EVA1: C100 Mark II vs. Sony FS5 or Canon C200 or Panasonic AU-EVA1

[icarusfilm]

yes that too.
The whole orange teal thing is being massively overused it can look good when applied almost subliminally by set design (furniture clothing etc)
but the blockbuster look is a real drag.

yeeeaaah, I don't know... i'd mark that down as an example of a very good camera in the wrong hands.

 

[Sly9]

Best advice in this thread.

I second pured's comment. Getting a rental and doing your own testing is probably the best especially with so many options.

 

[Sttratos]

yes that too.
The whole orange teal thing is being massively overused it can look good when applied almost subliminally by set design (furniture clothing etc)
but the blockbuster look is a real drag.

Are we judging stylistic choices or the camera itself? It makes no difference what the style is. If it looks good it looks good. If you try that grade with a 5DMKII it would fall apart like sugar in the water for example.

About the orange and teal look being overused you don't really have much option. Unless you want to make it almost monochrome like The Matrix, Underworld etc, it's either orange and teal or natural colors. There are no other complimentary colors to the skin color besides greeinsh-blueish. But natural colors is too ordinary for a lot of things besides comedies. Besides for low budget natural colors tend to look closer to video. So the orange and teal is an easy low budget way to push it away from the video look, which is why this probably doesn't look as video as the Varicam demos.

 

[Sttratos]

With that king of grade it could have been shot on any log enabled camera with the same lighting and lenses the results would be identical be it an f55, c300II, Amira or Red.

Yeah pretty much. Once you start putting lipstick on cameras you start making up for a lot of the camera's shortcomings. The question is if the camera can look good without all the lipstick. 99% of the cameras out there will look like video without the lipstick.

 

[yoclay]

I wouldn't expect a firmware to improve upon the look.

This Varicam demo should have set the example to how to do an Eva 1 demo. Then we would be in awe!

That is some of the worst acting I have seen in a long time.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

That’s one of the worst demos I’ve ever seen. The writing, acting, and direction are dreadful and the production design screams of trying too hard. Also, everything is just dirty mediums and shot-reverse shot. Really boring, and graded so unsubtley that it might as well have been shot on a phone with Instagram filters. It almost looks like they were trying to hide noise in the shadows by crushing the blacks like you would on a DSLR. Nope. I don’t like it. Indeed, an example of a great camera in the wrong hands.

Oh, and it’s a comedy which means it’s supposed to be funny. It isn’t.

 

[laverdir]

almost monochrome like The Matrix

Watch it again. Matrix grading successfully follows the story.

 

[Sttratos]

Watch it again. Matrix grading successfully follows the story.

Yeah, I know it well. In the matrix the grade is more greenish, to simulate the green monochrome computer monitors of the past, the actors are more made up, since the matrix is artificial, so the actors are supposed to look more artificial, lighting is more stylized as is the whole cinematography etc. In the real world actors have little make up to look more natural, lighting is more natural and etc.

But I guess you got my point about the monochrome. In the matrix it was very green.

 

[Sttratos]

That’s one of the worst demos I’ve ever seen. The writing, acting, and direction are dreadful and the production design screams of trying too hard. Also, everything is just dirty mediums and shot-reverse shot. Really boring, and graded so unsubtley that it might as well have been shot on a phone with Instagram filters. It almost looks like they were trying to hide noise in the shadows by crushing the blacks like you would on a DSLR. Nope. I don’t like it. Indeed, an example of a great camera in the wrong hands.

Oh, and it’s a comedy which means it’s supposed to be funny. It isn’t.

Yep. But this style of demo is way better than the boring collection of unrelated shots stringed together like a bad DP reel. Or the cliche fashion style demos that seem to have become a trend. If the camera is being sold and pushed as a cinema camera, the minimum they can do is to try to show the camera doing cinema.

So like I said in my original reply this type of demo is a good thing. But the acting has to hold. Obviously for the acting to hold the writing has to hold first. The rest of your complains is a matter of opinion. Several directors have been making millions in Hollywood for decades doing something not that different from this. I guess there are probably more who like it than those who don't. What I think of it plays no role. And this is a camera forum so I focus on the camera.

But give me a short film any day over the boring, unimaginative demos for 99% of cameras. At least in a short film they are trying. I don't understand the comment on it screaming of trying too hard either. At least they tried to light as opposed to those boring short films shot all outside in available light. The concept was good. At least they tried. A fail at being creative is better than the bore fast which comes from trying to keep it safe.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I wouldn't expect a firmware to improve upon the look.

This Varicam demo should have set the example to how to do an Eva 1 demo. Then we would be in awe!

If that were the demo footage for the EVA1 I would have placed my order for an Ursa Mini Pro by now.

 

[J.Brown]

I enjoyed the humor in The Bust and liked the look as it reminded me of the Blockbuster Hollywood style!

 

[laverdir]

Yeah, I know it well. In the matrix the grade is more greenish, to simulate the green monochrome computer monitors of the past, the actors are more made up, since the matrix is artificial, so the actors are supposed to look more artificial, lighting is more stylized as is the whole cinematography etc. In the real world actors have little make up to look more natural, lighting is more natural and etc.

But I guess you got my point about the monochrome. In the matrix it was very green.

In this movie green symbolizes The Matrix (warm safe captivity) and blue is a real world (cold dangerous freedom).

Check Neo's skin tone. At the beginning it is green like the rest of the scene.
As he gradually fights back and gains control of the matrix, skin tone becomes more and more natural and scenes aren't monochromatic anymore.

Whole frame colouring has deep subconscious effect and it's playing tricks with our mind.
People just remember monochromatic green.

To get back on the track, I really like 'The Bust'.
Colourist would never push the grade that hard, but since this is a parody, it can be a nice showcase for seeing where it can go without falling apart.

 

[scottfs]

I've never seen a baked in look from an FS5 or FS7 that had good skin tones where the subjects didn't look as if they were on a morgue slab.

Ha ha. Morgue slab. Good one. I have a friend who has a FS7 that puts out good color. Of course he's a working gaffer, and knows how to light. The FS7 is a good camera and he has no problem using it. He shoots primarily shorts and music videos.