Film for film Stills

[kentphoto]

I am shooting stills for a commercial. I am fairly new to this, and need to know

if I can match the ISO of the film in the camera to my film in the still camera

with no problems. I will be shooting transparency. What would anyone

reccomend as far as film type for this?

 

Thanks for your replies...

[mike_grigsby]

I wish I could remember enough about shooting movie stills years ago so I might give you step by step suggestions, but it's been too long and my memory's gone<g>.

 

My problem was mainly matching the color correction to that of the movie camera. They were always shooting in some bizarre light using color correction on the lens, or sheets of color filtration on windows, incandescent bulbs, windshields, or who knows where.

 

If you're truly shooting movie film and not digital video, there are some other factors. Often the lighting is not as intense as you think it is. Cinematography allows slower shutter speeds because the blurring is not so obvious when the frames are moving at a high rate of speed in front of your eye. Often they use a very slow speed film and shutter speeds that are appauling to still photographers.

 

Also, I believe movie film is actually negative film so it can be printed to positive (but I can't recall. It's been awhile). I don't think you can get away with shooting the slower speed film often used by cinematographers because you'll find the lighting to be too insufficient. I think you'll need to find a film that is 400 ASA or higher. Otherwise you'll end up with blurry images.

 

Most sound people won't let you shoot stills unless you're using a blimp on your camera to eliminate the shutter clicking. This can easily be picked up by the sound guy. A Leica might be tolerable, but you're better off buying or building a blimp-wrap for your camera to hide the noise.

 

As for film, it's been too many years, but I recall the most accurate color came from a warmer looking film like higher speed Kodachrome, and Ektacrhome seemed to look too cold at the time, but I think newer variants are probably better. You might want to look at some of the Fuji E6 films that do such a good job of warming up a scene. Good luck and have fun!

[kentphoto]

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate it.

[edgar_njari]

Since there is a lot of tungsten-halogen lighting (sometimes HMI is used though) , Ektachrome 160T is quite popular I think in movie still photography.

[tim_elder1]

Are you shooting interiors or exteriors? Interior shoots are usually done with

tungsten film in 100T, 200T, and 500T speeds. Exteriors are shot on daylight film,

generally, using 50,64, and 250 speed film.

 

Bring many color-correcting filters and a color meter if you want to insure color

accuracy. Camera assistants write the types of filters being used on the matte box, or

sometimes they velcro little tags on, so you can check the filters being used on the

camera that way. These days, I generally find that DP's correct the colors through

gels rather than filters, and also use prodigious amounts of color-correcting in post

production.

 

Unless the AD tells you otherwise, don't shoot during takes, shoot during technical

rehearsals. Stay out of people's way. As a sound guy, I've never had to tell still

photographers not to take pictures during shooting.

 

Also, very important, if you are using a flash, make sure to yell "Flashing" before

firing off the flash or the electrics will yell at you -- worse, you will seem green. A

flash burst looks a lot like a light just blew out, particularly if they are using HMI

lights.

 

Tim