Marty Hamrick

1. what are your favorite cameras (models) and lenses to work with? >

16mm sync-Aaton XTR or even older LTR followed by the Arri SR and Eclair ACL or NPR.Haven't really decided which Eclair I like better.I haven't shot film in quite a while so this coming from memory.MOS-I like the Beaulieu R-16 or Bolex Rex.

2. do you prefer to work with all those digital gadgets and features on your cameras,or do you like shooting just with a "naked" mechanical camera like in old times (and by the way,does anyone at all shoot like that these days?)>

I like to keep it simple.If a digi gadget helps then I'll use it.Otherwise I prefer it "naked".I don't like the recent trend of burying the iris inside the camera as many cheaper video cameras are made.Irises belong on the lens barrell only imo.

3. do you own your own 35mm or 16mm camera, and do you ever shoot at home or in nature or street, or wherever, just for amateur-style recreation and fun with it?( i know film is expensive as hell) (and i know you can't own a panaflex)

>I used to own film gear but recently sold it all as it was just sitting around.I shoot about 95% video now,not by choice but it's just what the folks who pay my bills want.Majority of what I shoot is news/doc stuff so I think it's safe to say that the film days in that market are about all gone.I like to mess around with super 8,music videos and such,but at home lately I've gotten more intersted in shooting stills with a classic old Nikon F.

4. by the way, has anyone here shot anything in 65mm?>Nope,though I have worked with 65mm neg in a lab,nothing serious just prepped it for workprint and I've worked with it in the projection booth on a Century 35/70 machine.

Marty

John,

When did you guys come out with mag striped 16mm for news?I know some of the old timers before me shot optical sound out in the field,though no one is sure when mag stripe came out.

Marty

Wasn't there an Ektachrome 7256 MS.I want to say it was a daylight balanced stock ASA 50 or something like that??

Marty

I then realized that the magazine could not leave the camera, since the frame lines would then be very unlikely to line up with those during shooting. Hmm, maybe you could mark the gate on the film before dismounting it. Too tedious?

You could certainly do that.Mark the frame off when you first load the mag.It is tedious but it works.

Marty

Where does news fit into this?In over 2 decades of covering news,I've seen this redefined several times and have thus had to attend something like 5 or 6 legal seminars on what we can and can't show.

I've got enough common sense to know that if I'm doing a piece about child molestation and I need generic video of kids on a playground while the reporter quotes stats,I know not to use anything that ID's one of the children.Yet if a truck on a high speed chase plows into a Burger King, we are now told NOT to ID BK.We have to shoot around any logos and whatnot.For crying out loud,that's what happened!I'm not doing a fictional peice,I'm covering a real event.Has the case for paranoid retailers gotten this far?

As for music,I worked at one station that used copyrighted music for news special series and it came under the umbrella of the dues they were paying to BMI/ASCAP.As long as it was for a news piece and not a commercial it was OK.Now I'm at another station and we are told never to use any popular music,but to pull it from our library.I think the station Im at now pays dues,but apparently either laws have changed or this station has a different agreement.Anyone have any more knowledge on this?

Marty

I wanted to ask anyone who owns an Arri IIc or used one enough to know what the shutter looks like looking in from the gate out to the lens? What I'm specifically talking about are the sprocket teeth that are around the central column of the shutter. Are yours painted black or are they exposed metal?

Mine (that is before I sold it)was painted black.Is yours variable?The reason I ask,is that if there is something out of kilter on your shutter and it's not locking it into a particular setting,I've heard that can cause some flicker problems.

Now I looked at those bare metal sprockets on the inner side of the shutter and it has me scratching my long haired head, maybe that has been the cause of my misery?

I don't recall ( been over a year since I sold my 2 C and over 5 years since I used it) exactly,but that doesn't sound right to me.I just remember seeing the shutter,which was black and had the markings for where you set the degrees.I don't recall seeing bare shutter teeth.Hope this helps.

Marty

. One thing that some experimental filmmakers were doing in the early 1970's was shooting on ECO and printing onto Kodachrome, which looked great. Of course, all the prints have perfect color while the original has faded to pink...

I was working in a lab back then.I miss ECO not only for an original but it made a great intermediate stock as well.I can understand why it was discontiued,but I have yet to see anything look quite like it.

ECO was bad to fade...ugh...gonna have to dig up some of my early work and see how bad it's gotten.

Marty

A lot of the charm from the silent era came out of certain looks,gestures and visual gags that sort of faded a little when sound came in.

I'm primarily a TV news photographer and in the National Press Photographer's Association's workshops I have attended over the years,we have done exercises where we are given story lines and told to shoot no more than 4 minutes of raw silent video to be cut down to one minute.

If something from a particular silent era film touches you,I suggest you analyze what combination of visual elements brought about that feeling.

Marty

Please elaborate, Phil.

Marty

You could also consider compositing the projected image, if the shot is a lock-off. Then you can film at any light level you want (just do me a favor and insist to your editor that the black levels of the projected image aren't darker than the screen it's projected on -- drives me nuts whenever I see that!)

<I just learned that this will be a dolly shot where we need to see the football players in the FG as the coach speaks.So we also may need to see some projected image spill onto the actor.

A trick I've learned for balancing exposure between live action and a screen or monitor image is to simply look at the video tap image (or a similar on-set video camera). Basically, if it looks reasonable on the tap it won't look any WORSE on film. Of course you still need to synch the projector and camera.

Yeah,I pulled that off a few weeks ago doing a story on the Passion of the Christ opening up where I needed to shoot a reporter standup with the screen in the BG,got a slight flicker, and for that purpose,the screen was perfect,the darkness and lack of sharpness actually helped hide the goriness we couldn't show.

I have a new option just presented to me today.For this shot alone,a friend suggested I used his Canon Scoopic(for this shot only) that had been converted to be used to shoot sync with an Optasound cassette deck.For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about,Optasound was a short lived system that used a sync pulse coming from a pre pulsed tape.The camera was equipped to "slave"to the pulses via a multi pin cable.Tomorrow night I intend to test this by installing a 1 F switch to the projector (basically a magnet attached to the shutter shaft that closes a switch every time the shutter turns and connecting it to the remote/sync input of the Scoopic,thereby "slaving" the camera to the projector.

All sound is to be foleyed and dubbed in so cam noise won't be an issue and there is only about 8 seconds of lip sync in the spot.I'm also having a friend convert the projector with a camera type shutter as I write this so David's flash meter idea sounds doable.

Anyone out there remember Optasound and 1 F switches?

Marty

You could also consider compositing the projected image, if the shot is a lock-off. Then you can film at any light level you want (just do me a favor and insist to your editor that the black levels of the projected image aren't darker than the screen it's projected on -- drives me nuts whenever I see that!)

I thought of that,but the producer/director wants this shot to be a dolly,we need to see football players heads in the FG as the coach paces back and forth,so there also has to be some image spill on the coach(just found that out today and my shoot date is sometime in July, about 6 days before I have to leave for a 3 day shoot to cover one of the conventions in either NY or Boston,forget which),so I may opt for a cheap fix of an all video shoot.But I haven't given up yet.>

A trick I've learned for balancing exposure between live action and a screen or monitor image is to simply look at the video tap image (or a similar on-set video camera). Basically, if it looks reasonable on the tap it won't look any WORSE on film. Of course you still need to synch the projector and camera.>

Right,I thought of that and while I don't have a video tap for the Arri S, I had a friend 'Jerry rig" a cheap vidcam to the VF for such,hell it works.

I had heard once upon a time that Ikegami was going to offer a removable hard drive camcorder for ENG but they were having a stability problem.I heard one news director describe it as "trying to operate a laptop out in the field over rough terrain."

Marty

Does it change if I convert the projector to a camera type shutter or will the same meter trick work?

Marty

Since the 16mm projector either has a double or a triple-bladed shutter, you can shoot the image without any sycning if you don't mind the pulsing and flickering. The more blades in the shutter, the less flickering.

 

Otherwise, you need to use a projector with a single-bladed shutter (like are used with rear projection set-ups) and sync the camera's shutter to it (I've never done it myself.)

Since the 16mm projector either has a double or a triple-bladed shutter, you can shoot the image without any sycning if you don't mind the pulsing and flickering. The more blades in the shutter, the less flickering

Probably the way I go.The shot's about 8 seconds long and some flicker may not be objectionable.At this point it may end up being shot on video with an LCD projector anyway.

Otherwise, you need to use a projector with a single-bladed shutter (like are used with rear projection set-ups) and sync the camera's shutter to it (I've never done it myself.)>

Right,I've done this years ago with a super 8 projector synced up with a 1 F switch synced to a super 8 camera.I just wondered if there was a way to with 16mm.I know how to install the switch in the projector,but not sure how to sync the Arri S this way.

I was also wondering about how to meter the projection screen with the FG since the image on the screen is only up for 24th of a second.

Marty

Hi Folks,

Got a shot at a commercial here that involves a football coach reaming out his players while showing game footage on an old 16mm projector.We need to see one master shot with the coach near the screen and projection with the projector in the FG.

This is low budget.I may end up shooting it on video and using a telecine projector,but if we go with film,our camera choices are an Arri S or Auricon Pro 600.I've been thinking of doing the sync by way of the AC mains,but such gear is hard to come these days.Anybody here got any McGiver tricks?It's also been over 20 years since I did anything like this for film so I'm not sure how to meter this.

Marty

As long as it's MOS, I would go with a Beaulieu R-16.I shot much TV news "B" roll with one as well as medical documentaries and indusrials.Threading can be a bit of a nuscience,but when I shot with 100 foot loads with a 17-68 zoom, as well as a 10mm prime,it was a Godsend.

I even managed to shoot some sync with it after much trial and error ( mostly error) with blimping the thing.But it sports a TTL meter and auto/semi auto iris.

Now sync was a different story.It was harder to silence than a Bolex or Arri or M because it made a high pitched whine much like my ex wife.

Marty

Wasn't Night of the Living Dead shot on 16mm reversal?

Marty

Way to go Greg! I wish you and your bride to be many years of love, good health and happy wedded bliss.

 

Also belated congrats to Mitch Gross and his wife on the new baby!

My congrats too,Greg and to you too,Mitch.I had not heard,is this your first?Boy or girl?Here's a virtual cigar.

Marty

I don't follow the 70IRE "standard" for skin highlights either. If I do, they come out way overexposed.

 

But I agree with Mitch, I use a monitor to judge exposure, and use zebras only to see what's blowing out to white (95+IRE).

I finally figured out how to put the two sets of zebras in the viewfinder.70 and 100 so I can keep the whites down to 100 and the highlights of the faces in the 50-70 range,70 being in the highlights.Of course much depends on the talent,dark skin vs.light skin.

Usually I'm dead on the money,just every now and then there's a discrepancy.Today I was doing a shot with the sat truck and could peek in and see the waveforms and scopes.I don't usually have that luxary.Thanks guys.

Marty

They may be basing decisions on the overall signal and keeping a majority below 100 IRE while you may actually be basing the exposure on how you want the image to look.

Could be,but what puzzles me sometimes is that I get "Talent's face looks hot".While I know my zebras are at 70 IRE in just a little of the highlights on the face.

Marty

I have 5 viewfinders but only a couple lenses and I doubt they are much good (Canon 50mm tv lens). I have a couple of c-mount lenses from a non-reflex Bolex, will they work OK? Will any C-Mount work as long as it screws all the way in? I noticed a 75mm Switar hits the center turrent screw.

I've never had much luck with putting a TV lens of any kind on a film camera.Other folks have and have no complaints,but they always look soft to me.Switars were generally made for Bolexes but if it came off of a non reflex.it should be OK in theory,though if it's hitting the center turret screw,that doesn't sound good.If it's not going all the way in,it's not hitting the right focal plane.

As fars as C mounts go,they all should work in theory,unless they are Rex C mounts in which they're calibrated for Bolex Rex cameras.

The only way you can really tell is by testing.

Marty

I've never really had much of a problem with exposure for video,though I think it's safe to say I've stretched it to it's limits and back.I still get puzzled from time to time when I'll set my iris for what zebras are reading (70 % IRE rule for highlights on caucasian skin)and the engineers back at the shop (if going live)or director/engineer(If multi cam)will tell me to iris up or down depending on what they're seeing on their scopes and monitors.I've seen camera monitors and zebras disagree with vectorscopes and monitors as much as 40%.Is this bad calibration?Lack of standardization?I've only noticed this recently (last 5 years or so).Before that,regardless of what camera I was using,if I set the iris by what my eye,veiwfinder and zebras read,95% there was no disagreement with the vectorscopes and monitors at misssion control.What could be happening here?

Marty

that was the direction i was thinking of taking, but my lecturer seems to think its still to big a subject, unless i can refine it down more.

I joined this discussion late so I may be out of your loop.Anyway, if you're going for basics,you could stick with visual language.How film has a grammer and syntax much like the printed word.I worked in corporate multi media and the clients I dealt with were so print minded and literal interpretation oriented every video they wanted me to do was more or less a talking head reading of a text book,or might as well have been.You might focus on how film,video,TV works in a diametrically opposed mechanic than print.That is print stimulates the emotions by going through the intellect.Film and TV go through the emotions (right brain)to get to the intellect(left brain).Just a suggestion.

Marty

Congrats.

 

You just elevated the whole forum.

 

Drinks?

What do you drink David?If you're ever in Florida or the next time I'm in LA,it's on me.I'm not much for anything alcoholic (health nut here)except maybe an occasional imported dark German beer.I'll raise one in your honor!

Marty

There are even projects that "Super16-ify" Super8, widening the gate and allowing light to fall on the "sound-stripe" area.

Who is doing this and how are they doing it?What is the aspect ratio they are converting the gate to?I've often thought that super 8 still had some more life as a viable format especially if it could fit the HDTV aspect ratio as well as super 16 does.

Marty

Once again David ,congrats!With a special recognition to your wife for her support for your dreams and aspirations.She is very special woman indeed and you well deserve your recognition.I'll be looking forward to seeing more of your work on some bigger budget films.I'm curious to see if there is a trade off somewhere with the intimacy of a smaller budget indie as opposed to a high budget blockbuster.Keep us posted.

Marty