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| Director Thom Marini while taking a quick continuity still. |
A small crew assembled in late July to shoot a documentary featuring native American poetry mixed with beautiful images of the Pacific Northwest, sponsored in part by Kodak and ARRI. They were the first to use the 416 camera and the Ultra 16 lenses in the States.
Marc Shipman-Mueller talked with Director Thom Marini, Cinematographers Chris Hart and Matt Siegel, Assistant Rainy Rau and Senior Colorist Bertl Grabmayer shortly afterwards to collect their feedback.
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| Duane Niatum reading a poem for Words on the Wind |
Thom, as the director you can probably tell us best what Words on the Wind is about.
Thom Marini: Words on the Wind is a program featuring contemporary Native American poets and poetry. Each program is 30 minutes in length and is a blend of natural history, native art, cultural footage, music, natural sounds and of course the poems read by the author and professional voice talent. In addition to the visual interpretation of the poems, each program contains an in-depth interview with the poet that gives the audience insight into the author and his work.
In this program, we worked with Duane Niatum, a prolific poet, essayist, short story writer and member of the Jamestown, S' Klallam tribe of the Washington State peninsula. This is the second such program in the series. We are currently covering poetry from tribes in the US but can see this concept expand to native peoples in Mexico, South America and Canada.
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| Cinematographer Chris Hart getting light levels in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula. |
How did you meet Chris Hart?
Thom Marini: I shot most of volume one myself, but then Chris Hart saw the program and wanted to be involved. I'm glad that happened. Chris is a sensitive and a very talented DP. He understands that this program is a "labor of love" and born out of a deep respect for native cultures.
Where was Words on the Wind shot?
Thom Marini: We were filming on tribal land in the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Forest, which is one of the most diverse, dramatic, and unique landscapes in North America. They have miles of puzzle-like shorelines, alpine meadows crowned with glaciers, and dense rainforest valleys, all very beautiful.
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| Cinematographer Matt Siegel and assistant Rainy Rau setting up a scenic shot in the mountains. |
Matt Siegel: Yes, beautiful to look at, but rough conditions for shooting film. The Olympic Peninsula has all of the earth's climate zones, there is a temperate rain forest, a desert, alpine meadows and snow-covered high mountains, so we really could put the new camera through its paces. On the first day we dragged the cameras out onto the beach in high winds, with sand flying all around us. "This will test the camera's seals and how robust the lens coatings are" we said, only half joking.
Chris Hart: This was a great test for the camera's ability to work reliably in different temperatures and humidity conditions, and it did very well.
What was the gear you used?
Matt Siegel: We shot on 7218, 7201 and 7205, all the new Vision2 stocks. We had two 416 cameras, one 16SR 3 and a 235. For lenses we had the new Ultra 16 lenses, a full set of Ultra Primes, four Master Primes, Canon 6.6-66 and 11.5-165 zooms, a Zeiss 11-110, a Canon 150-600 and a set of 16 format Super Speeds.
That is a lot of gear for such a small crew.
Matt Siegel: Yes, it is a lot of cameras and a boat load of lenses for a crew of only three in the camera department, but it did allow us to compare old cameras and old lenses with the new stuff. The amount of equipment was probably the most difficult aspect of this shoot. It brought an important lesson back to mind: you really need to take the time to put together a package that is appropriate for your shoot. For instance, you don't want to take an O' Connor 25/75 on a documentary shoot with 16 mm cameras!
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| Cinematographer Chris Hart sets up a poetry reading at night in front of a camp fire. |
Chris Hart: The most challenging task on this show was to get the look I wanted with a small crew; I usually have a fully loaded grip truck with a grip department available, and getting the images to look the way I wanted them to with so few resources was a great challenge.
We had a small crew, we had Matt, Camera Assistant Rainy Rau, one gaffer/grip and myself. And of course George Schmidt from ARRI, who came with us to see the first US production shot with the 416. He was a great help and I am glad we had him. So with all this stuff, the lighter weight of the camera really helped. One day, for instance, three of us went into the Hoh Rain Forest to shoot some B-roll footage. We were hiking up a trail with the camera and a bag of lenses on our backs, and the fact that the camera was so light really made up for the extra weight of all the lenses we decided to bring!
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| Cinematographer Chris Hart going hand held with the 416 and a 9.5 mm Ultra 16 lens. |
And what was your impression of the 416?
Thom Marini: The 416 was wonderful. It is a great honor to use one of the first 416 cameras, and it performed very well. I have operated almost all of the ARRI cameras ever made, and the 416 is more ergonomic than its predecessor and its balance is great. I also love the viewfinder. When I saw the 235, I fell in love with its viewfinder, and so it is great that this viewfinder is also on the 416.
Chris Hart: The 416 is a huge improvement over all other 16 mm cameras because its viewfinder is so big, bright and beautiful. Everyone who looked through that viewfinder said "Wow, look at that!"
Matt Siegel: The viewfinder is very clear, and the camera runs so quiet, we often could not tell if it was running except by the RUN LED. What a difference. The weight and the viewfinder alone are outstanding. Also the fact that it sits so comfortably on the shoulder is great.
Rainy Rau: For the assistant the 416 is wonderful. I had no problems loading the magazines, for me there was almost no learning curve. It was all pretty familiar.
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| Camera assistant Rainy Rau working on the 416. |
Did you experience any problems with the new camera?
Chris Hart: At first we were a bit confused by the loop check. If you put a mag on the camera and you forget to push the PHASE button, the camera will go into this two second loop check procedure on its own, before it starts running, and that took a bit getting used to. But once we knew what it was, we realized what a great little invention that was, as it prevents you from punching new perfs accidentally!
How did the Ultra 16 lenses perform?
Chris Hart: The Ultra 16 lenses are gorgeous. We did some wide shots in the rain forest, looking straight up into the Cedar trees, and those were phenomenal. I love the new camera for all the improvements that help me during shooting, but I think for the image quality the Ultra 16 lenses are a tremendous leap forward.
Matt Siegel: The Ultra 16 lenses are head and shoulders above the older lenses. Just looking at ease of use, ergonomics, their size, the type of markings. If you simply look through them they are tack sharp, you can tell just by looking through the viewfinder. They look just as sharp as the Master Primes do on a 35 cameras.
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| George Schmidt from ARRI with the ARRIFLEX 416 and the disproportionate Master Prime 25 mm. |
How do you feel about using 35 format lenses on 16 mm cameras?
Matt Siegel: I love to use 35 format lenses, which is possible with the 416 since the way the viewfinder is designed. Most 35 format lenses have a decent stop and good image quality, good contrast and little breathing. When you use a lot of the older Super 16 lenses you lose a lot of that. I like the control a modern high quality lens gives me over the image.
Chris Hart: I like the flexibility of using 35 format lenses, since I can use them on both 35 and 16 mm cameras. On the really wide end, of course, you need dedicated 16 mm format lenses for 16, but that is how the Ultra 16 lenses fit in. It is very practical to use the same lenses on 16 and 35. Most of the modern 35 format lenses have a great image quality, and I think their resolution is more than sufficient for 16. For 16, the film stock and the lenses you use are very important factors for the image quality you will get. We shot all the Words on the Wind footage with the new Vision2 Kodak stocks and with the best lenses we could get a hold of: Ultra 16, Master Primes and Ultra Primes. This will give us the best resolution possible. I think if people really understood the part a lens has in the final image quality, they would not use older lenses anymore and choose their lenses more carefully, which is especially important in 16.
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| Senior Colorist Bertl Grab,mayer while grading the Words on the Wind footage |
Bertl Grabmayer: I just finished grading Words on the Wind in telecine, and this is some of the best looking Super 16 footage I have ever seen. Sharp, contrasty, well exposed. In telecine I can see when people are using older lenses, the image looks softer and muddier and I can see color fringes on some of the older wide angle lenses. In 16 this is very crucial: you want to have the sharpest image to begin with. Sometimes it is sad to see all the effort that goes into the set and the acting and art department and so on, only to produce a muddy image because someone was too cheap to spring for a modern lens, or to see an image with a bad exposure. If you expose properly, use modern film stocks and modern lenses, Super 16 can look fantastic!
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| The first crew to work with the 416 in the States (from left to right): Rainy Rau, Duane Niatum, George Schmidt, Matt Siegel, James Minno, Randy Sparrazza, Bob Schills, Lou Angora, Chris Hart, Thom Marini. |
What was the most fun aspect during the production?
Chris Hart: The most fun was working with the crew. That was a great group of people to work with, and it was great being in that part of the world, in the rain forest, in the mountains, those were beautiful locations.
Matt Siegel: Working with the new camera. At the time there were only three 416 cameras in the whole United States, so this was a great opportunity. The shooting was documentary style, and we really did put the camera through its paces, and it was great to see how well it did. I had it on my shoulder, then would throw it on the ground for a low shot, then put it on a tripod, and it was very easy.
Thank you for the interview.
Marc Shipman-Mueller
| Words on the Wind Crew |
| Director: |
Thom Marini |
| Producer: |
Lou Angora |
| First Cinematographer: |
Chris Hart |
| Second Cinematographer: |
Matt Siegel |
| Camera Assistant: |
Lorraine "Rainy" Rau |
| Gaffer: |
Bob Schills |
| Sound: |
Randy Sparrazza |
| ARRI Support: |
George Schmidt |
| Kodak Support: |
James Minno |
More interviews about first 416 prductions can be found at:
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