Blackcell (Paintball Mini-movies)

Dewy-dB

Dewy-dB

Well-known member
About a year ago I bought a ghetto 35mm lens adapter called the Letus35. I worked for a paintball company then and we decided it'd be cool to try this adapter out and also create some hype for a new paintball product. So we made these 3 videos over the course of a year using this cheap adapter and the HVX-200. The first video was basically test footage edited to a hype video for an anticipated release... there's no story or action. The other two still lack story, but at least they have a little action. (We made them all up as we shot them.) The ground glass in this adapter is really cheap, and I didn't know what I was doing the first episode so there's a lot of "wiggle" going on. Plus it's upside down so I was operating like I was drunk.

The first half of the third episode was shot with the Red Rock adatper and Ziess lenses, but because it was 9 degrees outside we ran into TONS of problems. But that's a different story.

We were going for the Mad Max / Post apocoliptic approach with these, we got more and more carried away every episode. Enjoy!

Blackcell 1

Blackcell 2

Blackcell 3

Ofcourse after we've shot at this ghost town many many times we found out that it is super toxic. Opps.

- Greg
 
I like the feel of it, it is very reminiscent of trailers for some first-person shooters. But please tell me that the noise was intentional, and overdone on purpose -- at times it was very distracting.
 
That wasn't noise, it looked like. That was a ground glass. What happened?

It's really distracting.

However, this is really good. I can't pin-point it , it's probably what Thoff said but it's really nice, dude. Congrats on a great product.
 
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The "noise" was the cheap ground glass. It's actually a garmin LCD screen cover. This adapter is super cheap macgyvered aluminum tube. The so called "ground glass" is suspended in the tube and wiggles via a cell phone vibrator. When you're shooting a normal shutter speed like 1/48th then this texture is motion blurred and the "noise" is hardly noticeable.

--but--

I had always shot paintball videos at 1/500th or faster for various reasons. Mostly because I liked the look, and because you see the paintballs flying instead of a streak. But when you shoot that fast of a shutter speed with that wiggling adapter it really becomes apparent. I couldn't see it when I was shooting, and like I said in my original post, the first episode was more of a test shoot that ended up being kinda cool.

I learned my lesson and shot the next two at slower shutters, although I erked me that the motion was blurred a bit. My art director and I kinda thought the noise was kinda cool so we didn't try to avoid it as much. We just found a happy balance between shutter speed and the "noise".

Bottom line is the adapter is cheap. It was like $300.

Thanks for watching and commenting!

- Greg
 
I thought it was pretty cool too, I would have liked to her some thing more done with the sound, flang effect or bump up some sound period, just to inhance that intensity , but cool over all look,(minus the giggle)
 
Yeah the sound is terrible. You can hear the snow hitting the grocery bag I had around my camera. Giggle? Where's the giggle? Is that during the grenade on the third one?

I shot and edited each of these in like a two day turnaround, I really didn't do any sound work, as you can tell.

- G
 
wow this really makes me miss paintball......

I should Dust off my Angel. Put that bad boy to good work.........
 
That looked like fun! You must have an OLD Letus. I've got a brand new one (as do many users on this site) and it's a beauty. The opening shots on the last one were moving in and out a lot. If you add a subtle heart beat sound effect it will make it look like you did it on purpose for the effect. For most of us that use adapters we see the flaws but for a piece like this you could use them for style and take advantage of them.
I especially liked the last one. The snow fall really gave it an amazing look.
 
WOW man... realy impressed by the movies. Amazing maybe the best movies i've senn on this site.
Please can you tell specified what you used for the first two blackcell movies? The action scenes when the cameraman ran behind the ones with the guns? Fpr?

thx
 
torrone said:
WOW man... realy impressed by the movies. Amazing maybe the best movies i've senn on this site.
Please can you tell specified what you used for the first two blackcell movies? The action scenes when the cameraman ran behind the ones with the guns? Fpr?

thx
Click to expand...

Wow thanks!

I used the old prototype Letus35, I guess I was one of the first to buy it,.. ha ha. I did shoot the first one almost 2 years ago. All the running is good ol' fashioned hand held. :)

What does FPR mean?

Thanks for watching!

- Greg
 
Loved that action camera, a little shaky. Sry misspelled FPS, frames per seconds? Its in the middle of the episode (1), when it records in real time (when they're running) What fps did you use at that time? And also when the camera is running behind the guy in the end of episode 2?

BTW i really wanted to see the rest of your movies on the site, but the problem is that its just a white screen?
 
All the footage that wasn't overcranked for slow motion was shot 24PN at a shutter of 1/500th or 1/250th.

The overcranked slow motion was ofcourse 60P.

What movies are you trying to watch? Are you looking at the video vault? It should be working, I just checked it.

Thanks for the comments!


- G
 
ProjX v2.0 said:
that was pure hotness dude

what did you use to protect your HVX from the elements while shooting in those conditions?
Click to expand...

My body. Ha ha, just kidding.

I used to use a Kata rain cover and 1A filter but after a few years of shooting paintball videos I realized they were overkill if it was a scripted (so to speak) shoot. All those guys are friends so they wouldn't shoot me.

If I were to document a game, then I definitely protect the camera. Paintballers shoot first, then look. Plus I think a few like a moving target that can't shoot back. But back to the point:

I like to use garbage bags and duct tape. It's lighter than a rain cover, and it's disposable after you're done.

TimurCivan said:
what was that double barreled gun? it doesnt look familiar....
Click to expand...

It's called "The Longbow" it's a mod shroud that goes over a Airgun Designs TAC-1. The bottem is a barrel, and the top tube is a 20 round magazine. There is no hopper.

Thanks!
 
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