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arri 416


mo samra

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Hey guys I am an aspiring cinematographer who has gotten the chance to shoot a short film over the summer with a group of aspiring filmmakers. We are scrapping a budget together, but we are going to possibly shooting with an Arri 416 supper 16mm film camera. I have never shot a motion picture with film, just stills. is it impossible to shoot with this camera? what I mean is is it extremely complex and difficult to where only experienced men and women can achieve an exposure with a super 16mm film camera?

 

Any advise, tips, or experience story's would be wonderful!!

 

thanks much guys,

Mo Samra

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It's rather straightforward, trust your light meter and keep track of your stock to get a clear shooting ratio. Your lighting has to be a little instinctive at times and if you really pull yourself into it, you'll probably be pretty surprised with the end result.

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do you mind going more in depth on this?

 

thank you:)

 

Basically keep an eye on the number of takes you do and plan out the coverage you need for each scene. IF you don't you could find yourself going over the amount of stock you've allocated to the film.

 

Also, make sure your camera assistant is comfortable with the camera and loading the magazines. If they haven't much experience, there's always a chance something will go wrong inside the changing bag and they shouldn't panic if it does.

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Film is much more forging than digital. You want to err on the side of OVER exposure as opposed to UNDER exposure as it's more range on the highlight side of things. Also, you'll need to understand what your light meter is telling you, but at the same time, most of us tend to light by eye, safe in the knowledge it's on the film.

 

You should measure and get marks for focus, though I'm not sure how good the 416 viewing system is (i hear it's tops, but can't speak for that), but you'll also be able to see, within reason, if it's out of focus or not on through the finder. I find it much better than any digital finder (speaking of the SR3 at present).

 

Also, don't forget to check the gate on occasion; hairs can sneak in. normally you'd check it before moving on to the next set-up.

 

It's a thrilling experience your first time on film, and you will be surprised, sometimes pleasantly (mostly) , sometimes unpleasantly-- just maintain your focus on what you're doing.

 

Also, learn how the camera sounds. You can often hear a problem if there is one.

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Film is much more forging than digital. You want to err on the side of OVER exposure as opposed to UNDER exposure as it's more range on the highlight side of things.

 

Im a bit confused on the first statement, could you possibly clarify please?

 

thanks for the rest of the information!!!

 

very helpful:)

Edited by mo samra
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Film has more latitude for over exposure than it does for under exposure; meaning you can pull out more detail/information for highlights than from shadows. This being the case, if you're in doubt, open up the iris a little bit and get more exposure on the negative (assuming your'e shooting negative film and not reversal). Digital is the opposite; with digital, highlights are what you "expose," or "protect" for, meaning you'd err on the side of under-exposing digital systems a bit if you're unsure.

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I shoot stills all the time, i have a canon A-1 that I use. but i feel like the prosses of loading the camera making sure everything is alright/ working with the cameras setup all is allot harder and different.

 

 

It is kind of like driving a manual transmission car instead of an automatic. Yes, it is more work, but not hard work. Work none the less and the end result is worth it. Rehearse your shots over and over. Get an AC that knows the camera.

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Well it certainly is different; there's a lot more of smaller film! But in truth, loading is just muscle memory. You should try to find some crap film and practice on the thing first before you shoot it. In the end, the loading/unloading/making sure it's not scratched to hell is not really all that difficult (loader used to be an entry level job after all!). It's the "knowing how to shoot film and expose it" which is generally a lot more nebulous and difficult.

 

While I haven't loaded a 416 ever, when I first got my hands on an SR3 it only took me 1 quick "this is how you load it" demo and 2 or 3 practice runs before my hands were doing the work without really thinking.

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thanks guys!

 

Adrian,

you stated It's the "knowing how to shoot film and expose it" which is generally a lot more nebulous and difficult.

 

Thats what my main concern is, is there anyway I can learn proper methods for film by a book/ video tutorial or anything that can help me out?

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  • 2 weeks later...

One of the good things about the 416 is that it will not let you run the camera unless the mag has the correct sized loop. In fact, it will give you an error message telling whether the bad loop is too long or too short. So in that respect it's a little more safe to run as a newbie.

Good luck!

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is it impossible to shoot with this camera?

Oh, yes, quite. One will have to wire it, lace film into it, put a lens on it, set diaphragm and focus, frame, and press the release button. I mean, that is a challenge to an aspiring cinematographer.

 

Basically, film cameras are made for shooting men to the moon but some models are rather destined for deep-sea mining.

 

Film is a four-letter word. FILM!

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Hey Mo; sorry I totally forgot to get back to you. As for exposing film properly, it's just practice my friend. Try to track down some stock tests online, for over/under exposure of your stock and try to get time in for a stock test, with different lighting ratios. With film, though, how it looks to your eye is just about how it's going to look on film.

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thanks guys!

 

Adrian,

you stated It's the "knowing how to shoot film and expose it" which is generally a lot more nebulous and difficult.

 

Thats what my main concern is, is there anyway I can learn proper methods for film by a book/ video tutorial or anything that can help me out?

 

Hey Mo, well the first step is to get your light meter out and experiment, shooting film is easy, thats the ironic thing about it. Becoming a master of it is a little bit harder.

 

Do you have access to a basic 16mm camera and say a 100' of film or two before your project, you should experiment doing some over and under-exposure tests. Otherwise you could learn a little a bit with slide film.

 

This is one of my favourite books that covers 16mm 'Cinematography'

 

Best of luck.

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You could check out if anyone locally has a Bolex or similar. The major film camera rental companies usually have film stock sales.

 

An alternative is to use a 35mm film stills camera and shoot some reversal film, the margins for exposure error will be even less than negative. Although, you'll have to remember in this case it's better to underexpose (as against overexpose with the negative film). You'll need a stills camera with lenses that let you set the exposure manually, SLRs and some rangefinder cameras can allow this.

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Hey guys, thanks so much on all the responses and feedback on this topic!

 

 

does anyone know where I could find a basic 16mm camera I can practice with?

also where I would purchase the flm stock for it?

 

we have arri 416 plus hs camera with ultra 16 T1.3 lense set up consisting of 6mm,9.5mm,12mm,18mm,25mm,50mm......

 

you can contact at mahadev at kshitijcamera dot com

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