Deuceofspades
Veteran
Not sure I understand what you are suggesting... Please elaborate.
FEATURE: DEUCE OF SPADES - How I made a period full feature film all by myself on ZERO budget
- Thread starter Deuceofspades
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Not sure I understand what you are suggesting... Please elaborate.
Deuceofspades
Veteran
UPDATES:
Edited around the clock from Friday through Sunday morning. Got everything dialed in and today I tackle the SANDY scene, the EL BIGGO. :thumbup:
Sunday I filmed my reverse shots for the bookstore scene, and they came out really good. Then we tackled pick up shots for the box scene I love the convenience of doing a pick up shot and walking to the back room and downloading and popping it into the scene to see how it matches, and making adjustment as needed until it does match - perfectly. I was very happy with how the light, motion and angles worked out, resulting in a now completed scene that seem to move from shot to shot smoothly, despite the fact they were filmed two months apart. :thumbup: X 2
Booking of the film for October 24th in Daytona Beach Florida is being finalized and is a GO !!! It is likely that as many as 2000 to 3000 people might be seeing my director's cut there at the screen test premiere. Should provide a good way to get feedback from audience before I finalize all my edits 100% and the film's structure. I will post more details when things are 100% final, maybe some of you will be able to make it to the screen test.
Edited around the clock from Friday through Sunday morning. Got everything dialed in and today I tackle the SANDY scene, the EL BIGGO. :thumbup:
Sunday I filmed my reverse shots for the bookstore scene, and they came out really good. Then we tackled pick up shots for the box scene I love the convenience of doing a pick up shot and walking to the back room and downloading and popping it into the scene to see how it matches, and making adjustment as needed until it does match - perfectly. I was very happy with how the light, motion and angles worked out, resulting in a now completed scene that seem to move from shot to shot smoothly, despite the fact they were filmed two months apart. :thumbup: X 2
Booking of the film for October 24th in Daytona Beach Florida is being finalized and is a GO !!! It is likely that as many as 2000 to 3000 people might be seeing my director's cut there at the screen test premiere. Should provide a good way to get feedback from audience before I finalize all my edits 100% and the film's structure. I will post more details when things are 100% final, maybe some of you will be able to make it to the screen test.
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Ted Spencer
Veteran
Yet another really cool shot here, Faith. Many a still photographer would be proud to have taken this one.
Actually...was it in fact a still, or an HVX frame grab? I'm betting it's a still...
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Yes that's a still and I didn't take it, Eric Callero did. I needed some promo photos to promote the film so he did a photoshoot with me when I first started working on this film. Yielding many cool photos of the girl with her scarf flying in the wind. The idea and concept was mine, but the eye behind the camera was his. He did a good job with the photoshoot. Another friend, Jim Miller, who is my historical consultant for this period film, did another shoot for me, also my idea and concept, and his eye behind the camera. His serie was the "legs" serie, which also came out great and made many magazines. Here are a few shots:
(Note: The baby doll black suede shoes are original from WWII - the legs are mine hehehehehe)
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Note that the leg shot #1 became so popular that I ended up duplicating it in the film, in a scene where the deuce breaks down and the girl has to hot wire her fuel pump to get back on the road pronto. We duplicated the exact same position, location and tried to match sun angle best we could, looks really neat.
Deuceofspades
Veteran
UPDATES:
Preparing for the Test Screening! Over the last two days I tackled cleaning up the Winfield scene, which was shot unexpectedly on the dry lake, in teh middle of a loud, busy race. We shot it over two sunsets, so we only had about 20 minutes or so to film each night, and the scene includes a fairly long dialogue. I think I can officially call this scene the "scene from hell" ranking close second to the imfamous "Diner scene" where everything you coud imagine went wrong.
Cleaning up both light exposure, light color and sound has been a real challenge. PLus a late rewrite forced mt to change the name of the character and so I had to improvive to remove the lines that covered any mention of his old name.
But when there's a will, there is a way so in the end, as of midnight last night, I had successfully saved the scene. You learn a lot about "what to do and what to NOT do" when you are editing, so me, the editor, was bitchin at me, the actor, for having completely thrown out of the window all continuity in my arm position during the scene. WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?????????
Preparing for the Test Screening! Over the last two days I tackled cleaning up the Winfield scene, which was shot unexpectedly on the dry lake, in teh middle of a loud, busy race. We shot it over two sunsets, so we only had about 20 minutes or so to film each night, and the scene includes a fairly long dialogue. I think I can officially call this scene the "scene from hell" ranking close second to the imfamous "Diner scene" where everything you coud imagine went wrong.
Cleaning up both light exposure, light color and sound has been a real challenge. PLus a late rewrite forced mt to change the name of the character and so I had to improvive to remove the lines that covered any mention of his old name.
But when there's a will, there is a way so in the end, as of midnight last night, I had successfully saved the scene. You learn a lot about "what to do and what to NOT do" when you are editing, so me, the editor, was bitchin at me, the actor, for having completely thrown out of the window all continuity in my arm position during the scene. WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING?????????
Deuceofspades
Veteran
UPDATES
Yesterday I had the great pleasure to talk on the phone with our fellow german dvxuser, Frank, who is doing two explosion CGI shots for me and has helped with the very challenging task of "hotrod multiplication" on the 1953 dry lake racing Flashback... Sure was nice to put a voice to the screenname
. Looks like it is as toasty in germany rigth now as it is here in LA and Frank is, just like me, having problem staying cool while sitting in the computer room. I find my PC alone brings the temps up in my studio room by a good 8 to 10 degrees, and I now have a huge fan on me all the time I am editing... Or I might melt...
Yesterday I did a huge editing session that started from the moment I came home from work at around 4PM and ended when I fell off my chair, asleep, at 2AM.
I got a lot done!
I started to shred, tearing into the Sandy scene and completing part 1 of it, followed by no less than 10 flashbacks!!!
All done.
I am now clocking at 1 hour and 5 minute of completed film.
Next I am tackling the continuation of the Sandy scene (part 2) which will trigger the biggest section of uninterrupted flashbacks. I guesstimate that by the time I am done with that section, the film will clock at a little under two hours.
:beer:
Below: Grabs from the Sandy scene:
A steady cam shot executed by fellow dvxuser Luis Sinibaldi
A cool shot playing with reflection in a dresser's miror, this is a rack focus and the shot I grabbed is just before the rack focus shifts to my face. Hence audience focus is still steered towards my reflection in the mirror while I enter the frame from the left. Shot executed by fellow dvxuser Robert Eldon...
Sandy shares her memories with Faith (I executed the rest of the shots)
the same Sandy, fifty years earlier, at 19 years of age.
Yesterday I had the great pleasure to talk on the phone with our fellow german dvxuser, Frank, who is doing two explosion CGI shots for me and has helped with the very challenging task of "hotrod multiplication" on the 1953 dry lake racing Flashback... Sure was nice to put a voice to the screenname
. Looks like it is as toasty in germany rigth now as it is here in LA and Frank is, just like me, having problem staying cool while sitting in the computer room. I find my PC alone brings the temps up in my studio room by a good 8 to 10 degrees, and I now have a huge fan on me all the time I am editing... Or I might melt... Yesterday I did a huge editing session that started from the moment I came home from work at around 4PM and ended when I fell off my chair, asleep, at 2AM.
I got a lot done!
I started to shred, tearing into the Sandy scene and completing part 1 of it, followed by no less than 10 flashbacks!!!
All done.
I am now clocking at 1 hour and 5 minute of completed film.
Next I am tackling the continuation of the Sandy scene (part 2) which will trigger the biggest section of uninterrupted flashbacks. I guesstimate that by the time I am done with that section, the film will clock at a little under two hours.
:beer:
Below: Grabs from the Sandy scene:
A steady cam shot executed by fellow dvxuser Luis Sinibaldi
A cool shot playing with reflection in a dresser's miror, this is a rack focus and the shot I grabbed is just before the rack focus shifts to my face. Hence audience focus is still steered towards my reflection in the mirror while I enter the frame from the left. Shot executed by fellow dvxuser Robert Eldon...
Sandy shares her memories with Faith (I executed the rest of the shots)
the same Sandy, fifty years earlier, at 19 years of age.
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Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Yeah, was very nice talking to you. The SCTA scene in final quality seems to render for ever. Still not done. Probably tomorrow morning.
Have to go to bed now.
Thanks god, it cooled down a bit today, can´t sleep very well when it is so hot.
Frank
Have to go to bed now.
Thanks god, it cooled down a bit today, can´t sleep very well when it is so hot.
Frank
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I suggested exporting trailer/teaser as avi file and uploading it to www.megaupload.com.
So we could see if its vimeo that adds ghosting in frames or your exporting workflow makes them.
So we could see if its vimeo that adds ghosting in frames or your exporting workflow makes them.
puredrifting
Major Contributor
Frank, just out of curiosity, what is "hot" in Germany? Temp and humidity? It has been tipping 105 to 112 F around here in the midday and actually pretty humid for California. Hot is nothing. Hot with high humidity is brutal.
Dan
Dan
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Close to LA weather Dan,
Temperatures where between 95 and 104 F. And yeah, humidity close to 80% sometimes.
Pretty typical for late August here down in the South. It´s called "Hundstage" (dog`s days)
Since I must have been a polar bear in my last live (I feel fine @ 60F in a t-shirt) I really suffer from the heat.
For some reason the workstations and the Renderfarm in my editing room seem to act as dryers. Thou they give extra heat the humidity is in the neighborhood of 40%.
Frank
Temperatures where between 95 and 104 F. And yeah, humidity close to 80% sometimes.
Pretty typical for late August here down in the South. It´s called "Hundstage" (dog`s days)
Since I must have been a polar bear in my last live (I feel fine @ 60F in a t-shirt) I really suffer from the heat.
For some reason the workstations and the Renderfarm in my editing room seem to act as dryers. Thou they give extra heat the humidity is in the neighborhood of 40%.
Frank
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A better alternative to megaupload and rapidshare is
http://drop.io/
You can create mulitple free 100 meg drop boxs' and add password protection to restrict access if you need to. If you need more than 100meg, they have affordable options. They don't penalize non members who want to download either.
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Well, I believe that avi files of those clips would be over 1 GIG in size, so uploading them would be a real drag. Worry not though, I have couple experts here that can come over to my house and take a looksie. It would be nice to figure this weird thing out. Well at least we figured out the ghosting problem and it is now ALL FIXED weeheee!
UPDATES:
Filmed all day saturday at a huge car show PRIMER NATIONALS, got some cool footage of live rockabilly bands playing, cars, crowds, etc... Stock footage to add to my already edited car show scene. It went real well. The next day I filmed teh deuce while driving. That one was a real challenge!!!!!!!!!
OK imagine this: To get shot of the front left wheel and tire, spinning as the deuce is speeding forward on the highway, and to see the yellow dotted lines zipping by it, I had to do this:
Lay a blanket on my door, hand hold my camera over the driver's door, hoping I would not DROP IT (AGHHHH) nor scratch my deuce (AGHHHH) and then hold the monitor between my thighs and peek at it through the steering wheel, I also gave gas and applied brakes, while my assistant Jerry steered the deuce. We drove like that on a two lane blacktop with traffic. You should have seen the faces of the drivers crossing us: THEY WONDERED WHO WAS DRIVING THE DEUCE, since I was unable to look at the road, but rather, hanging half way on the outside of the deuce, holding and staring at a camera - So Jeerry was my eyes and hands ... It was insane!
LOLOLL
Ahhhh... The things we do for love!
Got some neat shots though....
of course I also could have rented a hostess tray, but that would have been way too easy LOL and probably messed up my deuce's door / paint. Besides, I am broke, so....
We then chased the deuce with my truck and I took more footage there, from the back of the truck, on a 4 lane highway at 50 mph, that was pretty crazy, but worked like a charm. I got some neat extreme close ups of deuce front grill and wheels spinning away...
Back to editing today moving fast... I injured my knee sitting in an odd position in the bed of the truck yesterday and suspect I will be crippled for a couple weeks. RATS. It's pretty swollen and I can't straighten it...
but as JOHNNY CALLAWAY alwayS said: 'I'LL BE JUST FINE!"
and it is now ALL FIXED weeheee!UPDATES:
Filmed all day saturday at a huge car show PRIMER NATIONALS, got some cool footage of live rockabilly bands playing, cars, crowds, etc... Stock footage to add to my already edited car show scene. It went real well. The next day I filmed teh deuce while driving. That one was a real challenge!!!!!!!!!
OK imagine this: To get shot of the front left wheel and tire, spinning as the deuce is speeding forward on the highway, and to see the yellow dotted lines zipping by it, I had to do this:
Lay a blanket on my door, hand hold my camera over the driver's door, hoping I would not DROP IT (AGHHHH) nor scratch my deuce (AGHHHH) and then hold the monitor between my thighs and peek at it through the steering wheel, I also gave gas and applied brakes, while my assistant Jerry steered the deuce. We drove like that on a two lane blacktop with traffic. You should have seen the faces of the drivers crossing us: THEY WONDERED WHO WAS DRIVING THE DEUCE, since I was unable to look at the road, but rather, hanging half way on the outside of the deuce, holding and staring at a camera - So Jeerry was my eyes and hands
... It was insane!LOLOLL
Ahhhh... The things we do for love!
Got some neat shots though....
of course I also could have rented a hostess tray, but that would have been way too easy LOL and probably messed up my deuce's door / paint. Besides, I am broke, so....
We then chased the deuce with my truck and I took more footage there, from the back of the truck, on a 4 lane highway at 50 mph, that was pretty crazy, but worked like a charm. I got some neat extreme close ups of deuce front grill and wheels spinning away...
Back to editing today moving fast... I injured my knee sitting in an odd position in the bed of the truck yesterday and suspect I will be crippled for a couple weeks. RATS. It's pretty swollen and I can't straighten it...
but as JOHNNY CALLAWAY alwayS said: 'I'LL BE JUST FINE!"
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Deuceofspades
Veteran
UPDATES:
Knee healing fast, I can walk again but it's sore... Meanwhile, I have been stuck at home and so I made the best out of it and dived in head first into editing around the clock for three days straight. I am proud to announce that I now only have THREE scenes left to edit to complete the film. My timeline is now 135 min long))))))))))....
I simply cannot put in words how it feels to be so close to completion, after three entire years working non stop to make this film.
It is, simply AMAZING.....
Needless to say I still have some pick up shots and one tiny scene to film and edit, and a lot of massaging the film in general, to make it look as good as I can. I am curious to see how people will receive the film, and it will be a great feeling the day I can watch it for the first time from top to bottom to get the BIG PICTURE and see how the pace is, how the emotional journey unfolds and if it makes sense, plot details wise. I will test it on a few friends before I send it to the Premiere test Screening, where I suspect, between 300 to 2000 people will see it.
Think I'm gonna be a nervous wreck that day!!!!!
Oh boy!
Knee healing fast, I can walk again but it's sore... Meanwhile, I have been stuck at home and so I made the best out of it and dived in head first into editing around the clock for three days straight. I am proud to announce that I now only have THREE scenes left to edit to complete the film. My timeline is now 135 min long
))))))))))....I simply cannot put in words how it feels to be so close to completion, after three entire years working non stop to make this film.
It is, simply AMAZING.....
Needless to say I still have some pick up shots and one tiny scene to film and edit, and a lot of massaging the film in general, to make it look as good as I can. I am curious to see how people will receive the film, and it will be a great feeling the day I can watch it for the first time from top to bottom to get the BIG PICTURE and see how the pace is, how the emotional journey unfolds and if it makes sense, plot details wise. I will test it on a few friends before I send it to the Premiere test Screening, where I suspect, between 300 to 2000 people will see it.
Think I'm gonna be a nervous wreck that day!!!!!
Oh boy!
Deuceofspades
Veteran
UPDATES:
Edited around the clock non-stop except for Sunday, I filmed several pick up shots, including the shot of the judge, from 8AM til about 6PM. I then took a long 3 hour nap and then went right back to editing until about 3AM. Got a lot done and I am now at the end climax scene of the film.
Full throttle ahead.
Meanwhile, my knee is feeling much better, able to walk without much limping since yesterday... But have to be extra careful.
Have an on location shoot this week-end with fellow dvx user Robert Eldon (thank you Robert for lining up the book store for me!! :dankk2 and hope to be able to walk on my high heels by then.
I hope that by the end of this week, I will have the film entirely edited, minus the one little scene I am still missing, plus the additional pick up shots here and there.
I am surprised at how fast I am progressing, considering how nitpicky I am about each shot, each edit, each scene, the music etc... So far so good...
TODAY'S GRAB:
Rough times ahead for Johnny
Edited around the clock non-stop except for Sunday, I filmed several pick up shots, including the shot of the judge, from 8AM til about 6PM. I then took a long 3 hour nap and then went right back to editing until about 3AM. Got a lot done and I am now at the end climax scene of the film.
Full throttle ahead.
Meanwhile, my knee is feeling much better, able to walk without much limping since yesterday... But have to be extra careful.
Have an on location shoot this week-end with fellow dvx user Robert Eldon (thank you Robert for lining up the book store for me!! :dankk2
and hope to be able to walk on my high heels by then.I hope that by the end of this week, I will have the film entirely edited, minus the one little scene I am still missing, plus the additional pick up shots here and there.
I am surprised at how fast I am progressing, considering how nitpicky I am about each shot, each edit, each scene, the music etc... So far so good...
TODAY'S GRAB:
Rough times ahead for Johnny
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Deuceofspades
Veteran
Thank you thank you
)Working around the clock litterally to get the film ready for the big ass test Screening Premiere coming up on October 24th. Still have about 5 shoots or so to do to complete film 100%, one small scene to film and 4 pick up shoot sessions. The rest is all Post work and Promo work.
I still cannot believe I have completed the film...
It's now all edited, And can be watched from top to bottom in one shot.
All 158 minutes of it.
Sheesh, that's a big film!
The new logo:
