Monologue from "the member of the wedding"

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

I would like to show you a short video that I casually found while browsing on Youtube. It's a monologue from a novel called "The member of the wedding", played by an Italian-American actress. The use of depth of field immediately made me guess that it could have been done with either a photo camera with photo lenses, or with professional very expensive equipment. I contacted the director (Andrea Poli, also Italian) to find out, and he confirmed me the video was indeed taken with a Canon 5D.

Well, I think this video is the closest thing to film colours that I ever saw from a photo camera HD movie. The late afternoon sun really made me think of Kodak 16mm cine film, same colour density, same saturation.
I know exactly how Kodak 16mm film works and looks, not just from cinema shows but also because I collaborated to the shooting of an independent movie in 1993 where that film was used, and I could see all the dailies, and of course the final result as well. And that film had exactly the same colours. I tell you, in the small size of an HD video window, I would really have trouble telling this video apart from a film production. And I saw quite some films, in my life.

Poli told me that he used two lenses (a Canon 50mm and a Tamron 70-300), and the only lighting aid were a couple of Lastolite panels.
Which I think shows how long a way you can walk with simple tools, provided of course that you know how to meter a scene, how to light it, how to frame it, and how to cut it.
A talented director, with a good actor, a 2000 Euros cameras, a few hundred euros of lenses, and a few dozen euros panels, can really do professional quality work, which for that kind of money would have been just a dream only a handful of years ago. Isn't this a great time for image creators? Here's the link to the video (not the Youtube version but the version that it's on the author's web site), and I think that if you have questions, you may ask the director himself here, since I will give him the link to this discussion:

http://www.apfilm.net/?p=79

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cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

Pretty impressive on that small screen, Orio. I'd like to see how it looks on a much larger one, but hey, if it's being filmed in 1080p HD, I reckon it should look just fine. But please correct me if I'm wrong -- wouldn't the clip have to have been filmed with a 5D Mk II? I didn't think the 5D had a video mode.

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Geoff C. Bassett · Expire: 2012-06-18

Some excellent work in the video. Color is spot on and lovely cinematography the whole way threw.

The audio work was great, it seems as if it was recorded separately in post, though if it was recorded on location I would love to know how.

The shutter speed seemed to be a little fast for some sequences. I noticed that for the last shot this was purposeful for the slow-mo at the end. Lighting was excellent.

Great piece of work! Thanks for bringing it to our attention Orio!

Orio · Expire: 2012-12-04

Lip sincing seems too perfect to be dubbed. I think sound was recorded live. I bet they used one of those super-directional "spot" microphones that are used in movies (those that cut off all lateral sound and record only from where they are pointing at).