Should I try to talk this director into doing this differently?

[Patrick Tracy]

Literally making popcorn right now.

[Josh Bass]

Better start buying it in bullk. Youre gonna be here a while.

[Bob Hart]

By when you have invested time and effort come to some sort of conclusion, satisfactory or otherwise, your hourly reward for your work will probably have fallen to 25c or less, not worth getting out of bed for unless it is pro--bono or you are a committed true believer in the project.

It would be interesting to read your contract. If they are so micro-managerially obsessed as to withold the camera files or post-production equipment if this was negotiated, then surely there is some level of contract breach even if only verbally undertaken.

I would be running like a junkyard rottweiler with dried blood down its chest was aftering me unless I risked being broken by lawsuit.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

...Also, out of curiosity, the iphone looks good to shoot on if you want deep focus which will be good for mastershots under low light. But I don't like the expansion in the short focal length. Can the autofocus be locked as well, so it doesn't switch focus accidentally, or no?

Yes. Every serious mobile device shooter should learn how to lock exposure & focus.

1) pay the $15 USD and get FilmicPro. So worth it. Easy manual controls.
2) see #1.
3) can’t or don’t want to afford $15 app? Maybe it’s time to find something else to do. Your project sure doesn’t need a colorist! It needs color correction, not grading - there’s a difference!
4) really? Just click & hold on your desired focus target on the screen. The focus locks at that distance, and a small sun icon displays next to the focus box. Drag that up and down to adjust the now-locked exposure. You’ll have to do that every time you select a new focus. Until you get FilmicPro!

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

Yes. Every serious mobile device shooter should learn how to lock exposure & focus.

1) pay the $15 USD and get FilmicPro. So worth it. Easy manual controls.
2) see #1.
3) can’t or don’t want to afford $15 app? Maybe it’s time to find something else to do. Your project sure doesn’t need a colorist! It needs color correction, not grading - there’s a difference!
4) really? Just click & hold on your desired focus target on the screen. The focus locks at that distance, and a small sun icon displays next to the focus box. Drag that up and down to adjust the now-locked exposure. You’ll have to do that every time you select a new focus. Until you get FilmicPro!

Hey had a few question on FilmicPro. Have you noticed faces turn orange and lose detail? I'm guessing this is the iphone processing it before it gets to FimicPro to make the face look more desirable by smoothing and softening the face and giving it a fake tan. Wish I could stop it from doing it.

I paid for the log upgrade but I haven't found it very useful. I think it's already difficult to monitor exposure and prevent it from being over exposed. With log it makes it that much harder to properly expose because everything looks over exposed without a LUT.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

Hey had a few question on FilmicPro. Have you noticed faces turn orange and lose detail? I'm guessing this is the iphone processing it before it gets to FimicPro to make the face look more desirable by smoothing and softening the face and giving it a fake tan. Wish I could stop it from doing it.

I paid for the log upgrade but I haven't found it very useful. I think it's already difficult to monitor exposure and prevent it from being over exposed. With log it makes it that much harder to properly expose because everything looks over exposed without a LUT.

I can’t be of much help on either. My (older) iPhone 6s and 1st gen iPad Pro 12.9 don’t seem to do this face processing.

I’ve not explored the log upgrade, but appreciate the report as I continue to refer a lot of people to FilmicPro. I suppose it’s like anything else with exposure; lots and lots of practice might help to train the eye. I’ve never had the benefit of using an in-camera LUT, have always had to do some estimating aided by a waveform monitor when using Canon’s WideDR and Log profiles.

[Ryan Elder]

But is the phone softening the face a bad thing necessarily though, since it's kind of like the same concept as actors wearing make up in a sense, in that it may just make them look better? I mean I took some phone photos of some actors for reference really and one of the actors who I was concerned may be too old for a part, looks like a good age in the phone, do to the softening, so I wonder therefore, if this feature is a good thing?

[Brian Drysdale]

It depends on if the video is only going to be viewed on phones. It mightn't look so good if it's being viewed on a UHD monitor or TV.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. Well I viewed some footage on a monitor and seems to look the same as on the phone, or what would I be looking for that wouldn't look the same?

[Brian Drysdale]

It's not really desirable, since you don't have any choice in the matter.

There has been a tradition to use diffusion on females, but how much is used (if any) depends on the fashions of the time, how old the female is and the type of diffusion can vary depending on the nature of the story.

With males, you tend to use no or very little diffusion. . .

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, that makes sense. I've always thought it was good to use defusion on both and have both be good looking. Of course if you have scenes of a male and female moving around, the defusion doesn't work of course, if they end up crossing paths.

But with this new camera technology, you are adding the defusion with digital effects in camera, compared to old fashion make up. But I wonder, does it look too artificial in comparison to most people?

[Paul R Johnson]

Rubbish ryan. HD meant makeup was visible, so the makeup people devoted HD makeup techniques. If the expensive makeup department could be replaced with post processing they would do it. Clearly, your makeup understanding is very, very low. You treat it as concealment when lots is additive, bringing out features. You can treat camera diffusion as a last resort. Lighting diffusion is very different. Hence why there are so many different types.

[Brian Drysdale]

Make up isn't old fashioned, it solves many of the possible issues before the face, or other body parts hit the camera sensor,

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, it's just that the camera techniques seem to do a better job though in making a person look younger compared to make up though, unless it's just me? When I see actors with make up on, they are not that much younger looking, but when I see photos of people with the digital effects added, they look even younger, unless it's just me?

[Brian Drysdale]

You don't always want people to look younger, in a drama you may want them to look like a character, or someone who's lived a life.

Social media uses digital effects a lot, but often they look fake or overdone.

Make up is also used to even out skim tone and reduce/remove any "shine", these being the most basic uses of makeup.