Shooting another WW2 movie on new DVX need help

Brett

Brett

Well-known member
I was doing research on here to look for any information or ideas I could use for my next WW2 movie, we are currently about to film the last one in the trilogy once I get my DVX in the mail (Im very excited) I regret that I didnt pick up Barrys book to pick up on the basics and techniques of the dvx. and I know its been said in past Threads on how to achieve the Band of Brothers/SPR look using the dvx itself and no filters when editing but I couldnt find it when I searched for it. I picked up Andrew Kramers Film Magic Pro. I dont know if I can achieve that look using that, but id love some input.
Plus if anyone has shot a ww2 flick I would love to see it! I get more hyped over seeing an amaueter film than I would watching B.O.B or any other big war movie.

Im going feel so much like a virgin when my dvx gets here :(
 
oh! that is amazing! haha wow, im speechless over the look of your film.. that was simply awesome. did you mess around around with color in post? or on the camera itself? thats awesome once again man
 
Brett said:
oh! that is amazing! haha wow, im speechless over the look of your film.. that was simply awesome. did you mess around around with color in post? or on the camera itself? thats awesome once again man
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Not sure how he did it, but I'm assuming in post. I would always suggest you don't mess with colors and such until in post because you may not like the final product and have to go back and re-shoot.
 
now let me ask you this.. where did you get a real m1 garand, and thompson? ive got a good number of airsoft ww2 guns that look pretty real, but adding muzzle flashes and lighting an object when the gun is fires takes way too much time in post, but since you had the 3 grand you spent im assuming you had the hookups.
 
Hi Brett,

Regarding your comment on muzzle flashes and light throwback, this is something you can do in post that actually doesn't take too much time. Pick up "Action Movie Essentials" from videocopilot.net, or some good stock footage online, and then just chuck it in post. You can do it yourself and save money/someone elses time. If you don't have after effects, it's working looking into, otherwise there are so many people online who are not professional special effects gurus, but can do great muzzle flash & light effects (probably thanks to Mr Kramer), and will probably do a good job for free as practice.
 
Brett said:
now let me ask you this.. where did you get a real m1 garand, and thompson? ive got a good number of airsoft ww2 guns that look pretty real, but adding muzzle flashes and lighting an object when the gun is fires takes way too much time in post, but since you had the 3 grand you spent im assuming you had the hookups.
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Well my friend/boss and I were both WWII gun collectors. We had all the guns, and half the costumes so we were like "Let's make a WWII movie!"

We worked for a paintball company, doing film, so we had a few costumes and props. We used them for our paintball half-track video: Panzerwagon All the thompsons were actually Tippmann A-5's with Engler mods, but those are almost as expensive as the real gun. The Mg-42 nest was also just an A-5 with a shroud on it, so it was just shooting out air into piles of dust,.. I think it worked nicely. I was bummed we didn't have time to shoot any of the Germans we had, or see the bunker we spent a whole day digging out,.. urgh!

I owned: 2 M1 Garands, M1 Carbine, Eddy Stone 1917 Einfield, the 1911, and a K98 Mauser.

My boss owned: M1 Garand, M1 Carbine, and a Springfield 1903. He then bought a Thompson that we filmed the intro with, but never made the cut. All the guns in the intro were me and my boss shooting live ammo into a hill, while the director filmed us. Good times!

We also bought a Colt .45 blank 1911 that shot 8mm blanks.

So between him and I all the guns except one M1 were ours, the re-enactor extra we had help brought his own.

I also took the same gear and made this for the Apple Insomnia film fest: FRAG
It's pretty bad, some highschool kids I knew asked me to help, so I let them do all the camera work and I took a stab at acting,.. blah! It's supposed to be like Call of Duty in real life, or something.

All the custumes we got from a huge Army surplus store. They have a junk yard with a mountain of helmets out back for $4 each. That was sweet!

Too bad you live so far away, I'd love to help! Good luck!
 
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that is pretty funny. im just still amazed by your Anthem short.. it is a big inspiration to me, the only thing that I lack in the script that we are about to shoot is the dialogue... I am horrible at it, and in this kind of movie that is what makes it or break it. I really hate using any cg effects as far as muzzles or smoke, but looks like theres going to be lots of it. lol your guns look great, but even when your looking at airsoft rifles your looking at 4 to 5 hundred dollars worth of plastic, for the most part my friend has been making alot of the guns out of metal and wood, he works at a sheetmetal shop so hes pretty gifted in that area, so far he has made 2 thompsons, a BAR, and a 50 cal. machine gun. so all and all they may not look real but we will have to do the best we can with what we have.
here is a picture of one of them if your interested.

502.jpg


50.jpg
 
Well you can buy M1 Garand Stocks on ebay for like $10. If you can get some metal work done, it's feasible that you could make decent fake one.

Also there are a lot of de-comissioned M1 garands that were used for parades, and military drill teams. You might be able to get your hands on those from like the ROTC or something.

I bought my crappy M-1 for $450, it's a previously de-comissioned M-1 that has a new barrel welded on. I was pissed when I took it apart and found out why it was so cheap.


- G
 
oh nice find! I dug into google with m1 replicas but didnt run across that. thanks man, hey I may yell at you if I need anymore assistance on this project, is that okay?
 
Just watched the "Anthems of War" film...WOW! Very good! The visual style was stunning...

Wanted to share our WWII film with you as well (although it is nothing compared to "Anthems of War")...

You can watch the trailer and the film itself on IMDB at:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220885/

If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.

Best of luck with your project!

Daniel
 
wow! that trailer was beautifully shot. are you selling copies of that film? I would love to have a copy. that is very Inspiring. We are actually about to start shooting next week saturday on the 15th. Is there any advice you or anyone else can offer to me about shooting this kind of film? and also. I was going to post a new thread but I think I will do it here. I just got my dvx and I was doing lots of research on scene files and setting them, I am really really pleased with the way I set one of them, it reminds me alot of band of brothers. I am wondering if I should use it, or is it a mistake? Ive heard the big debate on changing cam settings and just doing it in post... but i really doubt I could get it to look this good in post. any comments are appreciated. thanks
 
pia12254 said:
Wanted to share our WWII film with you as well (although it is nothing compared to "Anthems of War")...
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Dude, your movie looks great! I think I saw a clip online once before, it's got a TON more production, I'm very impressed!

Brett, always always always shoot normal, with as much information as possible. Limiting your self to a look from a micro-chip is a bad mistake. You'll be able to mimic the look with a little practice, plus you'll be able to control it. Also if you plan on doing any effects, they'll look much better if you create them in a full color space, then apply the style. You said there's a debate on which to do,.. I've never heard of shooting a movie with a style "on", it seems very gimmicky. In the long run you'll be glad you shot it normal, trust me.

Good luck on your shoot, post some pics!

- Greg
 
Hey Brett,

I would agree with Greg almost entirely...I was really impressed with the look they had on Anthems of War. We also did all of our color/style in post.

The only exception of doing something in camera would be if you want the high shutter speed effect for some of the actions scenes. They did a lot of that for Saving Private Ryan, The Gladiator, etc. It can be kind of a cool look and it is something you need to do in camera.

Other than that I think you can probably get most of what you want in post.

Good luck man!

Daniel
 
okay awesome guys. thanks for your inputs. And i will deff. post some pics from the shoot on the 15th. you guys are both very inspiring thanks alot.
 
Hey Brett, I remember I had talked to you a while ago about where you had found your helmets. Anyway I was trying to find your film again and I can't seem to find it. Is it posted anywhere online?
 
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