S16mm Short Film

Cory Smith · October 15, 2009

Hello,

I'm planning on shooting a S16mm short film next month on Kodak Vision3 500T 7219 with an Aaton XTR Prod. The shoot will primarily take place in my actress' studio apartment. Anyways, I want the film to be very naturalistic in its lighting and be devoid of any tungsten sources. I basically want it to look like the windows in the room are the only main source of light. I would also like for the film to have a very cold, wintry feel akin to Oleg Mutu's work on 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 days.

In terms of lighting, I am planning on buying some china balls w/ daylight bulbs, and have access to an Arriflex AD 575W HMI, Kino Flo 2 ft Four Bank Select, Dedo Light Kit K4300M, and a variety of Arri Fresnel kits through Temple University's equipment office.

I was wondering if anybody has any advice on what types of lights I should use and/or any advice on working with Vision3 500T...

Thanks!

Chris Burke · October 16, 2009

Hello,

I'm planning on shooting a S16mm short film next month on Kodak Vision3 500T 7219 with an Aaton XTR Prod. The shoot will primarily take place in my actress' studio apartment. Anyways, I want the film to be very naturalistic in its lighting and be devoid of any tungsten sources. I basically want it to look like the windows in the room are the only main source of light. I would also like for the film to have a very cold, wintry feel akin to Oleg Mutu's work on 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 days.

In terms of lighting, I am planning on buying some china balls w/ daylight bulbs, and have access to an Arriflex AD 575W HMI, Kino Flo 2 ft Four Bank Select, Dedo Light Kit K4300M, and a variety of Arri Fresnel kits through Temple University's equipment office.

I was wondering if anybody has any advice on what types of lights I should use and/or any advice on working with Vision3 500T...

Thanks!

sounds like you have it covered. Just rate the film at 320 if not at 250, shoot a grey scale.

Steve McBride · October 17, 2009

Do you have the option of lighting from outside? If you can try and get a 1200w HMI to put outside of a window to have more daylight. You could always shoot it at night and use all tungsten units instead of during the daytime and with HMI units. You'll save money that way.

Cory Smith · October 22, 2009

I wont be able to light from outside, and as it turns out I wont have access to any HMIs at all either. The shoot will also take place during the day.

Windows will be visible in some shots so putting CTO on them is not an option (unless I understand that concept incorrectly. wouldn't the gels be noticeable in the shot?)

So I need to work with just daylight. I will probably put CTB on my dedo lights, and was wondering if I could also use daylight bulbs in china balls. I read online that the daylight bulbs are rated at 4800K which is warmer than daylight, so I am wondering if they will work out, both with the natural light from outside and the dedo lights with CTB.

Any suggests are much appreciated!

Cory

Nicholas Melo · October 22, 2009

Depending on what equipment you have available to you you have a number of options. Your looking for a cooler look so the daylight bulbs your using wont really pose a problem in terms of being too warm as you are shooting with a Tungsten balanced stock.

It would definitely be easier if you had access to 2 575 HMI's or a 1.2 HMI (if renting isn't an option) but we can try and take this the poor mans route as I have done so many times. Stylistically there are many things you can do. Gelling the window, absolutely a possibility you just need to make sure its dressed right. Buy a large sheet of CTO depending on if you want the light coming in through the window completely balanced or slightly cooler. Choose what temperature you want the light to be at 4200k-5500K+ is about the "daylight spectrum" But those are creative details that you'll have to decide.

But to actually get the look your going for... take a 650 or 2 300's and bounce them off the ceiling opposite the window, thats your fill. If your in a white room, you might need to create some negative fill. With your window gelled with a cut-to-size piece of CTO, take your chinaballs and find a place to hide them just off camera motivated from the window. I figure your key should be probably a stop and a half over. So if your shooting at a T4 let your ket get to an 5.6/8.

Now the other route you could go which would eliminate gelling the window is get an 85 filter for your camera and gel all ur lights w/ full CTB. Only use have for your chinaballs though.

I'd agree w Chris, rate the stock at 320 if you don't use an 85. If you do go the 85 filter route than rate it at 160, you'll get a denser slightly more contrasty image when you print back or go to tape/ there will be more info for your colorist or DI tech to work with.

Personally I love 5219. I find myself coming back to it over and over again. For one its very forgiving. It has a nice grain structure, just the right amount of texture for me. Beautiful color rendition greens and blues are just really organic. Recently I finished a project where I pushed it 2 stops and overexposed it another stop and the image really held up great with very little increase in grain. So I like the stock and its resilient.

If you can, as i know how student shoots can be, test out the stock for yourself. Only you know exactly what your looking to do and try some different lighting setups at different exposures. Shoot 200 feet and watch it over and over again until you understand all the little differences between lighting, exposure, grain, highlights and shadow. It'll give you a better idea how to execute it the day of the shoot. And keep in mind... if it looks like poop you learned how not to do it for the next project. I know an expensive lesson to learn but thus is the nature of filmmaking.

Hope I was able to help.

Good Luck

Nick

Cory Smith · October 24, 2009

thanks for the help! just to clarify, if i go the route where i use an 85 filter on my camera and use full CTB on my lights, are you saying I would not be able to use chinaballs with daylight bulbs? would the daylight bulbs be too warm in comparison to my dedo lights that have full CTB?