Shooting with interiors w/Motion Mount?

[Habib Khan Awan]

Hey everyone, got a question thats been burning in the back of my mind for a while and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on it or provide some firsthand input.

As it stands right now I'm slated to shoot a sci-fi feature come September. I'm really excited about the script, and I've enjoyed pre-planning the visual themes and style with the director. The only problem is that he's been enamored with the idea of BUYING the Black Magic Production Camera 4K model AND an URSA for slomo at 4K. I'm a Scarlet owner myself, and I've been constantly trying to make him understand that it probably wouldn't be the best idea in the world (Ridiculous form-factor, crazy huge file sizes, ergonomics, bad sensor batches).

I've managed to talk him down to the idea of renting the Epic Dragon (Better lowlight, slomo, manageable file sizes, etc), but so far the only technical point left to contend is the global shutter on the Black Magic cameras. Having shot with some degree of rolling shutter for the last five years I know it can be a problem, but certainly manageable. One only has to look at the huge list of films shot without a global shutter. I brought up the fact that if it was really a big deal to him, we could rent a RED Motion Mount.

My only problem is that I've never shot with the Motion Mount before, and I keep reading about how it cuts a ton of light from the sensor (upwards of 1.6/2 stops?!). I know this wont be a big deal for exteriors, but I'm worried about nighttime exteriors, not to mention interiors as well. We'll definitely have a decent G&E package on set (Lots of Tungsten, four 4x4 Kinos, couple 1.2s and maybe a 2.5 HMI), but I'm a little nervous about the light cut regardless. I don't want to be shooting WO or anything like that, since I personally just don't like that look. Not to mention we're gonna be shooting on Contax Zeiss Primes, so they aren't exactly speedy, especially on the wide angle side.

Anyone have any tips or recommendations for interiors and nighttime shooting? I personally don't think it's worth it to rent the Motion Mount just for the global shutter, but I just wanted to be prepared for September in case we do end up shooting with it.

 

[Sidney L. Plaut]

maybe do a blind test with global shutter and non global shutter first?
if you or the director can see a difference then take it from there.

 

[Matthew J]

That's not a lighting package with much punch for exteriors unless you are shooting really tight. Add in the Motion Mount and slow lenses and everything will probably be underexposed.

I honestly do not think you are going to notice a difference not having the GS. I shot a night baseball ad a few years ago on my Epic MX, with the slower sensor refresh, worked beautifully: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM41y1TuyC8&spfreload=10

 

[Nick Morrison]

Dragon has minimal rolling shutter if any...the internal processing I believe clocks twice as fast as Epic MX...

Even without the Motion Mount, I think you'll be more than fine!!

 

[Tyler Dreher]

You also can't go above 60 or 70fps in 4k with the motion mount global shutter on

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

You don't need the motion mount, have you actually done tests? Seems like director is going off paper specs and not real world shooting

 

[Tony Mac]

Another consideration is the size of the URSA camera, if you need to do any creative rigging it comes in much heavier than an Epic at 16lbs. I've done some fairly quick pans on the Dragon and haven't noticed any problems with rolling shutter at all.

 

[Habib Khan Awan]

I agree about the overall "punch" of the lighting package Matthew, but thankfully the night shots are going to be in areas with pre-existing lighting (streets, exteriors of building) so I'm not too worried about that. Just going to use the lights to augment what is already there. I'm also in full agreement with Tony about the lack of versatility of the URSA.

I decided that the best course of action is to rent the Motion Mount from Adorama or somewhere else in the city and take some test shots for the director to see. Again, I personally don't think there is a need for the motion mount in my case (although not needing a mattebox for NDs would be nice), I still feel I need to show the director that GS isn't going to make or break his film.