Fibers

I thought this turned out cool. It is a screenshot of todays stop motion experiment of the fabric I made. Originally the background was green but I took it out so we will be able to see the live action film in the gray areas behind the fibers. In the video the red sort of breathes. It looks like veins and cells. I am able to achieve the great color because I used the I phone. I am not sure what sort of color can be achieved on the 16mm camera.

Today I put the Bolex up on the copystand. Yeah!!! Every step feels like a milestone. I figured out the exposure for the camera is set to 80 and took a light reading with my light meter. So, 80 combined with film ISO of 200 gave me an F-stop of 5.0. When I look through the viewfinder however, the object seems dark and grainy. If I lower the F-stop (open the apature to let more light in) the graininess goes away. This presented me with the question, should I stick to the accurate light meter measurements or go with how it looks best in the viewfinder? I pondered this for a few hours and did some research online and have decided it is better to go with the meter measurements.

Every step seems critical. One mistake, and the entire roll of film could be trashed. It is an expensive grand experiment. And the time stop motion takes is also a factor I am considering. I will be extra disappointed if a longer stop motion sequence is ruined because I made an error with light or focus.

To mitigate the pressure I am going to set up my I phone next to the Bolex and document all of the stopmotion on the digital camera as a backup. I am excited for tomorrow and think I will be ready to take my first shot.

Below is a little number I put together as I was looking through some materials I made last summer.