Rick Amundson
Forum Replies Created
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Try using a series of ND filters. Do a test to find your exposure with the street lights (say f2) and your exposure at full sun (say f16). This is 6 stops. Set your camera to f2 and put 2-n.9 filters in front of the lens. Remove n.3 every time you want to open up a stop. ie n.9+n.9=f16, n.9+n.6=f11, n.9+n.3=f8, n.9=f5.6, n.6=f4, n.3=f2.8, clean lens=f2
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
Brian,
I, too, think the footage looks good. One thing we have tried in the past is adding a touch of milk to the water. Granted, we had a pumper truck to work with but I’m sure you could come up with a solution on a tighter budget.
Todd, I agree that the Brevis seems like an interesting alternative. I use the Pro35 for my Varicam but this looks like a great addition for a mini dv style camera.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
I’m going to ask what may seem like a very simple question. Did you shoot the footage in 24pa? 24pa in FCP won’t do you any good if the footage was captured in 60i or 24p. I shot a feature film using the DVX100A in 24pa and edited with FCP. I had over 30 hrs of footage and had no problems capturing and outputing to progressive scan DVD. You must plan the workflow from beginning to end to eliminate problems.
Your idea won’t work like a plug-in to magically create a “film-look.”
For an example, check out the trailer on http://www.indeliblemovie.com
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
I agree that each format has its own characteristics, but for a beginner the concepts are still simialr for each format, they just need a little finesse.
Antonio, try these books from Amazon:
*Lighting for Digital Video and Television by
*Film Lighting by Kris Malkiewicz is a classic
*Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography (with InfoTrac ) by Dave Viera and Maria VieraThese will give you a good start to understanding lighting.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
There are some zooms that can be used on a Pro35. Becareful to check the length of the back element of the lens. Some are slightly longer than others and won’t work (ie. the Canon 8-64 has a slightly longer back element-it is however a 16mm lens). Also, and this may be obvious, be sure it’s a PL mount.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
Bill,
To help get more softness from frost on a frame, try this:
Build a 4 sided box out of foam core, say 3′ by 3′. I would use black on white foamcore, black on the out side and white on the inside – this will cut down on reflection issues. Fit it with a 1″x2″ frame on the inside about 6″ from one end. Staple a peice of 216 (250, opal, gridcloth, users choice) to the 1″ frame. Lastly, mount a baby plate to the outside of one of the sides. Use this to attach to a c-stand (you might need to use 2 if it’s too heavy). Aim it at your subject and shine a light through it!
There you have it, a cheap soft box. The white foam core will help diffuse the light while the box will help to direct the light. It may not be the most portable, but what do you want for a few bucks?
Good luck!
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than that. Lighting for a film is not based on film length or format. Lighting is about creating a mood for each particular scene that helps tell the story. A night extertior has different needs than a day interior has different needs than a day exterior no matter if you are shooting film, HD or HDV.
My biggest suggestion when shooting on a 1/3″ camera is to try to narrow the depth of field as much as possible. You can accomplish this by using ND filters, polarizers, and low light set ups to get your iris as close to wide open as possible. Also, shoot as far zoomed in as the location allows, this helps a lot. Becareful to check for critical focus.
If you need more specific info, you’ll need to provide more info about specific set-ups.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
Becareful not to fall into the trap that a light kit will magically make the greenscreen better. Lighting for a good chroma key takes practice but there is a formula to it. The greenscreen should be exposed at about 65 IRE. What does this mean to you? How do you get 65 IRE without a waveform monitor? Take 2 lights with some kind of diffusion on them (opal or 250 works great for this) and place them on either side of the greenscreen far enough back so you get a nice even spread across the screen. Open up your iris so you start to get 70% zebras in your viewfinder then stop down until the zebras just disappear. As you are looking at your zebras, they should appear across the screen at roughly the same time. This will show you how even your lighting is. Once you have that set, light your foreground person accordingly. Do your best to flag the foreground light off of the greenscreen.
Be sure your camera is white balanced to your lighting set up. If you had bad colors last time, this could be the problem. Also, make sure the gain is turned off. This can make the picture appear grainy.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
Which cameras are you using? If you have the ability to jam-sync the timecode (i.e DVX 100B) then set one camera to time of day (TOD) use the firewire cable to connect the cameras, and follow the cameras manual for setting the time timecode. The cameras will remain synced for a few hours provided you don’t shut the cameras off. If you shut down or check playback you will want to re-sync. I don’t know how to sync two Firestores together or if you can. Usually the Firestore takes its timecode from the camera through the firewire cable.
The reason we like the slate is that we are able to shoot in rec-run instead of free-run and it makes digitizing easier in post (we don’t use the Firestore, just tapes). And you don’t have to use a slate per se, you can have some one clap, flash a light, etc. If the cameras are in the same room shooting a wedding from 2 angles, I asume you will be able to both shoot something near the alter or even near the back of the room.
Remember, with today’s multicam editing in FCP, Avid or Premiere, you don’t need matching time code, just a sync point to line up on the timeline.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com -
I agree that you want to stay away from the HDV for this kind of aquisition. The motion artifacts will be too much to deal with for compositing. I also think you will want to look into using an image stabilizing platform. The OIS on the camera will only do so much at that speed. Call your local rental house to see what they recommend or call Dean Schneider at Film/Video in Denver 800-776-8616. Lastly, don’t be afraid of the P2, just remeber to back up and verify.
Rick Amundson
Producer/Director/DP
Screenscape Studios
Bravo Romeo Entertainment
http://www.screenscapestudios.com
http://www.bravoromeo.com
http://www.indeliblemovie.com