GH4 Cinematic Narrative on GH4

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bkatcher

Member
I was recently brought on as DP on a micro-budget narrative. They are looking for a 60s/70s cinematic look with (mostly simple, some low-light) film noir style lighting. Sharpness does not matter as much as being organic.
I will be working solo, no assistant camera, maybe doing lighting myself as well. It will also be a fast-paced shoot.
The director has a connection for a cheap RED One MX rental, but I am worried that without an AC, it would be more trouble then it's worth.
So we may end up shooting on my GH4.

We probably have $1,500 max to spend on camera/lens rentals and purchases, how would you spend that money to achieve a nice organic cinematic look?
I was thinking of going the vintage lens route, I have seen great footage from the MIR 24, as well as a Shogun for the 10Bit 4.2.2, it still won't be raw, but will give a bit more room in post.
I have looked into Anamorphic, but worry that I wouldn't get good results with the tiny budget.

Or would you go with an entirely different camera? (BM?)

Thank you for your thoughts,
Brandon
 
It seems every director shooting a no budget feature thinks that shooting raw on a Red is the cat's meow until it comes to post time, where they don't have the time nor budget to finish the project.

If it were me trying to achieve a vintage look on $1,500, I would spend it on set design, wardrobe, hair & makeup, rather than camera rentals. But thats just me.

Good Luck with your project!

Dave
 
If you can't get a cinematic look with a gh4, A red one won't help. It's all about lighting, set design, wardrobe, well... everything David said in the above post. What will be capturing audio? I would also look at getting some Canon FD glass, it looks fantastic on a gh4, and it's beautifully cinematic when your ducks are lined up properly. You can get a complete set for under a grand if you shop around. In fact it just so happens I have some vintage glass for sale:-0
 
David is right about post. I have had the image from my Epic ruined by "editors" and "colorists" that don't know how to work with RAW. That is one of the reasons I bought a GH4. As far as a vintage look, I love Nikon Ai and AiS lenses on digital sensors. Ai lenses flare more if that is a look you want. AiS lenses have a more modern coating so they flare less. But, still have a great look. You should be able to get a set of F2 lenses for a very reasonable cost. The Speed Booster give you back your angle of view and an additional stop of light.
 
Thank you for the replies and the thoughts. I agree with the Red comments, if you have the time, knowledge and support, they can shine, but I don't think this will be one of those situations.
We have much more of a budget for wardrobe, set, props, etc. Just have a bit set aside for camera/lens. There will be a sound recordist with gear as well.

Good Idea with the FD lenses, hadn't considered those. I do have an EF Speedbooster.
 
We will shoot in color, with a few B&W sections done in post. (Maybe 10%) The film will be surreal and abstract.
 
The reason I asked, was it seems to look more real to my eye if you shoot black & white using the appropriate b&w filters rather than shooting color and applying b&w post effects.
 
If there's a long day's shoot and no lights to speak of, then I'd seriously consider A7s (with Shogun and/or Odyssey into ProRes). With A7s, you can do easily indoors on only practicals and even an outdoor off a nearby light post. Filmic or not filmic isn't as important - and there you can grade it into filmic in post - in just being able to get enough footage from a day's work.

(this isn't intended to offend the GH4 users)
 
Like the others have said, I'd just use the GH4 and a couple fast vintage primes on a speedbooster. This combo allows you to film at ISO 1600 and f/1 to f/2 with a shallow, water color painted, cinematic look. Keep the subject close and bounce some ambient with a reflector to create some high lights. The cool thing about the GH4 shooting like this is that it's not so shallow a depth of field that you can't work with it at those apertures. It allows you to film nearly wide open for some really buttery filmic effects, but still have something stay in focus.

It doesn't cost much of anything to get a kit like that together and as David said, spend your budget on props and wardrobe where it really counts.

Cheers,
Pete
 
Here's my sample of what I've been doing with an Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f/1.4, 24mm f/2 and the Panasonic 100-300. I don't know if others like to see samples, but I like to have the concept and a sample of it to see if it's the look I'm after so take it for what it's worth. I just don't know too many cams at any price that can do a the things the GH4 does. In any case this should give an idea if the vintage/speedbooster thing will work for your project.
https://vimeo.com/128570651

Cheers,
Pete
 
I've really liked the results I got with SLR Magic primes on my GH4. Not particularly sharp, but to my eye very organic.
 
Getting those cinematic shots with a GH4 might not be as "out-of-the-box" easy as with a RED. You'll have to finetune a lot more to get it just right. But it's still very doable. If you're working solo as a DP, spend more time/money on lighting and set design rather than a RED!
The time you save not shooting RED will prove itself highly useful when doing things like lighting and framing.
The process of finding your frame is so much more flexible when you have a lighter setup to deal with. And again, time is precious on a film set.

All in all, if other aspects of the art has to suffer because you're prioritizing a RED - bad move...
We all know that raw won't save you from poor lighting ;-)

Here's a framegrab from a short I DP'd back in April. GH4/Shogun combo, lit with a handfull of LED panels.
This shot in particular is through a Rokinon 24mm. I wouldn't call that a great lens, but it did quite well!

Screen Shot 2015-06-02 at 23.40.32.jpg

If you're going for a Noire/70's/Vintage style look, I'd put the money into getting whatever's within the frame perfect. And stick with the GH4. Maybe get some kind of diffusion for your lenses. I've heard good things about the Tiffen ones :) These may help you get that soft 70's look.

You're also better off lighting with lots of shape, color and shadows, rather than lighting flat... Especially for the Noire-type genre. Decide for yourself where the light sources are, and make them strong and dominant. Anything else in the shot which is not relevant to the story, keep it dark or maybe even black. Use the "not so great" DR of the GH4 to your advantage and deliberately cut away light from dark spots. As for the above shot; we went crazy with mixing color temps, giving more light to the warmer tones, and less to the cooler ones.

But hey, if you choose a RED no one will blame you! I've used RED a lot myself and they're priced high up there for a reason. As long as you don't let the camera get the best of you, you're safe!

Go make art!



Jens
 
estarkey7 said:
You beat me to it! I was just about to say the same thing. A 24, 50 and 85 can be had for ~$300.
Click to expand...


Have you priced them lately? The price has gone up a lot to where the Rokinon cinema lenses are not a lot more each, and they already have smooth iris and gears. Last price checks were a month ago, and 24f2 was about $350 for a good sample, $400+ for 55f1.2 and a few hundred for the good 85mm. If you went with the smaller lenses you are still looking at $500 to $600 for that set. The Rokinon DS cinema will run a bit more.
 
Thank you for all the replies. I was able to get my hands on a set of fast FDs.
We will be shooting very sparsely lit, with some nice harsh shadows and lots of contrast.

Now I need to figure out camera settings. I normally shoot in CineD for most of my doc work, but it may be advantageous to choose a higher contrast look in-camera, get rid of some of the noise in the blacks. I will be using a Shogun for the 10bit 4.2.2. The Portrait Setting floating around the forums a few months ago could be a nice complement to the film noir lighting.
 
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