Thoughts on formats and look on an upcoming projects

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

Hi,

I'm planning a shoot later this summer, on a story about a man in a city - based on a rather well know book. My original thought was to shoot the "real" aspects of the story on my Canon XLH1 1/3 CCD video camera (without cine-adapter) in ProRes with a Ki-Pro and with a low contrast filter in front of the lens - Cinéma vérité style.

Deep focus is starting to become a unique look and using an ENG zoom has some advantages. The "dreams" in the story has always been planned cinema style, and I guess Red MX or Epic will be perfect for these parts.

But, I'm not sure.

I need a "hyper-real" atmosphere for the "real" aspects on the story, and stylized cinema images for the other parts. So I need contrast.

But one option would perhaps be to shoot the "real" scenes with Red One 2k using one or two 16mm zoom-lenses? Does anyone have any samples of this kind of work?

Any thoughts, hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a sample of a video shot with the Canon XLH1 (anyways I need to do some tests in a less stylized environment):
http://vimeo.com/22164389
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20747143/2k-test.png

Best regards,
Jon Michael Puntervold

 

[paulherrin]

now let me say i do the same thing playing cards close to my chest, but "a story about a man in the city" made me chuckle a little bit as you're asking for creative/stylistic recommendations which i'd really try to base on the story itself. if this is going to be an involved project, unless you have a good reason, i would really try to swing at least something HD, or preferably higher (like... i don't know, what's that camera? oh yeah a red

you can always make well-captured footage look like anything, but you are EXTREMELY limited when shooting miniDV format. i don't recommend it for anything that's really important to you. THAT BEING SAID, it is possible to tell a story with any camera, there will just be understood artistic sacrifices in different areas. there are arguably more important things to filmmaking than the quality of the capturing device. the video you posted looks great on the internet, btw, because of the lighting, etc. and the xl1 is not a bad tool, but as you know, a lot of advancements in technology have come about since its release. you could shoot a feature film on a cell phone camera, and people may even watch it, but i would certainly not recommend doing that without an EXTREMELY good reason. EXTREMELY good reasons (might) include: "I'm stuck on an island with my cell phone, but I can charge the battery from the sun and make a film, and send it in a text message to be distributed." "The film is about a man who is on an island with nothing but a cell phone and a solar panel." "I am up to my eyes in debt and don't have any money, and have exhausted all means of funding for equipment, and any of my friends aren't really my friends and won't let me borrow something better" And if any of those things are applicable, I would seriously consider not making the movie

So, you get the point, sorry for the tangent. Good luck. If you can share some more information about your situation, I'd be happy to give you some creative input. And there's a bunch of others around here who probably can give you better advice than myself. another side note, i'm hoping you have the rights to produce said film based on a 'well known' piece of literature? ...just checking

For image quality and workflow I highly recommend any RED camera, though there are other options to consider if you aren't able to rent or think about purchasing one.

 

[Jon MIchael Puntervold]

Hi, thank you for the input, but I just realized that i have written Canon XL1, it should have been Canon XL H1. The format will be 220mbit 1080p Pro-Res. I hava a sample uncompressed PNG, blown up to 2k linked in my previous post.

Anyways - I found your input inspiring. But I agree DV would maybe be a bit too radical

On story (i'm awaiting feedback on the I.P. - so i do not wish to disclose it, until it's final), but to give some better idea. It's a story from the mid-century (the last one), and I wish to make the illusion as it is something that is going on right here and now, not in a different time. And I really like the style of John Cassavetes and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and want to approach my subject matter in a similar method.


BTW: A mobile-shot feature would be great, but as you've said - it needs some very good reasons.