Cinematographers on board?

[kiron123]

Hi guys! I want to know if there are any cinematographers here? I just want to ask some advice for my projects.

[bpv5P]

I don't know if I can be considered a "cinematographer", but I may be able to help you...

[PaulHarwood856]

Hey kiron123,

     Send me a message, I'll help you out as best I can.

- Paul
   

[kyrobb]

Not a real cinematographer (other than in my own no budget projects) but I did work as an IATSE camera assistant and lighting technician for years. Depending on your question I may be able to help.

[kiron123]

I don't know if I can be considered a "cinematographer", but I may be able to help you...

Did you make any projects before?

[kiron123]

Hey kiron123,

     Send me a message, I'll help you out as best I can.

- Paul

I am looking at getting my first set of lights. Few questions regarding the subject.

Is there a standard socket type?
Can I use regular household ones or do I need special bulbs?
Does wattage matter a whole lot?
Does the shape of the bulb matter?

[kyrobb]

Lighting is a subject I know a good deal about. I've done large set lighting for a few years now. Generally, different scenes will call for different lighting. Cinematographers generally rent a variety of different lights for a movie or TV show but if your keen on buying your own first kit, I would invest in a small tungsten kit. These would typically be used for indoor and night scenes where there is no daylight present. Tungsten color is 3200 degrees Kelvin while daylight is usually between 5600 and 7000 Kelvin. You don't generally want mixed lighting unless it's for an artistic purpose. I think if you could find a tungsten kit with 2 1000W lights, 2 650W lights and 2 300W lights or something similar, that would be a good cheap start. These usually have a quartz halogen bulb similar to a cheap work light except properly color balanced. LED lighting is getting very popular, as it's more energy efficient and can have different color settings built-in, but they're usually more expensive.

[budafilms]

I made 4 full lenght movies with ML and showed on independet film festivals in Greece, NY, Cannes. I work with very small crew. So, I made the lights, and the camera.

I use 5d3, Raw features. and Rokinon Cine lens at T1.5

During daylight, I am not using any light. But I looking for the shadows and the position of the sun. Best if it is cloudy. Depends your style. I usually use a couple of french flag ( I think in english is "black fonboard"). Using RAW you dont' need set WB.

Indoor I always try to elevate the general light to work up to iso 800. No more if you can avoid pink or death pixels. For this I use a Powerflo: 4 fluorescent tubes at 5-7 meters of the scene, but not direct. After set this, sometimes I use 1 or 2 650w tungsten to create some style, shadows, etc.
Indoor I use a lot the french flags.

The rest is Davinci Resolve

[extremelypoorfilmaker]

Budafilms, I would be really, really curious to see the trailer for your movie shot with the 5D3 that got into the cannes film festival.

[kyrobb]

Yes you can definitely save some coin and build your own lights.

I've built medium-base sockets into stainless steel bowls that work as reflectors. LED bulbs are getting quite affordable, even in dimmable varieties. You'll want to find ones that give good color and don't have a nasty green or magenta spike however.

[Kharak]

Build your own Kino: https://vimeo.com/33085277

I love Flourescent light and sometimes go to locations where there is a lot of flurouscent light, just to get that "overhanging flow light" on my subjects.. Can't really explain it, but I love it. They are just very prone to flickering unless you add a(I believe it is called) Capacitor to create an "even stream" of light. I am not so tech savvy when it comes to lights. Just lucky I got a "brother in law" who is an electro engineer and he built me a 5600k - 20K Luminence LED light with a Capacitor, 100% flicker free and linear adjustable Lumin from 1% to 100%. Its just a big mess carrying around. The cooling unit is 8 KG.