camera test for indie-feature, with 5Dm2...seriously.

Hunter Hampton

Hunter Hampton

Carbonite Member
This isn't a great test but I just wanted to see if it was possible to shoot a feature with the 5dm2- both in usability and image quality. We made this really fast so please forgive any poor framing or editing, this is just a quick test!
(I rented the camera)

We originally had a budget for shooting film, it got halved and halved again and halved again.... I looked for a solution because I really want this film to happen (a friend and I have been wanting to make this for over a year)- so I tested the 5Dmark2 and I was extremely impressed with it. You can read more about the test on the video's description and how I managed to have full manual control as well as 24p through conversion.

But to make it short, we projected on a pretty large screen the 1080/24p footage and everyone was blown away- its shocking to think that you can get this kind of image for the price. We are now moving into full-blown pre-pro and I will be blogging daily when we start photography. I know I will receive some criticism for choosing to shoot a feature with the 5dm2, but I believe we can tell a great story with it- despite its short comings.

Link: http://vimeo.com/3162190/

http://vimeo.com/3162190/
 
No trouble with the rolling shutter. Nothing that would call attention to it self- with that said, if you violently shake the camera or do whip pans, you will see some skew. I dont plan on doing either.
 
Wow, looks great. I think the 24p conversion looks pretty spot on, at least seeing it on Vimeo. Since you were obviously able to view this at full 1080p, how would you rate it compared to a true 24p camera's footage in terms of the 24p look?

Reason I ask is that the 30p frame rate is the biggest downside for me with the 5D mk2, although the mk2 has a lot of other things going for it over the D90. Bottom line for me is I'd rather spend the cash on a video DSLR and be able to get the awesome low light results than spend it on a DoF adapter.

As for your film, it said American Disciples at the end of the test video. Care to tell us what the basic premise is?
 
Thanks for the tips for a hand held rig, I will look into it.

About the 24p conversion; Its not perfect but it does look the part. Compressor has a pretty good algorithm for doing the conversion, it takes the "problem" frames and interpolates new frames to fit there. If you scrubbed frame by frame, you may notice an interpolated frame, but when played in motion- the results are acceptable.

I have showed other "camera guys" the footage and I didn't point out that it was converted to 24p, they just assumed it was 24p natively.

You have to know who your audience is, and normal audiences will never notice anything out of the ordinary with the image- they will just watch the film (which is what I want!)


About "American Disciples"- that is just a working title, it will be most likely be changed as its kinda a misnomer.

Its a "light-hearted" dark comedy about three brothers reuniting and picking things up where they left off, though some events they get inspired to help make the world a better place but it doesn't work out like they expected it.
 
hunter richards said:
Its a "light-hearted" dark comedy about three brothers reuniting and picking things up where they left off, though some events they get inspired to help make the world a better place but it doesn't work out like they expected it.
Click to expand...

But this didn't look ANYTHING like The Darjeeling Limited!

Just kidding, this is excellent stuff. I left some comments on your Vimeo.
 
Thanks for the info on the 24p Hunter. You're absolutely right, as long as it looks good, the average joe shmoe out there won't notice any difference.

If you've already got other filmmakers saying it looks fine then I'd say it passed the test.
 
I'm going to keep it pretty light; maybe a few LED's for car interiors, some china balls for interiors, arri tugsten kit, and maybe a 575w or 1.2k HMI par? Havent gotten to that point yet, but the budget is very low, but I'm going to make it work. I also like mixing motivated mixed practicals as well.
 
What were the prices you were getting quoted on the Red that made it too expensive or was it the workflow?
 
I could shoot this project on the Red, but its just not right for it- a small discreet camera would be much better suited (we were originally planning on shooting with my little a-minima before the budget was cut) I feel the Red is too slow and heavy for this shoot- and we dont have the necessary support for it.

Im also pulling a lot of strings and I got a very good editor on board for peanuts, so I didn't want to put the weight of the Red workflow on him because he may not want to do it then. This stuff is a lot easier to manage from a CPU and data point of view.

This is really a group effort project and a lot of people both cast and crew are making this work for our budget.
 
hunter richards said:
I could shoot this project on the Red, but its just not right for it- a small discreet camera would be much better suited (we were originally planning on shooting with my little a-minima before the budget was cut) I feel the Red is too slow and heavy for this shoot- and we dont have the necessary support for it.

Im also pulling a lot of strings and I got a very good editor on board for peanuts, so I didn't want to put the weight of the Red workflow on him because he may not want to do it then. This stuff is a lot easier to manage from a CPU and data point of view.

This is really a group effort project and a lot of people both cast and crew are making this work for our budget.
Click to expand...

Understood. I am always on the lookout for an "excuse" to visit Portland. I always thought it would be cool to lend myself and equipment at a reasonable rate in order to stay there a month or so.
 
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