Another month another winner of the Cracked.com Comedy Sketch Competition. We’re shooting again on the Canon 5D. Should be online in the next couple of weeks. Great job the director, Daniel Gordh and the fantastic performances by the actors.
↑ Tricked out my 5D. Nice.
↑ First time using an iPad slate. LOVED IT.
Just finished shooting some pickups on a feature I didn’t originally shoot. Kinda fun. Trying to mirror someone else’s thought process. Fun playing with the Red One MX again but I have to say I am getting somewhat used to significantly smaller cameras. We also shot a day with the 7D which to was somewhat fun (and not so fun). I did enjoy using a slider built by Brian at Wooden Nickel. Worked very well, very customizable and way beefier than our 7D on it (see photo below).
Can’t wait to see the footage integrated with the original footage. One scene I’m particularly looking forward to seeing takes place in a bedroom in front of a full length mirror as one woman combs another woman’s hair. We shot through the mirror with all the lighting coming from a balcony window that’s shaped by the window panes and sheer curtains. Also of note was working with C. Thomas Howell on one scene.
Hopefully a trailer will online soon to share.
Shooting a doc in Santa Ynez. Got a chance to shoot with the Panasonic AF100. Nice but not overly impressed. Still the images were beautiful and the stories were amazing – could have listen to our interviewee’s for many more hours.
Along with the sit down interviews, we also shot some aerial footage from a remote control helicopter using a Sony NEX-SF100. Look forward using this rig again. 
The feature I shot – formerly known as “Box of Shadows” – has been sold to Spotlight Pictures and remained “The Ghostmaker”. Awesome.
I’m shooting another project with comedian Rachel Bloom. We’re doing a project for Cracked.com and while I wish I could say more, it’ll be out soon enough in time for the Holidays. Till then here’s the previous project we worked together on, if you’re interested.
Don’t think I’ve had so many data cards downloading at the same time. Nice. Several hours later it checked good.
It’s finally almost done. ”Box of Shadows” is a feature length movie I shot, err…, let’s just say a little while back. It was worth the wait. The last time I saw the edit was roughly six months ago (maybe more). The quality jump since then has been huge. It’s tight, all the fat has been trimmed out and all the loose ends have been tied, in total, a very strong edit that only time can allow you to get. Add to that all the visual effects are finally in. Credit is due to the director Mauro Borrelli and producer Ed Polgardy who have worked quite some time on this labor of love (yes, I’m very aware they both have very Italian names). To get a taste, some of the footage is on my narrative reel.
I’m currently working on the final color grade. With luck, I’ll be done by this weekend in time for the cast, crew and agent’s screening this Monday night at Raleigh Studios. I cannot wait to see it on the big screen with an audience. Hopefully it’ll be available very soon for everyone to see. More after the showing.
Here it is (click here to go to my demo reel page or watch it below. As soon as I get a few projects back, I’ll update my commercial and music video reel. Till then, enjoy…
2011 Narrative Demo Reel from E Gustavo Petersen on Vimeo.
Narrative demo reel consisting of feature films and a web series.
2011-06-11: 2311 hrs:
It’s official, we’re shooting with the Red Epic! It’s gonna be great. Can’t wait to report back.
2011-05-23: 1618 hrs:
For the past three months, I’ve been prepping for a pilot that shoots this June. My lips are sealed about it but I can say it’ll be fun for me, funny to some, and hopefully you’ll see the show later this year. As of now, here’s the a brief skinny on what’s the what. We’re shooting on the RED and there will be lots of traveling mattes on this one as well as a few miniatures sets and a guy in a squirrel suit (seriously!).
We recently did some pre-records of the show’s voice talent at Anarchy Post in Glendale. Those who graced the recording booth were such familiar names (if not voices) as Malcomn McDowell, Harland Williams, Tom Kenny (the voice of “SquarePants SpongeBob”) and Rob Paulsen (voice of Pinky from “Pinky and the Brain”) as well as Justine Ezarik of iJustine. It awesome putting them in front of a mic and letting them go. We should get the animatics later early next week with the official voices in. Again, wish I could share but… yeah for me! Looking forward to watching it all start to come together.
Director David Green just put up a slew of projects he and I worked on together.
“Meltdown” (on Funny or Die & Vimeo)
Meltdown made it to the to front page of Digg.com and became a “Staff Pick” on Vimeo.com on the day David debuted it online. I’ve posted plenty of times the awards this project has received since we made it but I’m especially proud of the numerous Audience Choice awards it’s won here in the US and as far away as South Korea. Now, you too can finally see it in it’s entirety. This was our first project together and my first with the third member of our triumvirate, Producer Ryan Hendricks. In recent day’s it’s gotten a slew of press. Watch and enjoy.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/fd62a2e666/meltdown
http://www.vimeo.com/23464277
“This Must Be The Place” (Cover) – music video for Miles Fisher
http://vimeo.com/19379399
Liquid Flow Commercial
http://vimeo.com/20691529
Trojan2Go – Sri Lanka
http://vimeo.com/20695069
It’s good to be home. Now that I’m back in Los Angeles, the rain is gone, the sun is shining and not a crystal of snow on the ground… anywhere. Still, I am having some end-of-show withdrawals. Missing the people, missing the chaos, and all the creative problem solving that happens on a day-to-day basis. Telle est la vie!
Here’s a wrap up of photos from the last week of shooting.
Let’s keep shooting – my feet are warm. My second pair of shoes finally arrived. They “might” be useful in LA. Warm and dry feet for those occasional “cool” rainy nights. (By comparison, I really can’t say “cold” can I?)
It looks as if spring has sprung. Give it a day or two. The snow on the roads and parking areas transmuted to mud.
Oliver’s lasagna-coleslaw-on-garlic-toast sandwich was the talk of the table for days. (patent pending)
Big crane day for the end of the film.
Rough night for everyone, especially our Key Grip. Dan spills his coffee while saving a flag (at least that’s how I remember it). Like he said, at least it’s all water proof. Good sport! And it’s mostly above the waist – less jokes.
Our lens on the same night as above as Dan’s mishap. If you click on the image you should see a larger version. The barrel of the lens might look textured but its actually frost that the wind peppered on. You should have seen the front of the lens (and I wish I had taken a photo). It looked like the top of a snow cone with at least 2mm of ice.
The camera never failed even with all the outdoor shooting in the coldest conditions for extended lengths of time. The one time it crashes… inside a warm set. The fix? A bag of snow to cool her down. Irony.
Our “firework’s light on crowd’s face” gag. Four heads with gels that matched the fireworks all on a Magic Gadget and bounced. Subtle but effective.
The crew and many locals watch a teaser the editor slapped together. Many an eye left a little wet. Nice job Jason!
Love this photo. L>R: Ryan (2nd AC), Gord (BB Grip), Dean (1st AC) – a truly great bunch of guys. Also notice that the snow has returned.
A must have on any cold weather shoot – the tent. It’s biggest advantage is keeping the wind off you. Also notice the “double-double” – our dolly atop the western (or doorway) dolly. A point of some debate on set. It always becomes a question of size doesn’t it boys.
This got heavy use on the show, at least during the last few days. It’s our movable lights from a truck. Handful of lights (mostly HMIs) and gripage on the back of a truck with a genie. Drive it in, light it up, shoot the shot… next setup.
Ah, oodbye boots. Two tours of duty in Canada did done them in.
Alas, the show is done. Congrats to Corbin on yet another fantastic movie. My sincere thanks to the crew who did an amazing job under some occasionally difficult situations (or when weather was involved, uncomfortable situations). I can’t wait to show the trailer when it’s finished and see what the reaction will be to the final movie. Kudos and a pat on the back to us all.
2011-03_17: 02:59 hrs: Second week is done. We’ve gotten some amazing scenes that I can’t wait to see cut together. Performances have been spot on, the exterior shots of the town have been beautiful, and the weather, for whatever difficulties it’s played on the crew and production, have done so much to enhance the story I definitely feel that a little magic has happened. And speaking of the crew, a lot of heart and soul has gone into making this movie and I know that those efforts will be channeled on the screen. I can’t thank the many men and women on the crew who have done a fantastic job! Thank you.
\
THE CAMERA, GRIP AND ELECTRIC TEAM:
(top) Dean F. (1st AC) and Ryan L. (2nd AC) hustling to get our next shot.
(middle) Daniel S. (Key Grip) and Gord H. (BB Grip) helping us get in as many great dolly shots as we can fit in.
(bottom) Rob T. (Chief Lighting Tech) with yet another bright idea.
(Missing photos of: John S. and Adrian H. – I’ll get shots of you two soon enough.)
(above) Hood mount.
(below) Our longest dolly shot yet.
During our previous day off, I had a chance to go to Edmonton and there I found a fantastic store called Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC). In the US, it’s like REI. It’s an outdoor activities stores that I could spend hours in and walk out spending too much money (it’s my Costco of sporting goods). I did manage to find a couple of gems to get. First and foremost, cold weather shoes. I got lucky to get some Sorel boots at end of the season discount. But the biggest find is a pouch to replace my long shredded sidekick. Those folks who’ve worked with me for many years, have know me to have a pouch by my side with my director’s finder, point-and-shoot, pens, compass, etc. Sadly, my trusty pouch with many years of faithful service gave up the ghost late last year. After searching far and wide, I couldn’t find a match much less a better match. Then about a week ago, I notice our gaffer wearing that familiar pouch I so longed for. That’s how I was introduced to MEC. It’s exactly like my old pouch only made of far better material. I was so glad with my find that I bought two. One for the day-to-day work and another for commercial jobs where dressing up is necessary. With membership in hand, I suspect I’ll be buying many more things from them.
With two weeks of shooting done, we’ve gone through most of the lens gamut of our package. The verdict… very happy with the performance of all the lenses. The workhorse is definitely the 18-80mm (4.4:1) Arri Fuji Alura. Sharp as a tack, fast at T2.6, manageably large in size and weight, and a useful range. The primes are a beautiful piece of glass but do miss the lens flare of older glass. There’s fast at T1.9 and light for handheld work. We’ve had a few opportunities to break out the torpedo 45-250mm (5.6:1, T2.6 and also an Alura lens). I love the characteristics of long lens photography and wish we could bring it out more often. But as limited as its use has been, the times it has come out have made all the difference photographically. It offers all the wonderful characteristics of the short zoom we have but with an amazing range.
(above) the Alura 45-250mm(below) the 35mm uniQoptics lens
(above) Dawn over Provost. I love Canadian skies on a clear dawn or dusk. While beautiful sunsets can be found in many places, there is something quite unique and special about the morning and night skies in the Canadian prairies. Something about low sun, clean air and atmospheric moisture content that causes the scattering of the sun’s rays in such a way that enhances the violets and enriches the pink, reds, oranges and pale yellows in a way like no other. The colors are rich and at times, offer tones of pastels and as the skies stretches across the flat landscape, somewhat solemn. This and the people are what I miss when I go back home.
With childlike awe, I’m always amazed by the speed with which the weather changes from blue skies to snow showers to fog with trees powered with horror frost. Each stage beautiful in its own way. Not so fun for a production that needs some consistency but a joy to see personally.
Big night at the Community Center set. My scribblings of camera placement, lenses, and screen direction.
One last thing of note, we had a chance to shot a scene at the Provost News building and there I had the good fortune to see up close a Mergenthaler Linotype Model 8. (Warning: geek moment coming.) This machines lineage made it possible for newspaper publishers to expand their coverage with more pages than were possible before when done by hand. The devices workings are amazing for its simplicity and yet also for its complexity. The name derives from the fact that it produces a “line-of-type” in what is termed “line casting”. Here’s Wikipedia’s simple description of what the machine works:
The Linotype machine operator enters text on a 90-character keyboard. The machine assembles matrices, which are molds for the letter forms, in a line. The assembled line is then cast as a single piece, called a slug, of type metal in a process known as “hot metal” typesetting. The matrices are then returned to the type magazine from which they came. This allows much faster typesetting and composition than original hand composition in which operators place down one pre-cast metal letter, punctuation mark or space at a time.
I believe the one we saw was acquired in 1929 and has survived two fires! I would have loved to have seen it working in its heyday.
***********************************
2011-03-06: Day Three is done. Damn groundhogs got it all wrong! Corbin shot scouting photos from last March with not even an ice cube on the ground. Instead we got…
Our Red One MX with full winter gear. Who are we wearing? Well, we have four tukes (or “beanie” for those of you south of the boarder – northern boarder that is). These lovely tukes are from Field’s Dollar Store. We have them wrapped on each battery and the onboard monitor with sporty black duct tape accented with chemical hand warmers to fend off that frigid prairie cold. To compliment this sporty look, the view finder is swaddled in fashion forward, hipster inspired terry cloth arm bands where conveniently stashed underneath are yet more hand warmers. Draped over her lovely Red One body is a custom made, safari inspired fleece one-piece with hideaway pockets for more chemical hand warmers. Designed and sewn by our fine co-producer, Kelleigh M. It’s sure to turn heads wherever it’s seen! Oh, and yes, it’s f-ing cold.
I love walking away with a great tip. Our 1st AC Dean F. brought this wonderfully useful kludge. It is as the name says, a shooter’s ridge. The dove plate fits very snuggly into the “v” and wait, there’s more. Under the ridge is business end of a Lazy Susan. We shot several shots off this rig, worked wonderfully! Kudos to Dean who in turn was inspired by the Camera SaddlS. Fantastic!
2011-03-04:
Day one is done. It was sketchy at first – sun, then clouds, then sun again. Got what we needed while the sun was out. Then, just to make things interesting, the prairie cold ripped its way in and just tore into everyone’s bones with temperature plummeting as night came. And finally, the calm. We reviewed some footage. Went over the next days shots. Called it a night.
We’re playing with some new toys this go around. The camera vendor is hooking us up with Arri Fujinon Alura zoom lenses - the 18-80 (4.4:1) T2.6 and the 45-250 (5.6:1) T2.6. Beautiful glass, lighter weight than the Angenieux glass we used last time and smaller to boot (well by a wee bit anyways). We’re also getting a reasonably new set of uniQoptics (T1.9) primes. I never hear of them but have heard of the lens designer Kenji Suematsu. On reduser.net, they’ve been compared with the Red Pro Primes and I’d have to agree. Sharp as a tack with very little flare. That last point is a bit of a disappointment to find true. I love, love, love flare (on the lens that is). We had a car driving at night coming straight toward lens and didn’t so much as give us the courtesy of buzzing the lens one iota. Do kinda wish we had gotten the old school Zeiss Super Speeds but with budgets and logistics and the chance to try some new equipment we are where we are. I suspect I won’t regret it. I’ll certainly have more to say on the matter tomorrow when I get my dailies.
Amazing crew, great performances and we actually ended the day ahead by knocking off a few additional shots. All-in-all, a good day.
2011-03_03: 23:04 hrs:
Pre-production is over and it all now starts tomorrow. Pre-production never quite feels like enough time. The production crew did a little meet-and-greet with the town tonight which always goes over well. They had a chance to meet the actors and the production crew, ask a few questions and we got to ask the community for props we’re still looking for. Items weathered by real hands is so much better than items made to look and feel used.
Then a little Subways “eat fresh” and now some final notes before the 8AM call. Gonna be a good day I think. I’d say “wish us luck” but… luck is for rabbits.
Goldenrod revisions.
2011-03_01: 02:03 hrs:
So I guess we’re all having a bit of weather. We were hoping things would clear up but, well, hope springs eternal in the mind of those in production.
Thank you Gerber multi-tool – you came through for me yet again.
I had hoped to bring my Apple Monitor, but size and the fact that it got a little ding last time made me think twice. Fortunately the room had an HDTV with an HMDI connector. A quick visit to the Apple Store and, BAM!, mini display port to HDMI. Duel monitor goodness just like home. When I’m not using it as a second monitor, it’s cycling through famous (and some not so famous) painting and photographs. A little inspiration and something good to look at go a long way. What images do I have cycling… well, I believe that’s a Monet but I also have Dali, Jasper Johns, Murakami, Van Gogh, Hokusai, Jackson Pollock, Andrew Wyeth and Hopper. On the photography side, some David LaChapelle, Garry Winogard, Philippe Halsman, Koen Demuynck, Julius Shulman, Annie Lebovitz, and Alex Prager and even a photo of a Banksy stencil (it’s the one where two vehicular weapons from Star Wars, where the larger one says to the smaller one “…I’m your father”).
Oscar party at the motel’s bar lounge. Way to go “King’s Speech”!
Did I mention it’s cold. Green revisions.
2011-02_27: 15:57 hrs:
Today I got up early (well, early for me) to take a trip with Corbin (dir) and Kim (our town liaison) to a city north of Provost called Lloydminster. It’s about 125 km (77 miles) almost straight north of the town we’re in and it literally straddles the boarder between Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the photo, you san see the dividing line between the city. We visited the Home Depot and Wally World (aka Wal★Mart) and got some coffee and doughnuts at the ubiquitous and much loved Canadian institution Tom Hortons.
All this really is of little import except to setup the little fact I found out why Canada also drives on the same side of the road as the US and to a greater extent, why the difference in the first place. Anyone with a little familiarity with Canada knows of the special relationship Canada has with the United Kingdom. They share a long history (although not always amicable), the Commonwealth of Nations, and a shared monarch. So why does Canada drive on the right and instead of the left like in the UK. Well like most things we take for granted, it started back, way back in history. It was common practice up to Medieval times (c. 1700 CE) to pass another traveler on the left. You never knew who you were going to come across on a road and since most people are right-handed, passing on the left made it possible to draw your sword if the need arose. All good and well until a little left-handed emperor by the name of Napoleon came along and decreed a change. Most nations that were colonized, occupied, ravaged or defiled by the French kept the practice as did many former British colonies keep the practice of driving on the left alive. Canada was heavily influence by France early in it’s development and kept to the right even after the UK’s influence increased. The US, wanting to purge the all vestiges of British colonialism, adopted the drive on the right rule. And that’s how Colonel Mustard killed Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock in the library with a thimble. Wait! What was I talking about… Ah yes, driving. See if you’re not careful, you may learn something. (Thank you Kim for the bit of history and the interweb for the followup.)
Here are some more photos from our trip – touched up just a wee bit. I’m playing with look ideas for the movie. With these photos you get a glimpse at the amazing landscape in and around Provost. Exciting times… Now off to watch some of the Oscars.
2011-02_25: 10:01 hrs:
Woke up this morning to -32°C (-25°F).
2011-02_24: 21:15 hrs:
I will never again complain about my home’s internet connection speed – ever. I’m dying here. I’ve been told it’s because we’re so far from the hub in Edmonton that may be the cause of our sluggishness (or the fact that it’s an unprotected network so everyone within range is pilfering bandwidth on YouTube clips of Bieber talking out his new hair). I was curious to see what the speeds were like so I visited Speedtest.net. It took 45 seconds to get to the page and then another 20 seconds to finish loading the flash. My results… 0.29 MB/sec download and 0.16MB/sec upload (back home it averages 18 MB/sec down and 2.8 MB/sec up). You don’t have to be an ITT graduate to understand those numbers. (Does anyone remember dial-up?) It certainly makes research slow and YouTube is out of the question for reviewing trailers of the shows crew members have worked on. It is, however, fast enough for Facetime, so I’ve got that going for me. Gunga galunga… gunga, gunga-lagunga. (Name that movie?) The power in the hotel room goes out every now and again so now I’m re-routing power from other outlet. (Scottie, I need more power!) Last night there was a thunderous crash and sounds of broken glass. Didn’t know what it was – too cold to stand by the door and window much less open either. Did find icicle parts on the walkway this afternoon – can’t image how they got from the eves to the floor short of a drunken roisterer. It’s a mystery best left explained by ghosts. Other than that, it’s been fun. I have my Gaffer, Key Grip and 1st AC lined up. Now if we can just get the camera and grip/electric equipment we’ll be ready to shoot a movie. I know I sound like I’m pooh-poohing everything here but I’m really not. Just little notes to remind me of my time here. I expect the coming weeks to be hard but rewarding. I expect that this project will be beautiful and something I’ll be proud of having shot. And no matter what little adversities might come up, It’ll all be forgotten when the light are dimmed and the screen lights up with the first images of the movie.
Did I mention it’s cold? It’s -28°C (-18°F). It’s probably hard to wrap your head around it. 0° is freezing, -10° is still freezing and -28°, well, sounds like more of the same. With each -10°C below 0 the cold rips through your clothes with a surprising amount of shock-and-awe. Add a little bit of wind and it’s something altogether different, getting into every opening of what you’re wearing no matter how tightly bundled you thought you were. Do any work outside, get a little winded, and quickly your lungs will be most displeased. Think about how nice and comfortable 20°C (68°F) is and then how you start to feel some discomfort with 30°C (86°) and then 40°C (104°)… just plain hot. Think of that and then move the dot on the discomfort chart up the scale logarithmically and you’ll get an idea of what cold really is (at least for me anyways).
Now back to covering up the heater vent because somebody on this floor is smoking. Thankfully I brought a roll of tape and some duvetyne.
2011-02_23: 00:11 hrs:
It’s true. This time I’m in the Canadian town of Provost in the province of Alberta. It’s cold! How cold? It’s currently -20°C (-4°F) at midnight. It’ll be hovering around the mid-negative 20s all week at night. As for the days, well, it’ll be around a “balmy” -17°C. It got a little warmer yesterday and today like -16°C (3°F). As a result, lots of snow disappeared or was blown away and made the conditions right for hearing the sheets of ice on the pavement crack under your feet – very disquieting. We’re in pre-production this week and next. I’ll be home in time for my birthday (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more…).
We’re shooting on the RED One MX. We had a chance to do a preliminary recce of our locations. From the photos I look, I’ve already started testing out color grading options on both 3cP and Apple Color. I’ve gotten results I’m very happy with. I think we’re gonna have a great camera team. Grip and electric is still being sorted out.
I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks. Pink revisions today.
Some very kind words were thrown my way on the Reduser.net forum. After principle photography wrapped on the supernatural-thriller “Box of Shadows”, I posted a quick update on Reduser’s forum page. Recently, one of the feature’s producers found that entry and posted a link to the updated trailer. Some of the folks who’ve watched the trailer chimed in with some very nice comments of the film and the cinematography. Thank you Vince for cluing me in on the post and thank you to the director, the producers and all involved for making the production something we should all be very proud of. Looking forward to when everyone can see the whole movie.
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33772
Just got back from an wicked screening of a feature I shot about a year ago called “Rust” and directed by Corbin Bernsen. It was presented for the Los Angeles audience at Raleigh Studios off a Christie 2000 projector from an HDCam master. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the projection better – it looked absolutely stunning. For me, it was phenomenal seeing it on the big screen. As a testament to the hard work during those cold days and frigid Canadian nights, numerous people came up to me after the screening to tell me how they could literally feel the cold while watching the movie. Brrrr… Great job Corbin, Chris, and James and thank you to the amazing crew. I also want the say “great job” to Mike Post who did the score. I’m a big believer that a film’s body is in the visuals but it’s soul is the score. His score is as big as a whale – great job Mike and thank you.
“Rust” is distributed by Sony Pictures and available at fine retailers and through Video on Demand.
Look what I found! I was searching for a few good movies to download to the DVR and found “Rust” available for rent. I shot this in Canada in January of 2009 and then also in the summer of that same year. Isn’t knowing people are watching my work really what it’s all about? Now time to decide… do I rent this or Muppets in Space?
UPDATED: I was just informed that “Dead Air” was showing on Showtime this afternoon. Two movies in the same month… nice.
The latest installment of “After Hours” (directed by Justin Viar for Cracked.com) is up and ready to zombie attack your funny bone. After being online for nearly a day, it’s already reaching 200,000 views. Popular show. The comments have been positive and even offer praise. You’ll also see a lively, albeit somewhat benighted political discourse mixed in for good measure – something about the undead and our cast of characters being pink hearted, liberal elitist. Both go hand in hand, yes?
The series is shot exclusively with the Canon 5D on location in Los Angeles utilizing a modest grip and electric package.
If you have a moment, have a look.
“Zombie Roadkill” is finally out and ready for viewing on Fearnet.com. Check it out, comment, spread the word like a zombie infection.
Later this week I’ll be heading Southeast to Austin, Texas for Fantastic Fest 2010. The world premiere of “Zombie Roadkill” will take place and if you believe the press release, it’s gonna be huge! Looking forward to seeing everyone involved with the production and sitting with an audience as they watch it for the first time. Needless to say, I can’t wait for the web-series to be available for everyone. Soon enough. Till then, I’ll post when I can from the road. Here’s a link to Dreadcentral.com about what’s planned for the screening.
