Short Film shot on 5D Mark II

“Va Fa Napoli, Hipster” premiered two weeks ago at two film festivals, The Coney Island Film Festival and The Williamsburg International Film Festival. It will be screened again at the Red Hook International Film Festival Oct 16th.

"Va Fa Napoli, Hipster" on Vimeo

An elderly man exacts revenge on the hipsters that have plagued his beloved Brooklyn neighborhood.
Shot on location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with the Canon 5D Mark II.
The directorial debut of Matt Weckel was produced by Andrea Fumagalli, and shot by David Castillo.


The film was shot all in one day on location in Williamsburg with the Canon 5D Mark II.

Equipment used
Canon 5D Mark II
24-105mm F4 L lens w/ polarizer filter
Spider dolly -Losmandy
Jib
Process trailer
12x12 butterfly
B boards

Canon 5D Mark II Settings
24p
ISO 100
1/250- 1/500
F 5.6- F11
Picture style neutral

Post
FCP
Adobe after effects
Magic Bullet


David Castillo
Blue Barn
Blue Barn

[Kris Koster]

Very nice film, David. I really liked it. The 5D2 stands up well. You didn't 'overuse' the dolly and jib too, it was just right. Hope you guys fare well in the festivals.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Kris Koster

You didn't 'overuse' the dolly and jib too, it was just right.

I agree -- nicely done, (I know first hand how easy it is to "overuse" equipment that you suddenly have access to). The only thing that I'd like to see worked on a bit more is the color grading and the use of DOF -- it looked a bit too much like video for my taste. But still, it is a nice little silly/funny story, certainly worth watching. Thanks for sharing.

-- peer

[Ben Denham]

Yes, a nice little film. It's refreshing to see someone who isn't trying to emulate typical Hollywood genre-films in their film-making with this camera. I also think that DOF is ultimately a creative decision and there is no reason why we should feel that every piece shot with the 5D II requires a shallow DOF to differentiate the images that this camera makes from video.

On the slightly nit-picking front there is a continuity error in the cut from the wide shot of the woman taking on her phone (both hands on handle bars) to the mid shot (phone held out in one hand). Of course I understand that this shouldn't be the sort of thing the cinematographer has to pick up on, just something I noticed.

[Peer Landa]

Originally Posted by Ben Denham

It's refreshing to see someone who isn't trying to emulate typical Hollywood genre-films in their film-making with this camera. I also think that DOF is ultimately a creative decision and there is no reason why we should feel that every piece shot with the 5D II requires a shallow DOF to differentiate the images that this camera makes from video.

In general, I could agree with this sentiment. But in this case, regarding this particular film, I think the video-look hurt. Badly. This is because everything else was set up as a nice take on the classic Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" -- everything from the opening title to the music, (and, of course, also the theme of the film). Hence, since the 5d2 can easily emulate such classic film look, I think this was a missed opportunity.

-- peer

[Charles Papert]

It is a nice film and well-conceived. I think much of the visual tells the story well and I like the nicely restrained fill lighting. I love a film that succeeds without dialogue!

I'm going to counter what has been said here regarding the dolly shots...for my taste, not always the best choices. There are times where the frame is static and I might liked to have seen movement, and other times where the movement seemed arbitrary. The most egregious of these was where the biker sat down on the bench and we pull back. Because the track is in a straight line we are pulling away from the subject and I'm not quite sure what that achieves. I might have opted for an arcing shot to a rake on the two of them, doable with the Spider dolly on the Flextrak. Those are tough to operate on a non-rideable version of the Spider (I have one myself)--even on the existing straight-line version there's quite a bit of hesitation in the backpan.

I have a few compositional nitpicks--I think the opening shot is not particularly strong--might have been better to have been a few feet to the right so that the door is more on the edge of the frame, and tilted up or moved closer to eliminate some of the sidewalk which doesn't do much for me. Likewise in the next shot--tilted up to play the architecture of the church and minimize our "hero" to the bottom of the frame; I would have liked to see all of the arch.

The shot of the bicycle being locked (later echoed as the middle shot in the sequence of the gent snipping it) is a bit loose--having that piece of the actor's faces in both versions of the shot is neither here nor there. A little tighter would have helped.

Finally: the jib shot of the reveal of the bicycles. This is a situation where the camera creates the joke; the timing and design of this kind of shot is critical. Think early Coen brothers. It's a two part joke, really: oh, he's done this before, and oh, he's done this a LOT. The current version is a bit leisurely and once four bikes are visible (the furthest one gives it away even before he drops the bike), both parts of the joke are basically over but we just sit and wait for the move to stop. I would have opted to position the jib out over the bikes and pull straight back from the actor, skimming the stack of bikes and booming as you go to end up with the big pile of bikes in the foreground and a little figure in the background heading out the gate. Thus the gag is extended. It's like a comic version of the train station in "Gone With the Wind" or the opening shot of "Star Wars"--just when you think there can't be any more dead bodies or Imperial ship, they/it keep coming.

While I'm being an intolerable loudmouth, I'll also nitpick the directorial choice with the reaction of the guy whose bike is stolen; he should have registered anger first then turning to bewilderment as he picks up the cane. Funnier, and more realistic.

Keep it and I look forward to your next effort!

[David H. Castillo]

Thank you all of you for watching the film. I really appreciated the detailed feedback and I passed the comments along to the director.

On the subject of DOF. The creative choice of avoiding extremely shallow Depth of Field was made to give a lighter tone to the piece and emphasize the comical nature of the story.

Thanks

Castillo

[Xin Jin]

Nothing beats a good punchline =D