DavidSloan Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 I'm shooting a 35mm music video next month, which takes place in an arcade. I was wondering if there will be issues with flicker, roll bar, etc...when shooting the arcade screens? Camera:435 ES Stock: 5218 Lenses: cooke s primes Finishing on tape via telecine. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted March 10, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted March 10, 2005 Hi, You also want to watch the lamps - most of them seem to have only half-wave rectified, unsmoothed power supplies for the lighting, and they flicker visibly, particularly if they're using LEDs. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Michael Nash Posted March 10, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted March 10, 2005 I was wondering if there will be issues with flicker, roll bar, etc...when shooting the arcade screens? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidSloan Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Is it the same deal as with TV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hayes Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 The bad news is many arcade games are computers with different scan rates. The good news is many of them have the same rates. Go to the arcade ahead of time with a cine check meter and measure and record the scan rates. You may be able to move several machines together with the same rates and shoot at that frame rate. Easy if you are transferring to video. If not, you are looking at a Digital Intermediary to get back to 24 fps. Or just accept the roll bar. Changing the shutter angle may help but I don't know that much about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidSloan Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Thanks a lot, Bob! The cine check meter, it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Michael Nash Posted March 12, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted March 12, 2005 Changing the shutter angle may help but I don't know that much about it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Changing the shutter angle can help you synch to a frequency of one or even several similar screens, but the problem as you mentioned is that there are many different screens with different scan rates. So even if you can synch to one, you may not synch to all... But I defintely agree with the frequency meter idea, as it will tell you what the variables are. The 435 lets you do a pretty large variety of shutter angles, down to what, one degree increments? I forget... I'd be inclined to just let the machines "do what they do," especially in a music video. Maybe for closeups or shots where a single machine is prominent, you may want to minimize flicker. Otherwise I think it just adds energy to the setting. But that's just my opinion, and may not be what you want for your project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidSloan Posted March 12, 2005 Author Share Posted March 12, 2005 @Nash: I had a meeting with the director today. I told her I was researching ways to minimize flicker from the arcade machines, and her response was basically the same as yours: "forget it, flicker is desirable." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Michael Nash Posted March 12, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted March 12, 2005 That reminds me of a recent project I camera operated where the DP told me: " forget the lens flare. We love the lens flare. We embrace the lens flare." He was a music video DP... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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