Recently in Camera Category

The current intention is to shoot I Love Luci on 16mm film.  This is for a number of reasons.  I am very keen to shoot on film for the quality of image.  To get a comparative image digitallly the camera we would have to use is very big and we have a number of tight locations and a lot of handheld work on this film so 16mm will save on space and get the best image.  Secondary to this is the amount of light we will need.  It seems strange to me but we need more light to shoot on HD than we would to shoot on film now that the stocks are so good (for the uninitiated: stock is the term for the film that goes in the camera and you get all sorts of makes and speeds, mainly Kodak and Fujifilm).

BTW, if you are thinking of shooting something on film you should try and buddy up to the reps for Kodak and Fuji to see if you can get a good deal on your stock.  If you have absolutely no money and you still want to shoot on film then try going to production companies that shoot on film and asking for some of their shorts ends.

So we're thinking of shooting a standard 16mm gate with anamorphic lenses.  This will give us that classic 2.39 or Techniscope image.  As I understand it though, anamorphic lenses are expensive and light hungry.  Yesterday our exec producer, Gillian Berrie, asked why we weren't thinking of shooting on 35 and I explained that I didn't think there was a camera small enough for us to use that would fit all the criteria we need for an 'A' camera.

So I've had a very fun day looking at all the options for 35, having previously discounted it as not possible because of the size of the camera.  However, after a little research into new cameras that are about I have found two cameras that are perfect for the job and could in fact save us quite a substantial amount of money for another reason that isn't available to 16mm.  If we shoot 2-perf on 35 we would half the amount of stock we need because it's a far more efficient use of the negative.  I think this is a technique we used on Hallam Foe, but I didn't go into much detail about it on the blog because I didn't have time to research it properly.  Another benefit to this is that a mag lasts twice as long so you would get about 9 minutes out of a 400' roll, this is lighter for the camera operator too and roughly equal to the time you get out of a roll of 16mm.

The upshot of all this reading and looking into different cameras is that I have found a way of potentially saving us money that could be well used somewhere else as well as improving the versatility of our camera department.  If it checks out well in the money department for post-production as well as the shoot then we are quids in and would only have to clear it with our financiers to get the go ahead.  We'll see what happens.