An anamorphic music promo - KOWA x2 with Tokina .4 achromat

[wotsisname]

Please have a look at the music promo I made using a kowa 8-Z anamorphic adaptor, mounted on a voigtlander Nokton 35mm F1.2, using a Lumix GH3.

 

I also had a Tokina .4 achromat and a Cokin Diopter +2 for the Close ups.

 

It was all shot at night which presented problems as the Lumix isn't very good in low light. I was shooting at 50fps which reduced the amount of light I had even further. I also found that if the lens was fully open it was difficult to get a focus. Not because it was too shallow, but because it wouldn't focus on anything!

 

As you can see I over-cranked the ISO on occasion, but I couldn't set lights up on the banks of the Thames at 3am, as we didn't have permission  to be there. I wish I'd got someone to stand close by reflecting a bright torch off a white shirt though. I can only hope that I get away with the graininess in the spirit of low/no budget film making, and it looks like 16mm!

 

Staying close to the subject, using the diopters, gave me a picture I liked the most. The bokeh looks lovely and soft and cinematic. Shots where I had to focus to infinity were difficult - the bokeh is ugly in those shots (in my opinion), taking the shape of a kind of horizontal tear. But I couldn't film the whole video in close ups!

 

It was difficult to shot this as a one-man-band. Having to screw two different diopters on or off every time I wanted to change my proximity to the actors made it quite fiddly. I was also moving lights (I had x3 LED panels). I had some other taking lenses, but it wasn't practical to change during the shoot.

 

Lastly, I know its normal to crop the super-wide picture you get from shooting 2x anamorphic on a 16:9 sensor, but I decided to embrace it. It's fun, and a bit silly, but its a music promo, so why not.

 

Hope you enjoy. The track by Durlston George, his debut single, is lovely.

[enny]

Some shots can be taken out make it more tighter. when you are introducing a character you go for full body shoot and then close up of face but we don't see the face of the person in the full shot when you do close up i think who is this person. but still good job my self i would just focus one or two couples. And your lens is not aligned properly it can be seen in 3:55 min in on those white pools or glass and other shoots. But still good work

[Matthias Malleši�]

Nice work; to my opinion some deskewing could be done at some scenes...

[nahua]

I give you a ton of props for making this.  As hard as it is (yeah I feel your pain on working with diopters) I think this is a good effort.  Any type of filmmaking is very difficult.  You got that vintage look and I think it works.  Like the church interior scene, looks the best wide.  The office scenes are all skewed, wish you got those right because the bokeh from the city lights is nice.  Keep working at it!  I think you have a good eye, just get a friend to carry stuff for you or help position lights.