Mark Harris
11-17-2009, 09:31 PM
This was a blog post from my site about some camera tests we did last month. Wasn't entirely sure where to put it. I'm not really ready to start a thread for the entire project yet. But it does include 7D stuff, so I thought I would throw it here. It includes some stuff from a bunch of other cameras too.
These are just some tests. In January, I bring in the big guns(TIMUR!!!!) and get to the real work.
Original Post (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/2009/11/cameras-and-camera-tests/)
Canon 7D
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/jared_interview-300x168.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/jared_interview.jpg)
I like the look we’re getting out of the 7D for this kind of stuff. It’s pretty natural, and the camera’s low-light capabilities mean you can often shoot only with practicals. The shot above uses:
* Cannon 28-70mm zoom 2.8, here stopped I think to about 4.0
* ISO 640
* 1/48 shutter
* Only the light you see in the room; light from the window and the lamp on his desk
The shot is slightly washed out in post to give it more of the look I want. It’s got a bit of softness, and combined with the wash out in post, it looks like maybe shot on not the best stock in the world.
I’m actually looking for some ways to add a little more grain to it without a plugin...like maybe project it and shoot the projected image? Not sure. I want it to look like it was shot with not the best stock, say, and then look like it's sat in a drawer for a few years. Of course, I guess I can just shoot that stuff on 16mm and then step all over the film...Hmmm....
Here are a couple more grabs from the 7D. These are from some interview segments we’re using to raise awareness of the film, and by design under better conditions:
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/godfrey_interview_still_21-300x168.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/godfrey_interview_still_21.jpg)
I think this looks perfectly nice, except for the wee bit of focus issue I had due to the shallow DOF. In this case, I had let the camera auto-expose. The shot still came out clean, but you can see a little soft as I try to find the mark. When seen small it’s not an issue, but at full res noticeable.
Now look at this shot of our actress Leah, also being interviewed. She’s pretty yellow, because I screwed up and used a crappy light on her that wasn’t even 3200K. Pitfalls of this camera’s light sensitivity. You’re tempted to grab any old Ikea light you find laying around. Just make sure it’s not going to bite you in the ass.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/leah_interview_bef_aft_2-266x300.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/leah_interview_bef_aft_2.jpg)
In this case, I was able to bring her back from the clutches of Jaundice and make her look pretty human again. It’s a pretty light cc with just the FCP three-wheel color corrector, but does the job, saves the shot, and makes it usable.
So all in all, I am pretty happy with the 7D and what it will bring to this shoot. I am also planning on shooting a short on it in January.
All Right, the fun stuff!
Surveillance Cameras
Okay, that’s all well and good about the 7D. Sure it’s useful in some situations and could be a good camera for shooting your stuff and making it look pretty good. But on this project, we’re stepping up our game. That’s right, we’re going all out with the…surveillance camera.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/deprogramming_surveillance-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/deprogramming_surveillance.jpg)
Steve, our art director actually had some of these little wireless remote surveillance cameras. The stuff that guy has just laying around will boggle your mind. If you meet him, ask him about the bag of babies hanging by the front door.
Anyway, in some of the scenes, we wanted to see what a surveillance camera would see. So instead of trying to muck it up in post, we went for the real deal. These things have an awesome murkiness to the image, and you can add jumpiness and static to them just by interrupting the signal. Whenever I’d pass my iPhone near the receiver, I would get a little more fuzz and zigzag pattern in the video. Just like the iPhone mysteriously messes with my car radio, I guess. Yes, the iPhone likes to intimidate lesser electronics.
These cameras don’t record themselves, but they do have RCA outputs, so that you can record to say, a DVX as a deck, thus adding to the delicious image degradation they provide.
iPod Nano
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sturges_room_e_disrobe-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sturges_room_e_disrobe.jpg)
The next thing we wanted to do was simulate a situation where someone might be spying on another person with a cell phone camera. Lacking a cell phone with video though, we used a new iPod Nano instead. Well, one thing about video technology now, is that it’s just too good. The Nano does put out some crappy, low-res video, but not crappy and low-res enough. It just wasn’t giving me the look I wanted. So I played around with it for a while, and finally settled on this: I exported it as an even lower-res web video, uploaded it to YouTube, hoping to further degrade the image, and then shot the YouTube video on a TV screen with a DVX set to 30p. It was only then that I started to see something about like what I wanted.
I haven’t settled on this stuff yet, so if anyone reads this and has some brilliant ideas about it, feel free to comment or email me with them, or drop a note through the form below.
Various Other Video Cameras
But I did carry on with this technique into some other videos. At certain points in the story, some characters record themselves on video and put these videos on the web. I’ve been having the actors do these by themselves, as they would be done, in order to give them as much a sense of the reality of the situation as possible. I’ve been working non-actors into the mix as well. But again, the video they’ turn in just wasn’t bad enough. Too clean, too good, too nice. I wanted the video to call some attention to itself, to insert itself between subject and viewer.
The one on the left is whatever crappy camcorder the actress owns. The one on the right is DVX at 60i. Again, both sent to YouTube and then RE-shot through a TV on a DVX.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sequence_evelyn_video-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sequence_evelyn_video.jpg)http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/T-300x202.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/T.jpg)
What I also like about this is that there’s an inherent creepiness brought by the obfuscation of the subject, by the fact that you have to sort of meet the subject matter half-way and engage your mind to figure out what you’re seeing, and hopefully engage your imagination to fill in what you’re not.
This aspect has some bearing on our story, so I wanted to start working out how to express it visually.
I had someone comment that they thought I could achieve all of these looks in post. I kind of disagree. Meaning, I don't think I could achieve these looks and have the look real without excessive amounts of time and energy, and possibly even expensive software. And even then I'm not convinced...
Any further thoughts on reaching these looks in post?
These are just some tests. In January, I bring in the big guns(TIMUR!!!!) and get to the real work.
Original Post (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/2009/11/cameras-and-camera-tests/)
Canon 7D
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/jared_interview-300x168.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/jared_interview.jpg)
I like the look we’re getting out of the 7D for this kind of stuff. It’s pretty natural, and the camera’s low-light capabilities mean you can often shoot only with practicals. The shot above uses:
* Cannon 28-70mm zoom 2.8, here stopped I think to about 4.0
* ISO 640
* 1/48 shutter
* Only the light you see in the room; light from the window and the lamp on his desk
The shot is slightly washed out in post to give it more of the look I want. It’s got a bit of softness, and combined with the wash out in post, it looks like maybe shot on not the best stock in the world.
I’m actually looking for some ways to add a little more grain to it without a plugin...like maybe project it and shoot the projected image? Not sure. I want it to look like it was shot with not the best stock, say, and then look like it's sat in a drawer for a few years. Of course, I guess I can just shoot that stuff on 16mm and then step all over the film...Hmmm....
Here are a couple more grabs from the 7D. These are from some interview segments we’re using to raise awareness of the film, and by design under better conditions:
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/godfrey_interview_still_21-300x168.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/godfrey_interview_still_21.jpg)
I think this looks perfectly nice, except for the wee bit of focus issue I had due to the shallow DOF. In this case, I had let the camera auto-expose. The shot still came out clean, but you can see a little soft as I try to find the mark. When seen small it’s not an issue, but at full res noticeable.
Now look at this shot of our actress Leah, also being interviewed. She’s pretty yellow, because I screwed up and used a crappy light on her that wasn’t even 3200K. Pitfalls of this camera’s light sensitivity. You’re tempted to grab any old Ikea light you find laying around. Just make sure it’s not going to bite you in the ass.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/leah_interview_bef_aft_2-266x300.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/leah_interview_bef_aft_2.jpg)
In this case, I was able to bring her back from the clutches of Jaundice and make her look pretty human again. It’s a pretty light cc with just the FCP three-wheel color corrector, but does the job, saves the shot, and makes it usable.
So all in all, I am pretty happy with the 7D and what it will bring to this shoot. I am also planning on shooting a short on it in January.
All Right, the fun stuff!
Surveillance Cameras
Okay, that’s all well and good about the 7D. Sure it’s useful in some situations and could be a good camera for shooting your stuff and making it look pretty good. But on this project, we’re stepping up our game. That’s right, we’re going all out with the…surveillance camera.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/deprogramming_surveillance-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/deprogramming_surveillance.jpg)
Steve, our art director actually had some of these little wireless remote surveillance cameras. The stuff that guy has just laying around will boggle your mind. If you meet him, ask him about the bag of babies hanging by the front door.
Anyway, in some of the scenes, we wanted to see what a surveillance camera would see. So instead of trying to muck it up in post, we went for the real deal. These things have an awesome murkiness to the image, and you can add jumpiness and static to them just by interrupting the signal. Whenever I’d pass my iPhone near the receiver, I would get a little more fuzz and zigzag pattern in the video. Just like the iPhone mysteriously messes with my car radio, I guess. Yes, the iPhone likes to intimidate lesser electronics.
These cameras don’t record themselves, but they do have RCA outputs, so that you can record to say, a DVX as a deck, thus adding to the delicious image degradation they provide.
iPod Nano
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sturges_room_e_disrobe-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sturges_room_e_disrobe.jpg)
The next thing we wanted to do was simulate a situation where someone might be spying on another person with a cell phone camera. Lacking a cell phone with video though, we used a new iPod Nano instead. Well, one thing about video technology now, is that it’s just too good. The Nano does put out some crappy, low-res video, but not crappy and low-res enough. It just wasn’t giving me the look I wanted. So I played around with it for a while, and finally settled on this: I exported it as an even lower-res web video, uploaded it to YouTube, hoping to further degrade the image, and then shot the YouTube video on a TV screen with a DVX set to 30p. It was only then that I started to see something about like what I wanted.
I haven’t settled on this stuff yet, so if anyone reads this and has some brilliant ideas about it, feel free to comment or email me with them, or drop a note through the form below.
Various Other Video Cameras
But I did carry on with this technique into some other videos. At certain points in the story, some characters record themselves on video and put these videos on the web. I’ve been having the actors do these by themselves, as they would be done, in order to give them as much a sense of the reality of the situation as possible. I’ve been working non-actors into the mix as well. But again, the video they’ turn in just wasn’t bad enough. Too clean, too good, too nice. I wanted the video to call some attention to itself, to insert itself between subject and viewer.
The one on the left is whatever crappy camcorder the actress owns. The one on the right is DVX at 60i. Again, both sent to YouTube and then RE-shot through a TV on a DVX.
http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sequence_evelyn_video-300x200.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sequence_evelyn_video.jpg)http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/T-300x202.jpg (http://www.desperatecomfort.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/T.jpg)
What I also like about this is that there’s an inherent creepiness brought by the obfuscation of the subject, by the fact that you have to sort of meet the subject matter half-way and engage your mind to figure out what you’re seeing, and hopefully engage your imagination to fill in what you’re not.
This aspect has some bearing on our story, so I wanted to start working out how to express it visually.
I had someone comment that they thought I could achieve all of these looks in post. I kind of disagree. Meaning, I don't think I could achieve these looks and have the look real without excessive amounts of time and energy, and possibly even expensive software. And even then I'm not convinced...
Any further thoughts on reaching these looks in post?