a ralph oshiro film--"LEVEL 4" spyfest 06.07
- Thread starter Ralph Oshiro
- Start date
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
Yes! Thank you! My schedule is hugely variable (different call time everyday), but if I can make it, I'm in!Charli said:
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
SETS:
My friend just donated two translights (backlit photographic backgrounds) to "LEVEL 4" tonight!!! Woo hoo!!! Just picked 'em up. Will use them in my "converted living room" set. Now if only I could get my "star" actress to show up!
My friend just donated two translights (backlit photographic backgrounds) to "LEVEL 4" tonight!!! Woo hoo!!! Just picked 'em up. Will use them in my "converted living room" set. Now if only I could get my "star" actress to show up!
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
WARDROBE:
Whew! Just walked into a major metropolitan medical center ER. We wandered around the halls for a while, then just asked some lady that worked there for a key wardrobe item, and they just gave it to us!
Whew! Just walked into a major metropolitan medical center ER. We wandered around the halls for a while, then just asked some lady that worked there for a key wardrobe item, and they just gave it to us!
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
WHEW!
Just finished all non-permitted production with Alejandra at three different L.A. locations. Got stopped by several sets of security guards and police officers from multiple agencies. This place had security up the ass! One set of officers asked to see tape playback. Talked our way out of everything.
Just finished all non-permitted production with Alejandra at three different L.A. locations. Got stopped by several sets of security guards and police officers from multiple agencies. This place had security up the ass! One set of officers asked to see tape playback. Talked our way out of everything.
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
UNCORRECTED DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
MAGIC-BULLETED (MAX CONTRAST) DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
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Matthew Bennett
Well-known member
very much looking forward to this. It'll be the first one I download..! Yeah!!!
Digital squibs/muzzles or real flashes from blanks?
Digital squibs/muzzles or real flashes from blanks?
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
UNCORRECTED DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
MAGIC-BULLETED (MAX CONTRAST) DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
Thanks! Realistic weapons fire are of course a huge production issue to every budget filmmaker. Working on solving these issues in the most realistic way possible.Matthew Bennett said:
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
DIRECTOR'S NOTES FROM FIRST DAY'S PRODUCTION . . .
Well, my precious 19 minutes of raw footage has been ingested, and thankfully, everything's fine. Had an EXTREME panic attack when I thought I had rolled over some footage when I had to do some playback for the cops, but I didn't. I debated frantically over white balance issues on location #2 which had mixed lighting, and finally went with the preset Tungsten, letting the mercury vapors go blue, but not allowing the architectural flourescents to get overly warm. THANK GOD, it looks great at that white balance. I worried about that white balance the whole drive back home. Couldn't tell sh*t from the built-in LCD while on that location, and shooting guerrila-style, of course, we had no monitor. Focus, exposure, good too.
Today's shoot was rife with anxiety--it's amazing that I even got to sleep the night before by 4:00AM (call was at 9:00AM) . . . I was anxious that my actress wouldn't show up (didn't get confirmation that she had actually arrived in L.A. until 12:30AM), anxious about being shut down before I got frame one on tape, anxious about forgetting key coverage, etc. I did forget to shoot one key angle at two locations, and made a severe continuity error on the only wide shot I had gotten at the most-difficult-to-shoot location, meaning, I can't use it. At one point, I thought we were in deep f*cking sh*t with the police (I'll explain later). On another occasion, at location #1, my talent scattered when a local municipality police cruiser started driving around our shooting area. I was 250' from my talent, and I was sure they were going to get hassled. At location #2, we encountered more than a dozen uniformed police and security staff. On entering that location, the security guards at the entrance saw my camera slung over my shoulder and said, "You're not shooting anything in there are you?" I walked by quickly and mumbled a slightly annoyed, in-a-hurry-I'm-too-busy-to-answer, "no." As I walked by even more security staff, they all started getting on their walkies, mumbling something about, "a guy with a camera." My heart jumped, since I thought we were going to get shut down before we even started.
We hit three locations, spread out all over Los Angeles (South Bay, Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood) and got 95% of my coverage in just over four hours. At location #3, I only needed one shot, and I only did two takes while parking the vehicle illegally. Got it on the second one--we were outta there in about three minutes. Today, we shot the key opening sequence, on which all other editorial material is based. Now that I've got it in the can, I can finally proceed with all the remaining stuff still to be shot.
Well, my precious 19 minutes of raw footage has been ingested, and thankfully, everything's fine. Had an EXTREME panic attack when I thought I had rolled over some footage when I had to do some playback for the cops, but I didn't. I debated frantically over white balance issues on location #2 which had mixed lighting, and finally went with the preset Tungsten, letting the mercury vapors go blue, but not allowing the architectural flourescents to get overly warm. THANK GOD, it looks great at that white balance. I worried about that white balance the whole drive back home. Couldn't tell sh*t from the built-in LCD while on that location, and shooting guerrila-style, of course, we had no monitor. Focus, exposure, good too.
Today's shoot was rife with anxiety--it's amazing that I even got to sleep the night before by 4:00AM (call was at 9:00AM) . . . I was anxious that my actress wouldn't show up (didn't get confirmation that she had actually arrived in L.A. until 12:30AM), anxious about being shut down before I got frame one on tape, anxious about forgetting key coverage, etc. I did forget to shoot one key angle at two locations, and made a severe continuity error on the only wide shot I had gotten at the most-difficult-to-shoot location, meaning, I can't use it. At one point, I thought we were in deep f*cking sh*t with the police (I'll explain later). On another occasion, at location #1, my talent scattered when a local municipality police cruiser started driving around our shooting area. I was 250' from my talent, and I was sure they were going to get hassled. At location #2, we encountered more than a dozen uniformed police and security staff. On entering that location, the security guards at the entrance saw my camera slung over my shoulder and said, "You're not shooting anything in there are you?" I walked by quickly and mumbled a slightly annoyed, in-a-hurry-I'm-too-busy-to-answer, "no." As I walked by even more security staff, they all started getting on their walkies, mumbling something about, "a guy with a camera." My heart jumped, since I thought we were going to get shut down before we even started.
We hit three locations, spread out all over Los Angeles (South Bay, Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood) and got 95% of my coverage in just over four hours. At location #3, I only needed one shot, and I only did two takes while parking the vehicle illegally. Got it on the second one--we were outta there in about three minutes. Today, we shot the key opening sequence, on which all other editorial material is based. Now that I've got it in the can, I can finally proceed with all the remaining stuff still to be shot.
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Ted Arabian
Member with Ladder
Ralph, you give a whole new meaning to RUN AND GUN! Yikes! Great story there. I am glad that you got your footage in the can!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your grabs. I always do! You are such an artistic bastard! Great job.
As always, looking forward to your film!
-Ted
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your grabs. I always do! You are such an artistic bastard! Great job.
As always, looking forward to your film!
-Ted
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
Whew! Me too! Thanks, Ted! You participate in contributing so much good will and moral support for everyone here with all of your generous and frequent posts! Got to catch up on your thread now!Theodore J Arabian said:
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
ROUGH CUT--OPENING SEQUENCE:
Edited a rough cut of all Alejandra's location footage shot yesterday, intercut with test footage of other two actresses shot weeks ago. I just LOVE this way of filmmaking! Doing a rough cut with ACTUAL footage, and intercutting with test footage REALLY helps craft the film, at least for me. This really produces a lot of expanded ideas. Also really helps stress what coverage you need to concentrate on more. By doing this edit, it spontaneously combusted two new "mini-scenes" that can intercut with the main action, and really enhance it at the same time. Cutting in a parallel-action style really helps keep the pace up too. My ONE goal in this project is for every frame to have a lot of energy. I think Jack Daniel Stanley (or someone else) commented that my shorts in the past lacked a sense of urgency (I agree). So this time, EVERYTHING'S real urgent! Also, cutting the rough cut to music really helps (even if it's not the music you're actually going to use).
ROUGH CUT RUNNING TIME: 01:42 / 28 EDITS
Edited a rough cut of all Alejandra's location footage shot yesterday, intercut with test footage of other two actresses shot weeks ago. I just LOVE this way of filmmaking! Doing a rough cut with ACTUAL footage, and intercutting with test footage REALLY helps craft the film, at least for me. This really produces a lot of expanded ideas. Also really helps stress what coverage you need to concentrate on more. By doing this edit, it spontaneously combusted two new "mini-scenes" that can intercut with the main action, and really enhance it at the same time. Cutting in a parallel-action style really helps keep the pace up too. My ONE goal in this project is for every frame to have a lot of energy. I think Jack Daniel Stanley (or someone else) commented that my shorts in the past lacked a sense of urgency (I agree). So this time, EVERYTHING'S real urgent! Also, cutting the rough cut to music really helps (even if it's not the music you're actually going to use).
ROUGH CUT RUNNING TIME: 01:42 / 28 EDITS
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
UNCORRECTED DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
MAGIC-BULLETED (MAX CONTRAST) DSR450 FRAME GRAB.
BLUESPIDER
DVXuser Ninja
I don't like it already...nothing but hot looking girls. 
Ralph, dude you need an Asian ninja in your film let me know.
Ralph, dude you need an Asian ninja in your film let me know.
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
Bluespider, DUDE! As a matter of fact, yeah, I DO need an Asian ninja! As long as she's HOT!BLUESPIDER said:
Ralph Oshiro
Veteran
Hey, thanks, AmyO!AmyO said: