Golden - production blog

Deano

Deano

Active member
http://vimeo.com/3778041

Hello, this is the opening scene to Golden - an independent film I'm making. I've cross posted this for technical info to hvx200 / 35mm adapters and hardware. But this board seems to be the most apt for the whole picture. So I shall begin;

Golden is a supernatural thriller about a group of high school students who discover an abandoned mine in Northern California.

I've spent the last couple of years writing the script and am finally ready to begin casting. Late last year I decided to make the opening scene to the film in the hope of attracting a better cast than I could afford on my meager self financed budget of "under a million" as Dove SS Simmons might say.

The opening was shot with an HVX 200 with a Brevis 35mm lens adapter and Nikon lenses. I also used the indislider and Kessler Crane which I highly recommend.

I posted the video on Vimeo about 2 months ago and have met some really great people through that. I'm now attempting to attract a grass roots audience so I've started looking into marketing the project early on in the production.

Any suggestions of where to post info about an indie supernatural thriller would be more than welcome. So far I've started posting on some of the boards of imdb of similar genres - The Shining, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, The Ruins and The Thing. If you know of any blog's / websites etc that might be interested then please let me know.

If people are interested I'll update this page about the ins and outs of producing my first independent feature.

Thank you,

Dean Yurke.
 
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Hey Dean!

Yeah, this is the best place for your film! I'm quite sure alot of people would be really interested in regular updates about this project. Probably about your casting process, location scouting, financing and so on.
 
POST #2

Today found out that my video is being featured on a really cool blog - which has incredibly good taste I might add : ) Check out their site, it's really good. I'm really honored to be on it.


http://dekku.nofatclips.com/


Dean
 
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Simon Höfer said:
Hey Dean!

Yeah, this is the best place for your film! I'm quite sure alot of people would be really interested in regular updates about this project. Probably about your casting process, location scouting, financing and so on.
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Thanks Simon! I'll keep posting. I've finally finished the VFX project I was on at work so I'll have time to get on with my own film again. Next week I'm concentrating on creating the actor breakdowns to submit for breakdownservices.com

Thanks for your help btw.

Dean.
 
Deano said:
POST #2

Today found out that my video is being featured on a really cool blog - which has incredibly good taste I might add : ) Check out their site, it's really good. I'm really honored to be on it.


http://dekku.nofatclips.com/


Dean
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Thats funny that you link that blog; one my films was linked there, I wasn't sure what kind of reputation the thing had.

I kind of dismissed it at the time..

I shall be watching your scene / video when I get home and investing this blog some more.
 
Love that opening scene, gave me chills. Mind hinting to how you put it together?

Gonna be watching this thread for sure. Keep us up to date!
 
Thanks Loki!

And thanks Jon - here's some info;

I shot the forest scenes in a redwood grove on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County California over the course of a few weeks late last year - yes weeks, since the weather is so changable up there, sleet - fog - rain - sunshine - every morning is different. That's one advantage of owning your own kit is that you can shoot anytime.

I made animatics (cg storyboards) then ticked off the shots one by one. The final result is nothing like the animatic but it's great to have them as a place holder. The effects were created with an inferno (discreete logic) and took about a month to do. The sticks - dust - leaves - crows etc were all cg. The opening sunrise was a matte painting since the sun doesn't rise over that hill. The mine is made up of a series of textured patches and beams etc were projected onto them. As you can tell I enjoy the VFX side of production.

It was edited in final cut pro using the DVCproHD codec - I shot everything at 24pa at 1080p.

The sound was mixed in soundtrack pro using various loop libraries.

Originally I bought a glidecam to do the slow pushins but somedays it was so windy up there that it would just keep turning in the wrong direction. Also it's no good for slow creeps as you can see all wobble. So I bought an indislider which was perfect for this as it's solid and very stable. Also I was able to paint out any track which showed up in the bottom of the frame.

Thanks again,

Dean.
 
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Today I spoke with the local SAG representative in San Francisco who was incredibly helpful. I'm going to sign the SAG ultra low-budget agreement and start the process to become a signatory. Will post to sfcasting.com then to breakdownservices.com in the coming weeks.

Thanks to Matt Sconce fellow dvx user for advise here's his link
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=161662


Here's the one-sheet for Golden

onesheet_forest_buriedface_web05.jpg

Questions / comments welcome,

Thanks

Dean
 
That was waaaaaay cool. Man I'm looking forward to seeing this one. The mine shaft was superbly done. Loved that bloody crow that flew into shot and gave me a start too!!
 
SonicStates said:
That was waaaaaay cool. Man I'm looking forward to seeing this one. The mine shaft was superbly done. Loved that bloody crow that flew into shot and gave me a start too!!
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Haha, I love watching people's reaction when that first crow flies in. Really glad you like it thanks Sonic.

Also I've just launced a channel on vimeo for content that I find Epic, Magical and Cinematic. Check it out.

http://vimeo.com/channels/cinematic

Thanks again,

Dean
 
Unreal.

Loved the sounds, and the effects. Were the birds fake? How'd you deal with the wind/leaves and the hole?

Was the tunnel all made in AE?

Great trailer. I want to buy this haha.

Robbie
 
Robbie Comeau said:
Unreal.

Loved the sounds, and the effects. Were the birds fake? How'd you deal with the wind/leaves and the hole?

Was the tunnel all made in AE?

Great trailer. I want to buy this haha.

Robbie
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Awesome, thanks so much!

Everything was shot on very calm days and I didn't have access to a huge crew or wind machines so all of the leaves, smoke, twigs and swirling debris was created digitally using an inferno, but you could achieve the same with after effects / and a simple 3d program.

The birds were added in post, mostly 6 frame cycles from live action video.

The mine was a series of textured patches folded into the shape of a tunnel with photos of beams etc projected onto them to create a 3D digital matte painting.

The sunrise was also digital as the sun never rises above that mountain, and I'm never up that early either : )

Can't wait to start casting, and finally shoot some people! Filed out the paper work for SAG and will post breakdown notices next week.

Woohooo!

Dean
 
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Deano said:
Awesome, thanks so much!

Everything was shot on very calm days and I didn't have access to a huge crew or wind machines so all of the leaves, smoke, twigs and swirling debris was created digitally using an inferno, but you could achieve the same with after effects / and a simple 3d program.

The birds were added in post, mostly 6 frame cycles from live action video.

The mine was a series of textured patches folded into the shape of a tunnel with photos of beams etc projected onto them to create a 3D digital matte painting.

The sunrise was also digital as the sun never rises above that mountain, and I'm never up that early either : )

Can't wait to start casting, and finally shoot some people! Filed out the paper work for SAG and will post breakdown notices next week.

Woohooo!

Dean
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Great to hear! I know what it is like to go through the SAG process. Best of luck . This looks like it will be a fun project.:beer:
 
Cool clip, Dean. I really liked the birds flying away and the descent into the mine shaft was cool! Let me know if you need any help with post production sound.
 
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