« Archives in April, 2010

Time Warner Cable Commecial

2010/04/12 / posted in commercial / No Comments

Just finished a series of commercials for Time Warner Cable. I finally got to put a RED ONE with the new MX sensor through its paces under varied settings. Verdict… Loves it. I love the 800 ISO (except when outside). Inside though, being able to easily shoot at stops like ƒ2.5 to ƒ4.0 is so much better than struggling and fighting to get enough light at ƒ1.4 with an 80 ISO (like when using an HVX200 with a Letus lens adaptor). Outside continues to be a conundrum. Still having problems with IR contamination even with my Schneider Tru-Cut IR – it just doesn’t cut deep enough into the IR. I guess I’ll finally bite the bullet and purchase a Pancro IR filter, most likely as a neutral density (ND) combo. I think the ND1.2 would be a good choice since that’s the level of ND that starts to show IR contamination. Beyond that, I can stack additional ND as needed and below that I don’t need the IR filter. But $450 buck… ouch! Aside from that, I really felt like I got my groove on with shooting the MX sensor. After six days of shooting with it, I miss shooting and being on set now that it’s over.

One downside of the shoot and a lesson learned (besides the IR issue)… If you’re getting a deal on the lenses, check them thoroughly. We got a set of Zeiss lenses that used 3 aperture blades. What’s the big deal? Well, the bokeh looks like tiny pyramids in the background. What to do next time? Make sure there’s at least five blades (or better yet, lenses with at nine). I’ll take the Pentagon over the Luxor any day.

Had a great and fun crew to work with and I thank them all for all the hard work they put into making a great week of shooting. Till next time.

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^ Reviewing the shot
> Super Grant (I love this photo)

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^ Super Dwight (Key Grip)
> I like wearing black.

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^ Tony (Dir) watching the SteadiCam shot

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^ ND.9 on the window, some pola on the lens, a pair of Kino “Fatboys” (the lights, not the talent – just so we’re clear) and a 1.2K HMI.

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^ Distortion Grid for a wide-shot FX shot
> Tony gets ready for his close-up

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^ Canon 5D shot with a Sigma 15-30mm lens
(Sadly, only some weeks later did we find out the footage wasn’t transferred or got erased during the backup process.)

Hand symbols with a woman’s touch

2010/04/11 / posted in other / No Comments

Any one who’s spent any time on set knows that Grip and Electric often have hand signals for various tasks and objects. On a recent shoot for Time Warner Cable a new nomenclature for the often used Full Apple Box positions – California, Texas, New York – was replaced by the Hair and Makeup Wonder Twins (Nikki and Mindy). The new terms are…

FLATS… WEDGES… STILETTO… (For my male audience, it’s a reference to women’s shoes, a reference Al Bundy would be proud of. For my younger audience that last reference was to a character on Fox’s “Married with Children” television show.)

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These names are a follow-up to a discussion about “hot dog” and “corn dog” in reference to horizontal and vertical object placement, respectively. I like these terms over the potentially offensive terms Chinese and English (you get the idea).

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What are your favorite terms?