"Amphetamine" location test footy

squig

squig

Veteran
I went location scouting on the weekend and did a filmlook/exposure/grading test for the film. Shot with nikkor 35mm f/2 and 105mm f/2.5 ai glass and an ND8 filter. I used Matt's custom curve on portrait. Locked exposure @ f/5.6 and then opened up the aperture to set exposure. I was using a steadytracker (I should have taken sticks), a 105mm lens on a stabilizer is not recommended.

Cut in fcp, did stair step, added some noise, vignetting and did some color grading. The first 4 shots were taken in full sun and the last 2 when it was overcast. I tried to tweak the sunny shots a bit by using a defocus filter to soften them. Yes the D90 was too sharp would you believe. I'm pretty happy with the look of the last 2 shots and I will definitely be shooting the scene for the film on a cloudy day.

Anyone got any compression tips for vimeo? I used H.264 5000kbps and it looks like ****

http://www.vimeo.com/4274001
 
Zim said:
It looks pretty good. Hey were they cooking in the video?
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hehe na. once a year the chinese side of the family goes to pay respect to the dead. They lay out an offering of food and burn some paper money and incense to ward off evil spirits.

I wish they did cook something because it took forever, there are more dead relatives than live one's and after 2 hours my kids were starving. Eventually we made it to yum cha.
 
BMFM FILMS said:
the ND8 Filter looks like it helped big time to open up the aperture. Looked filmic to me.
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Yeah the ND8 is essential under the Australian sun. I need to put a polarizer on it too. The ND8 darkens things by 3 stops.

I was pleased with the look when it was overcast, kinda like an old 70's kung fu film which is what I want for this particular scene and the D90 delivered. I just wish I had of taken a tripod, 95% of what I shot was unusable.

Once I get in there with a dolly and a crane and close the place off to cars with some buddhist monks in tow and fire and smoke everywhere it will look amazing.
 
The camera movement was OK, don't sweat it. Do you prefer working with the SteadyTracker; how long before it gets a little tiring? (I don't think you had a mattebox, follow focus and stuff on it, did you?)

It is good to see you *shoot* stuff, Squig. The overcast parts look really filmic. Good luck with your project and keep posting more footage.
 
lasvalley said:
The camera movement was OK, don't sweat it. Do you prefer working with the SteadyTracker; how long before it gets a little tiring? (I don't think you had a mattebox, follow focus and stuff on it, did you?)

It is good to see you *shoot* stuff, Squig. The overcast parts look really filmic. Good luck with your project and keep posting more footage.
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I like the steadytracker it is very light and isn't fatiguing, I just throw it over my shoulder when I'm not shooting. I was walking around the cemetery with it for 2 hours and I'm pretty weak. I don't have a mattebox just a big rubber lens hood. A follow focus and rods wouldn't add much weight. I'm thinking about getting the hague stabilizer too.

I've shot a lot of stuff but I only just installed fcp studio 2 so I have loads of editing to do. I'm cutting a music video now.

ooh 666 posts.....I better burn some incense to ward off those evil spirits
 
Not bad it has quite a filmic look, quite muted especially as your shooting in Australia. I was always taught that the time to shot is the magic hour just before sunset, also I think early morning is a good time. The only thing I wasn't so keen on was the grain that you added, and yeah a tripod would of been an idea especially as I think the D90 shines when it isn't moved much.

I found a guy who makes a really nice look in AE I asked him to give me some details, he's probably just playing around with basic levels, gamma,RGB etc I expect, it reminded me of your look it might help, have a look at his stuff here http://www.vimeo.com/4266244

have you given up on the GH1?
 
yeah kicking myself I didn't have a tripod.....I would have had about 20min of useable shots. But I got the look and feel for the location so mission accomplished.

well I'm impressed with the D90 results but i still want manual control and a better codec so the GH1 is still an option but I'd prefer a D400 with a similar spec.
 
Thanks for posting, I really like the look of this stuff. How did you grade this? I've also been playing around with grain, just the add noise plugin in fcp?
 
pveal said:
Thanks for posting, I really like the look of this stuff. How did you grade this? I've also been playing around with grain, just the add noise plugin in fcp?
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Yeah fcp add noise (film grain) 0.04 setting. I just did some really minimal grading with the fcp color corrector. It looked really good straight out of the camera with Matt's custom curve set on portrait. I just desaturated it a bit and pushed the greens to give it a kind of old Kung Fu movie look.
 
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