What lenses for shooting 50s-style scifi flick?

Most studio films were still shot in B&W, and virtually all the indie films were. Obviously, the lower the budget, the more likely there will be poor glass, but in reality, I find most fifties film look pretty crisp. Prolly because they dumped a huge amount of light onto those stages.

I wonder how the Technicolor CineStyle would hold up if you turned the color off entirely for B&W (I'm a big proponent of shooting in B&W instead of just doing it in post as it will "color" the entire production design when you're going for the contracts between black and white...i.e. you might pick a color for costume or prop that would look goofy in color but looks great in B&W).
 
Maybe boulder can cite some examples, as I'm not a purist and if that flawed organic look can really be done digitally that would be awesome.

Nope can't. I'm just a believer in trying to get the cleanest image possible up front and giving yourself options later than locking into a look in-camera. I'm sure there are cases in which a filter will do things that post can't do...polarizing is one of them and I use it often. ND's I also use all the time. I'm just saying be careful of using a filter to degrade or soften the image unless you are absolutly positive you will not want to change it.
 
The film will make use of some newer transitions and the occassional digital effect. Also I will have to shoot in color as there will be quite a few green screened scenes where there will be a digital matte painting serving as the backdrop (blurred of course to simulate DOF for most shots).

It's a comedy about a hero who's an ordinary guy in the present but in the past is a super hero. It's basically an homage to everything from the classic 50s-60s monster flicks to the 30s scifi serials.

Being totally accurate to time frame is not relevant, as many things in the film will be out of place. I was basically just seeing if anyone had any lenses they thought lended a little more "vintage" look to their footage. I feel that my 28mm 2.8 does this pretty well, but of course any other suggestions are welcome.

I do plan to light the hell out of every scene though, as it seemed to flatten a lot of imperfections in those old films.

I did plan on using the "stocking over the lens" trick as well as the "throw some light right on her eyes" (ala Star Trek) for some of the female closeups.

The film will also have some sequences in the future (present) that will be in color, but grungy and gritty. There's also a fun sequence where a "time council" is discussing the time incursions and they will all be silhouetted characters against backlit & colored backdrops. That should be fun :)

The battle near the end of the film will require some interesting use of green screens. In order to make 4-5 actors appear to be engaged in a huge battle I will have to film many people fighting and "layer" them to make it look like there is a lot going on in the background.

All in all, should be a fun project. What I'm looking forward to the most though is doing the space scenes. Model ships hanging from easily visible string is always a hoot :)
 
The lens isn't going to make it look like 50s film stock. I shoot all my DSLR videos (music videos, drama and doc) using old Russian primes and my videos don't look like they were shot in the 50s! I think that would annoy my clients :)

Best bet is to grab magic bullet looks and tweak one of the film stock emulation presets till you get it right. Maybe even use MB misfire as well. I don't think you necessarily have to shoot with a stocking or wide open as MB looks has tons of options for softening the image.
 
Back
Top