Bolex + work lights + ambitious project = UGH

[Craig Ryan]

Just got home from an all day shoot for our final 3-5 min narrative project at school. Just felt like griping here.

We had to shoot 200' (Vision3 500T 16mm) in 6 hours (not complaining that its long but TOO SHORT), with 3 locations, and 20 setups total. Doesn't sound that bad, but the amount of prep we had to do was pretty ambitious for our resources, and our "money" shots were arguably difficult to pull off...especially with a Bolex.

It didn't occur to me until we were attempting our opening shot that we were in way over our heads; it was a wide, 10mm hand held moving shot in a long hallway starting at floor level, then I had to strafe right to reveal our main character kneeling around the corner, and stand up WITH him, then strafe back left again as he peeks around the corner, RACK FOCUS to infinity, then RACK BACK to him all while keeping my finger on the damn button. Plus i obviously couldn't keep my eye over the eyepiece until mid shot, so hopefully there wasn't too much light spill.... And yeah, we weren't using the best C mount lenses of course...banged up and abused oldies with who knows what kind of resolving power.

I don't know what the point of this thread is other than that I wanted to gripe about having to use such minimal and basic equipment for this project I guess. Maybe we were just too ambitious for it. But I've always been one to push opportunities into the realm of unrealistic, so it's just my nature I suppose.

I'll say it though, shooting on film keeps you on your toes, and when that film is running, its no fooling around. Much different feel than shooting digital for sure. But it's way more stressful and nerve racking. I like that I'm learning on film, but to be honest I just can't wait to get my hands on a Scarlet and get close enough to film quality (arguably if not better) but have the freedom and peace of mind of digital.

I guess that's it for now. I'd be curious to hear anyone else's war stories too if anyone feels inclined or reminded of their student film experiences...

 

[Peter McCully]

I'd love the oportunity to shoot on my Bolex again. Gives me a funny feeling just thinking about it actually.

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Learning on film is invaluable. When you have to consider film stock, establishing a shot is very different in one's mind. When you see how difficult it was to move the camera around in the old days, thinking about Hitchcock here, you understand the power of a well thought shot. There was no MTV style shooting back then, and shots really meant something, both narratively and aesthetically speaking. A good shot can speak for itself and tell a lot about the story, even without dialogues. That's how I try and still work with digital. Think, rethink, and shoot, with a minimum of rushes and takes. An editor once said you'll know you made a John Ford film when all your cutouts and outtakes fit in a shoebox...

 

[Kevin Rasmussen]

I've always loved the challenge of working with minimal equipment and crew, instead of thinking about how terrible it's going to turn out, try approaching it from the more creative stand point of "this is what we have, like it or not, so let's problem solve and get the best possible results with just a camera." Of course like all of us you've got ambitious dreams and pictures in your head of how it would look in a perfect world, but that's the point of school projects like that. Take nothing, and make it something. Cinematography is one giant, never ending learning curve and if you take nothing else away from this project at least now you know the importance of a great 1st AC

I've done countless shoots with a silver reflector disks, a varicam and a sound man...documentaries are, hands down, the best way to get comfortable with creative camera operation and working with available light.

Shooting digital gives me far less peace of mind than shooting film. Every camera requires special treatment, your exposure requires meticulous care, so does the lighting. The never ending battle of making digital look like film for roughly the same cost of shooting film has become a frustrating one, thankfully our dear friends at RED are making it less painless. I'm constantly fighting producers who want to shoot RED just because they heard from a friend of a friend how great it is. They know nothing of the camera, format or the appropriate application of the system. What works for their car commercials doesn't necessarily work for their dark dramatic piece. The most textured, beautiful RED footage I've seen used in dramatic films has all had 35mm film passes done to add grain...and this is by no means a cheap process available to my small indy films.

Enjoy the film while it lasts

 

[Paul Watt]

Haha. Yeah, I still shoot with an old Bolex converted to S16 with a Nikon mount a lot. Mostly I use it in the winter for shooting backcountry snowboarding. Changing rolls in the film bag with frozen fingers in howling wind high on a mountainside is pretty heavy motivation for getting a Scarlet. I've tried the Red One, but the setup is just too heavy, and the long bootup time too tough to deal with for backcountry shoots. Some people use the HVX 200 in the mountains, but the latitude is not there. So it's back to a 1970's cam with 100ft rolls.
I'll miss film when the time comes for sure.

 

[Charles Angus]

Sounds like a helluva good time.

You know the Bolex run button locks back if you push it a little further, right?

 

[Craig Ryan]

Sounds like a helluva good time.

You know the Bolex run button locks back if you push it a little further, right?

Absolutely did not know that. :headwall:

I agree about being creative with minimal means; that really wasn't what I was complaining about necessarily, but more of the ergonomics combined with the ambiguity of whether or not the shot was in focus perfectly or exposed enough..etc.

No doubt it was a great time overall...pushing one of our group members in a desk chair down the hallway at full speed for a chase sequence...priceless dolly shot. That was probably the first time I ever felt like I was "making a movie" so to speak...and this is far from the first shoot I've been on. It was pretty exhilarating to say the least.

 

[Joe Picard]

Sounds like a helluva good time.

You know the Bolex run button locks back if you push it a little further, right?

I believe you can lock it into run position with the slider on the side rather than the trigger button.

Shooting film is a good way to study. For one you can't see the results while your shooting so you have to think about everything to have confidence. I teach photography. I have put gaphers tape over the lcd screens of some of my students for some projects so they can have a film like experience not seeing what they are getting. It's too bad that the red doesn't have an optical viewfinder for those kinds of lessons.

One thing I love about the bolex is the range finder, especially with high speed film stocks. You can actually see your subjects, though your not seeing your lens. Some how it's more intimate, Like they are right there. Oh yeah they are.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

My first experience with film was innerving too... Also shot with same stock as you.

All takes were to be shot on a Dolly.

It's great, that feeling that you described as "being your toes", gotta love when the camera starts running and you hear the constant "trrrr" (althouhg the old Aaton that I used didn't make much noise) and you feel you are "wasting" resources. Great feeling, makes you realize how important preparation really is.

Unfortunately I was Directing, DPing and managing everything else.

Too much attention was paid to set design and too little for actor preparation (met actors the day I was going to shoot) and even cinematography was hindered lighting-wise.


Panoramic pic made by a cellphone.

Living and learning.

Post some pictures/grabs when you have it.

Is your film gonna go through DI or something?

:thumbsup:

PS: Look what I found over Scarletuser, haha.

Yep, we're going to have intensive training in the beginning of the course on how to use the Bolex, and the we will get progressively harder "hands on" assignments throughout the semester, along with a short film we have to produce (in 16mm) and fund ourselves as a final. A friend of mine is currently taking that course this semester and giving me the insider info and so far it seems to be a pretty lucrative course.

For the actual self-produced film I will definitely DP and Direct, but I will also make sure to have a Production designer on board from the beginning, as well as a designated script supervisor (hopefully) AND sound recordist/mixer so that I'm not constantly distracted by all that stuff. I think with a good Production designer, the job as a DP will be easier since the overall physical look will be established before the lights even go on (and a good grip(s)!), and a good script supervisor should make directing a lot easier since you'll have someone else paying close attention to continuity. Ideally i'd rather just do one job as I preached before, but for something like this I think being the DP and Director isn't such a long shot...but then again I've never done it before

And hope you followed Isaac's advice:

Make sure you have a good AD and producer. AD will keep you on schedule and your producer will handle talent. The less hats you wear the better your film will be.

 

[Craig Ryan]

Hehe yeah I remember that post, thanks for digging that up.

I would have loved to follow Jason's advice, but unfortunately for this project we all were supposed to wear multiple hats to learn the ropes. It just turned out that I ended up doing most of the camera work is all.

As far as processing; we had a telecine to DV done at Monaco here in SF; we got a nice discount so it only cost us 15$ each for 5 mins of footage.

We got it back yesterday and everyone was pretty impressed with what our group shot; I of course was disappointed and annoyed at several mistakes I made, but you can only learn from your experiences, so overall I'm pleased with the end result so far. We made an easy rough cut yesterday, and next week we will be doing sound. I'll eventually post the final film here so you guys can see it.