Micah Ellars

I am shooting miniatures and scale model sets in a short that I am working on. We are shooting s16mm. I am having some doubts about overexposing the miniature lights ( LEDs, halogens, grain of wheat, and fiberoptic ). The one thing that CAN NOT happen is to be able to see that our lights on our models are just that, lights on models. I need them to be overexposed so they sort of look like a flare, that way they will appear to be larger and brighter. Some of the ships will be moving so I can't really add flares in post. Is there any way to be sure I cause the little lights to be overexposed and still get some decent detail with the rest of the set? I am going for a hight contrast look. dark blacks and blurry lights. I am shooting on a K3, so if lenses are going to be recomended please keep that in mind. Right now I don't know what film stock I am going to use(because of this little problem). I haven't shot them on film yet. They look great on digital ( not that that helps ). I need the lights to be overexposed slightly ( so they appear to be balls of light ) I need some level of detail for the other objects that are in focus. I need to be ble to get the models on focus just a foot away from the camera. Thanks in Advance, Micah

Hey if you could post some still from your k3 shoot. Also what lens are you using? -Micah

I live on the east coast and am about 4 hours away from any decent rental house.

My K3 hasn't arrived yet. So you CAN'T focus less than two meters away? What about the the peleng 8mm lens that is recommended? I really need to get the closest possible focus with mine so if ANYONE has any suggestions as to what lens will work, I am going to be filming some scale models and need a good depth of feild and the ability to keep things very close ( 1 to 2 inches ) in focus. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Thanks again Rene. When you get done with your first shoot on the k3 I would love to see some of the footage. Let me know how it all goes and if you have any problems. If it looks promising enough I might get one upgraded, like the packages on the link you sent me.

Thanks phil, any idea of what camera they used and any programs to stabilise?

Thanks for the information. I am going to experiement around witht he digital camera. Also, I would have to shoot a very high end s16 camera like I arriflex or aaton, maybe even an eclair, correct? In order to get a stable enough image for the chroma work? I was going to do some film tests of a bolex or a k3 just to see how the chroma will work. Will the image be to unstable to shoot on those cameras? Thanks again.

BTW, I wonder about your numbers. Only $1000 for film? It costs about $.50 -.60/foot to buy 16mm film stock, have it developed and transfered to video for editing. 16mm runs at 36 ft./minute, so you're talking about less than one hour of raw material. Is that really enough for your project? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I was speaking only of my personal costs. It looks liek I am going to have someone who is going to digitalize the footage free of charge. That is why I said ~1000 dollars, I was just counting the film not the digital transfer. I may have to shoot on video however it all depends on how my film camera situation is going to pan out.

Thanks I have shecked out the frazier before but I can not find any clips or examples , would anyone know where I can see some examples by clips? I have not had much luck googling with this topic

Rene, is clip #1 really k3 footage??? (the one about the symphony) becuase that is a very impressive image fir 16mm. Please let me know thanks

Do you know where I can find more information about this specifically. I will ook at the innovison and snorkle lens. If you have any more information that would be appreciated.

I have a production where we are shooting scale models. I have not deiced yet if we are going to shoot the whole film in digital or film yet. Does anyone know a way to build or a place to buy or rent a miniature camera to film some scale models with? The goal is to get a camera small enough that it mades the model appear a size closser to what it would be in the real world, were it not so small. All the sets are in the scale of 1 inch equals 4 feet. So when vehicles pass by the camera they need to be bigger than the lens. So say a vehicle which is 5 inches tall appears to be closer to 20 feet tall. I saw a guys site who had built a miniture camera and ran it into his bolex, but the video was so compressed I couldnt tell what the quality of the picture was. Can I build or buy a camera that will be small enough to work in my scale model world and match the quality of a panasonic sdx900 or s16mm film? If anyone has experience or knowledge it would be greatly appreciated.

Hey its a panasonic sdx900. So the 35mm blow up is a waste of time if I shoot the panasonic? ITs either the 900 for free or renting a arri or atton and that will cost about $1500 for the rental ( thats for the most effienct shooting imaginable ) and anotehr $1000 for the film stock. I really prefer the film look, but another thing I worry about is that there will be several chroma shots, and many people have adviced me against shooting s16mm for keyed scenes due to the irregular registration and blur from the film. Any one have any opinions on this? SDX900 in 16x9 (for free) vs super 16mm for ~2,500. will the movie look very good on the sdx900?

I have not yet decided what to shoot on. DV or film. I have the option of shooting dvcpro for free and blowing it up to film. OR just shooting film. It will be much sheaper to shoot DV, unless I blow it up to 35mm then it will be about the same as shooting s16mm. If anyone has any experince blowing up to 35 from DV let me know wha tyou thought. I have downloading some videos and traliers for movies shot on digital taht wre blown ip to 35mm and from what I can tell it was a pretty decent hybrid look. Is it worth it to blow it up and does it really give a more film like look? The only people I have talked to about it are the ones who blow it up to 35mm and they will generally tell you anything you want to hear. So worth it or not?

Thank you all for your input. So I might be better off shooting a panasonic DVCpro camera and getting it blown up to 35mm??? Registration woul dbe a huge problem since I am planning on doing some chromma key work in this production and we need a steady image. I would still shoot film if I could get an arri or and atton for a decent price. I am fluent with video cameras but, I prefer film bigtime. The bolex would be free but I guess I will have to look at video or renting a arri or atton.

I have the option of shooting a bolex for free. I am thinking about going to s16mm. Can the bolex with a nice lens acheive a similar quality to that of say an arriflex ( which I am content with the quality ). What are the best lens for a bolex. I will need a wide lens since its gonna be s16mm. It will be entirely in studio shooting with alot of high contrast lighting. I am not a DP, but I will be directing the production. Our options are rent a nice s16mm film camera. Shoot the bolex for free. Or shoot DVCpro. Cost is an issue that is why I am considering using the bolex, so if anyone knows if I can acheive images somewhat comparable to a aaton or arri with a bolex, let me know what lens you reccomend for these conditions. It is mostly wide shots neded since a lot of what we will be filming in the production is scale models. If anyone has any links to some very nice looking bolex footage I would most appreciate it as well. If anyone thinks I am wasting my time with a bloex please let me know. Thanks for the time.

Thanks for the link. It was helpful and let me know how your shoot goes, I would like to see a sample of it if possible. Oh and do you know what kind of film that was being shot on that k3?

Hi, Can the k3 camera be quieted? I know that Get On The Bus was shot on that camera I have seen production still with Spike shooing it. How did he get it quiet enough so that sound could be recorded on the shoot? Also Is the picture quality that great for the k3? I have seen the movie Get on the Bus and it looked pretty decent to me, but I did not see it projected. Has anyone shot a k3 with the s16mm modification? I am planning on doing just that and was wandering how good the quality is? If it will look good enough and I can get it quiet enough I would like to use it for a production. I know that I need a decent lens and I am panning on converting it to digtial and then the final output will be DVD. If anyone here knows or has used the k3 and feels its quality is high enough to shoot s16 on and there may be a way to quiet it I would love to know. If anyone knows how Spike Lee got it to be quiet in his film please let me know. And if anyone has horror stories about this camera I am interested to hear them. I would be filmming some chroma scenes and scale models with it. All teh dialogue scenes shot can be synced up in post if I can get the thing to be quiet? Or would I be better of shooting Digital? I only have access to a panasonic DVCpro camera.