Jump to content

Elite Anamorphics


GregIrwin

Recommended Posts

Russian lenses from St. Petersburg. Unlike some other conversion lenses, all the glass including the anamorphot cylinders are new. The lenses are very clean and sharp and I've been really impressed with the contrasty, "tacky-ness" of their look. A really snappy look. The wide angles have a bit of barreling to them, but nothing too extreme. So far the lenses have been extremely flare resistant, even wide open. But I do find that the curving focus field as you described flattens out nicely when closing down a couple of stops. And this helps the contrast and color saturation.

 

One thing I'm not thrilled about is the housing designs. They just don't seem quite as well thought out as the Primos or the Hawks. The lenses are a few different sizes, as I knew would be the case with anamorphics, but for longer lenses it appears that they simply extended the cylinder while keeping the same elements and with all that weight out front it necessitates lens supports for all but the widest lenses. And because of the design these supports are all located at different distances from the camera. I forsee delays at lens changes and a pain when rigging for handheld or Steadicam work. But the housings have improved from the first generation of the lenses where the screws would work themselves loose and rings would pull right off the housing. Handheld Films in NYC is designing a mount for a clip on mattebox for the 32mm for me, plus machining down an Arri FollowFocus-4 so that it can clear under that len's super wide diameter. All things to be dealt with, but no issue with actual lens performace.

 

Elite even has a lightweight zoom for handheld/Steadicam use. It's a 25-80 spherical/50-160 anamorphic T3.9 with a tiny little rear anamorphot. It has pincushion issues at the wide end and seriously suffers from the curved focus plane issue in anamorphic, plus it has some really oddball quirks like a zoom rate that is not consistant as you turn the ring (gets really slow near the telephoto). But it's also super small--smaller than my 16mm zoom lens. I wouldn't ever consider using it for film finish below a T8, so I don't think I'll use it much.

 

The Elites are available in NYC from Handheld Films and in Burbank from Slow-Motion, Inc. Slow-Motion is the dealer. Next time you're in LA you should give Anatoli a call and check them out. So far I like the Elites over both series of the Hawks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice review Mitch.

 

Anamorphics and varying sizes always seem to go hand in hand. Joe Dunton has a nice series of Anamorphics based on old Cookes, the Cinema Anamorphics. Nice lenses, but totally random sizes and shapes. I finally had a set of Delvron rings made up for me (always seemed to need them for pick-ups, etc.) that adapted them to a Arri LMB-3 6x6 clip on.

 

Are you familiar with the WillyTec follow focus system? http://www.birnsandsawyer.com/cdva-followf...es-willytec.htm At first this system seems a bit strange, but after a day with it, I'll never go back. Super-smooth slop-free mechanics and it can be configured to work on any lens. 24mm Anamorphics, the VPs, you name it. Worth looking into.

 

How are the focus scales on the Elite lenses? Do you know if the focus drive mechanics are helical or cam-follower?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know about the Willytec--nice system. It came out right after I bought my Chrosziel for my Aaton, and had I known I would have gone with the Willy. But I'm not going to ask the rental house to get one if they can make their gear work fine. I'll let them know in case they have a problem though.

 

Don't know about the focus mechanisms for the Elites. The scales are large and accurate, so I have no problem with these. Of course the focus rings are located at various distances as well, so it means that the AC has to slide the followfocus as well as the lens support, mattebox, front rods, etc. all over the place in order to deal. Knowing my AC, I imagine he'll mark a series of colored indicators on the rods to note placements for different lenses for quick changeovers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The upcoming project is a feature for the same writer/director of "Cold Feet," a film we did together in S-16 something like six years ago (and available at your local Blockbuster!). This film has a significantly bigger budget and we're trying to push the envelope a bit with things. It takes place in and around offices in New York plus various practical locations (restaurants, apartments, etc.), and much of the comedy/fanstasy happens inside the daydreams of the main character. He dreams of killing his boss and other such fantasies. We're still working on the look, knowing that we want to go for a slightly "hyper-reality" that will work with the craziness of the story. I may go a bit of "Joe v. the Volcano" flo green work in the office, along with slightly off-kilter framing. We also want a high gloss, contrasty sheen to the look. That coupled with the likely T stop around 5.6 to get the best out of the lenses pushes me towards 5279 or maybe 5218. I like '79 for the snap but prefer the color rendition of '18. The stars are African-American so '18 definitely helps there. I still haven't decided on filtration as of yet. The project keeps getting pushed back for various reasons so it gives me a lot of time to play with things like the Elites. We're scheduled to start around the beginning of February at this point but we'll see. Right now I certainly forsee lots of Steadicam using the 32mm.

 

I certainly plan to chronicle the shoot as you did with "Northfork" and I did with "S.I." as I found that a very cathartic diary service. My last two features were out of town and my available time to post a journal non-existant. I missed it, having to complain to my wife on the phone instead. For the sake of my marriage and sanity I'll post here instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

I just wrapped a six week feature shoot called "When Do We Eat?", another 24P HD project framed for 2.35 (like "D.E.B.S." -- what can I say, it's my favorite aspect ratio...) A family Jewish passover meal story.

 

And I never want to do another film where eleven actors all have to be in the same room for almost every scene six weeks straight. It's like herding chickens to get them to come out of their trailers, get into touch-ups, show-up on set in complete wardrobe, etc. And then the constant whining that they get the coverage on them shot first or last, etc. Many of the scenes took place at a dinner table and even just getting a row of four actors ready at the same time was a nightmare. And then they'd want to know exactly what of them was in the shot, but since I was shooting two cameras on everything, with zooms, and the actors were stacked in a row often shot from a raking angle, I could not be exact as to who was in what frame -- it depended on if they were leaning back or forward, etc. ("You said only my hands were going to be in the shot!" "Yes, but then you leaned forward into the shot...") And blocking rehearsals with all eleven actors generally took over an hour since it turned into 11 actors wanting script changes, etc. And then one of our actresses needed three hours of make-up in the morning and a half-hour of make-up after lunch and wouldn't allow herself to be shot late into the day, so we almost never were able to block and then shoot a master first since as soon as she was done with the blocking rehearsal, she'd be gone for another hour or two of make-up and I'd be ready to shoot in fifteen minutes. We held onto a set and an expensive backing outside of the windows, plus some big lights, for a week over-schedule because she was never ready to shoot that scene -- and when I finally got the whole thing lit for this big dolly move, on our LAST day on the soundstage, I heard that she wasn't going to show up but was going home for the day because she was tired. So now we have to go back for three days in January to shoot nothing but shots we still owe of her.

 

I don't think I've ever a less enjoyable working relationship with a bunch of actors, which is a shame since the film I did before, which was nothing but hard 16 hour days, was a joy in terms of working with our lead actor, Kevin Dillon, who worked as hard as anyone and never complained, was always nice, etc. And at least that was a 35mm project...

 

I'm spending January working on a re-write of the textbook "Cinematography" by Kris Malkiewicz, for the next edition to be published. It will still be primary about shooting in 16mm, just updated to include newer cameras, new post processes (digital intermediate, etc.). We decided there was no point into expanding it into including video cameras, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Hi,

 

How do actors get away with that kind of behaviour? Is there no sensibility to the fact that they're just being a pain in the neck? Is there any financial comeback?

 

Who yells at them? These people are freelancers just like the rest of us, jeez.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

You reach a point where they can get away with almost anything because they are established in the footage too much to be replaced. Unfortunately, the only person who can "yell" at them - or at least, at their agents -- is the producer. And if he's unwilling to do that, or is friends with one of your lead actors, there's not much you can do but put up with it and start going over-budget because you're losing time. The trouble when you have a big group of speaking actors in a scene every day is that they start to form a single entity that opposes the will of the director. The few scenes with just a few of the actors went fine, but as soon as they were in a group together, it was a nightmare. And the ones that weren't arguing with the director would be chattering loudly among themselves right up to the moment of the slate being clapped.

 

One of the annoying things: even though they weren't garanteed a hot breakfast, they were given one -- but if they didn't approve the breakfast, they wouldn't go into the make-up chair until a new hot breakfast arrived, so they would miss their on-set call time. They did this day after day. And of course, we'd call them to set from their trailers for the next shot and they would straggle in over the next twenty minutes. And the actors who showed up first would start complaining that the other actors weren't there (rightly). We had some turn around and go back to their trailers when they saw that the other actors hadn't shown up yet. We were working with one old pro, Jack Klugman, and boy did he get cranky about the behavior of the other actors. He was always on set on time and always knew his lines, was consistent from take to take, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Get it all out, David!

 

Think about the cinematographer who has to work his ass off, if a light blows or people have to wait 10 seconds for a mag change on the camera people criticize him. It's unbelievable that such behaviour exists among actors but we've all seen it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Man, that's a killer. That's when you'd kinda hope for one tough director

like Oliver Stone or Paul Cameron could run the show...

 

Or as Mr. Stone said himself on the commentary track to Wall Street: "I don't

suck much ass. Especially not movie star ass". I believe him.

 

I heard that Gordon Willis had such a distaste for actors it nearly put him

off filming for good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

David,

Sounds like you needed some real kick-ass AD's to keep control over the cast. I just finished a picture before Christmas called "Cheer Up!". We had five young cheerleader type actresses that had more drama in them than in the entire script. Add Tommy Lee Jones to the mix and WOW! I'm just glad that we got anything shot. Fortunately, we had some excellent AD's who knew how to handle the cast and get things done. We also had a producer that would not take Tommy Lee's over-maitinence. I was very proud of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had one producer we were all really proud of. We had a couple of actors who were extremely high maintenance ("C**t," was the term the female director used for the lead actress). After one nearly interminable 1/2 day, the producer had had enough and shut down the shoot for the rest of the day. He gathered the actors (on paid time) as well as some key crew members. He then pulled out a list, culled from the Daily Production Report submitted by the AD, of all of the horrible behavior of the cast members that violated their employment contracts. He then hit them with some SAG warnings and stated that if the nonsense continued he would simply shut down the production for good and sue the actors for the ENTIRE production budget. Then everyone was excused for the day. Things went a lot smoother after that and the guy got major respect from me.

 

Then there's the actress who decided that she wouldn't talk to the director anymore and used me and the AD to convey messages. That was a lot of fun for nearly a month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

The last shoot I did up in Chicago we had an actor who was so difficult to work with that our lead actress began crying at one point. He would refuse to rehearse, and when we rolled he would do each take in an entirely different fashion (ignoring all the directors comments; we later found out that he did so in the hopes of gathering various material for a reel). He would require 45 minutes of silent "alone" time between shots (regardless of how fast we were set up and ready to go), and never ONCE got anywhere near any mark that was set for him (entire scenes were turning into disasters because he was never in frame). The final straw came when he asked a PA to grab him some coffee and then threw it into the street because it wasn't a Venti Starbucks (he apparently would drink only that, and that alone, and the poor PA was expected to have read his mind). God Bless our Producer, she pulled him aside and flat out said he could either stop acting like a pr*ck, or she'd fire him and reshoot each of his scenes with a new actor. When he called her bluff, she fired him on the spot, called the day a wrap, and opened a notebook full of headshots all within about 10 minutes..........

 

30 minutes later we were shooting and he stopped being a problem.

 

If only I could get away with such behavior......"WHAT? No jelly filled donuts?! That's it, I'll be in my trailer!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Clayton Robert

Oh My! Who on Earth are you people working with? Demi Moore? Please tell me this isn't "acceptable" behavior. I'd just as soon stick to Web Designing if it is... must be pretty rough, but all in a days work, I'd guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Greg

 

Regarding the tests for anamorphic lenes (flatness, sharpness etc...) you described in last years forum, do you find that the Primos, being newer lenses, have less variations from lens to lens than the C-Series and E-Series?

 

Max

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what are some things a good AD does to help wrangle the assho...uhh, i mean actors?

 

jk :ph34r:

 

p.s. adam i love your mark twain quote! i must say, though, that an alternative is also true: "from a man with a hammer, the entire village demands help." just a thought ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

"Then there's the actress who decided that she wouldn't talk to the director anymore and used me and the AD to convey messages. That was a lot of fun for nearly a month."

 

I'm currently operating on a feature where the director is also the lead. He was doing a scene the other night (about 3:30 AM) with Pat Morita. Pat was cool, and very funny between takes ("wax on, wack off" was one of his favorites), but apparently had talked a P.A. into buying him a few bottles of wine at the beginning of the day, which he drank throughout the day, so he was pretty well smashed all day long. When we finally did this scene (which is one of the few dramatic father/son scenes in this comedy, and also a one'er) Pat couldn't hit his marks or remember his lines to save his life. When the director tried to give him notes and also remind him about his marks Pat said he would "only talk to the cameraman" about that stuff. So the director (who is standing shoulder to shoulder with Pat) has to tell me the direction to give Pat so that I can relay it to him. It was a strange situation to say the least. Pat wasn't being an a**ho** or anything, I think he was just a bit confused about who was in charge. It was far from being a bad situation, but it was the first time I've had to deal with a drunk actor, and it sure didn't speed things up any.

I'd be interested to hear any other alcohol related stories you guys have about actors. The bad ones tend to be a big enough pain in the ass without being drunk and disorderly on top of it.

 

Brad Grimmett

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh God, drunk actors! So insanely annoying--like working with children or animals (worse because you assume they'd know better). Did a film with a number of love scenes and come The Big Day for one of them I had the pleasure of sharing a car ride in with the Associate Producer and the three (yes three) actors in the scene. AP driving, me in the front passenger seat and the three of them (two female, one male) bouncing along in the back for half an hour. The AP & I looked at one another because right away we knew that at least one of them was pretty far gone. They'd been "rehearsing" in their hotel room earlier and apparently shared a bottle of wine or seven to loosen up a bit. One actress (all 90 pounds of her) was wildly gesticulating and inviting me to join in on the fun once we got to set. We tried shooting another scene first and pouring hot coffee into her, but by the time we got her to set she made it through one shot before passing out. It was pretty impressive actually--she did 4 rehearsals and five takes nearly flawlessly but her energy kept getting lower and lower. When the director finally called cut the girl stod up and immediately went down for the count, narrowly missing cracking her skull on the jib arm. We shot some B-roll material and called it a night, coming back the next day to shoot the scene.

 

Funny thing was, we were able to use the drunken shot in the edit. She really was a trouper and nailed it every time. Another actress really reamed her out for being so unprofessional but when it came time for her love scene she was slurring her words from her own wine tasting. Fun shoot.

 

And then there was the guy who showed up on set tripping on acid...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

Hi,

 

Actually it's just got to the point in the winter where a disturbing number of people in any situation will be smoking, snorting, mixing into fairy cakes or otherwise imbibing some kind of illegal substance. We're now into month five of "winter" (actually "the grey bit between the other grey bits") with the promise of at least another three to go before even the most passing respite, and it's one of the few ways of getting through the abysmalness of it all. You know the addict's thing of "taking it not to feel good but to keep from feeling bad..." - that's basically where English people start from.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...