Summer research continued.

So as well as looking into the Red one, I also decided to look at DSLR cameras that were also becoming a popular choice for some short films. The camera that took my eye and had heard most about was the Canon 7D, which unbeknown to me, we can use this year (if it is ever available!).
The Canon 7D only shoots 12 minutes of film footage in one take due to European law stating that 12 minutes is the boundary between being a stills camera and a video camera apparently. So with that cleared up, the 7D houses an 18MP APS-C CMOS sensor and shoots full HD. It writes onto an SD card, (in case anyone is using the 7D get a good quality card, it’s been said that a cheap SD card may drop frames)

Anyway after a bit of research and watching the making of some short films shot with the 7D, there are a few downfalls to it, without going into too much depth, one of the main downfalls people have mentioned is that, sometimes the camera picks up what is called moiré, an artefact of an image which is highly unattractive. It is an aliasing problem, where a pattern (of lines parallel to more lines) can appear on the screen making an image appear with green and purple lines over it. This is common with walls, bricks, mesh on fences and that sort of stuff.

Here is a basic video of the 7D with moiré, overexposed so it is more visible


7D Bricks Moire from Barry Green on Vimeo.

Below, however is a video of another Canon 7D with moiré (on the roof), but this time, stephen v2 seems to have a theory, where the moiré disappears when the camera tilts. So possibly if you really didn’t want any moiré, you could canter your shots to a level where the moiré isn’t visible and then re-orientate your shots in post. So there is a few things to think about if I want to use the 7D for my project.


Canon 7D Moire Dutch angle test from stephen v2 on Vimeo.

So overall, the 7D is an amazing camera, and can shoot some great vibrant images but you have to be able to use it correctly, because mistakes with it are going to be clearly visible.

Summer research

Over the summer as well as uploading a short video for the summer assignment I also researched into the technology behind certain cameras and their strengths and weaknesses. This stemmed from a brief discussion/debate I had with a friend who studies the same course at another University. The discussion subsequently motivated me to look into certain cameras, in particular the Red One. The Red One, has been the first choice for many directors recently shooting large budget productions, for example Green Zone, The Informant, Gamer, The book of Eli and more. One of the main reasons for the camera being so popular is down to it having a 4K resolution, creating a visually stunning picture.

Having found a video (which is below) on YouTube of the red one in action I was amazed at how detailed and crisp it looked, even with it being compressed on YouTube. I can only imagine what it would look like raw!

One question I ask myself, is the Red One an invention one step ahead of the competition or are the rest behind the technology curve?



(More summer research to be continued)

Introduction

This blog is for my Cinematography module, detailing all the research processes for my final video piece. With everyone having to do a blog, we could see what other people on the module were researching, so we could learn off each other and comment and share opinions etc. so feel free to comment. The blog itself will include diagrams, screenshots, articles from magazines and the internet, research about technical aspects of cinematography such as types of lighting, camera hardware, videos used for research and inspiration and also critical analyses of films and their cinematography style e.g. lighting or sound.   

My personal aim for the module is to create a piece that I would be happy for anyone to watch and enjoy, a piece that consists of well thought out, perfectly framed, exposed meaningful images. I will conduct tests and thorough research to help achieve this aim.