Roger Richards

Hi everyone, below is a link to the teaser and brief synopsis for a cine-essay I am working on. The film footage was shot with an Aaton XTRPlus Super 16mm camera on Kodak Vision 3 500T 7219. The older footage was shot a few years with a Canon XL-1 miniDV camera.

http://vimeo.com/4562914

SARAJEVO ROSES-A Film by Roger M. Richards

Currently in production-see it in fall 2010

During the four-year siege of the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo, hundreds of thousands of bombs rained upon the city from the surrounding hills. Every shell exploding on a road or paved area left an imprint resembling that of a flower. Today, some of these craters remain, their 'petals' painted red and referred to as 'Sarajevo roses' by its citizens, like scars on the heart, a reminder of the innocent blood that was spilled on these streets.

SARAJEVO ROSES is the true story of Dr. Asim Haracic, a Bosnian-American doctor and musician. In personal audio letters, he relates his life story and philosophy forged from a life of change and upheaval, growing up during the Tito-era communist Yugoslavia, starting a family and then having life shattered by war, surviving the siege of Sarajevo and then fleeing into exile as a refugee to start a new life.

Thanks very much for the lead, Hunter.

-Roger

Hi guys, I am seeking any recommendations for an inexpensive tripod that will support an Aaton XTR. I have another video tripod (Sachtler FSB6) to support my HD cams, but it will not support the Aaton. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks for the advice, Saul.

The topic of the film is war-related, and that is why I was not so worried about a slight increase in grain and am even considering 7248. Preferable would be 7245. The idea would be to shoot the 7248 outdoors with an 85 and overexpose by 1/3-2/3 of a stop to tighten grain. Most of the shots would be medium, medium-close and tight. I would be using Fuji Eterna 250D and 500T stocks as well, and bump the contrast a bit in telecine. I was considering using the Cinelicious Diamond Clear HD to keep cost manageable. I read that in the film Babel the 7248 stock was used in some of the Morocco scenes.

I have come across a tested batch of 7248 at a good price that I was considering buying for use on a doc project. How does this film compare to the modern 7201 and 7217 stocks? This is for lightweight handheld MOS use in daylight mainly, to be transferred to 1080 HD in telecine, with a 1.78:1 extraction as the camera is regular 16mm. How well can it intercut with Fuji Eterna 250D? Any help appreciated.

Thanks for the leads, Charles.

Karl,

You are really kind, yes, those should do fine they are to fit an Aaton. I got a good deal and the mags did not come with cores. Thank you, and I will be sure to pay it forward, always try to when I can as well. Cheers, Karl.

David, appreciate the link to the warning label and the feedback on Fotokem.

I love this board just because of guys like you.

Just wanted to be sure you want these. . .

 

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/WindsorBear...ak___1_Black_3M

 

Mine are not quite like this, but I can't get a scan to upload. They are white, 3-3/32" O.D. (78.6mm OD in F*cking metrics) and they say "KODAK" on them.

 

That's what you're after, right? Last time I sent something like this in the mail, it cost under a buck, so we'll just write that off, pay it forward. . .

 

Are two of them enough? I could only find two today.

Thanks very much, John.

-Roger

All good suggestions. They are correct, the lab will supply cores, bags and cans (as we do). We clean the cans, check the bags and put cores in as we process 16 and 35 film. Fotokem, and others, are all great labs. You can also check us out at www.deldenfilmlab.com, 952-888-8855. Sorry for the promotion, just couldn't help myself. We're always looking to help folks in film projects.

David, that sounds like a good idea. I actually was considering Fotokem for S16mm and AlphaCine for S8mm, so this fits me.

Karl, thanks again, I will go with David's suggestion.

-Roger

You are going to have to have your Neg developed so you mine as well call the Lab of your choice (I use Fotokem 818.846.3102) and ask them to send you:

 

16mm Cores

Empty Cans

Bags

Camera Reports (they will even preprint these for you with your info)

Color Chart/ Gray Scale

 

Each of these is a must when shooting (S)16mm.

 

The Labs supply these... just pay postage.

Thanks very much for the leads, guys. I am in Norfolk Virginia and a bit removed from most cine labs.

Karl, thanks a lot for the offer, I would be happy to take you up on it. Just let me know if you can find some around, PM me if you do, I will pay for postage.

Cheers,

Roger

I can prollly dig a few up for you myself, but you do have to pay postage from me :-p

Hi guys, looking for a place to purchase a few 16mm film cores. Appreciate any leads, thanks.

Robert, thanks very much for the detailed overview, quite informative.

A couple of things one should realize about these machines are that both technologies can make quality pictures and each has it's limitations.

 

The Spirit-1 is fast becoming passe in the world of high end commercial post due to it's limitations. The Spirit-1 actually only samples color (physically at the CCD line array at half resolution making it a 4:2:2 machine) also the Spirit uses allot of electronic processing to make up color and especially to do sharpening. I have never been entirely happy with the way the Spirit looks and I think this is due to the heavy sharpening.

 

I have used several newer Tube based machines like the successor to the URSA Diamond the Cintel DSX that was sitting next to a Spirit and it did not lack for sharpness or color and it is ultimately capable of 4K scans which is much more actual resolution than the Spirit. I felt the DSX (and Millenium or Nova) had nicer color and was a little less buzzy than the Spirit but if you saw a national spot transfered on a DSX followed by another transfered on the Spirit you might not be able to tell them apart.

 

CRT based machines are naturally full bandwidth color (4:4:4) or RGB and require far less processing of that side of the informaton. Sharpness in a newer machine is a combination of how well controlled the flying spot is and digital aperture correction in the signal chain. Newer Spirit machines do full bandwidth sampling (Spirit HD,2k,4K) but are tremendously expensive and still don't match scans from a Arriscan or Northlight, Imagica, etc.

 

So to get back to the SD Cintel machine.. it still retains it's color bandwith and pleasing natural light processing. As long as the tube is good and the scan system is maximizing the sharpness of the 10bit SDI data it makes one of the best quality sources to drive into a Teranex box for up-res. It is amazing how close to a full HD scan you can get the SD feed to look.

 

Rob

Touché ;-) great answer. I watched your '600 feet' short on Vimeo and was just wondering how it looked on a larger screen, although great small you can't judge how it will hold up. My benchmark is a 42" widescreen. If it looks good that size it works for my purposes. I have been in touch with Paul and have some footage that will be sent to him so I can eyeball it for myself. He seems like a really nice and straight-forward guy. Cinelicious could make a big difference for the indie doc I am working on, being shot with an Aaton XTR Plus and Zeiss/Optex 12-120.

If you consider the footage I shot acceptable for a doc, then I think that answers your question. ; )

Hunter, I have watched your A-Minima footage and it looks pretty good, even raw. If for a documentary, would 'the vibe' of the Diamond Clear HD for Super 16, in your opinion, be acceptable?

Im a bit biased because Paul is a friend of mine but here is my honest opinion about the Diamond clear HD:

 

Its not as sharp as you would get with a spirit transfer but it does have a certain "vibe" from the tubes that I really like.

 

I did a transfer of some super 16mm at cinelicious and then transfered the same roll on a spirit (both to 1080p Prores). The spirit was of course super clean and sharp and look VERY modern, but lacked the "vibe" that I saw from Ursa Diamond. I prefer the look of the tubes and love what it does for color on the Ursa Diamond, but its not as sharp as the spirit.

 

If you were shooting for broadcast and wanted the "vibe", I would suggest transferring with the Diamond clear HD set-up at cinelicous, but if it were going to a large screen venue or if you wanted a super clean image, a spirit transfer may be a better option for the sharpness factor. Just remember, this is a service that is about 1/2 the cost of transferring on a spirit, dont expect it to be apples to apples.

 

However, I did just transfer some 35mm at cinelicious and it was as sharp as the super 16mm stuff I had transfered on the spirit, I dont think you would notice a huge difference with 35mm between the two unless you were going to be showing the work on a very large screen.

 

Paul is a great guy and if you call him and ask him your questions, you can trust him to give you an honest answer.

Sold, and payment sent. Craig, your message box is full again ;-)

-Roger

Thanks very much, Craig.

-Roger

Sorry about that, Roger. I happened to get two messages today and my inbox filled up.

 

Yes, the kit is the actual HD-144 kit. Here are some pictures of the instruction manual and the parts still in their plastic wrapping.

 

Just let me know if you have any other questions.

 

 

Hi Craig,

is this the kit with the replacement shutter and HD-144 nameplate? I was trying to send you a PM but your mailbox is full.

Thanks.

I've got an extra Super16 Conversion kit for the Eclair ACL for sale.

 

I bought a couple and have one left over. It's the HD-144 kit -- the one Bernie O'Doherty specializes in installing.

 

Comes with everything you need -- new S16 gate, flange, shutter, step-by-step instructions, new 16x9 round glass markings, etc.

 

Retails at $650. I'll sell it for $499 + free shipping anywhere in North America!

 

Get it now and convert that old ACL of yours to Super16 once and for all!

 

You know you want to! :)

Hi guys, I am looking for Eclair ACL 200' magazines for S16. Please send me a message if you have anything available.

Thanks,

Roger

Hi guys, a documentary I co-produced and shot last year, Mississippi Drug War Blues: The Case of Cory Maye is being shown at the Oxford Film Festival here is a link to the synopsis page

On the page is a slideshow and the one minute trailer. The film is about Cory Maye, who is in prison for life for shooting a policeman, and Ron Jones, who was part of a drug raid on Maye's home in Prentiss, Mississippi on December 26, 2001. Maye, who had no previous trouble with the law, awoke from a deep sleep to the sound of his door being broken down in the early hours of the morning. Thinking that he was being attacked and worried about protecting his 18-month-old daughter, Maye opened fire when his door was smashed open.

This film is an ongoing story about the intersection of race (Maye is black and Jones was white); the war on drugs; the disturbing increase in the militarization of police tactics; and systemic flaws in the criminal justice and expert-testimony systems. It is a tragedy in which one man is dead and another may spend his life in prison.

The film is narrated by Drew Carey (host of The Price is Right and former star of The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?).

Cheers,

Roger

Thanks for your help, guys, much appreciated.

Hi folks, I have a question about film stocks that I hope someone can help me with. I am working on a documentary film, which has some really interpretive sections, and plan to shoot primarily with Kodak Vision 2 7201 and 7205 and 500T Vision 3 stocks. I have never used the Fuji Eterna line. My thought was to use the Fuji for some situations when a softer, more painterly feel was envisioned. Anyone here who has used both and can comment on combining stocks? Is it too glaring a difference, or can it work? The negatives will be telecined to HD. Thanks!

Thanks very much for the advice, Andy.

-Roger

Hi, 4008 with 6-66, have the camera serviced and have the internal 85 filter removed, along with re-colimation of the lens. Never owned a 6080, though i have owned 4080, 6056 over the years, rubber band inside sound four series nizos stretch in time causing problems with the claw or transport... Nizo is the quieter camera.. The schneider 6-66 and ang 6-80 are considered the best super 8 zoom lenses ever made... Owning a 4008, i find the only downside is the 1/87th shutter at 24fps and that damm handle, great for handheld work, not so good for tripod work.. Tend to only use my blimped 4008 for the odd wedding (inside the venue) , prefering the leicina special and bolex ds-8....

Hi Oliver, thanks very much for your perspective, that is exactly what I was hoping to receive, feedback from someone who owns both of these cameras. Another option I have is the Beaulieu 4008 ZM with the Angenieux f1.8 8-64mm lens. However, I feel that I have narrowed it down to two good candidates.

Hi folks, I am trying to decide between the Beaulieu 4008 ZM II (with Schneider Optivaron 1.8 6-66mm lens) and the Nizo Pro 6080. This will be for use in documentary filmmaking as a B camera for both HD and 16mm projects. Any help would be appreciated, the pros and cons of both cameras from owners. Thanks very much.

Hi Saul, thanks for the info, appreciate it.

-Roger