F Bulgarelli Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Hello everyone, I'm curious to know your opinions as to what's the best work that has been done, as far as hd is concerned. I'm talking mainly about non-cgi narrative works that have been released in theaters. Any personal favorites? Any opinions will be greatly appreciated, Thanks, Francisco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Schneider Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 "Badass", shot by Robert Primes, ASC was a good example of an HD release even though the budget was low. A lot of people couldn't tell that is wasn't film when it was screened at Panavision. He has a cameo too, in a scene where they are watching dailies. He won what I believe is still the only ASC award for HD for the pilot of "MDs". Logan Schneider DP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Budden Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Igmar Bergman's most recent film, SARABAND (2003). It was made for television but I saw it last night in the theatre. It has that television look but you know, it's Bergman. He didn't like the tranfer to film so he refused to allow it to be shown, but it is now finally out in limited release. Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member drew_town Posted August 9, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 9, 2005 I like von Trier's "Dogville." It's more in tune to the things that I shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars.Erik Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Michael Mann's "Collateral". Pretty good shot. And a concrete evidence for all those hard core film fans that movies can be shot on HD... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Highland Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 While I thought the movie itself sucked, I really enjoyed watching "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" from this perspective. Hope ya like a warm palette. "Session 9" is interesting. It's the first (U.S.) movie that I remember hearing about being done in HD. The transfer I've seen is really old and not great, but I just assumed it was film at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Sanders Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 The anamorphic 35mm print I saw of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" was gorgeous. I've heard other complain it looked soft. But the print I saw blew me away. And this was the first generation F900 with crappy lenses and recorded with the internal 3:1:1 deck. "Collateral" had the benefit of the Vipers and 4:2:2 recording. But I still thought OUATIM still looked like a better transfer. I didn't get to see either in DLP. I saw them in 35mm specifically because I wanted to see how well they filmed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted August 9, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 9, 2005 "Session 9" is interesting. It's the first (U.S.) movie that I remember hearing about being done in HD. The transfer I've seen is really old and not great, but I just assumed it was film at first. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, I shot the first 24P HD feature to be released theatrically in North America, "Jackpot", which opened in August 2001 two weeks before "Session 9". A low-budget film called "Nicolas" was shot before us using the Panavised F900 (we used a regular F900 from Sim Video). Also around this time in 2000 when the camera was released were the productions of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones", "Vidoq" in Europe, and "Session 9". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Sanders Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 (edited) Actually, I shot the first 24P HD feature to be released theatrically in North America, "Jackpot", which opened in August 2001 two weeks before "Session 9". A low-budget film called "Nicolas" was shot before us using the Panavised F900 (we used a regular F900 from Sim Video). Also around this time in 2000 when the camera was released were the productions of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones", "Vidoq" in Europe, and "Session 9". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> David, Did you shoot that film with the F900's internal recorded in 3:1:1? If so, were there any problems with the images recorded out to film? I'm gearing up for a feature shoot with the F900 and the budget doesn't allow for a 4:2:2 deck. Obviously, we're concerned about the lower color space. But I've also seen stunning 3:1:1 images as well. Thank you. Edited August 9, 2005 by Starway2001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Keith Mottram Posted August 9, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 9, 2005 The anamorphic 35mm print I saw of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" was gorgeous. I've heard other complain it looked soft. But the print I saw blew me away. And this was the first generation F900 with crappy lenses and recorded with the internal 3:1:1 deck. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> personally i thought once upon a time looked like blown up video 90% of the time, it didn't help that there was dreadful exposures and some save it in post grading. the opposite was true, when it came to Sex and Lucia which I saw in 2001 and looked generally cracking. Its also a nice exotic melodrama if anyone wants to check it out. keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tristan Nieto Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Actually, I shot the first 24P HD feature to be released theatrically in North America, "Jackpot", which opened in August 2001 two weeks before "Session 9". A low-budget film called "Nicolas" was shot before us using the Panavised F900 (we used a regular F900 from Sim Video). Also around this time in 2000 when the camera was released were the productions of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones", "Vidoq" in Europe, and "Session 9". <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Don't forget, Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle had 2 sections of it shot in HD - Cremaster 2 (1999) and Cremaster 3 (2002). Some stunning imagery in these two films, but I guess thats the advantage of non-narrative art cinema, the DP generally has carte blanche to just make it look pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Highland Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Actually, I shot the first 24P HD feature to be released theatrically in North America, "Jackpot"<{POST_SNAPBACK}> How could I forget that one! Jeez. . . :ph34r: I actually really enjoyed that. Especially great stuff of Gries in the car with the tape deck and the sunglasses and such. While I have no idea what their actual intent was (the tone is a bit ambiguous and all over the place, honestly), I found myself laughing the whole time over the concept of this mediocre karaokist who takes himself way too seriously-- all the pep talks from his "manager" and faux-professionalism with which they run their little operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Elhanan Matos Posted August 10, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 10, 2005 I've been hearing good things about a movie called "Sex and Lucia." That movie was shot on the F900, but I'm not sure if it was released theatrically worldwide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Keith Mottram Posted August 10, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 10, 2005 I've been hearing good things about a movie called "Sex and Lucia." That movie was shot on the F900, but I'm not sure if it was released theatrically worldwide. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It was released throughout europe and i would have thought considering it was a popular spanish movie that it would have got to america- though i doubt it would have played outside spanish areas and arthouse cinemas. Out of interest what does worldwide mean? if it doesn't play in asia, china or africa can anything be considered worldwide or does worldwide meen something along the lines of that bat and ball game's world series! keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adolfi Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Michael Mann's "Collateral". Pretty good shot. And a concrete evidence for all those hard core film fans that movies can be shot on HD... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Too bad to even an amature trained eye like me could see it was HD with out prior knowledge and I wasn't looking for it either. Certain shots gave it away. Liked the film though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kai.w Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Too bad to even an amature trained eye like me could see it was HD with out prior knowledge and I wasn't looking for it either. Certain shots gave it away. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, I thought the whole point was that it should(!) look like video (speaking simplified). And quite right so. I enjoyed this one very much. Haven't seen sin city yet... -k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan Schneider Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 "Sex and Lucia" is available in just about any video store in the US. I thought it looked great, especially since they were dealing with the Mediterranean sun. Good movie, too. Logan Schneider DP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Budden Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Sex and Lucia showed all over the US, at least LA, San Francisco, Phoenix Arizona, etc. Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Koolhaas Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 Hello, I too thought "Sex and lucia" looked really good, they did a really good job of keeping detail in hot daytime skies as well as making the actresses look very good, I didn't guess it was not film when I first saw it, although I did see it when I was still in film school. Sin City looked incredible to me, exactly what a comic book adaptation of sin city should look like. The fact that it was all green screen doesn't detract from the overall imagination and execution of creating such an intenses styalised look. Collateral all in all looked really good, but to be honest there were quite a few shots that looked "video" (which isn't neccesarily bad) , once I read the AC article about it I could see that there were a few shots that were overlit on set then brought down in post. Also lets not forget that much of collateral was shot on film (as it turns out many of my favourite sequences), but again I still think that the raw look of some of the HD night exteriors was amazing and unique, and will probably be emulated in many films to come. Having shot on HD numerous times, I have come to feel that the lense you use is probably more important on HD than on any other format, So I wonder if anyone knows what lenses they used on "sex and Lucia" and "Sin City", and what lenses David used on "Jackpot". Cheers. Tomas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted August 14, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted August 14, 2005 I used the first generation of Canon HD zooms on "Jackpot". "Sin City" used the latest generation of Fujinon HD "cine" zooms, which seem to be fantastic zoom lenses. Lately I've mainly used the Panavision Digital Primo zooms, which I like. I just heard from Sean Fairburn on the CML that "Mission Impossible 3" is using the Sony F-950 recording to 4:4:4 HDCAM-SR for their night aerial shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Cassar Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 I used the first generation of Canon HD zooms on "Jackpot". "Sin City" used the latest generation of Fujinon HD "cine" zooms, which seem to be fantastic zoom lenses. Lately I've mainly used the Panavision Digital Primo zooms, which I like. I just heard from Sean Fairburn on the CML that "Mission Impossible 3" is using the Sony F-950 recording to 4:4:4 HDCAM-SR for their night aerial shots. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Dear Mr. Mullen, I am happy to se that your are doing features with HD. I am currently looking in the option of buying the JVC HD Camera. It promises the 24 fps hence a cinemeatic look. what do you think ? Again congraculations. Robert from Malta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hayes Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 I thought Christian Sebaldt did a great job on ?Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation?. He got a great dark look with a big budget feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Maier Posted August 27, 2005 Share Posted August 27, 2005 For me the best looking HD film was the Polish Brothers "Jackpot". I didn't even know it was HD till I read it later. Fantastically done. Collateral looked like video. Maybe it was the intention, but I didn't like the look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F Bulgarelli Posted September 7, 2005 Author Share Posted September 7, 2005 So I've been getting ready for my hd short and have been looking at a bunch of hd and video films.. Jackpot definetely looks great. David, do you have any articles or info on your shooting approach for that film? I noticed is 2.35. Did you just cropped from 1.78? I think that was the same approach for stas wars. Do you keep a constant eye on a waveform monitor for exposure? Sex and Lucia also looks amazing, does anyone have any technical specs on that one? I also watched Personal Velocity and Bamboozled (spelling?), both film shot on smaller dv cameras, very well done regardless of the fact that they were shot on video. In fact, format becomes irrelevant when the story, the acting and all the other aspects of filmmaking help carry the story along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted September 7, 2005 Premium Member Share Posted September 7, 2005 I wrote an article in RES magazine about "Jackpot" but I'm out on location and don't have it with me. It was framed for cropping to scope. I use the zebras and the monitor to judge exposure; I've never had a waveform on a set yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now