My DVX trailer

Something seems fishy here.

What was the budget on this? that's the real question. As far as actors (and lots of them), NUMEROUS expensive locations, props (guns, police gear, swat gear,etc.), vehicles (Mercedes, suburban, etc), sound, lighting, a HELICOPTER shot?

I'm finding it a little hard to believe this was a "project for fun" all orchestrated by one 23 year old.

If it's true, then I say congrats... but there's no way this was done without a large scale budget.

-brown
 
rcbrown23 said:
Something seems fishy here.

What was the budget on this? that's the real question. As far as actors (and lots of them), NUMEROUS expensive locations, props (guns, police gear, swat gear,etc.), vehicles (Mercedes, suburban, etc), sound, lighting, a HELICOPTER shot?

I'm finding it a little hard to believe this was a "project for fun" all orchestrated by one 23 year old.

If it's true, then I say congrats... but there's no way this was done without a large scale budget.

-brown
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so you don't believe a guy who doesn't have a few hundred dollars to by an adapter would have access to things like helicopters, expensive cars, and hollywood props?

shame on you!
 
ugafan said:
so you don't believe a guy who doesn't have a few hundred dollars to by an adapter would have access to things like helicopters, expensive cars, and hollywood props?

shame on you!
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:grin: :thumbsup:
 
My DVX settings all set to ZERO gamma set to NORM and matrix set to NORM. USed a UV filter. Filmed in 24p normal. I mostly zoomed in for half the stuff to get the DOF. Edited on prem1.0, colour timed and effects done in AE6.5. Alot of the stuff I lit well so i dint have to go to crazy on the colourtiming. Jst used the curves, levels, colour balance, contrast... to bring out the skin tones. During filming it took longer to setup, camera, sound, light rehearse etc.... then to shoot. eh! I would either forget to turn somthing on or run into a problem with an actor, someone complaining, cops or locations. My budget was pennies. My actors can back me up on this.
 
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Ozan_Biron said:
My DVX settings all set to ZERO gamma set to NORM and matrix set to NORM. USed a UV filter. Filmed in 24p normal. I mostly zoomed in for half the stuff to get the DOF. Edited on prem1.0, colour timed and effects done in AE6.5. Alot of the stuff I lit well so i dint have to go to crazy on the colourtiming. Jst used the curves, levels, colour balance, contrast... to bring out the skin tones. During filming it took longer to setup, camera, sound, light rehearse etc.... then to shoot. eh! I would either forget to turn somthing on or run into a problem with an actor, someone complaining, cops or locations. My budget was pennies. My actors can back me up on this.
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I like your web page... "ozan" in white letters, thats it, thats great.
This trailer was great, very very very pro stuff. But its impossible to get that kind of bokeh, DOF and blurs from the stock lens, dude, c'mon.. what adapter was used? How did you do your sound mix 'cause it sounded amazing even through my shite laptop speakers. Only a seasoned pro could produce a sound mix+ recording like this.. who did it for you? How many pennies did it cost for all the props and gear? Hold on.. what the heck is goin' on here??
I'm going to watch the piece again..

Ha.. I just watched the whole thing.. very funny. This is obviously fairly budgeted and pro... why are you marketing it this way? To test its believability as a DIY?? Why? Interesting angle, but I think you have to examine your percieved thresholds again...
 
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I have to say, looking through Ozan's previous posts, they mostly seem to be about this project. Problems and stuff he had along the way. So it does appear to be the production he is saying. And it seems he's been working on this since 2004 or so.

Maybe a stupid question- but was it the PAL or NTSC DVX?

I'm definitely surprised that the images were done without an adapter. I asked about the M3 because of a previous you had with test footage using it.
 
Dont own a 35mm adopter. Would love to own one. Filmed with the NTSC DVX100a. That M3 stuff was from a long time ago... Comepletly differnt film not related to this.


I starting filming METH in early JUNE and finish Sept. Mostly all done during the summer time on weekends... I compeleted the edit in novmeber. So about 6-7 months for evrything. I worked on it when i could and had free time. It seemed to never end! BUt its done YAY!

Since i was solo on set. I used these old wire lav mics (Sony ECM-44B). Became a hassle cause i had to run long XLR cables. Most of the action stuff was on board mic. I did alot of extra sound recording of sound effects like car noise, doors, misc. sound fx later on.

I did the temp layout for the sound mix in premier. The trick is to do alot of LAYERING! 12+ audio tracks. The more in depth is it the better and it helps the footage look better. Near the end i had to hand it off to a friend of mine. He did all the fine tuning for me. The edit it self was a handfull.
 
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:shocked: It's crazy to think that you did this without a 35mm adaptor....So what projects do you have in the works are far as "serious" instead of "just for fun" projects?

So you're saying you just adjusted levels and contrast in AE with every scene setting on zero?? Wha??
 
Amazing accomplishment if its legit...
What got you interested in this story in the first place? A sprawling look at the vancouver meth industry with a heavy dose of government conspiracy internal affairs business thrown in, featuring weathered, seasoned actors... Seems so heavy for just some 'fun' filmmaking. Usually fun around here is some stalk n'slash or a light comedy...
Please detail as much production info as you can, its should be fascinating...

Sorry, one more question.. how come the credits in the end title are backwards? Its hard to read... Or are these just 'dummy' titles to work the design out..?
Watched it again with headphones.. Some sweeet dialogue mic technique in there... adr or all production sound??
 
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Ozan_Biron said:
I starting filming METH in early JUNE and finish Sept. Mostly all done during the summer time on weekends... I compeleted the edit in novmeber. So about 6-7 months for evrything. I worked on it when i could and had free time. It seemed to never end! BUt its done YAY!
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I believed you until you said this. It can take professional, seasoned CREWS consisting of tens to hundreds of people 6-7 months to film an actual studio film with a budget in the millions. And that is their job, as in they wake up to go to work on that film, not "in their free time". I'm having a hard time this was "just you" with a budget of "pennies" doing something in your "free time". So unless this is the most professional-looking trailer for the shittiest movie ever made, we won't love you any less if you just so happen to come from a background that gave you a hefty allowance, err budget :)

I had a buddy who i knew in college who was making some really impressive SHORT FILMS complete with helicopters, explosions, some unique locations, the whole shabang, and he was only 22. BUT, his father was the "secret producer" (put 2 and 2 together), which gave him access to those locations and those fun tools we all would love to have.

SO, I'd hate to call someone a liar when they aren't, so I won't. You just need to stop posting on the dvxuser boards and show this trailer to hollywood so they can stop spending millions of dollars on sets and costumes AND lighting crews AND sound crews, because you obviously found the way to make a one man feature with just "pennies", unless that was a hell of a lotta pennies.


BTW, might wanna change the name of the film. There's already a film out called "METH" that came out in 2006. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783550/
 
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Wow... I can't believe that you went out to make something for fun and come up with this.

Looks really filmic and nice. Is the noise intentional? I took away from it that the noise was intentional because of the feel of the trailer.

Nice work!
 
This looks exactly like Traffic but without the big actors. And I mean that in a good way. Unfortunately, I'm calling b.s. on this as well. At least I think I am. I guess there are only four impressive locations in the trailer. Assuming you shot this outside LA where they don't care as much about permits and wrote the movie knowing you had these locations in advance, I guess, theoretically, it could be done. The handheld would make setting up quick and easy. So that supports your case.

But chasing around that car in the trainyard seems like it would be tricky for one person. Could you explain how you did that? And not in an "aww shucks. I just pointed the camera and sorta got lucky" way. But, like, specifically.

Since you were the D.P. and the gaffer, tell us a little about the lightng setups you used. What kind of lights did you have access to? And how did you get them to the set? You must have had some help.

Where'd you get the guns and the SWAT costumes? I'm assuming you pulled in some favors on this. How did you get away with shooting them out in the open (or pretending to)? How did you feed the actors on set? Or did you feed them? Was this SAG? Or Canadian equivalent? They seem like professional actors but if you didnt' have a budget I assume they did it for free. How did you find them? How did you orchestrate the one shot in the train yard when something was being loaded inside one of the trailers in the background of your actors?

These questions are not meant to trip you up. I honestly want answers. Shoot, maybe if I can use some of your techniques, I can seriously cut out a big chunk of the budget on my film.

I guess, in really thinking about it, it wouldn't serve your interest to lie about your crew. Since any crewmember would be proud to put this on their resume. So if you denied them that, I'd think they'd be pretty pissed off. Then again, this could all be part of your marketing plan. And once you get enough buzz and you've released your movie and you made ten millon dollars on opening weekend in only 500 theatres, you'll reveal the truth, which is that you had a 100 man crew. But that's getting into some pretty elaborate conspiracy theory there.

Pardon me for being a little bit skeptical, but if you're telling the truth, consider this the ultimate compliment. Because this really does look great, regardless of what it was shot on our how big the crew was. Good job. You've got a lot of talent.

Best, Chris
 
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Ye, i'd like to add more to the crew but there isnt. I have a lowel lighting kit. With a few 650w and 200w lights and all its goodies. Its not very big. Can be placed in a car and carried like my camera case. Alot of the car shots where done with a car rig mount i have. A few times i needed my actor drive the car to make sure nothign falls off. Radios were one of the most important things i used.... best investment ive bought from futureshop. Alot of my actors ive casted before. Did a normal casting sesseion like any other film. I explained evrythign to them so they new and understand wat its about and that im doing evrything and its going to be slow. I told them not dont freak out on me and be patient on set. I've had an actor who bailed out on me. His lost!

I didnt really have food on set besides water and a few snacks. A few times we did go for sushi after filming. My treat. ALot of complex shots i had to choreograph before we start filming... swat scene, car shots etc... Not that hard! Jst gotta communicate well so evryones on the same page.
 
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EP2005 said:
SO, I'd hate to call someone a liar when they aren't, so I won't.
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lol. so i'm the only one willing to come out and call this guy a fraud?



:kali: ............................ :crybaby:
me..................................... the legitimacy of this trailer
 
I'm going to say. FRAUD. Unless he give us some real numbers on his budget. I DO HOWEVER believe that he could of done all of it by himself. He just needs to give more information. I don't honestly believe someone would like about something to gain praise... what would be the point?
 
Personally, I didn't see too many shots that CAN'T be done with the standard Leica lens on the dvx. I stand strong behind the fact that this camera can almost mimic the results you get with an adapter (as long as the cam is set up right and in the right position:) ) This was a hell of a trailer, and if you really did do all of this with "pennies," then congratulations. You really know how to milk each penny and pool your resources!

I'd love to see the final cut of the film. :thumbsup:
 
Guys there's really not much going on in this trailer that can't be accomplished with time and planning. There's only one interior scene that isn't using daylight as its main source. He could have bought that swat gear on ebay. There's tons of that crap on there. Maybe not for pennies but pretty cheap. The guns are probably airsoft. And they're all types that you can get for next to nothing online. Heck I have an airsoft M16 that I bought for 40 bucks. It might not convince super close up but it would work at the same distance he has going on in those shots. If he already had the stuff or had friends that did then it would have cost him nothing. And the swat scene and the boardroom are the only scenes where there are a lot of people together in one place. The rest is two people having conversations or one guy walking about "investigating". the news footage looks "borrowed" or maybe stock. Or maybe he just did some really good after effects magic on it to make it look that way. And perhaps he hitched a quick ride in a helicopter. Not like he filmed a dogfight it in. Just a quick shot of the console. Maybe they weren't even in the air.

So this film doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility for one kid to shoot. He already said he used Lav mics so he wouldn't need a sound guy. And if shooting with mostly sunlight, he wouldn't need anyone for that either.

So "fraud" might be a little harsh.
 
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