First 16mm stills from my WWII film

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:25 am

http://plaza.ufl.edu/ekubota/film.html

I just got the film back today. Plus-X negative in a Kinor 16 with the 6mm lens. I was a little surprised at the visible grain, considering that it's a fairly slow stock - but I guess negative does show more than reversal. This was also not in bright sunlight. One still was, and it's obviously less grainy.

Post by **Scotness** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:10 am

Link's not working for me Evan

Scot

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:23 am

Works fine for me - maybe a browser issue?

Post by BK » Tue May 02, 2006 4:34 am

Wow Evan, looks like another winner.

Did you rent a smoke gun for all that atomspheric mist?

Couldn't wait to see some clips...a teaser trailer maybe?

Bill

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Tue May 02, 2006 4:40 am

I didn't want to spend the money for a smoke machine, so I bought $11 worth of potassium nitrate on eBay, melted it with sugar, and poured it into aluminum foil molds... I lit two or three at various locations then rolled film. The wind made it a little tricky but I got enough usable footage, I think. A trailer will be coming at some point but the film is going to be 20 minutes long - the shoot that these are from is only the first minute or two.

Post by **flatwood** » Tue May 02, 2006 6:30 am

Those pics look good. Will this film be on your DVD???

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Tue May 02, 2006 10:16 pm

http://plaza.ufl.edu/ekubota/18.mov

Some footage with early foley work.

Post by **pulsingcinema** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:32 pm

Good stuff, I've always had problems getting recordings of people rustling through heavy brush like that which sounds well, RIGHT in an emotional way but it seems like you're getting there.

Post by **MovieStuff** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:48 pm

Coooooolllll!

I'm a sucker for war movies, Evan. You lucky bastard. What fun to work on. Looks great!

Roger

Post by **teadub** » Wed May 03, 2006 6:31 am

Looks great, I think the grain gives it a nice "yester-year" quality. Keep us updated.

Post by **Dr_Strangelove** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:21 pm

Just out of curiousity, what made you want to shoot on negative Plus-x instead of reversal?

Because I'm having problems deciding whether to use reversal b&w film or negative for my uppcoming short

Oh yes, your footage looked awesome, very proffesional indeed, cant wait to see your film when its done!

Post by **paulcotto** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:23 pm

Wow, it looks great! I liked the hand held shot since they make you feel like you are right there. Someone sold you potassium nitrate on eBay? IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m surprised because thatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s the primary component of black gun powder!!

Regards,
Paul Cotto

Post by **mattias** » Wed May 03, 2006 7:52 pm

the stills look great. i'm not that fond of the camerawork though. i agree with paul the handheld makes it feel like you're there, but it's gone full circle looking more like tv news or big brother than a movie. please take this as constructive critisism. the lighting is perfect and the production design too, so i'd just pick some less obvious camera moves for the final edit.

/matt

Post by **Evan Kubota** » Wed May 03, 2006 9:05 pm

"Just out of curiousity, what made you want to shoot on negative Plus-x instead of reversal?"

The negative is slightly slower (80ASA in daylight instead of 100) and the rest of the project will be shot on color negative, so I didn't want part of it to stick out with a reversal "look" (although in retrospect this Plus-X looks pretty similar to every other B&W thing I've shot - S8 Plus-X, 16mm Tri-X and Plus-X reversal).

Matt, are you referring to the second shot with the grass? I cut that out anyway because there was some other footage I wanted to use instead. Actually, neither of the shots posted on my site ended up in the actual sequence. I'm curious if you're referring to the handheld look in general or just those particular shots. I think part of it might also be the very wide angle lens.

You can buy almost anything on eBay. Potassium nitrate can be used for gunpowder but also solid fuel model rocket engines, etc. It's still legal to buy and ship without a permit AFAIK.

Post by **mattias** » Wed May 03, 2006 11:23 pm

Evan Kubota wrote:Matt, are you referring to the second shot with the grass? I cut that out anyway because there was some other footage I wanted to use instead. Actually, neither of the shots posted on my site ended up in the actual sequence. I'm curious if you're referring to the handheld look in general or just those particular shots. I think part of it might also be the very wide angle lens.

yes, it's probably a combination of those. i love handheld in general. good work still.

/matt