Sunday, June 20, 2010

DAY 110: MAKING THE THRILLER/HORROR FILM: C R A * *


Day 110 - and all things are moving along fast in pre-production. As Craig flew up and over from Austin to LA packing along with him the camera we a considering using - we decided to tackle the questions we had about using this new Indie darling - the 5D. Here is the result of the test footage - shot at 2am in the morning - with minimal - and most of the time - no artificial light. 



Well - tons more pre-production info and more test footage/camera discussion coming very soon - and look out for the official thriller/horror movie site page  - the official name of the movie - kickstarter campaign - auditions - music video - viral campaign - set build - artwork - all coming soon my friends - and most of all - THANKS for the support ;-) I mean that. Now - back to making a kickass scary movie for ya'll to enjoy ;-) 



Oklahoma Ward

16 comments:

  1. The video turned out great!! I'm still shocked at how well that camera picked up the footage with hardly any lighting at all. Amazing. Watching this gets me SO pumped to start filming! Love it, love it, love it!

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  2. Hi guys, this is REALLY helpful to me, so thanks for sharing. I have been watching a lot of videos about the 5D. But these night tests are exactly what I was interested in.

    A lot of Death Movie is at night, so based on what I have seen here, the 5D might be right for my film. Like you said, the final test is on the big screen. But based on what I have seen from others who have screend it on the big screen, it looks like the one to use.

    Amazing camera. Great tests. So lookng forward to your project

    cheers

    David

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  3. I think this tool works well for the situation we will be in. I am surprised how well it handles on a poor ly rigged green screen. Need a few tweeks on the focus rig and lets make a flick!

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  4. That footage is frigging amazing. How much ambient light from the city was there at the beach? It might help me to put that into perspective. Regardless, the lack of graininess in such low light is incredible. It's so ironic that a still camera has such a video capability. There should be no problem using this camera for your feature.

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  5. Steve, as you can see the cloud cover helped quite a bit. IT became a giant bounce for the factory lights that are at least( 10 miles away?)
    didn't have a meter with me on the beach, but it was a very nice distant sodium glow. and she is in Black running pants as well. I do wnat to do more testing with action shots, I am wondering what the rolling shutter effect will have on that type of close in shot.

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  6. you know people chant all the time" I want shallow DOF.,, I want shallow DOF" well remember to see that you gotta have something in the background properly lit in order to give you that nice shallow DOF.. this camera does not eliminate the need for a well luminated frame. If thats what your after I suggest you look into the old school chinese painters that used "lost ink " methods to make the viewer look into the painting...

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  7. Steve and Craig - here is some information by one filmmaker on fast camera movement via the 5D - and - some information on how the footage holds on the big screen ;-)

    "..we wanted to tested t camera with fast movement and low light - I was expecting a lot of noise- I couldn't see any!"

    http://ow.ly/21BT9

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  8. Also - "...a portable dolly, a stedicam merlin and a miller tripod. But most of it was shot hand held and on the big screen - I blown away!"

    http://ow.ly/21BPJ

    ( just copy and paste link to see video and article )

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  9. Reliable and objective information in the field so to speak. A good unclutered test run of this camera which will make sense to indie film makers in particular. Some tests of this camera I have seen have a particular point to make (which is fine) but its good to see a test which addresses the concerns of indie film makers in a way that will make sense to them. Thanks

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  10. I hear ya Copernicus - and the truth is - if the footage didn't work - I'd be the first to say so - for me - the end result is thus - will it do the job we need it to do - will this camera be the camera on the AVATAR 14 - no - but will it work on this Indie Film - with the parameters this film is presenting - very low lighting and very tight spaces - it seems very so - and I must say - I do very much love the 'look" of the image - it's a very warm "film" look - not near as cold as a ton of HD cameras - that's just my opinion - but one I stick by - I love the look of this footage tons more than any of the "look" of the Sony F900 - note I'm not talking image quality - I'm talking the feel of the image - have a few more tests to run - will post those when I can - and now it's on to crowd-funding and viral trailers and posters ;-)

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  11. Do keep in mind on the greenscreen I purposely didn't match up the BG image to show the greenscreen effect - with about an hour of work - that greenscreen would flow perfectly - but I think the point was made fairly easily - it pulls just fine ;-)

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  12. I know what you mean about the look. It might be a subjective feel but each camera has its own image "characteristics" which work or behave in a particular way in specific circumstances and conditions. It is not necessarily a purely technical thing. Camera operators that I know have nearly always recomended me to use Canon cameras where possible for all sorts of reasons, one being the quality of the optics.

    As for the green screen, I guessed you just put it up more or less as it was, which was what was impressive. Makes one think how it would look after all the adjustments and work etc

    Thanks again. Looking forward to next installment(s)

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  13. Very interesting to see the concerns a filmmaker must consider before filming. I have a question, not knowing anything about filming or cameras, what causes the color changes as you are filming. I notice in your examples, the overall color hue changed. Also this may be silly, but I thought the camera almost gave the scene too much light and detail. If it is a pitch black scene with only the actor's light to show anything, would we be able to see all that detail?

    Teaser looks good and the poster too! Can't wait to see the movie!! Shirl

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  14. Shirl' - here's the short answer - not to get all tech - but what you are seeing is thus: the color change is me applying different color filters to prove that the D5 footage will indeed handle color correction filters without breaking down - also there was question on whether D5 footage will take greenscreen - and it does - rather easily too. You are correct - my movie will be more along the lines of the "look" of heavy blacks without all the detail you see in the footage where it is blown out by me - which does show detail - the reason that footage is in the video was just to show how much you COULD get from the D5 with so little light - and on my movie - I will want all that info on the footage - but will pull it down so you the viewer can't see it - one would rather have all the detail and take away what one wants - rather than not having the detail to work with ;-) I have been playing with the exact look of the movie I want - and if time permits - will post that footage also ;-)

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  15. Looking excitedly to the beginning of the filming process. And to the finished product!! The title and the billboard is intriguing. What is she crawling through and so on. Can't wait to find out.

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