Filmmaking greenhorn here, just some questions

[S7CK]

Hey guys, I have a GH1 and have been learning the ropes on that and want to produce cinematic quality footage. I just have a couple of quick questions that I'm sure is common knowledge for most filmmakers, I'm just starting out.

Here are my questions:

What exactly is an adapter and what does it do? Does it just help with the FPS and lighting?

How do you create the cinema feel too a movie that has the black strips above it, the widescreen effect? If you shoot in 1920x1080 and 24p can you just add the black trim on the shot? Does it just squeeze the shot and create that surreal skinny look?

When movie producers create movies, do they just create two versions(full screen and wide screen)? Thanks guys and I look forward to your comments!

 

[Ken Steadman]

a 35mm adapter is a system that allows an image from a 35mm lens to be projected on a piece of frosted ground glass which is then in turn filmed by your camera. This allows for a more film like depth of field which is difficult to obtain otherwise due to the small sensor size of most videocameras. No this does not help with light as the adapter system loses 1-2 stops of light so you need more light. It does not help with FPS as it is more restrictive so as not to catch the detail of the ground glass.

Your gh1 has a much bigger 4/3rds sensor so it is easy to obtain a shallow focus. There would be no point in mounting a 35mm adapter system on your GH1. You can buy a lens adapter that will allow you to mount 35mm lenses directly to the GH1 on ebay however keep in mind the 4/3rds sensor has a 2 X crop so a 50mm lens will have roughly the field of view a 100mm lens but still have the depth of field and compression of 50mm lens.

If you want to shoot wider than 16:9 download a framing sheet from DSClabs set it up in front of the camera and mark off your LCD with tape and shoot as normal then add the black bars in post.