the only light purchases I've had this last year or so has been kino flo's
can't shoot video with strobes, but I can shoot photo's with Tungsten/HMI/Kino
plus makes your set video friendly should you want to roll 10 seconds on it or something like that.
The first thing every still photographer says to the talent on their first motion project is, "you've moved out of the key light, out of the key light, no . . . get back in the key light".
There is a reason that a small Hollywood insert stage will hold a Peterbuilt, because the difference between a wide horizontal to working a tight vertical are substantial.
Then once you get the hang of it, going to vertical seems limited, because horizontal offers an expanded visual story, if that makes sense.
In the last few years more and more of our still work is shot horizontal, maybe because the AD's are working on cinema displays, maybe because web is much more a part of the media play than print, but where the ratio use to be 5 to one vertical to horizontal, it's now the opposite.
But, the biggest leap from still to motion, isn't in the framing, or the lighting, it's just how the story is told, or the fact that you really can tell a story, instead of just shooting something pretty.
The other leap is to make sure you do have a story to tell and something that binds it, whether it's visual, voice, or music, hopefully all three. Something has to bind it.
A few years ago I had one client request that we shoot a video with a still project and I asked for a script, with the response, "well just use talking points". So after storyboarding, shooting, to the first edit I made the call the to the client that went like this;
"Well, you have 25 great 10 second spots but not a cohesive 3 minute movie". So we had to do it the backwards way and write a script to what we had, then shoot some more to fill in the blanks."
The big difference (at least to me) in the mediums of still vs. motion is the amount of footage it takes to tell the story. When we sit down to do the first cut, to get a a finished 60 second piece, I'm always amazed that I have a 3 or 4 minute cut and I think I'll never get this down to 60 seconds.
By the time you get to the final cut, I'm stretching to get to 40 seconds, much less a minute. You really can't ever have too much footage.
You can stretch it by repeating the same visual story, or through titles, transitions or just slowing things up, but it always looks stretched.
Now all of this will change as web spots become even more common, in the same way that the pace of television and movies have changed through the years. The viewer is much more sophisticated than most people give credit and anything predicable, anything that is slow or flat footed, looses
it's appeal quickly.
But regarding technique, there is something to be said for a still camera that shoots motion, or a motion camera that can shoot usable stills. Having one lighting setup that works for both can save hours, even days and I'd rather switch cameras than switch lights. Trying to match flash to continuous is very difficult. It can be done, but it's hard.
Yes, you can rent it all, but renting equipment usually gives you a reason not to explore or test for yourself, owning forces you to get to work, to make use of your investment.
JR
