1st Grabs post from 1st short!

Jack Daniel Stanley

Jack Daniel Stanley

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Staff member
EDIT 8/15: Hey guys,
here's the detective montage again with new music under it since there were some misgivings about th current music.Let me know if you think the new music is better:
http://live-theater.org/noirgrabs/detmonatgeplus.mp4

Also added a little on the front end so this clip contains more of the movie than the other clip. Its the same music until he walks down the stairs. Also, while the blacks are very black on my computer and monitor, the footage is not as dark as in the mp4 compression. Any tips? I applied a little brightness and contrast at time of compression (+2 each in Compressor), but I guess I need to up brightness further without adjusting contrast. Any tips?

Here's the old version for easy access / comparisson:
http://live-theater.org/noirgrabs/noirleanshunt.mp4

(My computer adds .txt to mp4's when ever I try to view then online or download them. If you have simillar trouble then download and delete the .txt extesnion and it will play fine.)

Thanks all.

EDIT 8/10: Here's a link with picks of what I'm now calling my Slightly Poorman's Lighting Kit (after adding up how much I actually spent) with links of where to buy some of the gear, as I've been getting some questions on that

EDIT 8/5: Raw grabs and a clip available at bottom:

Below are some grabs from the short I did a couple of weeks ago using the poor man’s light kit that’s linked from my site. Here's the link for the kit:
http://dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
(my version = basically: Four 500W halogen worklights WITHOUT stands for $9 each, plus the 250W kind that come with a clamp, a stake, and a hook mount for like $7 dollars, black wrap in lieu of barndoors or French flags, 2 gel packs from EVS, 3 umbrellas - translucent for diffusion and reflective for bounce, 4 hand dimmers for about $30 bucks each, and 3 $30 tall lighting stands, + clothes pins ext. chords, etc. I think it was all about $200 or less.)

EDIT 8/5: I checked my math, actually about $350 before ext. cords, etc.

Here’s what a few knuckleheads who had NEVER made* or lit** a movie before did with the above gear in only one day of shooting*** (plus Magic Bullet and G film effects):

*not for real at least or in any professional capacity.
** really – none of us ever lit anything before period.
*** Ok ... so it was a 17 hour day, but still one day.
Final Disclaimer: These actually look better in FCP, still figuring out how to get good still grabs and compression.

Big thanks to Barry's Book/DVD and DVXuser.com!!!!

Title: Noirleans
Logline: Hardboiled in the Big Easy
Blurb: Classic detective noir meets modern thriller in this edgy debut short from French Quarter Films.
Teaser: When his hooker gal pal goes missing, hard drinkin’ dirty cop Det. Sam Ledbedder (Dane Rhodes - A Love Song for Bobby Long) must save her from a crazed vigilante ... but can she in turn save Ledbedder from a life off cheap gin, back alley payoffs, and the darker side of life in The Big Easy?

EDIT: 3 takes longer to load for some reason, but seems to do so after I hit refresh?

1
andytrunk.jpg

2
danealley.jpg

3
andyhouse.jpg

4
Danegun.jpg

5
aimee.jpg

6
danepict.jpg

7
Aimeefount.jpg

8
andy.jpg

9
courtnibed.jpg

10
dane.jpg

11
courtni.jpg

12
courtinshackcu.jpg

13
courtnichair.jpg

14
courtnioverdane.jpg

15
courtnicry.jpg

16
courtniseesgun.jpg

17
andygun.jpg

18
danestar.jpg

19
bar.jpg

20
andystar.jpg

21
courtnishoot.jpg

22
danewall.jpg


EDIT 8/5:
here's a some grabs of outdoor footage right out of the dvx:
alleyraw.jpg

aimeefountraw.jpg


and here's a clip of the detective montage:
http://live-theater.org/noirgrabs/noirleanshunt.mp4

My computer has a weird bug where it ads .txt to the end of MP4 files when I try to view them online. If the link doesn't play (you get all sorts of crazy code instead) download it and delete the .txt extension after the .mp4 extension and it will play. Weird I know.
 
the-lyons-den.com said:
I don't see any of the pics (so I agree, they look better in FCP)
Click to expand...

LOL!

The pics are working now, and they look great! I'm impressed that you were able to pull it off with what you had. I really like the 2nd shot down, and the inside bar shot. Both I think are lighted very well and say alot even as a still image. I especially like the richness of colors inside the bar. I've got a couple of questions for you:

1. Did you do any lighting out side? If so what did you use on those shots, how did you do it? (I would think that the sun would overpower work lights.) If not, any tips on using the location "lighting"?

2. How long did it take you to set upmfor the Bar scene? And any tips on how you went about lighing in there? (The lighting is great as it does seem like the light is coming from the practicles.)
 
the-lyons-den.com said:
Jdanstan, I don't see any of the pics (so I agree, they look better in FCP), they're all broken?
Click to expand...
Sorry, they were mac bit ordered tiffs, which explorer (at least my version) won't open.
Now they are jpegs, which are slightly less contrasty :(
But at least they open:)
 
Except for the last that is a bit burned out, they look nice.
I like the framing and color, like the blue and purple or the green light on the 9th.
The 2, 7 and 14 look really pro.
 
waltind said:
LOL!

The pics are working now, and they look great! I'm impressed that you were able to pull it off with what you had. I really like the 2nd shot down, and the inside bar shot. Both I think are lighted very well and say alot even as a still image. I especially like the richness of colors inside the bar. I've got a couple of questions for you:

1. Did you do any lighting out side? If so what did you use on those shots, how did you do it? (I would think that the sun would overpower work lights.) If not, any tips on using the location "lighting"?

2. How long did it take you to set upmfor the Bar scene? And any tips on how you went about lighing in there? (The lighting is great as it does seem like the light is coming from the practicles.)
Click to expand...

Thanks. We surprised ourselves - especially for first timers and in a 72 hour film contest.

We used only sunlight outside.
I had a polarizer to keep the skies blue (see the old people's reflection in puddle in the alley?) and of course a UV filter. I had the gamma set to norm on the camera, which I think I read captures outdoor light most accurately. I then added the "Mexico" filter in post, which I think gets its name from the way the Mexico shots looked in Traffic. I also shot in a high shutter speed. The shots looked great right of camera, just had more blue, and no burnouts or diffusion. I'll post a raw grab later today if I have time.

For low budget just use a reflector, compose your shots to take advantage of the sun, and use a polarizer. Better to under expose slightly than to over expose so watch your zebra lines, then you can brighten the footage in post. If that blows out your skies, then copy the clip, place it directly over itself, and adjust the exposure for the actors then luma or chroma key out the sky, then adjust the exposre in the bottom clip for the sky and apply a blur filter (on the bottom clip) so that the transition beteen the two is softened. Obviously you need a ton of power to add a key light in sunlight.

We were in the bar for 2 hours and had 6 setups for 2 scenes. I can't remember if we even gelled the lights. I think we just shot through the white umbrella for diffusion in the key light, and then just tried to get something behind the actors for some dimension -- see the little halo around the most upstage actor in the bar master? thats a 250w clip on halogen clipped to the bar stool behind him. To do it right we should have put that light or one of the 500w's on the floor behind them and caught both guys at the bar with some silhouette, but the 250w clip was pushing our time line. Just stuck it on last minute. We then used the 250w as fill for closeups. Oh and then we crushed the hell out of the blacks in post using the proc amp in FCP. For the bar we also added warm filter with white diffusion in post for that speasky feel. For the darker scenes (especially on the african american actress), we used a switchable 10 - 30W camera mount lamp with diffusion and barn doors (though we never mounted it on the camera), either as fill inside or as key outside (sometimes key inside too). Some of the closeups are a little noisy or a bit soft as it was underexposed - with the exception of the black actress whom we always used the fill on in teh noir dark scenes for obvious reasons. THe irony wound up being that because of that she's often sharp and crisp when her scene partner is a bit soft.

We weren't to concerned about motivating the light as the piece was very gestural. It was noir so it was ok if the lights came from (were motivated mostly by) the story / emotional state of the characters or story, as I heard one DVXuser put it (claim your quote if you read this) "the lighting comes from teh same place the music comes from" depending on your style - very true, and true for us in this case.

On one hand, going for something this gestrual might have been easier for first timers as we could go for teh beauty look without worrying about motivation so much.

thanks for reply!
 
VizPictures said:
Except for the last that is a bit burned out, they look nice.
I like the framing and color, like the blue and purple or the green light on the 9th.
The 2, 7 and 14 look really pro.
Click to expand...

Thanks

The last is posted to death. I desaturated the lows in post so the effect is that all of the image is black and white except for the brightest parts. So that's aactually just where the color is left on his face after its been pulled out everywhere else (except the blue on the door shutters). It's a flashback sequence that's tweaked black and white (makes sense in context).

Thanks for comments!
 
Some really nice grabs here (The darkness attributed to the MAC calibration being truer than our PC's)

I like :thumbsup:
 
JDANSTAN, you say that you used a high shutter speed. For what reason exactly? That might be nice for screen grabs or maybe if you want to do some slow motion, but didn't you get some stroboscopic problems when viewing the film?
 
Clip! and Raw Grabs!

Clip! and Raw Grabs!

VizPictures said:
JDANSTAN, you say that you used a high shutter speed. For what reason exactly? That might be nice for screen grabs or maybe if you want to do some slow motion, but didn't you get some stroboscopic problems when viewing the film?
Click to expand...
We shot most of the out side stuff with the high shutter to give the movement a heightened look since he's looking for a missing person that he knew and who meant something to him. A side benefit is that it makes it easier to expose for sunlight, but we used it to give the clip that Gladiator Battle movement effect, which is actually subtle unless you really move the camera a lot or there’s a lot of movement on the screen.

And actually I was wrong about the filter. It's not LS Mexico, it's actually LS Warm and Fuzzy followed by LS Bleach Bypass.

here's a some grabs of outdoor footage right out of the dvx:
alleyraw.jpg

aimeefountraw.jpg


and here's a clip of the detective montage:
http://live-theater.org/noirgrabs/noirleanshunt.mp4

My computer has a weird bug where it ads .txt to the end of MP4 files when I try to view them online. If the link doesn't play (you get all sorts of crazy code instead) download it and delete the .txt extension after the .mp4 extension and it will play. Weird I know.

Thanks!
 
D.O.C. said:
C
Click to expand...

Finally! A constructive comment.

Thank you so much, D.O.C. I'll take your helpful comments and I will absolutely implement them and I'm sure I'll make a better film next time! :grin:

still -- only one half letter grade off from Disjecta's B-
( http://www.dvxuser.com/V3/showthread.php?t=31194 )
with only one day of shooting, work lights, and an inexperienced crew on a first attempt, that makes me practically Orson Wells. LOL

D.O.C. is a tough date. :cry:
 
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