T2i Planned 2 miunte short using T2i+Cinemorph filter

R

robo3687

Well-known member
On youtube and vimeo and the like you always see videos of cats, or skateboarding, or random focusing on plants and scenery...but never really anyone jumping in and actually making a narrative piece....

I've done a lot those sorts of things, mostly cat videos, like this one:


but for my first real test I wanted to do something a bit more substantial.

So in the next month or so I'm planning on filming a little short, around 2 minutes, as a way to get to grips with and test out the video on my 550D.

Story wise it'll be some kind of chase between a car and man....or something...lol...still working that part out. I used google streetview to do the location scouting and this little area is on an island just near my house.

locationscoutingy.jpg


I recently purchased a Cinemorphic filter from Vid Atlantic ( http://www.vid-atlantic.com/cinemorphic.html ) and will be using it on this project.

Current state of production is this:

- main actor has been contacted and has agreed to do it
- he's sourcing a car to be used
- filming will probably be a one day shoot
- there'll be no dialogue, just location sound and piano soundtrack.
- I'll be writing an outline this week, probably won't go full script for this one...

it's an exciting time, as it's an idea I've had for years but I've never had the equipment to execute it....
 
Last edited:
If you're not finding narrative pieces shot with a t2i or any other dslr for that matter, you probably aren't looking for them. Given, there are plenty of videos like you mentioned, there are also tons of narrative shorts out there. Doing your first short is a fun experience, best of luck.
 
thetvirus513 said:
If you're not finding narrative pieces shot with a t2i or any other dslr for that matter, you probably aren't looking for them. Given, there are plenty of videos like you mentioned, there are also tons of narrative shorts out there. Doing your first short is a fun experience, best of luck.
Click to expand...

oh yeah i know theres a bunch out there, i was more referring to narrative pieces as one of the first things people do.....which is where you normally see cats, and skateboards and scenery....

EDIT: i thought i should add that this is just a discussion of the production of this short, and any footage will be posted in the appropriate forum....
 
Last edited:
okay, update time...

Well currently the planned shooting day/s will be the weekend of the 9-10 of April, due to it not being foretasted to rain then, so that gives me about 3 weeks to get everything organised..

This is the current equipment I'll have with me:
- Canon T2i
- Canon 50mm 1.8
- Canon 18-55mm 5.6 (the kit lens, will need it for wide shots)
- Cinemorph 62 filter (with step-up rings for both lenses)
- tripod

I'm currently bidding on an IndiSystem ULTRAcompact shoulder rig on eBay, but if I don't get that then I'll be heading to the hardware store next weekend for some PVC to build my own.

The only thing I feel like I'm missing is a sound solution. All I can really afford at the moment is a Rode Videomic, which I can get for $140, but I don't overly need it for this project as it's essentially a 'silent' movie.

If anyone has any suggestions of what I might add to my kit, especially cheaper DIY solutions, then let me know.
 
it hasn't arrived yet sadly...lol....it should come this week sometime....so as soon as it does I'll do some tests......

okay, so i didn't win that ULTRAcompact auction, but I did end up buying the rode videomic, so as a result of those things I'll be heading to the hardware store for some pvc for my shoulder rig...lol.....might design it later today....
 
okay so this is what i'm thinking for the shoulder rig...I looked at a bunch of other proper shoulder rigs and pvc ones and sort of mushed them all together...lol....

rigq.jpg
 
very cool little layout. This is a great way to see exactly what you will need. You may want to go with copper in places to make it more sturdy, that is if you can find the same size copper and pvc tube. If you can get 15mm, (60mm on center) this is industry standard for rails and such. 19mm, is for bigger film setups.
 
thanks, i think for this first shoot i won't worry about the rails stuff, as I don't really have any gear that needs them....but once this ones done I'll be looking into expanding my gear....

- i just loaded the new Marvels Panalog HIc 2.3 picture style onto my camera, I'd been using superflat for a little while but this new Marvel one looks like it could be good for this (being that it's being shot entirely outside)....
- my rode videomic arrived this morning....which was s surprise as i wasn't expecting it for a few days.....
- it's looking like my cinemorph filter won't get here until a few days before we're due to shoot, so it'll be a few hectic days of testing and getting used to it....
- should have the shot outline worked out this week, and will send it out to the actor (who is a friend) so he knows what he's in for and can show it to our driver so that they know what they're in for (ie, lots of driving back and forth...lol)

EDIT: so it seems the "new" marvel picture style I loaded wasn't as new as i thought....and the Marvel Cine 3.3 is newer...looks like I'll load that one up instead
 
Last edited:
I'm really amped to see your project when it's finished bro. I myself am getting a 550D sometime before the end of the month or early April. I thought about uploading some random test for all of two seconds till I thought 'no one will watch it and think Im not creative. Short films it is'. My little production group will be trying to get around 3-5 short films ready for upload as soon as I get the camera.
 
Darkdeity9194 said:
I'm really amped to see your project when it's finished bro.
Click to expand...
me too...lol

-------------

so it turns out I'd gotten my dates mixed up and I should have plenty of time to play around with the cinemorph filter....i was thinking the 9th of April was next weekend, but it's the weekend after....so alls well......
 
and i will indeed have plenty of time to play with the filter cos it just arrived!...a whole week before i was expecting it.......

i'll report back later with some thoughts on it....
 
le sigh....i just went to the hardware store.....

not only did they not have half the pvc fittings I needed, but with the stuff they did have it was going to be about $120......for some reason pvc stuff is ridiculously expensive here.....soo....what it boils down to is this....

with the 15 or so other fittings i would have needed it would have come to around $150 bucks...so i scrapped the DIY idea and just bought one of these instead for only $20 more...

http://cgi.ebay.com/DSLR-Rig-Shoulder-Mount-DV-Camera-Canon-5D-Sony-/390292537711?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5adf3f816f#ht_7173wt_942

I would much rather have something proper (even if it's not as proper as one of the "pro" rigs) as opposed to a DIY one if it's going to cost the same...plus there's no labour....lol....
 
so my kits expanded a little bit since i last added it up...

Camera & accessories
- T2i
- spare battery
- RODE VideoMic
- Canon 50mm f1.8 lens
- Canon 18-55mm f5.6 kit lens


Filters and step up rings
- 52-58mm step up ring, for attaching the following to the 50mm lens, it'll already fit on the kit lens
- 58mm polarising filter (may not need it though)
- 58-62mm step up ring
- Cinemporph 62 filter
- 62mm variable ND filter ND2 to ND400

Camera Mounts
- tripod
- DV MultiRig clone

I'm considering putting Magic Lantern on as well, but am checking in the ML thread for some answers to concerns I have first...
 
so there's been a change in the weather forecast and its due to be raining on the weekend we were to film........which is okay because I had to order a few more things and they wouldn't have arrived in time anyway...

i ended up wussing out on installing Magic Lantern for now.....i just wasn't comfortable with it at this stage, plus being new to this dslr stuff a lot of the features go over my head....

the 2 things i was considering ML for were the AGC disabling and the crop marks as this short will be cropped to 2.35:1, so i ordered one of these AGC disabling cable (www.dslrcable.com) which from what I've seen works just as well as the magic lantern hack. and for the crop marks I drew up one and had it photocopied onto some transparency film and I can just tape it over the lcd for the same effect...

I also trialled the cinemorph filter on the 18-55 lens and as I suspected at any point below 35mm zoom it vignettes quite badly (at 18mm it crops nearly the whole image out...lol), but that was to be expected.....so for the wide shots I'll just have to get a bit further back with the 50mm.....
 
this short is being done outside, and as such I figured I'd probably need a viewfinder, I did some tests to see if i could go without, and I could but truth be told it'd probably just be easier to just use one....

i looked at all the usual options (zacuto etc) but all are obviously too expensive for right now, and pretty much all the cheap ones on ebay are the wrong size for the t2i's screen....

so I went the pseudo-DIY route and came up with this...i call it

THE ROBO-FINDER (stubby edition)
lcdvf.jpg

It's custom designed to suit my eye and to use a 58mm macro filter I had that I'm not using. If I wagered a guess I'd say its about a 2x magnification. I'll be having the body printed at Shapeways and it'll all just go together without glue. There are notches for rubber bands to hold it on (going over the flash and under where the 1/4 inch screw hole is), and they also hold the eyepiece on, and in turn hold the macro filter in...

it may not work...but I'm hoping it will. It'll cost me about 30 bucks to order from shapeways.
 
rock on, man. I can see you have skills. i LOVED your cat vid. beautifully cut with heartfelt music
 
zaarc said:
rock on, man. I can see you have skills. i LOVED your cat vid. beautifully cut with heartfelt music
Click to expand...

Thanks

----------------

so....irony of ironies.....

Today was the original shoot date fornthis short, but it got pushed back due to needing more equipment and the weather....it was supposed to rain all day.....instead it was a perfect autumn day with clear blue skies....the exact conditions I'd hoped for in the first place.....lol

Here's hoping that the weather will be the same when we eventually get around to doing this....
 
well it looks like my shapeways viewfinder will finally be arriving on Monday so I'll be able to test it out...

That also means that, finally, my rig for this first short is finally complete, I have everything I need.....now I just need the rain to stop so I can go out and film....lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top