Shooting a trailer for theatre production Säure on the Sony FS100

[Andrew Reid]

[media]http://vimeo.com/46540179[/media]

Above: [url="https://vimeo.com/46540179"]Säure trailer on Vimeo by Andrew Reid[/url]

[url="http://www.theater-im-kino.de/TIK-Theater%20im%20Kino-Berlin/Programm/Theaterstuecke/Saeure.htm"]Book tickets to see Säure here[/url]

I was cinematographer recently on a trailer for Berlin theatre production Säure (which translates as 'Acid').

[rishaar]

Very nice piece!
Acid trip and David Lynch in 45s :)

[tehellet]

When are we going to see anamorphic FS100 footage?! :D

[HurtinMinorKey]

Honestly, i'm not a big fan of switching between the high contrast shots in the sunlight, and low contrast scenes in complete shadow. You need some fill lights, or if those are'nt practical, use some reflectors.

I liked the framing of the dude with the sax in the tall grass. The dude with the bag over his head was unsettling but effective.

[FilmMan]

Hurtin,

I thought that was an over stretched elephant condom not a bag. Just kidding. Interesting video.

[nathanleebush]

Awesome! Shot of the girl with the red lipstick was mindblowing.

[Mobillaire]

Why wouldn't you put the LCW ND filter in front of your anamorphic?

Seb Farges does this & it's a great look.

I just ordered a 72mm LCW to put in front of my Kowa 16H...

[akiesels]

Looking good, Andrew! Powerful imagery, as always. Bold move to shoot in direct midday sunlight without scrims/bounce cards. Most cameras can't deal with that much dynamic range ;-)

Can you elaborate why a rotating lens front poses an issue with the fader? I have been using the new LCW Fader ND Digi-Pro HD with older Nikon zooms (non-G). Unlike Canon, these have manual aperture rings, so no need for an expensive Metabones adapter. But the front on the Nikon zoom rotates and, while this is annoying since you have to feel around for the the fader's dial handle, it does not seem to affect the image quality in any way.

[Axel]

[quote name='akiesels' timestamp='1343793930' post='14769']
Looking good, Andrew! Powerful imagery, as always. Bold move to shoot in direct midday sunlight without scrims/bounce cards. Most cameras can't deal with that much dynamic range ;-)[/quote]

I don't know. Midday sunlight doesn't make so long shadows. Or allows to film shoulder-height with the sun as backlight as in the shot at 00:17. There may be some shots that were [i]not[/i] filmed in the evening. Much dynamic range I can't detect. I only see midtone definition, typical for shooting with an ND, underexposing slightly and raising the gamma in post. The right thing to do, but no demonstration of the FS100's special fitness for the kind of magic cinematography we are Andrews fans for.

[quote name='akiesels' timestamp='1343793930' post='14769']Can you elaborate why a rotating lens front poses an issue with the fader? I have been using the new LCW Fader ND Digi-Pro HD with older Nikon zooms (non-G). Unlike Canon, these have manual aperture rings, so no need for an expensive Metabones adapter. But the front on the Nikon zoom rotates and, while this is annoying since you have to feel around for the the fader's dial handle, it does not seem to affect the image quality in any way.
[/quote]

I just checked it with my Heliopan Vari ND. Rotating the whole filter (before the eye) doesn't change the brightness. But things do look different. Must be because an ND fader is two pol filters rotating.

[akiesels]

[quote name='Axel' timestamp='1343811098' post='14775']
I don't know. Midday sunlight doesn't make so long shadows. Or allows to film shoulder-height with the sun as backlight as in the shot at 00:17. There may be some shots that were [i]not[/i] filmed in the evening. Much dynamic range I can't detect. I only see midtone definition, typical for shooting with an ND, underexposing slightly and raising the gamma in post. The right thing to do, but no demonstration of the FS100's special fitness for the kind of magic cinematography we are Andrews fans for.
[/quote]

I watched it again. You are right, long shadows in most shots, but certainly no "magic hour" stuff here. The sax player in the field as well as some of the BTS shots seem to be taken earlier in the afternoon than the rest. I guess my initial reaction was that this was an early afternoon shoot because of how he white balanced it and how bright most of the shots were. Not the aesthetic I personally care for, but it's not easy to make these look good in general, with any camera.

[quote name='Axel' timestamp='1343811098' post='14775']
I just checked it with my Heliopan Vari ND. Rotating the whole filter (before the eye) doesn't change the brightness. But things do look different. Must be because an ND fader is two pol filters rotating.
[/quote]

Interesting. I tried this as well, and it looks like a subtle polarization change does occur when you rotate it, mostly on the sky (as expected). This brings up a question: shouldn't these Fader NDs have another rotating ring to allow for the desired polarization to be achieved? Seems like even having a non-rotating lens front would cause problems, since the angle at which the Fader would lock on the lens would be pretty arbitrary. But I guess the reason Andrew does not like the idea of using these filters on anamorphics is because racking focus during a shot would cause a sky color/glare change. Even inter-cutting two shots with different polarization angle might be difficult.

[Axel]

I guess you could add another compromise by unscrewing your ND fader partly to have a four-in-one-solution (the usual 3-ND-filter-set plus a pol). I don't know why, but I experienced weird looking vignettes especially when shooting raw photos. They changed their appearance when I developed them.

[Andrew Reid]

It is the polarisation that changes when the ND is rotated, and it is a major problem even if you don't intend to rack focus. It will knock the consistency of your shots completely out. Everything with a different focus distance will have a different look. Your sky might be dark in one shot but not in the other and you might have reflections in one shot then do the same shot later at slightly different focus distance and have no reflections. It is a nightmare. You have to use an ND in a matte box if you are shooting with the Iscorama.