July 2008

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Thanks for trying to find out what the picture was.

It was from a leaking sprinkler system on our local football (soccer) field, with a very low sun backlighting, and a very short exposure time.

Found a simple, straight-forward online calculator that helps you in figuring out how much storage space you need for a R3D (the Red camera codec) project.

1 hour at 25 fps in 16:9 takes about 115 gigs.

Well, you have almost guessed it last, but before I reveal the answer here is another photo from the same place. Again, click on the image to enlarge.

One of the great unknown variables of film making are the labs that process the film negatives. In the old days of film making, only about half of all exposed rolls would ever survive the lab, nowadays most productions go through the processing without a problem.

That said, the very first film I worked on (back in the early 1990s, a black&white silent short drama shot in Checkoslovakia, now Czech Republic) had to be partially re-shot because of some trouble in the lab. And one commercial that involved one of the hugest cruise ships going to the Hardanger Fjord in eastern Norway, filmed on speed boats and a helicopter, was totally ruined in the lab. Luckily they were covered and the project was re-shot 100%, much to the DPs delight, as the weather turned out much nicer.

Worst case

One story we heard in Filmschool was that one lab in London used to employ a blind man as their main lab person. He was very thorough. But the catastrophe hit when one evening the cleaning ladies forgot to switch off the lights…

Anyway, here comes a segment from Der Untergang with altered subtitles:

Here’s a picture I took yesterday. Can you guess what it is? (Click on it to enlarge.)