Light streak - how?

[amelify]

hi, long time lurker, first time poster

i've recently jumped ship from graphic design to the wonderful world of cinema and started making shorts with sony EX3 and 5Dmk2. i'm very much new to this industry and am beginning to learn about the cinematography, directing and everything between. i'm learning by experience and with examples from the masters.

ok so, i have 2 questions. there are two techniques that i hope to replicate in the future(pending subject matter of course).

1. shutter angle. in order to create the 'hyper-real' look and feel of certain action sequences, i'm told shutter angle has to be somewhere between 45-90. examples of this would be the opening normandy sequence in saving private ryan and neil blomkamp's halo shorts(linked). is this possible with digital cams? if so, which cams are capable(RED or otherwise)?

2. light streaks. i'm referring to a technique where certain light sources create long vertical or horizontal streaks across the screen. i don't know exactly what this technique's name is but i know it's possible with RED ONE, i've seen this example in UK tv mini series RED RIDING 1983(linked). what's the exact name for this? and how is it done? from my research i think it's called something along the line of 'out of sync shutter', which doesn't make much sense to me. how is this replicated on RED or any other HD cams?

thank you so much!

 

[David Wyatt]

1. Yes you can get a similar effect by shooting with an increased shutter speed on the Red (I'm a big fan of how this looks on the Red - different to film, but still cool). If you set your shutter to display as an angle you can shoot 90˚ or 45˚ like you would on a film camera if that's what you're used to.

2. This is known as an out-of-phase shutter/movement block and is only really available to film cameras like the Arri 435 where it can be programmed via a special EPROM which allows you control over the amount of the effect. Basically the film is getting pulled down through the gate after its initial exposure before the shutter has fully closed so you get a vertical smear that's particularly noticeable on light sources or specular highlights. You could try to recreate this effect on the Red but it will never look as good IMHO (for example you could use a 2 point star filter to make vertical streaks from light sources and/or you could probably use a post effect to vertically smear light sources).

p.s. congratulations on your first post and new-found freedom from lurking :smiley:- you might also want to register a real name:
http://205.234.135.241/forum/showthread.php?t=32432

 

[tae]

thank you david, i've re-registered, didn't know there was a friendly policy about using real names.

are both techniques possible with ex3 or hvx-grade cameras? i don't think i can yet afford ONE just yet... but good to know that they're possible on ONE.

 

[Jason Wingrove]

you can kind of replicate it a little with 'Magic Bullet Looks' from http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/ they have a highlight streak filter similar to the out of phase shutter effect that David outlines. Otherwise no other way to replicate whats is a purely mechanical / light aritfact :-(
jas

 

[Mark Mannschreck]

The "RED RIDING 1983" link depicts an anamorphic lens flare I believe... possible in post (tracking) but much easier to achieve by shooting with an anamorphic lens. An anamorphic lens will spread out flares horizontally, not vertically though... and of course you'll have to shoot anamorphic. There are anamorphic adapters for fixed lens cameras I think, but I don't know if they'll have flare characteristics like this.

 

[nick allsop]

That looks like an anamorphic flare to me, it is easily done on the RED by using anamorphic lenses. Dizzee Rascal "Holiday" and La Roux "In for the kill" pop promos are some examples of Red ana shot on my cameras, and both have loads of flare.

 

[Daniel García]

Horizontal light streaks are caused by the use of anamorphic lenses. They are a classic in films such as Die Hard and big action movies. They were something generally avoided but later became another aesthetic choice.

You can easily set 1/96 or 1/100 shutter and that's equivalent to 90º shutter if shooting 24fps. Half that for 45º. The standard is shooting 180deg or 1/48s. I don't advise going over that.

The anamorphic streaks can be faked in post (Fincher did that in Zodiac) or using a streak filter in the matte box.