Here is a short film I was cinematographer on some months ago. Any feedback welcome.
Unfortunately, we did not put much effort into sending the film to festivals, but by some coincidence, the film was selected to a film festival in Yakutsk, in the Sakha republic in Siberia, Russia. It was quite fun to know of the film being screened somewhere we knew nothing about. We then just heard that our film had won the "Silver Glasses" price there. They even tracked down (probably) the only Icelandic person living there and asked him to come and receive the award on our behalf. Yay!
@stonebat I suppose it's understandable, when I post in a forum where a lot of discussion on patches goes on and I put "hacked Gh1" in the topic that many people are interested in such things. Probably the reason many people watched the film in the first place is because they have a similar camera and so they identified with the project in some way.
Of course I'm grateful for the people who develop the hacks and I do think a certain obsession with detail is needed to advance certain aspects. But the obsessive technical perfectionism is good for only that: Advancing technical capacity. If what you want to do is to tell stories with images then you need to disassociate yourself from that a bit.
For a filmmaker, dominating technology should have only one goal: To forget about technology.
Good storyline, story telling framing, appropriate lighting, good acting, camera movement, etc. I'm pretty sure what-the-hack-gh1-setting was the least thing the cinematographer was concerning. "the image is the vehicle and not the end in itself."
@arnarfjodur I was totally drawn to the storyline. Lovely work. I like the beginning and ending scenes having same framing but quite different outcomes. Nice wide angle shots. Particularly I liked the bathroom scene. Thank you for sharing.
@arnarfjodur Thank-you, your story telling is spot-on.
@andyharris For me, the mother is obsessed with the diseased brother and using emotional manipulation tries to reach him through the main character. This is an impossible situation for him, which he has to break out of in the end. Ultimately it is about standing up for yourself. But of course, stories and films are to be understood in different ways.
The film is actually based on a short story: "Disappearing into the World" by Icelandic author Ágúst Borgþór Sverrisson. The story has been translated and published in English by Comma press, who incidentally are screening the film and inviting the author to read in Manchester on the 24th of Jan: http://www.commapress.co.uk/
I'm sure everyone in Manchester is welcome to attend :)
@arnarfjodur What does the story tell us? Is it that the Mother grieves more than the Brother?
@arnarfjodur, thanks for the info and the link.
The short is good, you should send it to some festivals.
Do you think you could ask your friend, outlining how was your postproduction process? It would be very interesting.
Well...what a great movie !!! Great acting too ...but , as one GH1 owner I must say the camera is good, but I´ve seen great footage coming from the GH2 and GH3 as well ... We must congrats the director , the grader and the Voiglander 25mm F0.95 and the Canon with the f 1.2 and then the GH1 in this order. Many people are complaining the GH3 has a sharp look . But , a lot of movies in Vimeo with the GH3 are done with the 12-35 f 2.8 , which is proven to be an extremely sharp lens...
The best movies done with GH1/2/3 are done with a manual lens and the Voigt 25 is found in many of those movies...
Dont get me wrong ...I have the GH1 hacked and I like the camera a lot ( not considering the freezes when recording forest, foliage and grass he he ) ...
What gear did you use to record the audio ?
Again ...congrats for the great story ...and the final was too strong...the boy "alive" returning home and the mother "dead with his son" entering the cemetery...just perfect ...
@DanPV A very good question. Iris, the costume designer, suggested having the mother wear a colourless coat with a very stark red bag. We liked this approach so we tried to shoot accordingly, and work with this even more in the colour correction. You'll notice there are some red flowers, candles, cross, etc that are the only thing that get to be saturated.
@kronstadt Think I had it in smooth and all settings down -2
Shooting days were four, but rather short if I recall. Everyone volunteered or got a symbolic payment. Of course, we provided food. I used my own equipment but rented some filters and some dolly tracks that didn't end up being used much. The cash budget was maybe around 800USD - but mind you that this never is an accurate representation of the "real cost".
Couldn't tell you about the audio equipment - wasn't involved with that.
Thanks for you compliments. Mind you I did not direct it - I was cinematographer/producer/co-writer.
Very nice little film! Reminds me a bit of Kaurismäki in that the driving force of the actors is so clearly present. Well executed cinematography also.
@EYESOUL Totally agree with you. This is what I've been saying all along http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/451/hacked-gh1-vs.-hacked-gh2/p4 and
This has been my approach all along: if you already have a GH13, instead of spending time and money on the latest camera and lenses, get a good lighting and audio kit, find passionate and reliable people and go out and shoot a movie that is actually a movie, rather than a cinematography demo reel.
@arnarfjodur Congratulations on a great piece of work! Thoroughly enjoyed it! And very inspiring to just grab my GH13 and shoot a mood/plot based short. This reminded me of Michelangelo Antonioni actually. How much did the whole production cost and how many days were you shooting?
I'm wondering what was your shooting setting -- "Nostalgic", "Smooth" or something else and what were the contrast, saturation etc settings ? any settings at -2?
I'm also wondering about your audio setup--what microphones,mixers, recorders? (I have to admit, though, I didn't like the audio too much. A bit to "cold", but maybe it was a deliberate artistic choice, like in British Social-Realism films.)
Wishing you good luck in your future productions!!! You demonstrate that you have a lot of directorial resource. Are you doing to take this film to festivals? Best of luck and thank you for inspiring us!
What I liked: Good actors. Nice editing. Framing of shots. The movie theatre scene was especially nice. Kept me wanting more.
Not so good: That loud audio hiss took me out of the picture a bit.
Harold House
Nicely done!
I hope this isn't a stupid question but I noticed that the scenes at the cemetery gate are somewhat monochromatic except for the actresses large red purse. The bright color adds a nice little bit of color and draws your eye to her. Was the color of the purse chosen for that reason or am I just reading too much into it?
@arnarfjodur, As a GH1 user myself, I must say that films like yours inspire me to keep learning how to shoot. There's so much more to the process than having the latest and greatest cameras. I find that developing my eyes is often the most important part of the process. Learning how to get the most out of the GH1 is a constant process and of course just some good old basic principles of how to use light and shadow and working within the limits of the GH1 are huge. GREAT WORK!
Simply a very beautiful film, so well photographed. Thank you for sharing
@tinyrobot pretty sure he has not worked with GH2 or GH3 - but I'll forward this thread to him in case he wants to chip in.
@arnarfjodur The GH1 does pull out a great image, but I suspect this is more to do with the talent of the grader. Would it be possible to ask your grader what he/she thought of the GH1 image compared to other cameras such as the GH2/GH3 if they have had experience.
And a little insight into the grading would be great.
@arnarfjodur amazing work!
congrats, looks great
Will be sticked for a day. At least we need to show people that their camera can do more than shoot their cat.
Get GH1 for $300 used, get metabones reducer and set of old lenses, and learn.
outstanding!
@EYESOUL i completely agree with you. GH1 produces amazing images at low iso. GH1 prossesing was also a little bit different from GH2. I think that is why on GH2 there are patches with less detailed matrixes.
Im buying 2 GH2 on monday, and was considering to get a GH1 also. The right framing on it, gives very pleasent imagery.
@arnarfjodur great looking images wow! @endotoxic I was thinking the same thing about the GH1.I was going through my harddrive and came across some of my old GH1 footage and was taken back on how great the images looked at low iso's.I have yet to get this feel or texture out of my GH2.It's really something I can't explain but the images it produce seem less digital with the same lenses I presently use with my GH2.I know there was a lot of talent behind this finished product but you have to admit these images look 20 times better than the gh3 bloom video and I'm sure the budget was a lot smaller also.I really wish they had just improved upon this sensor and called it a day.@arnarfjodur great work!
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