Andrew Walker

Its true that drives can crash and files can get corrupted but you can backup the files and check them on set to avoid problems like this. You cannot do this with film. To be honest my onset experience with film has been running dailies. So I get to see everything that they print...or use to. Most of the stuff starts with film dailies then moves to digital files. But I've seen plenty of scratched negatives, camera malfunctions and lab errors that are only caught later on that cost big money to fix. This price far out weighs the price of drives and computers...depending on what system you get of course. The RED startup time right now is under a minute. Not sure what your doing but that isn't very long in my eyes. Plus the new cameras coming out are suppose to have even faster startup times. On the subject of getting some quick shots and having a couple mags of film, which is a little laughable to me thinking about. With my RED I can go out and shoot all day or night and come back to my place and start processing or editing clips together. I don't have to wait for a lab. My biggest wait would be render times, which I would bet is much shorter than the total lab turnaround time.

I saw this clip over at Reduser and I took it as a funny little short. Do I agree with what is being said in it, that film is going to be dead and buried...sure at some point but not right away. I work with film a lot, just on the other side of it...projection (not at theaters). So I see some really good stuff shot on film and some really horrible stuff. I like working with the medium because its something you can hold in your hands and see. But as far as filmmaking goes I think digital is a huge benefit, especially for the people like me that shoot stock. For me it would be ridiculous for me to go out and shoot stock on film. I've seen people do it and it looks way to cumbersome and the cost of just going out to get some shots isn't cost effective. Plus I've seen film cameras scratch film or have some huge mechanical problem that was only found after it came back from the lab on big budget productions, not a student film. Wouldn't it be a huge help if you could spot problems like that before you moved onto another setup. Tom is right in his description of the Red. It is like a DSLR that shoots at 24fps. Look at what the DSLR has done to the 35mm SLR cameras. I use to love shooting on 35mm but I could never do the timelapse shots I do with a 35mm SLR camera. I understand that you film guys just want to hold onto film as long and as hard as you can. But trying to trash a camera that is damn close to the look of film doesn't seem very educated...it seems more fearful than anything else.

Here's what Barry Green posted in DVXuser.com on how to do the frame rate hack. I would post the link but this is faster for everyone. "Here's the procedure: 1) Get a scene file text file on an SD card, usually by going into menu 8, CARD FUNCTIONS, and saving scene files to your SD card. 2) Open the scene file text file in the PRIVATE\MEIGROUP\PAVCN\SBG\P2SD directory, called SCENE1.TXT (or scene2.txt, scene3.txt, or scene4.txt) using a text editor like Windows Notepad 3) Look for the next-to-last item in the scene file. Here's what a sample scene file text file looks like: 00005000: 8 ; DETAIL LEVEL: 0 00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0 00005002: 8 ; DETAIL CORING : 0 00005003: 8 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 0 00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0 00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0 00005006: 16 ; MASTER PED: 0 00005007: 8 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: 0 00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF 00005009: 0 ; GAMMA : HD NORM 0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO 0000500B: 0 ; MATRIX: NORM 0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF 0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN 0000500E: 0 ; OPERATION TYPE: VIDEO CAM 0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT 00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN : That next-to-last item is: 0000500F: 0 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT You can ignore everything after the semicolon; the semicolon indicates that it's a "comment" and will have no bearing on anything else (so, in this example, the part that says "; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT " is useless, it affects nothing, it's just there for human-readable description). So the relevant part is: 0000500F: 0 The only thing you would want to change is that last number (in this case, "0"). To get different frame rates, use one of the following numbers: 0 = DEFAULT 1 = 2fps 2 = 3fps 3 =4fps 4 = 6fps 5 = 8fps 6 = 10fps 7 = 12fps 8 = 14fps 9 = 16fps 10 = 18fps 11 = 20fps 12 = 22fps 13 = 23fps 14 = 24fps 16 = 26fps 17 = 27fps 18 = 28fps 19 = 30fps 20 = 32fps 21 = 34fps 22 = 36fps 23 = 38fps 24 = 40fps 25 = 42fps 26 = 44fps 27 = 46fps 28 = 48fps 29 = 50fps 30 = 52fps 32 = 54fps 33 = 56fps 34 = 58fps 35 = 60fps 36+ = repeat of sequence from 50fps to 60fps So, for example, if you wanted to get a frame rate of 2 FPS, your modified line would look like this: 0000500F: 1 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT And if you wanted 44 fps, it would look like this: 0000500F: 26 ; FRAME RATE: DEFAULT (don't try higher than 35; I tried 36 and it set it to 50fps, 37 set it to 52, so I think it just repeats 50-60 for all fields set higher than 36) 4) Save your modified text file back onto your SD card 5) Put the SD card back in the camera, go to CARD FUNCTIONS, and read the scene files into the camera. Now, when you go to the appropriate scene file, you'll see the new frame rate there. But be aware, the only way to assign these "nonstandard" frame rates is through the SD card. If you use the menu to try to change the frame rate, you'll lose it -- it'll immediately jump to 60, and then only allow the normal rates to be selected. You'd have to re-load the scene file from the SD card in order to re-establish your "nonstandard" frame rate."

I added a little contast in FCP but that was it. I used 2 4GB P2 cards and a P2 Store for the shoot. Can't wait to get the 16GB cards because those 4GB ones fill up fast. Glad you liked the timelapse and the music video. The lighting was really tough in that place because it was small and everyone was freaking out for some reason. I tried to do the best with what I had. I have a remote controller that Canon makes for its 20D and up cameras that fires off the frames. I take all the still frames and import them into Motion and let that program do the assembling. FCP can do the same thing but I like using Motion better. The HVX is really only good to use in the day for timelapse stuff...or at least for me. The 20D allows me to keep the shutter open much longer and collect more light, which is what I need shooting the night time stuff.

The HVX was set for the 2fps hack. It was only for the first shot. All the other stuff was with a Canon 20D.

The soundtrack is from "V for Vendetta". Glad you liked it.

The timelapse was mostly shot using a Canon 20D but the opening shot of LA was shot with an HVX. (480p Version) http://599productions.com/599/Timelapse%20480p%202.html (720p Version) http://599productions.com/599/Timelapse%20720p%202.html The music video was shot about a little over a month ago. I shot, directed and edited it together. I also did the eye effects in Shake. It was fun to shoot but dealing with the band afterwards was a bit much. They didn't like this version and decided to edit their own version of it. They haven't posted it yet but it should be out soon. (480p) http://599productions.com/599/Dance%20Dead%20480p.html

Jim, its kind of the same concept with film. Running film is just a series of frame put together in order running at 24fps. That's the same way timelapse works except you are getting each frame at a much slower rate than 24fps. The footage that was HVX was the clouds in the day time. I've tried using my HVX for some night stuff and for me it didn't cut it. Also never shoot auto just like everyone else said. But if you are doing some kind of day to night shot then you would have to use auto I guess. I haven't tried that yet. Seems like you would have to use a computer to change the aperture when the sun goes down enough.

Here's some timelapse I did with a Canon 20D DSLR and the HVX. I'm sure some of you have already seen it from DVXuser. In two sizes. http://599productions.com/599/TLN480p.html http://599productions.com/599/TLN720p.html