shooting movie stills

[adam_k_krause]

I am shooting stills on a movie set for my friends film. They want

to use slide film for best quality. I would need to shoot a tungsten

balanced film. While looking up prices on B&H, the film was a little

more costly then we would like to spend for taking the stills. Does

anyone have any suggestions on a cheaper film that you think would

give good results, print film is fine at this point. I know the fugi

superia with the 4 color layers will sometimes not give the tungsten

yellow cast, but we were looking for something a little better

quality. So yea, any suggestions are appreciated.

[link]

The only answer I can think of is to shoot movie film in your still camera. It is

available as tungsten balanced and comes in ISO 500 and 800.

 

The quality will surely be worse than the slide film, and may not make good

photogrpahic prints unless scanned and digitally printed.

 

For the lowest price, look for a place that sells used motion picture film known as

"short ends" and load your own cassettes. This film has been opened but not

exposed.

 

Or, call RGB laboratories on Highland Ave. in Hollywood , CA. I think they are still in

business, and they specialize in selling movie film for use in still cameras. They can

also process the film and make slides (a movie print) and/or prints.

 

Note that movie film can not be proscessed in c-41 chemistry and must be processed

at a motion picture lab such as RGB. Seattle Film Works may also still deal in movie

film but I'm not sure, and haven't been happy with their lab work in the past.

 

For best quality shoot the slide film, or shoot digitally as most motion picture still

photographers do today.

 

Happy shooting!

[jason_fitzmaurice]

IF there is enough light, Don't neglect the possability of shooting daylight balanced film, but filtering it.

 

My advice(as a filmmaker and amateur photographer) would be to chose the film with the palette closest to the motion picture filmstock they are using.

[EricM]

EPJ is expensive eh! Fuji NPZ is what most of us use, often at push 1.

 

Motion Picture stock wont run in a stills camera, and it isn�t C-41 either.

[EricM]

Jason, there is never enough light on a sound stage for a stills person. The common exposure now is 24fps @ T2.8, for depth of field, and the moving camera is on sticks. Stills sometimes use a momo pod, but seldom.

[helenbach]

MP film will run through a still camera with no problem. Kodak give film away in 35 mm cassettes for us to test. Processing is the problem - we get it done by the MP lab as part of the whole processing deal so it is 'free' or fairly cheap. If your friend is shooting film, you can try to get a deal with the lab. They won't like doing a lot of 5 ft lengths though - a royal pain to them.

 

I like to use EPJ, normal or pushed, if I'm doing stills (I normally work as the DP). I like it better than filtered daylight film. I did one theatre job when the client insisted on filtered 1600 Fuji for the low price - 400 effective speed with 1600 quality, but that's not so bad. If you use fast primes on a still camera, you shouldn't have too many problems with the amount of light - your lens might not be any faster than the movie lens, but you can usually use a longer shutter speed than the movie camera is using. However, the DP should be able to tell you what film and what T-stop she will be using.

 

Now I use a silent, digital non-slr. So useful.

 

Best, Helen

[adam_k_krause]

Thanks for all the responses. I know that the movie camera�s are going to be shooting at around an F/2.8 and the lens I plan on shooting with isn�t the widest ever, it stops at F/4. I am not familiar with EPJ film, is that short for anything and is it hard to get? I was thinking about a tungsten filter as well, but since it eats stops my lens wont be fast enough to stop the motion of the actors. I just got word that the loan for shooting the movie is a little more then we thought, so we might just get some fast tungsten balanced slide film but I�d still like some more suggestions if there is actually anything more to suggest. The joys of being a college kid with out a lot of money. =)

[helenbach]

EPJ is Ektachrome 320T. It pushes one or two stops well if you need it; a three stop push is a bit demanding in terms of correct exposure.

 

If you want to shoot with neg film, you might consider using a filter with less than full correction - ie instead of using a KB15 (80A) that eats two stops, use a KB6 (80D) that only eats about one stop. It's a compromise that helps.

 

Best, Helen

[ellis_vener_photography]

I actually do occassionally shoot stills on movie and TV productions so this is from

reality not speculation:<P>

 

<B>Film:</B> Kodak Ektachrome 320T. It can be metered at to ISO 640 if you do a

one-and-

one-third stop push in processing. Grain is okay. Color is very good. <P>

 

How are you muffling the sound of the camera? Or are you not shooting during takes?

[EricM]

Helen, great to bump into another stills person!

 

�MP film will run through a still camera with no problem.�

 

Yes, it was for a test, not for the market. There�s a little problem of sprocket holes�It�s too bad, I�d love to get some 5218

 

 

Adam,

 

You will find F4 too slow I�m afraid. With the current lighting trend and shallow depth of field, most sound stage stuff is lit for T2/T2.8. Be prepared to shoot in the neighbourhood of 1/60 f1.8, with 35mm, 50mm, 85mm focal lengths at 500 asa. EPJ is an awful tungsten slide film, 320 asa. It can handle a half stop push without much notice in grain and contrast increase. However, it is common to push it one and the results are accepted. I would suggest NPZ 800 for you though. It can take a one stop push really well, looks better than EPJ even after colour correction. And further, sometimes a conversion to B&W is needed, which NPZ handles better than EPJ. Try to convince everyone on the NPZ, it has become more common now over EPJ. The down side is you can�t edit-out. Rent or borrow an incident meter. Don�t bother the DOP too much. You should be able to get by on your own. Listen in, and pay attention after lighting adjustments for a change in lens stop. Outside on location, use Provia 100 and 400. Do you have a blimp?

[jason_fitzmaurice]

Eric,

 

Sometimes there is enough light. Example I am artistic director for a film production company. I recently directed a version of Macbeth (it's being edited now) and there was plenty of light. In fact there was enough light to shoot ISO 100 (we shot BW stills as it was a BW movie). Of course that was because I am a big fan of depth of field and lit for f16. :)

 

Still since he has now told us how they are lighting, I would withdraw my recomendation. I still feel as a director, that whenever possible it is best to try and pick a film for stills, that closely matches the look of the motion picture filmstock.

 

I was once on a set where the short film was being shot on Kodachrome 8mm (it was a low budget experimental thing) the still photographer was using portra uc. The howls that came from the director when he realized the stills had nothing like the colors of his film.

 

ADAM

You say the lesn for he MP camera will be set at 2.8. Good info to have, but also what film are they using. Obviously if they are lighting for 400ISO film to get a grainy look you have a lot more flexability than if they are shooting 50 or 100.

[discpad]

Adam,

 

First off, Kodak EPJ is an ISO 320T (tungsten balanced) film, and is quite nice at EI 640 and pushp processed one stop: I buy it by the 100 foot roll for nighttime IndyCar and NASCAR races at tracks with Musco lighting (3700K, CRI ~ .65 towards green-blue), and then I compensate in the scanning. [This is what I did for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.]

 

However, now that I have my own E6 processing line (Jobo ATL-3), I can adjust the pH of the color developer step to compensate for the greenish-blue bias. [i use first dev, reversal and color dev as single-shot, so I can mix for each batch of film!]

 

All that being said about how nice Kodak EPJ works, you have a different problem: Your f/4 lens isn't bright enough. If you shoot Nikon, spend $89 for a 50mm f/1.8 AF/D from Adorama or B&H: It's actually quite sharp (supposedly even sharper than the $229 f/1.4 version); and at f/1.8 you'll pick up over 2 stops: That's like turning 100 speed film into >400 speed, simply with the brighter image hitting the film. If you shoot Canon or Minolta, they have similar 50mm f/1.8 lenses for comparable prices.

 

[incidentally, I work part time in a commercial photo lab; and we have a constant problem with customers who shoot Fuji FinePix S2 digital SLR's with their Nikon -mount zoom lenses, oftentimes with poor sharpness and chromatic aberration on poster-sized enlargements. We bring the photog and their camera into the lab, and shoot with their lens and a prime lens; and show them the difference on the screen.]

 

Adam, what I'm trying to say (in a roundabout way!) is that Kodak EPT 320T film is quite fine; and that you need to buy or rent a faster lens than the f/4 zoom you have now...

 

Cheers!

 

Dan

[ben_gervais]

MP film will work in a stills camera no problem, I'm not sure what Eric is talking about. The perforations are different, but still cameras don't make use of the perforations.

 

I have frequently loaded MP film into still casettes for my own use as well as the use of on-set photographers, and have never had a problem or complaint. Just remember, DO NOT send it to a c41 lab to be processed! the black backing on the film will come off, all over the lab's rollers, in their chemistry, everywhere. They will be very mad.

 

As noted however, MP labs hate developing the 5 feet of film that fits into the still cartridge, so it's best to get them to commit to doing it BEFORE you go and shoot with MP film. RGB is one of the only labs that will do so happily, and they print you positives on movie release stock to boot.

 

Cheers,

-ben

[EricM]

�MP film will work in a stills camera no problem, I'm not sure what Eric is talking about. The perforations are different, but still cameras don't make use of the perforations.�

 

This is the first time in eight years and a dozen attempts at information about perfs and sprocket holes that you�ve countered. Next time I�m on the camera truck I�ll ask the 2nd AC for some shorts and load them in a cassette. How it will wind on and advance in my Nikons is beyond me. I hope I�m wrong Ben, as I�d love to have some 500T available.