Emanuel

This post is available on my blog a little more nicely formatted: Link
Trailer for the film
The making of RE:ACTING
Two weeks ago I wrote a post talking about how we shot our micro-budget short film. I talked about how we planned and shot one scene in the film.
I got some questions about where exactly the $3000 budget went, so I'm going to start this post by breaking down our costs.
Food & snacks for about 10-15 people per day (cooked in the evenings after the shoot) - $500
Camera equipment was mostly lent to us for free, but in order to move quickly we also had to rent two zoom lenses for seven days - $450
Props & costumes - $400
Location costs (parking, location rent etc..) - $400
Post-production - $1250
Keeping the budget this low was only possible because we were able to borrow a lot of gear, being smart about planning and making deals with other companies.
For example, we planned the shoot in June because that’s the month most Swedes are on vacation and we managed to get sponsored by a production company that did not have anything scheduled during the shoot, they would let us borrow most of the camera and lighting equipment for the whole production.
Additionally, we managed to save costs on props by negotiating a deal with a company that rents out police gear for film, including cars. Usually this would cost a lot as police gear is highly regulated, but we were able to get what we needed for one day of shooting in exchange for doing a short production for the company.
Another place where we had to get creative with costs was locations. As we wanted to shoot a total of 26 scenes in 13 different locations, we had to choose and plan our locations and scenes carefully. Not only did they have to come for free or at least very cheaply, we also had to get to three locations per day with a small crew.
In the last post I talked about scene 3 in the film and how we shot it in about two hours from arriving at the location. After Scene 3 we drove about 20 minutes to the next location to shoot Scene 22 where we transformed an inconspicuous location into something that would work for the production in more ways than one.

Schedule for day 4 of the shoot
Scene #22
Scene 22 is a police interrogation with the main character Karl, where he finally gets the courage to act well and completes his character arc.
The good thing about interrogation rooms is that when you really look at them and how they appear in films, they're just rooms with neutral-coloured walls and often a one-way mirror.
We realised that all we needed for this location was a white wall and enough space to fit a table and chairs. I figured the common room in the basement of my apartment building would fit our needs, and we could rent it for just $30 a day.

The corner where the bed is standing is where we shot this whole scene.
Doesn’t look like much when you look at it like this, but just dress it up right and light it with intent and you can make anything work.

Dressed up and lit.
When I scouted this room there were several things that made me feel like this was going to make a good location:
Few, small windows, making it easy to block out sunlight
Big space, fitting the whole crew without problem
Access to a bathroom and a kitchen so we could break for lunch here. (which we did)
Bottom floor, so we could get our equipment in and out of the room quickly.
We shot during the daytime, so we had to block out the light from the windows and ended up using just an Astera tube with grid for lighting as well as a floppy for some negative fill.

Floor plan & lighting schematic I made ahead of the shoot
For this scene we chose to shoot from a 90-degree angle to emphasise the movement when Karl leans forward and takes control of the situation.
In contrast to the rest of the film which is shot around 28-35mm, we chose to use a tighter lens to make Karl appear more cramped up and put on the spot.

Acting tough

Being out-witted
These are the two shots that run for most of this scene, and the third shot is of Karl's friend and dim-witted drug dealer Josef who is (poorly) trying to talk his way out of the situation.

Josef, the drug dealer
This shot we chose to do from head-on with the police in silhouette instead. This is both because Josef is acting as comedic relief in the middle of a tense scene and comedy genereally plays better in a wider shot, and also because we wanted to sell the feeling of it being an actual interrogation room more.
Rounding up
This interrogation room scene is a simple scene but I still think that many good principles were applied in its planning. We kept the lighting simple, we got a location that was close to the other two locations of the day, we didn’t have to do a lot of rigging, and in the end we shot it in a way that made it a lot more interesting than you’d expect when you saw the room for the first time.
So, the next time you’re faced with a scene that you don’t have the budget for. Take a step back and consider what the essential parts of the scene are. Then try to be creative with lighting and blocking to enhance your location. If you do this you can often get away with shooting a scene that you thought was out of your budget.
In the third part of this series I’ll give another example of how we got away with shooting a scene that on the surface seems impossible at this budget - an interior scene in a moving car during night time.

Josef, shocked that we pulled it off.
Again, feel free to reach out to me if you have any specific questions.

I got my 6D today and tested stills, video, and even ML raw a bit. The video is the typical mushy Canon 1080p, and the only continuous shooting for ML raw adds a 1.42 crop, nearly the same crop factor of the P4K with a .71 focal reducer with a much a worse workflow, so I won't be using that. But the stills are very nice and I'm excited to go out and shoot more. As much as I'n enjoying shooting film again, the cost can add up, so I don't want to go out and shoot casually much. So any camera that makes me want to shoot is always good. Here's a little self portrait I shot on the 6D:

Color version:

And my heavy-handed attempt at an expired film/cross-processed look:

You mean 8K 120p isn't industry standard? Don't tell the forum this, there could be a mutiny. 

Double Post ^ !

I'd choose OnePlus 9 Pro but you can also pick Zenfone 7 Pro as for instance :- )

Hi All:
I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to firmware version 3.0.  I am delighted to report that communications with the RS2 did not change as a result of this firmware.
As for for video auto focus, I took 8 clips at 60 FPS of ring tail doves against trees denuded of leaves.  Of these 8 clips, only 1 was out of focus.  Balance were sharp.
I also took 4 clips at 120 FPS.  Three of them were of ring tail doves against the same denuded trees.  All three clips were in-focus.  The fourth clip was of grackle in the same de-nuded trees.  Because there was more contrast between the bird and trees I expected that this clip would remain in focus.  It did not.  That was a disappointment.
More testing is required.  But my first impression was the video autofocus for version 3.0 is an improvement over 2.1.  However, FujiFilm still needs to continue to make improvements.  I look forward to the next update.
Don
 

I'm more thinking about color rendering. The Venice has enough dynamic range for me as-is. A7S3 is so close but the color is just not quite right and it's annoying. P6K has great color to my eye and internal raw but lacks other things.

This is Standard profile, but Natural and Cine-D have the same new details processing.
Some users suggest you can use a real time LUT with V-log to sort this out but this is not exactly the same because V-log can't be used below ISO 320. The good news is 8 bits V-log is not impacted.
I really hope Panasonic will add an option to get ride of this new details processing.

It'd be nice, and would be an insta-buy for me, but from an overall ecosystem POV there are probably more pressing needs, telephotos >200mm and a fast ultra wide zoom come to mind.
I always hoped that the little external zoom box that Canon made years ago would have caught on and been made compatible with all zooms from that point. I remember it was paired with a cheaper APS-C superzoom type lens when it came out but then I think that was it.

I did a shoot over the weekend that required a lot of zooming in and out. It really made me long for the camcorder days and made me ask myself: why doesn't Panasonic release some power zoom lenses? 
I know they have a couple of lower end ones for M43 that aren't constant and are very slow, but why no higher end ones? I'd buy a 24-105 f4 power zoom lens for full frame (and a 12-100 f4 for M43) in a heartbeat. I can't be the only one that would either. It'd be the perfect lens for event shooters. 
Right now Sony is really the only one offering power zooms. I think it's time for Panny boy to get in the game. 

Huh? How so? Complimenting Panny IQ doesn't mean speaking bad on Canon.
From the camera conspiracy tests, the Canon skin tones are still king and beat both A7S3 and S5ii imo. 
Panasonic may have better DR, sharpness, motion though.. I dunno, I wanna see actual comparisons with same lenses.
Sorry, I know a lot of people do seem to like them! I guess that's just the lens snob in me speaking, like I said the resulted footage looks really good, so clearly the lens hits above its price point.
The old ND might have something to do with it too! I need to experiment more with filters to rub off the modern clinical photo lens look. 

Ok received the S5ii with 20-60mm and 50mm lens kit this morning, charged the battery had a very quick play and then took it with me on a shoot this afternoon - nothing too taxing or crazy, just filming speakers at a conference and took some photos in between.   
Was able to use it instead of the Canon R6 until it ran out of battery (only had the one, lasted about as long as R6 battery does - couple of hours in 4k). Here are my thoughts so far...
Some real positives over the R6 for this type of work -
No 30 minute limit (one of the talks was 40 minutes) so was nice to capture it all
Able to use my 7" monitor whilst having full access to the cameras touchscreen - this was lovely and so much more relaxing for my ageing eyes. Great to be able to put lut on monitor and also use full HDMI - even without a cage felt more reassuring than horrible micro
No overheating whatsoever in 4k 10 bit 422 for 2 hours - priceless for peace of mind. Once the battery ran out had to use the R6 and overheating warning came on in the last hour so changed recording down to HD for the last speaker
Comparing to the R6 they are very similar in size and weight - S5ii feels very solid, R6  a bit plasticy in comparison although slightly nicer grip in the hand (was marginal though and maybe dependent on hand size).  S5ii AF with the 20-60mm and 50mm 1.8 seemed to stick well once it locked onto a face. Nothing very taxing but did a good job I think - will need to check through all the footage but am pretty confident it worked as well as the R6 under these conditions
Audio - used Sound Devices mix pre-d at line level 96khz 24 bit into the S5ii - seems to capture a clean sound, need to do some testing but think it is a step up from the R6 
The 20-60mm lens is probably the best kit lenses I've used - well made, nicely dampened focus ring and zoom. Love that it's 20mm on the wide as opposed to standard 24mm, don't think I'll need any wider. Bit short on the long end but used it in apsc mode - quality seems a little sharper than the r6's crop mode but am only eyeballing off the screen
The 50mm 1.8 is really nice, completely silent AF, nice size and lovely feel to the large focus ring, also quite pleasing bokeh from first impression, felt like a quality lens - obviously in a different price bracket to the Canon 50mm STM lens but yes a lot nicer to use 
That's all for now, feel like it could be a good purchase though of course early days so time will tell, used vlog and am just trying some luts in Resolve now - looks pretty good for conference type lighting

Couldn't agree more. It's the only kit lens I've kept instead of selling.

There's some fuzz in other forums about the S5ii using a new algorithm that seems to smooth skin texture a bit too much. As far as I've seen in the comments this seems to be happening in "normal" picture profiles. Have you noticed a difference in Vlog with regards to this, @hyalinejim? Thank you by the way for the footage and info, really impressed by the s35 quality too, where the rolling shutter seems to be very well controlled.

I can't say that I have noticed a problem with artificially smoothed skin textures in V-Log but I haven't looked very closely so that's not say that it's not there. Deezid often has good insights into detail, noise reduction and sharpening. @deezid there's a link to footage on the previous page if you're interested in taking a look.
If this phenomenon is confined to the normal profiles then that's fine with me as I never use them.
BTW, another issue doing the rounds on FB groups is that in HD 50/60 full frame there is no PDAF, only contrast based. Crop HD is fine, as are normal frame rates in HD. Just something to be aware of.

No that's some great feedback keep it coming! I'm trying myself to decide if I'm sticking with Canon or switching to Panasonic. I think I'd have to wait for the S5iiX though (I like chunky codecs). 
My concern is still AF. From a lot of the S5ii tests I've seen, it still feels like a first gen PDAF. Initial focus acquisition has this lag and there seems to be the occasional random hunt. And if multiple faces show up it gets very confused. Now no AF is perfect, the R6's had its issues too but R6ii does now have subject only, taken straight from the cinema line (R5 doesn't even have this) which locks on a face and never back-focuses even if the face leaves the frame. That along the low RS, no crop 4K60p and overall CS makes me wanna remain in Canon eco-system. 
That said, Panasonic has its own merits so looking forward to hearing more feedback, especially compared to Canon. 
Thanks and congrats on the new purchase.

The same thing happens with Sony and canon autofocus.  You have to adjust, tap or go manually.  Plan accordingly when doing events, wedding’s, etc.. There are times you should use it and times you shouldn’t, it’s just a tool like anything else.

Granted they're a retailer, but another test. Starting to think Panny (or Sigma) did something to make them work so well. 
 

The HEVC codec is pretty good. Take a look at ProRes raw footage from the S5/S1(H) and compare it with HEVC. It's got less texture (less noise), but it's not really a world apart. 
But then compare with clips from the P4K and P6K. Black Magic has color in a better starting place. Maybe it's because Black Magic has the luxury of making Resolve. Maybe it is the codec after all. But the P6K is the first camera where I can take a braw clip, bring it into Nuke, run it through ACES, render and not know if it was shot on an Alexa or P6K.
(And with highlight recovery, the dynamic range is even pretty comparable.)
ProRes should be a big step up on the S5IIX. But I don't need it. HEVC is pretty good. The bigger problem I have is I'm just not in love with the S1's color.
I also don't HATE the S1's color. And I don't LOVE the A7SIII's color (too much red in the skin) or even Canon's (too much magenta in the skin). Of course everyone is biased toward what they're used to. But the Alexa, Venice, and P6K look great. (And have greener skin tones.)
The A9II looks great to me too? Starting to get the impression that sensors have an inherent look. The Varicam35 had great color, too. So did the C300 Mk1 for that matter. 😕 

did another short with this camera, feel like showing off some stills again. the short itself is not yet finished. 

https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/23/m2-max-vs-m1-ultra-prores-video-export/

The GH6 needs PDAF. 

I'm just on the way home now and look what I've got in my bag 🙂

For me, the clincher was that phase AF works with my old EF lenses with the MC21

Wex in the UK has stock for S5ii next day delivery, unfortunately for me it is still showing as pre-order for the kit with the 2 lenses - has anyone got their hands on one yet?
Am interested to see how good the internal audio is - 96khz 24 bit and line level in with supposedly decent pre-amps should hopefully make recording seperate audio a thing of the past, at least for me. Pairing the Canon R6 with my Sound Devices Mix pre-d was quite disappointing and poor quality compared with the mix pre into Sony PCM M10 audio recorder. Panasonic seem to take audio a bit more seriously in their mirrorless cameras so fingers crossed their pre amps will be more comparable to the audio recorder.