Total newbie to film with many questions

S

springer-

Where to begin.....

I know very little about film but I'm ready to dive in head first.

Scope of the project:
High speed 16mm film of specific parts in a running engine at different RPM's. Then digitizing said film and creating slow motion video for a website.

Specifics:
I want to film valves, pushrods, cam timing, lifters and cam chain tensioners in a late model Harley twin cam engine for the purpose of comparing different types of parts. For example, adjustable pushrods vs 1 piece pushrods.

Equipment:
Hycam II 10-11,000 fps, No lens yet. Looking for a Honeywell Pentax spot meter. Don't know what I will need for lighting. Don't know what type of film to use either. I'm thinking B/W

Anyone have any experience in high speed slow motion video and/or Hycam II?
 
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high speed photography needs tons of light due to the short shutter time. I don't have experience with film, but that's a physics thing...run tests on some short ends of film before digging into the main production.
 
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you're going to want to get the fastest film possible for those super high-speeds.. I know you can get like 1600 and 3200 iso for still cameras, so there has got to be a way to get the same kind of speed film for a motion picture camera.
 
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My post might be a little misleading. The camera is capable of 10fps to 11,000fps. I am looking at running it at 1000fps. So with a 100ft roll I can get 4 seconds of film. It will hold up to 400ft or 16 seconds of film.

I am not positive but I think I can use 400-500 speed film. I am still not sure about positive, negative, reversal and what ever other kinds of film there are to use. From what I gather so far I am thinking positive film? so I can develop it once and then digitize it. Not sure what the steps would be with a negative film but negative film seems to be easier to find. Any suggestions?
 
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"Positive" or reversal film is a stock that has a standard,
projectable image. All film shown in theaters is, technically
speaking, reversal. I'm not sure how old you are, but us oldsters
remember when the family camera was Super8 (some of us even
remember 8mm). That is reversal film.

Negative is a negative image on the stock which must be printed to
a positive stock for projecting. You can shoot either and have it
transferred to DV.

When shooting at 1,000fps you might want to consider a slower
stock and lots of light. For B&W you might think about shooting
Plus-X (7265). It's a really sharp stock, but will need a lot of
light. For color I suggest Extachrome 100 (7285). It's beautiful
stock - but will need a lot of light.
 
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I have purchased a few rolls of plus-x and tri-x reversal film.

What is Vision2 7218 500T color negative film? I assume the speed is 500? I am not sure I understand the benefits of using a negative film if any. Is there a processing difference cost wise? Any advantage or disadvantage to using a film like this?

I have about 4000 watts of lights on the way so I am hoping that is enough.
 
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Now-a-days, if you are going directly from the camera original
(either negative or reversal) to DV I don't know if there is an
advantage. I haven't shot 16mm reversal in a long time so I
haven't done any tests. But I love the look of Super8 reversal.

Other than the tech specs (speed, saturation, grain) what insight
are you interested in?
 
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directorik said:
Other than the tech specs (speed, saturation, grain) what insight
are you interested in?
Click to expand...


I am not really sure. I have never filmed anything in my life and don't have a clue what questions to ask. Also I am not sure how to get the film transfered to DV yet. I was considering direct filming of the playback from tape. For example, project it on a screen and film it with a digital camera. I don't believe that is really possible with a negative film, but I am not sure.

Thanks
 
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You are correct. Negative film is not meant to be projected.

Do you remember the days of shooting pictures with a film
camera (I'm not sure how old you are)? You would get the
pictures back and a paper sleeve with the negative. That's
what a film negative looks like.

You will need to get the film transfered to DV professionally.
It's called telecine and there are places all around the country
that do it. A good place will charge between $200 and $400
per hour - that's lab time, not running time.

Since you have no experience have you considered finding
a camera owner to handle the film stock and processing issues?
 
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Wow! All I can say is practice and make sure your shit is together before you step foot on the set.

I've shot tape/digital all my life and even now I get caught out every now and then!

Or at least do cheap runs on DV and get the set up perfect befiore you step in with the expensive bit!
 
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VirgoFilms said:
It's hard to do your first film specially when you have only one camera. I learned from my mistakes on that now looking forward to my next short film this weekend.
Click to expand...

It's hard but it can be done.

Just make sure that you get lots of angles (if possible) and more footage than you think you will need. Doing things this way is harder, but it is possible...

-- spinner :cool:
 
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