Hello all! Double H Productions is pleased to announce the new Camera and Grip/Electric package that is now available along with our professional services. Below is an inventory of the gear available. We offer very competitive, negotiable rates that will surely fit your budgetary needs. Contact us, detailing your project, at doublehproductions@gmail.com Subject line: Gear Rates and we will give you an estimate.
~DH
Camera:
Sony EX1 w/ Anton Bauer gold mount (shoots 1080/24p) (1) 8GB and (2) 16GB SxS express cards (~2.5 hrs of 1080p storage)
Last week I had my first go round with the Canon 7D for shooting narrative film. The purpose of this blog is to layout the good and the bad, while giving some advice on how to plan your technical setup in pre-production.
Overall: The camera was pretty simple to use and has a respectable image especially at the 7D's price-point. It really excels for low light shooting and as a result has great depth of field capabilities. Media management is pretty painless and locking in your iso/shutter etc is easy to navigate.
Issues at this point:
Some of the roadblocks one might encounter are:
1.) Sound Recording straight to the 7D is not ideal for more than a guide track for audio at this point. There is an auto-gain feature that cannot, at this point be turned off. This causes the "in between lines" and quiet moments to gain up on the camera's audio, raising your noise floor. This will make your audio unusable in the profession sense. There are two work-arounds if you must record audio to the camera. The first is the BeachTek DXA 5-D. This device has a feature that will use one of the two channels to send a constant signal to the camera tricking it in to keeping the audio even with no gain adjustments. Check out Coffey Sound's 7D Test. The second is Magic Lantern firmware (see video below) update that is in the works. It is only available on the 5D currently. This allows the auto-gain to be switched off.
2.) LCD/Monitor This firmware also fixes another problem with the 7D video mode. When you plug in the mini-HDMI cable to an external HD monitor, the LCD onboard shuts off. This problem obviously affects operating the camera on pans, tilts, and dollies. I had to place the monitor where I could see it while operating, or use the monitor for lighting/framing then disconnect it during operating the shot. The firmware is supposed to allow for both monitors to be active together.
Recommendations for filmmakers using this camera:
1.) Get a follow focus designed for a DSLR. This will make life much easier when utilizing that depth of field with rack focusing.
2.) Minimum of three Batteries and three 13 gig cards. This will make for a smooth on set workflow. A second body for offloading footage wouldn't hurt.
3.) Nikon lens mount adapter (about 10 bucks). This will open up your lens options to a wide variety of new and vintage Nikon lenses. Many of these lenses can be found online and at camera swap meets for pretty cheap and will allow for you to build your collection. (Note: the adapter cause the lenses to focus beyond infinity)
4.) Mini HDMI to HDMI cable. This will allow you a larger monitor and will work with many computer monitors that you might already own if you are on a budget. Don't try to light and frame using a 2" LCD.
5.) Some of the handheld mounts, matte boxes, and cages can help with making your operating smoother. It's tough to dolly, pan, and tilt this camera because of the light weight of the body. These will add weight and balance to the camera.
Settings I recommend using:
ISO 320 or 640 1/50 or 1/60 shutter 24P 16x9 setting 30P 16x9 for intense motion White balance to your lighting. Don't use a preset. Turn ON Highlight Tone Priority
I will edit this post with some footage from the shoot shortly (though it will be heavily doctored to mimic 1940's film noir, you'll still get the point). Hopefully I can post both the raw and doctored footage.
Feel free to post any questions you might have about the process. ~P
Sodium Vapor lights are those muddy orange lights that line the streets of your neighborhood. This is a small tutorial on how to reproduce this lighting effect to make your film's lighting scheme more dynamic. The light from these globes are produced by energizing sodium atoms to produce photons. The very specific color temperature of these lights can be used to accent the scene you are lighting and create a more dynamic scheme. Below are some tips on how to achieve and utilize this effect.
First we'll talk about my favorite way to use color correct gels to get the sodium look.
If you are using tungsten lights, the cocktail I prefer is to color balance further toward orange using Full CTO (Color Temperature orange) #204 gel and 1/4 Plus Green/Minus Magenta #246.
If you plan to use HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide, Hydrargyrum is essentially mercury and this lamp uses an arc to produce light) or other daylight balanced hard light sources, I prefer to use this color correct cocktail: Double Full CTO (2 cuts of #204) and 1/8 Plus Green (since HMI's can have a little bit of green to them already).
This should give you the color you're looking for in a sodium.
Now for a couple of different uses for this effect.
One way I like to use this is to mimic a street light above or attached to a building. If you have access to the roof of the building you are shooting in front of, I find using your beefy baby or combo stand commando style (laying on its side) braced over the lip of the roof or leaning out an open window works best. Don't open the legs on your stand. Lay them over out the window or over the lip of a flat roof and throw several bags of dirt over the stand. This method allows you more leeway than rigging a point since the stand can telescope out to gain some separation from the building's facade. Tilt the light down and play with the spot/flood until you get a nice cone shaped spray down the side of the building. This method makes for a great accent on the building while differentiating from your subject's light and the cooler colors.
Another way to use this is when you are shooting night interiors. Combine the sodium cocktail with a daylight balanced source on different light axis' and shoot toward your window. This gives a nice combination of sodium and moonlight accents on your window. *If your HMI isn't too green try to throw a sheet of 1/8 plus green on the moonlight source.
Hello all! Double H Productions is pleased to announce the new Camera and Grip/Electric package that is now available along with our services. Below is an inventory of the gear available. We offer competitive, negotiable rates that will surely fit your budgetary needs. Contact us at doublehproductions@gmail.com Subject line: Gear Rates and we will give you an estimate.
~DH
Camera:
Sony EX1 w/ Anton Bauer gold mount (shoots 1080/24p) (1) 8GB and (2) 16GB SxS express cards (~2.5 hrs of 1080p storage) P+S Technik Mini35 adapter w/ PL mount and handheld accessories Zeiss T1.4 super speed primes (18, 25, 35, 50 & 85mm; PL mount) 7" Marshall HD onboard monitor w/ Zacuto noga arm Chrosziel follow focus w/ whip Chrosziel 4x5 swing-away matte box w/ Tiffen filters (3) Anton Bauer Dionic 90, (2) Sony EX1 and (2) Sony Z1U (for ground glass) batteries 17" MacBook Pro w/ FCP and external drive
Grip/Electric: *all lighting is Mole Richardson and Kino; grip, Matthews.*
(3) 1.2k HMI pars w/ electronic ballasts (1) 2k fresnel (2) 1k fresnels (2) 650w fresnels (2) 300w fresnels (2) 4x4 Kino-flo banks (1) 12' Kino mini-flo kit (4) litewate baby stands (2) beefy baby stands (2) combo stands (3) roller combo stands (10) C-stands (1) low-riser C-stand (1) 12x18 solid (2) 18x24 solids (1) 18x24 silk (1) 18x24 single net (1) 18x24 double net (2) 24x36 solids (1) 24x36 silk (1) 24x36 single net (1) 24x36 double net (1) 24x36 cookie (2) 4x4 floppies (2) 4x4 open frames (1) 12x12 overhead frame w/ double net, china silk and white/black griff (2) apple box sets (10) 25lb sand bags (6) 35lb sand bags (5) furniture pads (5) Matthellini's (2) mafers (4) baby C-clamps (1) junior C-clamp (5) baby (2) junior plates (2) baby pipe clamps (2) junior pipe clamps (1) gator grip (5) #1 grip clips (5) #2 grip clips (5) #3 grip clips (1) wall spreader (2) 1k dimmers (3) 300w thunb dimmers (1) 3-fer (8) cube taps (2) pig nose, (8) ground lifters (1) socket tester (10) 50' stingers (10) 25' stingers (1) 8' ladder (1) roll of Lee full CTO (1) roll of Lee 1/2 CTO (1) roll of Lee 1/4 CTO (1) roll of Lee full CTB (1) roll of Lee 1/2 CTB (1) roll of Lee 1/4 CTB (1/2) roll of Lee full diff (1/2) roll of Lee 1/2 diff (1) roll of Lee opal (1) roll of Lee .9 ND (1) roll of Lee .6 ND (1) roll of Lee .3ND (1/4) 1/4 roll of Lee plus green (1/4) 1/4 roll of Lee 1/2 plus green (1) roll of Lee 1/2 minus green (1) roll of Lee 1/4 minus green (1) roll of black wrap (1) package of C47's (1) rolls of 2" black Gaff tape
Double H Productions, a company founded by Paul D. Hart and J. Allen Holt, is devoted to creating and seeking out material to move in to production in the independent film community. Holt, Writer and Producer, spends much of his efforts on acquiring fresh, and edgy material that is conducive to the Indie scene. Writer and Director Paul D. Hart has been crafting screenplays alongside Holt for over eight years. Their writing relationship has yielded four feature scripts, an episodic television pilot and several short films. Hart and Holt have recently taken three of these projects for two meetings at Dreamworks Amblin with Bob Orci (writer/producer of The Island, MI3, and The Transformers). Both Hart and Holt have been working in film production in Los Angeles for the last few years occupying various positions. Double H is currently developing two projects. One, a feature film and the other an episodic pilot. Double H is always on the prowl for material to move in to production. To submit a synopsis, treatment or script contact us via myspace or email us at doublehproductions@gmail.com for a submission release form. Keep making new flicks! ~DH~
