Doug Durant

Have a short film I'm shooting on super16 that I'm prepping for right now coming up around the new years. Graciously had many rolls of 16mm (7203,7207,7219) in 200' a minima rolls and some standard 400' rolls donated to me and the director. Looking at packages and wondering if it's worth testing out some different lenses than the usual canon super16 zooms I've used before (8-64, 6-66, 11-135) with zeiss 16 super speeds or ultra prime 16's, or if I try to opt for maybe some sharper 35mm glass like S4's or the Summicron's. I feel that with the smaller negative size you don't see the nuances of the glass as much as you would on 35mm film or digital. Anyone have any experience where they've tested 16mm lenses vs 35mm lenses and how noticeable were the differences. Any help/advice is very appreciated.

Thanks.

You could also saran wrap the camera and make slits where needed (ie:mag throat, lens mount, movement door)

to keep it a little neater/less cumbersome, or as an additional layer beneath. Definitely keep a Clear filter or 2

that you can keep in the mattebox all the time and just pull out once you go for the shot.

An SR with an EF just seems funny to me. In other words, No they can't.

For a move like a simple push in, I'll take marks and measure as normal,

even set a stretch of tape up on the ground from the beginning and end

of the move and mark out each foot.

Obviously, alot of steadicam shots tend to be more involved and require

just going by eye, which is when i'll usually be perpendicular to the line

of action constantly judging the distance between the gate/sensor and

the actor/subject. I usually like to just mark out the whole focus wheel

on the remote. Something that also helps me, is to calibrate the lens to

a longer minimum focus distance as some lenses have a lot of barrel for

those shorter focus distances, I'll usually set it to 3 ft. or something

as long as I'm sure the subject would safely never get that close to the

camera.

Really not a fan of these oversized unwieldy lenses from the POV of an AC,

I've found that most often the lenses don't line up so well with focus witness marks.

I'm really not much of a fan of the way they look as well, don't like the bokeh, horrible flares,

just have a very clinical and plastic-like look them. The best lenses I've seen paired with the

red are some old cooke s2's.

Alot of cases, and swamps.

Wow, this is an interesting choice for adapting. Shooting Vistavision on the wides would be grand. Looking forward to hearing more as it develops.

Heard you're shooting in Massapequa. I live a few towns over, If you get a chance, definitely try out All American burger.

I love this show and loved the 16mm aesthetic of it, and the pan and scan kind of blocking. Looking forward to seeing the next season.

The stills look great!. Billy's actually a friend of mine, and asked me that morning if I could come out and help, but unfortunately I was already working. Hope to see the final cut at some point.

Nate, thanks for your helpful feedback, I appreciate it. I should've prefaced this clip without being an actual DP Reel, it's just something I threw together quickly to have something I shot on the internet. I'm still collecting the other footage I shot, and trying to figure out the whole file situation with mixing in SD footage with different aspect ratios and whatnot. As soon as I get it done, I'll be sure to post it up here.

http://www.vimeo.com/10224517

Just cut these shots up as a reel from a super16 short film I finished. Definitely looking for some honest critique, it's the 4th film I've shot and the first of which have been HD transferred. Thanks.

The URL is unavailable.

They must've thought of this ahead of time. NOOOOO!!!

I figured a few people might appreciate these short yet wonderful clips. Hearing that Malick's unique improvised style of filmmaking can even make a master like Lubezki question and doubt himself which was definitely a real eye opener for me. Lubezki comes off extremely humble and charming, and inspirational which is what I've heard from a few people who've met him. I can't wait to see this film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfDkI74GAzk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4rAXeeEvMg...feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOX7Ccseow...feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnwl6MJCjcU...feature=channel

Thanks for sticking with me on this one John,

 

I believe the problem persisted whether we had the mattebox on or off. I would have to check the camera reports that are, of course, with the ocn, but I think it may have been specific to one or two lenses, the 50mm and maybe a slightly wider one. What I have trouble understanding is how it could have been a problem in front of the shutter if I didn't see it in the viewfinder. I think your telecine idea may still be valid, as I recall that during the transfer he zoomed and panned our negative area to fit framing references i had marked at the head of the first roll. So, its possible that the offscreen objects were recorded on the film, but not directly seen in the telecine. Of course, if it was the telecine I would have expected to see the error more often.

 

The mystery continues... still waiting for the director check the ocn.

 

Thanks for the support so far, I like this site more and more every day!

Sean, how you been buddy? Saw the trailer for the feature you shot, great job on that! Sorry to hear about this. I actually just spoke to George about it, and he said that it maybe could have something to do with the video tap optics leaking light into the light path. Definitely something to investigate as the camera has probably been modified quite a few times over the years.

Thanks Ross I'll definitely check into that. The only place in CT I could find that rents an F900 is HB Group and they wanted $3400 for a weekend rental! $2000 for just the cam body. If we we shooting for a week or longer I'd go with HD Cinema. They rent out of LA but corporate is based in CT and they ship anywhere in the US, rates are really great too. They wont ship for anything less then a week.

 

Last I've heard shooting is going to be delayed a month or so, that's all I was really told. I'll be sure to post pictures of the location scout when ever we end up going since that's been delayed too.

 

Thanks for all the input so far guys!

Kyle! I forgot you were on here buddy. Glad to see your shooting and sharing the whole experience on here. If you're in need of an AC (I've worked a lot more since my first time ever working as an AC with you) or any help at all, let me know.

I noticed you mentioned revolutionary road as a visual references. You might've seen this but I figured to post it anyway.

http://www.theasc.com/magazine_dynamic/Jan...Road/page1.php#

Deakins' uses 12K HMI's bouncing off 12x12 ultrabounces to light through the windows of the house for the daytime interior scenes. The 12k's are probably a stretch on the budget. I'm not sure of the space and windows, but for one of the senior thesis films I shot last year, I was able to convince the director Matt to rent a 4K HMI Par, which diffused with either grid cloth, or some 1/2 CTO and Opal diffusion worked well for punching through windows to get that early morning directional sunlight. Definitely post the pictures of the locations whenever you get them. Hope everything is going swell for you.

-doug

It may never happen or you might suddenly get a magic phone call to go and work with Janusz Kamiński on some dreadful looking comedy with a budget of $70 million...

I thought this was really funny, knowing the single person this actually happened to. If only we could all get one of those calls...

Having been out of school almost a year now with no prospects of paid work has definitely been discouraging. Even after interning at Panavision, which I thought would give me a huge step up with experience and networking, whereafter graduation I'd hit the ground running finding some great camera trainee gig and fast tracking to the union, at the very least working full time at Pany.

I haven't been able to get a staff job there or at any other rental house. It seems that the turnover rate at these places has been alot slower lately. I've been constantly on the hunt, alot of the gigs I apply to are through sites like mandy and craigslist (which is basically useless), now I've been going to production offices and inquiring about camera trainee or set pa jobs as I'm desperately trying to get on any set, but this has turned no results whatsoever. The few people I know and call for jobs, usually aren't able to refer or hire. I recently got told I wouldn't be working on a free gig I was doing as a favor, because the DP didn't want to work with a 2nd AC whom he didn't know. Alot of people have told me NY is small in terms of how many productions are going on and that makes it seem even more impossible to get into any camera department. I'm considering going out to LA, but how different would it really be?

Maybe I should try what Larry David did to befriend the rabbi to get the tickets for temple except I'd just hang around a rental house, and intentionally back into some other AC's car, and leave a note saying we should meet for lunch and discuss taking care of the damage, and befriend him and get hired. I'm running out of other ideas and am getting to the point of desperation where this seems plausible.

Someone..Halp

great post, would read again.

Haha, coordinated outfits. Can I get a pass?

 

I'm willing to waive my attempt at getting everyone to dress like me in exchange for going to a good bar: A that sells by the Imperial (19-3/16 U.S. fl. oz.) pint and hasn't heard of the smoking ban. Lol. No names please, but does said bar exist in NYC anymore?

I have found bars that offer one or the other, but not the combination. Needless to say, I'm down to drink with a bunch of people I've never met before. Let's get this going, perhaps with karaoke?

What I can scrape from my mind from reading Roger's forum:

Shot w/ Zeiss master primes, and a 4K scan.

He used 7212, 7217, and 7218 for his stocks, 100T for bright day ext., the 200T for .ext and .int later in the day/dusk, and the 500T for most .int and night .ext.

Night Ext. he used Full Straw and 1/2 CTO on his lights to match sodium vapour streetlights.

Also would use unbleached muslin as either diffusion or a bounce.

Definitely didn't use any sort of color filters, whatever coloring was done was most likely in the DI.

Cuaron and Lubezki

Thanks again, everybody, for the response. In the end, we decided to simplify everything by going with a single stock, Kodak Vision2 200T. We'll have to push it some in the interiors, but it's by all counts a very versatile stock. Since this is my first real foray into film I'm trusting my AC who has worked with this camera (SR3) and these stocks before. From what I've seen I'm pretty fond of Fuji stocks but I'm starting in the area of greatest familiarity.

 

To make things more interesting, we've decided to shoot Super 8 for B roll. For this we're ordering stock from Pro8mm and going with the 50D for exteriors and the Vision 3 500T for interiors counting on the smaller grains to help us in the blow up. The finished product should be contrasty and grainy so I think this will be a good thing in the end.

I wouldn't push the '17 unless you really want more grain/contrast. Also, I don't believe they have the same kind of stocks for super8, definitely not a 500 speed stock which would be even too grainy for super 8.

This is a real bummer. I just went to the site 5 minutes ago, and obviously came here right after to see what happened.

I've been busy over the past 5 days shooting my first real s16mm short and all of his advice I'd taken from the board was beyond helpful.

It's mind boggling to see how a post about a tripod could go this far because of some unstable loon. Hopefully they take some action

if any harmful threats were made, they have his IP address and with that they could call the proper authorities.

On a daylight INT. what would be a stop to work at for the background room ambience compared to the key light if exposing for the key, while making sure to keep depth in the frame, with the foreground key slightly brighter from the background. Would 1 to 2 stops work?

Thank you very much for your response people. I am posting this message again on a different forum regarding jobs. i am also adding more information about the project. once again thank you very much and i hope to hear from people soon..

I think you're in one of my classes dude. I sent you an email.