Velvia vs. K40 -- clips with Fleshtones...

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:40 am

Ok, I'm not sure if anyone has shown any of the new Velvia 50 stock showcasing how good the fleshtones can be...This isn't really a Velvia vs. K40 comparison...I just got some clips together to show what I'm shooting. I'm actually using about 7 different stocks (including the Fuji 64T and the Ektachrome 100D) which I'll post later. In the meantime here is a link to my film page. Click on the "clips" link to the right and download the .MOV files to see. Hope I did this right....

http://westsiderfilm.com/

CHAS

Post by **Nigel** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:21 am

Why did you change cameras for each clip??

Good Luck

Post by **charles8** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:57 am

The fuji velvia looks excellent, fleshtones look very natural.. a great stock.

Post by **charles8** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:13 am

Just watched the K40 file, and it also looks great, the fuji may just have the edge when it comes to grain, which I am most interested in. as I use a scope lens, this can increase the grain, did you use any filters with the fuji velvia, or is this just a normal set-up, without any changes.

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:53 am

Nigel wrote:Why did you change cameras for each clip??

Good Luck

Well...we originally started shooting in October of 2005 with a different actor altogether...a young lad studying to be a cosmetologist (no jokes please) was our leading man...at that time my best camera was a Minolta XL-401 -- so the K40 in those clips was shot with that -- I mainly use this camera for time lapse now but I think the lens is fairly sharp in those HMI -balcony scenes at sunset. Very pleased. The actor had to flake due to work and school so I had to postpone filming at which time a friend happened to give me his slightly broken Elmo 1012S-XL. Anyway, the Elmo was best for interiors. I wanted to shoot the remaining exteriors with the much lighter and far more portable Canon 814 AZ -- since the exteriors were all shot guerilla film style, it was an easy choice to make. A friend lent us his Canon 1014-XLS for a couple of weekends, so that's the only reason why that was used -- when someone lends you something like that you automatically put away all your other cameras and use that! Sorry for the long answer to your question...it's late...I'm rambling...so what did you think of the footage, Nigel?

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:57 am

charles8 wrote:Just watched the K40 file, and it also looks great, the fuji may just have the edge when it comes to grain, which I am most interested in. as I use a scope lens, this can increase the grain, did you use any filters with the fuji velvia, or is this just a normal set-up, without any changes.

I didn't use any filters for the Fuji on the Balcony shots -- for the other scenes I believe the DP used an ND filter over the 1014-XLS.
Thanks, yes, I think the Fuji is better than the K40 for the grain.

I'll try to post more stocks tomorrow.

Post by **T-Scan** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:36 am

The Fuji looked amazing. fine grain, excellent color, very sharp... and modern! The K40 looked good for K40, but the Velvia is more advanced. The 200T looked really nice under tungston. Can't wait to see some 100D. Hopefully Kodak will come around with some tight grain modern stocks for daylight, cause the only options are the custom loads right now.

Post by **Patrick** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:15 pm

The Fuji Velvia clip looked superb. Very fine grained, sharp and beautifully saturated colours. It's almost as if this stock was made for super 8! This might sound odd but the very first shot (of the guy running towards the camera) looked more like video to me - it just looked unusually clean. However at the same time, the colours, particularly the greens, were quite vibrant. The following two shots in the same clip looked more 'filmic' overall.

Unfortunately, the K40 clip didnt work for me. What I saw was half a frozen still of a girl holding a glass and the rest of the screen showed the title of the clip with the black background.

I also have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the transfer. I assume this was a rank transfer?

Post by **ossioskari** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:49 pm

thanks for posting, chas! good to see velvia in action, amazing saturation. i think this is just what i'm looking for, we're headed to montenegro to shoot a short on velvia 50d and ektachrome 100d.

keep it coming, please.

Post by **Scotness** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:57 pm

Gee guys I got to disagree that Velvia almost made me puke (probably in the same colours too!!) - the smallness of the grain was fantastic - but the colour of the grass and the sky in that opening shot seemed so unrealistic to me. Have you pumped the saturation on it? - is that how it really is? - can you decrease the saturation?? - I thought the sky looked like a blue screen and you could comp something in on it - there seemed no variation or detail in it at all, even an open blue sky has some different shades in it.

Haven't checked the other clips yet - looks like it will be a good film though - good luck

Scot

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:30 pm

Scotness wrote:Gee guys I got to disagree that Velvia almost made me puke (probably in the same colours too!!) - the smallness of the grain was fantastic - but the colour of the grass and the sky in that opening shot seemed so unrealistic to me. Have you pumped the saturation on it? - is that how it really is? - can you decrease the saturation?? - I thought the sky looked like a blue screen and you could comp something in on it - there seemed no variation or detail in it at all, even an open blue sky has some different shades in it.

Haven't checked the other clips yet - looks like it will be a good film though - good luck

Scot

Interesting comments. Well the thing is, with the Velvia -- hope this doesn't sound too odd -- but you have to decrease the reds a bit for caucasian actors or the skin tones will look way out of whack. Even the greens were more vibrant originally. I sat in on each session and told the colorist (yes, this was a RANK transfer with a DaVinci color corrector at Spectra) to keep the Velvia and K40 as saturated as possible without making the skin tones look too unrealistic. The point of the whole movie is that the character lives in an unrealistic fantasy-land (obsessing over L.A.'s "Westside") so he sees his "westside world" as this beautiful, colorful, flawless landscape. Naturally the colors in this world won't be 100% realistic. I thought the Velvia would be perfect for this sort of attitude. When he goes to the dreaded San Fernando Valley to live in, the colors (because everything was shot on 7240 or 64T -- even a bit of the 160G!) will look far different -- unrealistic in another way altogether!

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:42 pm

ossioskari wrote:thanks for posting, chas! good to see velvia in action, amazing saturation. i think this is just what i'm looking for, we're headed to montenegro to shoot a short on velvia 50d and ektachrome 100d.

keep it coming, please.

Good luck on your film -- would be great to see clips from Montenegro using those 2 stocks.

Post by **Nigel** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:04 pm

They don't look bad but the Fuji is a bit to saturated.

I would like to see how they cut togther rather than each by itself.

Good Luck

Post by **fastwind** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 6:06 pm

VELVIA - WOW !!!

Post by **Mitch Perkins** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:48 pm

Nice work! Loved the 50D - over-saturated yes, but you have a reason, and it looks so pretty.
200T looked a bit pink, but that's easy to deal with if you want to.
Didn't look at the Koda cuz that's over so who cares what it looks like? I assume it would exhibit the fine production values of the other scenes, which is really what you have going for you; your *use* of the stocks.

Really great work!

Mitch

Filmshooting

Velvia vs. K40 -- clips with Fleshtones...

Velvia vs. K40 -- clips with Fleshtones...

Re: Velvia vs. K40 -- clips with Fleshtones...