Using Cooke Lenses with HD Cameras
We shot a short film called Polished. Shot and completed it in five days. They liked it. The word is that the 50 filmmakers selected were personally picked by Spielberg.
From that point I went out to LA and went through various tests and challenges. Before they sent us home they said they wanted to see us make another short film, a one minute comedy in five days. That is where we made Spaced Out. We used the same formula we used before using a HD camera (Panasonic AJ-HDX900) and a set of Cooke primes, which makes everything look fantastic.
They went from 12,000 of those that applied, then narrowed it down to 200, then to 50 and then to 18 that would be on the show. I made it to the final six.
The test was to see if you could a short film in that turnaround. The show was airing in real time. It wasn’t like you shoot for six months and then all the contestants have to keep quiet for six.
On the show the time you had to make the films was even shorter than five days. I did three: Midnight Snack, Zero to Sixty and Keep off the Grass. Literally you shot on Friday and Saturday and as soon as you wrap you are at a post house. You finish shooting at 6 pm Saturday and you have to have a locked picture by 4 am Sunday morning. So making the short was about 32 hours to do shooting and posting and final tweaks.
What was it like going from shooting smaller-budget projects to this?
It was kind of a surreal environment because up here in Minneapolis I am used to doing everything. Then for this they tell you that you are directing a car chase scene and here are 50 crew members. It was the first shoot I had to go on where I didn’t have to take out my credit card to buy pizza for the crew. So there were preproduction meetings with art directors, cinematographers, editors, post supervisors. Then going onto set where you have a crew of 50 and then into post where you had an editor, a music editor, a sound effects editor, a mixer and a color correction artist.
So how did you develop this formula for HD?
We’ve used several different cameras with the Cooke lenses. We used the Varicam, the HVX200, the F900 and many others. It was a formula that we came up with. We have no money for making films but we hated the look of a zoom lens on an HD camera because you can see everything. In order to get any sort of cinematic depth of field you have to move the camera back into Iowa to get the depth of field. So we startd to play around and got the P+S Technik Pro35 adaptor (or 1/3″ cameras fitted with Mini35 adaptors). That was the first step. We started using different set of prime lenses at first and weren’t really happy with them because when you get to a 25mm or 35 mm lens you notice that the sides start to go out of focus and start to vignette a bit.
I started talking to a vendor and they suggested the (S4) Cooke lenses. I shot a commercial here where I work (ShopNBC) and as soon as I threw those Cooke lenses on to an HD camera that was it and I knew we found the formula to have really good looking images on a shoestring budget.
If you want to shoot something that doesn’t look like video, primes are the way to go. I got spoiled during film school (School of Visual Arts in Manhattan) when working with prime lenses and then it was several years trying to find a formula, right when the CineAlta came out, which is a great acquisition format but there was nothing on the front end. Granted, you’ll never make it look like film, but at least make it look cinematic and more than just high definition.
If you are watching football it is fantastic because everything is sharp. But when it it comes to films or commercials we are used to having a cinematic look and with everything sharp it is hard to manipulate where you want your audience to look.
Do you favor any particular HD camera?
I’ve used all the HD cameras out there. It’s funny after a while you look at HD cameras like film stocks. The CineAlta feels more like a Fuji stock, whereas the Panasonic P2 cameras look different. If it was up to me I would shoot everything 35mm film. If my budget is small I’ll shoot the HVX200. I love how compact that camera is. I am also eager to get the RED camera.
The cameras on the shows we used Panavision CineAlta and the Genesis camera. Those were great but I really, really enjoy the Cooke lenses.
Are you back in Minneapolis working now?
We are about to move to L.A. Once you see how efficient and amazing the crews are in L.A., it’s tough to leave. That is every filmmakers dream.
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