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Breaking Bad
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  • @brianluce

    I sometimes wonder if there isn't some hint of halide/digital rivalry going on. Not specifically in Bad, but in product differentiation across the high-end part of industry.

    As somebody who already perceives film imitating digital, I also wonder if there isn't also a bit of "OK, we can do your digital hyper-reality look, too - but now, let's see your RED do hot-spots like these babies!"

  • As somebody who already perceives film imitating digital

    I wasn't aware of this until I read your LAT link that said BB uses a grainless film stock.

  • Unfortunately most film makers are still guys. Because women do aesthetic competition better:

    A woman who'd rather be slimmer will wear a black outfit to a party and might show off her legs or hair. Another who's slim and classically gorgeous might dare to turn up in a white, tight pants suit with her hair all cropped short. Then the others all do the "Stare, Compare and Despair" thing, get tipsy, call her a slut and go home to spend the next 3 weeks planning their next rock, paper, scissors - strategy for the next round.

  • By which I mean to say, the football-team-style loyalty to a digital or film format is stupid, unproductive and pedestrian.

  • There is more to a film than aesthetics.

    Bad's plot is so good the image would have to look a whole lot worse for us to love it any less. We look at Breaking Bad with beer-goggles.

  • Well done brianluce ++ canción perfecta

  • image

    So I finally got hold of the "Hell on Wheels" TV series, touted as being from the makers of Bad. I thought it would be an opportunity to see how Slovis's Digital cinematography in H.O.W. compared to the Film acquisition in Bad.

    Big lie.

    I wrote to Sony Pictures:

    "Seeing the slick on the DVD, I paid for two of the "Hell on Wheels" series, only to find Hopscotch [distributor] has grossly misled the public regarding the same team as "Breaking Bad."

    Apart from copying theme music using Dobro & Banjo instruments, few of the makers have had anything to do with both productions.

    This is illegal "

    [Enclosed side-by-side production teams]

    ..And no, the comparison was futile, the DVDs unwatched. (Maybe another day on different terms).

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  • Just bought seasons 1 through 4 on BluRay. I think I've overdosed! ;>)

  • I actually really like Hell On Wheels as well. Great characters and I love the stylized photography, Makes me think of Leoni. Breaking Bad though really captures the zeitgeist like no other.

  • Here's an excellent interview with Michael Slovis, the DP of Breaking Bad on their approach to cinematography.

    http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/behind-the-lens-michael-slovis-asc-breaking-bad

    "We use lightweight handheld ARRICAMs with Cooke S4 prime lenses. Not only do we shoot on film, but we use prime lenses which have also gone the way of the dinosaur. I do carry zooms and longer lenses for specialty shots but the truth of the matter is I have a beautiful director's finder, I put on the lens I want, select the angle and say to my Camera Operator A Andy Voegeli and Camera Operator B Lynn Lockwood, This is where I want the shot from. It's all very planned out and deliberate."

    "We shoot film, and that's AMC's decision. When I started on the show, AMC's philosophy was, we are American Movie Classics and even our original programing is going to feel like film, cinema, movies, and we want it to look that way. It's not cheaper -- there's a premium -- but I'm grateful they made this decision. There are very few shows shooting on film any more, and it's a shame. I'm not against digital; I've shot it, I like it and I think it's great. What I don't care for shooting digitally has nothing to do with the technical side. It's the behavior change on the set that I have some trouble with. When you shoot digital directors tend to let the cameras run. There is the feeling that it is "free". But, when you shoot film, you have a budget, (we get 11,000 feet of film a day). A director has to think about how he wants to allocate that film for that day. If the director goes over that, someone gets upset and you might lose film for the next day. You must think consciously about your film budget and plan it."

  • Such a great show. Just breathtaking storytelling framing one scene after another.

    "prime lenses.. gone the way of the dinosaur"? Yes and No. Yes for wide and tele ranges. No for standard zoom range. 24/35/50/85 primes are still popular.

  • Still one of my fave shots from the show...

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  • Always remember, Freddie Francis said, "Actors, lighting, camera."

  • @rockroadpix Interesting. Last week I did capture screen the bar scene, too.

  • @rockroadpix If only he'd said "Sound" too.... so many terrible indie movies could have been avoided ;)

  • @kingmixer -Well, it was Freddie Francis! :)

    Where does the key light go? Where the sound guy is stationed!

  • One of my favorites, too.

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  • Don't miss the series finale tonight, guys! Here's a mostly GH2 shot parody video influenced by Breaking Bad.

  • A brilliant drama series with a satisfying finale summary. Anyone who has not seen this series should get hold of it and binge view it. You lucky people!

  • All that negative fill in the production shots on the first page are interesting. No sure I understand why it was ALL needed though.

  • Would love to have the chance to erase part of my memory just to watch it again for the first time. This and The Shining of course. Oh, and sex too, why not?

  • @flablo I was just thinking the same thing about The Shining the other day. The first time I saw that movie I was blown away. Still great in subsequent viewings (even saw in theater) but I'd love to see it fresh again.