"A Verse Before Dying" - AF-100 Western Short

I wanted to ask about the PL adapter that you guys used - was it the ciecio7 from Poland /Ebay? Did you bolt the shoe to the Zacuto baseplate? If so did you need workarounds to make it happen, or was it a good match? How was the (all related) backfocus / infinity focus / focus witness marks when you used this adapter?

G.

Yes i think we used the Ebay adpter. You really need the Good one that is shimmable. The witness marks were all over the place. I definintly am going to get the HOTROD version.
 
I wanted to ask about the PL adapter that you guys used - was it the ciecio7 from Poland /Ebay?
Yes.

I tried to get the Hot Rod version that's made specifically for the AF100, but Illya didn't have one available for us to use.

Did you bolt the shoe to the Zacuto baseplate?
Not bolted in, just rested upon.

If so did you need workarounds to make it happen, or was it a good match?
Mcgee can answer better, but it seemed like it just slid into place perfectly to me.

How was the (all related) backfocus / infinity focus / focus witness marks when you used this adapter?
They were off. No measuring-by-tape for us on this shoot. I'm looking forward to getting a Hot Rod and relegating the Ciecio to the GH2 for when I need second-camera stuff.
 
I have no idea how I missed this entire thread. Sounds like the shoots over, correct? I would have really loved to come help out in any way possible. Argggg... I really need to stay on top of things here at DVXuser.



*kicking myself in the arse*
 
i have no idea how i missed this entire thread. Sounds like the shoots over, correct? I would have really loved to come help out in any way possible. Argggg... I really need to stay on top of things here at dvxuser.


*kicking myself in the arse*

dfw fail. :D
 
They were off. No measuring-by-tape for us on this shoot. I'm looking forward to getting a Hot Rod and relegating the Ciecio to the GH2 for when I need second-camera stuff.

Did you find this to be an issue or non-issue? The focus assists seem to really rid the need for tape but were there some instances where you wished the marks weren't off?

Maybe the upcoming m4/3 mount Zeiss CP.2s will be a better choice to rent or buy.
 
Man... really, severely, thoroughly disappointed. Seriously...

Heh heh... Don't feel too bad, Ryan. I had similar thoughts as OKC isn't too far away to have been involved in something like this. I noticed the thread as they started day one of shooting.
 
Very nice trailer...

One thought -- on the second shot of the trailer, it's very hard not to focus on the guys ass as he rides the horse. I guess if it was a chick it might be acceptable, but alas...

The issue has to do with the framing -- I'd suggest re-framing the shot to include the horses head (in addition to the horse's body) instead of cutting it off at the neck.

Now I like an over-cranked shot of a cowboys ass as much as the next guy (joking, of course), but this is a distraction.

Seriously though. You guys can say I'm wrong, but, let's be honest... who here didn't look at the dude's ass -- if only for a moment?

I'm being dead serious here. It might sound like a joke, but little details like this are important, and must be considered.

Flame away.

I guess I have to chime in here, as I shot that.

I'm not super happy with that shot. I wish I could go back and shoot it again. I'd pan right (Left, actually: the shot is flipped in the trailer) and get more of the horse's head and frame the book more off to the side of the frame (and push the rider out even more).

The excuses: It was a one-take shot. We were pushed for time. Walking in a field of unknown terrain [risky with Steadicam]. I concentrated too much on framing on the book and ended up "center punching" it, instead of placing it a little off center with lead-room to the horse's head as I should have.

There isn't a shoot that I come back from where I don't have one shot that I wish I could have improved. When that happens; I guess it's time to retire. Of course that's the shot (or take) that *always* makes the cut. Figures.

It was shot at 1080 60p right ?

We were shooting 1080p36 on that I think. 60p is just too slow to see any action: I find it's best limited to fast effects cutaways or surreal stuff.

I dont know if these have been asked before but I would like to know more about the Steadicam and AF 100 . Here's looking at Mikko :)

Was it easy to balance and to fly ?
Which lens seemed to be the easiest to setup with the AF 100 ?
Which max tele length did you guys use ?
Can you the describe the longest take with the AF 100 ? Even if you dont use it the short !
Did you guys use a remote follow focus AF 100 / I know there's a equippement list :)

Could a Steadicam Pilot support a AF 100 ( with Mattebox and Remote FF ) in your honest opion ?

Thanks .

Everts

The camera was very easy to fly. Built on rails as it was; with an extra sliding plate in between; balance was not an issue, even with the myriad of lenses I ended up flying.

Steadicam didn't go past 50mm I think? so 85mm equivalent. Or maybe I did fly one longer lens on there - an 80-something maybe?

There were some pretty long takes on Steadicam. A couple where I ended up as a "human tripod". It felt like any other camera on Steadicam. The long lock-offs get tedious; but there is generally a good reason for them such as a move built in somewhere.

One particular shot involved a monologue - maybe a minute long - that was a lock-off: and then became a tracking/leading shot at the end that required Steadicam. A few takes and it all went smoothly. Lock-offs are easier at the start of the shot beacuse you can get 100% comfortable, moving into a lock-off can be taxing if you don't nail the landing and end up in a less than optimal position to hold still for an extended period of time.

We used a Bartech Focus Device ("BFD") and an M-One Motor by Palomar Engineering for remote focus.

The Pilot certainly could fly the AF100 in many configurations; and you could also very quickly overload it in many others. - We did fly the AF100 on a Merlin a couple of times also with light lenses.

It's been said a few times that the AF100 makes it all a Lens game now; and the same applies to Steadicam. I probably wouldn't buy the Pilot for AF100 work, I'd look for something bigger if I could. However if a Pilot was available - or all I could afford - and I wasn't expecting on flying any larger setups; then I'd have no problem using it. Having a very configurable sled (like the Pilot) is a good thing with a camera as configurable as the AF100

This is a question to anybody involved here - perhaps especially Mikko... has anybody tried any handheld work w/ the af100? How is that working out ergonomically and weightwise? How feasible/workable is this? Can you sustain that for awhile? Thx! Again, great work, guys.

We didn't shoot any "handheld" stuff on "Verse," but based on what I saw of the camera, I'd say it's certainly possible. (I guess that's why they put a handgrip on it. :D)

I shot a little BTS stuff handheld with the camera; and it was an interesting mix of regular video operating, but with still lenses. My right hand was shooting video, my left was shooting stills.

It took me back a little to the days of the Canon L1, which was a Hi8 camera that had both a traditional video hand-grip AND a SLR style hand-grip. Same feeling, but I found the ergonomics to work quite well.

I did steal one hand-held shot for the film (we'll see if it gets used) with the AF100 hand-held, but built for Steadicam (including Antlers!) that was low to the ground hand-held and I found it worked quite well.

Thanks, Stephen. That's what I'm talking about - basically, it's about ergonomics for handheld which is different from ergonomics of shoulder mounted run-n-gun. I ask, because obviously, a lot of films (especially low budg) rely on fair amounts of handheld. Now this is not a "heavy" camera, per se, though yes, lenses are the issue, so I'm not so much concerned about weight, as the ergonomics of it... if it's just awkward to hold for longer periods of time, or if it's really hard to balance handheld (and yeah, obviously, your choice of lens is going to come into this, but then again, you're not likely to be using anything especially long on handheld, so the really heavy long lenses don't count). Just looking at the camera, I'm worried - a bit - about if it's gonna be awkward to hold for any length of time, or unbalanced.

If you put a big lens on there - that needs support for the lens - then it's going to get pretty heavy for unsupported hand-held also.

Hi Cliff, While I know it was not the finished manual, Barry did have a manual.

I thought Barry was the manual?

And so did he evidently...
Normally my job on these shoots is to *be* the manual. :thumbsup:

And yes, there was a printed early version of the manual in the camera case.

...and we never needed the book. Though Barry proved quite useful on the set a couple of times. :)


haha
Yes we had a chopper.

Surely you mean Da Choppah?


- Mikko
 
The ZF lenses we used most of the time on Steadicam had accurate marks; so we took a few focus measurements for Steadicam shots. (Of course means I have to bit my marks too :) )


- Mikko ... wears a tape measure with both Inches & Millimeters.
 
Did you find this to be an issue or non-issue? The focus assists seem to really rid the need for tape but were there some instances where you wished the marks weren't off?
It was an annoyance. It would have been very nice to use tape marks, but ... really was not that big of a deal, because Taylor and Matt were marking marks on the follow focus. But it really takes a sharp monitor to be able to do that. With properly calibrated lenses and mount, you can measure out focus and not even need the pixel-to-pixel monitor.

Maybe the upcoming m4/3 mount Zeiss CP.2s will be a better choice to rent or buy.
For some, maybe. But they'd only be usable on an AF100 or GH1/GH2; you couldn't use them on anything else, unless you changed out the mounts on every lens. And that is not inexpensive, or trivial. The right way to go is to have a properly-shimmed PL mount that can use any lens and always be right on the money.
 
[/COLOR]wears a tape measure with both Inches & Millimeters.

ohh you still have a EUropean heart in there hahaha. I always thought milimiters sounded more accurate...don't ask me why..... I must admit that I also have a measure tape in both inches and mm....it gets handy to calculate the inches of the tv screens.....
 
Also, any good AC worth his salt will (depending on the scene), position himself perpendicular to the line of action and be able to eyeball the distance from camera to subject pretty accurately.

It also helped that we weren't shooting wide open outside either.

That would have been untenable.
 
I forgot, 90% of out door footage is at a T11-T16. except for some of the stedicam slomo is at T5.6
 
Back
Top