Jump to content

35mm Moviecam test shoot


Marco Montenegro

Recommended Posts

Hey guys, I need to test my Moviecam compact 3perf first week of February and I was wondering how can I get someone to DP my six page short and where do I find one?! I live in Las Vegas Nv and besides Instagram I have no other social media. So since it’s shooting on film and very specific camera how can I get the word out to get experienced hood DP 

it is probably one full day shoot. Inside of this 50’s diner here in vegas and location is secured. Suggestion of stock and lenses would be appreciated as well. Trying to keep soft warm and kind of 80’s look. Story takes place in80’s 

 

thanks 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't help with the lighting as I live nowhere near LV, and I'm not a DP anyway. ? However, I might have some insight into how to get that 1980s look. Twin Peaks was shot with double 85 filters. This is from the AC interview with Ron Garcia:

Quote

 

Garcia: I’m sorry, I didn’t even answer the question you asked me before this! It’s being in Seattle, there was a film lab there, and David said “Let’s shoot some tests for the color of the show,” and he said he wanted it warm, that’s all he had said, “warm”, it was kind of like “think underwater,” he was just saying “warm”. I had no idea what “warm” meant.

So I shot a few tests of the area, the different lighting conditions, took it to the lab and I forgot the name - I want to say ‘ACME lab’ but it wasn’t ‘ACME lab’, it was something with an A, it’s been so long I apologise. So we souped it, sat down with it with the color timer, and I kept having him dial in some warm colours to take the blue out. And it was subtractive printing of course. I was looking for warm orange, not orange. I don’t know if David said “orange” or not, I might have conjured that up because he said “warm”. So I wasn’t getting that tone somehow, no matter what I dialled in, or how I exposed it. So David says, “No, Ron, it’s got to be warmer.”

I was shooting Fuji at the time. I’ve shot Fuji most of my career. And I asked the technicians at Fuji, I said, “I’m looking for a yellow in the orange scale of the reds, with red but I don’t like red red.” I didn’t like the Kodak red that I was getting at the time. So, “How can I get a yellow in here without having the filters in the printer?” And this one technician who was the film designer said, “Why don’t you just double the 85?” So I put two 85s in the camera, and shot the stock. Went to the lab, and got my yellow in there and they got really saturated with what you see now.

If you’ve seen the original print, you’d see the color David really liked and wanted. It’s all translated different on television and different television sets and so forth. But I liked it and I said, “Even make it more,” and the printer was going, “Oh, no,” he said, “I can’t.” I said, “Yes, you can. More.” It’s just like David was telling me “slower,” I said, “Just keep going with the deeper on the orange and keep that yellow in there.” So we played with all the different subtraction filters and came up with the settings. And he was just apoplectic. He just thought he was going to lose his job. So we invited David down, we put him in the screening room, and David’s looking at it, and he goes, “ That’s it, Ron! That’s it!”

And what it did basically, with those double 85s in to the negative, it contaminated the black area to a point, but the contrast, that kind of went away, but it was still in the shadows, so people expecting a lot of cool looks in the wintertime, even the overcast… The skin tones stayed, I could control the skin tones, and it just permeated all the greens and browns into this kind of golden feel that we all liked. I think it was that particular time in my career, the Fuji was giving me those kind of colors and Kodak wasn’t for some reason, so it worked out.

 

Of course there are other options. I think chocolate, tobacco or coral could work? You don't have to go to extremes. Have a look at this old Kool-Aid ad:

https://www.oldmagazineads.net/2010/11/1980-kool-aid-magazine-ad.html

I also think you need some hard lighting, too. I don't mean harsh, just hard, with low contrast (so you don't lose your shadows completely). I'm thinking of strips of light coming into a room on a summer's morning. Also, deep focus over shallow focus.

Just thinking out loud.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll fly to Vegas and shoot it for you, sounds like fun! ? But I'm a little confused by your post, are you testing your Moviecam for your short? Or are you testing it by shooting your short?

But if you're looking to connect with other locals, Instagram isn't a bad place to start. Just start searching for Las Vegas DP or cinematographer and you'll start seeing interesting work I'm sure. Funny enough I'm really bad at keeping up IG, but I'm going to be making it a priority this year. Really I am!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Premium Member

I just sent a private message to ya. I don't live far away and have been shooting nearly exclusively on film for the last 6 years or so. I also know the moviecam inside and out, I use to own one and currently do service on them. I also can help with raw stock, processing and transfer prices. Sounds like fun, hit me back on the PM!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...