The problem is establishing sync. Unless the film camera matches the video projection, you'll get roll bars. There are old Auricon cameras with special 'kinescope shutters' that work for shooting NTSC... don't know ir of where you could find/borrow one of those.
Anyway, the first question is, what is the frame rate of your digital footage? If it's PAL, and you have a PAL display, and you have a camera that will run crystal sync at 25FPS, you're set.
If your footage is 24P, and you have a display that actually displays it at 24 (as opposed to converting it to 29.97), then you can shoot that at 24FPS crystal sync.
If you shot it in NTSC, (or 30P or 60P) and you have only an NTSC (or 1080i) display, you'll either need that telecine Auricon, or if you have a variable-speed camera that holds speed steady once set, you can try to match the frame rate to the video by running w/o film and watching through the finder (if it's a moving mirror reflex camera) or through the aperture if you can get in there. Probably won't work so well. BUT if you have 29.97/59.94 video footage, but a 24FPS video display and a 24FPS crystal camera, the best thing is probably to convert it to 24P in the computer (via FCP, Compressor, or other software).
If you don't have a film camera that holds steady speed, it's not going to work so well - roll will come and go - so a Bolex, Beaulieu, Arri S etc. won't cut it... unless you want the roll bars...
If you have a choice of displays that will sync to your camera - they all have their plusses and minuses. A plasma flat screen is probably best. Unless you have a 3 chip DLP model available, a projector will likely give you the worst results (1 chip DLPs have poor color and may give you flash frames). LCD's are contrasty, so you lose latitude and live footage looks a little cartoonish (flat panel LCDs would be better than LCD projectors, but not all that great). CRT based HDTVs have the best color rendition and contrast range of any video display, but you might see the lines in the raster, and I don't know how many models of those (if any) will do 720P/24. Filming a plain old standard-def CRT TV will look like it's shot off a TV, (if you've seen an old kinescope, from the days before videotape, that's how those were made).
I'm assuming from the query you want the end result to look 'film-ish' and are not seeking any of the creative distorting effects for which re-photography is typically employed.
On May 16, 2011, at 6:34 PM, Letitia Calin wrote:
> Hello Frameworkers!
>
> Has anyone attempted this before? I would like to try transferring digital film unto 16mm - DIY style. I am shooting on 16mm, transferring it unto digital in order to edit it and then I would like to get it back onto film. I was thinking of filming it off a screen/wall but I wonder what would be best ( tv screen, computer monitor, projection screen, projection on wall) and how big the projection should be. I would like to film it in colour but have no idea what type of stock I should use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
>
> Best,
>
> Letitia
> _______________________________________________
> FrameWorks mailing list
> FrameWorks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
> http://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
_______________________________________________
FrameWorks mailing list
FrameWorks_at_jonasmekasfilms.com
http://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
Received on Mon May 16 2011 - 19:51:24 CDT
