Noir Clips

taylormade

taylormade

Well-known member
Thanks to Ryan Smith I have a website to post these clips from our short "Stakeout On Tenth Street".

I know they're large and I apologize for the long loading time - Ryan did the best he could with what I gave him.

This footage was shot on my DVX100 in 24pA and cut on an Avid Xpress Pro. This is a rough cut with no music, sound mix or Foley. Some correction and timing still needs to be done. Total running length is 18 minutes.

Actors are SAG professionals working under the SAG Experimental Film Program - they're allowed to work for free until (or if) the film makes any money.

The short was lit with an Arri four-light kit - a 650 Chimara, two 650s and a 350. Crew consisted of yours truly as director and DP, with my wife and daughter as sound techs and the lead actor's son helping me set the lights.

Thanks for taking a look.

RT

http://homepage.mac.com/its_ryan_smith/Ryan/Taylormade/stakeout.html
 
Re: Noir Clips

Is it my DSL or the clips play real choppy. It looks like its playing it back at 10fps. The images do look nice but I couldn't watch the whole thing. You may want to compress it down alittle. It looks good though.
 
Re: Noir Clips

Awesome.

First of all; this shows what quality talent does to a production; brings it home. This is wonderfully lit. The thing that stands out for me is the continuity. I don't think it get's better than this.

Your comps were great. The lighting is wonderful; very noir. Damn, I needed some old sax going! That would have been perfect. The locations were great as well; also serving to show how to improve your production look!

Great job. This was fun to watch. Some of the best DVX I have seen. I want to see the whole thing!

Clip 1, 2 and 3 had some gnarly interlacing; no pulldown or.........................?
 
Re: Noir Clips

Wow...awesome footage. I watched all three clips a few times just studying your lighting, really dramatic. Congrats on the look of the period too, looks like someone sent a DVX back in time. Well done...I'm dying to see the finnished product. Truly inspirational work!!!
 
Re: Noir Clips

I experienced choppy playback too, but I enjoyed this a lot. You've got that 30's feeling down, like the slow dissolve at the beginning of clip 3.
 
Re: Noir Clips

Thanks for the kind words everyone. This project was a labor of love and a real kick to put together. And, yes, John there will be a mournful sax in the background as soon as my music guy finishes the score.

The bullet hits were my way of saving money and protecting the actors. Squibs tend to be unpredictable and time consuming. In the scene where "Vince Conners" gets raked by the chopper, the bullet holes were already on his shirt. The actor when through the motions of being hit and going down with all the wounds already threre. I went in and removed the wounds in Photshop, frame by frame, cloning the nearby shirt material and obscuring the bullet holes. I then revealed the holes one by one in the final scene.

The shot of the building was taken at the end of Magic Hour to get that nice sky effect. I enhanced the brightness of the window in photoshop. The closer shot of the building where you can see someone up there and a flickering light is also an effect. I cut out the windows in Photoshop, then reduced a shot taken earlier up in the warehouse of a woman lighting a cigarette. The reduced shot was given the correct perspective in AfterEffects and moved in behind the overlay of the building. It was now visible under the window cutouts. I added a semi-transparent mask over the window and changed the levels to enhance the flickering effect.

Sorry about the playback problems. I know virtually nothing about creating clips for the web. Ryan did what he could with what I sent him. I'm coming out of Avid Xpress Pro and have Sorenson, so if anyone has any suggestions about the correct method to make these clips I'd appreciate hearing from you.
RT
 
Re: Noir Clips

Wow!! Pretty good footage, the camera and composition is excellent and the lighting for black & white to give a 30 look is awesome. The entrée with the car put you in the mood immediately. Hope to see more footage and good luck with your project.
 
Re: Noir Clips

Great looking comps and lighting. I can't really add more to what's already been said...

Please keep us posted...
 
Re: Noir Clips

[quote author=taylormade link=board=Clips;num=1102490581;start=0#7 date=12/08/04 at 07:57:00]I went in and removed the wounds in Photshop, frame by frame, cloning the nearby shirt material and obscuring the bullet holes.  I then revealed the holes one by one in the final scene.[/quote]

What did you use to convert the .avi into single frames and then to recompile them?
 
Re: Noir Clips

In Premiere, you can export any portion of your timeline as a filmstrip. Photoshop will then open it with hundreds or thousands of frames in one file. You make your adjustments, save it and then Premiere will recognize it as a movie file and you can edit it again on the timeline.
 
Re: Noir Clips

Gabe,
In Avid I can import a single frame from my timeline as a psd or jpeg file. I imported the needed frames, did the touchup in Photoshop on each frame and then reimported the altered individual frames and cut them into the timeline one by one. It's not as time consuming as it sounds as long as you number the frames to keep everything in order.
 
Re: Noir Clips

I can't watch it for some reason. All this pumping it up got me excited. I always have problems with REALplayer. :-[
 
Re: Noir Clips

It was supposed to be B&W - as most of the noir films of the forties were. You didn't miss a thing!
RT
 
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