Everything on the shoot went very well. Thanks to Christina's producing, and Matthew and Reid's talent - we were able to get the whole thing done without much of a hitch (except for a certain someone whose name rhymes with Flatz- dropped and broke the battery latch clean off my camera, so that no battery can stay in the camera - thank god it was still under warranty) and the only issue we ran into was .... well, running a tad bit late.
After getting back and logging/transferring all the footage into Final Cut - it was clear I had the workings of something great. Since that day, I have really seen much sunlight. Ive been editing non-stop - and the results have been well worth it.
Currently, I have the full opening done - as well as the intro to Intermission. Now, all I have left are the closing intermission spot, and the end. So 2 down, 2 to go.
Wish me luck - I'm going to need it.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
"The Cycle" wrapped!
Just wrapped on Joe Dietrich's "The Cycle"! What an experience!
First thing to know - the original shooting schedule was planned for a leisure-filled four days. Then on the eve of production, our lead actor Enrico called us to let us know that he was last minute booked for a major paying gig (a Hepatitis Commercial) on our last two days and would be completely unavailable. Since he's practically in every shot - we had to accommodate to his schedule and jam pack our four days into two.
The shoot was incredibly fast paced, but smooth. I had to compact my shot list significantly, combining two, and even sometimes three, shots into one. We had plenty of hands on set to build and breakdown camera setups and very professional equipment to work with.
Both days of shooting were fifteen hour days - each starting at 6:30 am. Here's me, three hours after the film wrapped.
A rundown of our days. First we shot with a Zeus Crane from Chapman and Leonard. This Crane was professional (22 ft)- and we had a pro come out to make sure no one killed themselves using it. The guys name was David, and his screen credits included the first two Pirates of the Caribbeans. He was awesome. I don't have any photos of that just yet - but I'm working on it. Joe might have some over on his blog.
Once we got our shots with the Crane, I insisted on doing one shot completely improvised on the spot, which Joe allowed. We got the shot in one take - and it was amazing!
Then, when the crane was wrapped - we moved to the front lawn/driveway to do all our exterior shots. We set up our dolly track, and got some pretty gorgeous movements. The natural light from the early morning sun was all we needed.
We then moved inside to start our interior kitchen shots. These were heavily modified, due to Joe changing the scenes blocking. A few of my shots went out the window - but it was not a problem - as we quickly improvised to make new ones while Enrico rehearsed and our Professional gaffer Andy took care of things.
All the lighting was artificial to mimic sunlight (thanks to some cloudy weather). And on monitor, as you can see above - we were pretty successful. Everyone on set worked hard and did a great job. After the kitchen, we got a few shots of coverage in the house and called it a day.
Day TWO started off bright and early - and we immediately moved into the bedroom and shot those sequences. Once again, the lighting was crucial here - so Andy worked closely with me to make sure everything looked spot on.
Craig (first AD) poses with the dream setup.
The scene in the bedroom was amazing fun - because Reid and I got to make full uses of the Petroff Follow-focus. In one shot (using an 85mm lens) we racked to 10 different (and specific) focus points during dialogue.
We ate lunch, then got back to work shooting a myriad of disjointed coverage based on ease of location setup. Things started to get rolling until....
OUR GENERATOR BROKE. I dont know why, or what happened - but essentially Andy called five different contacts to get everything fixed but nothing was working. We sat for an hour without being able to shoot a single thing before the solution was found. We tied the generator into the houses electrical supply - and WALA! Everything was fixed. We were back on track.
We went on to shoot for another four hours before finally getting to our last shot of the film. It was an emotional one, that involved crying. We all had the set quiet down and we rolled sound and camera - waiting until our actor was ready to make his entrance and perform. After four takes, we finally nailed it.
Champaign was served on set to everyone on cast and crew - and we all had a huge toast to the film's completion.
I had never been on a Crane before, or operated a Super PeeWee 2 dolly, or worked with hydrolic lifts, or shot digital direct to a hard drive.....I mean the entire shoot was one large first experience. I was given complete and total freedom and creativity - with all the toys I could ever want to shoot with. I was working with professionals, so in turn, I felt like a professional.
But at the end of the day it was about friends, and how we all stick together to achieve a common goal. Without that, this film would have never existed.
First thing to know - the original shooting schedule was planned for a leisure-filled four days. Then on the eve of production, our lead actor Enrico called us to let us know that he was last minute booked for a major paying gig (a Hepatitis Commercial) on our last two days and would be completely unavailable. Since he's practically in every shot - we had to accommodate to his schedule and jam pack our four days into two.
The shoot was incredibly fast paced, but smooth. I had to compact my shot list significantly, combining two, and even sometimes three, shots into one. We had plenty of hands on set to build and breakdown camera setups and very professional equipment to work with.
Both days of shooting were fifteen hour days - each starting at 6:30 am. Here's me, three hours after the film wrapped.
A rundown of our days. First we shot with a Zeus Crane from Chapman and Leonard. This Crane was professional (22 ft)- and we had a pro come out to make sure no one killed themselves using it. The guys name was David, and his screen credits included the first two Pirates of the Caribbeans. He was awesome. I don't have any photos of that just yet - but I'm working on it. Joe might have some over on his blog.
Once we got our shots with the Crane, I insisted on doing one shot completely improvised on the spot, which Joe allowed. We got the shot in one take - and it was amazing!
Then, when the crane was wrapped - we moved to the front lawn/driveway to do all our exterior shots. We set up our dolly track, and got some pretty gorgeous movements. The natural light from the early morning sun was all we needed.
We then moved inside to start our interior kitchen shots. These were heavily modified, due to Joe changing the scenes blocking. A few of my shots went out the window - but it was not a problem - as we quickly improvised to make new ones while Enrico rehearsed and our Professional gaffer Andy took care of things.
All the lighting was artificial to mimic sunlight (thanks to some cloudy weather). And on monitor, as you can see above - we were pretty successful. Everyone on set worked hard and did a great job. After the kitchen, we got a few shots of coverage in the house and called it a day.
Day TWO started off bright and early - and we immediately moved into the bedroom and shot those sequences. Once again, the lighting was crucial here - so Andy worked closely with me to make sure everything looked spot on.
Craig (first AD) poses with the dream setup.
The scene in the bedroom was amazing fun - because Reid and I got to make full uses of the Petroff Follow-focus. In one shot (using an 85mm lens) we racked to 10 different (and specific) focus points during dialogue.
We ate lunch, then got back to work shooting a myriad of disjointed coverage based on ease of location setup. Things started to get rolling until....
OUR GENERATOR BROKE. I dont know why, or what happened - but essentially Andy called five different contacts to get everything fixed but nothing was working. We sat for an hour without being able to shoot a single thing before the solution was found. We tied the generator into the houses electrical supply - and WALA! Everything was fixed. We were back on track.
We went on to shoot for another four hours before finally getting to our last shot of the film. It was an emotional one, that involved crying. We all had the set quiet down and we rolled sound and camera - waiting until our actor was ready to make his entrance and perform. After four takes, we finally nailed it.
Champaign was served on set to everyone on cast and crew - and we all had a huge toast to the film's completion.
I had never been on a Crane before, or operated a Super PeeWee 2 dolly, or worked with hydrolic lifts, or shot digital direct to a hard drive.....I mean the entire shoot was one large first experience. I was given complete and total freedom and creativity - with all the toys I could ever want to shoot with. I was working with professionals, so in turn, I felt like a professional.
But at the end of the day it was about friends, and how we all stick together to achieve a common goal. Without that, this film would have never existed.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
First film wrapped for me - Jesse Chapman's APL.
In short, the shoot went great. I know that sounds the like the generic typical description for almost all shoots - but it honestly did (minus a few technical problems with my adapter) because putting it simply, Jesse runs a great set. He's fun to be around, he keeps things moving briskly, he knows when to play and when to focus, his actors and crew are well taken care of - its just all around, a very enjoyable experience. Thats why I opted to accept his offer again, after doing his other film "P.S" - because I had such a great time.
Our first day was a cake walk. My HV20 and Brevis worked like a charm, and the actors were all very prepared. Allie K was extremely helpful as AC, and we made our day right on time.
Day two even more simple, because we were using the DSR which has no interchangeable lenses to worry about. Each shot was accomplished with ease, and the actress was well prepared. Some pretty phenomenal takes were grabbed toward the end of the day - that I cannot wait to see on screen.
Day three encountered a few problems. Primarily in my department. My Brevis unit died on me halfway through the day. Ironically, I called my friend Reid for assistance - only to find that HIS Brevis died as well on Phil Atlas' shoot. Practically in tears, I called the Godfather (Marco). He helped me resolve the issue - but everytime I got one thing working, another aspect of my Brevis seemed to malfunction. After about 9 calls for assistance - Marco helped me iron out all my issues, and we were back on track.
1 hour behind back on track.
We combined a few shots together, and ran through scenes with fewer takes - and then we made our day. Everyone packed up and solemnly left the set with bittersweet feelings about the film. Sad to go, but happy to be done. Special note to John Heppe, who came on the last two days of the shoot to provide EXCELLENT lighting support. He took care of everything and made set ups pretty easy. He also was the set photographer, and took an amazing amount of production stills that I will post here, once I get them.
The one thing that is strikingly odd about this shoot - was that the entire thing was shot to look bad. Ironically, this required more work than one might think. Making a film look bad is actually pretty tough! There were multiple occasions where Jesse would approach me and say "Cris, this lighting actually looks too good - You've got to make this whole frame look flat. Make it look worse." and then walk off. Several times, we made "mistakes" on purpose, like leaving boom shadows in the frame to play on the fact that most instructional videos (while produced well) have very uninteresting visuals that feel awkward and soul-less.
Most of the shots we got looked fantastic (for the aesthetic we were going for) and working with great friends made the experience even better; at the end of the day, it all helps remind me why I cannot even fathom doing anything else for the rest of my life.
In short, the shoot went great. I know that sounds the like the generic typical description for almost all shoots - but it honestly did (minus a few technical problems with my adapter) because putting it simply, Jesse runs a great set. He's fun to be around, he keeps things moving briskly, he knows when to play and when to focus, his actors and crew are well taken care of - its just all around, a very enjoyable experience. Thats why I opted to accept his offer again, after doing his other film "P.S" - because I had such a great time.
Our first day was a cake walk. My HV20 and Brevis worked like a charm, and the actors were all very prepared. Allie K was extremely helpful as AC, and we made our day right on time.
Day two even more simple, because we were using the DSR which has no interchangeable lenses to worry about. Each shot was accomplished with ease, and the actress was well prepared. Some pretty phenomenal takes were grabbed toward the end of the day - that I cannot wait to see on screen.
Day three encountered a few problems. Primarily in my department. My Brevis unit died on me halfway through the day. Ironically, I called my friend Reid for assistance - only to find that HIS Brevis died as well on Phil Atlas' shoot. Practically in tears, I called the Godfather (Marco). He helped me resolve the issue - but everytime I got one thing working, another aspect of my Brevis seemed to malfunction. After about 9 calls for assistance - Marco helped me iron out all my issues, and we were back on track.
1 hour behind back on track.
We combined a few shots together, and ran through scenes with fewer takes - and then we made our day. Everyone packed up and solemnly left the set with bittersweet feelings about the film. Sad to go, but happy to be done. Special note to John Heppe, who came on the last two days of the shoot to provide EXCELLENT lighting support. He took care of everything and made set ups pretty easy. He also was the set photographer, and took an amazing amount of production stills that I will post here, once I get them.
The one thing that is strikingly odd about this shoot - was that the entire thing was shot to look bad. Ironically, this required more work than one might think. Making a film look bad is actually pretty tough! There were multiple occasions where Jesse would approach me and say "Cris, this lighting actually looks too good - You've got to make this whole frame look flat. Make it look worse." and then walk off. Several times, we made "mistakes" on purpose, like leaving boom shadows in the frame to play on the fact that most instructional videos (while produced well) have very uninteresting visuals that feel awkward and soul-less.
Most of the shots we got looked fantastic (for the aesthetic we were going for) and working with great friends made the experience even better; at the end of the day, it all helps remind me why I cannot even fathom doing anything else for the rest of my life.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Okay, an update.
On Jesse's film - We've had our three production meetings and I performed a camera test to see which camera would suit the film better. I shot with my Canon HV2o - in both HD and SD, using the Brevis 35 adapter and not, trying various shutter speeds and framerates. We also shot on the schools DSR250. The end decision from Jesse was mixed format; to use the DSR for the narration sequences and my HV20 on Standard Def - WITH the Brevis for the reenactment scenes.
Apparently the mixed media decision was influenced from a corny TV show that Jesse had on DVD - something about "Life and Beyond" that had a very bad "Unsolved Mysteries" look to it - where the narrator was clearly shot on one camera (not film)- and the reenactments were shot on (what looked like) film.
Now that we know what camera's were using, I guess It's just a matter of getting ready for the shoot this friday. I need to find out what the situation is with the school's DSR's - battery wise. Or if the camera has a power cable (since we'll be in an apartment the whole shoot).....
Lastly, I just finished a shotlist for Jesse's film.
On Joe's film, we have had a few meetings - traveled to the house where we're shooting and started to get everything ready. A lot of people have been brought on board as techies, grips and P.A's - and Mark Shapin's has actually been hired to do sound on the film.
I will be shooting with Reid, so that will be nice - since we worked so well together on "The Grinder".
The equipment we will be using is rather extreme - to say the least. 40 feet of dolly track (in any given shot), a 30 ft + crane shot (with a platform for me to operate on at the top), and a two camera setup (both with Brevis adapters and flip modules!). In other news here, I just finished Joe's shotlist as well - and am gearing up for this shoot - which will start on the 29th.
Strangely enough, Enrico Marcellino - my main actor from "The Grinder" has been cast as the "Man's" role in this film. And Craig Calamis is coming on as first A.D. Its like my old set all over again.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Two Films Chosen!
Two offers came down the pipeline from Jesse Chapman (on an intriguingly nameless entry) and from Joe Dietrich (on his film "The Cycle").
I've also been asked to act as the Store Manager in Jonathan Hamilton's D3. The character, from what I understand, is a just a really fantastically nice guy. I mean, handing out money, reads to the elderly nice.....So that should be a blast.
Casting on Joe's film is currently under way, and I'm going to be heading to our primary location (the entire film nearly takes place in one household) later this week to do some pre-planning. This will give Joe and I a chance to talk about visuals and what kind of film he wants to create. He'll plan out his shot list, and this will be followed by our first production meeting, so everyone can get on the same page.
As for Jesse's film, we never meet directly. His plans for the film are sent via courier pigeon during the night hours to a unknown relay agent, who then telegraphs the transcripts on very small pieces of torn paper which are delivered to me under my door when I'm never home. I think John Heppe may be involved in this circuit of communication but I can't say for sure.
In other news, don't go see "Untraceable". Its worse than rotten. Just to give you an example, in the film Diane Lane works for the FBI CyberCrime Division. Theres a scene where she walks up to her boss, who is the Director of the (dont forget) FBI CyberCrime Division. After she promptly explains how she was able to track down a hacker using a backdoor trojan virus, he responds "Now, Jennifer - I don't understand all that techno Mumbo Jumbo you just said - but ... get that sounds like good work. Now for the rest of you -back to work!"
Awesome.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
crismertens.blogspot.com is now online!
I'll be offering my services this semester, purely as a DP. My equipment includes a Canon HV20, A Brevis 35mm Adapter (with the Brevis Flip Module), and a shoulder mount rig for hand held, run-and-gun goodness.
The HV20 shoots in 24p High Def (variable frame rate equipped - slow-motion anyone?) at a 1080i/720p HD output. The Brevis 35mm Adapter provides sexy depth of field for a more film-like look, and the Brevis Flip Module flips the image right side up - getting rid of that pesky requirement of having a clunky external monitor on camera.
You can check out my Directing II film "The Grinder" or any of my other films here : www.hybridmayhem.com
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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