COLD CALLS by John Whalen featuring Blanchard Ryan (OpenWater) & Ben Bailey (CashCab)

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Lighting set up with bts photos

Lighting set up with bts photos

No way. Thank you for sharing a bit of info on the process. If you could pick one of the frames and give a breakdown on how you lit it I know I would REALLY appreciate that. I'm sure others would as well.
...

this was one softbox to the left, with 2 flags making "barndoors" for the top and bottom of the softbox, with duvatine covering the sides. this makes a shaft of soft light, and there is a huge mirror ot the right of the tub, making the reflected bounce act as a fill. This way its bright, but looks "dark". it looks like jack added a vingette and colored it blue in the grade.

Wow hard to believe that's just one light. The shadows and the dark feeling are amazing. I'm seeing the art direction now though. I think thats where alot of my work lacks. Very nice work. Your explanation is very much appreciated!

Here's the BTS shots and before and after for this one.

RAW GRAB

FINAL VERSSION

BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTO with TIMUR's description again:

this was one softbox to the left, with 2 flags making "barndoors" for the top and bottom of the softbox, with duvatine covering the sides. this makes a shaft of soft light, and there is a huge mirror ot the right of the tub, making the reflected bounce act as a fill. This way its bright, but looks "dark". it looks like jack added a vingette and colored it blue in the grade.

MORE OF THIS SETUP:

Mr. Bubble.

 

[ilauzirika]

I really liked it Jack, great work.

 

[Jeff Anderson]

Love the BTS Jack thanks! That makes perfect sense now. Never would've thought that bathroom was that small. The way you shot it makes it feel huuuuge. Nice grading too. Always interesting to me to see what people are doing in camera and what people are doing in post. Good ol mr bubble!

 

[Zim]

My next film has a bathtub scene in it,,,,,would you give B. Ryan my email address!! No really she was great. Could win the best actress award if there was one. Again great film.

 

[Jeff Anderson]

Just noticed you went adapterless for the tub shot. Is this because you knew you wanted a deep DOF so why not just lose adapter and gain some light?

And is that a mirror trick or is that two toilets side by side?
eta - nevermind, probably a bidet... two toilets would be weird...

 

[Darkline]

Hola Jack,
I thought you did very well with this. Lit beautifully, great shot selection. Actress perfomed very well. My favourite part was when the dog walked across the floor growling. That little extra touch did it for me. Also I digged the montage which I don't think was in the original?

The only shot that threw me was the jump cut between the phones. Dont know why, maybe it was perfectly lined up.

I did read the script before I watched it and whilst the script didn't blow me away you executed it to it's fullest. Some of your compositions worked really well for a thriller parody.

Im sure you had fun making it too. Love that dog.... lol

 

[jpsheets]

Great short Jack! Really loved the color throughout the entire movie. I really love the film look that TimurCivan got out of the adapter. Really looks like film. My only critique would be that it needed more bathtub shots of Blanchard!

cheers,

JP

 

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

Hmm, not sure what i think. It's definitely professional, and very much so. Jack, you definitely have elevated beyond the realm of 'indies'. Amazing cast and crew (lol, Barry Green booming? )

SPOILER (highlight to read)The moment where she discovers him under the stairs, END SPOILER didn't really work for me. Maybe it's the script, I'm not sure.

OH, and where's the random shot of her topless on a bed, ala 'Open Water'? lol, I kid, i kid...

And the shot of her with the shears, reminded me of a takeoff of 'American Beauty', loved it!

 

[bosindy]

Here's the BTS shots and before and after for this one.

RAW GRAB

FINAL VERSSION

​

Hey Jack, can you talk a little bit about what you tried to accomplish with the color grading and how you went about it?

Jim

 

[majikfraug]

Very funny. High on my list of favorites this fest. Not something I would ever attempt (ask Kevin or Pauly about my views on comedy), which makes me appreciate it all the more. I love that it was shot "seriously" looking like a drama/thriller.
Technically brilliant. And I loved the shot were the ball hits him in the face

 

[galbach]

Very very good..You guys are masters....

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Thanks for the comments all. Appreciate hearing from those that think we hit a home runs and those that think just got an at base, don't think we've heard from anyone that thought we struck out, but look forward to hearing from those folks when they inevitably show up as well. And of course we appreciate the specific comments some have left, both the kudos and the suggestions for improvement.

:beer:

Love the BTS Jack thanks! That makes perfect sense now. Never would've thought that bathroom was that small. The way you shot it makes it feel huuuuge. Nice grading too. Always interesting to me to see what people are doing in camera and what people are doing in post. Good ol mr bubble!

No it is huge. You're only seeing once corner of it. See the glass brick shower back behind the crew? Whatever this little consumer camera is zoomed into and all the people in one corner make it look small. Chris Messineo did a short with 4 people in that tub.

Just noticed you went adapterless for the tub shot. Is this because you knew you wanted a deep DOF so why not just lose adapter and gain some light?

We did it for focus issues. As you can see from the set up the camera is on a crane over water so without a remote follow focus you couldn't walk along side it to pull focus. So we set the focus to *gasp* auto and dollied that sucker in. Yes, yes I know I remote follow focus would be much better. But we do have to pull this stuff off with lots of make-do and low budget shortcuts / tricks like that. Don't have quite the arsenal of equipment some assume

And is that a mirror trick or is that two toilets side by side?
eta - nevermind, probably a bidet... two toilets would be weird...

Yeah, bidet.

Hey Jack, can you talk a little bit about what you tried to accomplish with the color grading and how you went about it?
Jim

With this shot I wanted to start to ease us into a cooler / bluer color palette for the more thrillery half of the short. So I introduce blue shadows with more gold in the midtones here. After this shot we'll be pretty blue until the end scene.

Technically, for the tub, the big three - saturation contrast film curve. Reduced saturation some in the shot, made sure we were hitting black, and then introduced a film curve with magic bullet looks. I like both Looks and Nattress for a basic S film curve. The S curve adds to the dark contrast look as well. Then i dragged the blacks into the blue a bit, the mids towards yellow, and lastly added a vignette.

 

[TimurCivan]

Love the BTS Jack thanks! That makes perfect sense now. Never would've thought that bathroom was that small. The way you shot it makes it feel huuuuge. Nice grading too. Always interesting to me to see what people are doing in camera and what people are doing in post. Good ol mr bubble!

LMMFAO~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you only knew....

 

[Jeff Anderson]

LMMFAO~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you only knew....

Assuming that has to do with mr bubble, I'm not even sure I really want to know...

 

[TimurCivan]

size of the bathroom....

its colossal

 

[RyanT]

This is the first film I've watched so far and it was definitely a good way to start things out. Had a bit of a "Scary Movie" feel to it that although isn't my usual thing, worked in this sense. I really loved how you guys went from this cold, dark, thriller sort of mood, to something a little bit brighter with a hint of orange when she opened the door.

I really think the sound design needs a lot more work, while the dialogue was clean/clear, the sound effects didn't feel like they were placed within the acoustic space or mixed very well. I don't know how well the montage of calls worked for me. Felt a little strange that she didn't instantly realize who it was, or why she stayed on the phone for so long the first time.

Either way, great little piece. I can dig it.

 

[alex whitmer]

Well, that was impressive.

Try as I might with a fine tooth comb, I couldn't find much at all to ***** about - except sound. I had to put my cheap-ass speaker to my ear to hear it.

Performances were great, variety of shots and angles very nice. Really liked the 'no matter where you are' no escape from the phone take. Garden, bath, kitchen.

And of course, what a take under the stairs. Hilarious. He really played his role seamlessly.

Not in love with the final shot of the woman's reaction. Maybe a shot of her racing through the door and into the night while Mr. Salesman blabbers on about tunip twaddlers - oblivious of reality.


Great job guys, oh and please don't call.

aw

 

[MrKilloran]

I could swear I've read the script to this... I mean word-for-word right down to the reveal. I can't remember where though, maybe in a scriptwriting class I've been taking. I'll figure it out eventually or maybe I'm just having crazy deja vu. It really bugs me because I knew where the entire movie was headed, and not in a "this is a stereotypical movie" way, and that kind of took a lot out of it.

Regardless, watching this, the movie had some good tension building up and some nice laughs towards the end. I can't find anything to pick apart about it, not even sound, cause on my end it was fine. Great work!

 

[Tim Joy]

So I was going to read over the script and do my own breakdown and stuff.... but I just COULDN'T wait. had to watch it. It's so pro. How many days did you have to shoot?

Parts I loved-

The colors. yummy. The bluish overall tone worked for me, and isn't it a smart decision "technically speaking" with these digital "film" cameras? Seems to me that they are much happier in the cool zone..?

The music at the service center door opening scene, and the look on his face.

Tag at the end. LOL all the way home!

Spoilers? Hasn't everyone and their brother seen this one already? I mean come'on...

"It's not that kind of gas." Brilliant.
Performance on "My god woman, get out now!" so super cheese-wiz. I loved it.
End

Didn't love as much, but still great-

Performance on "That's it" in the b-tub, didn't quite get there.

The smoke in closet, and the blue streak/flare from the lamp really took me out of it, not so much the first viewing as much as the 2nd,3rd,...etc She is dim and the lamp is like an alien ship drawing my eye with its tractor beam. ok not that bad, but I felt it.

Splr

"He's Inside the house.." Again, I loved the cheese-ball-ness, but thought that the music would've better supported it if it made a punctuation before the line, then silence for the line, then hit after as it did. Then, (just thinking out loud here) I would've stayed in slowmo for her running down the hall just as you did, she would pass by the door, and show her glancing at it, do a double-take, and she sees a "clue" that she never saw before, (the obvious being a phone cable sticking out and a light underneath), and show more of her face when she decides to open the door rather than featuring the door so prominently.

That's just one idea, but point being, I felt like I missed seeing her decision to open the door, especially the "why".

End

Two thumbs up! Awesome awesome!

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Thanks everyone. All comments are appreciated.

I could swear I've read the script to this... I can't remember where though...

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=135873

So I was going to read over the script and do my own breakdown and stuff.... but I just COULDN'T wait. had to watch it. It's so pro. How many days did you have to shoot?

3 days.

The colors. yummy. The bluish overall tone worked for me, and isn't it a smart decision "technically speaking" with these digital "film" cameras? Seems to me that they are much happier in the cool zone..?

Also cooler is perceived as sharper, which can be a good thing when using an adapter on a fast schedule.

...
That's just one idea, but point being, I felt like I missed seeing her decision to open the door, especially the "why". ...
Two thumbs up! Awesome awesome!

Help me and Nate out here. He did some great VFX work in just one day, maybe too subtle though???

So: Did you see that the door was pulsing to the beat of the heart beat? And same goes for the door knob - vibrating like the water glass in Jurassic park?

The way that beat is intended to work is she runs by the door and WE see it first as pulsing throbbing, then the camera tracks over to see that she sees it too. So - dramatic irony: we should have the aha moment on hour own before she does, which gives us a touch of suspense as the camera tracks over to where she is, and no need to see her aha moment, we'd get it off that. But I think it's not working so much because we haven't clearly come up with the audio / visual effect that clearly ties the heart beat to the door.


Let us know how that's reading (anyone and everyone) sounds like it's not reading as strong as we'd like.