HVX + M2 + Nikon horror film

cardmaverick

cardmaverick

Well-known member
Hey!

Back in December I was DP on a horror short film.

Here is a link to my first HVX + M2 + Nikon film:

LARGE 90 MB hinted streaming quicktime
http://www.chrisnuzzaco.com/movies/mmwebfinal.mov

small 30 MB hinted streaming quicktime
http://www.chrisnuzzaco.com/movies/smallmmwebfinal.mov

This is still technically a rough cut (albiet color corrected!), so there isn't any music just yet.



Please watch before reading the following tidbits!






Shot in two days (well, more like 14 hours spanning two days...)

Shot with an HVX-200 using an M2 adapter and Nikon primes.

The lead role is played by Mace Sorensen.

The entire room is actually a set built out of real drywall and tiles. You could even turn the faucet on. Best of all, it was built in Mace's garage! The set was built in just three days by Carlos Montoya. We ran a tight schedule, the grout on the shower walls holding the tile was still drying when we bagan shooting!

We demolished the set after filming. We shot Carlos running through the walls!

I still have the bathroom toilet, sink, tub, and shower head. I drove home with the tub hangig halfway out of my car trunk, the major exuse being its a perfectly good set without walls, if you have any stories or commercials involving a bathroom, call me!

Only $700.00 was spent to make the set.

Only $0.00 was spent on everything else.

I payed the $700.00 (so I'm also the Executive Producer too).

The original plan was to use a real bathroom, but I suggested we build one for better lighting and camera angles, oh and a few gallons of fake blood also posed a problem.

I'm usually the guy that favors not building anything...

People say that we are crazy. We are crazy. I'd jump off a building attached with home depot "safety" bungee cables to get that money shot...

Coolest fact of all...No one involved in the production (cast or crew, including myself), was older than 21 (I swear we didn't get dunk off the Jack after wrapping... :) )
 
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Nicely executed and shot piece. Looks good. You'll definitely need to spend sometime on the post audio as even a fake bathroom with all those hard surfaces is really tough to pull off.

Interesting idea, but I've seen it a million times. One of the 3 major story vehicles. Man against himself.... split personality/characters to retell the story. Not that its bad.. since it's all about your perspective and view.
 
Yeah, I agree, its not the most original idea ever, but when asked to DP it, I jumped at the chance. What can I say, I'm young and hungry, so is my crew. My biggest fear was people not "getting it" at the very end. Apparently we will need to insert some kind of a line in there to help people understand what has just happened. The original shot was way better, but the logistics of shooting in a garage forced us to change that shot. I too hate the audio! We had a tiny crew, and no one was really very skilled at audio. I've been exploring ADR though! When it's finally finished, I'm hoping that it will sound better, and have some nice music. From a DP point of view, its great stuff for the reel :Drogar-Evil(DBG):
 
Indeed. When you do your ADR just make sure you give yourself a lot of time. It's really tedious and you have to allow the actors to perform it out and get close to how they delivered the lines in the location.


I've done it a couple of times and it's kind of a pain. I believe it's easiest when you loop the video over and over.. say maybe 10 times or less and let them say it each time and then you pick the one that comes across the best. You can do it in FCP pretty easily and it drops them onto the timeline underneath the clip... It tends to allow you to move quicker than just going through it randomly... plus you've got it synched up right there.. Hope this helps.


Can't believe no one else has commented! kind of sucks when that happens. I do understand what you are saying about getting to DP something for a reel or expereince. That's what I've done and still would too.. especially when it's film.


Good luck!
 
Haha, yeah, I saw the wall sleightly bend in post. One of the reasons we went with real drywall was because the actor wanted to have the flexibility to lean on the wall or punch it. Plus, the intense amount of heat coming out of my 2k Key light was pretty hot, so that ruled out using this dupont foam board material. I still can't get over how crazy this show was. We literally put up the tile, made the window, mounted the mirror and made a shelf the day OF production. LOL. I'll have to post the video of out set designer running thru the walls, we made a comedy sketch out of it :grin:
 
Trademark said:
nice job young blood~
Click to expand...

Thanks! Nice pun there too, very apropriate. Yeah, I'm young, I usually hide my age when I go for DP gigs, which I'm happy to say are now finally coming in. I do because last summer I shot this 30 minute film, and midway thru production the director and crew were like how old are you? I told them I was 21, and man did that get a reaction (everyone else was like 30-35)....but they liked my stuff, and by that time it was a mute point. I believe the big reason I've gotten into these shows has to do with my site. They don't meet me first, they meet my reel first, and that TOTALLY changes thier view. Also helps that I look older cause my hairline is a bit, well, its sleightly on the retreat :violin: oh well, just roll with the punches man!


I did just get my first feature film offer yesterday:Drogar-Love(DBG):, $280,000 budget! But I'm not sure if I'll take it, LOTS of nudity and I'm not so sure I want a movie like that on my resume:huh: But the good news is that the company has several other scrpts (ie, comedy, etc..) they are also interested in having me shoot, so that gives me some hope:Drogar-Evil(DBG): This year has been a big whirlwind. I use to just work for self funded individuals, but after shooting "The Department" pro bono, I suddenly tapped into a whole new community of small LLC's with money and ambition, so its a great new place to be! I highly recommend tying to develop relationships with companies like that, especially if you are still unknowing and trying to make it.

Just my 2 cents!
 
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