Film Stock Question

[Calypso1411]

I've been reading American Cinematographer and I keep seeing references to various film stocks.

Where can I learn about film stocks and get an understanding of the final result a given film stock will produce?

(I'm primarily interested in 16mm)

Thanks!

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[sdchown]

First place to look is on the Web sites of both Kodak and Fuji. 35mm and 16mm stocks are pretty much the same (ie, for each 35mm stock there is a 16mm equivalent).

So go through each stock on their web site and read about its speed and grain and colour. This should give you a broad idea of what you need.

Then go to Alt.movies.cinematography or rec.arts.movies.production newsgroup and post a question about the stocks you are interested in what you think you want to do with it. There are quite a few Pro DPs that post there on a regular basis that seem quite helpful (David Mullen is usually the most insightful).

Before you even worry about stock, make sure you have a good understanding of light, the temperature of light and how it relates to the speed of the stock and the lenses. I would recommend getting some books on this. A great one is "Matters of Light and Depth" which you can find on amazon.

Its all the same as Still photography really, except you can't change your shutter speed, so Still photography books are often really helpful.

Good Luck and have fun

Later
Stephen


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Regards
Stephen Chown
Old Ones Productions