Most interesting thing I didn't see at NAB

[Eki Halkka]

...(on the other hand, from what I've seen, Ireland is pretty much all "red")...

So is Finland. I used to do post on maybe a dozen or so shot-on-film projects every year (mainly commercials, but some feature film / TV series work too), in the last 2-3 years, there's only been one gig that was shot on film. It's been all all red for quite some while for the higher end projects (with the additional exception of one small Alexa project).

 

[Dan Dumouchel]

This might be the best example of why people need to show more respect to each other on the forums. That was like a head on collision between a Finner train and a Sanjin bicycle.

BWAHAHAHAHA! All aboard the Finner Train!

 

[Stephen Strangways]

Wally Pfister's Real Life Quotes:

The battle that we have to fight as cinematographers is to not let anybody treat us like we are consumers by using marketing techniques to push technology that's not better than what we have. Good enough isn't good enough. 24P is nowhere near the resolution of 35mm film, and if you put it side by side with anamorphic it's off the charts.

Is it possible he was talking about 24P on MiniDV? I can't find a date on that quote, but it seems that was a common term from the DVX100 era. If that's the case, of course 24P on standard-def MiniDV is nowhere near the resolution of 35mm film, but technlogy has advanced quite a bit since then.

 

[Steve Das]

Is it possible he was talking about 24P on MiniDV? I can't find a date on that quote, but it seems that was a common term from the DVX100 era. If that's the case, of course 24P on standard-def MiniDV is nowhere near the resolution of 35mm film, but technlogy has advanced quite a bit since then.

No...don't think he was talking about 24P on MiniDV...in fact he may have never even picked up such a camera.

Remember first 24P camera was F900 in 2000 I believe..so 24P hasn't really been around that long at all. And
during these last 10 years he has shot all his films on film. So when he uses the term 24P he really just uses
it as a general term to include all video cameras capable of 24P..whether Sony..Panasonic..Red..SI..Arri.

Wally Pfister has a masters degree in cinematography...he knows his stuff..he didn't confuse 24p and 1080P.
He was just using a general term to refer to the use of video as opposed to actual film. So maybe time for
someone from Red Studios to invite him over and let him see some Epic on screen.

 

[Francesco Bonomo]

So maybe time for
someone from Red Studios to invite him over and let him see some Epic on screen.

I may be totally wrong and I've never met Mr. Pfister, but from what I can understand by reading/watching interviews with him, I don't think it's just a matter of quality of the image that goes up on the screen, but also a lot about the film process. Again, I may be wrong, but I don't think we'll see him shooting on anything digital for the time being (i.e. until film is still an option).

 

[Stephen Strangways]

No...don't think he was talking about 24P on MiniDV...in fact he may have never even picked up such a camera.

Remember first 24P camera was F900 in 2000 I believe..so 24P hasn't really been around that long at all. And
during these last 10 years he has shot all his films on film. So when he uses the term 24P he really just uses
it as a general term to include all video cameras capable of 24P..whether Sony..Panasonic..Red..SI..Arri.

Good point about the F900 from 2000. So if that quote is from 2002-2005, he could be referring to the 1080p of the F900. My point being, if we don't know what year that quote is from, it could quite old, and as technology has improved, his views on digital cinematography could have changed. Ultimately though, he has still chosen film for his last few features, but maybe his opinion of the difference has changed.

 

[Francesco Bonomo]

maybe his opinion of the difference has changed.

Stephen, you may want to check the Dp/30 interview with Wally Pfister on YouTube...(skip to the 10th minute or so if you're not interested in the whole thing)

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Shooting a fashion model on a rooftop, full sun behind her. No lighting, not a silhouette :

View attachment 13871
This is how my iPhone saw it.

I don't think any current digital system could hold that sky in frame along with the foreground without tons of lighting or grads.

No you could, with a simple curve adjustment in MX

 

[Rob Ruffo]

NAB is all about companies showing off the main goods they are pushing to the market and what they feel the majority of consumers want. The fact that ARRI did not have a single new film camera to promote or even bother to use a little show floor space to at least show off their current top film cameras reveals that the demand for film cameras is shrinking. You support my case by saying that "it's not like the arricam or 235 came out yesterday"; Kinda shows that they are currently not working on or building many new film cameras. Good or bad film is disappearing.



I have done a lot of commercials and film is a great choice for them. Production houses are comfortable with the workflow, it looks great, it appeases the client and agency and can be the deciding factor on if the production house wins the bid. The thing is commercials are a much smaller contributing force of keeping film alive then features or even decent or crappy TV work. The amount of cameras, camera support gear and even film processing consumed by a feature and TV work is what keeps film a viable affordable choice not commercials. As more and more of that work goes digital, film stock and processing will go up.

I have worked on a few features in Toronto and know you have a large commercial base of shooting there. However for most regions commercial work is much less then long format.

cheers
Daren

Commercials add up to a LOT of footage - not sure you are right about this.