235 Studios Presents: SEMELE

UPDATE - P2 Card Work Flow

UPDATE - P2 Card Work Flow

So, after the problems we had with the P2 cards being downloaded to a ghost drive that was not attached to the laptop, I have done some research, and come up with a workflow for future use of the P2 cards. This new work flow should ensure that NO data is lost, and the everything remains secure. While this work flow is some what specific to my set up, I thought that I would offer it to all of you for your own productions- customize it to your needs.

The work flow can be downloaded here:
http://www.235studios.com/semele/235-P2CardWorkFlow.pdf


Just a note regarding P2 Genie- it seems to work well, when everyhting is going right, but as it can copy files to a non-exsistent drive, I would recommend against using the automatic erase feature.
 
UPDATE - Principle Photography

UPDATE - Principle Photography

So this is kind of a backwards post as it is about the 6th, but I'm out of room on my first post so here it is:

Update - 1/6/07
Principle Photography
It was an eventful day, with Shawn's wife going in to labor at 10:45 pm on the 5th, I got the opportunity to drive to Salem (1.5 hrs away) to pick up the weapons at 4 am inorder to make it back for the crew call at 7 am. We then encountered a P2 problem detailed HERE, which set us back 6 hours. The good news is that the Cast and crew was willing to continue on and get the job done. Everyone worked well together and had great attitudes. :beer: Although we did go over the scheduled time, it was comforting to know that if the P2 disaster had not occured that we would have ended on time.

As soon as I receive the BTS pic's I'll be posting them ...
 
Brandon Rice said:
I want to see some BTS man!!!!!!!!
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Tung is uploading them now to my site via FTP. In the morning I'll be downloading them, reviewing them, and then I'll post some of them. I'm also in the process of putting together a website for the film where you will be able to see a lot more of the BTS pictures. (The site will launch after the contest is done per the rules.)
 
UPDATE - BTS Pic's

UPDATE - BTS Pic's

Well the BTS Pics are rolling in (Or downloading to be correct.) Here is a small sample of a few of the pictures. Tung had his wife come along and take some BTS pictures- Thank Ali Leen Chong! She did a great job.

Enjoy these pix-

Friday the 5th - Tung, Partick, and Evin come over to prep the set as well as the Steadicam for filming the next day. Here is tung setting up the Arri's -
TungPrep.jpg



Evin helps Partick balance the steadicam. This was one heavy unit- we did not weigh it, but I had previously weighted the HVX with the M2 and it came in at 15 lbs. With the additional weights and the monitor this rig was well over 20 lbs, and probably pushing 30 lbs. Partick did a great job balancing it.
PatrickPrep.jpg



Patrick in action the next day-
TheSteadicamMan.jpg



I got a permit from the city to be filming on the trail. While we could not officially close down the trail, I did my best to discourage people from running through the scene. I think we only had 2 - 3 people come through.
TrailClosed.jpg



Reid delivers his lines for his extreme close up.
Reid.jpg



Here, hold this for me, will you? Walker catches the AK-47 off screen as Reid tosses it to him.
HoldThis.jpg



Some last minute blocking with Reid.
Blocking.jpg



More steadicam action with Patrick & Norm.
NormSteadicam.jpg


Time fo a close up- everyone at work-
InAction.jpg


So those are some BTS shots from the filming we did in the morning. Hope you enjoy.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Oh wow, coolness! What a GREAT location and it looks like perfect moody weather!
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I don't know how you do it Brandon- but you sure are on top of it- you definately have the quick reflexes when it comes to posting!

Yeah, the weather worked out great. It was a little rainy at first, but it dried out, and worked well.
 
235 Studios said:
I don't know how you do it Brandon- but you sure are on top of it- you definately have the quick reflexes when it comes to posting!

Yeah, the weather worked out great. It was a little rainy at first, but it dried out, and worked well.
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I guess I just notice the posts at the right time....

Yeah, I love the overcast look... On our short a year ago "A Price Too High" we got lucky and it was lightly raining the day we shot outside... it ended up being a blessing in disguise as the asthetic worked beautifully. Looks like a similar situation here.:beer:
 
Thanks for the feedback, Brandon.

Ryan, thanks for the BTS as well. Tung and Ali Leen did an awesome job.
 
Ryan, you shot this with the M2, correct? If the answer's yes, let me ask, how much faster do you think you could have shot without using it? I've been hesitant about getting or using an adapter as I think it'd make my shoots go too slow, but I just wanted to get your thoughts on that. Thanks.
 
let me chime in since I was also operating the camera with the M2.

I can say that it didn't make the shoot go any slower, as long as you have an experienced AC to help. Changing lenses is quick, and pulling focus is relatively easy if you have a decent monitor. My goal would be to develop a method of verifying focus with a tape measure which would make things a bit quicker and easier, since it's often a bit more difficult to view a monitor in daylight in the field. Another option would be to use a focus card in your shots. I would say using a 35mm adapter on a steadicam would be one of the more technical environments to use it in, and I don't feel it slowed us down any, because we had a great crew and a great AC, Jerry Turner (fixitinpost) who had spent time with the adapter and the camera before hand.
 
Yeah, having an AC who's worked with the camera and adapter is probably key. And an external monitor is a must as well. How did the image hold up, and did you use just prime lenses, what kind of lenses did you use?
 
we had a 28mm 2.8, a 50mm 1.4, a 100mm 2.8 and another lense that I'm not sure what it was, but I know we didn't use it. They were all primes. I felt the image held up great, and the DOF was really good, although hard to work with at times on the steadicam. Also a note about using still lenses- f stops work differently than t stops in terms of maximum light allowance, with still lense, a 28mm 2.8 is different than a 50mm 1.4 when it's closed down to 2.8- it's darker. We almost exclusively used the 28mm on the steadicam, except for 2 shots in which we used the 50mm, and in those instances we were stationary and basically using the steadicam as a stationary support. Also, we were using Canon FD mount lenses, and our 28mm was a quantaray brand lens if I'm not mistaken.....
 
Cool info, thanks! Good selection of lenses. All very fast too... I heard the light loss with an M2 is insane... and being that the HVX needs more light than the DVX I imagine you all lit it very bright.
 
actually, barring any official tests, Ryan reckons the light loss to be a stop, or maybe a little more (please correct me if I'm wrong) WAYYY less than the letus. While we were using about 3.5k of light in most of the interiors, I don't think we ever ran into a dismal situation with not having enough light. In fact, all our lights were on dimmers which we often turned down just a tad for a warming effect. I equate the light loss on the M2 to about the same as working with 16mm with slightly slower film. You have to light a little more, but it's not an issue.
 
He also had a 135mm that was used for ECU's (i.e. the passport with the OTS POV was one example). We used a 135MM for the ECU's in SPARROW and loved it. I believe the speed was 2.5
 
PDX_DVX said:
let me chime in since I was also operating the camera with the M2.

I can say that it didn't make the shoot go any slower, as long as you have an experienced AC to help. Changing lenses is quick, and pulling focus is relatively easy if you have a decent monitor. My goal would be to develop a method of verifying focus with a tape measure which would make things a bit quicker and easier, since it's often a bit more difficult to view a monitor in daylight in the field. Another option would be to use a focus card in your shots. I would say using a 35mm adapter on a steadicam would be one of the more technical environments to use it in, and I don't feel it slowed us down any, because we had a great crew and a great AC, Jerry Turner (fixitinpost) who had spent time with the adapter and the camera before hand.
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Thanks for the reply. I'm busy working on the getting the locked edit done by the end of the week, so I can get it to the composer, visual effects, and sound designer ASAP.

Patrick is right, the M2 did not slow us down at all. We worked well together as a team, it felt like everything went really smooth. If you are trying to do everythign yourself, then I could see it slowing you down. But with the right team it will not delay anything.
 
PDX_DVX said:
we had a 28mm 2.8, a 50mm 1.4, a 100mm 2.8 and another lense that I'm not sure what it was, but I know we didn't use it.
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Yep a 28mm 2.8 Quantary Canon FD (P.O.S. in my opinion, but it was the lens I had- as the Canon Lense I had bought off of ebay, never showed up argh....) Even at 2.8 this lens seemed darker then the 50mm 1.4 stopped down to 2.8.

50mm 1.4 Canon

100mm 2.8 Canon

135mm 2.8 Canon

the 135 was used for a couple of closeups but that is it. Mainly used the 28 & 50, and occasionally the 100.
 
PDX_DVX said:
actually, barring any official tests, Ryan reckons the light loss to be a stop, or maybe a little more (please correct me if I'm wrong) WAYYY less than the letus. While we were using about 3.5k of light in most of the interiors, I don't think we ever ran into a dismal situation with not having enough light. In fact, all our lights were on dimmers which we often turned down just a tad for a warming effect. I equate the light loss on the M2 to about the same as working with 16mm with slightly slower film. You have to light a little more, but it's not an issue.
Click to expand...


I'll be doing some tests as soon as I have time to see what the actual light loss is, but what ever the exact measurement, it is far less then the letus flip. As partick said, while we did have 3.5k of light available to us, I don't think we ever used it all, as the lights were dimmed most of the time.
 
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