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This post is available on my blog a little more nicely formatted: Link Trailer for the film The making of RE:ACTING Two weeks ago I wrote a post talking about how we shot our micro-budget short film. I talked about how we planned and shot one scene in the film. I got some questions about where exactly the $3000 budget went, so I'm going to start this post by breaking down our costs. Food & snacks for about 10-15 people per day (cooked in the evenings after the shoot) - $500 Camera equipment was mostly lent to us for free, but in order to move quickly we also had to rent two zoom lenses for seven days - $450 Props & costumes - $400 Location costs (parking, location rent etc..) - $400 Post-production - $1250 Keeping the budget this low was only possible because we were able to borrow a lot of gear, being smart about planning and making deals with other companies. For example, we planned the shoot in June because that’s the month most Swedes are on vacation and we managed to get sponsored by a production company that did not have anything scheduled during the shoot, they would let us borrow most of the camera and lighting equipment for the whole production. Additionally, we managed to save costs on props by negotiating a deal with a company that rents out police gear for film, including cars. Usually this would cost a lot as police gear is highly regulated, but we were able to get what we needed for one day of shooting in exchange for doing a short production for the company. Another place where we had to get creative with costs was locations. As we wanted to shoot a total of 26 scenes in 13 different locations, we had to choose and plan our locations and scenes carefully. Not only did they have to come for free or at least very cheaply, we also had to get to three locations per day with a small crew. In the last post I talked about scene 3 in the film and how we shot it in about two hours from arriving at the location. After Scene 3 we drove about 20 minutes to the next location to shoot Scene 22 where we transformed an inconspicuous location into something that would work for the production in more ways than one. Schedule for day 4 of the shoot Scene #22 Scene 22 is a police interrogation with the main character Karl, where he finally gets the courage to act well and completes his character arc. The good thing about interrogation rooms is that when you really look at them and how they appear in films, they're just rooms with neutral-coloured walls and often a one-way mirror. We realised that all we needed for this location was a white wall and enough space to fit a table and chairs. I figured the common room in the basement of my apartment building would fit our needs, and we could rent it for just $30 a day. The corner where the bed is standing is where we shot this whole scene. Doesn’t look like much when you look at it like this, but just dress it up right and light it with intent and you can make anything work. Dressed up and lit. When I scouted this room there were several things that made me feel like this was going to make a good location: Few, small windows, making it easy to block out sunlight Big space, fitting the whole crew without problem Access to a bathroom and a kitchen so we could break for lunch here. (which we did) Bottom floor, so we could get our equipment in and out of the room quickly. We shot during the daytime, so we had to block out the light from the windows and ended up using just an Astera tube with grid for lighting as well as a floppy for some negative fill. Floor plan & lighting schematic I made ahead of the shoot For this scene we chose to shoot from a 90-degree angle to emphasise the movement when Karl leans forward and takes control of the situation. In contrast to the rest of the film which is shot around 28-35mm, we chose to use a tighter lens to make Karl appear more cramped up and put on the spot. Acting tough Being out-witted These are the two shots that run for most of this scene, and the third shot is of Karl's friend and dim-witted drug dealer Josef who is (poorly) trying to talk his way out of the situation. Josef, the drug dealer This shot we chose to do from head-on with the police in silhouette instead. This is both because Josef is acting as comedic relief in the middle of a tense scene and comedy genereally plays better in a wider shot, and also because we wanted to sell the feeling of it being an actual interrogation room more. Rounding up This interrogation room scene is a simple scene but I still think that many good principles were applied in its planning. We kept the lighting simple, we got a location that was close to the other two locations of the day, we didn’t have to do a lot of rigging, and in the end we shot it in a way that made it a lot more interesting than you’d expect when you saw the room for the first time. So, the next time you’re faced with a scene that you don’t have the budget for. Take a step back and consider what the essential parts of the scene are. Then try to be creative with lighting and blocking to enhance your location. If you do this you can often get away with shooting a scene that you thought was out of your budget. In the third part of this series I’ll give another example of how we got away with shooting a scene that on the surface seems impossible at this budget - an interior scene in a moving car during night time. Josef, shocked that we pulled it off. Again, feel free to reach out to me if you have any specific questions.

Just to be clear it's the Canon R6 mark 1 I'm comparing the S5ii with, R6 mark 2 does solve some of the above issues such as 30 minute recording limit and overheating although I'm not 100% convinced by Canon on that. The Panasonic has a fan and been tested at much higher temperatures. But the R6ii is nearly £800 more expensive in the UK which puts it in a different price bracket for me Syncro scan was also really handy as all the speakers were in front of a screen Anyway just playing around a bit more and have to say the IBIS on the S5ii is amazing, completely different level to anything I've tried before - wow that opens up a lot of different shot possibilities and am sure will speed up b-roll process Apologies for the stream of consciousness...

Ok received the S5ii with 20-60mm and 50mm lens kit this morning, charged the battery had a very quick play and then took it with me on a shoot this afternoon - nothing too taxing or crazy, just filming speakers at a conference and took some photos in between. Was able to use it instead of the Canon R6 until it ran out of battery (only had the one, lasted about as long as R6 battery does - couple of hours in 4k). Here are my thoughts so far... Some real positives over the R6 for this type of work - No 30 minute limit (one of the talks was 40 minutes) so was nice to capture it all Able to use my 7" monitor whilst having full access to the cameras touchscreen - this was lovely and so much more relaxing for my ageing eyes. Great to be able to put lut on monitor and also use full HDMI - even without a cage felt more reassuring than horrible micro No overheating whatsoever in 4k 10 bit 422 for 2 hours - priceless for peace of mind. Once the battery ran out had to use the R6 and overheating warning came on in the last hour so changed recording down to HD for the last speaker Comparing to the R6 they are very similar in size and weight - S5ii feels very solid, R6 a bit plasticy in comparison although slightly nicer grip in the hand (was marginal though and maybe dependent on hand size). S5ii AF with the 20-60mm and 50mm 1.8 seemed to stick well once it locked onto a face. Nothing very taxing but did a good job I think - will need to check through all the footage but am pretty confident it worked as well as the R6 under these conditions Audio - used Sound Devices mix pre-d at line level 96khz 24 bit into the S5ii - seems to capture a clean sound, need to do some testing but think it is a step up from the R6 The 20-60mm lens is probably the best kit lenses I've used - well made, nicely dampened focus ring and zoom. Love that it's 20mm on the wide as opposed to standard 24mm, don't think I'll need any wider. Bit short on the long end but used it in apsc mode - quality seems a little sharper than the r6's crop mode but am only eyeballing off the screen The 50mm 1.8 is really nice, completely silent AF, nice size and lovely feel to the large focus ring, also quite pleasing bokeh from first impression, felt like a quality lens - obviously in a different price bracket to the Canon 50mm STM lens but yes a lot nicer to use That's all for now, feel like it could be a good purchase though of course early days so time will tell, used vlog and am just trying some luts in Resolve now - looks pretty good for conference type lighting

Just to contribute to this resurrected thread, here is my Alexa Classic on a music video recently. Heavy but beautiful image.

The same thing happens with Sony and canon autofocus. You have to adjust, tap or go manually. Plan accordingly when doing events, wedding’s, etc.. There are times you should use it and times you shouldn’t, it’s just a tool like anything else.

Tell me about it, I was there for the whole DSLR video revolution. But then Sony came in with the mirrorless FF revolution with A7S in 2015 and boy did it take long for Canon to join in and catch up. EOS R (2018) had that weird 1.7x crop. Then R5/R6 (2020) were plagued with overheat issues. I mean it basically took until 2022 (R5C/R6ii/R7) to start having non overheating no compromise hybrids from Canon. Like we're just finally there in Canon land, so yeah of course they lost a lot of ground in the mirrorless video sector. They've been trashed in this forum alone for years, still have somewhat of a bad rep. Panny are in their own world I feel. Very loyal customer base. Mostly solo indie shooters. I know a few jumped over to BM. They have been ultra slow to adapt to PDAF needs so I think lost a few others to competition but with S5ii and on-going releases will probably gain them back. Solo operators really like their cameras and I understand why. Great video features, reliable hardware, always at a competitive price.

That's the one! I think the biggest issue is the size and operation. It's meant for crews and all of that, as far as I know. Might be a tough go for a solo operator. But damned if you won't have the best image in town. STILL, after 8 damn years or whatever it's been.