Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

WWII Period piece Epic 5k anamorphic

N

Nick Gardner

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
3,620
Reaction score
10
Points
38
Location
Baltimore
Hey guys,

I recently completed principal photography on this piece and I couldn't have done it without Epic. We usually shoot these things in the EU, with 4 or 5 americans. We did this one in the US with a small crew, a small lighting package, and a leaner and meaner mentality. 800 asa let me get away with shooting anamorphic with a 4k genny and a couple of smaller inverter gennys. My biggest instruments were 1200 pars. I shot several scenes with one or 2 100watt bare bulbs. I am very happy with the results. This is the trailer the editor put together for the wrap party. No CC and the visual effects are temps/not done. Lomo square fronts, a foton A 37-140 zoom and a spherical 180 and 300 for telephoto shots. Thanks to the Red team for giving me the tools to pull this off.

Nick

https://vimeo.com/71264116
 
Looks great Nick. Love the shot when they lift up her onto the roof of the train, at night. Gorgeous (great track the editer picked too).
 
Last edited:
Wonderful. I love the moving camera - not overdone. Just the right amount of movement and just the right kind.
 
Nick, mention mixing long sphericals with the front anamorphics - something I've wondered about for quite a while. did you have any matching issues - i.e. being limited in what would cut together with what? I sure don't see any on the trailer.
 
I wish I had a 300mm front element anamorphic but I don't, and I needed telephotos for some shots, so used mostly a ziess Jenna 180 medium format lens, some times with a doubler. It has a similar vintage character to the lomos. For some shots I used a canon 2.8 300 with a doubler. For the sperical stuff I shot 5k widescreen.

Thanks for the compliments. I think me and my guys did good work.

Nick
 
being limited in what would cut together with what?
Click to expand...

I realized I didn't exactly answer this question. The sphericals are a little different. Not so much so that you notice. Telephotos have thier own look anyway. There are a bunch of long lens shots in this video, and I think they cut fine. Back in olden times, a movie would shoot on anamorphic primes and a 25-250 with an anamorphic back for the long lens stuff, or a specific rear ana long lens, like a 300. The rear anamorphics don't do anything but cost you 2 stops of light and soften everything. You loose all the optical artifacts of anamorphic, but it was done all the time, and nobody really noticed or cared. I took the same approach on this, and I was worried about it. I went through a big pain in the ass to get the ana 37-140 zoom, which I then used with a doubler. That lens is a big old train wreck when pushed to those extremes. Sometime good, sometimes bad. But I ended up using the spherical telephotos more than the train wreck lens at the same focal lengths. Partially because of the fact that it was easier for my AC to pull focus on them , and partially because I wasn't completely confident in the foton zoom. I shot a couple of scenes on the zoom when I had the stop and i needed to move fast, and for the most part they look fine, but I wasn't as pleased with the results as I wanted to be. I was always little bit scared they were too soft.

I also did some shots with a low angle prism I had that was of dubious quality (A 30 year old piece of low contrast glass). The shot of the girl getting thrown on the ground by the Gestapo was shot on a 50mm anamorphic with the low angle prism. We had a 1" pad on the ground, and by using the prism I was able to shoot effectively from the level of the street. Like we had dug a trench. That was the only way to see her go down hard, and believe it. I was framed an RCF above the pad with the tilt locked off and I unlocked it once she hit and followed the action after that. I was a little concerned with the optical quality of the prism, but the payoff of feeling like we saw her hit the ground with out letting her fall out of frame was worth it. I think it looks great. I pushed the limits hard of what I was comfortable with on this and am happy with the way it turned out. That's the only way you get better is to work outside your comfort zone. I was really uncomfortable with the scenes I lit with bare bulbs because it just felt wrong to light an important scene with a couple of 25 cent bulbs, but it worked for the story and looked good.

Long winded answer, but I hope you get the point ;-)

Nick
 
Thanks for taking the time, Nick. That's great information!
 
Sorry, the powers that be have deemed that this should no longer be for public eyes. Pm me if you are interested in seeing it.
 
Nick I'd like to see your work. Do you have a link you could share with us again?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top