HVX/M2 Feature film shooting

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holditnowfilms

Well-known member
I have been shooting a feature film since the 15th of April using the HVX and an M2 lens adapter. We have five more days of shooting left. It has been crazy to say the least. All I can say is if you are planning a feature film use the M2/HVX combo.

Everyone on set that sees the 24" HD monitor always comments on how great the footage looks. It does inspire greatness out of everyone. Even jaded indie film burnouts have to smile when they see footage.

Lighting has been an issue also. It takes a lot of light to make good looking images with the the HVX/M2 rig. We blow a lot of breakers.

The first days of shooting were the hardest. The M2 the weight of the camera the P2 cards all take some adjustment. Run and gun isn't so easy. Pulling focus is a *****. Going handheld with a 50mm lens and the weight of the camera and trying to see the LCD monitor and keeping stuff in focus is hard no doubt about it. I am all about the dolly now. Much to the dismay of my first AD as we drag through pages trying to make our days. I only have a 3 person Camera/Lighting/Grip crew including myself so when the first AD sees us lugging out the dolly track for every other shot his antacid comsumption rises accordingly.

P2 cards are nice but I have burned a few takes by running out of card space. The camera needs a better warning system. An alert noise would be cool once a card hit capacity or something.

I'm not going to lie, it has been harder than just using the HVX alone, and it ain't perfect. But nothing ever is. I guess it just matters how bad you want it.
 
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Congrats man...post up some stills when you surface after the shoot! I'm planning on shooting a feature next year with the same setup and would like to see how it all comes out...
 
I have just wrapped a film using the HVX/M2 combo as well. More light...more light. I rated the HVX/M2 at an ISO of 64. Yes....64. That is how much light you need. 1K fills can really heat up a room!

I'll post some screen shots soon.

Best of luck on your final shooting days.
 
holditnowfilms said:
Lighting has been an issue also. It takes a lot of light to make good looking images with the the HVX/M2 rig. We blow a lot of breakers.

The first days of shooting were the hardest. The M2 the weight of the camera the P2 cards all take some adjustment. Run and gun isn't so easy. Pulling focus is a *****. Going handheld with a 50mm lens and the weight of the camera and trying to see the LCD monitor and keeping stuff in focus is hard no doubt about it. I am all about the dolly now. Much to the dismay of my first AD as we drag through pages trying to make our days. I only have a 3 person Camera/Lighting/Grip crew including myself so when the first AD sees us lugging out the dolly track for every other shot his antacid comsumption rises accordingly.

P2 cards are nice but I have burned a few takes by running out of card space. The camera needs a better warning system. An alert noise would be cool once a card hit capacity or something.
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Congrats on your work! It's always inspiring to hear about a small crew getting great results!
Couple of questions:
How fast are your lenses? Which lenses do you find you are using the most?
Are you using 4 or 8GB cards, and how many cards? Shooting 720 or 1080?
What kind of follow focus are you using?
Thanks. Keep up the good work!
 
wicked

wicked

Surprise surprise, I'm another guy planning to shoot a feature with the HVX and perhaps the M2 set-up but I'm worried about having to throw so much light on everything. Was the time and money devoted to lighting worth what you got? I mean, I think lighting is paramount, but working with smaller and fewer lights can be really freeing.

I'd love to hear more about your production. What format did you shoot? How much footage/data did you shoot? How are you storing it?

We're working on such a tight budget that the JVC HD100 with the mini-35 set-up shooting tape looks pretty good sometimes.
 
toddeastman said:
I have just wrapped a film using the HVX/M2 combo as well. More light...more light. I rated the HVX/M2 at an ISO of 64. Yes....64. That is how much light you need. 1K fills can really heat up a room!
I'll post some screen shots soon.
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Congrats to you too! Man, ISO of 64!
How fast were your lenses? Doesn't sound like f/1.4....
From what I've heard, any lens slower than a f/2.8 will be a huge pain to light.
(unless you're doing day exteriors)

I look forward to seeing your stills. Good luck!
 
Well, remember that a 2.8 lens will require four times as much light as a 1.4 would (at wide-open aperture) so obviously having the fastest lens available will have a big impact on how much light you'll need.

(note, I said NEED, not want: you may prefer the look of 2.8 for not-so-shallow DOF and therefore you may want all that extra light!) :)
 
I am using all 1.8 lenses. My main lens is the 50mm. I also use a 105mm 1.8 as much as I can get away with. I have an 85mm 1.8 and a 35-105 zoom but it is only good in bright day as it's a 3.5-4.5.

I have only two 4gb cards and the p2 store. I dump the p2 store every night to my G5 desktop. We just don't have time or man power on set to use the laptop. I spread the dumps to across firewire externals drives redundantly.

I am dragging around the Dell 24" monitor for focusing. It's a real ***** going handheld with that monster in tow. But with the M2 focus is so critical and the DOF is so shallow it's the only way I feel comfortable.

Lighting is tough but it always is if you want something cool looking. we have 3/ 500w softboxes, 2/ 2k's. 3/ 650w fresnel lights/ Lot's of scoops and and flourecents we use for deep backgrounds and fills.
 
holditnowfilms said:
I am using all 1.8 lenses. My main lens is the 50mm. I also use a 105mm 1.8 as much as I can get away with. I have an 85mm 1.8 and a 35-105 zoom but it is only good in bright day as it's a 3.5-4.5.

I am dragging around the Dell 24" monitor for focusing. It's a real ***** going handheld with that monster in tow. But with the M2 focus is so critical and the DOF is so shallow it's the only way I feel comfortable.
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Are you using nikons? I'd imagin by the 35-105 f3.5-f4.5.

So with the 24 inch monitor why in tow do you playback after every hand held shot with the camera connected directly?
 
holditnowfilms said:
To keep good focus I have to have the big monitor in view attached to the camera.
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Why does you didnt use the M2 with the Pl mount and use cinema lens... i know there is cost and money issue about renting expensive cinema lens, but thoses are made for butter smooth focus... and you dont need to put a big monitor to know if the focus is weel made (a good AC dont use his monitor all the time to see if ist "right on") and there is not such a frustrating moment when the director realize that his perfect take with actor is "soft"...

nyways... i'm not a indie filmmaker guru... just asking...

hope to see somes footages soon.
 
nycfilmmaker said:
what?
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Still camera lens are very difficult to follow focus because they have very few markings on the lens for feet/meters & are not necessarily accurate. Thoses are not made for rack focus. Never seen a still photography with a rack focus...

Using Nikon lens (or any still photography) with a huge high definition monitor to see if its "right on" make no sens to me !

I'm sure they is way to rent nice 35mm cine lens from a Dop, indie rental house, etc... here in Montreal it is easy to do, dont know why it could be hard in NY or LA ?
 
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yeah i know.

in nyc you could get some Ultra primes (16mm) arris for 50 a pop, and the 35mm at 100 a pop.

In the old days the 16mm lens was way better than the 35mm below 20mm focal length because the optical engineering to create a wide angle 35mm lens was very difficult but not as difficult for the 16mm lens. Now the even point for both lenses is, I think, at 16mm F.L. so anything above that focal length creates an indistinguishable analysis between 16mm and 35mm lenses.

So why not rent the cheaper price
 
etiennecaron said:
Why does you didnt use the M2 with the Pl mount and use cinema lens... i know there is cost and money issue about renting expensive cinema lens, but thoses are made for butter smooth focus... and you dont need to put a big monitor to know if the focus is weel made (a good AC dont use his monitor all the time to see if ist "right on") and there is not such a frustrating moment when the director realize that his perfect take with actor is "soft"...

nyways... i'm not a indie filmmaker guru... just asking...

hope to see somes footages soon.
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The reasons are complex. The least of which is I'm a dumb ass and most likely should have gone with Cine Lenses. I should have tested more also and while I was at it I should have rented a high end follow focus rig. But I didn't so I had to "Get er Dun" with what I had.

In my defense my budget was very tight and I tried to cut cost where I could. Owning the lenses made sense from a financial perspective and pick-up shots etc are easier when you own the gear.

I love the way the footage looks. I wanted a creepy claustrophobic look. So I kept focus really shallow. Unfortunately I also don't like being on sticks all the time so I go hand held. Yikes! Now focus is crazy hard. I can focus by moving in and out or rolling the focus ring with my index finger hunting.

I could not measure with the M2 because the lens markings didn't match up with true focus for some reason. So even the best AC would be hobbled. Each lens also seemed to have a life of it's own. Seeing the monitor was the fastest way to see what was going on. Being on a 3 foot leash sucked. I should have found a longer cable before shooting. I meant to but it never got ordered. Ooops. Yanked the cord out of the camera a few times by getting ahead of my monitor jockey ( the worst job on the set, holding the monitor so I could see it and move handheld or set-ups) so it was frustrating. I burned out one cable entirely.

I have to say the monitor was splashed with blood, dirt, water and dropped. Exposed to direct sunlight and high heat. But it kept on ticking like a true champ.

I was impressed with Cam-Battery life and P2 store performance. I used an average of 7 cards a day and 2 batteries on the cam.

Going through the footage I am very excited. It really looks like a "Movie" not some DV project. Even when I went sans M2 for wide shots it looks cool. I can have such a wide shot with the HVX lens and get three people all in focus in some cool ways from 2 inches to 6 feet away in one shot.

Looking at the footage I can clearly see this in going to be one very sick and beautiful movie. Some of the stuff is very distrubing to me and I shot it. It's one thing on the set with everyone laughing and joking around. It's entirely another thing when you see the shot on it's own. Ugh. On the other end footage of the actors being pretty shot with the 105mm looks so beautiful it takes my breath away.

The difference between this and my last film is night and day. They don't even come close. It's truely amazing. It's not 35mm but it is something special and it looks expensive.
 
Dogtops said:
"what?"

C'mon man.
He means good 1st ac + prep day + cine lenses + tape measure= tack sharp focus!
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Prep day!?!?! We didn't even get to scout locations before shooting in them. At this budget level locations get pulled at the last minute so you never really know what you are getting into until you show up with lights and camera. Indie film making is really Flexibility film making. We had to steal more than a few locations also. So speed is paramount.
 
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