WEBSERIES: Casters

[Rodney V. Smith]

Title: CASTERS
Webseries

Description:
CASTERS is a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional podcast out of Astoria, Queens. Each episode follows CAL and RONNIE (the show's co-hosts) and OWEN (the show's engineer) as they work to put up a new show as well as deal with their day-to-day lives. This 6 episode series features a different guest every week and is accompanied by a FULL-LENGTH, DOWNLOADABLE PODCAST which will be briefly featured in the show itself.


Youtube Link | Facebook

Directed by: Erin Gould
Director of Photography: Rodney V. Smith
Location soundd: Conn Hanson

Starring:
Jason Griffith
Miriam Pultro
Josh Tussin

[Rodney V. Smith]

Casters, episode 1, part 1


So I've gone neck deep into the world of webseries and this show Casters is one I've been performing DP duties for while workign on my own series Dominion.

This show was where I got to really work with another director and writer and just take my time (comparatively speaking) to do lighting setups and dolly moves (thanks ot the ZazaSlider http://www.zazaslider.com) and just really work as a Director of Photography. No flashy VFX work or other distractions here. Just plain old drama and a little bit of comedy. And me making the pretty pictures.

This is something I'm very proud of and even though it's not perfect, it's something I couldn't have done successfully and made look so good without all I've learned here on the DVXUser boards and in the DVXFests.

So just thought I'd share with you guys.

Enjoy.

-Rodney

[Rodney V. Smith]

Episode 2: Bring it Up (part 2)


Episode 3: The Assist (part 1)


Episode 4: The Assist (part 2)

[Rodney V. Smith]

I invite your comments. I shot and directed most of the shots and the progression of the scenes. Erin was a great director and he was very welcoming to my suggestions so I was grateful to work with someone so cool and who knew just when to rein me in so I didn't rule the set. Good that man.

CAMERA: Canon T2i, Cavison Matte Box, Cinevate Rails support, Marshall Monitor

LIGHTING: This was lit solely with Lowel Totas, aided by lots of diffusion, a couple roles of CTB and CTO, lots of blackwrap and a couple of Soft Boxes. I LOVE my softboxes. Lots of bounce lighting and soem reflector work in a few instances. Miriam and Jason both have very dark eyes so lighting for them was always a challenge. Limited budget but we really made those Totas work. 5 Totas have never been so useful.

Caveat: the bar scene was shot on a day i wasn;t there and it's glaringly different than the rest of the footage. I just had to throw that out there before I get ripped to shreds on that.

[Rodney V. Smith]

Screenshots:







Photos from the the set can be found on the facebook page:
First Day of Shooting
Second Day of Shooting