Takes from NYU short

E

eckatma

Member
Hey everybody. I've been lurking on this board for a while but haven't as yet had much of anything to post. This past week I DP'd an New York University short, and they're making HVX's available to students to shoot on so I finally got to get my hands on one. I figured I'd share some footage with everyone.

The movie's a parody of romantic comedies, so the idea was for a sort of high key, inoffensive look. Not my usual style at all, and fun to play with. These takes are totally random, and just what I've been able to grab since we finished a couple of days ago. No CC, and not the best takes, so suffice it to say the boom and cables that you'll see aren't going to be in the finished project. :)

It was a wicked small crew and not the best planned from a production standpoint, so there were definitely a few times when I wished I had a little more to work with, but overall I'm pleased with how things turned out.

Link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=83AMQN7M (104 MB Quicktime)

And for those who don't want to deal with the 100 MB download/megaupload advertising, here are some stills from my flickr site: http://flickr.com/photos/eckatma/tags/jon/show/
 
Hey man, those are some nice shots you have. I especially liked the ones at night, and the ones in the church. Most of the ones in the room/lounge weren't very impressive, but overall i'd say those are some pretty neat grabs. I didn't have time for the 100mb download though, and it might look better in motion...
 
So they have HVXs at NYU now? I went there about 10 years ago, when they had 1 Avid. Ha! I met a kid the other day who was getting ready to shoot his color-sync with a CP, and I was wondering how much longer they're going to keep that going. IMO, learning to shoot film is worthwhile if you want to be a DP, but a huge waste of money if you're trying to learn continuity, how to work with actors, visual storytelling, etc. Especially if you're a student who's also trying to afford to go to one of the most expensive schools in the country and live in NYC. Looking back, I don't know how the hell I pulled if off. (wait--I'm still paying off my student loans) I didn't get nearly as much filmmaking done as I would now, that's for sure.

Are they teaching any electronic cinematography classes now? Ten years down the road, having managed to make a living in the film/tv industry, I have some gripes with NYUs methodology, including their historically slow pace at incorporating technology in a field that is increasingly technology driven. I'm glad to hear that they have the HVXs, and I hope it helps people crank out some really good work!
 
nice looking stuff. I am not so sure about the cool night stuff - but that is one of the oldest, subjective subjects in the field of cinematography. Nicely done and I especially like the stuff in the church.
 
100 meg and no audio ?
So you went to dat i guess but you could warn us ?
Some nice shots, the hvx is holding up well, that zoom was a bit odd ?
-matt
 
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Thanks for the replies all. Just a couple of quick responses

a) Sorry about no audio. Yeah, we did indeed go to DAT; I suppose the file size could have been smaller but encoding for the internet is definitely something I'm still getting the hang of.

b) acoreasc - I hear you on the night stuff. With these scenes especially, they're in the city and the lights all motivated by artificial sources. I've already tried CCing some of it quite a bit warmer and have liked the results (and am a bit surprised at how well the image held up under such a shift), and I intend to show it to the director and see what he things.

c) Thanks everyone who commented on the church stuff! I was especially nervous about that, as that scene was the most hectic of the shoot, and probably the most compromised in terms of what I was able to do with it. Absolutely gorgeous location, but getting that across on the screen was a challenge.

d) meta-lingo: I agree with you whole-heartedly on film vs. video as far as students. Lately NYU's been pretty good about getting new tech available to students. They've had a limited number of DVX's available for a couple years now, and it seems like all the projects I've been on that are school related lately (i.e. those for students without trust funds) have been shot on them. When you're dealing with projects with sub-$10,000 budgets, the savings on film stock, development and transfer all go to upping the production value in other areas.

That said, there are no cinematography courses I know of geared specifically for video, and far more offensive, the NYU staff's own technical knowledge for the HVX was very incomplete and, a couple times, just totally wrong. If I had had to rely on the school's instruction for dealing with workflow issues, and hadn't had these forums to turn to, the shoot would have likely been a disaster, at least post-production-wise.
 
yea man, if you guys need a hand feel free to contact us... some of us are NYU alums :)
 
eckatma, you talk like Mike Mislin.

Having shot my first films on bolex and cut on steenbecks, I feel like I have an appreciation for the craft that a college kid on an HVX and Final Cut will never have the opportunity to experience. It's a real shame in my eyes, because film and Steenbecks force you to make decisions and plan things out. Recently I've been having nightmare shoots where no one has planned a thing and everything goes crazy. Because they assume they can shoot for hours and cut something together later.

An old argument, but still a pertinent one
 
I see what you're saying, Mann. Don't get me wrong, I've shot my fair share of reversal, and spent a fair amount of time on a Steenbeck (one can't get through the cirriculum without touching one, yet, and I suspect it will be some time before one can, even though they've started catching fire lately.) But planning and discipline are going to be crucial whatever the medium.

Anyway, the last thing I want is for the thread to become some sort of horrendous film vs. video debate, or discussion of film schools. Film's awesome, and I wish I got to shoot on it more often. That I don't is a function of financial concerns more than anything.
 
eckatma said:
I see what you're saying, Mann. Don't get me wrong, I've shot my fair share of reversal, and spent a fair amount of time on a Steenbeck (one can't get through the cirriculum without touching one, yet, and I suspect it will be some time before one can, even though they've started catching fire lately.) But planning and discipline are going to be crucial whatever the medium.

Anyway, the last thing I want is for the thread to become some sort of horrendous film vs. video debate, or discussion of film schools. Film's awesome, and I wish I got to shoot on it more often. That I don't is a function of financial concerns more than anything.
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Totally. I will say though, that I like the P2 workflow because it is more similar to shooting film than other digital cameras, and you can't just roll on whatever for hours and hours. I'm actually not that excited about larger P2 cards for that reason.
 
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