The Iceman - a short by J. Van Auken

[Hans Moleman]

Ok, thought I'd throw it up here partially to keep the project moving with some good ol' fashioned peer pressure, and partially to have my project refined by the dvxuser thinktank.

where we're at:

DIRECTOR/DP: J. Van Auken (me)
GENRE: Drama
RUNNING TIME: 5 minutes
CAMERA: HVX200 w/ brevis35
LOCATION: NW Minneapolis, otherwise known as the frontier...I think that's a buffalo over there...
LEAD: Jeff Shockley
SCRIPT: 14 pages, but a lot of back&forth dialog
FAV. PROP: Beretta M92f 9mm (because a film isn't dramatic if there aren't guns in it)
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY BEGINS: November 6th
PROJECTED RELEASE DATE: Shortly thereafter

I'm very confident in this project, but scared at the same time because it's going to serve as an example for the class i'm teaching at my highschool. If I use the lessons I learned from the last (failed) project, I think we can pull it off. I'll get productions stills up as soon as I shoot em.

[Brandon Rice]

cool beans! keep us updated!

[Weston]

cool beans! keep us updated!

Cool beans is a highly underated phrase....

But anyway...good luck on the movie

[Hans Moleman]

FIRST UPDATE: 10/22/06

Well, I've started securing crew 'n' such. I've got some good guys coming onboard, but still trying to keep it small. A good lessons I've learned is that simplifying projects exponentially increases chances of success.

In the meantime, while my new toys ship from B&H, I've been DP'ing on a peer's project for school. I'm picking up valuable lessons from his directing style, which serves as a perfect "how NOT to conduct yourself on set" example.

Some tidbits I've picked up that I wouldn't mind sharing:

Don't try to establish dominance over your DP by using tech terms, especially when you don't know what the &$%# you're talking about. (He asked me if I knew the 'pixel rating' on the DVX...)

Flooding a room with highly directional light, without regard to placement, color, or intensity, DOES NOT count as "lighting a scene."

DO NOT direct your DP with hand movements that you also use to command your dog. This includes snapping and fruity hand gestures. DP's are not dogs.

A shot list is not a script. A shot list is not a shooting script. A shot list is not story boards. A DP can do little with a shotlist if you have no script and no storyboards, especially if it's the first time he's seen it.

If you command your DP to remove the camera from his tripod with a bogen 501 head, then reprimand him for the resulting shot's shakiness, expect a negative response.

If you weigh less than what your DP bench-presses (235 lbs yesterday), DO NOT make snide comments about beating him if he is late again, ESPECIALLY when you sent him back home to get his own camera which you didn't tell him to bring in the first place.

DO NOT brag. this especially applies when you have little to brag about. (he was showing off his Ohio-wesleyan acceptance letter; I have an interview with Harvard next week. Not bragging, I'm just putting it in context.)

That's all I've picked up from the first TWO HOURS. we reconvene tonight, so I'm sure I'll learn plenty of wonderful new lessons.

Thanks all.:thumbup:

[anchoryanker]

FIRST UPDATE: 10/22/06

Well, I've started securing crew 'n' such. I've got some good guys coming onboard, but still trying to keep it small. A good lessons I've learned is that simplifying projects exponentially increases chances of success.

In the meantime, while my new toys ship from B&H......

<SNIP>

.......That's all I've picked up from the first TWO HOURS. we reconvene tonight, so I'm sure I'll learn plenty of wonderful new lessons.

Thanks all.:thumbup:

:grin: :grin: That's classic! So, is your HVX in yet? BTW, don't worry, I'm giving your old 100b a good home!:beer:

[richke]

curious to see how this turns out.

[Hans Moleman]

Thanks, so am I

[Hans Moleman]

SECOND UPDATE - 10/28/06

The HVX came in today. Holy Balls.

Did some test footage with it, so happy I teared up a lil. All in camera, no cc.
16 MB quicktime (http://media.putfile.com/test-stuff)

Also the DVX battery came and some arri's are on their way along with the brevis and some Nikons. I'm officially tapped.

One recurring snag has been local restuarants' unwillingness to support the project.
I'm not sure what strings are going to have to get pulled, but I'm doin my best.
Any tips that could be offered for coercing a restaurant to allow a film crew for half a day would be great.

for now, here are some test grabs:
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1162008741.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1162008779.jpg

[Hans Moleman]

One lil update: The Iceman has now been comitted to the dramafest. This'll be my (our) first fest, so lets see how it goes.

[Hans Moleman]

UPDATE 11/3

Okay, so things have progressed little.

The Brevis has shipped, and hopefully wont take too long to get from Canadia to Minnesota. My Arri came in along with a dolly and a lens, so as far as toys go, we're set.

I'm hoping to resolve our biggest problem today by convincing a local restauranteur to let us use the location. The problem is that if we're allowed in, it will change the setting of the whole project. let's see how it goes.

[anchoryanker]

I talked with my ex today(She used to manage restaurants in NYC) She said those places tend to be very image-conscious, and are skttish about anything that might potentially put them in a bad light. That is amplified if you plan on shooting in the back of the house(kitchen/office area), as there is alot of infighting and drama that goes on behind the scenes that restaurants like to keep under wraps.

She recommended that you maybe offer them some stills that they can use in advertisements, as that will save them money on hiring a photographer to come out and do it. Maybe use your actors and shoot a short commercial for free that they can use. You also may want to offer them the right to prescreen your work, and remove anything that they think may put them in a bad light.

Basically she said you can probably forget about getting access for free, they're gonna want something out of the deal.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[Hans Moleman]

I spoke today with the manager at the local supper-club, and I'm 99% sure he'll let us do it (for free no less), but just to be safe, if he's on the edge, I'll probably offer to give him a free copy of the final product, or an open invitation for me to do a free 30 sec spot or something. We'll see how it goes. The only snag is that it changes the setting of the film.

[omar_]

What the heck is going on over there?? :shocked:

Good luck with the project by the way! Keep us posted.



FIRST UPDATE: 10/22/06
Some tidbits I've picked up that I wouldn't mind sharing:

Don't try to establish dominance over your DP by using tech terms, especially when you don't know what the &$%# you're talking about. (He asked me if I knew the 'pixel rating' on the DVX...)

Flooding a room with highly directional light, without regard to placement, color, or intensity, DOES NOT count as "lighting a scene."

DO NOT direct your DP with hand movements that you also use to command your dog. This includes snapping and fruity hand gestures. DP's are not dogs.

A shot list is not a script. A shot list is not a shooting script. A shot list is not story boards. A DP can do little with a shotlist if you have no script and no storyboards, especially if it's the first time he's seen it.

If you command your DP to remove the camera from his tripod with a bogen 501 head, then reprimand him for the resulting shot's shakiness, expect a negative response.

If you weigh less than what your DP bench-presses (235 lbs yesterday), DO NOT make snide comments about beating him if he is late again, ESPECIALLY when you sent him back home to get his own camera which you didn't tell him to bring in the first place.

DO NOT brag. this especially applies when you have little to brag about. (he was showing off his Ohio-wesleyan acceptance letter; I have an interview with Harvard next week. Not bragging, I'm just putting it in context.)

That's all I've picked up from the first TWO HOURS. we reconvene tonight, so I'm sure I'll learn plenty of wonderful new lessons.

[Hans Moleman]

What the heck is going on over there??

If I may coin a term, what we had in this situation was an excessive amount of "douche-baggery"

[Hans Moleman]

UPDATE 11/10

Brevis35 came today. Soiled myself. Honestly. I need new pants.

Anyway, so did Barry's HVX book, which is going to be a great reference since I watched the HVX DVD's back to back like 5 times.

Also made the final call to the restaurant (main location) today and secured it for the 16th and 18th. Hopefully won't need it for the 18th, so I plan to bust ass on the 16th. Mostly dialog stuff. I'm not worried.

The shotlist and shooting script are in their final stages where I'm adding and taking away small stuff to make the project a lil deeper.

I plan to learn the Brevis tonight (a tall order), but we are extremely limited for time at our locations, so I need to be on the freaking ball come thursday.

Promise to post grabs with my new toys as soon as possible.

[Hans Moleman]

Lil update:

Thought it was worth a shot to ask Leo Gardini if he was availible to score the film.

Surprisingly, he has agreed to help me out. This might turn out to not suck.

Graci, Leo

[Hans Moleman]

UPDATE 11/16

First day of shooting completed.

I'm learning more about the process every time I get on set. Today I learned that to have enough time to do the scenes you want (properly) estimate the time itd take to do them, then double that. In other words, we got half the shots done we needed.

Here are some production stills. I'll be reviewing the footage later tonight and I'll post grabs that I think don't suck. There might not be too many.

Tomorrow I'll be talking to the artist who'll do our poster and dvd cover. He comes recommended, so lemme know if you like his stuff that I'll post and I'll hook you up.


http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1163729516.jpg

[Hans Moleman]

Well, after slaving at it for a while, I finally got a look I'm happy with for the project. here are some screens for you guys, lemme know what you think.

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1164158674.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1164158654.jpg

Also, I've taken another lesson away from this project, that might be worth sharing. Due to some scheduling difficulties, we had to cut a shoot short, which really discouraged me. A few times I thought about putting the whole thing on hiatus untill summer or something. But, instead of throwing in the towel, I put effor into finding ways around the problems we had, and it's looking like everything's going to work out by next week. So for what it's worth, don't ever quit on a project, just keep plugging away.

[anchoryanker]

Looks nice!:beer:

BTW, I recognize the guy in the bottom pic from the tape you left in the 100B.

[Dennis Wood]

Are you using the Brevis on these? I'm guessing yes.

[Hans Moleman]

I use the brevis more than I use seat-belts.

[Brandon Rice]

Those stills look good!

[Dennis Wood]

You've definitely got the adapter set up well and back focus spot on. The stills look really good. I'm impressed that you got set up so quickly :-)

[Hans Moleman]

ya see, when you wait for something for 6 months, and read about it every day, its like astronaut training. Once you're out in space (on set) you whip through the motions like a trained monkey.

[Dennis Wood]

I hear ya. I guess the wait was worth it then as you are on track to produce hours and hours of perfect adapter footage :-)

[Hans Moleman]

dennis just got himself a "special thanks" in the credits

[Brandon Rice]

This Should Be Moved To Dramafest....

[Dennis Wood]

I'll do anything for a credit (swoons to floor, back of hand across forehead, HVX 60p overcrank fades to black...).

Anyway, enough of the thread diversion :-)

[Hans Moleman]

I think it's effective here, because it started as an independent project, and only one cut will be sent to dramafest. I also (hopefully) am describing the process and tribulations enough to warrant its own thread.

[Hans Moleman]

UPDATE 11/28

the second day of major shooting is finally done. It was a struggle to bring everyone back together at the location. time was also a major, major factor (only allowed from 2 till 5). The great news is that all of the interior filming is 100% done. psyched, very psyched. I'm sitting here converting in cineform right now, so i'll be looking at dailies and posting grabs shortly.

All that's left to do is the external scene, and the city montage dealie. then it's editting for a few weeks and we should have ourselves a short. I'm getting hyped because this is the first (major) project i've completed in 9 months that I headed up completely on my own.

got back some mock-ups from the artist doing the cover and poster, and I'm really digging his style. he brought some things out that I really like, and will actually be putting into the film.

I've found the magic of adlib very useful throughout this process. every other line we'd find my writing to be unnatural, or without flow, and the actors smoothed it out nicely. kudos.

Next shoot is friday (everybody here has real jobs), and after that we should be golden.

[Hans Moleman]

okay, here's a still from the second day. ignore the motion blur, but what are your thoughts on the lighting? Fairly stark, i know, but is it distracting? I'm considering bringing it down a bit more in post.

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1164947549.jpg

[Paul Coleman]

I really like it. Is his face at 90 IRE? And what was the raw at? I probably would bring it down a slight bit, to get a little detail back. Looks good, though.:thumbup:

[Hans Moleman]

I tried as best i could in cam to keep the face at 70%, dunno where it is now. I'm probably going to try to bring the highs down with levels. thanks for the reply.

[Brandon Rice]

Looks nice... I do agree in bringing it down a tad in post...

[Hans Moleman]

Okay, it's happened, it's finally happened. Principle photography is done. giant relief.

I don't know if I mentioned, but its been a while since I've finished one of my own projects, and I'm feeling better and better about it as the process moves along.

Anyway, with just B roll to do, I've decided to start toying with my look while I wait for Cineform to get back to me about a footy error.

As per your suggestions, here's where I've got things:
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1165079118.jpg

I'm liking it, but depending on how it looks on a crt, i might go more blue (to fit the name/feel)

[Hans Moleman]

UPDATE 12/10/06

The film is basically dead in the water. Ground to a halt in post because CineForm ate my footage and just decided to stop working and start spitting out garbled footage during converts (if it outputs anything at all) and then, for whatever reason, the codec stopped being compatible with PP2.0, or for any playback at all. This is so effing ridiculous, i can't even talk about it without my blood pressure rising. I've had to lodge 3 formal complaints with the company thus far on this one project; one was answered with "reinstall it," one wasn't answered at all and I had to find a workaround from here, and one hasn't even been looked at yet. The idea that an entire project is killed because of a software blunder after all this work is unbelievable, what's worse is that I paid $200 for it. That's one expensive headache.

[Hans Moleman]

while dealing with the death of my film at the hands of a workflow flub,
I recieved the final version of our poster from the artist I had mentioned.
It's too damn bad there isn't the film to back it up,
but he did some really great work with minimal direction from me.
Anyway, his name is Galen Higgins. PM me if you want his info.

may I present the cover for IceMan:


http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/9586/1166062723.jpg

[Dennis Wood]

So no hope for recovering the footage? If not, that's a flipping huge stinker :-(

Cineform can't help at all?

[Brandon Rice]

Don't you have the original DV tapes still?

[Hans Moleman]

Shot on HVX, so no original tapes, but the MXF files are fine (i think), it's just that apparently cineform can't handle MXF's over 3 gigs. so much for long takes.

[Dennis Wood]

So there's still hope...

[Kholi]

SO... wouldn't you just find another system to edit on? A final Cut system? Vegas?