This was the first time I have ever shot in 3D. I have read a lot about it online, especially in DSLR forums and such, since its so easy to do with them. All in all, it was surprisingly easy, even though I really don't like 3D. I hope this ease of production does not lend to an increase in terrible 3D movies, because that would be terrible for the art of film as whole.
That being said, it was fun to do. It is always fun to build things out of cardboard, I guess, especially a robot costume with a large penis. This was probably the weirdest thing I have ever filmed in my life, which I consider a good thing. I am always looking to film odd things, so this really worked for me. Katie and Nate did a great job acting considering the interesting situation they were placed in. They were good sports about it. I think it will come out really well. We tried some handheld shots, though, and I am not sure about how that will look. Of course, we had to secure the 2 cameras to an apple box with a lot of tape, then I held the apple box like it was some sort of Steadicam or something. It should be interesting to see how those shots look, but from the preliminary analysis, they look pretty good.
Post-production might be a different story though. I am not big on After Effects or any post-production really. I am a big fan of realism, and I really don't like heavy special effects movies. So, this will be a new experience for me. Luckily, I do like to learn new things about technology, so I am happy about that. Also, it really doesn't seem that hard to do at all. It is actually pretty awesome that we have the ability to do all the post-production "in house" at UNCW. You would think that there would be some epic computer necessary to render 3D imagery, but really I could do it on my laptop in a few hours. Technology is pretty awesome.
However, even though this project was fun, I never really want to shoot in 3D again. It is still just a gimmick to me, and I think it detracts from narrative and cinematography. I will stick to realistic lighting and handheld camera work.
Monday, April 23, 2012
My Rough Theater
What is my rough theater?
Well if it has to be anything but a traditional theater, than I would say that it is just that. With new camera technology like DSLRs and iPhone 4s cameras, I really can film anything, anywhere, and have it look pretty damn good. I have been experimenting with my iPhone's footage in Final Cut and getting a pretty solid workflow down which can yield very impressive results. 48 mbps video encoding at full 1080p with a variable frame rate of 1-30fps is quite impressive for a cell phone. After transcoding to ProRes 422 it hold us well in post as well. I recently color graded some of it in Magic Bullet Looks and it surprisingly held up quite well when pushing and pulling exposure and playing with color. I am impressed. That being said, there really are no restrictions with locations now. I don't need to rent a camera and take it somewhere to get good results. I think a simple bounce board is enough to light a lot of outdoor locations, so with some bounced fill and a properly placed cell phone, great results are easy to achieve.
Furthermore, my Canon 5D really takes mobile filmmaking to the next level. The quality is great, but even better is the lack of hinderance that the camera itself lends. It is small, very small in the world of HD cameras. I usually keep it in my car too, so in theory anytime I am feeling cinematic I could grab my camera and roll. There is no need for a traditional theater environment to film something great. The type of run and gun cinema is really quite rough, as the rough theater suggests, although it still gives from pretty striking results.
Pushing this even further is the cardboard/3D project. This takes the DSLR revolution, pairs it with the 3D revolution, and proves that all you need is two cheap cameras and some cardboard to produce results. Its pretty neat to realize the ability that we now have. 10 years ago film students never would have been able to work so extensively with rough theater. We are really lucky, and the exciting thing is that technology is only going to keep getting better and smaller, which is only going to push the limits of rough theater. Sensors are getting more sensitive, allowing for less lights, and everything is getting smaller, making on location shooting that much easier.
Well if it has to be anything but a traditional theater, than I would say that it is just that. With new camera technology like DSLRs and iPhone 4s cameras, I really can film anything, anywhere, and have it look pretty damn good. I have been experimenting with my iPhone's footage in Final Cut and getting a pretty solid workflow down which can yield very impressive results. 48 mbps video encoding at full 1080p with a variable frame rate of 1-30fps is quite impressive for a cell phone. After transcoding to ProRes 422 it hold us well in post as well. I recently color graded some of it in Magic Bullet Looks and it surprisingly held up quite well when pushing and pulling exposure and playing with color. I am impressed. That being said, there really are no restrictions with locations now. I don't need to rent a camera and take it somewhere to get good results. I think a simple bounce board is enough to light a lot of outdoor locations, so with some bounced fill and a properly placed cell phone, great results are easy to achieve.
Furthermore, my Canon 5D really takes mobile filmmaking to the next level. The quality is great, but even better is the lack of hinderance that the camera itself lends. It is small, very small in the world of HD cameras. I usually keep it in my car too, so in theory anytime I am feeling cinematic I could grab my camera and roll. There is no need for a traditional theater environment to film something great. The type of run and gun cinema is really quite rough, as the rough theater suggests, although it still gives from pretty striking results.
Pushing this even further is the cardboard/3D project. This takes the DSLR revolution, pairs it with the 3D revolution, and proves that all you need is two cheap cameras and some cardboard to produce results. Its pretty neat to realize the ability that we now have. 10 years ago film students never would have been able to work so extensively with rough theater. We are really lucky, and the exciting thing is that technology is only going to keep getting better and smaller, which is only going to push the limits of rough theater. Sensors are getting more sensitive, allowing for less lights, and everything is getting smaller, making on location shooting that much easier.
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