First time student seeks film stock advice!

Ron Flex · September 24, 2008

Hi, so I am currently at University doing a film course and have decided to start making my own 16mm short for hopefully, festival showings.

So I am in the middle of my screenplay and I have purchased a CP16 that has had an overhaul by Whitehouse Visual. Also I saw a great deal on the internet where I got 3 sealed 400ft rolls of Kodak Vision 2 250d for around 30 pounds a roll, I think half a year old and kept in a fridge.

So I have some nice stock for the outdoors scenes but I am starting to write in some indoor scenes and also a few nightime scenes. I am a complete newbie regarding this type of stuff and I am not sure what stock I would use for these scenes?

Would 250d be ok for general averge lit indoor scenes? There will be no extra lights brought in so it will all be standard house lighting. The night scene looks to be hard as well. The quality has to be good as the the characters facial expressions are key due to a lack of dialogue. I cannot see any film that os recommended for low light shoots expect stocks ending with t, which I believe is tungsten balanced for use with studio lights. Which I will not be using.

Any advice for a guy? Also I have the 3 tins of 250d coming tomorrow, is it better to store in the fridge or freezer?

Thanks,

Adrian Sierkowski · September 24, 2008

Keep it in the fridge for short term and let it thaw before you shoot it

While you can shoot 250D inside, and it's a good speed stock as well, you'll have to correct it for tungsten which'll eat up lght. It's best perhaps to get some 200T/500T for your inside/night stuff.

Also, I feel 250D is too fast for bright direct sunlight (works great in overcast areas/forests etc. but I recall from my own shooting it; that often sunlight would up towards F45/F32 with it.. and thats, obviously, a bit more than most can deal with (w/o a lot of ND and stopping down).

That being said, the 250D is a nice stock, and hell, it's film, so it's already high quality.

Chris Burke · September 24, 2008

you could also gel the interior lights or use daylight balanced lights. The compact fluorescent ones are not bad these days, many with 90 plus CRI and are flicker free to boot.

But the best thing you could do is use the 250D outdoors only. In case of bright scenes, just use an ND filter. You really should rate that film at 125 anyway. Then buy some 7218 or 19 for both the interior and the night time exterior. Don't be afraid to check out the 7229 or 7299 if you have access to one of those "special" boxes. But in any case, you should buy another three roles of a 500 tungsten stock.

Adrian Sierkowski · September 24, 2008

Good call on the overexposing, though I generally do 160 for 250 and 320 for 500.

I hvn't used those CFL though; the ones i have in my room came out horribly green on 7217. . .once...

Ron Flex · September 24, 2008

Ok so I will probably need some 500T film for indoor use but I am going to buy a 100ft spool of 250d for a 1st test roll so I will see how that fairs indoors with different settings etc just for my own curiosity if not anything else.

Now for the outdoor night scenes. Would I use 500T for this? I was under the assumption that using tungsten balanced film would give the film an unatural look without the use of filters or is just with daylight?

I am really also only looking to buy very cheap stock. Although I do not see much, if any 500T on the second hand market I do see a lot of the 250 Fuji tungsten balanced stuff. What would this stuff be like in low light, outdoor, nightime conditions? As it seems I won't be getting my hands on any 500T anytime soon.

Edited September 24, 2008 by Ron Flex

Adrian Sierkowski · September 24, 2008

Well at night, you're under mixed lighting, primarily tungsten.. and need all the stop you can get (more often than not) So I go 500T all the way for that, though you can pull off 200T as well to save on grain.