framing questions: 2.35:1 or 16:9? practical issues

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diego80

Active member
hello to everybody,

I am going to shoot my first clip

here you can see our first attempt (shot on the 6th of september) which I couldn't get finished because we arrived too late on the set :(

http://vimeo.com/6548216


anyway, I am going to shoot again probably next sunday,

and I was considering framing the pictures as a 2.35:1

but here comes the first problem: the cameraman (the operator) previews his image on the viewfinder or in the lcd display of the camera itself (a Jvc hd-110)
and I am going to frame my external display: how can I make sure the operator sees the same image (I mean the same "cut", the same "frame") I do see???

this is my first issue; and this is the second one: considering that the external lcd I am going to rent, even if Hd, is really small (7") how could I bring my personal Crt television out there? would it be possible in your opinion?

would it be worth?

the lcd would cost me 50€, which I could spend on something else..

this for exemple, which could be much more helpful

TuboCarrello_sm.jpg
 
You can mask the monitor you are watching and he is watching with some tape which leaves minimal residue.

What you want to do is get a ruler and a pair of scissors. Find a large piece of cardboard or similar rigid paper. With fine attention to detail, measure and cut out a square which is 1 foot tall and 2.39 feet wide. If you would like to round, make it 2.4 feet wide. (That is 12'' tall by 28.68" (or 28.8" if rounded to 2.4))

After you have cut the shape out, frame your camera so that the edges of the anamorphic 'picture' touches the sides of your camera frame. Also, center it up so that the space above and below the cutout are equal in distance from frame edge.

Connect the monitor and then mask off both the camera lcd and the monitor according to the framing of the anamorphic cutout. Now you and the operator will be seeing the same frame when shooting.

If you feel ambitious, try to carefully mask the image with a very transparent material, so that you can still see through it relatively well. This will allow you to see what is about to come into frame, such as boom mics and other cool stuff. Much like an optical film viewfinder.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
After you have cut the shape out, frame your camera so that the edges of the anamorphic 'picture' touches the sides of your camera frame. Also, center it up so that the space above and below the cutout are equal in distance from frame edge.
Click to expand...

thanks,

but I did not understand this specific passage: could you please explain again?

thanks
 
From what I described, you basically just cut out the aspect ratio you need (2.39) and use it to not only get proper guidelines, but get matching proper guidelines on multiple monitors.

To get it to fit within your camera's native 16:9 aspect ratio, you'll either move the cutout or zoom the camera in or out and line up the edges of the 2.39 aspect ratio cutout to the edge of your 1.78 aspect ratio camera. This will maximize your resolution as only the top and bottom will be 'letterboxed' in post....

Unless you have anamorphic lenses, which makes extracting a 2.39 image from a 1.78 a non-issue... but I doubt that's the case.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
But would you do that on a non-CRT monitor? Like a camera's LCD? I've never tried it, but I'd be nervous it wouldn't erase.
Click to expand...

It wipes off pretty good (too good) from my monitor (LCD) but can´t speak of others.

Try this at your own risk :happy:

On the other hand, I was actually thinking of using a permanent marker, since I have to remeasure and mark every time I pull the Monitor out of the bag.

The marks are thin and it don´t bothers me, when I shoot 16:9.

Frank
 
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