Shoot Super-16mm on a low budget

[Donatello]

“A typical “low budget” package might be an Arri SR3 with a set of primes and a handful of glass filters for around

[David Jones]

The “Arri” in the pic looks to be an old Aaton.

Film shoots in my area have all gone the way of the covered wagon.
I sold all of my 35mm and 16mm gear some time ago on ebay while they were still bringing higher dollar,
except for an old Bolex 16mm which I kept as a handheld fx cam, but have yet to use.

[Jack Kelly]

“either way that is way TOO low for a Arri sr3 with set of primes & filters for a week. that’s a “dream” rate”

Thanks for your reply! You’re right – it is a low rate. But I’ve produced 3 super-16mm short films and that rate was an average for those shoots. Honest.

(And yes, I meant 200 UK pounds as in currency as in about 300 US dollars)

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Jack Kelly
London
Dir / Prod / Camera
Jack-Kelly.com – my homepage
UKfilm.org – Advice, Discussion and News for the UK filmmaker
====================

[Jack Kelly]

“The “Arri” in the pic looks to be an old Aaton.”

Oh, really? Hmm… you could be right… I’m sure I remember the DP saying it was an SR2. I you SURE it’s not an Arri?

Thanks for the reply though!

====================
Jack Kelly
London
Dir / Prod / Camera
Jack-Kelly.com – my homepage
UKfilm.org – Advice, Discussion and News for the UK filmmaker
====================

[David Jones]

[Jack Kelly] “Oh, really? Hmm… you could be right… I’m sure I remember the DP saying it was an SR2. I you SURE it’s not an Arri?”

Aaton LTR

[Bob Cole]

Good analysis. You asked for suggestions.

With video, the shooting ratio is almost immaterial.
With video, you can catch mistakes right away (with proper monitoring).
With film you have to budget for dirt fixes.

But raw stock smells good, and you are right that there is a certain prestige to film, although this is a rapidly diminishing factor and may impress us insiders more than others.

[Jack Kelly]

Hi guys,

Thanks loads for your replies.

Jack

[Steve Freebairn]

I’m kind of surprised that you didn’t mention anything about Depth of Field, which is an area where film is still very much King. a 1/3 inch hd camera has similar depth of field properties to Super8. a 2/3inch ccd camera is roughly equivalent to 16 mm, and you would need a 1.377 inch ccd to equal 35mm’s depth of field.

[Jack Kelly]

Hi Steve,

Thanks a lot for your reply. The reason I didn’t mention depth of field is because, as you point out, Super-16mm does offer significantly shallower DOF than a 2/3″-sensor video camera. Also, of course, there are ways to get shallow DOF on a tape camera (e.g. shoot on a long lense or use some sort of “cine-adapter”).

====================
Jack Kelly
London
Dir / Prod / Camera
Jack-Kelly.com – my homepage
UKfilm.org – Advice, Discussion and News for the UK filmmaker
====================