Yesterday I run the A-cam on a shoot in Strängnäs, Sweden for Arclight FX. The cam I used was a FS700 since there was a lot of explosions and fire to be filmed in slowmo.
I must say that at first sight the FS700 is, ugly. But after been using the camera quite intensive for two and a half days I must say that I like the camera a lot. Since it´s a Sony there are menus… But as soon as I decided a strategy for the shoot and set up the settings for it. The FS700 is pretty easy going.
One great thing is that there is a built in ND-filter. It´s a lovely feature and it really saves your day on hectic shoots like this, where much is to be done before daylight is gone.
The slowmo’s were shot in 24 Mb AVCHD and normal speed recorded on an Atomos Ninja 2 in ProResHQ. Directly from the sensor in 10 bit.
The end scene
Speaking of daylight. The last shoot on the whole set was the big, fat explosion to be used for the end scene.
For this take there were only one chance to get it right. After that the stuff used for the fire and explosions would defenitive be empteid out.
Also we were very fast running out of daylight. The sun were just above the tree tops and it was just minutes before it would leave us for the day and the take would be ruined.
The sun were just above the tree tops and it was just minutes before it would leave us for the day and the take would be ruined.
All was set and for the slowmo takes it was earlier decided that I was the one who gave the signal for everyone on the set. This since once the slowmo recording been started in the FS700 there is no turning back until the recording has finnished. So you can understand that it is devastating if I not push the button at excactly the right time!
For this particular scene I can tell you that I was in the focus zone. (I´ve written about the focus zone earlier) Not thinking what to do, just doing. It´s kind of strange shooting slowmo when you are in the focus zone, it´s like slowmo deluxe.
The take went very well!! It is a great rush to do takes like this and the whole team should be proud. The edit and comps will be made by Monir Eriksson in Smoke. I will do the audio-post so it is better start digging and building those heavy xplosions. See ya!