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Michael Kotschi with the F35. Photo copyright: Mathias Beier

Working with the F35

“Not only are they satisfied by the high picture quality and the wide range of contrast, they also appreciate Sony’s solid research and development work, that makes the camera and the SRW recorder so reliable and safe to use.”

Shooting Egoiste. Photo copyright: Mathias Beier

Introduction

The new flagship F35 digital cinema camera has been in great demand at Camelot Broadcast Service, one of the largest rental houses in Berlin for digital video and HD equipment. The company took one of the first F35 cameras back in September 2008 and it has already been used on a host of productions, including features and commercials. As a result, many cameramen have gathered experience with the new 4:4:4 high-end camera.

Recep Ivedik 2. Photo copyright: Kinostar Distribution

Making movies with the F35

One of the first productions to shoot with the F35 was the sequel to the Turkish mega-hit comedy Recep Ivedik (Hurry up, Recep), which was the second most popular Turkish film ever made.

While the first feature was shot with a Sony HDW-F900R HDCAM camcorder, the sequel started with a F23 before switching to the F35. The F23, with a P+S adaptor was supplied by Aksoy Films, but when halfway through filming, the P+S adaptor failed, the team contacted Camelot via Aksoy’s partner in Germany, Faruk Metin of Trojafilm.

“I told them about our new F35 4:4:4 camera and explained that they could attach the PL Mount lenses directly to the camera, while everything else in the work flow would stay the same,” says Camelot’s managing director, Rainer Hercher. So producer Faruk Aksoy and his director of photography Ertunç Şenkay were very happy to accept this offer. Şenkay has been shooting movies on film for nearly four decades, but in the past two years a transition to digital cinematography has started among Turkish movie producers. “In the first place it is a big advantage for the actors, especially in comedies, because they can go on improvising and I don’t always have to say: Stop! Stop! Film is running out!”

For the camera and lighting crew, shooting also gets easier as the new F35 camera requires less lighting — lamps can be smaller and fewer are required. “It is incredible what you can do with a little lamp with the F35. The camera is very sensitive,” says Şenkay.

Recep Ivedik 2 opened in movie theatres in Turkey and Germany in the middle of February 2009 and has already broken all records and become the most successful Turkish film of all times. According to Şenkay, producer Aksoy is definitely planning to shoot his next projects with the Sony F35. After the success of Recep Ivedik 2, he says, “the whole Turkish movie community will shoot with the F35,” within a few months.

Egoiste. Photo copyright: Mathias Beier

Comparing the F35 with other cameras

While the Turkish comedy is already in theatres, the next feature film to be shot with Camelot’s F35 is currently in the planning stage. It will be written and directed by Judith Angerbauer, who scripted, together with Matthias Glasner and Jürgen Vogel, the award-winning movie, Der freie Wille (The Free Will) in 2006.

Photography will be handled by cameraman, Michael Kotschi (Autopilots, Im nächsten Leben), who graduated from the Berlin Film Academy (dffb) two years ago. In February, they shot the short film, Egoiste, in preparation for the feature. “We did this short movie as a test for us and the F35, so if at first we make mistakes with the new camera, we will be wise guys when it comes to the feature,” explains Michael Kotschi. “Although Egoiste is a project in its own right, the settings and light situations were very similar to the requirements of the feature and it all worked very well. I am very satisfied with the picture quality and even a little bit surprised.”

Since his graduation, Kotschi has shot two features on film and two long documentaries on HD. After testing several HD cameras, Kotschi chose the Sony F35 for this project. “I have worked with several HD cameras before, such as the HDW-900R camcorder and the smaller PMW-EX3. After testing several HD cameras for this project, I chose Sony’s new F35 camera because the workflow is mostly the same as a film camera.”

Kotschi likes the fact that the F35 records the images on tape. “It is good to know I can take out the tape when it is full and you have something physical in your hands. With files and other recording devices, there are so many questions — who will download the files, who will check them, who will convert them, who will make safety copies and who will update the safeties?”

The F35 on the set of Egoiste. Photo copyright: Mathias Beier

Benefits of the F35

With other systems, Kotschi found he could not watch screenings of the daily scenes in full resolution until the material was ready, two or three days later. “Now with tapes again, it is so comfortable. We gave the tapes to Camelot in the evening and got high-res digital dailies to watch the next morning and could decide whether all the scenes were OK or if something had to be redone.”

Kotschi also appreciates the way that Camelot brings the service of a normal film camera rental house to the digital age. “They have built special testing and preparation boxes so you can concentrate on choosing your equipment and testing the camera or other part without being bothered by the normal rental business going on or other crews coming and going. They are also well-equipped with the analysis equipment required to evaluate lenses and cameras, to provide shading services and to match multiple camera setups.”

Another advantage of the Sony F35 is its high contrast range. “At first I was worried that the windows might burn out in some scenes. But when we used the S-Log curve and the HyperGamma I was astonished by the f-stop range that could be recorded.”

Camelot also provided a film-style mounting system. “With an Easy-Rig mount I could keep the recorder on the camera and it all balanced pretty well.” The ensemble weighed 22 kilos but for Kotschi this was no real disadvantage. “It was just like with a big film camera and the weight keeps the hand camera work fluid and not so bouncy and bumpy as with very light cameras.” This was especially important, as the final version of Egoiste will be adopted to the Cinemascope format.

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