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IN THIS MAY NEWSLETTER, ACS QUEENSLAND PRESENTS
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- Q&A with Matt Tucker of Creative Crunchers
- ACS Encouragement Program
- Congratulations to Erika Addis, recipient of the Ron Windon ACS Contribution award
- 51st National ACS Awards for Cinematography Recap
- High Speed Cinematography with Tasty TV Recap
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Crunching the Numbers:
Q&A with Matt Tucker of Creative Crunchers
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Principal arts accountant, Matthew Tucker from Creative Crunchers will be hosting an extensive information and Q&A session at Griffith Film School.
In this event Matt will be covering a plethora of topics including, but not limited to, income averaging, paying tax as a freelancer, general bookkeeping and being a sole trader vs a PTY LTD.
This event will have something for everyone, no matter where you are in your creative journey. Be sure to bring along your burning questions, as well as pen and paper.
Spaces are limited, book now to reserve your spot!
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EVENT DETAILS
Date: Thursday 20th of May, 2021
Time: 6:00pm arrival for a 6:30pm commencement
Venue: Griffith Film School, Cnr Vulture & Dock Street
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ACS Encouragement Program
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Are you a film student who aspires to be a cinematographer? Do you have any questions regarding the craft of cinematography or the career of a cinematographer? The ACS is giving you a chance to ask these questions to our valuable professional cinematographer members.
The Encouragement Program is a mentorship program designed to encourage young cinematographers to engage in position interaction with experienced cinematographers on industry experiences, techniques, creative critiques and further understand into becoming a working cinematographer.
If you are a film student and want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to advance your knowledge apply now.
We highly encourage working cinematographers to be mentors in this program.
Applications close on 30th May 2021.
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Recipient of the Ron Windon ACS Contribution Award...
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A massive congratulations to our state president Erika Addis, who this year was awarded the annual Ron Windon ACS Contribution Award at the ACS National Awards. This prestigious award is the highest level of recognition for contribution, service and commitment that can be given to a member of the ACS, and winners are selected for their outstanding service to the organisation, as well and the Australian film industry in general.
Erika has worked in the Australian film industry since 1983, working as a camera assistant in Adelaide, before hitching it to Sydney to train at AFTRS, specialising in cinematography. From here, she carved a career shooting broadcast documentaries for local and international networks, numerous short films, docu-dramas, educational, corporate and training projects; and cinema feature narratives, including My Life Without Steve, A Most Attractive Man and Breathing Underwater. She has been the recipient of a plethora of prizes from institutions such as the, AFI and SFF, a Gold Tripod from the ACS Awards and a Kodak Award. After completing an MA with Honours in Film and Television specialising in Documentary and Screen Studies at AFTRS, she began a stint as Senior Lecturer and Head of Cinematography at Griffith Film School in Brisbane, a base from which she was able to step up for her tenure as one of the ACS Queensland Branch’s most beloved President. Both in the branch and at the school, her capacity for thinking and teaching outside-the-box has led to a change in attitude for an entire generation of film students and aspiring cinematographers alike, and her efforts at a national level, particularly in gender and diversity, has seen her become the inaugural chair of the ACS Women’s Advisory Panel, which has grown into the ACS Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation Panel.
Us Queenslanders are over the moon to see Erika recognised with the same reverence with this award that we have held for her as committee members at her branch.
Erika, this is a truly well-deserved honour.
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51st National ACS Awards for Cinematography Recap
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After last year's first virtual national event, the 2021 National Awards were held on May 1 at the National Gallery in Canberra, following a weekend of events that included a screening and Q&A of "Higher Ground", a Rosco- Leitz pub night, a meet the nominees event, Fixafilm's film restoration presentation and ARRI Australia's afterparty.
We would like to say congratulations to those who have been nominated and were able to achieve a distinction or a gold tripod award. And thank you to ACS ACT for organising and holding a fantastic event.
For the list of nominees and winners, please click on the button below.
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Recap: Mouth-Watering Precision
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Revisiting Tasty Picture's Cinebot and Highspeed Demo
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On the 22nd of April, ACS members and other members of the Queensland film community were invited to a fantastic workshop by Tasty Pictures. Brendan Isaac, cinematography and motion control operator at Tasty Pictures, walked us through the studio and, more importantly, the Cinebot system, taking us through the process of programming the bot with a live demonstration of a couple different scenarios!
Brendan has worked as a motion control operator for renowned cinematographers and directors Jason Hargreaves ACS, Ben Flaxman and Richard Bell ACS, so the benefits and limitations that the Cinebots exhibit are quite apparent, Brendan explains.
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“The main benefits of motion control – or specifically the BOLT – is you can actually [shoot] high-speed imagery and add some movement to it, you can link in with VFX pipelines, and you can do shots that aren’t achievable by traditional means.”
“If you are going to use motion control, you need to really previs and plan your shoot out. It’s not something you’d use off the cuff; you really need to know exactly what shot you’re trying to achieve, and you really have to think about the logistics of getting the rig in and out of a space and also how you’re going to use it in post.”
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Just as filmmaking is a collaborative art form, Brendan emphasises that this is especially true when dealing with the minute movements and precise timing required with motion control operating.
“You really have to talk to the [motion control] operator. You have got to talk to your director. It’s a really collaborative effort here. A lot of the DP’s that I work with when I’m operating this will ask for my advice on certain things and I can figure out what they’re trying to achieve, and we can work together as a team.”
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But it’s not just the collaboration between the director, cinematographer and the motion control operator that is imperative to the success of using the Cinebot. Working with both the lighting and production design departments is just as important.
“There’s usually a balance between the move and the lighting, and that’s a balance that we sort of work out, saying “Alright, I can’t rotate this far around, because [I’m] going to have a really big problem lighting a 180° background at 1000 frames [per second], so maybe for this move, we’ll only do a small rotation and push in, so we’re saving the lighting department the background and art department the background.””
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After swifty swapping the RED camera system over to the Phantom Flex 2K, and tweaking a few settings with the SFX supervisor, Brendan was able to achieve some stellar shots in a matter of minutes that even ten years ago would have been incredibly time consuming.
“Motion control always has a reputation for taking a really long time to program moves. I think a lot of producers ages ago [that] used to work with motion rigs had some really horrible experiences with them breaking down and taking ages to program. Modern technology has made it really simple to program some moves.”
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When asked about the Cinebot’s compatibility with modern cameras, Brendan answers, “The main cameras we use are usually the Alexa Mini, Phantom 2K and 4K, REDs, and I’ve been using my FX9 on there quite a lot. One of the reasons I use my FX9 with this is because we use a lot of probe lenses and I can go from 800 to 4000 ISO and then I gain a heap of stops, so I don’t really have to change the lighting too much. Obviously, the Phantom cameras we’re using for high-speed reasons, and the Alexa just because it’s the Alexa.”
While the technology is certainly out of reach of many low-budget productions, Brendan acknowledges that there is certainly a growing need for more expertise and innovation with tabletop shoots at the smaller end of production, and has a few tips on how to up your game without a Cinebot or a Phantom. “It’s hard to do slow-motion on a small budget, but if you’re talking about tabletop work, the use of turntables or Lazy Susan’s with macro lenses can give some pretty cool results.”
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ACS QLD Facebook
For instant updates on announcements, upcoming dates and links to recent live streams and podcast episodes, consider clicking like and following us on Facebook!
facebook.com/austcine.qld/
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ACS QLD Instagram
And for those who prefer the more visual posts of member's work and event highlight videos, make sure to follow our Instagram page!
@austcine.qld
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2021:
- QLD Committee Meeting - 10th May
- Crunching the Numbers: Q&A with Matt Tucker of Creative Crunchers - 20th May
- QLD Committee Meeting - 7th June
- QLD Committee Meeting - 5th July
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Queensland Gold Sponsors
Queensland Silver Sponsors
Queensland Bronze Sponsors
National Major Sponsor
National Platinum Sponsors
National Gold Sponsors
National ACS CineKids Sponsor
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