Fantasy piece FS-100 Stress Test

Michael Solomon

Michael Solomon

Well-known member
So myself and a group of friends are gearing up to start shooting some fantasy content in the coming months. I wanted to take the camera out into the real world and see how it could stand up against two things

1) Can I light practically with fire/torches or will there be too much of an issue with highlight clipping
2) I wanted to test the limits of the dynamic range and contrast shooting something like a silhouetted sunset

I was pretty pleased with the results. There are some obvious issues but I think to most people who watch it, they aren't noticeable. I used ABNorm for the tests, in retrospect, wish I had Frank's new GLog ultimate at the time.

Feel free to check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhOsqNteHA4&hd=1 (I apologize for it being youtube, it's just where the editor had it uploaded, working on a vimeo link)

Side note: for those wondering, the shot in the cave was lit only with fire. It's officially my new favorite way to light things haha. The moonlight stuff was done with (1) divalite and some fill
 
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that's great work Michael... really plays to the FS's strengths

good luck on the kickstarter
 
Looks great man, well done. Wasn't really sold on the moonlit portion i must say, but otherwise best of luck with it.
 
The images looked great. Hope that's not the sword of peleus she found, that's one flimsy looking blade! The firelight made for a nice colour palette, well suited to medieval fare. You need to reshoot the appeal on the back portion. That is just too many edits in a short space of time. If you need to keep stop starting to keep to the script try mixing up the camera angles and leaving a pause between points. It was just a stuttery mess that made it hard to follow, not good when you're trying to sell yourself and have someone attractive and articulate making your pitch. Don't get in your own way!

Hope you get to do something further with this. There are so many enthusiasts, LARP and re-enactment societies and the like now I find it hard to believe how few of these people make a concerted effort to produce a fan film. The internet should be littered in them. Where's the medieval adventures, where's the steampunk? The amount of time that goes into those costumes and they're just going to pose for a photo and be done with it? Doesn't make sense. Sure there's a few but we should be literally drowning in them, and then with a sufficient sized internet market the few good ones could surface to the top and get discovered instead of floundering unseen. Good luck.
 
Yeah, on the appeal... you mention the team you have for the project, one thing I thought was missing was actually seeing them. Some short clips like that (editor sitting in front of FCP, etc.) could make for good cutaways.

All the best again!
 
Egg Born Son said:
Hope that's not the sword of peleus she found, that's one flimsy looking blade!
Click to expand...

It's not the size that matters, it's what she does with it... Yeah, it was more of toothpick of Peleus.

The trouble with fantasy and sci-fi shorts is they're often let down by costumes and props which sends them into parody territory very quickly. I kept expecting a gag.

I didn't think the camera framing or movement was especially cinematic with it wiggling around on a "stabiliser" in the wind. You might want to

It would've been better if the girl could've strung together a sentence in her pitch at the end as presumably the investors are expecting an actress who can learn her lines as well as being blonde?
 
morgan_moore said:
Nice stuff, but the sunsets.. take some of the 105 potion and banish the banding. IMO
Click to expand...

No banding. Knee nowhere near 105. Whatever your Knee setting it's important that the Slope is set correctly.

Sun.jpg
 
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Thanks for the feedback guys.

In regards to the footage itself, the goal was to use the stabilizer as much as possible. However, due to the terrain (pot holes, drop offs into the ocean, etc.) it wasn't really possible for me to move without looking at my feet. As such, with the wind and my limited ability to move, it ended up being essentially hand held. The knee was set to 105, but, I didn't want a 100% silhouette on the foreground and actress. So I had to choose either to clip the blacks, or get some blown out/banded highlights. I chose the latter. If only I had 13 stops =p. The whole thing was essentially just a camera test for me, I wanted to see how it would look shot and graded in those environments. The story/composition was more of an afterthought and a happy accident.

Regarding the kickstarter video, I agree with all of you on pretty much every single point. However, the video had to be released on a certain day at a certain time (agreements with her youtube agency/etc.) and as such, the kickstarter video was rather rushed so it could be launched along side the other video. Unfortunate, but hey, these things happen.
 
were you using a OSS lens? I would shy away from OSS for film productions. it has a habit of looking a bit documentary. The fire lit cave is very good
 
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