Letus Extreme- Footage - Test Shoot For BERLIN-

Ryan E. Walters

Ryan E. Walters

Well-known member
So last night I shot a test scene for Norm Sanders film BERLIN, in which I will be the 1st AC. The DP, Dan Ayers, S.O.C. was out of town on a job in LA, and wanted to see the difference in using the HVX with and without the adapter. Norm cordinated an evening for some of the cast and crew to come over to my place to shoot a test scene, and then I would send the results to Dan.

For those of you who do not know, BERLIN is a short film that is a period piece, and the scene he wanted to see was a scene that is kind of moody and take place in a bar that features candle light. Using a small lowell kit, I did my best to try and capture that feeling / look in my dinning room & kitchen.

So with Norm's permission, here is the test footage that we shot last night, I hope you enjoy:

(Please note, that I had to be the DP, Camera Op, and the 1st AC on this test shoot, which made it pretty difficult to operate and pull focus on a moving camera and talent- so there are a couple of spots where it goes a little soft.)

15MB QuickTime: (Right Click - Save As)
http://www.235studios.com/BerlinTestSequence.mov
 
good stuff, seems like the extreme really performs well in low-light...

thanks for sharing this
 
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Ryan, that looks great! Very well done. Did you leave some toast in the toaster for the smoke? ;)
 
Looks good. I did see some soft spots like you said, but I liked what I saw from the Letus in comparison to the stock HVX200. Any loose end can be easily made up for in post.

Any color correction on the footage?
 
UGH finally some more HVX LEtus EX!!!

Ryan, it looks good. I know it's a major pain to ask this, but can you put up a 720p version on YouSendIt or something? I am dying to see some great full res HVX stuff with this adapter.

Otherwise, looks really good.

Shutter?
 
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Thats really nice.

Perhaps you could share with us more about the lighting like the placement? Also what does 'all lights have 1/4 cto" means?
 
Ryan, if you need a place to park 720p footage (if you want to post any), send me a PM and I'll give you a FTP login. I would be happy to get some more full res HVX footage up for people to check out.
 
Fantastic! It's great to see some side by side comparisons like that.
This sort of stuff is exactly what makes this site invaluable.
Thanks for sharing this, Ryan (and Norm).

And best of luck with the short.
:thumbsup:
 
DeGrey said:
Ryan, that looks great! Very well done. Did you leave some toast in the toaster for the smoke? ;)
Click to expand...

LOL! ;)

We used a smoke machine that had regular smoke in it. As you can see from the shots, the smoke disapates very quickly. And that was after emptying out the smoke machine before each take. We would have gotten better results if we had haze juice instead of smoke juice. The haze juice stays around longer and effects the light a little differently.
 
ifownlee41nite@mac.com said:
Looks good. I did see some soft spots like you said, but I liked what I saw from the Letus in comparison to the stock HVX200. Any loose end can be easily made up for in post.

Any color correction on the footage?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the soft spots were due to having to operate and pull focus with a moving camera, and moving talent. If I had had more wattage, I would have liked to stop down to a 4 or a 5.6, and have a 1st AC- there is a very good reason why your shouldn't do everythign yourself. :)

There is no color correction. All of the lights have 1/4 CTO on them, which I felt gave the scene the color I was after.
 
Kholi said:
UGH finally some more HVX LEtus EX!!!

Ryan, it looks good. I know it's a major pain to ask this, but can you put up a 720p version on YouSendIt or something? I am dying to see some great full res HVX stuff with this adapter.

Otherwise, looks really good.

Shutter?
Click to expand...

I just sent a PM to DeGray. AS soon as the file is up I'll let you know.

As for the shutter it was at 180 degrees.
 
Chan Ee Jien said:
Thats really nice.

Perhaps you could share with us more about the lighting like the placement? Also what does 'all lights have 1/4 cto" means?
Click to expand...

As noted by Matty_g 1/4 CTO is a gell that was placed infront of the light. The Gell is Color Temperature Orange, and is was quarter stregnth. Usually CTO is used to color correct sun light to match tungsten light. I used it here to further warm up the lights to help give a feeling of warmth and the glow of fire light.

As far as placement goes- the two DP lights were placed as 3/4 back cross key lights. Which means that they were placed at roughly 60 degrees behind the talent and lit up the far side of their face leaving the near side / camera side in shaddow. These lights were placed on c-stands just out of the top of the frame. The Tota light was placed just underneath and behind the table, and the beam was angles down some so that the full intensity did not travel all the way into the background. In the far corner I hid the pro light on a small stand and angles it up towards the old radio horn in the background. This light was to emulate the candle light that was coming from a candle that was back there. (Unforuntately you cannot see the candle in these shots, as when Rebecca sits down she hides the candle.)

Hope that helps. :)
 
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