16 mm, top ten tips

Hi Clive,

I posted at the other indie site, so I'll just paste in what I said there. I didn't want to snatch what the other guys had already noted in that thread, a few are members here as well and I'm sure they will pipe in.

At least one test reel, definitely. I've always rolled off 10 feet at the beginning of a 100' daylight spool and 10' at the end just in case of fogging.

If you're shooting with artificial light and color stock, it may be wise to use a color temp meter just to make sure your bulbs are burning at the right degrees K for whatever the graded film stock is you're using. I shot my anis on 16mm and would leave the lights on for awhile, then would wonder why the last footage wouldn't be color balanced. %/

My numbers 1 - 10:

Make sure you have a DP and camera crew who knows what they're doing.

But seriously: are you shooting? do you need information on stocks, filters and lighting? do you need info on camera reports and lab work? do you need to learn how to load a mag?

Hmm, well I've shot about 1600 feet of Kodak, both 7265 BW Reversal and 50D, 100T, 250D, and 500T in the past year. And I can tell you, shooting film is not all that difficult if you focus on what you're supposed to be doing!


In fact I love film. I love the look of film. I am shooting my next short on 16mm neg sound synched (within the next 3 months or so).


Probably the biggest thing with film is the color (sorry, colour) temperature of the light. Can't white balance, so you have to change the light though bulb kelvin, gels, etc.

The other would be to reduce grain and get it as sharp as possible, go for F4 in exposure and use as slow of speed stock as possible.

Shoot a grey card at least at the beginning of each lighting change or scene.

If you're shooting with mags, you might buy a couple of stocks based on your project needs.


So what are you shooting and what are you shooting with and what are you looking for?

Do a camera and lens test, the rental house will let you do this. Run a roll of film with the lenses you are renting. Screen the test at the local lab. Easy, and necessary. Last time I did this, found one of the lenses was actually bad. Also, shoot s16 for transfer to HD (or any video) or blow-up. If blowing-up to 35, read up on it, there's a lot you'll need to do to prepere.

But seriously: are you shooting? do you need information on stocks, filters and lighting? do you need info on camera reports and lab work? do you need to learn how to load a mag?

Click to expand...

I may be interviewing for a job at the end of the week, where I have all the necessary experience -- except for shooting on 16 mm, where I've only crewed -- so the answer is yes to all of those questions.

So any tips and sources of information would be much appreciated.

I'm sure that my current skills will translate and I'll be surrounded by people who specialize in shooting on film -- so I'm not expected to know everything.

It's just it's in my nature to go into a thing fully prepared and knowing everything I can.

Thanks for all the info so far -- it's all solid gold.

Ta

One of the major differences will be in the directing. There is no instant gratification of video, there is video tap. Film costs money, so for each shot you have to imagine gold is running through the magazine. Average shooting ration are 3:1, to 8:1, I would say. The sound is recorded separately. The clapboard is used to slate the film, and to match the sound to picture. If you use a smart slate (timecode) and a timecod DAT, the slate is connected to the DAT and recording timecode onto the DAT tapes. When you slate the scene, the timecode numbers show on the smart slate. In post, you just match up the timecode numbers, instead of the sound of the clap with the closing of the clapper. Hope all this helps.

BE BOLD.

An experienced Gaffer should reign you in, but there's nothing more dissapointing than getting to the end of a shoot and having a SAFE, A.K.A BORING film.

Although, perhaps that's one of those things one must learn AFTER shooting a project on film. I learned the hard way, on a well-exposed but visually-boring film called "PRISON-A-GO-GO!" I feel that I failed the director by not being bold.

Jim