I made my film shoot debut this afternoon…in sweltering 93 degree weather. At least the humdity was low, there was some wind moving and the skies were clear � which meant I didn’t have to use the lightmeter more than once for a shot.
Shooting film is sooooo freakin’ technical compared to shooting video. And I consider myself somewhat technical saavy. There’s so much information you have to keep track of � f-stops, shutter openings, filter factors, candlelight readings, ASA/film speeds, film stocks, framerates, not to mention keeping track of how much film is left in the camera (measured in feet). Being a cinematographer is a very tedious job, one I am not so interested in doing. Maybe that will change.
Our purpose of shooting was to get some use on the Bolex 16mm cameras. They are nice cameras and new but not newer models. In fact, the Swiss-crafted cameras were designed sometime in the 60’s and are spring driven…another thing you have to keep track of � did you wind the camera up before this next shot?
But wait, there’s more. You have to compensate for the viewfinder which takes away 1/3 of the light coming into the lense. Which means you have to read things a bit differently on your lightmeter, and sometimes open the aperture all the way up just so you can get a shot in focus.
Listen to me…I sound like a filmmaker. That’s cool.
I was just listening to U2 - Sweetest Thing