First shoot with 35mm

Jimmie Armentrout · March 16, 2008

Hello All

This is an exercise project for my cinematography class. The project calls for me to light a 'Night Scene' with a WS - MS - CU and reversal incorporated within it. This is my first time shooting 35mm and my second time using lights. I've always been intimidated with gaffing! I would appreciate any feed back. Thanks!!!

(shot w/500T Vision3)

http://www.vimeo.com/789010

Jimmie Armentrout · March 21, 2008

Any suggestions . . .

David Mullen ASC · March 21, 2008

Any suggestions . . .

Night interior or exterior? Practical lights are on or off? Moonlit? What do you mean by "reversal"? Reverse angle?

-- oh sorry, I didn't see the link, that you already shot it.

Jon Rosenbloom · March 21, 2008

Lighting is too flat, try to shape it a little more.

David Mullen ASC · March 21, 2008

I can't get the clip to play -- it just goes to black each time I hit play.

Serge Teulon · March 21, 2008

I could see that you went for a 'safe' style without allowing yourself to be adventurous. You set the foundations but didn't build on it!

My pennies' worth is that you need to relax and have fun.

Cheers

S

Tom Lowe · March 21, 2008

Why waste film on some ugly dude doing nothing? Get a babe in there or some kind of interesting subject matter. :)

The lighting looked okay, but whatever codec you used for compression was awful in terms of motion. Next time try H.264 with settings on high and a high bitrate.

Jimmie Armentrout · March 21, 2008

Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I'll try to get more adventurous with my lighting and subject matter. This was done with limited time and subject matter.

- Lighting is too flat, try to shape it a little more -

. . .I thought the warm lighting and the cool (blueish) lighting would help the separation within the frame. What do you think could of helped?

- Next time try H.264 with settings on high and a high bitrate -

. . .Its odd cause that is the codec I used with settings on high. Maybe the bitrate wasn't high enough. Do you think this may have caused this?

Thank you again everyone!

Michael Nash · March 21, 2008

. . .I thought the warm lighting and the cool (blueish) lighting would help the separation within the frame. What do you think could of helped?

I though the mix of colors looked pretty good, and the wide shots had enough modeling. It was the closeup that was flat:

The wider shots could have used some edgelight for more 3-d modeling, but that's a matter of taste. You did a good job of using contrast and color for separation. I didn't think it was "safe," just "naturalistic." Pulling off a naturalistic look can actually be pretty difficult with artificial lighting, so I'd say you did a good job.

. . .Its odd cause that is the codec I used with settings on high. Maybe the bitrate wasn't high enough. Do you think this may have caused this?

Relax folks, we're looking at a Vimeo flash video, not the straight MPEG. Flash re-compresses whatever you've given it and wreaks havoc with interlacing and frame rates.

Jimmie Armentrout · March 22, 2008

I though the mix of colors looked pretty good, and the wide shots had enough modeling. It was the closeup that was flat:

Michael

Thank you for your input. I do agree with you on the close up. I'm not to fond of this particular one. I do like my wide shot and the two close ups in the beginning though. I still have a lot to learn and appreciate everyones input.

Jimmie Armentrout · March 22, 2008

I can't get the clip to play -- it just goes to black each time I hit play.

It may just need a second to load. I would love to hear any comments from you.

David Mullen ASC · March 22, 2008

It may just need a second to load. I would love to hear any comments from you.

The internet connection in my hotel room is rather slow, so video clips are hard to play.

Tom Lowe · March 22, 2008

Vimeo does not introduce motion streaking like that, as far as I know. It's got to be the initial compression. I would simply keep upping the bitrate until that motion blur/blockiness problem goes away.

Michael Nash · March 22, 2008

Vimeo does not introduce motion streaking like that, as far as I know. It's got to be the initial compression. I would simply keep upping the bitrate until that motion blur/blockiness problem goes away.

The only "streaking" I see is the result of displaying interlaced material progressively, which has nothing to do with the bitrate. You'd have to deinterlace the material before outputting the mpeg/whatever.

Other than that there's some subtle flickery/blocky noise, evident in broad areas of midtone. Those look like what you'd expect from flash compression, not H.264.