steve hyde
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Posts posted by steve hyde
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John,
bad subject title to be sure. You should change it.
bad registration is one of the charms of super 8 and always has been. My Nikon R10 creates a bit of wobble, but it's subtle. My Beaulieu 4008 is always rock solid. YOu might like that camera system if you don't like movement in the frame.
Steve
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John was one of the most knowledgeable and generous experts on the film and cinematography forums. He was a professor of film technology. He helped us learn how film emulsions work and how and why film technologies offer many creative possibilities in digital post production. He was motivated to help people learn.
We have learned a lot from John. He will not be forgotten.
Condolences to his family and friends.
Sincerely,
Steve
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I don't own a cine meter, just an old Weston Master V for still photography. How can I accurately measure the 1/86 and 1/172 in it ? Surely there's a way to compensate or round to the nearest tenth or hundreth ?
Thanks,
SMR
Yes rounding to the nearest tenth should be just fine.
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IIF is coming out on DVD as a double-DVD set with some pretty spectacular special features and the short film Sari's Mother (the 4th chapter of the film) that was also shot and edited by James. It ships in early July.
I was the Post-Coordinator on the film. Are there other questions people had?
Hi Basil,
I imagine many people here would be fascinated to know the post-path you guys traveled on this great looking film. How did you guys make it look and feel so cinematic? Clearly the camera work is key: lots of face close ups and good coverage - master, reverse and main shots (on single camera) and then the editing and sound mix are superb. The grading is also really well done for the DVD. I like the higher contrast look. What kind of wizardry did you guys cook up down at Modern Digital?
Steve
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...no. There are not blue filters in super 8 cameras. Blue filters are not commonly used because there are no real good reasons to shoot daylight balanced stocks under tungsten light - Plus some artificial light sources are daylight balanced - HMIs etc. not to mention that historically, there were no daylight balanced super 8 color films until recently. PRo8, Spectra, Wittier etc. now sells Velvia and Kodak 100D. .. by the way, when shooting black and white stocks filtration is not required - but you can use the filter in bright light if you want to loose a stop.
If you see blue in your lens - you are seeing the multi-spectral lens coatings, which most often look magenta to the naked eye.
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...It looks like the colorist specifically went for a sepia-toned look during the transfer... It's 64T right -not color negative like you posted? If it is 64T you should project the film to see what the colors really look like. Or just put a strip of film down on a light table and look at it with a loupe. Based on the footage you have shown, I think the exposure and film processing are fine and the transfer is where you lost all your colors..
If you forgot to use the daylight filter your film will look discernibly blue because 85 daylight filters are amber in color and they are designed to filter blue rays from the sun. It might be that your film is blue and the colorist decided to go to a more gray-scale look to compensate..
Virtually all Super 8 film is tungsten balanced film which is a film designed for photography under artificial lights. Unlike sunlight - tungsten lights have more yellow rays rather than blue rays so tungsten balanced film looks "normal" when unfiltered indoors under artificial, incandescent, fluorescent, halogen and tungsten lights. (all artificial lights have different "color temperatures" so this is why professional cinematographers use light meters that measure color temperature so that they can make better informed choices about exposure and filtering.
If you shoot tungsten balanced film indoors it will look "normal" unfiltered
If you shoot tungsten balanced film outdoors unfiltered it will look blue (unless you use an amber filter - which is built in to your Canon 814.)
If you shoot daylight balanced film indoors it will look yellow (unless you use a blue filter)
Steve
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....yeah, that is how I read your reply. It was intended to be a subtle joke - e.g. cinema as religion. ;)
I was hoping to start a productive argument on truth and fiction in documentary films. Maybe this isn't the right thread for that... or forum - I don't know?
Steve
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Cinema Verite is not something you can believe in or not, it was a movement that existed - the films that still exist today are the evidence of that at least.
Whether you are a fan or not is another question.
Debates around truth and fact in documentary film are important. I'm of the opinion that all films are inherently fictional since they are highly editorialized - and even if films that are "not" scripted or "directed" (aka Cinema Verite) they are still edited in camera. The word *fiction* comes with a bag of meanings and people choose a meaning to fit the needs of argument. For me fiction means fabrication. In the case of documentary filmmaking in general - a fabricated reality, or in the case at hand, a "fragmented" reality.
When I said, "I am not a believer in Cinema Verite" (a clumsy statement, I admit) what I mean is that I don't believe in a *cinema of truth* that comes out of minimal editing and minimal directing. This said the film, "Iraq in Fragments" is not a verite film - it is a verite-style film and is the product of a distillation of hundreds of hours of footage and while it offers insights into the *truth* of life in Iraq in the current moment, it is still a fabrication of reality that illuminates a specific view from a particular perspective (the perspective of American James Longley and his editing team) They did an extraordinary job with it...brilliant even.
Documentary filmmakers Errol Morris and Werner Herzog have argued that cinema verite, as a documentary genre, has been a tragic set-back to documentary filmmaking. Herzog's manifesto
For me, the argument against cinema verite raises questions of loyalty. Where should documentary filmmakers put their loyalty? Should they create fabrications that uncover a deeper *truth* by giving the documentary subjects direction and even asking subjects/actors to speak specific lines of dialogue or monologue so that the filmmaker can succeed at making a salient point in the ways that Werner Herzog does?
If a documentary film is always a *view from somewhere*, then it is also always a *subjective point of view* and that shatters any possibility of a *purely* objective lens on reality. This said, the argument can be made that documentary filmmakers should be loyal to the principles of good fiction - for me that means creating fabrications in the service of truth....a truth...a subjective truth, which is the only kind of truth a documentary filmmaker will ever have access to.
Steve
EDIT: I started a discussion about Herzog's Minnesota Declaration at:
http://filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/view...80f8d07d082dbf6
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Longley is certainly a brave guy shooting that film... hat's off to him... only hope it can make a little bit of difference in a deeply troubled World....
I'm generally not a believer in cinema verite, but this one has a hold on me. This portrait of Iraq stands alone among the hours and hours of news coverage that is available to viewers. It is a singular view into the every-day-life of people living in a landscape that is being torn to shreds. We often here about the importance of putting a human face on the realities of war - to the filmmakers credit, they invite us to see and linger over human faces in the throes of this war and they do so without bombarding us with graphic images of violence.
Steve
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.. some more FYI for those interested:
http://www.iraqinfragments.com/
http://www.selfreliantfilm.com/?p=195
http://www.daylightfactory.com/
Steve
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....it is a "Red Envelope Entertainment" release. (netflix subsid) It may be that NetFlix is the only place to get it. That is where I rented it.
Steve
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...thanks for posting the article. It is such an interesting documentary for so many reasons. RECOMMEND IT!!!
Technically astounding accomplishment. When Michale Winterbottom's "In This World" came out a few years ago, it became clear to me that great cinema can be made on DV, but this film is so beautifully shot, I'm left nearly speechless. I didn't see the 35mm print - I saw the DVD and for all intents and purposes most all of the shots look like carefully lit celluloid with the contrast of Zeiss. Amazing! It is truly unbelievable that James Longley shot this film as a crew of one on DVX.
What an incredible accomplishment.
FYI:
Post production was done here in Seattle:
Audio
http://www.badanimals.com/flashed.htm
Color
Film Out
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...yeah, I agree - I would add that it is what a *first* Indie feature should be for a company that actually wants to earn a return on the investment. (it helps) The actors are great and can carry a tune. The screenplay is based on the dramatic structure of the "Maltese Falcon".
Rian Johnson enjoys getting feedback and discussing his film at:
(some might want to go there)
Steve
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...I think there is lots of potential for S8 to 35mm blow ups these days, but I would only do it for a short-form film or short segments for a longer form film. If you want something that looks ultra filmic and grainy this would be a nice technique. These days with HD filmouts on Arri Laser machines and fine-grain color negative stocks I see lots of potential for this -especially in the domain of close-up photography where grain is often welcome..... at least to my eyes.
Steve
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You might want to consider the 3056 for shooting in situations where a quiet camera is required. It seems like a bit of a waste to use it for time-lapse, assuming it even does time-lapse, since basically the camera is being worn out in a situation where a "noiser" camera would be just as effective and perhaps more. The 3056 definitely don't have time-exposure.
...didn't know the 3056 has a reputation for being quiet. That's nice. I read somewhere that the NIZO 3056 is auto-exposure only. That got me worried. We need manual exposure control.
As far as "time exposure" goes. (not to be confused with time-lapse) the only S8 camera that I know about that has "time exposure" is the Leicina Special..... are there others?
Steve
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I don't own one, but apparently it does have manual exposure... and a +/- button. The camera seems to be tricked out with all the features you would find on a 481, 561, 801, but does 36fps slomo instead of 54fps. Unless your looking for a quite camera, the Nizo 481 macro winds my vote as the best S8 cam out there... so small and so loaded.
Thanks Tony. I just bought a 3056 for a friend and I hope it will work out for her. We had a Nizo S56(?) and it stopped working. We love the timelapse feature on the Nizo cameras so we decided to get another. I wish it ran 54fps, but at least it has a variable shutter and runs 36fps
What makes the 481 the best out there?
Steve
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...wedding documentaries are lucrative. You can make more than a union DP wage. (est 600./day) Last year I worked with a professional wedding photographer on a few jobs. (shooting super 8). She does a lot of highly stylized photography (infrared and so on) and selects her clients carefully. We had a Hindi wedding complete with henna tattooed hands etc. and a West African wedding on the water front in Seattle. Lots of interesting cultural traditions in weddings. I have found it to be fascinating work from behind the lens...... She has been showing samples of the super 8 stuff I shot to her perspective clients and some are requesting the package. The package isn't for everyone since we do a lot of highly stylized stuff, but for people who don't want their wedding to look like a segment from the Oprah Winfrey show, it is a nice option. I hope to schedule four or five of these things over the summer to help keep the dream alive.
Steve
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...Baby bottle nipples can be found at any drug store ;) ... the dogleg Angenieux 17 -68 lenses are around. They tend to go for about $600.00. + or - (try ebay) If someone offered me 600. for mine, I'd consider selling it since I haven't used it since the project I bought it for 6 months ago and don't have plans for it at the moment.
They are pretty nice since they cover S16.
Steve
I think it would be more with-in reach if the Euro traded 1:1 with the USD. :-(.Same for ARRI and others....
Ikonoscop shoot sync sound?
I think it shoots 24fps sync, but not crystal..
Steve
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Thanks.
Jason, on the "Citizen Super 8" project all material needs to be original, public domain, or rights secured. There is a lot of "found audio" that is available for use under "creative commons" arrangements. I am not a lawyer or intellectual property expert so I can't offer any deep explanations. Safest practice is certainly to create original material, but buying home movies from estate sales etc. is also a safe possibility.
To be clear, Nathan Coombs is the Executive Producer and Project Director so he is the person to contact regarding film submissions (not me) although I may be able to offer some insights into the process having participated in the Super 8 Cities global collaborative..
best,
Steve
a super 8 spectacle
in Super-8
Posted
...here is a super 8 film I made. (6 minutes)
Questions, comments, criticisms are all welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkBcOAxKE94
Steve