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Shooting Dogme95 Short with canon XL2


Jean-Marc Plante

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Well, the title sells it!

I am new to this website, and learning my way by myself through cinematography. I have come to buy a Canon XL2 as I especially love the grittiness and dirty look of MiniDV, as well as the highlight clips and (Yes, I do) the intense chromatic aberration occuring in hard clipping, all of these shown by Dod Mantle in 28 days later.

 

I have taken on the challenge of filming a short Dogme95 movie for a monthly challenge in a cinematography group here in Montreal, And I'd like to hear about your experiences with those conditions. Is there any way to enhance a Dogme95 without falling into the drama the genre actually tries to eliminate?

 

Basically, The short is about a black woman and a white man (opposite skin tones, very dark woman, pink-skinned man) discussing as Lovers do in a bed, charming each other, giving the impression it is about a Love scene. As you pull back though, you realize it is part of a Pornographic set shooting, as you see techs, a camera, the director and the lights behind installed.

 

My Director thought it is a wise way of going around the genre, without desecrating it (As it would be normal to be using lights, a camera, and props, on an actual set)

 

I intend on shooting 24P cine gamma 2:3:3:2 in the academic 4:3 format, using the 20x fluorite kit lens, upscaled to HD afterwards.

 

What do you guys think? Anyone here ever worked with the XL2?

Edited by Jean-Marc Plante
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Basically, The short is about a black woman and a white man (opposite skin tones, very dark woman, pink-skinned man) discussing as Lovers do in a bed, charming each other, giving the impression it is about a Love scene. As you pull back though, you realize it is part of a Pornographic set shooting, as you see techs, a camera, the director and the lights behind installed.

 

I think you are going to fall foul of rule 1 straight away:

 

1) Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).

 

 

So you are looking for a complete film set that already has a bed in it and probably that is already set up as a bedroom. You might be able to get away with a bed in a filmset with a black background and some clever lighting but this would not appear to be easy. The camera also needs to be in the location already if you are planning to show that too.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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Also:

 

4) The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).

 

 

I think it can be argued you will be in trouble with 4 as well on the grounds that you will have "special lighting" in that context.

 

Freya

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What do you guys think? Anyone here ever worked with the XL2?

 

I've worked with the XL2 once and found it to be a great camera. I was very happy with the results. It might not be the best camera for the context you are working with as ironically it is natively 16:9. It's one of the big advantages of this camera but in this context it's actually a disadvantage and you might be better shooting on a DVX100 or something as they are natively 4:3. Having said that I'm sure you can get great results with the XL2 anyway. It was always a very underrated camera. :)

 

I think it's quite cool that you are going to shoot a movie in 4:3! :)

 

Freya

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I discussed this with the director, As to wether this would respect the Dogme or not... Might as well shoot it as it is, a in-bed discussion, without all the 'On set' stuff.

 

To be honest I'm not sure how much porn sets would have fancy lighting or anything anyway these days!

Easier to just find a bedroom, but you will have to shoot in it as it is already! So look for a good one! ;)

 

Freya

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...Oh and you still need to find a bedroom with a camera in it if you intend to show the director with the camera prop. (That should be easy tho!) Keep in mind that your porn director or camera operator actor will need to be handheld too or it will look strange as you have to shoot all the footage handheld, although you should be able to use a hand held stabliser maybe:

 

3) The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted.

 

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