Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

[Kim Frank]

Again about greenscreen...
How do you like to light it? Did you ever use a huge silk light from above how I seem to see it in many making ofs? I would think this with a bit of fill or cutting the light here and there would result the most natural look and evenly light screen?

[Michael Hastings]

Hi David,

Long story short, I'm helping out a friend at the last minute and shooting his final year high school project for him tommorow morning. It's 11PM now, and it's absolute no budget, but he's managed to score some tungsten fixtures. I don't have any of my equipment or gels with me (I'm visiting my parents at home), and we need some CTB for the tungstens, and also a polarizer.

There's NOWHERE around to buy it here, and I can't go and get my gear (it's too far a journey), is there anything I can ghetto together to use as CTB? Litrally anything that will cool the light? I know it's unlikely, but much appreciated anyway!

Jamie:

Go to an office supply store. They have transparent plastic report covers and the blue ones are usually like a strong CTB.

[ericyoung]

Jamie:

Go to an office supply store. They have transparent plastic report covers and the blue ones are usually like a strong CTB.

Nice suggestion, though they might melt.

Failing that you could try bouncing the tungstens off something blue - but you'd lose a ton of light level unfortunately.

[David Mullen ASC]

Yes, bouncing them off of blue would work. Non-film gels could work if far enough away from the light not to melt. The color may be off though, have some green in it.

Don't expect full daylight correction though, that takes two stops of output when using real gels, so it would be a waste of power to attempt it with homemade methods -- you should just be aiming to cool them off a little. You're perhaps better off finding some daylight compact flos with a decent CRI rating.

[eric a wahl]

David,

In your experience, what's the optical advantage of using the panavision lens's, vs say ARRI Zeiss Master Primes T1.3.

I own a Set of Arriflex Ziess Standards T2.1 (16,24,28,40,85,100)
A director asked me to get a quote for using Panavision Lens's on a feature shoot scheduled for July.
If they want a higher quailty Glass I would rather sway them into getting a ARRI Master Prime Set, but I would also like to oportunity to shoot using the panavision lens', I just don't understand the advantage.

I have never used Panavision and since I do not have a panavision mount I would need to Rent a RED camera from Panavision, also they require a camera rental in order to rent lens's.

Thanks for any advise you can give me.

[Thomas Wright]

If you remove the locating pin from some PL mounts then the pin of the PV lens can fit in and you're away.

[David Mullen ASC]

David,

In your experience, what's the optical advantage of using the panavision lens's, vs say ARRI Zeiss Master Primes T1.3.

I own a Set of Arriflex Ziess Standards T2.1 (16,24,28,40,85,100)
A director asked me to get a quote for using Panavision Lens's on a feature shoot scheduled for July.
If they want a higher quailty Glass I would rather sway them into getting a ARRI Master Prime Set, but I would also like to oportunity to shoot using the panavision lens', I just don't understand the advantage.

I have never used Panavision and since I do not have a panavision mount I would need to Rent a RED camera from Panavision, also they require a camera rental in order to rent lens's.

Thanks for any advise you can give me.

If you've already got PL-mount Reds then it doesn't make sense to go to Panavision when you can use Cooke-S4's or Zeiss Ultra & Master Primes. Primos are nice of course but they are similar to the other choices. And if you can afford Master Primes, they are faster than Primos and a touch sharper.

[eric a wahl]

David,

Thanks, that's the advice I needed.

If you've already got PL-mount Reds then it doesn't make sense to go to Panavision when you can use Cooke-S4's or Zeiss Ultra & Master Primes. Primos are nice of course but they are similar to the other choices. And if you can afford Master Primes, they are faster than Primos and a touch sharper.

[Roberto Lequeux]

David, are you excited about the Leica T1.4's? Being able to use any RED with them should save a bit of money, and if their rental sets at about MPs they will certainly be an interesting option if you are looking for the Panavision look. Any thoughts on them before we get to see them at NAB?

And how would you characterize the "Panavision optics look"?

[David Mullen ASC]

With all the monkeying around that happens to the image in post, especially to the contrast, I don't get too hung up on the subtle differences between the top lenses on the market -- they exist of course, and some people prefer one over the other, but I think some of those differences can be timed out in post. Besides, most people have to mix some zoom lens stuff in there anyway.

However, I do like the idea that now there are T/1.4 options. I hope Panavision follows the trend and makes some T/1.4 Primos.

Though not necessarily "sexy" what I like about Primos / Leitz is their neutrality, they seem less warm than Cookes and less cold than Zeiss. Same goes for contrast, the Primos are somewhere in between the lower contrast of Cookes and the higher contrast of Zeiss.