J Van Auken

It's something I've toyed with for some time, and have been actively seeking a project where the material warranted it. Apparently Chan-wook Park beat me to the punch, but I'm on board with the idea. It's a unique look, the same way we're eerily attracted to shooting super8 or orthographic. Technically inferior, but sexy.

My practical experience with special processing and datascanning vision3 films is that there is MUCH less of a difference made than in the older stocks. A few weeks ago I pulled some 7207 2 stops, and it looked nigh identical to some I'd previously shot at 250 and scanned (subsequently printed). My suggestion would be to shoot at a sharp stop, keep the lighting separation clear, and overrate a tad to dense up the neg and save the cash and hassle of special process.

my $0.02

Here's the one light and degrained version. The Fuji did a great job, and although I don't think it'll be my go-to stock, I definitely think it has its place.

Escalante CC

Got the scans back and am very very happy with the Fuji.

Here's a link to some shots with no processing of any kind. Later I'll post how they clean up and how far they can get pushed around.

Escalante

What I like about the tape is that it gets much darker than the untaped portion as you stop down, even a tad. That might seem obvious, but it's very noticeable 2 stops down when the taped portion becomes near black and your untaped is still crystal. Framing is easier than you'd think with it.

I searched for months to find one. A call to abel revealed they have a company that can supposedly make them for $800, but Abel was the intermediary.

Eventually, I just had Bernie O'Doherty tape my current glass for far less (225?). Works great, just shot a short with it marked, and the frame is dead on. Highly recommended.

More than once we've gotten into using DP's;

Ackroyd

Ballhaus

Chapman

Deakins

Elswitt

Fraker

Goldblatt

etc..

Good memory game, anyway.

Can do.

I'll also find a host for some short prores 2k clips for anyone interested in the raw data.

A note on the lensbaby: it definitely works with super16, although the effect is harder to achieve as your negative area is so small. I used it for landscapes and insert stuff ala Jesse James, and I'm excited to see how the effect renders.

Now I know why more shooting isn't done in Colorado.

Day 2:

Today was a longer scheduled day. Previously, we had our star for only a half day (he had a basketball game to play in the afternoon). Call time today was 6:30. Preliminary weather reports indicated patches of snowfall with a clear afternoon. This was grossly incorrect.

By 7:00, a full 8 inches had fallen, supposedly unheard of for the place at in this season. Go figure.

At 8:00, we began rolling towards the location with gorse trailers to test the road to see if we can get them where they need to be. Aside from it snowing and being completely overcast, I wasn't too discouraged.

Then our other lead called the director to inform him that while driving around (for fun) before call, he flipped his truck into a ditch, and not to call the police since his license is (very) suspended. The first 6 hours of the day were spent sorting this mess out, and by the time it was, 3 shootable hours of light remained. The canyon scenes were scrapped in lieu of closer landscape shots on horseback.

A note on shooting with horses: horses are butts. They hate all other horses as well, and Donnie play nice with them, or with cameras on tripods.. My great hope is that CG will be able to replace them shortly.

So, after a lengthy meeting with the dept heads, it has been decided that shooting should resume in may, as one lead is unavailable by Tuesday, the horses are no longer available, and we're all snowed in far past our grace days.

I'll wait to see dailies before declaring this particular project a massive bust.

On the upside, just about every shot was a total winner. We also made friends with some local mechanics I now refer to affectionately as 'Keys' and 'Speak & Spell'.

Looking forward to posting grabs for all.

Alrighty, here we go.

Day 1:

The first day was all scheduled as interiors in the cabin set. We got permission for a period cabin built at the base of a canyon outside Delta, Colorado. I was worries at first about how much light the two small windows would allow in, and for a while I considered supplementing with some light panels. However, when the sun rose over the ridge, it happened to hit the red rock on the opposite side, and bounce it straight in. Exposing for 320 Asa, I was able to maintain an f4 inside, which was great. I have to say that this might be the most naturally photogenic interior location I've ever been. Every frame basically framed itself.

A note on shooting children: our lead is a 9 year old boy who's done a terrific job. His name is Ryder, and we ended up developing a system of "Ryder-snacks". These are very similar to scooby snacks, and serve the same purpose. Pretzel goldfish are good.

The drive to set was under two hours each way, and the weather could not have been more ideal. The perfect skies opened up the option to go DFN if the director wants, and the landscapes were very easy to compose for. All around, a very successful day.

I'm not sure why more shooting isn't done in Colorado.

With the toy camera the lens is plastic and non removable, however the gate comes right out no problem.

I've been running tests on the post work so I know the effect will work, I just think using the full net for 2 shots would be too jarring. The effect is pretty substantial in the eyepiece, and the small format would only amplify the softening of detail I'm trying to avoid.

Walmart might have been hyperbole, but I've my own issues with the 'real' labs here.

The net is just a fogal nylon stretches across the removable gate and glue in place. After more testing, I've decided not the net the XTR. If I were on a larger format, and it wasn't snowy, I would be much more open to it, but I found that the halation we got wasn't quite worth the softening of the image, and to me, the rainbow aberrations around hot sources didn't fit the period. There are a choice few shots I would really like the heavy halation for, though, and I've resolved to accomplishing them in post (sigh). With the possibility of reshoots almost nil, I'm erring on the side of caution. But, it's nice to have the stills toy as a fun backup, and possibly as reference for the DI in regards to the blooming effect. My only concern is finding a (cheap) lab that will still print panoramic off negs. Does walmart even do that anymore? Before my time, me thinks.

Hey, all

I'm starting a thread to track the progress of the next project I'm DP'ing, as I'm sure I'm going to learn some absurdly hard lessons in the coming weeks and I wanted to share.

The project is a short period drama called "Escalante," to be directed by a long-time friend as part of his application to Grad school, portfolio, etc. It'll be his first time working with an actual crew, as well as having to cooperate with a DP, and deal with the film workflow. I'm definitely excited for him to cut his teeth, and I'm glad I get to be there to usher him into filmmaking for realsies.

A few project vitals: We're entirely on location outside of Grand Junction, CO. The story is set in 1895 and follows a German immigrant deserting from the Army to find a friend he met on the way across the Atlantic.

The director and I had decided on a very traditional and (sorry for the over-usage) painterly style. We're almost entirely locked down, save for some tracking along with horses, etc. We've also concluded that no artificial lighting is both entirely possible for our interiors and exteriors, and very appropriate.

The project did qualify under the Panavision New Filmmaker program, and we were offered a great GII package, but unfortunately shipping and handling became cost prohibitive. Not to say that I wouldn't have loved the gear, and Mark at Panavision was great to work with and very understanding of the situation.

After that, our choice was down to using an XTR and superspeeds (mine), and using a post crop for 2.40:1. My initial worries about cropping were put to rest after seeing Black Swan (like 5 times), and talking to Mike Bulbenko at fuji. For the record, Mike is an excellent guy, and the company was incredibly helpful and supportive. It also helped that my Vikings trashed his native Eagles the day before we spoke, which may have played a role in our discount. In the end we ordered equal amounts of vivid 160 and vivid 500, chosen for their intercuttability, handling of high contrast scenarios (thanks in part to Phedon's test), and (to my eye) an excellent handling of fleshtones.

The last 6 months of personal testing I've done has convinced me to process normally at the lab, and underrate the stocks only slightly. We are going through a 2K DI at pixelfarm in Minneapolis, who have also been extremely accommodating on this short, as well as for my directing debut later this year.

Principal photography will last six days, starting January 8th. We've got some challenges looming (horses, children, magic hour) but if all goes well, I believe we're going to end up with a phenomenal short. I recently picked up a plastic panoramic camera from goodwill that oddly enough crops to just about 2.40:1, so I'll be taking production stills with it, and posting here for anyone to see. I was able to crack it open and use the same netting on it's plastic lens as on the XTR, so hopefully it will mimic decently. In any case, it's a fun toy.

I'll be updating from my phone as the shoot progresses, and happy to answer any questions.

Thanks, guys

for those who are curious, I had the XTR serviced by Bernie O'Doherty and was told that the metric/imperial switch is in the camera's wiring and cannot be changed.

As an aside, I've decided not to sell the XTR just so I can break it, just so I can have Bernie service it again. Fantastic work.

Thanks for the replies, all. Widely differing opinions here, which is great.

In reference to the machine, it is in fact an Arriscan (they nixed my idea of pointing a RED at a moviescope)

Budget wise, this is strictly post money we're talking about, and has been allotted as such. We have a great colorist at the house we're using and there's ample time for finishing, and although I'm sure the other dept. heads would love the cash transfered to them, this bit is mine and I'm not sharing.

In the end, I'll probably just test it out. I do suppose it says something that in asking if anyone had done it, no one had first hand experience.

Thanks again!

I am to DP a short in Colorado in January. Lots of exteriors and vistas, etc. For budget reasons we're on super16 with zeiss SS and a mix of the new Fuji vivid stocks.

The interesting part is that the post facility is offering a 4k di for marginally more than the 2K we planned on. We've got the reserve money and enough storage, so it's doable.

My question is, has anyone here gotten a 4K scan from 16?

I want to make sure to squeeze the details out of the landscape, especially for a future blowup, but I'm not sure if there's much resolving power there beyond 2K as I've never gone bigger on 16 before.

Selling my XTR package. Recently serviced by Paul at Visual Products.

includes:

XTR super16 body (Aaton, Bayonette, and Nikon mounts)

2 400' mags

1 800' mag

2 12v Batteries

1 16v battery

Color video tap + monitor + 2 arms

Long Front Rods, short front rods, and hand grip

Charger and cables

Extension Viewfinder

Sound barney

Anvil Case

3 Zeiss super speed lenses w/ caps

- 9.5mm T1.3

- 12mm T1.3

- 25mm T1.3

PM with offers or questions.

I'm mostly just sick of having a heart attack every time I check footage after the first take and think I burned 280' somehow.

Howdy, all

I've recently acquired an early model XTR (pre plus) and the LCD footage counter is set to meters (camera came from Greece).

The manuals and handbook don't mention switching it from metric to 'Merican, so I'm wondering if there's a series if buttons I push? I'm hoping I don't have to switch a board, or report it to INS.