Learing 35mm

[Chris Dingley1]

Hi,

 

I am preparing to shoot my senior thesis project and i am considering shooting it Super 35 most liely with an arri camera. my problem is i know the SR2 and 3 extensively but I have never had hands on experience with 35. Is 35 mm something i can learn from a book? or should i put my money oin needing to hire outside help?

[Paul Bruening]

It's pretty much the same between 16 and 35. You have to practice loading a dummy roll over and over no matter which camera it is if it's new to you. The rest is pretty much the same experience. 35mm primes are a little better at getting some shallow DoF if you're into that.

 

If you're a broke student, then 2-perf 35mm on short ends can keep your costs to down around 16mm. You'll want to check your post system on that, though. If you're going optical through your school, then you have to work in the pipeline they have on hand. If your going DI then 2-perf can still be very economical. A couple of guys here rent those cams if this sounds useful to you.

[Bruce Taylor]

It's pretty much the same between 16 and 35. If your going DI then 2-perf can still be very economical. A couple of guys here rent those cams if this sounds useful to you.

 

To concur with Paul, 16 and 35 are about the same, except everything in 35 is obviously bigger. I didn't really see the point of director's finders until I started shooting 35, you just don't want to lug those cameras around when looking for a shot.

 

The 2 perf option might be worthwhile, depending on why you want to shoot Super35. I don't have the figures off the top of my head, but 2 perf is approximately the same amount of film area as Super35 when Super35 is cropped for 2.35:1 presentation. If you want to use S35 because of the framing options and various aspect ratios it offers, then you should stick with that.

 

I'm one of those guys that rents those 2 perf cams. I put together a hopefully useful page on 2 perf here:

 

http://www.indi35.com/2_perf_techniscope

 

If your final presentation is on film or HiDef, then other than film stock the costs would be about the same in post for S35 and 2 perf, as neither will yield a contact print.

 

Good luck!

 

Bruce