Blackmagic Forum

Had the opportunity to work on a national tvc campaign with a jib last week. Wanted to share my experiences with it and what we had to work with. I won't be able to show you the shots until we have edited it, my apologies. But will post when done. The footage was all shot in RAW and at 25fps.

We had a few shots to do at a farm and then a larger setup at a distribution centre. I had the chance to work with a very helpful operator and owner Ralph Marshall from flyingcameras.com.au. Once at the farm I rigged the BMCC to the jib with a Canon 16-35mm f2.8l lens. This allowed me to be reasonably wide and stop it down to about f16-f22. No ND was used in the setup.

I was very unsure at first about putting the camera up that far, especially since it was just a bolt with a security washer attached to the wooden camera cage. But after seeing how secure it was with the bolt in place I had no worries.

We also set up the jib at the distribution centre in the afternoon. This allowed us to do a dramatic move from the back end of the trailer of the truck all the way down to the driver getting out of the cab. Again the Canon 16-35mm lens was used stopped down to f18.



This particular setup allowed us to run HD-SDI direct from the camera to 3 monitors (director, and both jib operators). We also had IFB setup from the camera with a direct out of the audio recording in camera. The audio op had a wireless lav on the talent and sent the signal wirelessly to the camera then looped back to the director and I.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask. This campaign will be released in the coming days so I will release the final, plus some RAW if you would like.

Kind regards,

Todd Davies

More Photos!

Holy Jib moves Batman! That one heck of a JIB Todd!
ahem Cough, cough, Can we see some video?

DGFilms wrote:Holy Jib'ers Batman! That one heck of a JIB Todd!
Errr Emm Cough, cough, Can we see some video?

Would love to, but can't until the commercial is completed. But will defo show once done in a few days.

Todd Davies wrote:

DGFilms wrote:Holy Jib'ers Batman! That one heck of a JIB Todd!
Errr Emm Cough, cough, Can we see some video?

Would love to, but can't until the commercial is completed. But will defo show once done in a few days.

I hate it when I get quoted before spell checking my posts

Thanks Todd

Why no NDs?

Clark Fable wrote:Why no NDs?

Todd will answer, but I assume it's to get maximum depth of field (to keep as much of the scene in focus as possible), and eliminate a potential source of flares.

I'd be curious if Todd noticed any objectionable diffraction at f18?

BTW, Todd: You get to have way too much fun! Cheers.

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Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:

Clark Fable wrote:Why no NDs?

Todd will answer, but I assume it's to get maximum depth of field (to keep as much of the scene in focus as possible), and eliminate a potential source of flares.

I'd be curious if Todd noticed any objectionable diffraction at f18?

BTW, Todd: You get to have way too much fun! Cheers.

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Thanks, I didn't think about flares. But I thought the cost of res and diffraction for the gain of DOF wasn't really worth it at extreme aperture settings unless you are really close to the foreground of the shot.

Looks like a sweet setup.

Clark Fable wrote:

Peter J. DeCrescenzo wrote:

Clark Fable wrote:Why no NDs?

Todd will answer, but I assume it's to get maximum depth of field (to keep as much of the scene in focus as possible), and eliminate a potential source of flares.

I'd be curious if Todd noticed any objectionable diffraction at f18?

BTW, Todd: You get to have way too much fun! Cheers.

-

Thanks, I didn't think about flares. But I thought the cost of res and diffraction for the gain of DOF wasn't really worth it at extreme aperture settings unless you are really close to the foreground of the shot.

Looks like a sweet setup.

Haha! Thanks Peter, defo too much fun. Yeah exactly that with the NDs. Because there was no way of controlling the focus I had to stop down to maintain focus on dramatic moves. But because of the day I did get flares, but the client loved the look so we will use them in the final edit.

And it's possible some diffraction might help smooth moire/aliasing a bit.

I guessed your client would probably love the "natural" flares from that naked lens. Good stuff.

Todd Davies wrote:Because there was no way of controlling the focus I had to stop down to maintain focus on dramatic moves.

Todd, if you use jibs I would recommend a Jag35 remote follow focus kit. My clients always love the level of professionalism that a jib adds, so I've had this wired remote follow focus that I bought when shooting on DSLRs and it works great with the BMCC: http://jag35.com/effkit.html. At $359 you can't beat it, but you do have to run a wire.

They also sell a wireless version (http://jag35.com/weffv2.html) for $1,299 but since I'm usually only using a 12' jib I couldn't justify the added expense.

Hey all! Have uploaded the final product below for you to have a look at:


(an extended version)

Will try and upload some DNG's as well.

shanerator2 wrote:

Todd Davies wrote:Because there was no way of controlling the focus I had to stop down to maintain focus on dramatic moves.

Todd, if you use jibs I would recommend a Jag35 remote follow focus kit. My clients always love the level of professionalism that a jib adds, so I've had this wired remote follow focus that I bought when shooting on DSLRs and it works great with the BMCC: http://jag35.com/effkit.html. At $359 you can't beat it, but you do have to run a wire.

They also sell a wireless version (http://jag35.com/weffv2.html) for $1,299 but since I'm usually only using a 12' jib I couldn't justify the added expense.

Thanks mate! Will defo look into it! Sounds great!

Looks good,

Did you have any form of LANC control to the camera? Or just push record and start shot?

Xtreemtec wrote:Looks good,

Did you have any form of LANC control to the camera? Or just push record and start shot?

Thanks, Nah literally just rolled it and let it go. Set exposure and focus before rolling.

Well it looks great Todd, Only one complaint from me is the first jib move when the truck drives past approximately 00:17 to 00:19 in the extended version anyway, It seems way to close, should have positioned the jib on the other side of the fence maybe? giving you more distance from the truck?
By the way what lens did you use for that shot?

Thanks Todd, And It's really not a complaint, more of a preference.

DGFilms wrote:Well it looks great Todd, Only one complaint from me is the first jib move when the truck drives past approximately 00:17 to 00:19 in the extended version anyway, It seems way to close, should have positioned the jib on the other side of the fence maybe? giving you more distance from the truck?
By the way what lens did you use for that shot?

Thanks Todd, And It's really not a complaint, more of a preference.

Thanks mate! Yeah probably should have been a little further away... but surprisingly it was pretty far, it was probably the lens that didn't help.. it was the Canon 16-35mm f2.8l which on the BMCC is not all that wide. I am gonna invest in a 8mm or 11-14mm possibly in the future.