freddie bonfanti

dvx with m2 adapter + some nice nikon primes, that would give you a good enough look for your productions. i wouldnt buy a film camera unless i had enough money to afford shooting constantly on film. with mini dv instead you can keep shooting and shooting at a reasonable price, which is the most important thing. film is an amazing tool, but not essential to produce a good photographed film. with the m2 adapter, nice composition and good lighting you will make your dreams come true. good luck

hi all i was watching this dvd last night and i was expecting the same and usual cheesy horror film, but surprisingly i have to say i loved the camera work and lighting...massive use of smoke and filtration but it worked really well especially in the car crash yard. the dop did a great job. hat off for some shots. especially the crowd/into the silver screen one. i realised that most of the shots i love in movies belong to what people call "b movies" or movies that are not famous for their photography. the story was bad and so was some of the acting, but i loved it

there are no intermissions in the UK, but im sure its still a common thing in italy, no matter what film it is

hey when i shot the big forever i shot it in bw (.http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/index.php?showtopic=14486)..i preferred to achieve the best bw quality on the spot. i always think that when you light for bw you need to see the picture in bw, i cant do it in color. its just my idea but in my (small) experience it always worked. its like if bw has got its own texture that color doesnt have, therefore id suggest you to shoot it in bw in camera good luck freddy

thanks for the reply, adam it would be the red micro 35. what do you reckon, is it worth saving a bit on film and being more careful and well prepared whilst shooting or would you rather shoot in 16 mill...once again its in bw so im sure the difference between video and film wont be as dramatic as if it was in color. i hate when i cant test things myself but i really dont know what else i can do. cheers

hey all here you have a link to a short clip of the film, have a look. we're having lots of enthusiastic feedback around scotland, it looks like people are very happy with this short film http://www.nostromo.org.uk/fiction/big-forever/

hey all im not far away from preproduction for my next project and still i have a huge dilemma which unfortunately i cant solve. this short film is supposed to look like a 1950 horror/kitchen sink flick and our budget is absolutely low, 7 grand. now, id love to try out this "so much renoun" micro 35 adapter on a Z1E, geared up with some nice nikon primes and telephotos, the only problem is that there is no rental house around bonnie scotland i can get it from and TEST IT, so im kinda stuck. yes i read the nice reviews here and there but im not convinced yet. has anyone tried it shooting in bw? should i go for it or id rather use 16 mil? if that adapter works it would save lots of money we would spend on film... let me know

good job, mate

good job as usual, stuart... one question: in the last picture it looks like you had just 2 lights, a top light and asomething else on the far right side as fill...am i right? i love how dark it looks. is it gonna be released here in the uk soon?

yeah, but we wanted to keep it by ourselves as we know each other well and we work really good together. but also we didnt need huge lighting setups and we didnt record sound either so why asking other people to help? the huge work was definitely in post, but ironically even there we only had one great editor and one great animator who self thought cgi to himself. the pictures are not high quality but hopefully i will post some of the clips soon anyway. about the prepping as i said we had a STRONG visual concept from the beginning. we had lots of references and i tried to make it look that way. the tough thing to learn for me was how in noir films lighting is an "artifice", not conventional, and how unnatural and undjustified it looks. the directors pushed me to break rules and not to care if the lighting was too stylized. we went for a absolutely ubscure look where darkness prevealed over light. and thats how the script was written.

thanks, i know you wont believe me mate, but it was basically 4 people. me lighting and shooting, the 2 directors sorting everything else out, including production issues and so on. then we had our main actor, fraser calder and whenever we needed him, mr mac inness. our only time constraint was the hand in for the college's graduation show (may 27th). it was a painful shoot, im glad we had lots of cups of tea to warm us up at night when we were shooting outside at minus 8. but it was worth it.

thanks the premiere will be here in edinburgh on the 21st of june at the filmhouse on lothian road. we are waiting for an answer from the edinburgh film festival comittee, we have reason to hope that they will accept it. in that case it will be part of this year's edinburgh 60th international film festival.

sorry, forgot to mention. the total budget for the film was 70 pounds

hey all i wrapped up this short film and got the first footage from the editor. the short film was written by david cairns (his "cry for bobo" was an award winner for best short film in 2002) and directed by newcomers robert glassford and timo langer. main actors fraser calder and mr angus mac inness who was goldleader in "star wars" and starred in "hellboy", "superman 2", "the jacket" and many more. we basically had no budget but a strong story and a precise visual style. the film is based in a post apocalyptic world were the main character is a cyborg built by mankind who wanders around the alleyways of a lost city, "the big forever", playing the memories of every single human being. the directors wanted to portray this character as man/machine capable of emotions. i decided to get the message across by having him lit only on one side of the body and leaving the other one in complete obscurity, to higlight this duality. most of the shots were done in a small room, on the street and in a tv studio. fortunately, the gothic look of edinburgh and its amazing streetlights helped us to get a good exposure when we needed it. our lighting package was limited but sufficient to achieve our look: 3 650s, a 1k hmi, a peg light and practical streetlights. we shot it on a Z1E. main references all the noir films. lots of shots were made on a portable greenscreen which allowed the amazing animator we had, nick preston, to create the city of "the big forever" with its cgi zeppellins storming across the sky. here you have some pictures one of the many greenscreen shots a silouette of the main character in front of the city city our "steps shot". just a prectical sodioum vapour on top of the steps the main character lit by 2 650s hanging from a fast pole stretched above him our cgi zeppelins the library mr mac innes

hi there was a making of the video on mtv a year ago and it was so funny because the director (dont remember the name) achieved that effect tampering the exposed film with a black marker, cigarette ends and all sorts of things. it was amazing to watch

yep, same camera. i am really curious to see what the movie will look like. i love the look of that advert

But I regularly rate stocks 2/3's of a stop slower anyway. But most of what I shoot ends up being printed. one last question, david would you treat 16 or s16 stocks the same way? can the film handle the 2/3rds of underexposure the same way? cheers

couldnt agree more with you... saw it yesterday and i was very disappointed. the story is intriguing but as you said they couldve done a better job, making it more gritty and photographically challenging. i liked the historycal flashbacks in 16 mill, i thought they were very interesting and well done. was it all shot in hd? it looked very hdish to me but im not sure

bloody hell, man i mean why all this bad blood, the fella just wants to borrow a camera for a cheap price im sure he thougt about a deposit and stuff...mate, im telling you again, ive got an sr2 here in scotland and ill happily do it for the price you asked. i can take it along wherever you are in the uk. i know im a student but ive got experience with 16 mill i can send you a showreel and for gods sake, enough of the bullshit

i agree with him, 16 is much better, but it depends whats the project like. if its a sci fi i wouldnt mind hd. if the look desired is futuristic, sort of clinical i wouldnt use 16 mill at all good luck, mate p.s i can get you an arri sr2 for 500 quid for a day, scotland based...

hi when pushing the film, say a 200 ASA stock to 320 ASA, you just need to set the meter to the new ei number and shoot normally, making sure you notify the change of speed on the magazine once exposed, right? and thats a way to get an extra stop in low light situations, with increased grain as result. why then i often hear about people doing the other way around, when a 320 ASA stock is rated 200 ASA? why doing so? to get finer grain? whats visually the result of changin the speed of the film to a lower number?

hi i agree with the misreading, that could definitley be the problem. shooting a greycard could have helped i guess. although you are not happy with your results, is there any way you save the video and take advantage of the mistake in a creative way? i cant really tell from the images you posted but maybe you are being too negative, maybe the way the picture looks can still be "intriguing" or stylised even if the whole background is pitch black. i mean it doesnt look bad, but then again i guess director/producer/whomever has the last word. i hope this wont bring you down, ive seen your work and i like it a lot good luck freddie

good cinematography! mind if i ask you what camera, lenses and film stock have been used? ta