What is shot on and with what

Daniel Moore · October 30, 2008

I am wondering if there is anywhere or any way(including here) where I can find out specific film and video uses in films. When I watch a movie, a television show, documentary or whatever, I often wonder what camera was used for it, and what film type etc. Is that just about Google-ing the heck out of the particular film until I find my answer?

While I'm talking about this, I might as well list the following in case anyone here knows the camera models and film types for the following:

Barry Lyndon- I ask about Barry Lyndon because when I watched it, it didn't seem like a regular cinematic(apart from the lighting) film. Either the texture of 35mm has changed for movies since

Barry Lyndon was filmed, or something was different....anyone know?

The Hills(reality show on Mtv, which also looks the same as the film on HBO's Entourage...is it even film, or video, HD....no idea)

Platoon(Oliver Stone's film)- that was also strange looking to me...maybe it was lighting, or something in Post....not sure

Religulous(Bill Maher's new documentary)- I know most commercial documentaries are shot on 35mm, but I wasn't sure about this....maybe they used film and video....

Brad Grimmett · October 30, 2008

Barry Lyndon-

It was shot on 35mm using Arri BL's and Mitchell BNC's and some modified lenses that were superfast so they could shoot in candlelight.

The Hills

I would guess it's HD, but I'm not at all positive. It's not film. I've tried my best to never watch the show, and I've succeeded so far.

Platoon

It was shot on 35mm. I don't think there was anything too different about the way it was shot.

Religulous

This was shot on HD. I believe it was shot with Varicam's, but I'm not 100%. My friend Anthony Hardwick shot it and he has used Varicam's in the past on other projects with Larry Charles, so my assumption would be that they did the same thing on this film. I haven't spoken to him about this exact subject though.

Chris Keth · October 30, 2008

The Hills is shot with HDX-900s.

Adrian Sierkowski · October 30, 2008

Sometimes this information will be available on IMDB, at least in terms of format if not cameras etc. Also, the articles on films in American Cinematographer go into detail on this stuff. It's a magazine certainly worth the subscription cost. Aside from that-- and asking here, I don't know anywhere else to look.

Daniel Moore · October 30, 2008

The Hills is shot with HDX-900s.

Ah, so that must be what Entourage is shot on.

I'm surprised Barry Lyndon was shot on 35mm, it sometimes looked like it could have been 16mm or something more "real" to the eye and less "cinematic" like 35mm. I still try to figure out what made Barry Lyndon so real to me. Particularly that brief shot of the horse and carriage going down a dirt trail with a building to the left. Maybe it was the locations....not sure. Barry Lyndon even looks more real than some modern day period films to me.

Thanks so much for the replies by the way!

Brad Grimmett · October 30, 2008

Ah, so that must be what Entourage is shot on.

Uh, no. Entourage is shot on 35mm.

Daniel Moore · October 30, 2008

Uh, no. Entourage is shot on 35mm.

Whoa. That's strange...for some reason Entourage looks like it was shot with the same camera/film as The Hills.

Chris Keth · October 30, 2008

I mixed up The Hills with another show. I don't know what The Hills is shot on. For some reason I was thinking it was kind of a reality show, nearly all of which in my experience are shot on HDX-900s these days.

You should keep in mind that a particular camera or film doesn't really have it's own look that is easy to discern form television. The reason The Hills (now that I know which show that is) and Entourage look similar is probably the lighting style. From the stills I have seen of both shows that seems to be true.

Daniel Moore · October 31, 2008

I mixed up The Hills with another show. I don't know what The Hills is shot on. For some reason I was thinking it was kind of a reality show, nearly all of which in my experience are shot on HDX-900s these days.

You should keep in mind that a particular camera or film doesn't really have it's own look that is easy to discern form television. The reason The Hills (now that I know which show that is) and Entourage look similar is probably the lighting style. From the stills I have seen of both shows that seems to be true.

Hmm I see. Could you give me two reality shows that are shot using HDX-900s?

You said something REALLY interesting- so based on just lighting, one can almost manipulate perceived film stocks and camera uses?

Also, are you saying that when something is broadcast on television, that the television(whether it be the television itself, the television network, or whatever other factor) can alter the look of the physical film/video, even if the film/video that is being aired is in perfect "archival" and/or "digital" (I'm kind of playing with words here)condition?

Tom Lowe · October 31, 2008

The Hills has some of the BEST cutaways in any TV show, like, ever. I would really love to read about how they get all those cutaway shots and what cameras they are using. I imagine some of it is shot by their own people, and some of it is stock. The show itself is beautifully shot.

The Hills was spawned by a show called Laguna Beach, which was one of the first TV shows to use digital 24p cameras (DVX100).

Michael Most · October 31, 2008

The Hills was spawned by a show called Laguna Beach, which was one of the first TV shows to use digital 24p cameras (DVX100).

Laguna Beach was shot on SDX900's, not DVX100's.

Tom Lowe · October 31, 2008

Laguna Beach was shot on SDX900's, not DVX100's.

I could be totally wrong, but I remember specifically reading that Laguna Beach was shot on the DVX100, at least for one season.

Chris Keth · October 31, 2008

Hmm I see. Could you give me two reality shows that are shot using HDX-900s?

You said something REALLY interesting- so based on just lighting, one can almost manipulate perceived film stocks and camera uses?

Also, are you saying that when something is broadcast on television, that the television(whether it be the television itself, the television network, or whatever other factor) can alter the look of the physical film/video, even if the film/video that is being aired is in perfect "archival" and/or "digital" (I'm kind of playing with words here)condition?

I've done "In harm's Way" and we had HDXs and a varicam for highspeed. Also the sci-fi gameshow thing Cha$e was done on HDX-900s, a whole lot of them in fact.

Lighting is certainly more formative to a film's look than the stock it's shot on. If that weren't the case, it would mean that every film now that shoots 7218/19 would look the same. It would also mean that back when there was only one filmstock available that all of those movies would have looked the same.

As for being aired on TV, the incredibly poor resolution compared to film does tend to mask a lot of the telltale qualities one looks for in trying to figure out the format of origination.