Fun opportunity: Ideas?

tom_wise

tom_wise

Well-known member
Hi there,

I have landed a fun little gig. I am charged with creating a 1915 film look. Silent, B&W, no music but with script/text in the frames with the actors. I hand constructed the CG Castle that needed to resemble no castle that can be found. Already Shot a huge set of concrete Steps that my actors are going to be performing on, and inserted into my composition. I chose these steps for simple back-ground reasons; to cut down on any masking and so forth. I already have film scratches overlaid and their opacity varies in this "opener/Establish" Shot I created.

SO really my question is what kind of fun things might you include in the production?

The scene happens at midnight. I have recently purchased two fresnels and will have some reflectors on site. Plan on casting a moon-shadow onto the actors if I can get away with it.


Other ideas?

Cheers, and thanks in advance for any and all ideas.

tw
 
DadinWestchester said:
Sounds like you need villagers with torches and rich English visitors dressed for a party.....
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Ha! Yeah, looking for the Ball!

No. I didn't mention the scene to be shot because I really didn't want it Internet/Google searchable. I am shooting this component as a larger part of a theatrical production. It will begin with my film, and segue into first a Lobby then onto Stage.

I was mostly just looking to see if anyone had any interesting ideas about film or film looks from that era.

thanks~
 
tom_wise said:
Ha! Yeah, looking for the Ball!

No. I didn't mention the scene to be shot because I really didn't want it Internet/Google searchable. I am shooting this component as a larger part of a theatrical production. It will begin with my film, and segue into first a Lobby then onto Stage.

I was mostly just looking to see if anyone had any interesting ideas about film or film looks from that era.

thanks~
Click to expand...

This idea of keeping a concept from being internet searchable is the next big thing I predict. Used to be how do I make a big splash online...now it's how not to make a ripple in the surface...and still communicate. I'm not bright enough to do it, but anti search engines are in our future. Just like Dustin Hoffman was told "plastics"...mark my words!
 
This sounds like GREAT fun. I'd have everyone smoking. If it will be played at 24p, I'd try filming at 21 or 22f/s. It seems that in older films the character motion was a bit jumpy and faster. I'd also throw in a few jump cuts.
 
I'm stuck at 24/30 fps.but recently began playing with posterize-time-effect to good effect.
 
Back then, lenses were slow and film emulsion was even slower. I'd suggest shooting around a T/5.6 at least... maybe a T/8 or T/11 if you can. Don't get shallow DoF. Not going to work.

Wider lenses back then did suffer from emulsion. The lenses were softer in contrast, flared easier, and did vignette. Not so much from projected image circle issues, but rather from shading or the law of reflection which had incoming light at non perpendicular angles bounce off the front element in greater percentage.

Are you emulating an old film watched today? Or an old film watched back then?

I ask this because we see old films from the 1920's today, and everyone moves fast (like charlie chaplin) and there is deterioration and scratches abound in the image. BUT.... Had you been in the audience during the premier of the film, you would have seen a much more clean image (little deterioration and scratches compared to now) AND people likely would have moved at 'normal speed' as back then, I believe many films were shot 18fps or similar and played back that way as well. The reason those old films are 'sped up' is because they are not played back at proper frame rate. They were shot at something like 18fps and played back on modern 24fps projectors, not the 18fps projectors (or similar) used back then, thus the film is sped up by 25% (something like that).

See?

So I guess if you were to emulate an old film as watched now in 2011, it would be sped up by something around 25% and you could add film deterioration, scratches, and etc. If it's supposed to be a 'new' film from 1910, or similar, I'd give it some older characteristics, but not scratch the hell out of it and make it look crappy. Also, the movement would be played back near the capture rate.


Remember... Black and white, higher contrast, vignetting/shading, deeper focus, little to no camera movement (especially in 1910/1915), think more as if you're capturing a play, as that is how most early films were shot. Wides were high, wide and centered... close ups were normal mediums centered. nothing flavorful, that is for sure. .... 1915 was a big year in cinema... Birth of a Nation was released, the first big film, in my opinion, to display higher concept editing and camera work. With that said, if you are emulating a film from 1915 by just any filmmaker, I would keep the edits much more simple and not modern... because even if you were emulating the arguably BEST film from that time period, you'd just only begin entering the editing vernacular we have today. I really doubt you are supposed to emulate D.W. Griffith, the best there was in 1915, so I'd keep your editing sophistication below his, as that is where almost all films back then were. He was cutting edge, so I wouldn't take birth of a nation as being the 'typical' 1915 type flick.


Research how they did Day-for-night back then. I guarantee you 1,000,000,000 O'Hara points that they were not shooting at night back in 1915. If you want authentic looking replica of a production back then... you'd be best to shoot night for day. 1915 is a long time ago. In production standards, this is before big studios, before quartz lighting, almost before the widespread use of carbon arcs. This is barely past the rotating stage of Black Maria. I'd say don't be afraid of letting the audience see the visual gimmicks. You aren't trying to fool them that it's actually midnight, since i really doubt there are many films from 1915 that convince us much of anything. Thank god we can suspend our belief for the sake of entertainment.

Also, camera's were hand wound back then, so that is why exposure was consistent but not the same on every frame. If the camera operator could not turn his arm at a perfect 18fps revolution, the action would speed up or slow down on those frames and the exposure would vary. Very tough to emulate in digital world... probably why Panavision still has some 35mm film cameras that are hand cranked. These cameras are used by big productions who want to emulate the hand crank feeling or get that not quite perfect shooting style.



PS: Birth of a Nation is unarguably a great film in the light of cinematic technique and art advancement. The subject matter is well controversial and by no means is my opinion of the film linked to my personal beliefs. With that said, please don't let me side track this thread into a BoaN argument. It was racist, yes; but it did display the earliest and biggest leap in American filmmaking technique. No question about that. It's an important film. Just wanted to get that out, as I'm sure it would have been brought up. Or maybe not... Not sure how many young filmmakers are still watching D.W. Griffith films...
 
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Hey, thanks for the thoughts. This is more in line with what I was thinking about: Film scratches, Wide Shooting, etc. I am aware of the techniques at hand in that era, and have viewed a few of the films, incl> C.Chaplin, D.W. G.'s BoaN. DWG is still in all the great books, so that speaks to his abilities. Also Copola chose to use a hand crank for Dracula in one of the street scenes and it was just over the top cool. When the gal gave me the gig for this I basically told her much the same as you described to me. I also told her it'd be fairly easy for her actors and all to get lost in the sequences. This performance goes from (my) Film to ( Her) Stage with live actors. SO I figured we'd try to mesh both worlds a bit. I'd start wide, set the scene and mood, and slowly segue into more of a modern framing yet with attributes that make it appear to be from an earlier era. Shooting night for day is harder still just due to the lack of color allowed in my film. In any case most of this work will be in Post, and I am at that stage now. I Shot last Friday, from 5:30p to 7p. I had wanted to light it for drama, but : Epic fail on my part, I only needed about 5k more wattage.

Thanks for chiming in with your interesting thoughts and comments.

tw
 
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