FEATURE: Epitaph: Bread and Salt Feature film

Thanks Fahad. We're doing the best we can. I'm having fun with the casting and all so far. We start really casting in August.

-Nate
 
Definitely Fahad. We try to keep the budget low. I'm learning more about making a high quality project on a low budget.

I went to the Apple store today (you know, where I convert my footage, LOL) and here's a few of my test shots for this area. I get attacked by an Estrie on the big street. Have a fight in the alley with an undead assassin and a whole bunch of other fun things that go on.

The irony is I went through all that trouble to convert these files (Which is why I hadn't uploaded them, I thought I had to convert them) and then I get ready to upload them and as I'm reading the list of accepted files low and behold M2t is right there. Remember RIF: Reading Is fundamental.

Either way I have the camera in 24p/1080p mode (the HG10 comes in only two modes 1080i and 24p, tell me this wasn't made for low budget filmmaking) and it's in shade mode I believe. Watch as I poorly narrate this walk through a northside neighborhood.

And at I some point in the vid I meet a guy on the street who ask to be put on camera, but what he had to say won't be shown for the sake of all in the watching/hearing of said video. Honestly, if it had been a woman, the vid could have become an instant HBO hooker doc, but I digress. (Then again Zombie Girl seems to be quickly becoming a beloved character, so maybe a zombie hooker doc?). You'd be surprized what happens when you walk down the street with a camera. When we had the DVX a the women thought we were with Girls Gone Wild, yet there was no evidence of such save me having a video camera. (I actually used that DVX to talk my way onto the "ER" set once. LOL).

We are considering ways to add extra light to these scenes if needed, but I really like the creepy look in some place, specifically the shopping center and some of the alleys. But here's the "footy"...



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good stuff. looks like the HG10 holds up decently in low-light.

how did you come to choose that camera?
 
Price. LOL. I wanted to shoot on an XH A1 or an HM100, but funds just wasn't there. The HF line were the next obvious choices. They even used them as B cams on Crank2, which I did check out to see how they held up in some of the shots they were used it. I had seen HF cameras before and hadn't been too impressed, but they held up well. But HF cameras are still very popular so they're stilling in the $500 range (or were at the time).

So I did some research into the cameras. I knew Canon had come out with HD cameras before that, the HR10 which was a disc camera that a lot of reviewers panned, but a lot of people seemed to like the HG10. Plus the HG10 had a mic jack and the HR10 simply didn't. I found a whole HG10 page on Vimeo and clicked through to find out what could actually be accomplished. After seeing the images, the colors, some dramatic pieces and some good fight and action scenes shot with it and checking the price point ($369 at the time via eBay), I knew it was for me. I did consider the HR10 as a possible B camera, but I wasn't willing to spend cash on an extra camera when I still have a computer to buy.

I used to have the coveted HV20, but sold it because I wanted to go tapeless. Some people said the HG10 low light was no good, but my test seemed to show just the opposite, I mean it's not the HM100 (which can incredibly shoot in almost pitch darkness), but the HG10 will more than do in a pinch. I have to admit I'm actually loving the way this looks under low light conditions. I mean for a vampire film in the "urban wild". Plus I want to mess around with some of those FMP effects from Andrew Kramer and Video Copilot. If you haven't seen these, I think they're worth the price.

-Nate
 
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yeah cost is definitely attractive (wow, $370!). i'm sure a competent person operating it can do good work.

i like it. as you may already know, i'm a big fan of ultra-low budget filmmaking.
 
Thanks. I may add some more tonight. I didin't get to put up the various alleyways and such we'll be shooting in, so I plan to hook that up tonight.

-Nate
 
These are the last view test for here. I thought I'd show off the HG10's portrait mode while I was at it. When I switch into portrait mode there's more light on the scene, but at the same time it gets pretty grainy. I don't know if you can see it here, but it looked grainy when I saw it on the LCD. But we're in 24/1080p in portrait mode, so check it out. Let me know what you think of the graininess. But to give you an idea of the lack of light, there's nothing but that one light in that area where the big green tree is. There are no street lights right there.


Back into Cinemode, here more of the area around the shopping center. You didn't get to see the lead in last time around the train tracks and all that good stuff. Okay, I'm going to get a cup of coffee. Enjoy these and more questionable narration.


-Nate
 
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Not sure if you've used it, but definitely check out the 'Neat Video' plugin. It is REALLY good for removing a little noise without ruining the image. Obviously you can overcrank it, but we are REALLY amazed at what it can do when we have a little more noise than we want.

By the way, just realized who you are, haha! I had bought your book around Christmas and added you on Facebook. I was one of the ones who worked on Dogs of Chinatown and now am a Producer on Beat Down Boogie that some of the people you know there are involved in!

In any case, love the project, I will follow it from here :)
 
grimepoch said:
Not sure if you've used it, but definitely check out the 'Neat Video' plugin. It is REALLY good for removing a little noise without ruining the image. Obviously you can overcrank it, but we are REALLY amazed at what it can do when we have a little more noise than we want.

By the way, just realized who you are, haha! I had bought your book around Christmas and added you on Facebook. I was one of the ones who worked on Dogs of Chinatown and now am a Producer on Beat Down Boogie that some of the people you know there are involved in!

In any case, love the project, I will follow it from here :)
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LOL, thanks. Hey, you're working with Shawn and Manny right. How's that comin' along? And how'd you like the book. I hope it helped. And I might look into "Neat Video". In some of those instances we're considering running an extension cord down the stairs.

El Director said:
Dude, the alley locations look great!
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Thanks. There's a lot of alleys in this film. LOL. But we try to use them well. I think only three major fights takes place in an alley though so I have to vary it up. One of those fights I'm going to move into another location, a backstreet maybe.

-Nate
 
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We are working on a few side projects at the moment. We just did this (and part 2 comes out tomorrow) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMrwNz24j_g Started as a test of the 7Ds and then just turned into something much bigger.

Mainly getting everything into place before we start filming the big project. A few more pieces of equipment we want.

The book was good and I agree with a lot of your feelings. I got done reading it and thought "This is someone I would hang out and do films with" :) I never went to film school so I am learning as I go, and fast. Reading a lot of stuff by Blain Brown but mostly learning by doing.

Also working on my own film that is close to being shot. Finishing up the initial trailer now as a concept trailer. Again, it's another learning piece.
 
Hry grimepoch, I saw this, it was pretty awesome. There's some great action direction here, especially for a parody.

-Nate
 
Thanks man! We just released part 2 and now are in pre-production on part 3. Micah Moore (the director) has done quite a bit of action stuff so I am becoming a sponge around him learning. This started as such a small camera test and look where it went! :) We kept one upping each other on quality, especially when I did the 3D helicopter.

I love it, my dad asked how we coordinated the helicopter flying over for that scene :) Haha.
 
Have you ever thought about an RC chopper against a greenscreen? I've been thinking about that.

-Nate
 
hey nate,
in your posters, the vampires face is perfectly white, and smooth. How did you do that with make up? or was it done in editing?
btw, it's looking good. I really like the locations
on the other hand, i dont really like the costume.
 
I thought the chopper looked fine in CG. If you wanted to use a model, maybe you just add the blades later. Although, I think some keyers could do the whole model just fine. I know for example that the keyer in Vegas can key through glass and keep the glass there. Blades shouldn't be much different.
 
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