Scarlet-W Contemporary Dance Video

[Tim Milgram]

First video I shot on my Scarlet-W a few months ago, which I'm just now releasing on my YouTube channel (passion projects tend to get the low priority treatment unfortunately). I definitely underestimated the exposure difference between outside and inside, and in retrospect should have gotten a really powerful source to bounce off the white ceiling or something for a soft light. Shot the whole thing at around F5 - F6 at 800iso 1/60th shutter and had a friend pull focus via Foolcontrol on my iPad. Had the camera on the Letus Helix Jr the whole time. Let me know what you guys think!

Also here's a Vimeo link, in case YouTube doesn't work in your country: https://vimeo.com/191611200

 

[Robbert van Weelderen]

I like it Tim. The dancers are giving a top performance and I like the simplicity of the art-direction. The background is maybe a bit light but it didn't bother me really and the dancers are exposed correctly. The movement works out great.

 

[Jacob Ryan]

Thanks for sharing Tim. I like the camera work.

Robbert, I noticed that in the show on Amazon Prime ( "Goliath" starring Billy Bob Thornton) has very light windows. Often, even blown out. I''m not sure if that was done purposefully (showing light/goodness vs dark/evil).

 

[Visar Sulejmani]

Very well done, I love how the camera seems to move in sync with the dancers.

I didn't know that pulling focus with Foolcontrol worked that well. What lens did you use and what did you your friend monitor the footage with, If you don't mind me asking?

 

[Tim Milgram]

Thanks Visar! The focus pulling worked really well. The problem we had was Foolcontrol would reset itself sometimes and lose our marks we had programmed. Another thing is the repeatability was questionable so I learned that between every take to make sure to check that the 5 foot mark on Foolcontrol matched the 5 foot distance on the lens, and nudge the lens focus if it looked slightly off. I think every lens probably acts a bit differently due to focus motor design.

The lens I shot on was the Canon 16-35 F4 IS... I use it pretty much exclusively.

My friend didnt monitor the footage. At F5 or F6 on a crop sensor you don't really have to be that perfect, guessing distance was enough, and I'd say over 95% of the footage was in focus and this was my friend's first time pulling focus.

For jobs with clients, I have a wireless transmitter and a monitor, but I think that a good focus puller doesn't need a screen to look at and should be able to judge distance.

 

[Tim Milgram]

I like it Tim. The dancers are giving a top performance and I like the simplicity of the art-direction. The background is maybe a bit light but it didn't bother me really and the dancers are exposed correctly. The movement works out great.

Thanks Robbert. I agree. My goal was for the outside to be fully visible without any blowout but I underestimated the amount of lighting necessary for that, and also overestimated the dynamic range of the camera a little bit. Not too mad at it looking like this as the performance sells it pretty well but definitely not my vision as far as the look is concerned.

 

[Robbert van Weelderen]

Thanks Robbert. I agree. My goal was for the outside to be fully visible without any blowout but I underestimated the amount of lighting necessary for that, and also overestimated the dynamic range of the camera a little bit. Not too mad at it looking like this as the performance sells it pretty well but definitely not my vision as far as the look is concerned.

Now that I had a chance to see it on my 5K iMac instead of my work laptop I'm even more impressed. I think the overexposed background even helps to "sell" the performance and makes you focus more on the dancing. Also love the last shot where the girl disappears behind the male dancer. Only thing that could have improved a bit is that focus is indeed not always spot on. But as you said that's due to focus pulling with fool control and not a focus unit. I'm an amateur dancer myself and am going to direct an improvised solo dance performance next week with my MOVI rig. If it's going to turn out half as good as yours I'll be very satisfied!!

How many takes did it take for the performance? And was it easy to combine takes to make the dance seem fluent. I think that will be the hardest part of my improvised recording next week.

 

[Tim Milgram]

Now that I had a chance to see it on my 5K iMac instead of my work laptop I'm even more impressed. I think the overexposed background even helps to "sell" the performance and makes you focus more on the dancing. Also love the last shot where the girl disappears behind the male dancer. Only thing that could have improved a bit is that focus is indeed not always spot on. But as you said that's due to focus pulling with fool control and not a focus unit. I'm an amateur dancer myself and am going to direct an improvised solo dance performance next week with my MOVI rig. If it's going to turn out half as good as yours I'll be very satisfied!!

How many takes did it take for the performance? And was it easy to combine takes to make the dance seem fluent. I think that will be the hardest part of my improvised recording next week.

Ah yes! Watching the video exported at 4k on a 5k monitor would *for sure* expose some "near perfect" moments in the focus. At most I've watched it on a 2560x1440 display and only noticed it a little. Definitely room for improvement!

Oh and we did a lot of takes... Broke it up into 3 segments. Probably 15 takes up until the chorus, another 8 of just the chorus, and another dozen from that point till the end. Not the most challenging edit to be honest.. had plenty of stuff to work from.

 

[Gar Hoover]

Great to know that the Scarlet works so well on the Helix Jr. Would you mind sharing the details of your setup? I'm a new Scarlet owner (not yet received) and would love to use it on the Jr -- but to date have limited it to smaller cameras.

Nice work, btw!

 

[Tim Milgram]

Great to know that the Scarlet works so well on the Helix Jr. Would you mind sharing the details of your setup? I'm a new Scarlet owner (not yet received) and would love to use it on the Jr -- but to date have limited it to smaller cameras.

Nice work, btw!

Thanks! Setup is pretty simple. I use the bigger juicebox batteries to counterbalance from the back, and bought the power cord to charge the red off of the top accessory port on the helix.