Zombie Roadkill finally got its day in the da Vinci suite. The color grading session took place at Company 3 in Santa Monica by none other than the iconic colorist Stephen Nakamura. It looks fantastic and I think everyone will be very pleased with the resulting web series which is due out in October (just in time for Halloween).
A million thanks and congratulations to David Green (director) and to everyone who has put in time and love into this project.
Had a chance to take part in an intensive 3-day training seminar at Sony Pictures through Local 600. Lots of hands on, examples, and experimentations. I’ve been to many, many training seminar in the past either at NAB or CineGear or what have you but this might just be the first seminar I’ve ever been to where I felt I got something useful out of it. I’ve been re-reading stereographic publications and it all makes sense to me know. Last step, need a shoot to really put what I’ve learned through its paces. Any takers?
A million thanks to the folks at Sony, Local 600 and the students from Hollywood Cinema Production Resources and USC.
At last I can share and you can enjoy the latest music video I shot. The video is for the song “DNA” by Darwin Deez. It’s been noted as the “un-official” video since, while it has the blessing from the artist, it isn’t the official video for the song.
I
had a happy moment the other day because when I scrolled down the YouTube page for the video, the first comment I saw said, “I love this DP”. Delightful!
From today…
In case you misread, “masterpiece”… Recognize!
The video was directed by Miles Crawford with choreography by Jashua Pelatzky. We shot it on the Canon 5D (Canon: 35mm, 50mm Macro, 85mm – Sigma: 28-300mm, 15-30mm).
Great job to all involved.
15 June:
One last thing. I read this review for the video from 9 June. Very nice things to say.
http://www.inertia-music.com/2010/06/video-darwin-deez-releases-kooky-dance-video-for-dna/
16 June:
Another very nice review for the video:
http://inoneear.co.uk/news/8983-darwin-deez-announces-tour-unofficial-video
Just finished a series of commercials for Time Warner Cable. I finally got to put a RED ONE with the new MX sensor through its paces under varied settings. Verdict… Loves it. I love the 800 ISO (except when outside). Inside though, being able to easily shoot at stops like ƒ2.5 to ƒ4.0 is so much better than struggling and fighting to get enough light at ƒ1.4 with an 80 ISO (like when using an HVX200 with a Letus lens adaptor). Outside continues to be a conundrum. Still having problems with IR contamination even with my Schneider Tru-Cut IR – it just doesn’t cut deep enough into the IR. I guess I’ll finally bite the bullet and purchase a Pancro IR filter, most likely as a neutral density (ND) combo. I think the ND1.2 would be a good choice since that’s the level of ND that starts to show IR contamination. Beyond that, I can stack additional ND as needed and below that I don’t need the IR filter. But $450 buck… ouch! Aside from that, I really felt like I got my groove on with shooting the MX sensor. After six days of shooting with it, I miss shooting and being on set now that it’s over.
One downside of the shoot and a lesson learned (besides the IR issue)… If you’re getting a deal on the lenses, check them thoroughly. We got a set of Zeiss lenses that used 3 aperture blades. What’s the big deal? Well, the bokeh looks like tiny pyramids in the background. What to do next time? Make sure there’s at least five blades (or better yet, lenses with at nine). I’ll take the Pentagon over the Luxor any day.
Had a great and fun crew to work with and I thank them all for all the hard work they put into making a great week of shooting. Till next time.
↑→ Reviewing the shot
→→ Super Grant (I love this photo)
↑→ Super Dwight (Key Grip)
→→ I like wearing black.
↑→ Tony (Dir) watching the SteadiCam shot
↑&→ ND.9 on the window, some pola on the lens, a pair of Kino “Fatboys” (the lights, not the talent – just so we’re clear) and a 1.2K HMI.
↑→ Distortion Grid for a wide-shot FX shot
→→ Tony gets ready for his close-up
↑ & → Canon 5D shot with a Sigma 15-30mm lens
(Sadly, only some weeks later did we find out the footage wasn’t transferred or got erased during the backup process.)
Any one who’s spent any time on set knows that Grip and Electric often have hand signals for various tasks and objects. On a recent shoot for Time Warner Cable a new nomenclature for the often used Full Apple Box positions – California, Texas, New York – was replaced by the Hair and Makeup Wonder Twins (Nikki and Mindy). The new terms are…
FLATS… WEDGES… STILETTO… (For my male audience, it’s a reference to women’s shoes, a reference Al Bundy would be proud of. For my younger audience that last reference was to a character on Fox’s “Married with Children” television show.)
These names are a follow-up to a discussion about “hot dog” and “corn dog” in reference to horizontal and vertical object placement, respectively. I like these terms over the potentially offensive terms Chinese and English (you get the idea).
What are your favorite terms?
UPDATE: Mar 6: Funny or Die picked “Baby Maker” as a featured pick today and linked to in on the front page. Hope the momentum keeps going…
UPDATE: Mar 3: It’s up and ready for you to shake your money maker to. Keep you’re eyes out for the baby maker dance, it’s gonna be big at the clubs yo.
Feb 20: Shot a music video called “Baby Maker” for Reno Wilson (aka Lil’ Problem). It’s a parody of rap videos and it’s real funny. The video is directed by Andy Lerner (wish I had a cool nick name for him, but I got nothing). Shot here in Los Angeles and Torrance using two Panasonic HVX200 we managed to cram lots of locations into two very productive days. The video has since been finished and should be available for viewing very soon.
Reno (er’ Lil Problem) looking sporty on the green screen
Working the choreography in the padded room
Andy (Dir) with the ladies (dancers)
Andy again with the ladies
Watching playback of the madness that just happened on the Anytime with Bob Kushell set with Blair Underwood as the host
Crane, crowds, kids, cars, and Jason Mews – It’s a good day.
No, not potato chips (Mmmmm… potatoooo chipssss) but the new MX chip for the Red One camera. Shooting a cosmetics commercial later this week and can’t wait to explore what the new chip can do. I’ve seen some footage and it’s time to get my hands dirty. Stay tuned…
I wish I got kick-backs from equipment manufactures, but no such luck. Still, if I like it, I’ll post it. My new toy for the set and home is the Guppie from Columbia River. It’s fits great in the hand, it’s light and it does a bunch. It’s very well thought out and can’t wait to show it off on set. (And if anyone wants to send me a little “somethin’-somethin’”, it’ll be our little secret.)
Ain’t it got a purdie lil’ mouth?!
Indie Slate (issue #59) did a cover story on Corbin Bernsen and independent filmmaking. I get a brief mention which is nice (better if they had spelled my name correctly in the article or actually used a photo with me in it instead of identifying me in a photo I’m not in). Still it’s a good read worth taking a look at.
As a side note, I’m currently reading a script Corbin sent me for a project this spring. I’ll share more about that script soon.
Piece by piece… We get closer to the end. Had a chance to see a cut of the series and it looks good. Should be fun, funny and well received (one hopes). Of particular fun was shooting the squirrel cam footage on the front of a car with some new stuff I bought for the occasion. See the picture and prepare to be titillated!
Squirrel cam & skunk cam (patent pending, patent pending)
Good day at the office…
The fog tent or as I like to call it the “three days less of my life but the shot matches principle photography” tent
…and a golden underwear trophy. Awesome. Tonight “Meltdown” won big at the Box[ur]Shorts film festival (see the blurb on their website). The festival’s awards screening took place at the New Beverly Cinema and was attended by a by a packed house. It was an awesome night and all the films in the top ten were so impressive – great company to keep. A million thanks to the festival coordinators for putting on a wonderful event and thank you to the sponsors for a wonderful gift basket and the free booze. Yeah us!
Me, David (director) and Ryan (producer) and the golden undies.
2010 is shaping up wonderfully. The feature I shot late last year is nearly completed with picture lock a couple of weeks away. Today, we shot a few FX shots of the new grim reaper for the trailer and it looks absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait to share the trailer which should be done in a few weeks also.
We had planned on shooting on the Panasonic HVX200 but it produced too much noise and compression artifacting to be useful. I took along my Canon 5D Mark II to shoot behind the scenes but ended up shooting the plates with that. We were all surprised by the improved image quality of the camera in video mode and were able to overlook the annoyance of the 30fps frame rate. Best of all was when we shot full frame stills as image sequences. Very clean keys from that. Our VFX supervisors will be taking those image sequences and apply a little frame interpolation in between frames as well as other hocus-pocus. The staccatoed motion is creepy and lends itself to what we’re trying to do with the character. It’ll be a huge improvement to the film. It’ll be fun when it’s all done.
Splice Magazine interviewed me on use the Red One camera. Splice is distributed in Canada aimed by The Filmpool Cooperative – a non-profit that encourages indie filmmaking in Saskatchewan.
I downloaded a couple of the back issues and it’s a very cool magazine that’s available in both a physical and PDF version. It’s got a great, almost hipster aesthetic and the information is very down-to-earth and useful. Can’t wait to get a physical copy of the magazine and share the article.
It was finally time to strip away the shackles of the past and finally embrace Los Angeles fully. Long gone will be the days of up turned noses when giving a 714 number. Starting today and continuing for at least the next year, all calls to my old number will be forwarded to my new telephone number. I won’t be able to received text messages sent to my old phone number, so please make the change to your address book, cell phone or other communications device.
Also, to my New York friends, I’ve got a local-ish number for you. I’m east and left coast-able now. Thank you Google Voice!
Requiscat in Pace
[714] TACO_GOD
say hello to “nothing-at-all” & “DISTORT-BUM”
Earlier this year I purchased a 5D. Love it. Absolutely, love it. I’ve done some food photography, taken some wonderful photos of my pets, and captured some behind-the-scenes photos from some of my productions as well as holiday memories. Without a doubt, the larger chip and image processing with the 5D is leaps and bounds better than my last DSLR. As for motion images, nothing significant as yet but I might in a couple of weeks when I shoot a music video.
This weekend, I had a chance to shoot a trailer on a reservation just outside of Reno using the Canon 7D. The verdict… images are great, the working pipeline not so much. I’m hoping to have some screen shots soon. I’ll also write more soon as I collect my thoughts on the process. Till then here are some photos from the shoot. (Photos take with my iPhone & 5D)
Crew and director review a shot.
Brave actor shivers in the cold – Stone Mother and Basket at Pyramid Lake
The Pyramid
Me standing in front of what I think is the Temple of Doom.
No one is likely to care about this but here it is… If you’ve worked with me in the past year, you probably can’t hear me on my walkie. My old earpiece got replaced with one that supposedly has noise canceling and a kevlar in the wires. Great but no one could still hear me. During “Zombie Roadkill” the gaffer’s father came by one day and brought some goodies he sells. What did I get? By far the best earpiece I’ve ever had. It’s a single cable instead of the usual two and best of all, everyone can hear me now. He also sells a version that lets you plug into your iPhone. Email me if you want his contact information.
I can’t wait to write more about this fantastic project but it’ll likely have to wait until the series is released. For now, what I can say is that this week I shot a web series directed by David Green. It’s being produced by Ghost House Pictures and will be shown on Fearnet.com as well as on Pay-Per-View on the Comcast cable television system.
We’re shooting with two the Panasonic HPX-3000 cameras, a couple of Panasonic HVX200 cameras and a Sony EX3. Almost all of it takes place at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, CA. Quantum Creation FX created our puppets.
It’s a long list of great people who worked on the project. I’ll update and thank a bunch of those folks in the couple of days. Till then, a heartfelt thank you to all the wonderful folks to worked on this project. You’re the best.
Here’s some online news clips: Fearnet.com / Variety / Huffington Post / IMDb
DEAD AIR on Netflix… sweet. Who knew!? I shot this movie a couple of years back and it’s good to see it out there for the masses to see.
