Online XL2 mini35 footage

[Eric MacIver]

Holly:
I did do color correction using both Color Finesse and Looks Suite for some spots. As for the image size, what you saw was TriggerStreet's maximum size, basically. It was 344 pixels wide and their max is 350. I had to do 344 to get the even ratio of pixels though.

Charles:
Thanks... You da man! - You probably couldn't see at that screen size, but you are listed in the credits. Can't wait to see you wielding the big rig :)

[Will Griffith]

Can you please post a full rez frame or two?

Thanks,

will griffith

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Update:

Okay, the folks at ZGC are fast - I got my mini35 XL2 plate today and hope to install it tomorrow. Once I shoot the footage I will definitely post it, as well I will include some full rez frame grabs in both compressed JPG and uncompressed BMP.

I'm in the middle of another project right now and hope to break away over the next day or two to start shooting some test shots.

Dennis

[Eric MacIver]

OK, following are some full-rez frame grabs:
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/6213/frame-grab-1.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/659/frame-grab-2.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/2092/frame-grab-3.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/9897/frame-grab-4.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/4940/frame-grab-5.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/2263/frame-grab-6.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/574/frame-grab-7.jpg
http://img33.exs.cx/img33/793/frame-grab-8.jpg

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Eric, those are really great looking stills, and the lighting is superb! What kind of lights were used mainly?

I also watched the film and only wished it could be bigger.. your film was great - any plans for it? ie. other festivals, distribution..

[Will Griffith]

Thank you. Those look great.

will griffith

[Eric MacIver]

Thanks - yeah - those Triggerstreet folks don't allow you to post anything bigger than that unfortunately. I may be creating a password protected site for a higher quality version, but not right away. For now, we're submitting it to festivals - the only one so far is Slamdance, but I think we find out about that in December.

As for lighting, in most of the scenes we used a combo of all the lights I rent at IndieRentals.com - Arri 650 and 150 Fren's and Lowel Caselight and Rifa-88.

The Fren's were gel'd to bring them to daylight temperature for the daytime scenes, and the Caselight with some of the 150's was used for all the indoor night scenes. Outdoor night, we threw almost everything at it, with the Rifa providing ambient light.

The basement was simply existing overhead flourescent lighting - which was fantastic, but overly bright, so I brought down the lighting level a LOT in post.

Thanks again :)

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Thanks for sharing the kind of lights that were used. I've been shooting with our mini35/XL1s combo for the last year (and now with the XL2) mainly on other productions where lighting was usually already taken care of - I want start lighting my own scenes now and of course want them to look good too! Any insight on what the best way to learn more about this would be?

I currently own lowel tota, omni and dp lights with barn doors.. but find them crazy for creating a soft light / "X files" kind of look. They spill all over the place and mostly the lighting ends up looking somewhat flat.

Any suggestions? Should I sell my lowels and get something that will yield better results and be easier for me?

[Eric MacIver]

My first mistake in lighting was to assume that hard lights are bad. That's really not the case - they are your best friend when creating a moody atmosphere, but they have to be used correctly in a three-point lighting setup (at least at the base of your setup).

I believe there's a book called "DV Lighting Techniques" that's a good primer for lighting.

Other than that, just take a look at some of the reviews for books on lighting at Amazon, and reading a few of those will help you out immeasurably.

[Eric MacIver]

Oh yah - and you MAY want to add a good dispersed light to the mix, like the lowel rifa or caselight - those do work nicely as fill lights to help soften shadows when you need it.

[Charles Papert]

Dennis, think about adding some Chimeras (or other manufacturer's versions of same) to convert your Lowels. I picked up a Photoflex kit that uses my old Tota which has sat for years on the shelf: now I have a nice big soft source.

If you are hard lighting with your lights and find the results flat, you must be attacking the subject from too many directions. Don't always think key+fill+backlight. Very often stripping everything away but one light will get you in the right direction. I often add negative fill (black solids) to pick up contrast and modelling.

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Thanks for the insight on the lighting, I will keep practicing and trying new things. I will also consider converting my Tota into a soft light box.

Eric,

Do you remember what version of the mini35 was used with the XL2 on your last film?

Daniel and I are talking on another thread about the base platform XL2 kits we received and how our XL2's are about 1/4 inch short of reaching the mini35 image converter locking ring.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Charles Papert]

In case Eric isn't in the house, it was a 400 series (Oszie).

[Eric MacIver]

Yes, it was. - And I have the new XL2 adapter from ZGC and it works fine - they took care of that 1/4" issue with the new adapters.

[Eric MacIver]

Sorry - just looked at your other post and I obviously was thinking of the wrong issue - yes, I have a 400 series and that seems to be why it works for me. Sorry you're having those issues.