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[ FOCAL POINT ]
THE ACS WA BRANCH NEWSLETTER
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE - JIM FRATER ACS
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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Happy New Year. I hope that everyone enjoyed some downtime over the holiday period, and I can’t believe we are in February already, and here I am sending you my first message as the Western Australian Branch President. Thankyou to Dave LeMay ACS and the outgoing committee members for a job well done. And a big welcome to our new committee members and what a year we hopefully lined up for you. So please support them.
More details to follow but in short, we are going to introduce a monthly get together or DROP IN, which will include workshops, New Gear and chats from sponsors and DOP’s both local and visiting. Which brings me to my next point, our society needs your help and by that, I mean your support, in attending our drop in’s and letting us know what you would like to see and learn. Please reach out to us. We are here for you.
Our first DROP IN will be on March 1st so pencil it in. We have ARRI Australia coming over for a show and tell. Just refer to the flyer for more info.
Also, we would love to hear from you, our members, and what you’re up to, or any projects you’re working on. A couple of photos and a paragraph or two is all that needed. Our first postcard is from our very own Denson Baker ACS/NZCS He is a local member and recipient of many ACS awards. Who will be next ?
Our National ACS Awards 2023 will be held in Sydney this year in the Crystal Ballroom at Luna Park on Saturday May 6th with some satellite events in the days prior, so SAVE THE DATE to celebrate the best cinematography from across Australia. If you can get across, I would strongly suggest it as it an amazing weekend and support the awesome Western Australian members who are up for awards.
And for our new, or younger members why not think about the John Leake OAM ACS Emerging Cinematographer Award supported by Panavision entries open on March 1st , so now is the time to get your applications started.
Finally, I am looking forward to working with the committee to bring you, our first Branch drop in on March 1st, the first of many drops ins. I will see you there, come down, maybe learn something new, and meet other members and mingle.
Shoot safe and stay focused.
cheers
Jim
Jim Frater ACS
WA ACS President
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As we begin a new year, we welcome a new WA committee!
The new committee consists of Jim Frater ACS as our newly welcomed President, Blake Waldock and Michael Thomas as Vice Presidents with Michael also serving as the incoming Treasurer, Laure Bernard as our Secretary, and Mahmudul Raz, Stephanie Senior, Justin Griffiths and Dasha Melnik as committee members.
We’d like to thank these members for volunteering their time to help support the WA branch.
The new committee is already busy planning some exciting events for the year ahead, and we encourage all our members to keep an eye on our social media channels and newsletters for details on upcoming activities. Looking forward to seeing you at an event soon!
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MARCH DROP-IN + ARRI EVENT - 1ST MARCH
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The Western Australian ACS Branch is hosting ARRI Australia on the 1st March at Friday Studio. This is a free event for members, students and potential future members for ACS
ARRI Australia is coming to Perth for a night of beer, food and catching up to kick off the new(ish) year and brining with us the all new ALEXA 35, Signature Zoom’s and Orbiters with Fresnel and projection optics.
We’d love to see you all there!”
Date: 01/03/2023
Time: 6pm – 10pm
Location: Friday Studio. 13 Old Aberdeen Pl, West Perth, WA 6005.
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ACS POSTCARD FROM THE MIDDLE EAST -
MOUNTAIN BOY
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Director of Photography Denson Baker ACS NZCS
I was approached in November of last year to come onboard the Emirati feature film MOUNTAIN BOY, based on the best-selling children’s book, shooting in Fujairah and Abu Dhabi. Directed by UAE local Zainab Shaheen, Mountain Boy is her debut feature.
I was told that I could fly in some members of the team. I immediately thought of Daniel Holliday and Dion Borrett of 2D Films, Perth. I had worked with Dion and Dan many times previously, including shooting in the desert and remote locations of WA, so I knew that they would be resilient as well as deliver very fine work. The film boasts a team from all of over the globe, a truly international production.
Dion is gaffer and 2nd Unit DP, Dan is B Camera Operator and I am operating A camera.
We are having a fabulous time, with A-class Grips, Lighting and Camera departments, facing some unique challenges, including working with a 12-year-old, autistic lead actor. The film is entirely in Arabic, and we are shooting almost exclusively with practical and in- camera effects.
I am shooting with some new Tiffen Filters on this one, Antique Satin for a dirty, warm, textured look and Night Fog, which reduces highlights rather than lifting the blacks which many other fog filters would do. I am very impressed by these. However, Tiffen Black Satin is my diffusion filter of choice for the majority of the film.
Lots more stories to share when we see you all next.
Regards
Denson Baker ACS NZCS
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CHECK OUT OUR WONDERFUL
LOCAL SPONSORS
WHAT'S NEW!
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CINEMACHINE
We are proud to have received Perth's first ARRI Alexa 35 in September 2022, which has generated significant interest among filmmakers and industry professionals.
Our commitment to providing the best equipment and resources to bring our clients' creative visions to life has also driven us to invest heavily in filtration. Our filter collection now boasts dozens of new options, including exotic variants such as Pearlescent, new Black Mists, Confetti, and special flare FX filters in different colours. This makes our range the most comprehensive in the market, giving our clients even more creative control over their projects.
Our Tokina Vista Vision Prime lenses continue to be a popular choice among TVC clients and serve as the preferred full-frame option on the Mini LF. For those working on S35 projects, the Leica Summicron C lenses are the go-to choice on the Alexa Mini and Alexa 35.
We believe that our ongoing investments will not only enhance our services but also inspire and empower our clients to push the boundaries of filmmaking. As always, we welcome feedback and suggestions on how we can improve our offering. If you have any questions or would like to book a demo with our new equipment, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
We are grateful for your continued support and look forward to serving you over the coming year.
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RAZ RENTALS
Continuing our love story with interesting Lenses; we are excited to introduce the Tribe Blackwing7 series – a set of 7 tuneable Large Format cine lenses that offer beautiful, almost painterly imaging qualities.
Also, Santa came with our present last year just before Christmas. To our surprise it was an ARRI Alexa 35 – ho ho ho!
As we are committed to creating interesting imagery with unique tools - we've recently acquired the FREEFLY WAVE highspeed camera, the DJI TRANSMISSION kit, and the LAOWA 12mm FF/VV Zero-D Prime, Full set of DZO CATTA ZOOM and more...
So come on in, have a coffee with us, and tell us what images you’re thinking of creating next.
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Some info on gear at Location Equipment
The new….
Our latest camera is the Sony VENICE 2 8K.
It has a 50 Megapixel (8640 x 5760) Full-Frame sensor.
It does Full-Frame 8.6K recording in 3:2 imager mode up to 30 fps and Full-Frame 8.2K 17:9 recording up to 60 fps.
The 2 AXS Memory card slots are now built into the camera which allows internal X-OCN 16-bit (RAW-like) recording. (OCN is Original Camera Negative) Far exceeding 10 and 12-bit formats, 16-bit X-OCN records 65,536 tonal gradations per colour component, or over 280 trillion individual shades of colour.
You can shoot internal ProRes 4K oversampled from the 8.6K sensor.
It has 16 stops of exposure latitude (dynamic range) which means more highlight and shadow detail.
VENICE has two base ISO sensitivities, a low and a high. It means the signal-to-noise ratio and dynamic range is consistent.For VENICE 2 8K, the recommended base ISO is 800 and the high ISO is 3200.
It has built in ND’s - Internal Clear and ND.3 to ND2.4 filters (8 stops). No need to risk dropping those expensive matte box filters again!
Shooting Anamorphic? On the VENICE 2 8K, the 6:5 Super35 squeezed image area measures 24.1mm wide x 20.2mm high and it is 5.8K.
Who’s been shooting on the Venice?
James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water.
Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick.
Ben Stiller, Severance.
Michael B Jordan, Creed III.
Ben Wheeler BSC, Geoffrey Hall ACS, The Tourist.
And locally, Gary Phillips ACS, Kid Snow.
The old…
How old do lenses have to be before they are called classic? Our Arri/Zeiss Ultra Primes have been around since 1998. That’s a quarter of a century! The Ultra Primes superseded the Zeiss Super Speeds. They used advanced floating-element lens configurations to correct aberrations and field curvature. They’re quite fast at T1.9 (how much stress do you want to put on your focus puller!) and they are small and compact, all with 95mm front diameters.
Ultra Primes have been used on major features for over 20 years: e.g., Black Hawk Down (2001), The Fast and Furious (2001), The Lord of The Rings (2001 to 2003), The Departed (2006), The Hunger Games (2012), Nomadland (2021) and The Mission (2022)
So, if you want some old fast glass that doesn’t fall to bits while you’re shooting, try the Ultra Primes!
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National Major Sponsor
National Diamond Sponsor
National Platinum Sponsors
National Gold Sponsors
National ACS CineKids Sponsor
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