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Teaser for super 16mm feature


Edward P. Davee

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  • 4 weeks later...
Hi Edward,

nice stuff! Was the out-of-focus effect on the shot with the house done with vaseline on the lens?

And why didn't you shoot on true B&W stock?

 

Cheers, Dave

 

Thanks Dave. The lens effect is from a lens baby 2.0 for a contax yashica mount. My D.P. and I wanted to use it in a more subtle way than the lens baby is normally used. This still is a little more "extreme", but since this particular lens baby was made for 35mm camera's it had a more subtle effect for a 16mm camera. For most of our uses, we just wanted it for a slight blurring around the edges of the frame for a more old time photography look. I like the way it looks with grainy film, personally.

 

I wanted black and white but I had several indoor shots in the film that were supposed to appear as lit by candles and oil lamps. I wanted the option of a higher speed but I wasn't into the look of tri-x for the film. I wanted a grittiness, but I wanted a nice sharp clean image that would translate well to big screen projection. I did a test with 7212 bleach bypassed with a one stop underexposure and loved the way it looked desaturated. It was just the look I had hoped for. With the 1 stop under exposing, I could work at 200ASA and If needed, go with 7217 under 1 for a 400ASA. We ended up shooting only one roll of 7217, but the option was always there, which it would have not been with black and white stock. I like the fact that the bleach bypass retains the silver grain. When desaturated, I think it resembles actual black and white stock more than normal color neg desaturated, which seemed too smooth to me in my tests. I thought the B.B. 7212 had a very nice grain that, for me, was pleasing more to the eye than black and white 16mm stock. Luckily, my D.P. was equally charmed by it.

 

I love black and white stock and probably would have used it if the film were shot in 35mm. I tried some tests with 7231 pushed, but was not happy with the graininess of it. I think the B.B 7212 gave us a nice balance of film speed, sharpness, old film look, and grit. Also, as I mentioned before, the option of a 400ASA with 7217 was always there if needed, with a similar result.

 

My Director of Photography was Scott Ballard. We had a very similar vision for the film and worked well together. It was hard for me to let go of my camera and trust someone else, but I'm glad I did.

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7212 is a great stock, why did you choose it over 7231 or 7265. what was the film scanned on?

 

I love black and white reversal and perhaps would have gotten what I wanted from it. I didn't do any tests to find out. I guess I was scared to shoot my first feature on reversal. Maybe that's foolish. I don't know.

 

the film was scanned on a spirit telecine.

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