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Lens decisions in building the look of a piece

Ben Scott

Ben Scott

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I'm going to be shooting a short later in the year to use to try and fund a proper feature or pilot and I want to devise a look for the piece to give it a strong aesthetic.

It's set in 14th century England and is a fun, if dark, adventure. Laughs, scares, action and drama.

I'm veering away from Master Primes as possibly being too perfect, and veering away from Cookes as it seems every single British drama (period or not) shares the Alexa / Cooke aesthetic and I want to push it a bit.

I've not discounted shooting anamorphic and I've not discounted shooting old glass, whether ana or spherical.

The very early stage notes I have made so far are:

Interiors to be rich and shadowed and low key with motivated light and a sense of claustrophobia.

Exteriors to be epic in scale to use the rolling English countryside almost as a character in its own right.

A bit of grit/grain to the image

Possibly shooting a lot of flame and candlelight so flaring characteristics of any lens needs to be taken into consideration.
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Granted these considerations might be dealt with by composition, lighting and or camera settings but I'm interested in how others go about making these decisions that will eventually support the story so much. Do you store reference images of each combo?

I appreciate shooting a ton of tests with all combinations is the best answer but realistically I'd need to narrow it down to a relatively small group of lenses before doing that.

Camera most likely Scarlet-W or Dragon VV depending on budget.

Any thoughts or examples welcome.
 
I like anamorphic for period pieces. You may want to look at k-35s. I am also a big fan of russian still lenses the mir 37mm, helios, 58mm and jupiter 85mm. Very interesting look, and they are dirt cheap. They are 2.8 so, not as fast as k-35s, or other options, but I don't find 2.8 restricting.

You may also want to look at Illumina super35s. They are really good performers, and have a magical look when screaming wide open.

Nick
 
I've been playing with old Russian lenses for nigh on a decade now - a quick looks says my oldest Helios shots on flickr are from 2007 :) - and they are great fun and can give wonderful results but I certainly intend to use cine glass for this production.

I've thought about K35s or Lomo sphericals or Zeiss superspeeds but shooting candlelight might be an issue with flaring?

Don't really know the Illuminas in terms of look or vibe.
 
Mark K. said:
^
This.

Or perhaps the Kowa anamorphics. If you're looking for an aesthetic that moves away from the standard Alexa/S4 fare, then I think older, funkier anamorphic is the way to go.
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Agreed. A friend of mine just shot a feature on Xtal Express, and it looks BONKERS. So good!
 
Nick Morrison said:
Agreed. A friend of mine just shot a feature on Xtal Express, and it looks BONKERS. So good!
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I agree with Nick. Xtall Express are great lenses for your need. Some slight colour differences between them but easily correctable and a natural fall off to the edges.

Shot a few features on them myself and loved the vintage look it gave me.

Regards

Justus
 
Ben Scott said:
I don't suppose there is anything online I could check out showing them off is there? Searching isn't coming up with much. Thanks.
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I know Ex Mechina was shot on them but with the Sony F65 if i'm not mistaken

Have a look

I can repost an older post of screen grabs where I used them but don't have video clips available yet
 
Amazing thanks. The film looks fantastic. A fair bit of halation and flaring of the strong light sources at night.. I wonder how that might translate when shooting with candlelight-motivated setups...


Ex-Machina looked incredible too.


Just found this shot on them too

https://vimeo.com/163939085

EDIT: Apparently the Neon Demon was shot with them too.
 
Ben Scott said:
I don't suppose there is anything online I could check out showing them off is there? Searching isn't coming up with much. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Here's an incomplete list, not sure how accurate it is: https://shotonwhat.com/?s=Cooke+Xtal+Express

Looks like 'Return of the Jedi' was shot on them. Darius Khondji and John Mathieson seem to like them quite a bit. Here's a clip of Mathieson talking about working with the Xtal Express on 'Brighton Rock': https://youtu.be/PxH4Yzszk1I.
 
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