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  • 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 :)

HELP.

M

Mohamed Younis

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I shot a movie for free for a guy who had a really good script with no way of getting it done. The short was all shot in one room. I used my 5D and one Kino 4 bank as I was the only member of the crew, I didnt want a lot of equipment. He was going for a semi film noire look. The footage is really noisy. I used neat video to take it down a bit. Tell me what you think?

PS. The second shot is graded a little darker than I want it to be but this is just a quick grade of the first couple of shots of the movie.

I also would appreciate any Comments on the cinematography no matter how harsh.
Any criticism is appreciated. I could never get it right with a 5d/7d. Especially the darker scenes.
http://vimeo.com/31121851
 
I thought music does fit, and the video is very cinematic and moving, which is saying a lot since it shows almost nothing. Great work
 
charles lim yi yong said:
music really doesn't fit the images. looks good to me.
Click to expand...
This isnt the music we're using. He's working with a composer on an original score.
I dont have the movie edited yet. I just edited the first couple of shots because I seriously needed some feedback.
 
Hey man - that doesn't look too bad. I can see where there might be some granular noise in there. The grade looks like it covers it pretty well.

Where was your histogram when you shot this?

Reason I ask is that you have to know:

Where you want it to go "Dark"
Where you want it to go "black"

Where you want mids/details.

This is the hardest part in some ways of digital cinematography... something like a mysterium X sensor, with raw recording which has a very good noise floor lets you recover details when you need to, but we know this.

So, sometimes you have to record it a bit brighter than your eye would say is acceptable with a baked-in codec, then darken it down later to hide the noise. Just an idea - as for "fixing" it now - you could embrace the grain - your grade covers it pretty well - its not a moire-hell (although I saw a little). its part of the grit of the story - if its too glossy then its just another generic "DRAMA" in a TV style.

Looks like you have a good start there.

I think for a "free" project you've done quite well. If the guy is complaining to you, explain that it is part of the creative process, and once it gets up on the festival screen no-one will be pixel peeping if the story is good.
 
Dan Kanes said:
Hey man - that doesn't look too bad. I can see where there might be some granular noise in there. The grade looks like it covers it pretty well.

Where was your histogram when you shot this?

Reason I ask is that you have to know:

Where you want it to go "Dark"
Where you want it to go "black"

Where you want mids/details.

This is the hardest part in some ways of digital cinematography... something like a mysterium X sensor, with raw recording which has a very good noise floor lets you recover details when you need to, but we know this.

So, sometimes you have to record it a bit brighter than your eye would say is acceptable with a baked-in codec, then darken it down later to hide the noise. Just an idea - as for "fixing" it now - you could embrace the grain - your grade covers it pretty well - its not a moire-hell (although I saw a little). its part of the grit of the story - if its too glossy then its just another generic "DRAMA" in a TV style.

Looks like you have a good start there.

I think for a "free" project you've done quite well. If the guy is complaining to you, explain that it is part of the creative process, and once it gets up on the festival screen no-one will be pixel peeping if the story is good.
Click to expand...
All the shots were darkened and the blacks were crushed. The shots actually have a lot more detail. I figured crank the iso then crush blacks and remove noise in post. Seems to be the same thing you're saying. Although the footage did turn out noisier than expected.
The guy isnt complaining at all, he's very grateful. I wish he gets some sort of recognition for his great script in the film's festivals run. His direction wasnt bad when it comes to directing actors but his shots were really bad I had to change almost all of them and talk him out of each shot. This made the film's shoot a lot longer than it should have been. I would take the shot the way he wants it and then go play it back on a big screen and explain (several times) why that wont work. I still admire him for having a strong vision though. I hope when it's finished and subtitled all of you will get to see it.
 
The silhouette figure against the window looks really good to me. I'm an absolute beginner but maybe for a film noire look a harder light source is better.
 
Kino flo is a bit soft for some of the shots. Not enough contrast.
 
I had a Kino and a 650 arri present. The problem with the arri was space tbh. I wanted to put it a lot further away from the talent and the room was tiny
 
Dan Kanes said:
Hmm - well it doesn't look like a disaster really - what ISO were you shooting at? what was your T-Stop, what were your sources?

Cheers!

Dan
Click to expand...
T-stop is always different depending on the dof im going for.I stick with native iso 160,320,640....etc. For lights i had the window (for some scenes, some were shot at night) A kino 4 bank 5600, used primarily to fill, and a tungsten 650 arri. It's a weird mix but it's all i could carry alone. It really was the most intimate set I've ever worked in.
 
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