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The shutter was set at 1/48 (I hope!) except for one scene which we did at 1/500. If you're seeing motion blur, it's probably from the QT. Detail was switched off.

 

The screengrabs and the trailer are straight out of the camera, without any timing at all, so it's possible that the blacks are a little milky due to the film gamma I used. It's hard to say without seeing them on a broadcast monitor.

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I used either film gamma 3 or 4 (also called hyper gamma on the 900R) in conjunction with some of the BBC recommended settings and some of my own. I had wanted to get the Digital Praxis gammas but wasn't sure how much time we would have for grading, so I went with a more 'in camera' look.

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Thanks Stuart. I'm doing some testing tomorrow for a low budget feature and probably won't be able to get the Digital Praxis curves so I'm glad to see you can get a great look in camera on your own. Thanks for the response.

 

Best,

Eric Lin

DP

New York

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It's too early to say what will happen with the film. Obviously, it would be nice to get a theatrical release, but that depends on the distribution that it gets. I know that the trailer and a couple of short scenes were shown at the American Film Market last week, and were well received, so maybe we'll get lucky and be picked up for theatrical as well as DVD.

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  • 2 months later...
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Stuart-

 

Looks really good, man your Gaffer must of had his hands full with the huge lighting package!!! Kidding, when the hell you coming back for BR-2

 

That's about right. You made a first-rate reflector stand! :lol:

 

There should be a BR2. I found couple wooden nickels in my bag when I got home so...

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Good god man! This looks great, Stuart.

 

I really like how you played the hot backgrounds (all the more impressive with HD!)-- seemed like it was just approaching the edge of "unbalanced." What sort of units/gear were you using to balance those types of shots that took place under a porch or in a car? What was the ratio like between foreground and hot background?

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Well, the camera was set up for the maximum latitude on the knee. The interiors benefitted a lot from the fact that they were hazed. Even though the windows were easily 5 stops overexposed, the haze softened that digital clipped look into something a lot more appealing. The Car scenes weren't lit at all. All I could do was place a white bed sheet on the actors' laps, and stick a strip of either LEE 250 or 216 across the top of the windshield to soften the worst of the direct sunlight. One thing I learnt was that a slightly backlit hot exterior is easier to deal with than a frontlit one. Next time I do a scene like those I'll try to schedule them so I can have the exteriors backlit on both angles. On the porch scenes, I had a 6k HMI and a couple of 4ks shooting through silks, which just about brought up the exposure to a level I liked. The backgrounds are still a little over for my taste. I really could have done with a 6k PAR for more punch, but we just didn't have the budget for it.

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Have you seen any of that night ext from the fire scene? I just looked at the slides I took and they where great, would have been nice to have had a BEEBEE. or maybe even a 18 up high.

 

Take it easy

 

G

 

I haven't seen anything that's not in the trailer. Seriously, though. I have a drink and a half in wooden nickels. That's enough to convince people to make BR2, right?

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Have you seen any of that night ext from the fire scene? I just looked at the slides I took and they where great, would have been nice to have had a BEEBEE. or maybe even a 18 up high.

 

 

Yeah, an 18k on a condor would have been perfect.... I've have a couple of stills, not great quality though.

 

fireside.jpg

 

firewide.jpg

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Beautiful frame grabs. Is it correct to say you shot everything on the long end of the zoom? (Were you using the Fujinon with the "close focus" of 4'?)

 

Also, what was your DIT setup: big CRT in a tent, winging it off the 8" lcd??

 

One last question: What were the pre-pro discussions about 35mm adapters?

 

Thanks,

Jon.

Edited by Jon Rosenbloom
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Beautiful frame grabs. Is it correct to say you shot everything on the long end of the zoom? (Were you using the Fujinon with the "close focus" of 4'?)

 

Also, what was your DIT setup: big CRT in a tent, winging it off the 8" lcd??

 

One last question: What were the pre-pro discussions about 35mm adapters?

 

I usually try to stay above 20mm on the lens, in this case the 2.35 crop meant that I'd often have to go with a wider lens than I wanted to. However when it was possible we stayed on the long end of the lens.

 

We had no DIT, just me with a couple of Panasonic LCD monitors (17" & 8").

 

I don't think we ever discussed using a 35mm adapter. I would have been against the idea anyway, as the director originally wanted the film to be 80% handheld, so we were looking for ways to lighten the camera. As it was we never shot at more than t2.8, even on exteriors, so the 2/3" depth of field wasn't really an issue

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Hi Stuart.

 

It seems to me as though you use the promist as a rule when shooting on video. Could you clarify what it is you favour with the Promist over simply cancelling the edge sharpening? Or is the slight halation on the image a trademark of your style.

 

Keep up the good work. ;)

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The promist isn't really a stylistic thing, Matthew. As a matter of fact I really dislike noticeable diffusion. I've tried Nets, frosts, promists and various others, but can never find anything I like.

 

When shooting HD, I do turn off the detail, and use either a 1/8 or 1/4 Black Promist. On SD, I leave the detail on. Bascially, I use the promists because they are barely noticeable, except for a very gentle halation around bright sources of light, which I think helps to soften the way that SD/HD clips overexposed areas.

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The promist isn't really a stylistic thing, Matthew. As a matter of fact I really dislike noticeable diffusion. I've tried Nets, frosts, promists and various others, but can never find anything I like.

 

When shooting HD, I do turn off the detail, and use either a 1/8 or 1/4 Black Promist. On SD, I leave the detail on. Bascially, I use the promists because they are barely noticeable, except for a very gentle halation around bright sources of light, which I think helps to soften the way that SD/HD clips overexposed areas.

 

I don't think the diffusion is too noticable. Thanks anyways.

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  • 9 months later...

Hi Stuart,

 

Your shots look great! Really nice!

 

I was just wondering if you could please give me any pointers about shooting in the desert. I am about to shoot a historical tv drama in Syria on a Sony 900 (not sure which model yet) for the next 3 months so any tips you could give me on shooting in the harsh sunlight of the desert on a Sony 900 would be really useful!

 

Thanks!

Morgan

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Shooting in the desert was a new experience for me. We were lucky in that we were shooting in the fall when the sun was not as intense as it might have been a few months earlier. My approach was simply to keep the actors back or sidelit as much as possible. I didn't really use fill that much, as there is a lot of natural fill from the ground. I would just try to bounce a 3/4 kicker in if I could, or maybe some sort of side fill. That was it really.

 

I would advise you to go for the 900R if you can, and to set it up for the maximum latitude in the knee. Protect your highlights as much as possible. And if you have night scenes, remember the desert gets very cold at night!!

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