This is the Arriflex 16S. As the name suggests, it uses 16mm film. It has an electric motor powered by an 8.4v battery belt. It has a turret with three sockets for prime and zoom lenses. It is capable of 50+ frames per second, and can hold 100 feet of film. The Arri-S can hold 400 feet (or about 12 minutes) by using a magazine.



I have this camera because I'm in film school and I'm taking a cinematography class (Cine 2). In Cine 1 we worked with the Bolex R-X4/5 16mm, using black & white film. This time we're using color stocks, and have access to the telecine lab (telecine is when film is color corrected and scanned into the computer for editing).



This thing has a variable framerate, which means it's never running exactly at 24 fps. The knob on the back is like the throttle. It even has a tachometer to show you the fps. This camera is fucking cool, although the Bolex is pretty fucking sweet as well. It's has a crank to wind the motor, and it runs for 30 seconds. Pretty sweet, but hand power has its limits. The Arri-S can easily chug through 400 feet of film without breaking a sweat.



Cine 3 is when you start using 35mm cameras, like the Arri 2C. I won't be taking that class because I'm an editor, and because I don't have a car. The amount of equiptment you have to check out is staggering. My school is one of the most well-equipped film schools in the country. At schools like NYU or UCLA, you have to rent all your own equiptment.

This weekend I'll be shooting a couple rolls of Kodak 500T for two different assignments. Film is the coolest thing ever invented.

What school are you going to?

The Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Aha! I did the High School Art Experience thing there last summer. And took the motion pictures class they offered, too, but we didn't use cool cameras like that....just the regular digital stuff. Which was okay with me, it wasn't like we were film majors or anything. =P

Cool. That high school thing is like the only way to get scholarship money for the Academy. Which is kind of lame, but I'll live with it.

I came here straight outta high school, 2 years ago. I'm an editor, but I also like screenwriting and cinematography. I also thought about taking photography. The visual arts and film is where I'm destined to end up.

Yeah, I was actually thinking about doing it again next year - mostly for the scholarship.

What I've become really interested in, rather recently, is the fashion design business. I think that may be where I end up in the end.

not to bother you or anything.... but

about how much does it cost 5 grand?

More like $15K/year plus living expenses.

Student loans, ftw.


I know quite a few fashion majors. My ex-gf is a fashion major (textiles and printmaking). From what I've heard, the fashion curriculum is very business oriented, as opposed to pushing your artistic boundaries, you know? Don't let that turn you off from this school though, because you get back what you put in. I do know that fashion design that has come out the Academy in the past couple years has really raised eyebrows in the fashion industry.

for the college right??

i meant the camera lol

woah.. it looks old. Why not get a HD instead

I misunderstood your question.

It's about a $3500 camera package, which includes the body and 3 prime lenses (16mm, 35mm, and 50mm).

its cool...

that is alot of fucking money....

and that is a nice fucking camera....

things like this make me wish i were rich

Because it's a class about cinematography... you don't learn anything by shooting on HD, you learn by shooting on 16mm. Filmmaking is cinematography, and cinematography is lighting.

A class that teaches you cinematography using an HD camera is fine, but what happens when you put a real camera in their hands? Film is infinitely cooler to me than HD, and a much more beneficial medium to learn on.

Film is cool but, limiting, expensive, and not acessable. It will not continue to be the standard, and that will be driven by pure economics. Also lighting is plenty important when using digital, just dont have to worry so much about color temperture, which is incredibly simple anyhow. Lighting is not soley cinematography, composition, lens choice, and lighting is cinematography.

That is so awesome. It looks like the one my great uncle got when he left Disney.

you need to know how to use film before you go digital....its just like you need to know traditional animation before you do 3d shit....to appreciate, or to disapprove, the technology....and its little tricks you learn that will help you

and its hardly about "pure" economics...as long as you got the material, and people continues to watch it....even 25cent peep shows can be the standard

its cool how you get to use film to film stuff.....the only time i used it was painting the frames and scratching it

so if theres a throttle...do you have to steady it? ....or is it for when you do slow-mo?

nice school, my sister goes there and that camera is nice.
i love things that look like that.

for the film, do you have to dark bag everything?
and when you develop it is it like developing regular film?

Whoa that camera looks big!

Thats is so cool.
It's cool that you even have the opportunity to go to a good film school.
I always wanted to do stuff in the filming industry, but the only way I'd say I'll get to is by going to america.
And Im lazy + dependant.

Nice camera though.

It looks like some cool looking gun. Like a mini-rocket launcher, that takes the picture of the persons face seconds before being destroyed.

I believe NUBS will be transferring there next year.



That's a pretty sic camera though. My high school allows us to sign out their cameras for projects. I just signed out this sony camcorder that's worth about 900$ that I'll be taking with me to film in the states. It doesn't cost that much, but I get to keep it for the rest of the semester. Coolio.

so cool.
The camera's we get to in college use are so less pro

Let's not turn this into a debate about digital vs. film. I don't know what you mean by "not acessable," you can buy film directly from Kodak or Fujifilm-- there's dozens of different stocks. Yes, lighting is important for any film, but you have to light much, much better on digital to get an image comparable to film. And no, lighting is not "solely" cinematography, but when it comes down to it, cinematography relies on exposure and the manipulation and control of light is what produces that exposure. Light is what directs the eye and creates the mood or tone of a film. Composition, lenses, film stock, filters, fps, these are all parts of cinematography too, but they simply aren't as important as lighting. Not to mention the fact that most D.P.'s work their way up through lighting, not camera.


You only need to use a changing bag if you're loading the magazine. Otherwise, 100ft rolls come on "daylight spools" which makes it relatively safe to load the camera in light. Still, I like to do it with very low light.

Developing uses the same priniciples behind regular film, it's just a different process.

thats one cool camera you got there

Yeah, any fashion schooling really needs to be pretty business oriented....since most fashion majors are probably looking into having their own business eventually. So yeah, I think the same applies at most schools. But Academy of Art is definately one of the better fashion schools, especially on the West Coast.

that is awesome!!

Wow. This is a blast from the past.

I used to take Illustration back in spring every Saturday for the SF Academy of Art's high school students program.
My illustration teacher contributed to popular manga series like Chobits and Alice the 19th.
I didn't like the class because the lessons were mostly based on anime, and my Americanized work was average compared to most people. D:
The best part was going to the WonderCon, where we saw the actors from 300 and The Reaping.