JVC HD100U & Mini35 400 (30min Short Film) at DVinfo.net
DV Info Net

Go Back   DV Info Net > Special Interest Areas > Alternative Imaging Methods
Register FAQ Today's Posts Buyer's Guides

Alternative Imaging Methods
DV Info Net is the birthplace of all 35mm adapters.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old February 25th, 2008, 08:21 AM   #1
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
JVC HD100U & Mini35 400 (30min Short Film)

"Four Thorns For Aidan"

Shot this in June of 2007. Learned a lot about the mini and how terrible the JVC viewfinder is for telling focus.

JVC HD100U
Mini35 400
Zeiss Super Speeds
Final Cut Studio 2

Director: Josh Smith
DP/Editor: Dustin Carpio

Currently in a number of festivals.

www.fourthorns.com/fourthorns.html
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 25th, 2008, 06:27 PM   #2
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Miami Florida
Posts: 70
WoW...you have such a great image here....how did you get that ?

CQ.
Carlos Quinones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 26th, 2008, 07:52 AM   #3
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
CQ...

The JVC HD100U combined with the mini35 and Zeiss super speeds is one of the best 35mm adapter set-ups I've ever used. The image is super clean and resolution loss is minimal when using the super speeds. Although the raw camera data that we imported in final cut pro was amazing to begin with, the real wow factor of the footage was obtained using Color in the new final cut studio 2 suite. I've never had so much control on a desktop color correction program. Admitadly, I could have done a whole lot more with secondaries if we were originating on a RED or Viper, but the level of control with the HDV 720P footage was well beyond what i expected.

One thing I did learn with the JVC camera....underexpose by atleast 1.5-2 stops when using the mini35! The camera does not handle highlights well. Since this film I've religiously underexposed and pulled up the image in post with amazing results.
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 26th, 2008, 10:10 PM   #4
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Miami Florida
Posts: 70
WoW....great work....congrats !

We have the Mini35 300 Series along with Xl-H1 but till now we haven't been able to get such a great image like yours, maybe the glasses we are using are not helping much.

Well, keep it up.

Take care,

Carlos Quinones
www.carlos-quinones.com
www.youtube.com/itswrittenproduction
www.myspace.com/itswrittenproductions
Carlos Quinones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 27th, 2008, 01:49 PM   #5
Major Player
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Washington, D.C.
Posts: 392
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dustin Carpio View Post
CQ...

One thing I did learn with the JVC camera....underexpose by atleast 1.5-2 stops when using the mini35! The camera does not handle highlights well. Since this film I've religiously underexposed and pulled up the image in post with amazing results.

...yup, the day i started to do this was the day i started to really love the HD100. when she clips, she does it quickly. its really amazing how much you can retrieve in post. this looks really great, but i wonder if the lighting was too high key for the intensity that the script was trying to go for. the inciting incident could have been coupled with more powerful reversals, but perhaps it was the intent of the writer and director to communicate a lighter mood throughout to correlate with the positive message at its end- therefore the higher key? Either way, great work. very impressed.
Alan Ortiz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 27th, 2008, 03:58 PM   #6
Major Player
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: MOSCOW
Posts: 860
Dustin, Hi!
A nice film you have!
I still felt some shots were overexposed for my taste, overall great work!
Do you mind telling which lenses you've used and if you remember at what F Stop you've shot for the most part,
CHeers, Oleg!
Oleg Kalyan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 28th, 2008, 01:25 AM   #7
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Ortiz View Post
...yup, the day i started to do this was the day i started to really love the HD100. when she clips, she does it quickly. its really amazing how much you can retrieve in post. this looks really great, but i wonder if the lighting was too high key for the intensity that the script was trying to go for. the inciting incident could have been coupled with more powerful reversals, but perhaps it was the intent of the writer and director to communicate a lighter mood throughout to correlate with the positive message at its end- therefore the higher key? Either way, great work. very impressed.
I learned to underexpose once I saw this footage in post. It was our intention to have everything look semi high key to go with the positive message, but not this much. The viewfinder and lcd on the HD100U is terrible, so it looked nicely exposed in camera. Once we got it into final cut though we saw just how overexposed and clipped everything was. Not that it wasn't usable, because as you can see it looks good. We just wish it wasn't so blown out.

There are plenty of times I wish we had more powerful reversals in the film. The only problem is we shot this entire 30 minute film in 4 days. We moved so quickly that I had to get something I knew would work.
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 28th, 2008, 01:30 AM   #8
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oleg Kalyan View Post
Dustin, Hi!
A nice film you have!
I still felt some shots were overexposed for my taste, overall great work!
Do you mind telling which lenses you've used and if you remember at what F Stop you've shot for the most part,
CHeers, Oleg!
I feel the same way about the overexposure. They didn't look overexposed when we were shooting. Since then I've learned not to trust the viewfinder or lcd and underexpose by a at least 1.5 stops from what my light meter says. It has worked out beautifully.

I used Zeiss Super Speeds in order to make up for the 1 stop loss the adapter produces. I tried to keep the lenses one stop below wide open. So around a f/2 or f/2.4. I controlled the exposure through the camera's built in ND filters and the iris on the mini35's relay lens.
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 28th, 2008, 01:43 PM   #9
Major Player
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Washington, D.C.
Posts: 392
wow! that is doubly impressive then. we shot a 50 min short in nine days (primary photography) and that didnt include pickups. in the end we were still wishing for more time. i feel you with the viewfinder and lcd- but once you know how to "read" them and set them up the way you want, its easier to get predictable results. this is where a nice on cam HD LCD comes into play- and is worth the extra expense when a lot of money and time is involved.
Alan Ortiz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 1st, 2008, 06:27 AM   #10
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
in case anyone is interested, here is my current reel. It's badly out of date, as I have an entire year's worth of work to add to it, but it has a lot of mini35 footage in it.

www.dustincarpio.com
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 1st, 2008, 01:24 PM   #11
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: montreal
Posts: 170
What is good about your film is that after 2 minutes of watching it
I forgot that I was on the forum of dvinfo.
Much better than watching tv, and I don't think the average viewer
will notice overxposure or other problems once they are viewing it.
Martin Labelle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 1st, 2008, 03:52 PM   #12
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Labelle View Post
What is good about your film is that after 2 minutes of watching it
I forgot that I was on the forum of dvinfo.
Much better than watching tv, and I don't think the average viewer
will notice overxposure or other problems once they are viewing it.
Thanks Martin.

One of the best things about editing this film is that I had the opportunity to let the actor's act, instead of constantly cutting them off for length and trying to cut around bad acting. While the acting isn't amazing in this piece, I felt as though it wasn't terrible like most indie films. One of the most frequent comments we get at screenings, besides praise for the film, is that people felt like it was only 10 minutes long instead of 28 minutes long. I can't tel you how many times I've been watching an indie film and couldn't wait for it to end.

As far as the overexposure...only the purists ever actually say anything about it, and they usually say it's not bad enough for them to care.
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 3rd, 2008, 08:51 PM   #13
Regular Crew
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Miami Florida
Posts: 70
Dustin, can I ask....How much was your budget for this film?

Thanks,

Carlos Quinones
www.carlos-quinones.com
www.myspace.com/itswrittenproductions
www.youtube.com/itswrittenproduction
Carlos Quinones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 6th, 2008, 08:42 AM   #14
New Boot
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlos Quinones View Post
Dustin, can I ask....How much was your budget for this film?

Thanks,

Carlos Quinones
www.carlos-quinones.com
www.myspace.com/itswrittenproductions
www.youtube.com/itswrittenproduction
We budgeted 3k, but ended up spending around 4k. Obviously we pulled in a lot of favors for this one.
Dustin Carpio is offline   Reply
Reply

DV Info Net refers all where-to-buy and where-to-rent questions exclusively to these trusted full line dealers and rental houses...

B&H Photo Video
(866) 521-7381
New York, NY USA

Scan Computers Int. Ltd.
+44 0871-472-4747
Bolton, Lancashire UK


DV Info Net also encourages you to support local businesses and buy from an authorized dealer in your neighborhood.
  You are here: DV Info Net > Special Interest Areas > Alternative Imaging Methods


 



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:54 AM.


DV Info Net -- Real Names, Real People, Real Info!
1998-2024 The Digital Video Information Network