Dorian Soracco

For the night interiors, I would go for a warm, under-exposed key (1/2 to 1 stop under) with a key-fill ratio of about 8:1. I would also recommend a lot of fall-off using nets/flags to subtly boost the accent on the subjects, motivate realistic candle lighting, and create vignetting in the corners of your frame. Maybe use black wrap or a snoot over your lighting units to better focus the light and reduce spill on unwanted areas. I would also suggest playing with a cool moonlight raking across certain parts of the set or subtly backlighting characters. This would be a harder light with a light CTB or steel blue gel.

Thanks, Michael. Could you comment a little on these streak filters? I'm definitely planning on researching them for this project. I've heard of them being used to augment or alter flare patterns. Is this their only use or do people use them for other purposes? Are different manufacturers known for having different results? This is obviously a testing issue, but I like to go into a test with as much knowledge as possible.

I mostly want to use anamorphic lenses for the horizontal flares as well as the distorted bokeh. I do understand that all anamorphics are unique. It might be tough. I was checking out Clairmont's set of primes, they seem reasonably priced, any thoughts on this? It's probably just a matter of shooting a lot of tests. Also, as you mentioned, I want to be able to shoot 2.40 with minimal pixel loss. What, then, would you recommend to someone who wants to shoot 2.40 on an HVX with a lens adapter system? As far as practicality in the physical setup goes, the whole idea might be more trouble than it's worth. I'm wondering if anyone here has actually tried this setup and has anything to say about it.

Thanks Chris. I was worried about being able to unsqueeze the image during production, but I may just have to live with it. About the Redrock, I was thinking of going with the Letus Extreme instead. Is this any better as far as stability goes? I would say my 1st is very capable, but he hasn't pulled for anamorphic before. It's only a 4 day shoot, so the cost may not be a big issue for them. I'll definitely keep in contact with you, could you send me your number? Would you say all of the primes are the that slow, including the shorter focal lengths? I'm not too concerned about being able to shoot a T4, as most scenes are day exteriors, and I'm not worried about the few interiors.

I'm shooting a short on an HVX200 with the Redrock M2 35mm lens adapter. Is there a way to shoot with anamorphic lenses on this adapter, or even on this camera for that matter? Are the lenses mountable on this system? If so, which lenses work best with the HVX/Redrock combo? Any recommended rental houses for this?