Moving to 16mm

[his Dudeness]

Yeah but what about Next Wave Films, who release low budget movies (shot on film or DV) in cinemas and on video? They will even convert to film if yours is DV.

If you make a good enough film on DV, they can pick it up and release it theatrically.

Whats wrong with that?

[his Dudeness]

And I know Mariachi looks good.

[nextspielberg]

There's nothing wrong with that at all.

[Jimsimm]

16mm looks shit...I don't think so! Our last film 'psycho Babble' was shot on kodak 200t super 16...and let me tell you that the picture quality was stunning. We were expecting it to look much worse but the picture was as sharp as a pin and steady as a rock!, we used quite a slow stock and the grain was hardly visable! You would be amazed to know how many productions are shot on 16mm...a lot! I think I heard that 'Tigerland' was shot on super 16 (but I could be wrong) Those people that are scepticle about 16mm should try it out with a good camera (aaton or arri) and you will probably not want to go back to digital. Give it a go or you'll never know!

[N. Foster Tyler]

I never shoot on videotape or even digital for that matter. I don't give a flying fuck what kind of broadcast quality you have, or if you have a Canon XL whatever...video looks like shit. It looks flat and cheap, devoid of any real warmth, depth & 'liveliness' to the image. The only good thing about the video image is that it makes porno look better.

Shoot on Super-8mm. If you light it properly and get a good transfer (particularly telecine), you literally cannot tell the difference between it and 16mm, or even 35mm for that matter. And it's cheap.

[his Dudeness]

I'd like to but I've already spent ?5000 on camera and accessories.

[Kowalski]

I think it is possible to make a miniDV movie and have it picked up, transferred etc. but ... unlikely. It would probably have to be a very original character drama of some kind - a genre film wouldn't work.

his Dudeness, you could always just cut your losses and raise private funding for a 16mm feature. I bought a minDV camera but on discovering that it probably wouldn't allow me to shoot that award winning movie I bought a used Arriflex ST for ?750 and I'm now raising cash for the stock etc for a feature.

[Spoon boy]

Dancer In The Dark, anyone?

[sdchown]

Several responses to above posts:

Dancer in the dark has obvious visual problems when you viewed it in a cinema. But it was a clever bit of film making so it didn't really matter. Of course there are going to be the odd exception. But they are exceptions. (It looks fine on video of course).

And don't get me wrong, if you are shooting for broadcast or straight to video, then DV has sufficient, if not the best, quality.

Super-8 can also look good when transferred to video, but looks shite when blown up to 35mm.

The Arri-S camera may be good (and practically indestructable), but it is NOISY! You can't shoot sync sound and will end up costing you more time (therefore usually more money) to do you sound afterwards. Eclair ACL or NPR, or Arri-BL are the cheapest sync-sound options. (I like the ACL because it is small and compact - but it is not the sturdiest camera)

El Mariachi was shot on SUPER-16, not 16mm. Hence its good quality picture (relatively).

Lenses also make a BIG difference with the quality of 16mm or Super-16 footage.

5000 on DV camera equipment!!! Jeeesh! I spent 3000 on a Super-16 Eclair ACL with 2 400ft magazines, heavy duty motor, 15-150mm zoom and 12.5mm Angenieux prime, Tripod, Glidecam. And am in the process of getting a video assist made for it. With the remaining 2000 pounds I would be able to buy enough stock to shooting a feature. Oh well, each to his own.

Later
Stephen

[nextspielberg]

Just to get two things straight:

1. Doing Sound in Post is not more expensive then doing it while you shoot. All You need is a recording device (a.k.a Mini-Disc Recorder,etc.) and a good microphone.

2. Secondly, El Mariachi was shot on regular 16MM, not Super 16! You can even look under the "Tech Specs" of El Mariachi on IMDB.
It was shot on a 16 'M', which was like the 16 'S'. Very noisy, and about the same shape.