Alex Ardenti

Great Eclair NPR 16 mm film camera used for several spots with great results.

Built like a tank and everything fully functional.

Zeiss lens with pristine glass, 3 magazines, battery pack, large fly case for camera and smaller case for the 2 extra mags.

Will email photos on request. Free leftover cans of 16mm film if needed.

alex@alexardenti.com

www.ardentifilms.com

Los Angeles

I think the argument for shooting modern color neg for a b&w image is a little stronger for 16mm than in 35mm because graininess is a much bigger factor to deal with in 16mm. And if you don't have the lights for Plus-X and Double-X is too grainy for you, then Vision-2 200T is a good alternative. Even 500T is less grainy than Double-X.

 

You can also consider b&w reversal, especially if this is for telecine only, which looks a little less grainy, plus looks sharper, than the b&w negative stocks, but you'd have to be precise and accurate in terms of exposing -- and deal with the higher contrast.

 

In terms of a blow-up to 35mm using an optical printer, there are a couple of methods for converting the color neg image to b&w. You could make one your dupe elements (IP or IN) a b&w stock, or print the color image onto 35mm b&w print stock, or do what "Man Who Wasn't There" did, which was to print onto b&w soundtrack hi-con stock and process to a lower gamma.

If he were to shoot the Vision 200T outdoors in sunlight would it have to be corrected if the final product would be made into B&W in telecine?

If he were to shoot the Vision 200T outdoors in sunlight would it have to be corrected if the final product would be made into B&W in telecine?

Sorry, by that I mean does it have to be filtered for daylight regardless? Or just shoot as is and desaturate to get B&W in telecine?

His name was Mark. Very helpful guy.

He said they can scan the neg to a hard drive.

He suggested I do a snip test on each roll of film I dropped off.

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

I just got back from Fotokem minutes ago.

I can't answer your first question but they told me that they can definitely put my 16mm footage directly on hard drive. The only other place in L.A. that has been highly reccomended for this is Encore in Hollywood.

I'm in a similar situation and they suggested to snip each 400' roll and push or pull accordingly. They then can scan the negative directly on my harddrive in their building next door. This might cut down on telecine time later.

The $275 per hour on telecine at Fotokem sounds like a good deal actually. I was preparing myself for $500 an hour.

Hope some of this helps.

Good luck.

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

Do you mean the gym has fluorescent lights?

 

You'll have to determine the color temperature of the overhead lights. Chances are they're cool white tubes, which are close to 4300K and have a green spike. You probably won't be able to overpower all the green with the lights you have (depending on your shots and lighting setup), so you might consider gelling your tungsten units to match.

So sorry, yes, I mean fluorescent lights.

What color gels do I need to balance it out?

I'm guessing the fluorescent lights alone will give me a reading well beow 2.0 and my lighting setup will be at 4.0 when I shoot.

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

I will be shooting soon in a gym that has some overhead neon lights. The ceilings are very high like in a warehouse. I'll probably have 6 Ks of lights (2 2Ks-2 1Ks) at my disposal and shoot with a 200 stock.

Do I need to take into account neon lights above and would they give a greenish tint despite the Tungsten lights overpowering them?

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

http://profile.myspace.com/alexardenti

I used almost no filter Sometimes pola..

 

95% of the teaser is straight from camera

 

I only color corrected four shots, the one sun set shot and the Bottle in foreground. and the Jail shot and last 3 interior shots I brought up the Setup 15

 

the Lenes

NIkon mount

28mm F/2.8

50mm Macro f/2.8 ED

50mm F/2

 

28mm-105mm F/2.8

80mm-200mm F/2.8 ED

70mm-300mm F/5.6

 

VP

You color corrected them in telecine or FCP?

One more thing, what is an M2?

Alex

I guess I posted this in the wrong place.. so here goes here...

heres a Teaser I cut for Yestudays tommoro. I shot it with my HVX-200 and M2 Adapter.

Large 160mb 640x480

 

http://files.filefront.com/YT_HI_Rezmov/;5...;/fileinfo.html

Medium 60mb 320x240

 

http://files.filefront.com/YT_for_Myspacem...;/fileinfo.html

Small Streaming off my myspace page

 

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...d=766063772&n=2

VP

How did you get the super warm shots? Did you filter it or adjusted in post?

Really nice stuff. Great lighting all over.

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

Is it possible to transfer digibeta tapes of your film into FCP with an actual digi beta camera instead of renting a deck to bring it in?

What stock would have good saturation to the colors?

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

on a hd cam?

This is new video I created with my 35mm adapter. Its footage collected from my life so I suppose you could call it a video blog. I?m looking for ways to improve it before I release it. Any other criticism is welcome.

 

DIRECT LINK to streaming

http://www.vilekyle.com/Vid%20Blogs/Love%20Life%20pics/

 

Link to Page with Stills and all downloadable qualities HERE

 

]

I really enjoyed that.

Looks like you'd have talent for the "slice of life" commercial genre.

Was everything shot with the 35 mm adapter?

I liked the out of focus parts.

What cameras, filters etc?

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

What would be a good Tungsten stock that has nice contrast and saturated colors like Velvia?

I've read in two seperate places in the NPR manual that everything is permanently oiled and not to ever lubricate anything.

Why are you guys talking about oiling th ecamera? Were the Eclair people wrong?

Just curious.

Its a very good camera, of course its not film, but it looks really good. Plus the workflow is amazing, those p2 cards save so much time its ridculous.

I'd love for you to respond to these questions if you get a second:

1-Where did you buy the camera and at what price?

2-Did you see better deals elsewhere since buying it?

3-How many minutes do you actually get on a P2 card at 24p 1080 (4 or 8 gig?)

4-Whee you downloading as you where shooting? Looks like a pretty long shoot.

Thanks a bunch.

I'm trying to narrow it down as to where to buy.

Alex

Saw it again and liked it even more.

From a commercial stand point it totally works and I bet the group likes it very much.

I like the song now also.

Don't listen to the haters. It's a music video made to promote a song and it does the job perfectly.

I think I'll buy the HVX instead of the JVC based on this video!

Can we see some footage of the 16mm K9s you have/

I bought one that is hand cranked and will start playing with it soon.

Alex

The whole video was done with the Panasonic HVX?

Who did the editing.

Looks awesome.

Looks great. What did you shoot it on? Any info on lighting used, filters etc?

Alex

www.alexardenti.com

Since the rider is 47 I'll ad a voice over. In the beginning of the spot:

"When I was 17 I felt I could do anything."

At the end of the spot:

"That's funny.... I feel the same today"

Athletes.com is a site that sells supplements that increase performance and overall health. Maybe that will drive the point home.

not bad for a quick shoot and edit, would probably work if the buyer likes it. Personally I think it's too effect heavy, the color to black and white back to color, the pic in pic, the wide screen to non-widescreen, made me feel like you were relying on the "star fade" feature on lisa simpsons home movie editing kit. jk.

I would recut with no effects and see how you like it, you might be surprised.

kirk

Yeah, it was more of a test on how many FCP effects I can jam into 30"!

But hey, guess what?? The owner of that site has another site he wants me to do a spot for. He really liked it!

I just found out tonight.

Small budget but I'll do a much better job on this one. I'll actually take it seriously now that it's my first actual "commercial" :) even if they want it on mini dv :(

I figure that if they love the new one they will trust me to do a Tv spot on film.

Thanks

Alex

I think I am just trusting Guy Bodart on this.

I wanted to get the ACL simply because they are newer models.

It also seems like several features where done on the NPR but haven't heard anyone using an ACL for features, mostly news.

I need help in this department also.

Maybe Guy can post on this thread and delineate the pros and cons for each?

Alex

Toutube.com's quality sucks.

Anybody know of a betetr site that shows off our work a little better?

Should'nt be that bad at close to 100 megs on Quicktime.

Any help?

Well. he sells both and shoots most of his stuff on the NPR. Since he has access to a lot of 16mm cameras that's gotta mean something.

I've been researching this for months and seems like no on can give me a good reason not to get an Eclair NPR, except that it's ugly... and it is... but I don't care.

I'll have one in 1-2 weeks so i'll give you feedback if you want it.

good luck

Did everyone forget Reservoir Dogs? That's the first one that pops into my head.

I'd say 90% of it was in the warehouse, the rest were probably 1-2 day shoots at the diner, boss's office, walking down the street etc.

Tarantino probably wrote it with low budget in mind since he wanted to shoot it himself initially on 16mm, b&w

Alex

www.alexardenti.com