Super-35 for spots

[Patrick Neary]

Hi everyone-

 

Are there any commercial shooters here who regularly shoot super-35 (rather than academy) for TV spots? It seems like a no-brainer, but I'm curious if anyone has run into any kind of downside in doing this...

 

thanks for any insights-

[David Mullen ASC]

There's no downside to Super-35 for a commercial other than if you needed to make a print for projection. You may have a few lenses to check for vignetting. Most TV work is shot Full Aperture (Super-35), not Academy Aperture.

 

You can also do what Bill Bennet does, which he calls "Super TV" I think -- basically it's like shooting Academy centered inside Super-35 / Full Aperture. He shoots a framing chart so that it is transferred correctly. The idea is that it gives him a little room to reframe the 4x3 image in post if necessary.

[Eric Steelberg ASC]

This is something I can speak about as I primarily shoot commercials. I always shoot "Big TV" with a framing chart to give correct framing. There is a benefit in reduced grain and more information in wider shots. I use 5218 for everything including day exteriors and can be confident that the images will be grain free.

 

The downside is some occasional vignetting at some aperatures with some lenses. The other is that there is really little room to re-frame unless you zoom in on the shot. Re-framing is something that about 25% of the directors I work with like to have the option to do.

 

Highly recommended.

[Patrick Neary]

Big TV it is!

 

thanks to you both for the comments-

[Adam Frisch FSF]

I ALWAYS shoot it. And have for the last 8 years. In fact, in most countries the camera

lives in S35 centering all the time at the rental houses. There's zero reason to ever shoot in N35 for anything unless you're doing an optical contact print.

 

Only trouble I've ever had was just recently where I couldn't get the 16x9 S35 groundglass

to the 435 in Switzerland, so I had to go with a Full silent one and tape the monitors up.