The Master - A S16mm short film

Andrew Brinkhaus

Andrew Brinkhaus

Veteran
UPDATE:

Just wanted to announce that The Master has won 2nd Place in the "Best Student Short" category at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Thanks to everyone for the comments. Check out my latest film blog, On The Front, also in the User Films section.

THE MASTER

Amidst the depression of the 1930's, a young piano prodigy struggles to save his family, and himself.

Directors - Max Miller & Chris Adams

Director of Photography - Andrew Brinkhaus

Production Designer - Robert Gilpan

Starring

Jessica Blackmore
Max Watson
Blake Logan
Ken Grant
Milo Shtergv
Logan Starr

FINAL FILM
http://web.mac.com/joshknight1/iWeb/Knight/The Master Film.html

A 3 day shoot, I am shooting on Kodak's Vision2 7218, which is a 500T stock. Camera package includes a new ARRI 416 Plus, and an ARRI SRIII in S16mm.

11-14-07
Today was the first of three shoot days, with a 13 page script, we're shooting roughly 20 shots per day. The crew is smaller, so executing precise shots and preparing lighting setups takes a little longer than if we were to have a traditional sized crew.

We started early today, with everyone getting a slow start. Fortunately, most of the set was pre lit, so getting the first shot off was just a matter of bringing in a few smaller sources, and getting into blocking. Most of the film takes place at night, with candles being the motivation, along with the subtle moonlight, so I decided to underexpose most of the set about 2 stops. I am a fan of soft lighting, so I generally utilized 100W china balls and kino flos for key and fill on talent, while sticking with a larger 500W china for ambient room fill. Several candle sconces decorated the walls, which I simulated candle spill for, by rigging 1K fresnels off the top of the set, gelled up with CTO. All the lighting used is gelled either warm or cool, depending on the scene and shot, I have come to really like 1/2 straw for my warm tones, and 1/2 CTB + 1/4 plus green for my moonlight sources.

My gaffer and I decided early on that dedicating power to "setups" of lights would be more effective, as we switched back and forth between day and night interiors throughout the day, so being able to just flip breakers between the two was a real time saver. By having these pre rigged, it also allowed much better continuity between scenes, because we didnt have to re-light every time we wanted to switch to day or night.

After lunch, our key grip got sick, and had to leave the set, so this left us short handed, as we had no replacement. The rest of the day went well, completing a very emotional scene which involved moving set walls, props, and redecorating, etc. By the end of the day, everyone was ready for a good nights rest, with an equally busy day ahead.

A few on set stills, shot to match the negative, enjoy! More tomorrow as the adventure unfolds.

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Kenposter.jpg

Interior set - Pre dressed.
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11-15-07​
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Call time this morning was 9, our first shots were some night interiors. After a scheduling conflict, our day and night exteriors, which were to be shot on the backlot were moved to Friday, so we made due, and covered the days material inside, shooting mostly night scenes. The bedroom of the set was built with an opened doorway into the parlor, as well as a large window which revealed the alley way outside. These two structural areas gave me a lot of help in motivating my light. Since the family is living without power, everything comes from either moon light, or candle light. I was able to use 2- 2K BJ's outside the window, again with 1/2 CTB and 1/4 + Green to spill in, and several more 100W china balls on Flicker masters to simulate the candles. Apart from the overhead rigging of a few kino's, 500W china's, and the fresnel 1K's for simulating the wall candles, the 100W china's were my main source of light. They were rigged off C-stands, and moved into position for each setup.

Today required getting the most shots off of all three days, somewhere around 25 shots. We cranked out our primaries by 6pm, and were able to shoot several high speed sfx shots of a candle falling from the piano, and igniting a piece of sheet music. Tomorrow is mostly exteriors, both day and night, the weather report is good, apart from being partly cloudy.

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Last edited:
11-16-07

Third and final day. Getting started this morning, we originally were going to be starting with the day exterior scene, but ended up shooting some interiors first. While the primary crew stayed inside to shoot, most of the grips and electrics moved to the exterior to prep and setup 2 12'x12' silks, several HMI's and some other accessories. Since all the interiors take place in the same location, the same lighting setup was used, with a few placement changes on the kino's and china balls. These shots got done quickly, and we moved outside.

We were very fortunate to have a very chilly breeze, as the scenes were set in 1930's NY in the winter. I was worried that, being in Florida and all, the realism just wouldnt be there, visually. However, getting out to location, everyones cheeks were red, and people were sipping hot chocolate in the tent. To even out the frame, and start "fresh," I flew the two 12'x12' silks next to each other to flatten out the brownstone facade. Once this was done, I used a 6K Arrisun on a super crank to simulate a nice warm setting sun. I used an ND 1.2 in camera as well, in order to minimize depth of field. The scene was shot around an F/8.

We finished shooting this scene early, and had time to get back to the studio to begin hard wrapping the interior set, and striking everything. After this was done, and the sun had set, we moved back outside with our primary equipment, and shot the opening establishing shot of the film, which included 500 pounds of white sand, to simulate snow, dirt, fog machines, a barrel fire, snow machines, and even a collectors' 1930's Chevy! This shot was lit with the 6K Arrisun HMI flown up, and punched through an 8'x8' silk, and a 1200W Sunray HMI to backlight the snow and fog. a few small tungsten sources were used for fill, on the actors standing around the barrel fire.

Overall this was a great project, which I had a really fun time shooting. It's not every day you get to shoot such an interesting project, along with it being a period film. I'll be checking over dailies with everyone on Tuesday...Hoping for the best.

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My shoot tomorrow now seems stupid,.. can't wait for more Andrew!! Looks rad, and the story sounds compelling!

- G
 
are those actual film stills or from an on-set photographer? they look really good.

if anything, for being a cold newyork like street, the colors seem a little too vibrant (as if it was shot on a backlot in flordia ;-) )

otherwise, looks really good man.
 
Those are stills, shot to match the film negative. The only visual difference between the two will be the color reproduction, and a little more detail in the highlights and shadows. Also, they are not graded to what the film will actually look like, so I agree about the vibrant nature of some of the stills. Timing will include desaturation, hue balance, and levels, among others to "age" the image.
 
Update: the film should be cut and available for viewing near the end of December. Till then...Thanks for the comments! I will be around to answer any other questions so feel free to ask.
 
Those are stills, shot to match the film negative.
Click to expand...

remember your film stock will have half the color palate, it wont match exactly but it will get you in the right neighborhood.... rob did a great job on the set.

cant wait to see it
 
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