Cameras: News and Updates

LENSES: "My camera package consisted of 5DmkII and 7D bodies, with Canon 16-35mm, 24-70mm, and 70-200mm L Series Zooms. I do a lot of doc work with the Canons, so I own the zooms for their flexibility. Most of the piece was shot with the 5D and the 24-70 as an all-around verite lens. I used the 16-35 for the ultra-wide POV, street-view shots, and the 70-200 for most of the performance footage. The 7D was used for the opening sequence when Pegman is punching in – I wanted to have more depth of field for those shots. I used my Redrock rig and Z-Finder for all the handheld work."

LIGHTING: "Since we were shooting mostly day exteriors, it was sunlight with a Flexfill for bounce. For the opening interior scene, I brought film lights but ended up using the practical bulbs that were up in the warehouse where we shot because I liked the look. Using DSLRs and large sensor cameras like the Sony F3 and ARRI Alexa have really changed my approach to lighting with their low light capabilities. I used to feel like everything had to come from film lights, but now I'm much more inclined to see what I can do with practicals and supplement as needed."

IN-CAMERA SETTINGS & ACHIEVING A CONSISTENT LOOK:"We shot 1080/24P with a 1/50 second shutter. I used the Technicolor Cinestyle Picture Profile for everything except for Ramzi's performance shots [which I shot right before the picture profile had been released]. I knew I'd be shooting in bright sunlight and the DSLRs are not known for their dynamic range. The Technicolor Cinestyle profile did a great job of extending the latitude of the image so I was able to keep more details in the highlights and shadows. All of the exterior footage was shot with a Polarizer filter to darken the sky and often ND6 depending on the light. I usually try to shoot around an F4 to have a shot at pulling focus with the large sensor. Since we shot over a few days there was some color correction needed to compensate for the changing light."

THE BEAMING EFFECT: "The beaming effect was pretty simple to execute on location. We used a portable 5x7 green screen to shoot Pegman leaping onto the scene, then, removed the green screen for a clean backplate. The toughest part was fighting wind. The effect was done in After Effects by the uber-talented Mike Choi. He used Nightcrawler in the X-Men films as inspiration, and I suggested the yellow smoke for our yellow-clad hero."

TIP FOR SHOOTING DSLR + GREENSCREEN: "As a DP I'm very particular with my green screen work in studio, regardless of what camera I'm using. I'll use a monitor with a waveform so that I can set the green level at 60 IRE. I'll often shoot with a higher shutter speed around 1/100 or 1/125 sec to cut down on motion blur – the crispness can help in pulling a cleaner key. Keying software has gotten so good that keys can be pulled in less-than-ideal situations, but I still try to get it perfect. On "2nd Avenue," we just had the available sunlight, so I tried to make sure that the light was as even as possible. The DP in me wasn't happy but the guerilla filmmaker in me won out."

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(Interview by StudentFilmmakers.com + StudentFilmmakers Magazine)