Search the Community

Hey guys, Just wanted to see if anyone's shot on the Cooke Crystal (Xtal) Express anamorphics before. Considering them for an upcoming job. It's between them and the Cineovisions. I've used the Cineovisions before and had a great experience with them, but was thinking about trying these crystals out. Panavision has a few more focal lengths available as opposed to their cineovision package which is a plus because this is a multicam gig. Thanks! Appreciate the help -Ben J

https://vimeo.com/70679379 The majority of this music promo was shot on an Arri Alexa 4:3 in 2K ProRes using Panavisions C-series and G-series Anamorphic primes with some additional photography shot on a RED MX with Panavisions Xtal Express Anamorphic primes. The main visual references the director and I discussed were photographer Gregory Crewdson's work and the films of Wes Anderson (shot by Robert Yeoman) so we were trying to achieve a surreal atmosphere with a vibrant colour palette. For the main location I used Lee Medium Blue Green gel on most of my background sources (a combination of daylight balanced kinoflos and smaller HMI cinepars) while keeping the keylight neutral (usually a combination of tungsten jemballs warmed slightly on the dimmer). I kept the camera at 3200K and 800asa and the stop was usually a T4. I hung 2 x jemballs w/500w bulbs above the table and skirted them to contain the spill. Opposite camera there was a Kinoflo Flathead hanging just above the frame that worked as a backlight for the lead actress, and this was supplemented with additional Flatheads on the floor as 3/4 backlight where necessary. Depending on our angle of view I'd use smaller Cinepars and 4x4 kinos bounced into the ceiling to add some colour to the background. For a flicker effect I had 2 x redheads running through a a flicker box and pushing through a frame of Muslin and for the sweeping spotlight I used a source 4. For the shot of the girl looking at herself in her bedroom mirror at night I used a single 4ft x 4tube kino just outside the window to key her and used a 575w HMI Cinepar with a spot bulb sitting on the floor just outside the window to add a slash of moonlight across the floor. A handheld HMI pocket par sat just out of frame right to flare the lens. For the warmer coloured scenes inside the dance rehearsal studio at night I used the Xtal express lenses for a softer, more dreamlike feeling and kept the shooting stop at T2.8 which enhanced the softer aberrations of the lenses and made a nice contrast between the C&G series. A pair of 2k's and another pair of VNSP parcans, all gelled with CTS, pushed through the window to work as a backlight and I used the ambience from the room as fill. For close ups I supplemented the light with some smaller Kinos again with tungsten tubes and CTS. There's a couple of lighting plots below (designed in the Lighting Designer App - can't recommend this highly enough!) and a few BTS photos from the unit stills that give you a sense of the lighting rig in the main location. Theres also a brief clip showing the Dolly/Lighting Rig we used for one of the shots here https://vimeo.com/71200843