|
crowd sourcing the experts |
|||||||
| |
|||||||
 |
|||||||
(Page 1 of 3 pages for this article 1 2 3 >) Filed under: Cameras •Lighting •Post Production •Production •Tips •Training • My Love Affair with AlexaWhen the camera sees more than my light meter does, it’s time to acknowledge that the game has truly changed.
My dream HD camera records footage with log-encoded gamma to ProRes for a fast, easy and accessible post workflow and cost-effective color grading. It has the simplest control interface ever. It sees in the dark. And it’s built by a company whose gear I learned to trust early in my career when I started out as a camera assistant. The company is ARRI, and the camera is Alexa.
I was fortunate enough to have the chance to shoot with an Alexa prototype to produce demo footage for a recent meeting of the Northern California chapter of the Digital Cinema Society. Chapter president Simon Sommerfeld invited ARRI‘s Michael Bravin to present Alexa at the meeting, and Michael suggested shooting some scenics around San Francisco as a way of showing local folks how well the Alexa does under low light conditions. It fell to me to produce and shoot this content, and as I’m always looking for an opportunity to advance my reel I contacted director Ian McCamey, with whom I’ve shot numerous projects including Pink Martini, California State Fair and WEAVE, and asked him if he had any ideas as to how we could do more than just shoot pretty pictures. As it turned out, he had a cunning plan. You’ll see more of that later after some additional editing and the creation of some visual effects. The important bit, though, was to be able to shoot on the night of Monday, August 3rd, and show an edited and graded montage Tuesday, August 4th, at the DCS meeting. Thanks to Alexa’s ProRes workflow we were able to do exactly that—and quite easily. Joining Michael Bravin was Lucas Wilson of Assimilate, who gave probably the best Scratch demo possible: while Michael gave his Alexa introductory speech during the first half of the meeting, Lucas asked colorist Shane Mario Ruggieri to grade our LogC-encoded footage. By the dinner break we’d completely graded two minutes of LogC footage. Ian had cut the presentation on his laptop, which required him to downsample our recorded ProRes4444 to ProRes422 in order to play back the timeline at full speed. From Ian’s EDL Lucas linked back to the original LogC footage for the grade, Shane Mario worked his magic, and the graded footage was quickly married to the soundtrack for projected playback. We watched the finished and graded montage during the second half of the meeting. Here it is:
But this story isn’t really about the meeting, but rather about the adventure leading up to the meeting. I gathered an intrepid band of regular DCS contributors, along with some of my regular crew, and we had some playtime with the camera along a scenic stretch of the San Francisco Bay. And along the way we learned quite a lot about the marvel that is Alexa. Turn the page for more… All behind-the-scenes photographs are ©2010 by Adam Wilt. They are used by permission.
(Page 1 of 3 pages for this article 1 2 3 >) 
You must be registered to comment. This is an effort to reduce spam. Please REGISTER HERE.
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Best of Stunning Good LooksA directory of my best articles, sorted by topic.
This entry is a guide to my best articles, sorted by topic. Enjoy! |
LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Rough Guide to Illuminating a Bounce CardLighting a bounce card is easy, right? Right… IF you know the basics. Here they are.
Is bounce light really just about aiming a light at a white card and walking away? No. There are a couple of tricks to getting the most out of your bounce source, and I can show them to you fairly quickly using… |
LIGHTING STRATEGIES: Exploiting a Single Light SourceSometimes all it takes to make a beautiful picture is placing one light—as long as it’s the proper light source. This still photo shows an example of one style of soft lighting that’s been in use for centuries, and for good reason: it works.
There are few things more elegant than lighting a shot with a single light source. It doesn’t always work, but when it does—it’s magical. |
A Video Interview with Rodney Taylor, ASCHear how he got started and how he works with aspiring cinematographers.
We sat down with Rodney Taylor, ASC at the Entertainment Technology Expo in Burbank (November 2011) and discussed what it takes to become an accomplished cinematographer. |
To be considered for listing, contact pr (at) provideocoalition (dot) com
Copyright © 2011, HD Expo, LLC a division of Diversified Business Communications. DBA Createasphere
All rights reserved. HD EXPO, High Def EXPO, Createasphere, E-Tech, Entertainment Technology Exposition, 3D Production Workshop, VariCamp, P2 Camp, ColorCamp 101, and Lighting, Filters & Gels for HD are all trademarks of HD Expo, LLC.