LOOK AT ME - Sprocketboy

puckthemad said:
how many more days to go?
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I'm done with production work. We shot 14.5 hours the first day and 8 hours the second day. I'm getting ready to start the rough cut either tomorrow or Friday. The deadline is coming up fast and I still have to find someone to do the music score.
 
Mark Harris said:
Love the BTS. Apple boxes. Wow, you are pro! I think we use a stack of books...
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I must admit I was lucky this time to have the luxury of a full grip van. The van belongs to a good college friend of mine. He is compulsively neat and stocks a van that packs a punch. Besides, the underrated apple boxes, it included a doorway dolly.

...and don't tell me you used a stack of books with the Red Camera. :)
 
Screen Grabs

Screen Grabs

I've been busy logging and editing together a rough cut the last few days. I thought it was about time I put up some screen grabs. These are straight from the editing timeline.

04-OrthoClinic3.jpg

06-Bathroom.jpg

12-Bdrm.jpg
 
Good stuff. I esp like the composition in the middle one. Mirrors are good for achieving more than one thing in a single shot.

Which camera are you using?
 
Mark Harris said:
Which camera are you using?
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I'm using a vanilla HVX-200A. No 35mm adapter. I'm beginning to regret it as I review the footage. I could see where a shallower DOF would have helped.

I only had two shooting days, so I was afraid the adapter would slow me down. Next time I have to plan for more shooting days and get an adapter... or RED.
 
Yeah, it's one thing I have fallen in love with real fast on the RED, is the very natural DOF. It's no longer something to strive for, just shoot and it will do what it does.
 
The 16 hour day is an approximation. It was 16 hours the moment I headed for the location and returned to my house. We really shot for 14.5 hours, and strangely enough we followed Union procedures for eating even though we are not union, of course. The 6 hours at a time rule works rather well. It keeps everyone's stomach happy.
 
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The rough cut was rough and the fine cut was even rougher. The length had gone from 8 mins. to 7 mins. & 36 secs. to 6 mins. & 48 secs. to 6 mins. & 15 secs... I found myself stuck at the magic length of 6 minutes and 15 seconds for a long time, until I had to make other sacrifices. The current length is now at 5 minutes and 58 seconds. I'm an official entry.

I have a little tweaking to do, but its going out the door for a music score.
 
It hurts cutting those last 15 seconds, huh? For me it was stuck at 6:22, and then I had to take a long, hard look at the whole thing. Now I am down around 5:57.

Looking forward to seeing this - you have a good-looking cast. I gotta tell you, I just shot with the HVX200a and an adapter, and I kind of wish that I had just used the bare camera for most of my scenes. Would have been so much less stress - and more time spent on getting all the right shots.
 
Will Clegg said:
I just shot with the HVX200a and an adapter, and I kind of wish that I had just used the bare camera for most of my scenes. Would have been so much less stress - and more time spent on getting all the right shots.
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Wow. I wish I used an adapter. Regardless, we pulled focus on every shot which means we pretty much would have used up the same amount of time to shoot. I opted to shoot without the 35mm adapter to get most of the shots on my shot list. My DP did not shoot any faster. She wanted to make sure every shot had perfect focus. Live and learn.
 
I finished up the bulk of my color correcting and grading. Most of the shots have subtle differences from the original. The DP and Gaffer lit and composed the scenes as discussed before shooting. Here is the first set I will post. More to come...

I just noticed that these shots are really very subtle. Not very dramatic. I removed some blue, decrease skin tone shadows, added diffusion and added warmth. My other shots had more extreme correction and grading.

04%20OrthoClinic.jpg


04%20OrthoClinic%20CC.jpg
 
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Here is another example of color correction and grading to an extreme. I added warmth, crushed the shadows, added a little diffusion and created a depth of field focus using one of the filters in Magic Bullet Looks. Its no COLOR, but it gets the job done quickly and effectively within Final Cut Pro.

MBLooks.jpg

06%20Bathroom.jpg

06%20Bathroom%20CC.jpg
 
Just letting everyone know Matt Sconce's formula for BIG, BEAUTIFUL and under 50 Megabytes really works wonderfully. Here's the link, thanks to Rodney Smith, who made me aware of it:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=138020&highlight=compression

Matt shows it on a simple QuickTime interface on windows. I used compressor (included with Final Cut Pro). Its a front end for QuickTime. The only additional thing I would recommend adding is a Gamma Correction Filter and set it around .92. It will brighten up the footage a tad for better viewing on a Windows computer. My footage, with the DVXUser leader, comes to 6 mins. and 9 secs. Final size is 800 x 450 pixels. Using the compression formula by Matt made the overall size 49.1 MB.

Compressor.jpg


Notice the "Estimated file size" is 44.19 MB. The actual size is 5 MB larger.
 
Sprocketboy said:
Here is another example of color correction and grading to an extreme. I added warmth, crushed the shadows, added a little diffusion and created a depth of field focus using one of the filters in Magic Bullet Looks. Its no COLOR, but it gets the job done quickly and effectively within Final Cut Pro.


06%20Bathroom.jpg

06%20Bathroom%20CC.jpg
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It feels a hair pushed too hard here. I would avoid the fake DOF too. I think it doesn't read as that, and besides your compositions and lighting all seem good enough that no one is going to care about DOF.
 
Mark Harris said:
It feels a hair pushed too hard here. I would avoid the fake DOF too. I think it doesn't read as that, and besides your compositions and lighting all seem good enough that no one is going to care about DOF.
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You're right. The DOF is not accurate. The compact mirror frame would be out of focus as well, but the reflection in the compact would be almost in focus. Many other things in the shot would also have some gradual soft focus. The DP also doesn't care for it much and likes the deep focus. The color temp I'm still debating about... Good call. Thanks.
 
Matty_g said:
i had to set lights up in chairs.
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I had to attach a light to a boom pole. :( woe is me.

Really excellent production you all had set up for this one. It looks so professional, like a well oiled machine in the BTS photos.

Looking forward to it. :beer:
 
Its amazing what a light at the end of a boom pole could do. You can angle your light anywhere in a moments notice, or swing it over your head like a lasso creating a incredible strobe effect. I can't do that with a KinoFlo. Sometimes, I'm stuck with homemade equipment that forces my hand to be inventive with what I have. I was lucky this time around to be able to get this equipment.
 
My short has been uploaded and awaiting approval. And yet, I had to change a couple of more things in post. I guess I will be uploading the newest and final version soon.
 
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