Matt Agnello
Member
I just finished the documentary Jesus Camp for the second time. If any of you worked on the film or know people who worked on the film, give them my compliments. This is a great piece of work and definitely something to aspire to for any documentary filmmaker.
I had a couple questions about the lighting and the camerawork in the movie. In the commentary, Heidi and Rachel say that they used the Panasonic HVX100A for most of film. I was really impressed with the image that they got out of it. My questions are in regard to the footage they shot in extremely low light and very bright situations, both of which turned out beautifully.
There are a couple of scenes in very dark areas, one inside a bunk house at night with only flashlights illuminating people and another in cave. The image in both scenes seemed really crisp and grainless. I was curious how they might have achieved such sharp images in so little light without (apparently) boosting the gain or noticeably lowering the shutter speed. In particular, there's one shot of Levi (his hero shot) that pans around him while he's standing just outside the cave, and the range of exposure between the sunlit outside and the dark cave inside seems so huge that it baffles me. Is this just how awesome the HVX100 is or is something else at work here?
They also shot a lot of footage in churches or outside with the sun directly in the shot, yet you can see into the dark areas very well. How did they get so much information out of the darkness when the sun was still so bright in the frame? Is this just the power of ND filters, or did they use extra lights to bump up the ambient light, or something else entirely?
Also, does anyone know if they used only available lighting or if they set up lights for the church scenes or the interviews? Some of the shots are so beautiful that I wonder if they were forced or if Heidi and Rachel just got lucky.
I had a couple questions about the lighting and the camerawork in the movie. In the commentary, Heidi and Rachel say that they used the Panasonic HVX100A for most of film. I was really impressed with the image that they got out of it. My questions are in regard to the footage they shot in extremely low light and very bright situations, both of which turned out beautifully.
There are a couple of scenes in very dark areas, one inside a bunk house at night with only flashlights illuminating people and another in cave. The image in both scenes seemed really crisp and grainless. I was curious how they might have achieved such sharp images in so little light without (apparently) boosting the gain or noticeably lowering the shutter speed. In particular, there's one shot of Levi (his hero shot) that pans around him while he's standing just outside the cave, and the range of exposure between the sunlit outside and the dark cave inside seems so huge that it baffles me. Is this just how awesome the HVX100 is or is something else at work here?
They also shot a lot of footage in churches or outside with the sun directly in the shot, yet you can see into the dark areas very well. How did they get so much information out of the darkness when the sun was still so bright in the frame? Is this just the power of ND filters, or did they use extra lights to bump up the ambient light, or something else entirely?
Also, does anyone know if they used only available lighting or if they set up lights for the church scenes or the interviews? Some of the shots are so beautiful that I wonder if they were forced or if Heidi and Rachel just got lucky.
