FEATURE: Standing Firm - A New Feature

Looking good, Kyle! Keep up the good work.

That last grab is great (mcu ots of the guy in the red shirt)

What lens is that? a 35mm?
 
I threw the 85mm on for that shot. We've been using the 85 a lot more than any other lens, it comes in handy a lot more than I expected.
 
New Blog Entry: http://standingfirmmovie.blogspot.com/2008/07/bits-pieces-w8d1.html
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Hey guys, we need some prayer for this weeks shoot. The weather doesn't look like its going to be cooperative and we need this week to be successful. Above all pray for Saturday where we have planned extras and cars for props and all sorts of things that we've already tried once and got rained out. Pray the rain holds off and that we get what we need shot because it will be very difficult to set this up for a third try.

Thanks a lot everyone, your support is appreciated, as always. :)
 
I'm in such awe of the great look of the film...

just an xla1 and letus?

and prayin for yah man
 
Thanks a lot :) On a side note, I'll be getting my Redrock Shoulder Mount in the mail tomorrow morning, can't wait to hook that baby up! THANKS JOHN!
 
Hey,

I think making a Christian film is an awesome idea! I should know as I made one myself. I'd love to hear about your experience making this project as well as what your bedget was and what motivated you to do it.

It really is a great journey and I commend you on it...

Chris
 
Hey Kyle

Can you tell us what it was like shooting it on an XHA1?
What were its drawbacks? It's awesomeness?

How is it lik working with the 1080i format that's compressed down to 1440
ALL details you can muster, I'd TRULY appreciate in hearing.
 
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Thats the rig we used. There definitely has been drawbacks to using a setup like that, even though some would call that their dream camera setup. The images speak for themselves, its an amazing package to have put together. On the downside it is BIG, it is HEAVY. Buying the Redrock Shoulder Mount was a great addition to the setup but we found it nearly impossible to use the mount with the setup as you see it there...it was possible but VERY HARD. Trying to focus was fun too, lol.

I'll tell you what that mount did do though, it made the entire setup that much more solid and sturdy. The thing was basically a heavy but strong monster. It made mounting our Marshall Monitor very easy as well and we didn't have to worry about the monitor falling over b/c of the weight. We had previously used a Noga Arm but the one that was recommended for that monitor was very temperamental in holding the thing steady...we resorted to gaffer tape sometimes just so we didn't have to worry about it falling and breaking.

I was also always tethered to a power source for the monitor because we didn't have the proper batteries. I had a Bescor Battery Pack but don't have a cable long enough for the pack to reach from the back of the setup (where we placed the AC and extra cable length, etc.) to the monitor up front. The marshall up front like that also made the rig unbalanced on 1 side, part of the reason for the awkward handheld attempts.

OK aside from the rig itself, lets go into the footage and codecs...The images from the camera are awesome, the fact that its 1440x1080 with a 1.33 aspect ratio (stretching to 1920x1080) didn't bug me at all. The HVX uses the exact same concept to shoot its footage. I wish I had straight up 1920x1080 but did it really effect things in the end? Nope. Working with HDV is a snap, and the codec is a lot more robust than its given credit for. Different HDV cameras use different processes inside the camera to create what eventually ends up on the tape and the Canon HD cameras in my opinion use the HDV codec to its greatest potential thus far. Artifacts in my footage haven't been found to date and when color correcting I've never had the codec fall apart.

The sound is fine for me but some would refrain from using the sound the A1 gives you. Its compressed a lot more than DV audio but for my uses its just fine, and we had a separate mixer for sound before going into the A1 to provide the best signal we could get.

Overall our setup including the camera and everything in that photo totaled somewhere around $7000-$7250. It's a very expensive setup (for me at least). Honestly, I wont be using this setup again on a long feature. It's really worth it to me to go for a big dog. More problems with arise with them for sure but this thing is very clumsy and delicate and I want to go tapeless next time. One feature using tape and I'm already kinda sick of it. :)
 
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