CULVER CITY, CA — Sticks & Stones, a new anti-bullying short film that tells the story of a 12-year-old boy, was recently produced using Sony’s F65 camera. Sam has been deemed different by his classmates and turns to his art for solace.
A film loyalist, veteran DP Steve Romano, turned to the F65 to capture the emotion of the film. The short also served as a perfect outlet for veteran DP and DIT Steve Romano. Romano starting out in film, and never felt digital formats gave the proper skin tone with minimal noise. He has since embraced the digital technology and is now shooting with the Sony F65.
“After winning the ECA award from local 600, [director/producer] Kate Rees Davies contacted me regarding a short she wanted to shoot about bullying ,” he explains. “I was looking to shoot some more narrative and wanted to shoot something entirely at 24fps. With a limited budget, I felt this was a project that could put the F65 to the test.
“I am amazed at the range of the F65. The color gamut and latitude are outstanding! The camera allowed me to capture the look I wanted under almost any lighting situation. When shooting inside a car, I was able to expose for the actors and keep all the detail in the car windows on an extremely bright day.”
He added that shooting mixed light interiors with fluorescents, tungsten and daylight were easily correctable, and matching a sunny day with rainy day scenes was easily achieved in post.
“The ability to push and pull the raw data in post is unbelievable,” notes Romano. “F65 reminds me of the film days plus an even wider color gamut. The camera was easy as I was switching parameters such as frame rates, shutter, ISO myself with no downtime. The internal ND filters also make changing exposure as simple as pressing a button. Using the high/low button was a great help with judging exposure. When shooting smaller projects with limited budgets, the Sony F65 makes my life quite easy as an indie DP and operator. The post workflow has become more accessible with the advent of RawLite and the SR codec. The F65 is the best high-end camera for low-budget projects.”
According to Rees Davies, Sticks & Stones came out looking exactly as she had planned. “It was a gift having access to the Sony F65 in its infancy,” she adds. “We shot the film in three days, inside and out, with a very small crew, with very little lighting and very limited budget. The camera didn't let us down and the images portrayed in 4K were so crisp and clear, it will be difficult to shoot on anything else and we plan to shoot the next project with the F65 again.”
Having the ability to work with the professionals at Sony’s Digital Motion Picture Center on the Sony lot in Culver City also allowed the team to get the most our of the F65. “The entire DMPC team was so supportive. Seeing the images in true 4K on their 25-foot screen made all the difference. The viewing quality was exceptional,” she notes.