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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

David Mullen ASC said:
If you don't have sound to deal with, the low-tech and cost-effective way that doesn't have rolling shutter problems is to rent some metal blinds that fit over a large HMI, they look like signal shutters for ship-to-ship communications. You slap them open and close randomly for a lightning effect. Probably one could go in front of a 1200w HMI PAR but it may have to be held up with C-stands. You'd be better off getting an M18 (1.8K HMI) instead of a 1.2K if you can just for a brighter flash.

Otherwise, there are plenty of strobe units on the market like Lightning Strikes Papparazzi units or Atomic Strobes. There is now an LED version of the Atomic Strobe (used on "Straight Outta Compton") that should have less problems with a rolling shutter:
http://www.martin.com/en-us/product-details/atomic-3000-led
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ur the best ty!!!
 
HI David Thanks for the advice on the nd grad- certainly didnt think of that - here are the location photos. The one were there is the man standing is just that you get the sense of scale of the building - we are using the part were there is water- about a foot and a half - I would certainly like to keep thet glowing effect of the water ripples or even enhance it if possible.

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There are two portholes for the pumps that are currwntly closed. But they will open them.up.for us on the day. One is right in the middle.and one nearly at the far end from the entrance.
 
Trouble with opening them up on the shooting day is that you don't know how much natural light you'll have to work with -- it would have been nice to scout and take photos with them open. The rippled lighting effect is nice but that involves skipping a hard light off of the water, so the question is what would be creating that effect in the dark space, but if the rippling light is dim enough, maybe the audience won't be thinking about where that light is coming from.
 
Yes thats true but the problem is that they are sealed shut and they have to cut them open a day or two before-
I'd have to try to make the hard light not too obvious (maybe shine from the same direction of the upright beams).
Its a very interesting location but a bit tricky - I will take some kinos just for some genereal ambience so its not pitch black, Maybe i'll get away with the kinos since you can justify an amount of light coming from the two ports in the ceiling. Do you think its a good idea? The ceiling ports are about 2feet by 1 foot so with some smoke I am hoping to see the rays effect. Then the bright maglight will obviously be the focus of the scene as the brightest onscreen practical light.

Thanks for all your input - I will post a screen grab or two when we shoot it to tell you how we did.
 
I'm sure anyone here could answer this (please do) but what exactly is the purpose of this crew member?

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David Mullen ASC said:
That's a 4x4 Double Net being used as a windbreak for the Steadicam operator -- Steadicam rigs are susceptible to wind pushing the camera around.
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Thanks for the quick reply David! I see this a lot in BTS videos and always wondered what it was for (was guessing it might have had something to do with shielding the camera from stray light, but in this case my guess didn't make sense).
 
Dear David Mullen,
Sorry if this topic has been covered before:
with an Epic, at 28mm or so, I film a person walking from left to right or reverse;
The walk looks jerky, with saccades, like in film.
Is there an interest at filming at 48 or 50 and convert to 24-25 ?
Adjusting the shutter accordingly or not ?
Should the project speed be at 24-25 or 48-50 ?
Thank you.
 
The main problem is the 24 fps rate so if you shoot faster and then convert to it, it doesn't help much. You can reduce the staccato motion / stutter with a longer shutter time but then the motion smearing becomes unappealing.

There was a more complex way of reducing judder called the Tessive Time Filter but apparently it's been discontinued:
http://tessive.com/time-filter-technical-explanation/
 
Hi David I am you big fan. I want to learn a lot from you. Can you teach me online. For the first time I saw your name on babynology since then I have been following you.
 
There isn't really a filter that increases contrast other than a Polarizer, which can increase contrast in some situations (like making a blue sky darker compared to the white clouds), and a Skylight/UV filter which can reduce haze in some situations that would normally be lowering contrast.

Your best bet is to simply use lenses that have as much clarity and contrast as possible, like Zeiss Master Primes.

Outdoors sometimes you can use large frames of black to reduce ambience in the shadows of the subject (negative fill.)
 
Hello David, I don't know if this has been asked before. I have a scene in a film where some elderly people have flashlights and look around a living room. They are not supposed to have big fancy flashlights since they just escaped from and Retirement home. Would this be something you would ask Art Department to provide? Or would you go through the trouble of getting them yourself so that they match your needs? Any recommendation on small looking powerful flashlights?
 
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