MovieChat Forums > Mental (2009) Discussion > Bad shooting and editing

Bad shooting and editing


This show probably employees amateurs. They seem to use 1/32th shutter speed instead of the usual 1/48th, and so the motion on the series looks like a soap opera. I read people complain about the look of the film putting the blame to lighting, but the lighting is fine. What's not is the shutter speed.

And then there's the editing/cutting. Really weird at times. There are small scenes that other editors would have never included in there. It just doesn't feel normal going from one cut to another.

If these guys wanted to go cheap, instead of using the many thousand dollars digital cameras they do, they should just rent the Sony EX1 (even if they lose shallow depth of field), and save the rest of the money for a better cinematographer and editor. The loss of shallow DoF by using a cheaper camera won't be a big deal in the hands of a good cinematographer.

reply

You've pretty much nailed it!

It looks like a 90's TV series, before CSI and the like came along and started using progressive shooting.

It looks like the show is shot on video in an interlaced format, either 1/60 or 1/30. I cant tell for sure as Ive only watched XVID downloads which are automatically converted to progressive but you can see the underlying motion smear.

If they had used any half decent cam in progressive mode or with a doubled frame rate (180 degree shutter motion) it would look a lot sharper. Or as others have said, go to 24fps shooting at 1/48 shutter.

For those not knowing what Im babbling about, look at an episode of this and an episode of CSI. CSI will be sharper and cleaner but Mental will look very soft and smooth like a home video.

reply

it's a summer show, they probably go cheap on a few things...

reply

The entire show was filmed in Bagota Colombia. I believe they used primarily South American crew.

I found this an interesting approach but it was probably cheaper to relocate every one there.

reply

yep definitely it was a money saver...

reply