work lately has been on some flavor of HD, but this feature film project that’s scheduled for later this year is just that, a film shoot.  So thanks to a responsible producer and a curious director, we’re shooting tests.  This batch focused on three things: frame rates, shutter angles, and grain structure of the 5279 and 5299 (Kodak Vision 500T and Kodak VisionHD Color Scan, respectively).  Here’s what and how we tested:

Note: We’ve only projected the 5279 so far and next week we’ll be viewing the 5299 once we find a suitable post house with a Kodak Digital Processor .  I’ll update this article then.

TEST SPECS:

Camera:
Panavision Panastar II – Primo Prime 50mm – Tiffen Filters

Lab:
Technicolor – processed normal

First Test:

Click on the image below to view a cheat sheet version of our testing notes.

[ click picture to enlarge ]

Frame rate
First we wanted to see what frame rates would look.  Leigh rotated her arms like a propeller as close to the same speed for each test from 6 to 120 frames per second. Conclusion:  14, 24, 48, and 120-fps looked the best based on this test and the speed Leigh moved her arms.  Things might look different when we view it on a monitor but as for projected, these are the speeds we liked.

Shutter
Again, having Leigh rotate her arms, we shot using a shutter angle of 40° to 180°.  Conclusion: We definitely like the 40° shutter.

Combo Test
As the cheat sheet above shows, we did a few frame rate and shutter angle combinations.  Conclusion: Here again, we love the 40° shutter at 24, 48 and 120 frames per second.

As mentioned, we have yet to view this material on a monitor.  Next week, we’re going to telecine to HDCam.  It’ll be interesting to see if we choose differently when viewing the material on a monitor.

Second Test:

Click on the image below to view a cheat sheet version of our testing notes.

[ click picture to enlarge ]

For the second part of our testing, we shot an emulsion test of two stocks, 5279 and 5299.  I haven’t work with 5279 in a very long time and 5299 is one of Kodak’s newer stocks.  Both stocks were rated at EI500.  This was a very simple over and under test.  Ultimately we were looking for grain (in this case a good thing) and that’s what we mostly looked for.  The plan was to have the lab print a one light version based on the grey card and then a timed version that’s corrected in 1/2 stop increments.  The one light didn’t get done and so we’ll be back next week to view this material again.  But we did see the timed version.  We’re also waiting to get the lab report to see where the printer lights came in at.

It was a four stop over and under test.  The lens always stayed at T2.8.  As for the lighting, here where things got a bit screwy.  The test was to be done under two 1K lights and we were told that they would be provided but with as many shows that were there (Bourne Ultimatum was prepping next door), that didn’t fully happen.  We got instead three 650w Fresnel’s – definitely not ideal especially with high speed and shutter tests).  They had to be color corrected and I metered them by adding some 1/8 and 1/4 blue to the point where it ended up within ±50 kelvin. They also suffered from hot spots and so I’m not totally sold on what we got back as far as color is concerned.  (Note to self, always bring your own lights to a camera house.)

Conclusions:  From what we did get back, we liked the grain of the projected image when it was underexposed and timed back by 1/2 stop.  Here again, what we like might all change when we view this on a monitor.

The first one page movie poster for Dead Air is created.

I guess I should now explain a bit about this photo.  I shot some footage for my wife’s friend for an EPK she needs.  About thirty minutes into shooting I get an error message on the camera to “eject the tape”.  Fine.  I tried, but the tape wouldn’t give from its casing.  I tried again.  And again.  And still, again.  I swapped batteries.  I tried the AC power supply.  I let it cool down.  I jiggled, prodded, cajoled.  I spoke nice to it and tried yelling.  I held it upside down, right side up, 45° to the sun and found a holy man to bless it.  Well that last one might be an exaggeration since the blessing was mixed with expletives. 

I shall not be beat by a camera!  And certainly not this one.

I need that tape and I will have it.  So yesterday, I performed some surgery to purge the tape from its cage.  One screw, two screws… 103 screws.  A little twist.  A little pull.  And in no time (if you consider an hour and twenty minutes no time)… Tah, dah!  The tape was mine. 

I should also explain, it’s a very old camera and I had planned on buying a new one.  If you’ve never seen the inside of a camera like this one, it’s quite amazing.  The tiny gears, chips and gear belts.  How it all fits and how it was put together in the first place is quite incredible.  I would love to see one of these cameras manufatured.  Not that it’ll help me try to put the camera back together. And for what it’s worth, I got the footage I needed.

What have we learned.  Don’t leave me alone with electrical things that need fixing.