Okay Filmmakers, let's talk camera. Yes, I know many of us don't have any budget to speak of and you have to either shoot with whatever camcorder drops in your lap or choose not to shoot at all. So what can you do?
The biggest problem with cameras, is not necessarily the resolution, which is where everyone focuses (pardon the pun). Most prosumer cameras have enough for your quirky no-budget indie film. If you have a few dollars, don't upgrade to a higher quality camera-- instead, spend it on getting better glass (lenses).
For instance, I just got finished watching a small budget indie movie recently and it was shot with a decent prosumer HD camcorder. There was a shot in a school hallway and four class rooms down, you could still read the pep rally sign hanging on the back wall. That's a HUGE depth of field-- one that screams "home movie" instead of "cinema."
And the camera they use does have a third party platform for putting cinematic lenses in front of it. Makes a huge difference. I'm talking about the Letus or Redrock adapters. Of course, they do cause you to lose some f stops (especially the Red Rock), but it pays off in the look of your movie.
For "The Imposter," I had the budgetary choice of upgrading my camera, or having two lower resolution cameras, but with prime lenses. I chose the two camera option. I don't regret that. (For the newest film "Rising Star", coming out in theaters on October 22, we used to Reds).
Okay, so what do you do if you have no money and a consumer camcorder? I bet you could beg or borrow to at least upgrade to something like the HVX200-- you can't throw a rock without hitting someone who owns one. Except most HVX 200 users are selling there's to get the 5D or 7D from Canon. Even better if you borrow one of these. I shot with a 7D recently and I'll blog about that soon.
Okay, so you've struck out and all you've got is this lowly camcorder. What can you do to get a more cinematic look with it? You need to narrow the depth of field. Depth of Field is affected by several factors. One of the easiest is the f stop (a wider, or more open aperture will shallow your depth of field). So use an ND (neutral density) filter inside and light so that you can get that iris as open as possible. There are other factors for shallowing your depth of field, but that's enough to get started.
Showing posts with label HVX200. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HVX200. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cam Tech Specs For My Movies
For all the filmmaking geeks out there, here's what we used to make my films:
The Keyman -- Shot on 35mm film using the boat anchor Arri BL4 camera. Heavy, but effective. Remember, as opposed to the electronic world where three years ago is obsolete, the film camera's basic design hasn't changed in like 80 years. We rented our camera, grip and lighting from MPS Studios in Dallas.
As far as special equipment, we used a fisher 10 dolly (the most common in the film industry). I used a crane for the cometary scenes tat open and close the movie. To that point, in my corporate/commercial career, I had used a lot of remote cranes-- it was interesting to use the big cranes that can accommodate the operator and assistant camera on the head of the crane.
A Promise Kept/The Gunman -- For this movie, again we rented from MPS, but we were shooting in Austin.
And again, shooting 35mm. Our main camera was the Arri 535 and boy was it nice. Here's a picture of me holding it out of a very small helicopter, shooting the aerial that makes the last shot of the movie. The crew put *two* safety lines on the camera, and *one* on me. Nice camera. On stunts, we sometimes had a B Camera, and it was the BL4. And for the big courthouse, exploding gut scene of Steve Krieger, we had a C Camera, and it was "the pencil sharpener", the Arri 3C.
Here is the 535 pointed towards the lovely Mimi Rogers, who was absolutely wonderful to work with. We had a nice G/L package from MPS in the form of a three-ton package with lots of HMI's. For special equipment, we had the dolly, and for three days, we used a steadicam.
Striking Range -- Back to Dallas, and again 35mm and renting from MPS, we went back to the BL4, but we ran it on a Steadicam almost the whole time. And Big George Neidsen got quite a workout. For some off speed shots, we rented the Arri 435, a MOS camera (seen here with Lou Diamond Phillips). We had both overcranked and undercranked effect shots. We circled a building at 2 frames a second (seen in the movie's opening) while coming out of that at times to slo-motion. I love that effect (which now is easy in Final Cut Pro to emulate.)
Before shooting began, I ran numbers on 35mm versus HD. It was going to cost more for film, but at that point (2005), HD still had a perceived lower value, especially among the foreign buyers. So I chose to stay with 35mm.
The Imposter -- I had shot two cameras for "Inspector Mom" on Lifetime and had really grown accustomed to shooting an A and B camera. Now, HD had come a long way. It was time to try it.
I considered the Varicam, but with our budget, I don't think I could have swung the Pro35 adapter for using prime lenses-- which is critical in my opinion. So I talked with Ron Gonzalez, my Director of Photography and put it quite simple: One varicam, no bells or whistles or prime lenses, or two HVX200's with redrock adapters and primes? We both wanted the depth of field of the prime lenses. So that's what we did. And I ran an A and B camera almost the entire time and don't know that I'd do it any different in the future. Ron now has a Red, so I'll have to find a cheap second Red for the next movie.
My favorite camera out of what I used? Well, certainly, the one with the most bells and whistles is the Arri 535.
The viewfinder had the Arri glow feature which was novel at the time. It was lighter than the BL4 which counts for something on a 12 hour day. But, even after preaching film over HD for many years, I loved shooting HD. The pictures were better than I thought and the work flow was MUCH easier. And I could shoot and shoot and shoot... With film, there's this pressure as soon as the motor cranks up on the camera. Every foot that flows through the gate is $$$. That pressure was gone for HD.
The Keyman -- Shot on 35mm film using the boat anchor Arri BL4 camera. Heavy, but effective. Remember, as opposed to the electronic world where three years ago is obsolete, the film camera's basic design hasn't changed in like 80 years. We rented our camera, grip and lighting from MPS Studios in Dallas.As far as special equipment, we used a fisher 10 dolly (the most common in the film industry). I used a crane for the cometary scenes tat open and close the movie. To that point, in my corporate/commercial career, I had used a lot of remote cranes-- it was interesting to use the big cranes that can accommodate the operator and assistant camera on the head of the crane.
A Promise Kept/The Gunman -- For this movie, again we rented from MPS, but we were shooting in Austin.
And again, shooting 35mm. Our main camera was the Arri 535 and boy was it nice. Here's a picture of me holding it out of a very small helicopter, shooting the aerial that makes the last shot of the movie. The crew put *two* safety lines on the camera, and *one* on me. Nice camera. On stunts, we sometimes had a B Camera, and it was the BL4. And for the big courthouse, exploding gut scene of Steve Krieger, we had a C Camera, and it was "the pencil sharpener", the Arri 3C.
Here is the 535 pointed towards the lovely Mimi Rogers, who was absolutely wonderful to work with. We had a nice G/L package from MPS in the form of a three-ton package with lots of HMI's. For special equipment, we had the dolly, and for three days, we used a steadicam.
Striking Range -- Back to Dallas, and again 35mm and renting from MPS, we went back to the BL4, but we ran it on a Steadicam almost the whole time. And Big George Neidsen got quite a workout. For some off speed shots, we rented the Arri 435, a MOS camera (seen here with Lou Diamond Phillips). We had both overcranked and undercranked effect shots. We circled a building at 2 frames a second (seen in the movie's opening) while coming out of that at times to slo-motion. I love that effect (which now is easy in Final Cut Pro to emulate.)Before shooting began, I ran numbers on 35mm versus HD. It was going to cost more for film, but at that point (2005), HD still had a perceived lower value, especially among the foreign buyers. So I chose to stay with 35mm.
The Imposter -- I had shot two cameras for "Inspector Mom" on Lifetime and had really grown accustomed to shooting an A and B camera. Now, HD had come a long way. It was time to try it.
I considered the Varicam, but with our budget, I don't think I could have swung the Pro35 adapter for using prime lenses-- which is critical in my opinion. So I talked with Ron Gonzalez, my Director of Photography and put it quite simple: One varicam, no bells or whistles or prime lenses, or two HVX200's with redrock adapters and primes? We both wanted the depth of field of the prime lenses. So that's what we did. And I ran an A and B camera almost the entire time and don't know that I'd do it any different in the future. Ron now has a Red, so I'll have to find a cheap second Red for the next movie.My favorite camera out of what I used? Well, certainly, the one with the most bells and whistles is the Arri 535.
The viewfinder had the Arri glow feature which was novel at the time. It was lighter than the BL4 which counts for something on a 12 hour day. But, even after preaching film over HD for many years, I loved shooting HD. The pictures were better than I thought and the work flow was MUCH easier. And I could shoot and shoot and shoot... With film, there's this pressure as soon as the motor cranks up on the camera. Every foot that flows through the gate is $$$. That pressure was gone for HD.
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