Rejouer feature film

[Cinesota]

Interesting article about shooting the feature film Rejouer with the GH1:

http://www.dv.com/article/86306

[Martti Ekstrand]

Ahh - been waiting for this article. Thanks for the link.

[eL ProduceR]

Much appreciated! :beer:

[Rakesh Jacob]

That's such a kick ass rig!

[commanderspike]

Liked the article, can't wait to see the film.

I think this kind of equipment, when paired with the GH1 really does turn it into a hollywood standard camera.

When people see the end result of this, they won't be moaning about mud that's for sure. Although it is mentioned in the interview, the compression stuff. It's not a concern if you have the equipment to get around it.

[Oedipax]

Has anyone been able to explain why the in-camera ISO of 100 corresponded to the DP's light meter at 640? And 400 similarly with 2500?

Just doesn't seem plausible to me (and I say this as a GH1 owner).

[Car3o]

i think i've seen illya say this a dozen times, but the gh1's iso is rated differently. it's like twice that of standard iso ratings. or something. illya?

[SonicStates]

Thanks for the link, Cinesota. Illya's rig is waaaaay cool.

[Nighthawk]

Good article, thanks. I'm a little confused by the ISO rating myself. I'm half finished shooting my feature which has many low light situations and both my D.P. and I have scratched our heads wondering how we're getting certain shots with available light and have exceeded 640 ISO only once the entire shoot with most of these scenes in the 320 - 400 range.
I won't dredge up the dreaded FPN issue again but there were a couple unavoidable moments of that but knowing what to expect lessened it's impact on these scenes. In and out in the blink of an eye but it was strangely lessened after pulldown removal.
I make no pretense that my shoot will come off as pro as "Rejouer" but, like them, I feel that picking the GH1 was a wise choice. A must though is live video out. Too many instances of soft focus not being seen during a take. How's Illya doing with his video tap?

[Oedipax]

Yes, monitoring has kept me from pulling it out on various client shoots that would otherwise be tailor-made for the GH1 and similar cameras - lots of corporate talking head stuff, for instance. Often times there's not a lot of time to light the space and the locations are cramped, yet they expect a pleasing image - tiny light-sensitive video DSLRs, eureka! Except almost no one can see the image!

[Illya Friedman]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words!! The support and well wishes of people on this forum really means a lot to me and my company, Hot Rod Cameras.

Despite playing it rather coy, REJOUER has been finished for some time now. I still haven't seen the final version of the movie, although I did see a fine cut several weeks ago. All around, the movie amazes me! Quite often the crew was only 5-8 people on set (depending on the day), and lighting was sometimes 100% battery powered- and by a batteries, I mean AA batteries.

I think that this movie will come to represent a sea change in the industry. It's worth noting- I've been writing this crazy long blog post about what exactly I mean by "sea change" for a week now, and I still haven't got it to a point where I feel like I can post it. I'm going to try to distill it down from the manifesto length it is now, to something short and coherent- maybe two or three posts, but probably not until this weekend (or after).

I don't want to build it up too much, but on the strength of the images from REJOUER I got two GH1/Hot Rod PL packages working on a big (budget) movie being shot along side bigger cameras that cost tens of thousands of dollars more. What's even better is that I've got preliminary permission to make some of the images public while it's still in production. A couple more hurdles to jump, but damn, I'm excited. Fingers crossed, I'll be making some really cool GH1 images public before the end of the year!

If anyone in the LA area is interested, I'll be showing a few ungraded clips from REJOUER at the HDSLR cinema event next week on the 23rd at DV Expo. The event is put on by a great organization called the Digital Cinema Society. Registration for DV Expo is still free (with code DVBRO) and the event is open to all attendees.

I can't stay up any longer, but I'll check back on this thread frequently and answer any questions I can.

[commanderspike]

That sounds great. I can't wait to see the ultimate potential of the GH1 realised.

I think we'll have to wait a few more years for the sea change though. Exciting cameras ahead. The GH1 is still just a first generation product.

[Illya Friedman]

Regarding ISO. You decide what the ISO is, treat Panasonic's rating as a suggestion. Shoot exposure tests (yes a greyscale/color chart) up and down. Look at your whites and blacks, compare them with the histogram, color grade your tests and look at the images on a big screen vs. your properly exposed shot, and you'll find your ideal rating for the camera (actually any camera).

640 and 2500 maybe a bit too aggressive in some shooting scenarios (as I've said here before- your mileage may vary) but trust your histogram. You can see individual RGB & Y in levels in playback. This is priceless for determining exposure. Test an IR filter, you won't be sorry.