Apocolypto

[mkt7@mac.com]

From what I understand that although most of Apocolypto was shot Genesis, a lot of the 'running/chase' scenes were done on HDV's, which Mel Gibson strabbed to the actor on a rig, so while they were running, the camera would move at their speed.

I thought Apocolypto looked quite good, except when it was exposed to harsh conditions, and you could really see where the Genesis' problems lay, but also when it cut to the HDV footage, it understandably did not look great.

If someone were to use that method in the future I understand they would use a RED and intercut the other footage with Scarlett Footage, but seeing as Scarlett is not yet available, what do you guys think? Would it be possible to do what Gibson did with HDV with RED camera's kitted down?

 

[Jan Reiff]

HDV?

really. i didn´t like the film because of the video-look in some scenes, now this explains a lot.
digital is not always a good choice. in this movie every "electronic" look is contra-productive to the story.

 

[BigLu]

Yes. .

 

[mkt7@mac.com]

Regardless of the look of this film, in my mind it just goes to show when you have a great story to tell and you tell it well - very quickly does format get over looked. I thought this movie was exceptional
Anyway back to the original post - thoughts?

 

[Jan Reiff]

i think you can use red one when it´s in a setup without any accessoires. just body and a lense. it´s not too heavy then. the 18-50mm is quite light and fine. we often used a heavier 16mm camera on a rig on an actionseries in germany for the same shot. you can have the batteries hidden on the body for example.

if you don´t dare to use red for this action stuff i first thought an ex1 or ex3 would be a better choice right now than a hdv camera. the ex1 is not heavy and produces a pretty good image. but: the ex1 has a RS issue with this kind of shots. red is better here.

scarlett will be perfect for this shoots indeed in the future.

 

[mkt7@mac.com]

Wish Red would let the team and I use a pre-release Scarlett! Ha ha.

 

[Jan Reiff]

scarlet with one t :w00t:

we fools ... :biggrin:

 

[Michael Tsimperopoulos]

Apocalypto was a combination of Genesis (limited to 24 fps at the time of principal photography), 35mm film (mainly for anything above 24fps, which amounts to a hell of a lot since so much of the movie is in slo-mo), and 16mm film for those flat-out running close-ups (Ikonoskop A-cam / 1,5 kg including lens, film and battery). No HDV whatsoever.

 

[Thomas Mathai]

I don't recall hearing about any HDV footage being shot for Apocalypto.

 

[mkt7@mac.com]

ahh I stand corrected. Must have heard wrong.