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Is my director's camera technique a bad idea?

H

harmonica44

We are shooting a scene in the woods, and her camera has a feature where you can open up the aperture while shooting, and it doesn't look choppy. It opens and closes very smoothly. She is using this during shooting, and will open up as the forest gets darker, and close it, as it gets brighter, from sun to dark shade, and vice versa.

I've never seen a movie do this before so I told her maybe it's not a good idea since you never see it movies. She said Hollywood opens and closes the aperture while filming all the time, it's just they do it so smoothly, you don't notice.

I told her that Hollywood just lights their movies so they don't have to change the aperture while shooting, and she says they do, otherwise they wouldn't put that smooth aperture feature on a camera made for pro filmmaking.

I could be wrong of course, especially at my level, but I don't want her to screw up her first feature, which we are all working on for free. I figure we might as well try to fix such an easy thing if we can. Or am I wrong and it's normal do that in a movie, and we just don't see it, unless we are watching for that?
 
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It's bad to not provide an example of using the technique in question. :)

If it looks good it's good.
If it looks bad it's bad.
Doesn't matter if no one or everyone else is doing it.

Example, please.
 
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Don't say NO to a director on something unless it will cost them a good amount of time and/or money knowing it will fail. I would do some test-footage, and show her what it looks like, and see if she is happy with the results. Or break the dailies rule, and review your footage seconds after you shoot it. A STEADY video example would be nice.

I haven't been to your location, but it sounds like there are no power sources for lighting because you are in the woods. You could always get a generator for the lights, but you will have to do ADR if there is dialogue in your scene. Unless you bought a bunch of extension cords (500ft maybe?), and put the generator far away. Anyway, the director probably understands Hollywood does things differently. I think she also understand more than you about cinematography. Hollywood has more money.
 
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I think it's a really bad idea for you to try and give camera advice to your director. And I don't mean "you" in the generic "you all" sense. I mean YOU, H44, should not even think of giving camera advice to ANYONE!

You director is correct. Her planned shots may turn out to be anywhere from brilliant to unsightly, but what she plans to do is certainly not unheard of.

Plus, what position were you "hired" for? Was it even your place to question her plans?
 
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I'm an actor. I know it's not normally my position to say, but we are all working for free which is why I want to help to make the best movie we can, and hope it's good enough for distribution and getting noticed.

I don't think the director will give me permission to show footage, without the movie being finished at all yet.

Well if this is used in filmmaking and it's okay than that's good, I just didn't hear of it before, or notice it in any movies.
 
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GuerrillaAngel said:
You should focus on your upcoming nudity scenes.
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indiana-jones-face-melt-o.gif
 
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Aperture pulls are certainly used in movies of all types, though not constantly.

You don't notice it because you're not looking for it and because it's hidden somewhat.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I know it's not normally my position to say...
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You're damned right it's not your position to say, especially at your (in)competence level. You've been asked to join the project as an actor - stick to acting. Let the director make her own mistakes.

You'll notice that here on IndieTalk I almost never comment on anything unless it's related to sound, or unless it's a philosophical or business related discussion, or just film in general. I do the same when working on films. I may comment on continuity, or maybe a confusing edit or a story problem. Confine yourself to your area of expertise; but then, you don't really have an area of expertise, do you?
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Confine yourself to your area of expertise; but then, you don't really have an area of expertise, do you?
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Nah, he has several.
A - Asking questions without doing any homework.
B - Posing esoteric to slightly bizarre questions and/or scenarios.
C - Asking opinions on artistic judgement calls.

Credit where due: He's pretty good about all three of these! :lol:
 
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Okay then. I just want to help make the best movie possible since we are all doing it and hope something good comes of it. I mean we are all working for free, so we care more and want it to be good. I didn't flat out tell the director she was wrong, I just told her since you never see it movies, that it may not be a good idea, and was risky for her first feature.
 
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That's exactly why I care more. If I'm not being payed, I want it to be good even more. The same reason why a lot of high payed actors make a lot of bad movies, because they don't care cause they are still getting money out of it. With me it's the opposite. I care about the movie more if I am doing it for free. I won't do anything like drop out though. Nothing worse than actor or crew member dropping out. I don't meant to imply that I will not do the movie as a result or anything. Just wanting to help make it good.
 
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Oh is it getting brighter than darker in that scene. I thought when I saw that movie before quite a few times, that the sunlight was changing as the camera was dollying around, cause it was dollying past different windows.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I've never seen a movie do this before so I told her maybe it's not a good idea since you never see it movies. She said Hollywood opens and closes the aperture while filming all the time, it's just they do it so smoothly, you don't notice.

I told her that Hollywood just lights their movies so they don't have to change the aperture while shooting, and she says they do, otherwise they wouldn't put that smooth aperture feature on a camera made for pro filmmaking.
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*sigh* I could swear I have answered this exact question before, maybe someone else asked it, but I could have sworn you did. :lol: No matter.

You are 100% wrong. She is correct. Iris pulls are done all the time. I've put motors on Focus, Zoom, and Iris on cameras that were mounted on large jibs, and the iris is there partially to adjust over the course of a day, but also - as needed - to be able to pull the iris as the shot dictates it. Furthermore, this is one of the two reasons that the iris on a cinema lens does not have clicks like a still lens (the other reason being precise control of the aperture at fractional stops). ENG lenses are also designed with this in mind.

So again, you are wrong, she is right. And you should really go back and re-read Alcove's post about why telling her "that Hollywood blah blah blah" was really bad form. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to save you from potentially screwing yourself over in the future if you happen to be on a set where people are a little less tolerant of silly discussions that cause unwanted delays and drama among the crew.
 
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