[John Sharaf]

W,

Sounds like you need a matte box. In addition to holding the two filters and allowing you to rotate the Pola into it’s sweet spot, the French Flag will shield the fare off the lens in backlit situations. All-in-all a very worthy addition to your kit!

JS

[John Sharaf]

Sean,

There is no such thing as a “hard matte” for a matte box (it would not be hard but rather a soft out of focus box). Hard mattes are used in film camera apertures to create a border inside the full aperture to assure a certain format is embedded onto the negative.

Furthermore, I did not say, nor is it possible for video cameras to change the aspect ratio other than to letterbox a 16×9 picture or side cut a 16×9 picture to 4×3.

If you insist on shooting a 2:1 format, you’ll need to somehow indicate that in the viewfinder for framing purposes (which as I say, vcan be done in some professional video cameras, but I doubt that it can be done on a DSLR) and then create a “hard matte” in post-production that is the equivilent of letterbox, but with slightly different top and bottom borders.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Hi Sean,

Not quite sure I understand, as there really is no such thing as 2:1 (not to say you couldn’t do it). Conventional wide screen is 2.35:1 and many cameras allow you to choose (or create) framelines in the viewfinder in order top compose this format, although the camera continues to record the full frame. then in post production you could create the matte and letterbox the picture to the 2.35:1 format.

Another alternative is to use anamorphic lenses or adapters to squeeze the wider format onto the full frame recording. You’d view a squeezed picture in the viewfinder and presentation would be an issue unless you intend to film-out.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Here’s Kino Flo’s website:

https://www.kinoflo.com/Lighting%20fixtures%20with%20Remote%20ballast/4Bank,%20Double,%20Single/4bank,%20Double,%20Single.htm

You can buy direct or get a discount by buying from a dealer.

JS

[John Sharaf]

No, it’s just that the one hot light will use more power and create more heat than all the other lights put together!

JS

[John Sharaf]

Although this has been hashed out many times before on this forum, I’ll reiterate that:

Kino Flos are the best units available for this purpose. For lighting the greenscreen background they create a very soft and even proximity light when placed left and right. Same for the key, and in addition they create no heat and use very little electricity. The globes are cheap and last thousands of hours. This is the definition of “no brainer”. If the budget allows, I’d suggest 2 @ 4’Twobanks for your screen and a 4’Fourbank for the key. If you have any money left over, buy one more 2’Twobank for a backlight and keep the color consistent and the heat to a minimum by never turning on those hot tungsten lights again. The savings in electricity and bulb costs alone will amortize the lights in a few years of heavy use.

JS

[John Sharaf]

All you need(ed) was a small battery powered composite DA (distribution amp). That would have allowed one input and three/four/five outputs. AJA (and others) make such a device.

JS

[John Sharaf]

Dom,

In suspect you are looking at your footage on a “noisy” LCD monitor and that the camera footage is just fine. FCP Prores (even standard setting) is an excellent 10 bit 422 codec and you need not consider it to be at fault either.

JS

[John Sharaf]

First off, put the key lights on the roof, approximating the effect of the source being the spill from the store interior and/or from street lights.

Fill lighting from the floor (street) must be played like a pool shot; use a black flag (or improvised gobo) to block the reflection to the camera angle.

None of this really costs anything, so it would pretty simple to implement considering the limitations you recite.

JS

[John Sharaf]

In PAL countries, where clocks run at 50Hz, the “equivalent” to 24fps is 25fps; that’s the frame rate you would use for the cinema there.

JS