Canon 5D MkII in True Blood episode

Lammy

Lammy

Well-known member
I'm pretty certain that last night's episode (Season 3 Episode 10, "Smell a Rat") had a segment shot with a 5D.

About 30 minutes in, after Lafeyette takes the vampire blood and it goes all trippy... that mushy compression, banding noise, saturated colours, full frame look pops out.

Probably shot with Zeiss primes to fit the show too.

Anyone confirm or notice?
 
http://www.pdnpulse.com/2010/05/friday-fun-hbos-true-blood-to-be-shot-with-canon-5d-mark-iis.html

Edit: I also found this blog, http://www.alexandrosmaragos.com/2010/07/hdslrs-taking-over-tv-industry.html

HOUSE MD Season 6 Finale shot on Canon 5DmkII, NUNB3RS shot partially on Canon 7D & 5DmkII, No Reservations shot on Canon 5DmkII, 24 shot partially on Canon 5DmkII, True Blood shot partially on Canon 5DmkII, Covert Affairs shot partially on Canon 5DmkII, Memphis Beat shot partially on Canon 7D, SNL Opening sequence shot on Canon 5DmkII & Canon 7D
 
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It looked like they made a snorricam for two setup - always easier on the actors (who must bear the weight of a rig attached to them) - if the camera is very light. Since it was going to be graded so aggressively - why not use the mark2?
 
Most definately it was cool. The sequence had a fitting reason to have a 5DII, although the quality jump did take me out of the show.

I'll post screenie grabs later...


PS: Russel is hilarious!
 
Here are some screencaps. Looks like they had the DSLR ontop of the main camera recording at the same time for a few shots, here's a comparison:

DSLR:
98075903.jpg


35mm film:
87407722.jpg


DSLR:
29089266.jpg


35mm film:
74123709.jpg


DSLR:
47988348.jpg


35mm film:
44735052.jpg


Notice the moire and banding:
51068575.jpg


And what the show normally looks like:
44091498.jpg




Very cool that they used the 5D. Even though it's highly stylised grading, it's pretty weird. It's like HBO's aethetics turned into the Showtime channel...
 
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That whole scene was funny. It was meant to look like they were high on "V." There were other "normal" looking scenes that I believe were 5D also.
 
From what I can see, the only 5D ones are that 'V' segment (inc. Jesus's family history).

Outside that, I don't think any normal scenes were on 5D. It all looks too sharp and filmy for that, including Sam Merlotte's Sawyer random past lol. But if ya remember any I can take a goosey and screencap things.
 
I'll post a screengrab and you tell me if you think that's 5DII... ;)





If you mean Sam's past past clips, as in Season 1 when we discover he is a shifter... although they used a lensbaby for those old flashbacks the 5DII wasn't out yet...
 
Great, now we're going to hear all about "True Blood is shot on the 5D!" like they use the cam for the entire show.

I think even saying that 24 was "shot partially on a 5D" is misleading. That's like saying Crank: High Voltage was "shot partially" on a HF10. Sure, it's technically correct, but it was only for quick "crash cam" inserts.
 
in crank 2, they actually built a rig with a whole bunch of hf10s around jason statham for some of the action sequences. made some choppy matrix-style spinny camera moves all around him. so a little more than just crash cams, but not much. even their main cams were cheap. i think it was mostly an xha1.

as far as what else was on the 5d, i don't think the flashback scenes were. they still look like film to me, but a pro DP can surely make the 5d look close enough to trick me.
 
Lammy said:
I'll post a screengrab and you tell me if you think that's 5DII... ;)
Click to expand...

Ya i meant his little flash back scenes, Not particularly that frame but i thought i saw a few within his flash back scene.

Edit: Actually i just re-watched that scene, when i first watched it it did look different but now i think it was just the camera angles that tricked me. lol
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sacredhill said:
Actually i just re-watched that scene, when i first watched it it did look different but now i think it was just the camera angles that tricked me. lol
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Click to expand...


Yeah I can see why you thought that - the grading blowing out the whites. But yeah the film has a certain natural crispness with the detail and colours and grain that the DSLRs can't get.

subtleinspiration said:
Great, now we're going to hear all about "True Blood is shot on the 5D!" like they use the cam for the entire show.
Click to expand...

Hahaha... I swear the canon suits like to perpetuate this to sell cameras :evil:
 
It's one of my favourite TV shows. Give the first few episodes a try if you like it. The sex scenes are some of the most hilarious I've ever seen.
 
Yeah....they get raunchy with the sex scenes...but other than that I really like this show. And this is coming from someone who never gets into vampire stories. Maybe it's because they don't seem to take themselves too seriously. The humor...and over the top scenarios and some of the characters (like the gay drug dealing rapper-like character, Lafayete....he's a trip) crack me up. The guy plays that role so well that he wasn't killed off like his character was supposed to be in the books.
 
Can't wait for tonight's episode... no doubt the characters will use V again, probably for nightmarish reasons, so maybe more 5d footage perhaps?
 
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