My footage on the big screen.

David G. Smith

David G. Smith

Steak Knife Member
In July I shot a short film and I just came back from the premier. It was shown on a theater screen at one of the Detroit areas art house venues. The film was mainly shot on a Sony FS100, with vintage Nikon primes but since we were very ambitious; trying to shoot 30 pages in three days, we did have to bust out a second unit who shot with a T21 with L-Series primes. I have to say that I was really worried about seeing it on the big screen, but after having seen it, I am VERY HAPPY. It looked very good in terms of sharpness. Most important of all, THE AUDIENCE LOVED THE MOVIE.

Now it took a little tweaking in post to get the FS100 footage and the T2i footage to match, but what we did was very simple adjustments; to saturation, contrast and overall exposure for the most part. (The FS100 was set to the G-LOG A PP and the T21 was petty much close to the Standard PP) I have to say they both held up very well on the big screen. While I could tell that there was a skosh bit of softness with the T21 shots, compared to the FS100 shots, but we did not inter-cut shots with different cameras in the same scene, so it worked fine.

It blows my mind that even with a camera like the $800 T2i a creative and talented filmmaker absolutely can make a film that can be enjoyed when exhibited on a movie theater screen. Now, I know, I know!! I am not saying that all the camera anyone ever needs is an $800.00 HD-DSLR, I am glade I have upgraded to a FS100, for sure, and I will endeavor to work with much more capable cameras every opportunity I can (I want to get my hands on one of the new Sony Fs so bad I can dang near taste it). I just have to say that we really do have some amazing tools at our disposal these days. We should all be thankful.
 
That is totally killer. I used an Olympus E-Pm1, a Panasonic HVX200, and a Sony SportCam to for my film and I'm worried about the quality of the SportCam footage on the big screen. It's HD but the sensor is the size of a hit of acid. I'm stoked to watch my film, eat some popcorn, drinks some beers in the back of the theater while heckling the film. Nice job man.
 
dvxuser Faith Granger used a first generation HVX200 to make her micro-budget feature "Deuce of Spades". It looked just fine on the big screen. The time has long since passed that gear was any kind of barrier to anything. All anyone needs to see what's holding them back is a good look in a mirror.
 
craigbowman said:
dvxuser Faith Granger used a first generation HVX200 to make her micro-budget feature "Deuce of Spades". It looked just fine on the big screen. The time has long since passed that gear was any kind of barrier to anything. All anyone needs to see what's holding them back is a good look in a mirror.
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I remember reading a lot in Faith's post about her movie. She kicked butt. Nothing beats seeing footage you have shot yourself to drive the point home though. This is only the fifth time that I have seen my footage on a large screen before an audience. The first was shot on 16mm film and was projected from a film print at a local film festival. Next was a couple of times we had footage I had shot on Super 8mm b&W film, transferred to SD video, shown on a huge video displays and the fourth time was projected SD video. This is the first time I have seen HD footage I have shot projected on a big screen. I was very pleased.


Oh, I did forget a couple of other times... When I was in middle school, I made short films on Super 8 and projected them pretty large in my school class room. That doesn't really count, but it was great fun.
 
Yea the real argument that goes on out there is what looks "best" but tons and tons of cameras out there will look just fine and not really cause any issue with the typical moviegoer. :)
 
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