Shooting in low light conditions with K40

[aragon]

Hello everyone!

I'm a newbie to this forum - and also quite new to Super 8mm, so go easy on me!

I'm looking to shoot a silent short film which basically going to be a woman being followed by a man along a canal towpath at dusk/night.

I'm not going to be able to get a genny down there so it's all going to be available light/bounce boards/any other ingenious lighting I can come up with (suggestions welcome!). Basically there are quite bright areas of light from the canal towpath lighting, but also quite large areas of dark too.

I am trying to think of ways round the exposure problem given that K40 is quite a slow stock and what I've come up with is this:

I'm going to try shooting with a Canon XL-S with the 220 degree shutter and also running the stock at 9fps (but projecting at 24 fps or telecine at 25fps). Because it is just two people walking, I am going to try gettting them to walk *very* slowly.

My question is: am I completely mad?!

What will be the effect of shooting this way on:

- motion blur? (to make things worse I'll be shooting handheld, but with the canon xl-s wide angle attachment)
- speed of the actors at 24/25fps?
- possibility of telecine at a later stage?
- light exposure?
- General look and feel of the film?
- Anything else I haven't thought of?

I'm going to try shooting some test rolls, but I thought I'd try and tapp the accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience on this board first!

Many thanks
Daniel

[studiocarter]

Use a flash light. It works great. I used a tiny pencil light on my son's face. It was shot with k40 at 9fps with a Cannon 814 XL and the 220 degree shutter. Available light indoors on a gray day in front of a TV looked great. The light really brought up the skin tones. I gurss you would need a bigger one outdoors. Yea, 9fps looks alright if you move the actors slowly.

[aragon]

I was thinking about using some kind of battery powered lights, but I was wondering how I could make the light source seem explicable and naturalistic given the surroundings.

Interesting creative problem!

[studiocarter]

In the movie "Signs" flashlights were used in the celler sequence. That was natural. Otherwise a lot of diffusion would be needed, and yes, more light.
Here is that clip of mine:
ftp://ftp.filmshooting.com/upload/video ... hlight.mpg

[aragon]

Thanks regular8mm.

I liked your clip. Can you tell me a bit more about the lighting conditions apart from the flashlight. There seemed to be some kind of background light (maybe I'm wrong...).

Cheers
Daniel

[aragon]

Also, I noticed with the movement was quite fast still. Was your son moving at normal speed (eg. putting hand to his head) or did he slow down his movements for the camera?

[aragon]

Sorry!

Ignore the post about lighting conditions - just re-read your original reply! :roll:

[mathis]

Use a flash light. It works great. I used a tiny pencil light on my son's face.

Can anybody explain what you mean with a flash light? I understand a flashlight is the thing you use for photography and which needs at least a second or two to recharge.
A pencil light I understand as a small bulb in a pen.
I´m confused.

[matt5791]

Use a flash light. It works great. I used a tiny pencil light on my son's face.

Can anybody explain what you mean with a flash light? I understand a flashlight is the thing you use for photography and which needs at least a second or two to recharge.
A pencil light I understand as a small bulb in a pen.
I´m confused.

"flashlight" is American English for a torch.

Matt

[mathis]

AHA :!: :idea:

[mattias]

I'm looking to shoot a silent short film which basically going to be a woman being followed by a man along a canal towpath at dusk/night.

she's really scared and the music builds up tension, and then it suddenly turns out he's just returning her wallet from the bar where she forgot it? he smiles, she smiles, the music fades over to "don't worry be happy"? sorry, couldn't resist. now where's that great list of film student cliche's egain?

(i've no idea if this is really what you're doing and besides i have made films like that myself, so don't take it as an attack) :-)

/matt

[aragon]

:lol:

No.

[studiocarter]

Also, I noticed with the movement was quite fast still. Was your son moving at normal speed (eg. putting hand to his head) or did he slow down his movements for the camera?

He was watching the TV; no, no cooperation at all. Those movements were normal speed. I have other clips of my wife working on a scrap book and moveing quite slowly, she did help; the movements look fine there.

Just how slowly one must move needs some consideration. If you shoot at a slow speed you will need to move at a speed that will look natural after the film is speeded up to 24/25/or 30fps. Yawn, I'm sure you can figure it out.

[aragon]

Have you seen any Polanski's short films that he made while at Film School?

One of them is literally just a guy walking up some stairs into a room and then stabbing a guy who's lying asleep in the bed. That's it. But it's really striking and effective.

It is a little bit like a student piece in so much as it an exercise in creating mood and tension. It won't be long - probably a minute or two.

[studiocarter]

Ever see any old cine / photo magazines from the late 20's or early 30's? They have galleries in them of still photos. Some of them would make great cine film setups. Some motion applied to one of them, perhaps moveing on to another of them, would be really interesting to do. The old costumes, the right face, lighting, backgorounds, not easy but maybe worth it.