HVX used for David Mamet Puppet Scene!

T

Terence

Member
Here's something a little different:


http://www.slantyhouseproductions.com/Sequence 3.mov



My old college friend was visiting a few weeks ago and we decided to do something interesting with our combined skill sets. He's a brilliant puppet maker, so we decided to shoot a scene from David Mamet's Glengarry GlennRoss with pretty elaborate sock puppets. I shot with the HVX at 24PN against greenscreen, as well as the composite shots of a bar here in Seattle.
The HVX performed brilliantly, in terms of the key. Very little color info lost. It's definitely not a perfect key, but that's mainly due to the fact that we shot it in my basement, which didn't allow for much space between the screen and the camera. Also I'm really more of an editor than a DP :)

Composited in AE with Keylight.
 
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I don't know why but I thought that was really funny. The compositing worked very well too.
 
I really loved the dialogue -- very authentic.

Question -- what are they talking about... "leads"?
 
Great job!!!

We're in pre-production with a puppet based conspiracy thriller using the HVX and I'm glad to see such top quality work can be done with it!

Cool!!!

Kyle
 
thanks, all --
yeah the movie is not to be missed. Aside from being brilliantly written, it's a great study for cinematography and editing. Everybody always quotes the Alec Baldwin scene("always be closing") but scenes like this are really the gems of the movie ( and play).
 
really excellent job -

how did you get the cigarette ember to brighten when the guy took a drag? that was a nice touch to detail
 
thanks--
There was a hidden straw taped behind his arm dowel. This was connected to a long piece of bunson burner type rubber hosing, which had another straw connected at the opposite end. While my friend operated the puppet, I watched the monitor and sucked in the moment he put the cigarette to his mouth. The funny thing is that we needed the cigarette to be proportional to his hands, so we picked up those really skinny Capri brand smokes. Nothing like going to a 7-11 at 1am and asking for Capris :)
 
FRIGGIN BRILLIANT! Love that piece and love GGR... favorite play of all time. Played the Roma character in college... against type.

Could I request one thing... could you do the scene with Pacino talking about train comparments smelling of SH*T.. that's my favoirte monologue.. would be an awesome one to do for sure......

Would love to see more.. encore. That's also a really really clean key didn't even really notice it and loved the opening credits. PRO job all the way! Might also love to see that Scene when Pacino yells at Spacey.. That was friggin amazing..


maybe top 10 films of all time for me.. and not one single female in the whole movie... Mamet is a genius or atleast he was. CHEERS
 
Duuuuude.... so awesome.

Can you do the whole movie please? Also I'd like to request the scene where Pacino is talking to the guy in the bar and telling him about the land in Florida. Here it is....

"All train compartments smell vaguely of ****. It gets so you don't mind it. That's the worst thing that I can confess. You know how long it took me to get there? A long time. When you die you're going to regret the things you don't do. You think you're queer? I'm going to tell you something: we're all queer. You think you're a thief? So what? You get befuddled by a middle-class morality? Get shut of it. Shut it out. You cheat on your wife? You did it, live with it. You **** little girls, so be it. There's an absolute morality? Maybe. And then what? If you think there is, go ahead, be that thing. Bad people go to hell? I don't think so. If you think that, act that way. A hell exists on earth? Yes. I won't live in it. That's me.
[pause]
You ever take a dump made you feel like you'd just slept for twelve hours?"

You gotta make it.
 
Wish we could, guys...that was all we could do with our short summer break. David Costello, the puppet genius, lives in Massachusettes and I live in Seattle. We did this while he was visiting. Of course I want him to move out here--then we could piece the movie together night after drunken night!
We originally were going to film the Roma/Pacino monologue but then decided on this scene because there is so much interaction between the two characters; classic Mamet dialogue. Thanks for all your kind words,though!
 
Hey Terence, these puppets make me want to see the movie, loved it, fantastic. That movie came out when? I know, how can I call myself a filmmaker and not have seen Glengarry Glenross, I got busy:). I think some people here don't get the fact that your are spoofing a real film, with real actors.
 
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