Missing Frame Elements: What No One Talks About

You've have mastered the elements of composition, then you were told by a contemporary or some rando on YouTube that lighting was everything. You watched tons of YouTube videos, practiced, and possibly even dumped a small fortune into all the myriad tutorials you've seen advertised everywhere. However, something is still missing. What could it be?

Probably two things: You're location and your set design.

I contemplated this a while back when I saw a video by Danny Gevirtz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TijQqFEY3I

In the video, Danny was talking about shooting in harsh light, but one of the commenters mentioned that one of Danny's talents that he hadn't mentioned in the video was picking interesting locations. So many videos on YouTube focus so much on lighting and pedaling lights, that I noticed relatively few cinematographers or YouTubers focus on setting. 

You can have all the lighting tools in the world and know all the angles and tricks, but your shots can still come out very boring. Try as often as possible to find a location that is interesting. If this isn't possible. Try to do some set dressing. 

In this shot, the room was very interesting, but it needed to be a night scene. I strung a bunch of Christmas lights across the background for visual interest. I knew I could create some interesting bokeh because the room was so large, and the lights were a good distance from where I was shooting. 

This room wasn't completely boring due to the wainscotting, but we needed some more visual interest and a pop of color. We found this old loveseat in the ballroom. (Interesting point of fact: This was shot in the same hotel that they shot No Country For Old Men.)

 One of the things I enjoyed about shooting in Taiwan was that, even though the buildings looked run down, there were oftentimes enough decorations and elements hanging around that made it look interesting in camera. 

This shoot: https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/technologys-golden-age/niantic-pokemon-go-taiwan

Company: https://www.lashfilms.com/

Thrift stores are great for finding cheap items to toss into the background or to dress up a boring location. I would say after all that you need to focus on wardrobe. Think of your background color pallet when choosing outfits for your talent. 

The last element in the mix is talent. Try to find talent that is interesting, beautiful, or better yet, actually talented. If you have a mix of all three, you probably can't afford that person. 

 

Check out the aforementioned Danny Gevirtz here: https://www.youtube.com/@DannyGevirtz

andrewjfann.com

The Nikon Non/ Pre AI Series - My favorite vintage pieces of kit

I was experimenting for a long time with vintage lenses to see if any of them would work for my cinematography. Here is what I found:

The Helios is an amazing lens to capture amazing images and the bokeh and flares are great.

However, there is one focal length to choose from, so it's hard to build a cohesive set. 

I do like the Canon FD series. Their look is great, but I've never been crazy about the way that they flare. 

Upon my tests I found one set that I have used extensively on a number of projects, the Nikon Pre-AI series of lenses. 

Most of these samples were shot on either the 50mm F/2 or the 35mm F/2.8. Altogether, this lens set has a very pleasing vintage cinema glass look. With a bit of softness and slight color fringing around the edges that give them an almost anamorphic feel. 

The 50mm has some ghosting around the edges at f2, but is usable with a pleasing, circular bokeh around 2.8. 4 for and beyond is razor sharp, but you lose the circular bokeh, which I don't mind because you get a pleasing hexagonal shape versus something like an umbrella pattern. 

The 35mm has the same ghosting issue at it's widest aperture of F2.8, but is sharp and usable at F4 and beyond. This one seemed to be a bit warmer than the 50mm and 24mm.

The 24mm is probably the least impressive out of the group, but like the 35mm is usable at F4. It has very interesting flaring; a blue, anamorphic-type of flare. I've used it for wide shots and some interesting close ups. 

Benefits: 

A nice, fairly-cohesive set of lenses with a vintage cinematic look, and a very smooth, pleasing bokeh. 

Drawbacks:

The color cast of each lens isn't quite uniform throughout, so a bit of color correction needs to be done in post. 

*A word of caution with the 24mm. The 24mm has a fairly wide field of view, and given these lenses flaring qualities, I would avoid trying any wide shots with a strong backlight or else it will completely wash out the image.

I urge anyone who likes the softer look and imperfections of vintage glass to give them a try. Let me know what you think. 

andrewjfann.com

The K&F Black Mist Filter

 I bought the K&F Black Mist filter a bit ago and rarely used them since I was primarily shooting on a vintage Nikon lens set that I loved. While traveling, I'm running around with an BMPCC6K OG and a Canon L series zoom set. I enjoy the mark one versions because I think the mark II versions are just a bit too sharp. By a bit, I mean WAY too sharp. 

I'll post the results of the video tests here:

All images were captured with the Canon L 17-40 F/4 and the BMPCC6K.

The images were a bit "dreamy" for my taste, but overall I was pleased with the results. Great results for such an inexpensive filter. I could definitely see where I would use this filter for certain applications; especially, for beauty work. 

The strength of the filter is only 1/8, so I think anything above that would be a bit to strong for my liking. I tend to lean a bit on the conservative side with filtration unless I'm going for a very stylized look. 

When trying to soften a more modern lens, I usually use a low strength glimmer glass or satin filter, and seeing some of the test footage for the K&F Shimmer filter makes me think that this filter might be right up my alley. I'll pick one up and post the results in the near future. 

Here is a link to the filter used for all whom might be interested:

https://www.kentfaith.com/black-mist-1-8

andrewjfann.com

Did I Enjoy the Great Joy? A look at the budget anamorphic.

Around May of this year I sat in on a short-film project in Taiwan that was a production for a contest in Taipei. I didn't get to do much on set (may write more about that later), but I did get a few shots with the Great Joy anamorphic set. You can take a look at the lenses here:

https://store.blazarlens.com/products/great-joy-1-8x-anamorphic-t2-9-3-lens-set

 

The only anamorphics I had previously been around were much more cost-prohibitive versions such as Kowas and Cookes. The Great Joy is definitely not one of these, but it does have a great look to it overall. The only issue I had with the Great Joy series was with their color. 

I had seen on YouTube reviews that stacked the Great Joy against other cheaper anamorphics and most agreed that the Great Joy had a warmer color cast. I found this to be slightly problematic in post. Let's take a look at one of the shots:

 

This is the initial shot, in log, with no grade:

 

This is the same shot with a base grade, balancing the exposure and bringing in more contrast and saturation:

The camera was a BMPCC6k set to 5600k. There was an Apurture light set outside the window that was set to 5600k. There was a warmer light in the room on the shadow side, but it was very far back. As you can see there is a yellow/green tint to the whole shot. The pocket 6k skews a bit green, so I had the in-camera tint set to +10. After doing the base grade, I went in an worked on the skin tones and the background separately. This was the result:

That's at least a good baseline to start adding secondary grades and looks after the balance. I love the look, but I'm not fond of the color shift. If you are a solo shooter without much of a background in post production or color correction, this lens might get you into trouble. It really reminds me of the days of trying to grade Slog footage before Sony updated their color science with their new line of cameras. 

If you're an EF shooter, Great Joy seems to be your only option in the budget anamorphic range, save for Schneiders which are almost twice as much. I love how the mount is an interchangeable EF to PL. Although, now Blackmagic seems to be moving to the L mount, which I believe causes a lot more problems than solutions for Blackmagic film and video shooters looking to invest in a lens ecosystem. More on this later. 

So, to make a long story long, Great Joy equals a great look, a nice interchangeable mount, an "affordable" price, but a troublesome color shift.

Andrew J. Fann

andrewjfann.com

Follow This - Meet the Gaffer

Luke Seerveld has started an invaluable series on his YouTube page for anyone interested in grip and gaffer tips for mostly small to medium sets. At present, there are 80 lessons, and I hope many more to come. Check it out! 

 

andrewjfann.com

 

Histogram - Things to Consider

This video is the best video that I've seen on advice to consider for using your in-camera histogram.

For more of Mr. Granger's videos, go here.

andrewjfann.com

Auto Focus and the Crazy Temptation to Be Lazy with Film and Video

Focus tracking is becoming more sophisticated every year. Nikon and Canon both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both have good focus tracking, but this is an area where Canon excels. I still prefer Nikon for things like landscapes, but if you are in the sports photography/video racket, or thinking about going into it, I would definitely go with Canon if you need focus tracking for fast movement. The fast auto focus on both of these cameras has made things like rack focusing on a run and gun much easier; especially, when you're a one-man band.

However, you must still be careful. These functions are great, but relying on your camera to make all your focusing decisions can still be tricky. I have had some slightly fuzzy shots from the Canon's auto focus at work. These technologies work amazingly well, but they still aren't perfect. I would still recommend taking the time to do a manual focus on video shoots just to be on the safe side. You don't want to totally rely on your camera for focus out in the field, and then realize that it let you down when you review the footage in post.

For those of you who don't generally do this, or are new to it, select your talents eyes with the focus point in live view, and enlarge that point with the magnification button. Make sure that your talent's eyes are sharp, and then go back to your normal view. If you have a production camera with a built-in zoom lens, or a really expensive T-stop cinema lens, you can generally zoom into the eyes, focus, and then zoom back out without losing the focus. WARNING: Don't try to zoom in and focus and then zoom back out with a cheap zoom lens. You will generally lose the focus whenever you zoom back out. With these lenses use the method that I described for live view.

Feel free to share if you have any horror stories with this. 

andrewjfann.com