Couple Desert Grabs From Our DVX100A Feature

[SquidLips]

I am currently loading all the footage from the feature into the computer but there is about 10 hours worth and am only about 1/4 the way through. But, wanted to post two shots I loaded last night of our mainly desert shot production (trying to make use of the the creepy compositions that exist out there on the fly). It was shot anamorphic and is cropped for 2.35 in the grabs.

The first one is slightly saturated and color corrected red.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/TheRanchHand/FGDesert.png

The next one was not corrected in post but used the in camera Magic Bullet to add a more warmer yellow (it was cloudy and FREEZING that day...poor actors). It also reminded me of a "Leone" landscape with the fire pit.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/TheRanchHand/FGUncolor.png

[Staven]

Looks real nice. I'm looking forward to seeing footage and a trailer.

When you say in camera Magic Bullet - are you talking about playing with white balance, is it preset ideas from Barry's Book, or something entirely different?

[Slimothy]

awww...man. You got the guys buttcrack, but not the girls!! >:( Joking. Good stuff. When will the trailer be up?

[baquajim]

Looks good. I can't wait for a trailer, this looks like a pretty cool film.

Keep it coming.

[Larry Rutledge]

I LOVE that first grab....it's beautiful. Anyway of getting a larger version of that image? I'd love to use it as the wallpaper on my computer?

Looking forward to footage! Great Job!

[Final Design Studios]

man, I wish I had lanscapes like that here. Alaska is full of beautiful stuff, but its all covered with snow nine months out of the year.

Where did you shoot this? It looks awesome

[Slimothy]

It looks beautiful but it gets old, believe me!!! I get happy when I see anything green because here in the desert dust, wind, dirt, and tumbleweeds are the norm. That pic was shot in Southern California right? (Palmdale, Lancaster, Barstow, Victorville) one of those maybe.

[SquidLips]

Thanks for the compliments. I am one of those heavy composition directors and try and really make the shot strong when it's supposed to be. You are right, we did shoot it in Lancaster/Palmdale area. Spent 9 days there. And, I managed to get some better butt cracks in other scenes. ;D

As for a higher res scan of the first pic, I'd be honored to send one to you. Let me know where and I'll e-mail a PNG file to you. :)

In the camera, there were some hue adjustments we made as the story progressed. We went from a warm natural look, through a hotter yellow and then ultimately a more "blueish" for the end. I'll push it more in FCP as the look in some cases is not as strong as I want it to be. I discussed it with my DP and she did the exact settings, but we just played around with it in tests we shot and I have not seen Barry's book yet.

I have a quicktme of the teaser I threw together that is 3 MB if anyone knows the best way to put it up?

[Slimothy]

I don't know the best way, but I sure hope you figure it out so we can see it! ;) You guys must have frozen your asses off! How'd you come upon the Palmdale/Lancaster locations? You live near there?

[Staven]

I regards to your upload of footage you threw together...

Are you going to have a web site for promoting the movie? Cuz if you have or are going to build one, you can use that site to upload stuff you wish to show here. Just make an additional page that isn't accessible by clicking from your site, only accessible by typing in and give us that address.

[SquidLips]

Yeah, I actually live in LA, so not too far. We rented a house out there for two weeks and cast and crew stayed there. The permits were easier to get as long as you stayed off the main roads. Even then we would shoot on the main roads all day and have maybe two cars come through.

Yes, we are putting together the web site so I will post the trailer up there for you guys to take a look at. In the mean time, here are two more shots:

The top one is our actors making their first gruesome discovery.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/TheRanchHand/FGGang.png

The other is a moment where one of the characters has a "psychic" contact with something she doesn't quite yet understand. We had this great circle of Joshua Trees and did a dolly around them with her in the middle at 1000 shutter and it looked wild:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/TheRanchHand/FGTrees.png

[Larry Rutledge]

Thanks SquidLips, I sent you a PM

[booggerg]

Ahhh Joshua Tree national park.. one of my favroite places!!

[Rich Lee]

deserts are cool...nice lookin stuff SquidLips.

[SquidLips]

Ah yes....the things you find in the desert :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/TheRanchHand/FGTV.png

Makes for great filmmaking when you take advantage of them.

[Slimothy]

Is that color corrected? Looks a lil' red but still looks good. Tim.

[SquidLips]

None of these have been adjusted to their final color correction. The one with the four actors and the fire pit has not been touched at all in FCP, but the others have been played with in terms of hue and saturation. In the end I will be going for a more "unnatural" looks as the characters enter the final stages of the film so it will go from a natural to gold to red to blue scheme in the final.

[JonnyMac]

Ahhh Joshua Tree national park.. one of my favroite places!!

One of my stomping grounds as a kid ... I grew up in 29 Palms.