Anamorphic Forum Collaboration

[QuickHitRecord]

[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif][size=4][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]I'd like to propose a collaboration: If forum members (or forum watchers) are able to submit clips shot with ten or more different anamorphic lenses, we'd have the most comprehensive anamorphic shootout on Vimeo. If we are able to put together shots from twenty or more anamorphics, this thing would be a definitive one-stop video for anamorphic footage comparisons [i]anywhere[/i].

To keep things cohesive, we need a common element. Something standardized, readily available around the world (as this is a very international community) and inexpensive:[/background][/size][/font][/color]
[center][img]http://www.longislandpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/41GrnPg_1.jpg[/img][/center]
So start shooting those Coca-Cola cans! Close ups, wides, dutch angles; portrait shots, action shots, landscape shots; people drinking from it, spitting in it, playing with it, crushing it, recycling it, putting out cigarettes in it -- anything you want. I'll try to include something from every clip that I receive, but please keep it clean (i.e. suitable for work).

Some guidelines:[list]
[*]Please make sure to use a standard 12 fl ounces/355 ml Coca Cola Classic aluminum can like the one above (or as close to it as you can get)
[*]Limit the footage to one minute or less per anamorphic
[*]Include original audio (no music, please)
[*]No grading
[*]White balance for "Shade" (or 7000 Kelvin)
[*]Please stretch them to the correct aspect ratio
[*]ProRes 422 codec is preferred
[/list]
So that proper credit can be given, please also note:[list]
[*]Your name (or your handle if you'd prefer) & location
[*]Camera used
[*]Taking lens used (with aperture)
[*]Anamorphic lens used
[*]Any diopters used
[*]Vimeo page (if you'd like me to link to it)
[/list]
Send me a private message if you have a clip to submit, and I will tell you how best to get it to me.

[b]Please submit by 12pm (New York time) on November 1st[/b] so that I can start the edit.

This could be a neat little collaboration and I hope that it is, but it's really up to you guys. I hope to get a lot of messages!

[richg101]

nice one man. I'll give you some Iscorama stuff and send over some stuff from when I had an century 1609.

I guess when you say 'shade' this is for outdoors and you want a warm look?

PS. make sure people give you info about the aperture. It's nice to see how wide you can go with each anamorphic element:)

[QuickHitRecord]

[quote name='richg101' timestamp='1350596298' post='19946']
nice one man. I'll give you some Iscorama stuff and send over some stuff from when I had an century 1609.

I guess when you say 'shade' this is for outdoors and you want a warm look?

PS. make sure people give you info about the aperture. It's nice to see how wide you can go with each anamorphic element:)
[/quote]

Thanks, Rich. I think that a warmer look will go well if we get some fall colors in the shots. And good point about the aperture. I've edited the post.

[Julian]

Nice idea. I'll give it a shot!

I'd prefer the focus of the collaboration to be on creativity. It's impossible to really compare the different anamorphics anyway since everybody is in a different place, using a different camera, different taking lens.. etc.

Can we edit shots into a clip of max. one minute, or should it be single clips?

What is your plan for the final result? Vimeo/Youtube?

[QuickHitRecord]

[quote name='Julian' timestamp='1350597297' post='19948']
Nice idea. I'll give it a shot!

I'd prefer the focus of the collaboration to be on creativity. It's impossible to really compare the different anamorphics anyway since everybody is in a different place, using a different camera, different taking lens.. etc.

Can we edit shots into a clip of max. one minute, or should it be single clips?

What is your plan for the final result? Vimeo/Youtube?
[/quote]

I know what you're saying! I'm hoping that it will be a vehicle for both comparison [i]and[/i] creativity. Rich suggested doing a scripted anamorphic collaboration and I like the idea. This is starting small, but if this goes well and people are interested, perhaps we can try something bigger next time around.

A series of clips is great!

[robtilbury]

yea cool cool ill do my bit!

iscorama 36 with a few different m42 taking lenses.

anamorphic life! <3

[brucker]

great idea!

if i can get my (soon to be) 3 cleaned and properly mounted by the 1st, i'm in!

[Sean Cunningham]

There's a youtube series done by these guys based (now) in Dallas called Film Riot. They do lots of DIY and FX stuff and started fairly regular challenges with their viewers, kinda like this, giving a common element or set of elements and then collecting folks submissions. Surprisingly they get some fairly involved, sometimes unexpectedly decent, narrative submissions.

I like where this is going!

[richg101]

Well.. I went out earlier wit ha mate and got some footage. an Iscorama mounted to a 35mm, 50mm and 135mm taking lens set. each lens tested at its widest aperture and at f11. Just looking through the footage now...

[QuickHitRecord]

[quote name='richg101' timestamp='1350689090' post='20014']
Well.. I went out earlier wit ha mate and got some footage. an Iscorama mounted to a 35mm, 50mm and 135mm taking lens set. each lens tested at its widest aperture and at f11. Just looking through the footage now...
[/quote]

Sweet! I have a pretty neat concept but it's going to take some preparation.

[richg101]

Hi Nick. I'm ready to export out and went to chose prores in the codec for .mov and it is not there in the list. tried installing the codec and it says I don't have fcp on the system so the quicktime professional codecs cant be installed. im using premiere. how can I get premiere to export prores? if not, what format would you like? I don't really want to export uncompressed .mov's. even 8bit 4.2.2 is 10gb for 40 seconds..

[QuickHitRecord]

Rich, I use Final Cut so I am not very well-versed in Premiere. I suspect that you could export at the native format (MP4?) and then run it through Adobe Media Encoder to create a ProRes 44 file. Or if not, you can send it to me as is and I'll compress it on this end.

[Sean Cunningham]

You might consider this option, which is available and free for both Windows and Mac. I've used Blackmagic before as well but haven't kept up-to-date on how or if that codec is still a viable choice anymore.

[url="http://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec"]http://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec[/url]

[QuickHitRecord]

Here's the Baby Hypergonar shooting Coke cans for this project:

[center][media]http://vimeo.com/52309231[/media][/center]

[Julian]

Haha, nice. I hope that's not a real recipe though. Just one thing: the alignment looks a bit off..
How are the submissions so far? I'm afraid I won't be able to do something before the deadline.

[QuickHitRecord]

[quote name='Julian' timestamp='1351462359' post='20502']
Haha, nice. I hope that's not a real recipe though. Just one thing: the alignment looks a bit off..
How are the submissions so far? I'm afraid I won't be able to do something before the deadline.
[/quote]

Boiling Coca-Cola is pretty vile stuff!

I noticed the alignment too, at least in some shots. I realigned every time I changed diopters but it looks like I got it wrong at least once.

So far I only have received one Iscorama submission. I'm hoping for more. A few people have asked to extend the deadline so I very well may do that.

[Bioskop.Inc]

There's a recipe where you boil a ham in Coke - quite tasty, but very sweet.

I'll try & do some thing with the 4 anamorphics i've got lying around.
What don't you have or should that be what have you got already - might save a bit of time.

Wasn't quite sure if you wanted a minutes worth of edited footage of each anamorphic or not?

Having trouble finding a coke can without Olympic branding on it - its become a mission!

[QuickHitRecord]

[quote name='Bioskop.Inc' timestamp='1351468915' post='20508']
There's a recipe where you boil a ham in Coke - quite tasty, but very sweet.

I'll try & do some thing with the 4 anamorphics i've got lying around.
What don't you have or should that be what have you got already - might save a bit of time.

Wasn't quite sure if you wanted a minutes worth of edited footage of each anamorphic or not?

Having trouble finding a coke can without Olympic branding on it - its become a mission!
[/quote]

So far, I have Baby Hypergonar and Iscorama covered. I can get Hypergonar, Iscomorphot and possibly Lomo square front footage as well. Anything other than those, I don't have! You can send me anything you'd like -- edited or not. The only guidance I have is to keep it to under a minute of footage per anamorphic lens so that I don't overflow my hard drive.

And don't worry too much about finding a Olympic-free can. Just anything that looks close to the classic can.

[Bioskop.Inc]

Ok, i'll just do the four i have & you can decide whether to use the stuff or not.
Might be quite interesting to compare the same lens with different cameras &/or different taking lenses.
I've noticed that the 54 is a prickly bastard when it comes to taking lens, at times it doesn't make sense at all & have had to rethink my approach.

[QuickHitRecord]

Rich and I both had this idea, but if he's able to get the FS700 rigged up, it will look a lot cooler in slo-mo. For now, here is this:

[center][media]http://vimeo.com/52820545[/media][/center]

I would not recommend doing this will full, well-shaken cans like I did (to be fair, I did not shake them, but I did not think that the road would be so bumpy). I am still trying to clean the syrup out of my achromat.

Still accepting submissions if you have one.