Michael Collier

or maybe they reasoned people shouldnt sit that close and there fore they wouldnt. (also I dont think anyone writting the 1953 NTSC spec planned on 60" plasma screens) If only engeneers could see the future. This is why I am a big proponent of timetravel. Forget addiction to oil. Timetravel.

I wouldnt trust an 'HD' Lens that cost less than 4,000 anyways (most I see aftermarket are upwards of 20-25K, and thats for the much easier to hit target of 2/3" optically speaking the 1/3" seems much more difficult to accomplish with equal sharpness and resolution.) But I hear the 11K wide angle is decent, and if they are smart they would release others. Its main advangtage is the fact that it has no scalling from the chip. The chip itself is 1280x720 and does a true 24fps. I am not sure, but I believe it does not rely on pixel shift either (pixel shift I am not a fan of, its a cheap way to increase 'sharpness and resolution' but consistantly fails in high frequency detail (which to me seems a bit beside the point. Isn't resolution supposed to add meaning to high frequency detail? Does anyone actually feel they need MORE pixels to render a flat white wall? No you need it to render the texture of the bricks in a building) But I am a fan of the mini-35 HDV combo. I just wish I could pull all the data off the chips in an uncompressed 10bit form (andromeda style), but keep the recording section the same for when I do eng stuff, or stuff where its impossible/impracticle to take a computer and all the andromeda support gear(I live in Alaska, so backcountry shooting always imposes obvious restrictions. It might be hard to run from a Kodiak Grizzly with andromeda weighing you down(considering they run 35mph, it might be hard either way you look at it.) But to make a camera thats almost twice what the DVX costs and to say 'you need DVCPRO HD on the P2 cards, at an additional 3grand' to get the quality is almost conning people to pay for something they are not getting. (though its almost worth it for the DVCPRO-50 feature. Im sure in SD it will be the sharpest, best picture around, but only compared to DV25 cameras in its price range. oh and the comment about asking for an HD camera under 6K, yes that was facishist. But a decent camera with a near HD resolution is possible. The ZU1 looks good compared to mini-DV, but it will never trump a cinealta, and It still has so many frustrating user interface problems that it needs much work.

First a response to whoever said that HDV is not true HD and is nonsense. I just finnished a feature in HDV (sony, HVR-HU1) and it looks pretty good. I am not saying its anywhere near a varicam, or F900. But compared to the availible choices (HDV or DV in this case) the high def TRUMPS the dv25. There is use for it (anyone shooting mini-DV for a feature should go with HDV if there is a chance of blowup) and there are downfalls to it (better get your look in camera, because color correction lattitude is limited) but in the end someone spending a total of 5-6 grand on a camera can't ask for any better, and its light years ahead of options we had just 3 years ago. with that said. I cant believe Panny dropped the ball! unbelievable! 720x1280 res that the HD100U has I thought would be the minimum to call prosumer HD. That figure is barely above regular DV. The thing that really gets me is why take such a small amount of pixels, and blow it up to a huge frame, and compress THAT FRAME!! why not lightly compress the native relosolution of the chips and DSP the HD out during playback? Seems like you could keep the image less compressed and hold closer to the original image. I was hopping to see an andromeda version, now I dont care if they do or dont. The HD-100U is what I wanna see andromedized now. And if JVC could put a SSE warning light in camera, that would be cool too, reduce the paranioa of shooting with it. I just wanted a camera that can shoot HD for under 10grand, is that so much to ask!!! (apparently so. maybe I should wait untill BeeKeeping lands me a cool million, then go buy a viper w. filmstream)

Somewhere lurking in these forums or elsewhere (I cant remember where) there is a side by side comparison of an area of a S16 frame, one telecined to Digibeta and one to Mini-DV. Amazing the compression involved (not refering to color space, it was actually black and white, just talking about the cosine compression artifacts.) Mini-DV is useless I am convinced of it now. (well obviously it has some purpose, but hopefully we will find its uses qwindling.) DVCPRO-50 is about the lowest I would even call 'Broadcast Quality'

Sorry yes the conversion is factored into the budget. I was just throwing out rough numbers off the top of my head. Im at my 9 to 5 now, and all my documents are at home, so all I have to go off of is numbers in my head (which seam to change every 2 minutes) I have a long way to go before principle photography starts, but I have done this before (on video of course) so Im not worried. Just a matter of working through a pile of work, allong with going through the script and working that. (I just started working the script last night. I love that, its my favorite to put some music on and close my eyes and listen to a recording of the script and imagine it(even though its my ghastly voice) Other than that things are looking good. Luckilly I am only producing, editting, DoP and visual director. The writter of the movie (and director of the last movie I DoPd) worked out a deal where I control everything you see. I direct the art direction side, camera and light dept, he works with the actors and does rehersal, so I can focus on my strong suite.

Funding has not been finialized (we hit I think the 20K mark a few days ago, but in the contracts I capped the project at 30K, so I am looking for that last 10K) The main funders committed to 5K, but I think they are considering going as high as 15k, because they expressed intrest in owning a majority of the rights. Lenses were budgeted at 500/day (with 3day rental weeks its around 4500 for lenses) This however was the budget as it stood for the XTR prod. I have no hang ups about getting cheaper lenses if they are availible, and if I can shoot the whole film on the agneux and its reasonably sharp and does not have vinnetting, I would be happy. However for 4500 bucks I cant help but assume I can get different agneux that does cover the super16mm range and save some money. Film cost as it stands is around 10K (including 15,600 feet (4:1 ratio) of fuji 200 or 250 negative, proccessing, work telecine to DVCAM for editting, and 120 minutes of HD telecine.) the camera is 5k including lens and accessories (not a lot in accessories, but little is needed) and 5k for production (inludes some lights, though I own a pretty well stocked light kit with 10 units and a generator (though not quite, so long cable runs are inevitable.) If I can reduce the cost of the lens I would be happy, but I will not have a soft image, or vinnetted one to get costs down

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for. I knew some math involving stops, but mostly it focused on whole stops, and faced with calculating (with absolute reliable results) in 1/2 and 1/3 stops, I found a hole in my education. Im not very good with cube roots, but if modivated I can learn anything, so I guess I will begin lessons so that I know more than the theory behind the concept, I want to be a walking calculator (it will make things easier for me) I thought it was 35mm, I saw a picture of them filming in Jack Rabbit Squares, and there was a panavision on what looked like a pee-wee. I couldnt imagine panavision making a 16mm film camera that big (I didnt know if panavision makes 16mm, with film gear im the ranking ameture.)

Lens were considered. Right now a set of zeiss super speeds are budgeted, along with the PL mod.(unless anyone has any favorite, ultra-sharp lenses they want me to consider, I have not used any of these lenses, nor will I get much opourtunity to test different lenses) The camera comes stock with an angneux lens, and I will talk to the guy who does the super16 conversion to see if that will cover the s16 space (and Of course I will test to make sure there is no exessive vinnetting.)

Tape?

I have a stack of books taller than me I have been reading since I was 11 on through today. I read them every chance I get. Most are falling apart from wear. I have seen both movies and am a fan of both. I think you confused two parts of what I was saying. The first was I was looking at my SLR that has a feature to rate your film (It automatically scans the canister for speed, but this can be altered) it goes in 1/3 stops. The other part was explaining why as a DoP (of digital) I have yet memorized ASA values, and its relation to stops (I know how to convert in whole stops, but not in 1/3 or 1/4 or 1/2, and logrithmic math is not my best subject.) The point I was making was that I have developed a trick to use my betacam ENG camera as a light meter, which I dont know logarithmic conversions. I read my cameras 'light meter' in stops, and in video its less important to light to a certain exposure level, becuase you can quickly tell how close you are by looking at the output. (BTW, the trick, and maybe I havent described it well, but I have my zebra lines set to IRE 70, so if I wan to tell the exposure latitude between say the midtone and a window, I set my iris to put the zebras in something I consider midtone (usually skin tone if its a human subject) I note the F-stop its on and then Iris down until the zebras just show up in the area I want to meter. If you count the number of full stops difference on the lens barrel (I have a fujinon 7.5x14 2/3"), you get a good aproximation of how hot something will be. Its a nifty trick for all you ENG shooters out there.) I think the camera I have is something around 172.5 degree shutter. (Halfmoon type) It does not have a variable shutter, nor does that matter to me. I do not particularly like the saving private ryan look. In my line of work shutter tends to get over-used (especially it seems in my market) with a flip of a switch most shooters in town can go between 1/60 sec to 1/2000 of a second. Add an interlaced 60(feilds) a second it looks terrible. This is a slower film than what quick shutter is good for, and I dont have access to enough light to shoot a film on such a slow film. I'm not shooting 500 speed. I am shooting a 200speed fuji color stock rated at 160. Most of the film will be desaturated to a black and white in the HD finnishing post stage. parts will retain color, but even those will mostly be muted colors, exept for a few key scenes. Also it is in a film noir style, so contrast in the film will be maintained, and a bit of grain is allright (as long as its nothing close to clerks) great advice. I have budgeted 400 feet of film for tests and its the only film whos dailies will be in film (the rest will be in mini-DV or DVCPRO)

I'm mostly a DoP in digital/High Def. This is my first film shoot (other than still) and just want to tripple check everything I have read over the years. I have a good amount of knowledge that I aquired from reading tons of books, and experience with video, but in video if I want to see how many stops over something is, I iris down until zebra lines are on it, then I count how far that is from the exposure I am aiming for, given the stops listed on the lens barrel. Its a work around, but I have really never needed to know asa stop conversions. I just want to tripple check everything u know? I ahve been shooting for going on 12 years now, ever since before I could drive people have been paying me for editting and shooting services, plus a million short and feature projects I know I can do this, I'm just paraniod about falling into what should be obvious pitfalls. These pages have been a great help and I love checking my assumptions/ideas with pros who have been with film since before video was born (after all in the new cinema era, a young DoP who can shoot both video and film would be very attractive hire.)

I have the option to shoot whenever I want. Its really a small close knit community. This isnt some huge rental house with no soul. Its one of a few people that I see out in the feild everyday. Everyone I have met in the course of making this film I met through other friends. Now yes, if I sold it I would definatley make money back and that could go to post considerations, but there is not 3000 worth of post to be done (considering all development is scheduled for asap, no chance to wait to develop. All film is part of a package deal including stock, proccessing and mini-DV/DVCPRO transfer.) the only thing left is the HD telecine, which will only cost $2000, the cost of the conversion. So I am still out $1000 in production funds where it is needed the most....on set. I would recoup this money only when it is not needed. (and thats if I can find one on ebay for 1000 that does not need any major work be done) If I could beg borrow steal an extra 1000 bucks....well it would still go to bulster the production. The guy who did the makeup fx on the Angel series lives in Anchorage (an amazing fact, considering our production level) but If I can get him on board it would be a huge boon to the film. The film inludeds a few efx shots. An exorsism, an crossbow that gets fired into the chest cavity of a person (I want to see the arrow fly from the crossbow and plant itself just around the upper lung, giving the charecter a believable drawn out death.) a girl who gets shot in the head at close range on camera. Those arent cheap efx and all I can think of at this point is that owning the camera could compromise the efx, which in my book is no real choice.

what I found Ironic (though not terribly surprising) is that if you want your datacine converted to HDV, it is actually MORE expensive to have it rendered and put to HDD rather than having the uncompressed put to HDD. who would want that. 10bit uncompressed, 1423Mbps compared to 19.2Mbps MPEG-2 footage. (oh, 25Mbps if there is sound, but most datacines I found worked with MOS, but maybe I only got MOS quotes because I was asking about super16) buts seriously, would anyone pay more for that? I understand it saves a hard drive, but come on, they are cheap! and if you dont have one, most places rent them out as a part of the cost of doing the scan! I cant say for sure from my research, it was never an option I looked closely at, but my assumption would be that most places that do a datacine have HD-SDI running to either a deck or to a computer equipt with an aja card or something similar. I doubt there would be much advantage at all to doing an HD capture then ingest (It would probably cost much more to pay for the tape to record to, plus the added machine time to ingest that footage.) Either way its actually pretty cheap to get an HD scan done. My HD scan will cost around 2grand, and that inludes 120minute scanning time, covering the 90-100minute film, plus lots of room for handles. 2 500 gig hard drives (one my production company owns, one we are picking up at best buy this weekend for 250 bucks) and we have a way to finnish our narrative. Once we are done its a realativley cheap option to send that out (compressed to a quicktime, avi, or Avid DNxHD file) to a post house to master to HDCAM or HDCAM-SR (or DVCPRO-HD or whatever the film festivals in question accept.)

Thats my plan for my latest film, to go straight to hard drive. When researching the options availible it becomes quickly apparent that you can save all footage to a few Hard drives in 10bit uncompressed 1080x1920p in 24frames per second. The big problem with HDCAM is its 1/1.3333 compression(i believe, correct me if this is wrong) 4:2:2 colorspace and the same inexplicable 1080x1440 resolution HDV carries with it. Obviously HDCAM SR is much better and lower compression but it too carries artifacts. also all of these formats capture a full 30fps and you have to set your avid to remove redundant frames (this all seems a little 1990s to me. Isnt this the future? cant we have a tape format that can be frame rate agnostic? we do and its called hard drive.) The main reason I would choose hard drive over tape is hard drives have fewer dropouts (I have worked with tape as long as I have hard drive, and tape is always first to fail) and in the end I dont need to rent expensive HDCAM or HDCAM SR decks to capture the footage. The green monster of jelousy arrises in me when I look on my desk and realize this souless VTR on my desk is getting paid more per day than I am (just glad it hasnt asked for a per diem yet.) It seemed like an unnessisary step Also those tapes are like 100 bucks for one hour. For 250 bucks you can buy a 500gig hard drive that will hold more than 1 hour of data. factor in the rental cost of the decks and the cost of buying an aja system, you can see there are several obvious savings.

Thanks for the tips. As expected the project ballooned with more investor intrest. Now its a 100minute feature with the same basic goals. Film out is not a concern anymore. It will go straight to HDCAM for festival play(or HDCAM SR, assuming there are festivals out there that will accept that). I am assuming this film may not ever see a film out, given its quite an underdog, being a $30K feature shot independantly in Alaska (though the landscape will give us free production value) That aleviates a lot of concerns with the film out, because I have done color correction for high def for several years. If a distrabutor wants a theatrical release, they can pay for a full 2K DI with proffessional colorist with a 35mm film out. If it ends up on HBO, I would be out a lot of money if I paid for film out, assuming that its above the TV market. Now my other concern: For money reasons we have dropped shooting on the Aaton XTR in favor of a crystal sync camera that does not include timecode. What is the best way to deal with this situation? Obivously we will have to slate every take. Will it make things any easier if I get a slate with timecode LEDs and a recorder that can jam to the slates timecode? My thinking is that if I am looking at a bunch of wav files with no real names, just timecodes, It would be much quicker to find the audio clip based off of the timecode displayed, and would allow for quick syncing. Also are there any tips on how to calculate stops? for the most part I have been memorizing the 1/3 stop increases my SLR shows. (160, 200, 250, 320, 400 etc) is this accurate, or is there a formula that will calculate it quicker than just memorization? This will be important to make sure I retain the highlights I want and blow-out where I need highlights to hit the upper end of the toe. (its film noir and includes several visually exciting scenes that will need to be very specific. ei darkend interogation scene, exorsism (which I am still trying to figure out how to make that look different than the exorsist and constantine.) lots of good stuff, but all needs to be very dilliberate to make sure I get my intent accross (this is not a movie I want to find in post) What issues do you think there will be with a 4:1 shooting ratio? Obviously I will have to plan out EVERYTHING. Most of the film will play in wider shots as apposed to the tradition shot/reverse shot style. actors will be heavily rehearsed, but even with all those accomodations, does anyone see any obvious pitfalls to this approach?

Color correction in HDV is pretty finniky, and doesnt allow for much wiggle room. If you are shooting right you know what look you are going for anyway, so yes, I would say there is a huge quality advantage in doing the bulk of color correction in camera, when its still in the 12bit full colorspace DSP phase. Once it goes to compression, you loose any ability to change the data without compromising quality. (especially as low bitrate as HDV is. Block noise is exagerated when color correction is used)

I have always just used standard windows dual screen tech. Either with 2 video cards or one that has a dual head (which most do these days) and then I strech premiere into both screens, and dedicate one to the monitor window. That doesnt mean the video plays full screen, but even in HDV my screens resolution is high enough that I can watch it without any scaling. It used to be in the days of analog capture the cards that basicly made editing on a 350mhz machine possible, they would have an output. Im not entirely sure how they worked, but they latched on to any video that was being playing in either premiere or whatever program they were compatible with and would show it full screen. Now adays if I want a full NTSC preview I have a digital converter box that changes 1394 into composite signal that I can watch on a calibrated monitor.

Id love to buy the camera, but even 1000 bucks would be a godsend to an already strapt project. this is the only deal in town that is affordable and gives me the flexibility I need (since no actors are being paid upfront, its difficult to require consecutive 10 hour days.) I was looking at renting, where I would loose much more than 2K and still not have a camera in the end. If I had more money around I would probably go for it, or buy the camera off him or something, but for now I see it as a large cost savings. I am more focused on the movie. I would love to own the camera, but I would rather that money go to things that are needed. props, costumes, travel. My actors are good people, dedicated and donating time. I need to provide the best production for them to work in. And given how small of a film comunity there is in Alaska, if I have another project that requires super16, I will have a good place to go to get a cheap rate on a camera. (possibly free as long as its not being used)

I only use the totas for general fill lighting, to bring the ambiant up. sometimes off the umbrellas, but there is tons of spill even using that. I have used a tota covered in an halfmoon cover I made out of red gels, diffusion and blackwrap. It controlled all light spill and gave a crazy sunburst pattern behind a full-size cardboard cutout. the totas are odd in that they are soft in one direction, but hard in the other (if the light is close.) Omnis are the workhoarse of the lowell line though. I did see a soft bank kit that had 2 soft faces with lighting insrument and stands (like 2x4ft softlight or something like that) 1000w units (unlike the 250w riffas) for under 500 bucks for the set on B&H photo video. Im definatley considering them.

Have you considered shooting s16mm? There are tons of cameras around to be had much cheaper than an HD camera. If you can cut your shooting ratio down to 400minutes the film, processing, dv work tape, and HD final telecine would cost around 10,000 (for 100minute feature) This HD cut can be used at festival and if a distributor wants to do a theatrical release (costly option for them anyways) they can use your original negatives for 35mm blowup, or DI to 35mm. I just muddied over the same choice your looking at for my new feature "In Search of the Armageddon Chronicles" Looking at the relative costs of getting quality HD gear up here, I was still paying too much. So I decided to go s16. The whole feature is going to cost between 15-20K (plus defered pay for various crafts people) You would be lucky to get a High Def feature for under that, considering a week of a varicam will run $3000 at least. a short 20 day shoot will cost more than the film option.) I have basicly all summer to get my movie, shooting on weekends and free to wait for weather to co-operate (I have a great deal lined up on a camera, giving me huge flexibility in scheduling.)

Get a lowell kit. Great kits for an affordable price. Get 2 omnis and a tota. Get the umbrellas, get the tota-frames. Go out and buy some diffusion. Tuff-spun (made by roscor) is great for eng style shooting, it holds up much better than any other diffusion. any more than 3 lights is more than nessisary for a dv kit, and if you plug in more than 2000w into a house circuit, well you will have an auto dim feature. Make sure to get the barn-doors for the omnis, and buy a bunch of blackwrap (from cinefoil, about 20bucks a roll) its an aluminum foil with a matte black finnish so it doesnt reflect light. great for controlling light and you can cut patterns into it and use it as cookie to break the light up on the background. also werner had some great suggestions with the bounceboard and chimeras. Goodluck and if you get a chance check out Nice Gordon, a snowboarding/skate film I did in Alaska with Jason Borgstede.

hmmm. Buying one thats a new thought. The original plan was to rent the only Aaton XTR Prod in town, but that proved too costly (1100/day, plus 450 for a first AC the guy required to loan it out) so I figured $2000 for the conversion would be a great deal. Maybe I can find the cash to purchase one. I am purchasing lights, because our shedule being so broken up (mostly weekends, pickup days whenever we can) I need flexibility with lights, and 4,000 on cheap omnis and totas with a lot of blackwrap will achieve the vision I am looking for, and most of the movie is bW so I wont need very many gels. How noisy is the camera? I know the one I am looking at has just been rebuilt, but will I have to blimp if the camera is too close? I think the super16 conversion is more to serve this project, because its a requirement I have of the film. I met this guy in Juneau (our state capitol) and he offered to let me use the camera for free, so I think I would have access to this camera after the film is done. The way I see it I am saving more than 11grand not renting the XTR, and I would rather put that money into more production, rather than buy the camera. I have a feeling that if I do upgrade his camera, I got an ally in town who not only can help me with future productions, but might be able to throw work my way. The other thing is when I do buy a film camera it wont be a $1000 camera. Its a fine camera for this movie, considering the budget is only around 20K at this point, but when I buy a camera I want something that has at least timecode, xstal sync to several frame rates, has PL mount standard and I will get a bunch of quality primes. but that will come after this film sells its first 10million right?

I got this deal with a guy who owns a CP-16 in town where I can shoot my feature film on it this summer if I convert it to super16. I found a guy who can convert this camera for $2000, and I found limited information on it. I found out about the smear problem, but this camera has the 170 half moon shutter, so I figure its safe. What I want need is a place where I can read up on the camera. I want to know it inside and out before the first day of testing. I will be shooting 250 rated at 200 color negative. both outdoor and indoor tests. Does anyone have a link to info or an online manual?

I have had great success by capturing a short segment of tv, say 45 seconds and in premiere mosaic it, so there are only 4 pixels, which is an average of every pixel contained in that area. Then I get a projector and play a DVD which has been looped to get the right effect. Project it onto bit of diffusion in front of your subject, and bam instant TV light. (the reason I have 4 'pixels' rather than averaging it to one, is with 4, you will see the shaddows bob and weave as one square takes dominance, and the other recedes.) Use something that has a lot of visual contrast. The Rock works really well. cuts from bright scenes to low key scenes rapidly. use a filter on the projector if your film is tungsten balanced (most projectors display a 5600K light)

Some of those pics have not been de-interlaced (if you look at the kid with braces, you can clearly see each individual frame on his teeth) just thought i would throw that out there in case you wanted them all de-interlaced (I hate missing one myself)