Mark Johnson - "CHOW BABY"

Hey Mark, since you're in NY helping Jack out on Rekindled, how is post production on Chow Baby working for you? Do you have your setup portable? Or will you wait on editing until you get back?
 
Mark, great thread. I envy Jack for having you on board. I have a huge appreciation for your CG skills. I have tooled around with Maya off and on over the last year only to realize the huge amount of work and patience it takes to create quality CG work. Looking forward to more!
 
Wow! You've put a ton of time into the cg. Everything looks really great! I'm a
Max guy myself but, I might wanna pick your brain about EI one day.
 
As many of you know, since last Wednesday I've been in New York serving as co-producer and VFX artist for Jack Daniel Stanley's REKINDLED entry in Horrorfest. Thus, CHOW BABY has been on the back burner. However, I promise real cool stuff to come later this week as I get back into my own twisted world of snakes and hot babes.

If you haven't visited Jack's thread lately it would be worth the trip. I've posted some of my own BTS images taken on the REKINDLED set that are pretty trippy:
 
Tuesday

Tuesday

Talk about brutal. After shooting on the REKINDLED set all night I had to go to Northern Pennsylvannia to shoot footage for a forensic project that is suddenly in emergency mode. Sam, a member of the crew drove with me and we took turns so we could stay awake behind the wheel. Then we had to drive back to New York. It's 10 p.m. and we're getting ready to shoot again so it looks like 2 days with no sleep for the doctor. Then I have to fly back to California on a red-eye tomorrow night. Wish me luck.
 
vislaw said:
Talk about brutal. After shooting on the REKINDLED set all night I had to go to Northern Pennsylvannia to shoot footage for a forensic project that is suddenly in emergency mode. Sam, a member of the crew drove with me and we took turns so we could stay awake behind the wheel. Then we had to drive back to New York. It's 10 p.m. and we're getting ready to shoot again so it looks like 2 days with no sleep for the doctor. Then I have to fly back to California on a red-eye tomorrow night. Wish me luck.
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Good luck Mark, dang you're workin' hard man... don't worry about those final Smuggler's shots... get them to me sometime this weekend if you can... if not, let me know, thanks :thumbsup:
 
Mark, Damn dude! Those pictures of the python are friggin' unreal! It baffles me to see nature go on such a bizarre direction in that it will devour anything that moves. Including hot babes. which... I guess i'll just have to wait to see the film to find out what really happens. :)

I dug the BTS video.. Not sure if it was mentioned, but who's the music by? Is it the same composer scoring your film?

/j
 
Brandon: Thanks for understanding. Will get you the smuggler shots by this weekend for certainty.

Edgen: I threw together the music using SonicFirePro. It's a great tool for doing short film scores.

***

It's 7:05 a.m. here in Brooklyn and Jack just called an end to the shooting day. I have to say without exaggeration that the stuff we got on the disk drives today was magical.
 
Mark, So you are going to use this 'sonicfirPro' software to score your film?... when there's probably about 15-20+ composers lurking the forum willing to do it for just for fun? Or do you have someone lined up already? If not, I can get you a few names or recommendations if you like.

all the best!
/j
 
Yes, indeed, there are great composers on the forum. While I have scored stuff with SonicFirePro, I'm using the very talented San Francisco composer Guthrie Lowe to score Chow Baby. SonicFirePro is great to create an instant sound track that matches whatever length you need. It can't compete with the talents of a true artist, though.
 
vislaw said:
Yes, indeed, there are great composers on the forum. While I have scored stuff with SonicFirePro, I'm using the very talented San Francisco composer Guthrie Lowe to score Chow Baby. SonicFirePro is great to create an instant sound track that matches whatever length you need. It can't compete with the talents of a true artist, though.
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Mark, Shew!! Startin' to say. Glad to see you using a real muscian for the project. :thumbsup: A heavy weight has just been lifted.. ahh the bliss... Anxious to see how the film turns out.

/j
 
Mark, you are amazing! I cannot wait to see your film and the work you did on Jack's "Rekindled." And I love what I saw of the work you did on Brandon's "Ransom."

Speaking of your film, I love the title. I liked it the first time I saw it but I must confess... it was only a couple of days ago that I caught the double entendre!!! (DOH!)

Nice man!
 
Ted,

I'm such a fan of your thread so it is a real pleasure to have you post here on mine. To me, your enthusiasm and self-effacing attitude are everything that I cherish about the low-budget indie film movement. By the way, I loved your new pics. Wow. All you have to do is keep shooting and keep learning and you'll be unstoppable. I only wish I lived close so that I could come by your next shooting session.

Ciao!
 
vislaw said:
You see, when I was shooting in the parking garage the other evening a security guard asked me if I had cleared it with the management (this is the complex I live in). I lied and told him I had. Frankly, I hadn't given it much thought since I live here and have a parking space in the garage. Now I'm wondering if I should try to clear it with the complex management. My worry is that they would say 'no' and then what do I do??
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That's funny. I too, shot in my building's parking garage for zombiefest. In fact, the actual security guard, I cast as one of the principals! I had built up a long term rapport with the manager and got her to agree to give me written permission to show the security guards. It read, on her business card, "Okay to shoot home movie in parking garage."

But, we also shot in the lobby, and did a blood gag that sprayed all over the lobby walls. I didn't tell the manager about this part. I went back and forth about fessing up to her, since some of the blood seeped under the office door, and we couldn't reach it to clean it up. But, cowardice reigned, and I ended up "forgetting" the whole thing. About two weeks later, I get a call from her, "Did you happen to shoot something in the lobby?" The whole night of shooting was caught on security cameras.
 
God, that was a funny story. I never even thought about security cameras!!!!!

I finally decided to be proactive and went to the management with a flyer I had printed addressed to the security guards showing my guy in his steadycam rig. The flyer gave my name and phone number and said it was merely to make certain that if a resident called in the fact that a guy in a strange rig was walking around the garage they would know what it was.

The management was only focused on how thoughtful I was being and so the issue of whether I had permission or not didn't come up. With the ice broken I was able to get her business card and was all set in case the issue arose while we were shooting.

When I was in Brooklyn this week I was reminded how important this element is because Jack had to get permission and a key to get into the dungeon where Rekindled was being shot. If we didn't have the cooperation of the maintenance guy we would have been sunk. He even turned out to be the best gaffer in the borough as he rigged lights, carried gear and otherwise was extremely helpful. I'll never forget how he would shout out "I do, I do ...." anytime something had to be moved or when a power cable needed to be run. Just goes to show that kindness is probably the best asset you can bring to these indie shoots.
 
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