ACT II - reshoot

Rodney V. Smith

Rodney V. Smith

DVXFest Promo Guru
Title: ACT II
Starring: Alexis LaSalle
Body Double for Younger Sally/Older Sally: Jessica Anne Miller
Thug #1:
Directed by: Rodney Smith
Written by: Rodney Smith and Andrew Stoute
DOP: Rodney Smith
Gaffer/Grip: Soloman Chase
Editor: Rodney Smith
VFX: Soloman Chase
Shoot date: July 18, 2008

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View the movie here:
http://vimeo.com/2333005
http://motionbox.com/videos/ee93d5ba1719e464
 
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1:59PM Okay, so we're moving into the first set up for the reshoot of my TImeFest entry "Act II". It's raining here in Acworth, GA so the Exterior beach shots have been pushed back until later this afternoon.

We're going to concentrate on the main interiors first and use those to set the color palette and tone of the movie. The lighting in this scene is really going to be integral for this, so right now we're dressing the set and lighting it to make it as visually appealing as possible.

Looking good so far. Think I'll post some shots as production progresses.

We'll be doing the reshoot on the HVX with the Brevis and Canon 50mm lenses.

Got the dolly set up... More to come.

First shot is scheduled to be off by 2:30PM so we're kind of on schedule.


5:00 PM
Reshoot underway... getting picky with the frames and visuals. the body double flaked on me, so now being creative.
 
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Okay so we had a few technical flubs with changing light, etc on the first night of shooting. I actually didn't like the way some of the scenes were turnign out as well... so sat down yesterday and did a complete rewrite on the script.

The rewrite addresses alot of questions that kept popping up and I think
it flows much better now, especially after seeing the actors in rehearsal.

We actually sat down and did a character design for both Older Sally and Younger Sally so that our takes with the body-double would be consistent. Now Older Sally has this funky hairstyle that is definitely not like anything current. Pretty damn good wig...

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I've recruited another DVXUser member SolomanChase to help out this evening with the final shoot. We had worked together earlier this week on a music video and that was sa pretty good experience, so we're off to a good start. My evil plan is falling into place to go toe-to-toe with the Fat Monster Machine.... now we just need a young Asian Genius to complete our Atlanta Ensemble....

We've got some Dolly action going on in the house and all of our lights in place already, so we should have a good shoot.

Did some blocking last night as well with Alexis and we're going to have a very visually compelling story. Feels so much better with the new script as well, so this may turn out better than I had ever expected.
 
Oh did some art design for the Older Sally character and Alexis (the lead actress) suggested a couple of tattoos, so there's a tip of the hat to Rogan in there. I'll get some photos of it once it's illustrated and placed onto Alexis.

The tattoo will read: "Men Wear Pants"
 
yeah, the first one was edited out of the ending scenes and part of the bedroom scene, so these will actually be two completely different movies. this will be Act 2 of "Act 2"... maybe I should consider a name change....
 
Just realized I don;t have my Hi-Hat for the dolly. Gonna have to either get a second tripod for the shoot... or take the Half-Ball leveler off the bottom of the tripod head so I can attach it directly to the base of the dolly.

Glad I caught it right now.... by the way: Manfrotto 501 Heads will not support the weight of a 20lb camera system. I found this out the hard way and now have to get a new heavier duty tripod...

Better now than during the shoot, right?

Pictures to come... uploading now
 
Awesome shots tonight thanks to the help of Solomon Chase who's been doing some great lighting work and making me like the bomb.com (as my actress Alexis is fond of saying). He's sick but working solidly on this and now needs to go home and get some rest to recover.

We'll be shooting exteriors tomorrow morning at 8:00AM and wrapping this production in a timely manner.

Hopefully I can get some screen shots up tomorrow while I start the edit.
 
Day 2 begins:
Morning shoot on the beach before anyone else is out there. Hopefully we should have a nice empty beach this time (as written in the script) instead of having to settle for the pier. Sure the pier was nice and everything, but it missed the symbolism I was going for with the imagery of the beach and shifting sand...

Anyway, Solomon is probably on his way over if he isn't too ill, so I'm going to pack the Dolly into the car and grab a 1K and a reflector for that ever so lovely extra fill light.
 
Can't find the digital camera so BTS shots are on hold. Dammit! And we had such sweet setups as well. Last night Solomon tried his hand at one of the handheld shots with the fully-loaded HVX (20+ lbs) and he was shaking after a while. I think he's jealous of my muscles and the casual manner in which I heft the weight of the camera. I must admit that it's pretty damn heavy though... especially coming from the HV30. Even fully loaded, how much does the HV30 weigh anyway?

Solomon says that the HV30 actually weighs less than the Brevis itself. Good thing I've been hauling around the DVX for the last 3 years. Built myself some muscle.

Anyway, enough musing: we're sitting around waiting on our actor so we can head down to the beach. We've already missed sunrise so we'll likely be fighting the ever shifting sun. Gonna try to get a lot of this in one shot and then get the dolly shots and the establishing shot in afterward.
 
One more shot to go then straight into the edit after the footage transfers over to HardDrive #1 and then the backup disk. I may have a shoot tonight so gotta do a bunch of recharging. Planning to do the ADR and sound design over the next few days. I really wish I didn't have any appointments today or tomorrow, but gotta work with what you got.

Anyway, Solomon has been really helpful and I don't know how much I could have accomplished without him.

Oh I forgor about shooting the title sequence, so thats 2 shots left in this film.
 
And we're wrapped!

last shot is out and now it's a good one for the title sequence. All the dream shots, except for the crane shots are in./ I even make a cameo at one point so you guys can check out my awesome knife skills. Pity i didn't have an axe...

Now time to off load and get those screenshots up. still really bummed about the camera for the BTS shotd, but oh well. maybe i can get some BTS of me editing. :-D
 
title sequence is completed. Now gotta find a new score for this film since that's going to be so critical to the development of the story. I currently have the title track from "the Matrix" in over the titles and it looks pretty good so far.
now gotta go do some intensive scene edits...
 
On Screenshot #11 there is a small homage to The Dustin Rogan Project, if you look very carefully at the tattoo... little easter egg for DVXUsers...
 
Advert out for a composer. Hopefully I can get some responses soon or I'm going to have to track down every composer on the board and bug them into helping me.
 
the first edit is looking pretty good. I'm happy with the results, especially since the shots were so well planned out this time around. I still wish I had had access to the jib for this one, but we did get our dolly shots in and focused mainly on strong picture composition and mood.... what message were we sending by doing this shot.

I'll run the rest of the edit tonight and tighten the dialog in some places. Have to get Alexis to go into the studio sometime this week and record her ADR session. Found out that she's actually had experience as a VoiceOver talent so it's not something that's going to be new to her. Should make it so much easier considering that she's such a natural mimic.

Now she's really got the acting bug so much she's gone off to start writing a comedy....
 
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