Commerical Shoot Question

[Marc Shepherd]

Great forum! (though a little intimidating for us new guys)

 

After searching countless of other boards, I think I found one of the best here. That's why I need your help.

 

 

I'm shooting a series of commericals concerning water pollution and am having a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to frame my shots. (I have it in my head but not in the lens). Shooting is scheduled for the spring.

 

Commercial 1)...Is a montage of a different child saying a sentence which, when edited will make up a :20 story. I am planning on placing each kid in a different location including a river bank, in a stream, or in a ditch, etc.

 

I'm looking for a wide-angled, out-of-focus background, overall "dreamy" look for some of these shots with a kid on the left in one shot, another on the right, another in the center, another looking directly up at the camera....I think you get my drift. What advice can you give me about framing this correctly?

 

Commerical 2) I need to get a shot of a little girl swimming in the water with her snorkel and mask to the tune of "Joy to the fishies in the deep blue sea..." I'd like to frame it possibly fisheyed with water coming up halfway up the lense and her looking directly into it. Needless to say, I can't dunk the camera into the water. Would shooting through an aquarium work? What about other ideas?

 

Now the gear I'll be using... I'm aware a good 35 mm film camera is probably the best way to go. However I'm shooting with an XL1 with a 3X lense, probably in the frame mode. (I may have the option of acquiring an anamorphic lens). I also have the option of using a matte box and filtering system. I might even have the option of renting a higher end camera if need be.

 

I hope I put in enough info. Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

Marc Shepherd

TxDOT

PIO/BMT-20

[Jeremy]

For commercial number one, framing is a subjective thing, and it sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what you want in your head, so go for it; I'm sure it's what the project needs, and it'll look great.

 

For commercial number two, you should do a google search for XL1 underwater housings as another option. That way you can just drop the camera into the water!

[Marc Shepherd]

Thanks for the info Jeremy.

 

I'll think I will wind-up renting the underwater housing.

 

As for the 1st one, I guess I'm concerned with framing relative to the distance of the suject to the camera. Practice shots on on my XL1 with a 1/60 shutter, wide open aperature, and in frame mode don't give me the depth of field I'd like.

 

While I love working with the XL1, perhaps I'm asking too much from the camera. (Then again, it's more than likely operator ignorance.) I figure perhaps a gradual grey filter and a zoom lens might give me more of what I'm looking for. We'll see.......

[David Cox]

Hi Marc,

 

Just a boring "post" point of view for your first script.

 

Your editor would probably not want to cut between kids in the same position, as this would jar a little. However, the editor might get cornered into this if he needs to cut between two specific lines, and they happen to be of the same framing.

 

This can be avoided by "flipping" the frame - ie. doing a mirror image of the frame in post so that left is right. However, this gets a little tricky if you have anything recognisable as flipped in your scene - such as writing. So I suggest avoiding anything with text such as T-Shirts, background banners, license plates etc.

[Mark Lyon IMPOSTOR]

Hi--

 

Getting a wide-angle exterior shot to have an out-of-focus background might be tricky with a XL-1 or other consumer camcorder. The combination of small chips and wide-angle lenses makes for enormous depth of field. Normally, you'd go for the largest negative you can afford to make this work (35mm), but one thought that occurs to me is that a shift/tilt lens might work. Canon makes them for still photography; I wonder if they will go on the XL-1?

 

On the underwater shot, it sounds like you'll need a housing.

 

Best of luck,

 

Mark Lyon

Mighty Max Films

www.mightymaxfilms.com

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the info Jeremy.

 

I'll think I will wind-up renting the underwater housing.

 

As for the 1st one, I guess I'm concerned with framing relative to the distance of the suject to the camera. Practice shots on on my XL1 with a 1/60 shutter, wide open aperature, and in frame mode don't give me the depth of field I'd like.

 

While I love working with the XL1, perhaps I'm asking too much from the camera. (Then again, it's more than likely operator ignorance.) I figure perhaps a gradual grey filter and a zoom lens might give me more of what I'm looking for. We'll see.......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Keep in mind that the only way to get a more shallow depth of field is by backing the camera up as far as you possibly can and zooming in as far as you possibly can. Whenever I'm shooting on video I'll typically have the camera as far away as I can for the shot so that I can have a little shallower depth of field with which to work. A zoom lens will give you a tiny bit of room to play, or rent a nice XL1 compatible telephoto lens. You probably still won't have the depth of field that you're ultimately wanting, though.

 

16mm is also a possibility. For the first commercial, you could probably rent a very cheap 16mm MOS camera and a really long telephoto prime lens. An MOS (Arri S?) camera would be SUPER cheap to rent and if it's backed up that far, you could still record audio. I shot a short film recently with an Arri S, and shot the only dialogue would be in a shot, reverse shot with a long lens (100mm). We boomed the actors from straight overhead and there isn't even a hint of camera noise.

 

When you finish, feel free to post some stills...

Edited March 8, 2005 by Jeremy

[J. Lamar King IMPOSTOR]

Marc, I sent you a Private Message.