M D Productions presents: 'Violet'

The Courtney Halverson actress who is playing Violet in "Violet" will be appearing in a music video that will debut today for the band "The Fray".

This video entitled "How To Save A Life" was directed by Mark Pellington and from the effort that went into it, should be a very nice piece.

The debut schedule for today is as follows:

MTV's TRL will debut this video at 3:30 PM
The online video will be available at mtv.com beginning at 4:30 PM
and the prime time premier will be at 11:00 PM following "The Real World"

If you get a chance check it out.
 
Yeah, a good looking cast never hurts. Now if you have seen the crew photos, you would know that it all balances out.

We just booked one more of our cast, an actress from France who will be playing "Madam Clavel" a French teacher in a class room scene. She will be flying back home the day following her scene. Sure hope I don't need to fly her back for ADR!

I will try to get her picture up on the first page soon.
 
KH Im a fan as you know and Im expecting in this fest BIG THINGS. Your approach is very pro, always good because theres learning to be had. Your daughter really has somethng special reminds me of the same thing I see in Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman.
 
Hi ncje,

Thanks for the kind comments about Courtney. She would be so happy to be even mentioned in the same context of Julianne Moore or Nicole Kidman as these are two actresses that she respects very much. I know that reading your post will put a big smile on her face!

My goal in these fests is to at a minimum, not embarrass myself, and I feel fairly confident that Violet will accomplish that. This is a learning experience for me as I don't often work in the capacity of a producer (actually I am not the producer as we have a great one, but I am sort of a junior co-producer on this project) so it is good for me to hone my skills in this area. Frankly, being a DP couldn't even be called work compared to what a producer does. It is, in my opinion, the toughest job in the business.

Blaine, our producer, is awesome. He is very good at all the details and he seems to really enjoy it. Me, I think in terms of photometric calcs, shots lists, framing, and other more mundane technical things. Getting more exposure to the producers job is something that will help me as I have a better idea as to how my decisions effect others in the crew outside of my specific area of responsibility.

Thanks again for your comments!

Kevin
 
khmuse said:
This is a learning experience for me as I don't often work in the capacity of a producer (actually I am not the producer as we have a great one, but I am sort of a junior co-producer on this project) so it is good for me to hone my skills in this area. Frankly, being a DP couldn't even be called work compared to what a producer does.
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Don't let him fool you. Kevin is carrying a huge load on this project. :thumbsup: "junior co-producer" my a$$...:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Had a short shooting day yesterday due to talent availability. We did complete a classroom scene that we needed. This was important to finish as the actress playing our French teacher had to leave to go back to France today, so not completing her scenes would have been a bit of a problem. Blaine (our Producer) managed to grab a few BTS images of this scene.

1165772718.jpg

This was a pretty straight forward setup. Our main room sources were 3 China Balls with ECAs, these were motivated by the
overhead fluorescent fixtures. The key was a 4 bank (3200k) Caselite 4 with an eggcrate grid, fill and hair lights were from a
number of small par can fixtures with 3200k sources. Had to bounce a fair amount of gold reflector to overcome the high color
temperature spill from outside hitting the vertical blinds.

1165772682.jpg

This BTS (not a frame grab) was from near the camera position used in the master shot. We only had a limited amount of time
to get set dressing the way that we wanted, so its a bit more sparse than ideal.

1165772751.jpg

Here is a wardrobe continuity shot for our two lead actresses.

I will post some frame grabs when I get a chance.
 
Hey Kevin, SWEET LIGHTING in that classroom! Love the way you breakdown what you use to do the lighting, too. Very informative.

I cannot wait to personally see you at work. It is going to be great!

I'll see you later today!

Ted
 
khmuse said:
The Courtney Halverson actress who is playing Violet in "Violet" will be appearing in a music video that will debut today for the band "The Fray".

This video entitled "How To Save A Life" was directed by Mark Pellington and from the effort that went into it, should be a very nice piece.

The debut schedule for today is as follows:

MTV's TRL will debut this video at 3:30 PM
The online video will be available at mtv.com beginning at 4:30 PM
and the prime time premier will be at 11:00 PM following "The Real World"

If you get a chance check it out.
Click to expand...

Just saw the video... didn't like the song... pretty cool video though :)
 
Brandon Rice said:
I just heard that song on the Billboard Music Awards a couple nights ago. Cool stuff.
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Brandon Rice said:
Just saw the video... didn't like the song... pretty cool video though :)
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Huh? First you thought the song was "cool" then you didn't like the song? I'm confused.
 
Kevin, Great seeing you again today! Wow, what a PRO you are. You really know your stuff. I cannot wait till tomorrow and REALLY see you at work!

Blaine, you are my hero! What a gem you are to have on a set!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Courtney, congrats on the video! I loved it. I enjoyed the song and I was mesmerized by the visuals. I loved the constantly moving light. I am wondering, and maybe you don't know, but was that "light" symbolizing a car's headlight that ultimately took someone's life? Or am I reading too much into it and the light is just really cool!?

Either way, I enjoyed it! (thanks for sharing, Kevin. You must be so proud in so many ways.)

-Ted
 
OK, here are a few frame grabs from the class room scene. I would have liked a bit more time to dress the set, but I think that it reads
as a French classroom and with the French being spoken, it should be just fine.

1165849885.jpg


1165850088.jpg


1165850126.jpg


Next shooting day has us at a very old cemetery. Should be fun as this location has a lot of character.
 
Kevin, you are going to win the dramafest catagorie of the PRETTIEST CAST! That's for sure!

Looks great, man! Really. Looks great.
 
Thanks Kevin, for this very informative thread. Thanks for taking the time to lay out the various facets of your process and work.

Jason
 
Theodore J Arabian said:
Kevin, Great seeing you again today! Wow, what a PRO you are. You really know your stuff. I cannot wait till tomorrow and REALLY see you at work!
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I really enjoyed getting to watch a bit of your rehearsal with talent yesterday. You are what I would call an actor's director, very aware of your actors needs and equally respectful of their time. This should make for very pleasant working set. Looking forward to beginning principal photography today on "Threading The Needle"!


Theodore J Arabian said:
Blaine, you are my hero! What a gem you are to have on a set!
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Gotta agree with you there. Blaine is such a great guy to work with, so nice to have someone that you can count on.

Theodore J Arabian said:
Courtney, congrats on the video! I loved it. I enjoyed the song and I was mesmerized by the visuals. I loved the constantly moving light. I am wondering, and maybe you don't know, but was that "light" symbolizing a car's headlight that ultimately took someone's life? Or am I reading too much into it and the light is just really cool!?
Click to expand...

Courtney is already in class, but I will pass this along to her to read later. I can tell you that there were a number of shots that didn't make it into the final project. One that she described to me was so emotional that the director couldn't stop crying. They had Courtney recreate the event where the director's wife died in his arms in a hospital bed. This was so emotional (and perhaps a bit cathartic for the director) and so intense that it would have completely changed the tone of the video. Courtney described it as a draining bit of acting, but very rewarding to shoot even if it never gets seen.

Theodore J Arabian said:
Either way, I enjoyed it! (thanks for sharing, Kevin. You must be so proud in so many ways.)
Click to expand...

I am proud in more ways than words can express.:)
 
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