SI2K in Western Australia.

Bob Hart · November 29th, 2010, 11:04 AM

The decision to shoot with the primes ? I am not certain. I think the DOP, Gavan O'Sullivan's decision was driven both by the lack of available suitable light and the camera having just enough to go with. In their sweet spot, I think they are a bit sharper than the Angenieux. The frames above except for 4 and 5 were not shot by him, so should not be held representative of his work.

We had two 650watt fresnel and a 2K fresnel available but no scrims. The SI2K had enough from the ceiling flouros and a 240watt incandescent equivalent CFL in an 18inch parabolic reflector at 0db to get the oppressive look he wanted with the Ultras wide-open. He bounced this off the wall for a faint soft fill. He was after a flat, soul-less institutional look. The walls are actually high shine satin gray.

The Angenieux was used in the case worker's shots to enable faster working for a sequence of stylised images. He was shooting silhouettes against windows covered with scrim style drawn roller blinds so the lesser light passing of the Angenieux was not an issue.

These will intercut in an opening montage with the juvey detainee and prison officer walking through various corridors, CU foot shot (socks as shoes confiscated for safety), CU crooked fingers in top of jeans ( belt confiscated for safety) to intercut with vision of the visiting case worker after her arrival in her interview room getting her papers ready.

I don't know Gavan's plan for the actual drama vision. I think he may be crushing the blacks a bit and just tidying up the grade. He was light metering and colour temp metering ( high science for me ) with his film gear for most of it, so it is all consistent, except for the stuff we did after he had to depart on other tasks.

I think as far as he is concerned the SI2K is as close to a film camera as video has gotten in his hands-on experience so far and he is treating it as a film camera.

For the montage, I think he will be both crushing the blacks harder and desaturating.

Alex Raskin · November 29th, 2010, 12:16 PM

Yes, I think Si-2K is terrific, still holding its own against all the newest cams out there.

Lighting: have you used LED lights with SI2K?

There are fantastic small on-camera Z96 lights now available from China for about $70 each. Their light looks better than the 126LED lights I'm currently using. I'm awaiting delivery of 4 of them. My idea (aside from using them individually as keys/fills), is to make a 4-light block, which probably will rival Litepanels 12x12 at just 25% the cost. Not sure about CRI on those, but just eyeballing, the light quality seems fine.

For fresnels, it appears Sola12 's by Litepanels are the first viable LED choice - although I personally have no first-hand experience with them, and price is insane.

Bob Hart · November 30th, 2010, 09:56 AM

Alex.

I have not tried LEDs yet. Still using traditional lighting. I have a biggest boxful of CFLs and batten holders to make up about 3 x 1200watts incandescent equivalent worth. I just haven't got round to holesawing all those holes and tracking down the broad aluminium doorframe extrusion to make up the rims of the boxes.

Here's a link to the Tropfest entry local film maker Andrew Pheasant directed last year.

YouTube - games

Bob Hart · January 25th, 2011, 12:22 PM

Finally got around to ordering and fitting the P+S parts for the camera base for using quick release mounts ( Panasonic SHAN TM-700 ) on an old Miller LPT tripod. Wishing now I had done it it much sooner instead of procrastinating.

No more swearing and cursing with head bent under trying to get that wretched thumbscrew to match up and wobbling the camera to take the load off the thread from jamming tight, whilst trying not to drop it.

Bob Hart · March 3rd, 2011, 02:29 AM

Original message deleted. Attempt to upload a readable file. Short story - a handwritten note with important focal length settings had been scanned to .jpg by crewmember but the file would not open and the original paper page was lost. I uploaded it to dvinfo.net and was informed that the file was a .psd incorrectly tagged as a .jpg file.

This enabled me to convert the file to a bmp in Premiere Pro. This probably represents an abuse of dvinfo.net but hopefully Chris will afford me this one indulgence as it got me out of a bit of a jam in shooting background plates with correct lens focal length settings.

Andrew Smith · March 3rd, 2011, 03:30 AM

Bob, you can always shoot a troublesome file over to me as I'm also a graphic designer with all the associated software.

Andrew

Bob Hart · March 13th, 2011, 09:08 AM

Andrew.

Thank you for your kind offer. Regards from here in the West.

Andrew Smith · March 13th, 2011, 09:11 AM

No worries.

Best regards from over here in the east where we flood every now and then. :-)

Andrew

Bob Hart · March 13th, 2011, 09:30 AM

Floods. Up on the hill I don't have to fret about getting my feet wet, only roasted or hit by small tornados. The hill across the valley has a peculiar shape and in the right weather conditions it inteacts with something, A rotor comes off on the southern end and by the time it hits the high ground here, it becomes a mini tornado.

They always seem to follow near to the same path and the bush where they go is all trashy with trees leaning over onto others, so it has probably been going on since time way back. In the same weather conditions, the kerosene stink from the airliners passing overhead descending into Perth reaches the ground about 3 minutes after they go over.

It was mostly bushland up here when I was a kid living down in the bottom of the valley. You would hear the yet unborn tornados go over. There was no strong wind noise as such, just a sort of changing hollow tone to the environmental sounds you hear on a windy day. Then about five minutes later you would hear things cracking and being broken up on the inland hilltop. Now I live up high in the zone along with a lot of others.

However, we had ourselves a little earth-tremor under my patch about 3km to north-west from the place last week. The birds all went deadly quiet for about an hour or so. Didn't notice anything at the time but checked up today and found the earth did move ever so slightly at the right time and date.

A bit off-topic perhaps.

Andrew Smith · March 13th, 2011, 09:44 AM

Interesting with the animals. Over here I noticed that in the month or two over Christmas, the piles of dirt from ants digging were popping up over lawns (2 or 3 inches high) like I'd never noticed before. The ants were up to something.

Then we got the floods in January: not quite almost as high as the January 1974 floods but worse for the city.

Weird, eh?

Andrew

Bob Hart · March 13th, 2011, 10:54 PM

Ants have been weather forecasters for years.

The birds are a bit weird. The magpies and other birds we have over here have a distinct breeding season.

About two months ago, there was a trace of rain.

The place went nuts for about two days. In broad daylight, a female bandicoot crashed into the big front window with a male in hot pursuit. The magpies started their breeding season territorial arguments and brood behaviour for a day or so. The wood pigeons, which are among nature's most randiest creatures got stuck into it.

I guess that for when breeding season climate is not right, there is a Plan B written into their genetic memory somewhere. They may well cope better with climate change than us.

Bob Hart · June 7th, 2011, 05:49 AM

At last, Damien Giglietta has posted "Trespass" a horror short made here in the West of Australia. Here it can be found :-

YouTube - ‪Trespass (2009)‬&rlm;

Bob Hart · July 1st, 2011, 09:48 AM

If anyone has some advice could you tell me if it is possible to get a smooth slow-mo in CS5, ramping down would be even better. Here is the clip. The rampdown and freezeframe I want to do in the very last shot. The pacing is a bit weird. It is to fit an underscore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhiE4a3Xrrw

For the sake of satisfying curiosity, after a fade to head title over black, this clip, a rough assembly, is what the first clip leads into. Warning to the sensitive, two words of offensive language in dialog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgUP0_yoPC4

Bob Hart · July 3rd, 2011, 11:34 AM

The two links above will now be dead-ends. My apologies. I had a little bit of a mishap when reposting an adjusted clip. I will post the new link here soon.

Bob Hart · July 31st, 2011, 10:31 AM

My furthur apology for not posting the new link. I had hoped to replace one of the clips on an old link but could not make it happen.

November 29th, 2010, 11:04 AM	#91
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	The decision to shoot with the primes ? I am not certain. I think the DOP, Gavan O'Sullivan's decision was driven both by the lack of available suitable light and the camera having just enough to go with. In their sweet spot, I think they are a bit sharper than the Angenieux. The frames above except for 4 and 5 were not shot by him, so should not be held representative of his work. We had two 650watt fresnel and a 2K fresnel available but no scrims. The SI2K had enough from the ceiling flouros and a 240watt incandescent equivalent CFL in an 18inch parabolic reflector at 0db to get the oppressive look he wanted with the Ultras wide-open. He bounced this off the wall for a faint soft fill. He was after a flat, soul-less institutional look. The walls are actually high shine satin gray. The Angenieux was used in the case worker's shots to enable faster working for a sequence of stylised images. He was shooting silhouettes against windows covered with scrim style drawn roller blinds so the lesser light passing of the Angenieux was not an issue. These will intercut in an opening montage with the juvey detainee and prison officer walking through various corridors, CU foot shot (socks as shoes confiscated for safety), CU crooked fingers in top of jeans ( belt confiscated for safety) to intercut with vision of the visiting case worker after her arrival in her interview room getting her papers ready. I don't know Gavan's plan for the actual drama vision. I think he may be crushing the blacks a bit and just tidying up the grade. He was light metering and colour temp metering ( high science for me ) with his film gear for most of it, so it is all consistent, except for the stuff we did after he had to depart on other tasks. I think as far as he is concerned the SI2K is as close to a film camera as video has gotten in his hands-on experience so far and he is treating it as a film camera. For the montage, I think he will be both crushing the blacks harder and desaturating. Last edited by Bob Hart; November 29th, 2010 at 11:19 AM. Reason: error

March 3rd, 2011, 02:29 AM	#95
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Original message deleted. Attempt to upload a readable file. Short story - a handwritten note with important focal length settings had been scanned to .jpg by crewmember but the file would not open and the original paper page was lost. I uploaded it to dvinfo.net and was informed that the file was a .psd incorrectly tagged as a .jpg file. This enabled me to convert the file to a bmp in Premiere Pro. This probably represents an abuse of dvinfo.net but hopefully Chris will afford me this one indulgence as it got me out of a bit of a jam in shooting background plates with correct lens focal length settings. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Bob Hart; March 3rd, 2011 at 02:53 AM. Reason: Original message deleted.

March 3rd, 2011, 03:30 AM	#96
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,018	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Bob, you can always shoot a troublesome file over to me as I'm also a graphic designer with all the associated software. Andrew

March 13th, 2011, 09:08 AM	#97
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Andrew. Thank you for your kind offer. Regards from here in the West.

March 13th, 2011, 09:11 AM	#98
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,018	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. No worries. Best regards from over here in the east where we flood every now and then. :-) Andrew

November 29th, 2010, 12:16 PM	#92
Alex Raskin Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 1,435	Yes, I think Si-2K is terrific, still holding its own against all the newest cams out there. Lighting: have you used LED lights with SI2K? There are fantastic small on-camera Z96 lights now available from China for about $70 each. Their light looks better than the 126LED lights I'm currently using. I'm awaiting delivery of 4 of them. My idea (aside from using them individually as keys/fills), is to make a 4-light block, which probably will rival Litepanels 12x12 at just 25% the cost. Not sure about CRI on those, but just eyeballing, the light quality seems fine. For fresnels, it appears Sola12 's by Litepanels are the first viable LED choice - although I personally have no first-hand experience with them, and price is insane.

November 30th, 2010, 09:56 AM	#93
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Alex. I have not tried LEDs yet. Still using traditional lighting. I have a biggest boxful of CFLs and batten holders to make up about 3 x 1200watts incandescent equivalent worth. I just haven't got round to holesawing all those holes and tracking down the broad aluminium doorframe extrusion to make up the rims of the boxes. Here's a link to the Tropfest entry local film maker Andrew Pheasant directed last year. YouTube - games

January 25th, 2011, 12:22 PM	#94
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Finally got around to ordering and fitting the P+S parts for the camera base for using quick release mounts ( Panasonic SHAN TM-700 ) on an old Miller LPT tripod. Wishing now I had done it it much sooner instead of procrastinating. No more swearing and cursing with head bent under trying to get that wretched thumbscrew to match up and wobbling the camera to take the load off the thread from jamming tight, whilst trying not to drop it.

March 13th, 2011, 09:30 AM	#99
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Floods. Up on the hill I don't have to fret about getting my feet wet, only roasted or hit by small tornados. The hill across the valley has a peculiar shape and in the right weather conditions it inteacts with something, A rotor comes off on the southern end and by the time it hits the high ground here, it becomes a mini tornado. They always seem to follow near to the same path and the bush where they go is all trashy with trees leaning over onto others, so it has probably been going on since time way back. In the same weather conditions, the kerosene stink from the airliners passing overhead descending into Perth reaches the ground about 3 minutes after they go over. It was mostly bushland up here when I was a kid living down in the bottom of the valley. You would hear the yet unborn tornados go over. There was no strong wind noise as such, just a sort of changing hollow tone to the environmental sounds you hear on a windy day. Then about five minutes later you would hear things cracking and being broken up on the inland hilltop. Now I live up high in the zone along with a lot of others. However, we had ourselves a little earth-tremor under my patch about 3km to north-west from the place last week. The birds all went deadly quiet for about an hour or so. Didn't notice anything at the time but checked up today and found the earth did move ever so slightly at the right time and date. A bit off-topic perhaps.

March 13th, 2011, 09:44 AM	#100
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,018	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Interesting with the animals. Over here I noticed that in the month or two over Christmas, the piles of dirt from ants digging were popping up over lawns (2 or 3 inches high) like I'd never noticed before. The ants were up to something. Then we got the floods in January: not quite almost as high as the January 1974 floods but worse for the city. Weird, eh? Andrew

March 13th, 2011, 10:54 PM	#101
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. Ants have been weather forecasters for years. The birds are a bit weird. The magpies and other birds we have over here have a distinct breeding season. About two months ago, there was a trace of rain. The place went nuts for about two days. In broad daylight, a female bandicoot crashed into the big front window with a male in hot pursuit. The magpies started their breeding season territorial arguments and brood behaviour for a day or so. The wood pigeons, which are among nature's most randiest creatures got stuck into it. I guess that for when breeding season climate is not right, there is a Plan B written into their genetic memory somewhere. They may well cope better with climate change than us.

June 7th, 2011, 05:49 AM	#102
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. At last, Damien Giglietta has posted "Trespass" a horror short made here in the West of Australia. Here it can be found :- YouTube - ‪Trespass (2009)‬&rlm;

July 1st, 2011, 09:48 AM	#103
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: Ramping and slo-mo in post. If anyone has some advice could you tell me if it is possible to get a smooth slow-mo in CS5, ramping down would be even better. Here is the clip. The rampdown and freezeframe I want to do in the very last shot. The pacing is a bit weird. It is to fit an underscore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhiE4a3Xrrw For the sake of satisfying curiosity, after a fade to head title over black, this clip, a rough assembly, is what the first clip leads into. Warning to the sensitive, two words of offensive language in dialog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgUP0_yoPC4 Last edited by Bob Hart; July 1st, 2011 at 10:09 AM. Reason: wrong web address

July 3rd, 2011, 11:34 AM	#104
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. The two links above will now be dead-ends. My apologies. I had a little bit of a mishap when reposting an adjusted clip. I will post the new link here soon.

July 31st, 2011, 10:31 AM	#105
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	Re: SI2K in Western Australia. My furthur apology for not posting the new link. I had hoped to replace one of the clips on an old link but could not make it happen.