Matt Sandstrom

then they will speed up the film to 25 fps in telecine, which is something you'll have to take into account but it's still not a problem. how loud? well, very loud. somewhere between a sewing machine and a coffee grinder. most people shoot guide sound only and loop it all except outdoors with long lenses. /matt

so you're transferring to ntsc? why exactly do you want 24p if your software can't handle 24p? or do you mean 24 fps? don't worry about it. they will change the speed to 23.976 fps in telecine and then add 3:2 pulldown, so you'll get normal ntsc video to work with and the speed won't be off by more than your camera will be to begin with since it's non crystal. and as for that it's easy to fix. just cut the audio and resync every line of dialogue and you'll be fine, or find the drift percentage and change all the audio before you begin. you understand that the camera is loud though, right? that's a much bigger problem. /matt

day: available light. maybe a few bounce cards. nd on the windows that are in frame. night: rent a 12 volt kino kit with some car mount stuff. it's cheaper than you think. put a small bank or two on the outside of the car as key and mini flo's inside for fill, eyelight and dashboard light. /matt

holy crap that was bad. sure, it's not a short film but even as a crappy campaign commercial it's pretty bad. the pictures look good though. /matt

nah, i think you're talking about the pro 35. the mini should mount to anything with a tripod mount and capable of zooming in and focusing properly. what the exact specs are for that i don't know, but you'll likely need a long zoom. i'll try to test it the next time i rent a mini 35 for some other shoot. /matt

that's probably because hd capable scanners always scan in hd and downconvert on the fly if you're going to digibeta. so the signal takes about the exact same path but with an extra loss of a generation. i'm sure hd downconverted to sd looks better than a last generation sd scan ("rank"). /matt

well, you'll have enough light to get an exposure for sure. the problem i've had is that the hdv codec compresses the shadows a lot causing lots of mpeg artifacts, thus you have to light the shadows to a higher f-stop and take them down in post. use one of the redheads for overall fill in each scene and you'll be fine. /matt

any ideas whether hdv is making it into this realm at all? hdcam is only marginally better and much more expensive both for the filmmaker and the festival. mastering to hdv is well within reach for all indie filmmakers whether from a film d.i., hdv, some other hd format, sd video or whatever. i'm not super fond of hdv as an acquisition format due to the compression, but for exhibition it's near perfect, don't you think? /matt

we do? does that include the last name? as for the question, i second the suggestion to use kinos. beware that they are almost too easy to work with tough, which will make you lazy and will cause boring results after a while. what i'm doing for my no budget stuff right now is investing in c-stands, flags, foamcore, blackwrap, gels and such. if you have means to control any light source you can use work lights, redheads, the sun, practicals, a single rented hmi or whatever your producer can afford and create fantastic stuff. /matt (sandström)

cool, great to have you here. the film does indeed look fantastic. one more question: what kind of diffusion was used? i found it remarkable that it had such a big impact on the highlights while not softening the rest of the image at all. post effect? it didn't look that way, mainly because off camera lights bleeded into the frame as well, but it could be i guess. is the mist in the shanghai exteriors natural haze or created with a filter too? /matt

i use what i like to call the nypd blue technique, i.e. moving the camera constantly but smoothly and quite slowly. try to draw ellipses or eights over the scene for example. this way i can shoot smooth handheld footage up to at least 25mm or so. /matt

yes, overhead lighting and a kino or china ball above the camera sounds like a plan. make sure you flag or scrim the fill so it doesn't get too hot on the foreground characters. /matt

the front element rotates as you pull focus, so you can't really put a matte box on it, nor an anamorphic adapter. a wide angle converter should work fine though. /matt

i have some here. click behind the scenes. i directed this one. johan nordström was the dp. there are at least a few images showing some equipment, even though like david johan likes to light from outside of the scene to keep it simple and allow for more moving around. http://www.mattias.nu/jagbaraundrar/ /matt

i see your point and i almost agree, but to me framing as well as camera moves always came first. maybe you mean that's more the director's job? (this is drifting off topic, so feel free to ignore what i'm about to say) i work both as a director and a dp but rarely at the same time, and i tend to leave the lighting and the operating to the dp when i'm directing, but i'm the one who selects the camera angles and moves, but i'm representing a minority these days it seems. /matt

i do. all i was commenting on was who *invented* it. it sounded like you were trying to prove me wrong by bringing up a completely different issue. /matt

same. i disagree. i think pro8 are capitalizing on the work of hundreds of filmmakers since several decades ago. when i read the original statement of said toronto guys about their "new" format i reacted the same way as i did when i saw pro8 offering it. rick and mitch corrected themselves and will forever enjoy the fame of bringing this format to audiences, but will pro8 do the same? if they would say "using an idea that has been around since forever, but taken to new levels by pro8" i would probably buy it, but never as long as they make false claims. simple as that. /matt

thanks guys. i'll let you know how it goes. /matt

yes, i do. :-) don't let that stop you though. i suggest you bring a powerful light on a stand, maybe a blonde or a 1k worklight, which you can use to bring up a very dark background, bounce off the ceiling for ambient fill and/or a soft top key, use as backlight for separation, or shoot right at the subject if you just can't get an exposure otherwise. it doesn't take very long to setup and will make your life easier and the film better looking. /matt

hey, i'm thinking of building my own fixture for a ringlight tube and i was just wondering whether all 12 volt ballasts are flicker free. i can't see why they wouldn't since they operate on dc power and can create any frequency they like, and since higher is better for a number of reasons... the problem is just that the cheap ballasts i'm looking at don't specify anything of this so how can i tell? thanks, /matt

don't change the subject. it's quite likely that theirs is the first feature shot with a wide gate, but that's not the same thing as them inventing it. the idea has been around for as long as i've been surfing the super 8 internet boards, i.e. around eight or nine years, but i wouldn't be surpised if somebody already did it back in the 70's. if you already know about super 16 and super 35 it's not rocket science to figure out that you can do the same thing with super 8, is it? and mind you by that i'm not saying an invention has to be the work of a genious. EDIT: so you see i'm not with santo here -- i think pro8 invented it even less than mitch and rick. :-) /matt

don't be silly. of course they're not. /matt

i think mine was a fair comment. your question does have some built in confusion. and anyway if you can't take a jackass or two i suggest you stop asking questions. we're trying to have fun here, as friends do. it releases tension and can even help getting us further in the discussions. in my opinion. /matt

since it's "per millimeter" it's obviously the same as any other gauge. :-) /matt

i know what you're saying but do you realize who you're talking to right now? ;-) anyway, i've never compared the canon to a prime, but i've compared it to itself and if you don't see that it's not sharp wide open you're *blind*. so i was gonna post a disclaimer in my last post that there's in fact one more guy who is a religious fundamentalist in addition to santo, but i guess i was just secretly hoping that you wouldn't show up. i see now that you were already here, so it was a huge mistake on my part. sorry. :-) how do you know? if you think the shots he's posted here were meant to be reference shots you're even more blind than if you think the canon is sharp wide open. he even put tape on the lens to make it flare, go figure... /matt