Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
Great locations. Good luck and LOL @ the banner. 
OASIS - An I.A.N. Production
- Thread starter 4100xpb
- Start date
Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
Great. Looking forward to seeing some grabs!
BTW, the comment about the banner was directed towards Tunnelmen's...
MAH
That's a wrap
That's a wrap
Me at 2:00 AM this morning, six hours before we were scheduled to star shooting:
WPKBMAKEJFBALLALAAAAAAAAAAA
Me at 10:00 AM when we broke an ice machine and started flooding the restaurant we were doing the indoor scene at:
Ooohhhhhh F***
Me at 9:00 PM, five hours after photography was complete:
Totally brain dead.
I no longer believe movies are made by people. I think God comes down and strikes the prints himself. Details and pictures to follow.
That's a wrap
Me at 2:00 AM this morning, six hours before we were scheduled to star shooting:
WPKBMAKEJFBALLALAAAAAAAAAAA
Me at 10:00 AM when we broke an ice machine and started flooding the restaurant we were doing the indoor scene at:
Ooohhhhhh F***
Me at 9:00 PM, five hours after photography was complete:
Totally brain dead.
I no longer believe movies are made by people. I think God comes down and strikes the prints himself. Details and pictures to follow.
Wow – what a crazy week.
Wednesday and Thursday – I was out of town for my Mother’s funeral service
Friday – back home, finishing the props and costumes and checking the gear for tomorrow. Oh, and it was my wife’s birthday.
Saturday – Shooting from 8:00 AM until ~4:00 PM on what would have been my mom’s 52nd birthday. Car broke down on the way to our outdoor location, so our actors had to push. Apparently this means I am a real filmmaker now.
Sunday – Mother’s day, trying to make up to my wife for not paying enough attention to her on her birthday.
This was my first time ever filming a narrative. All my previous work has been documentary, so directing was quite new to me. Fitting in with our theme, here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of production.
The good:
- Actors – The two that actually showed up were well prepared and solid. The sub-in did very well for himself as well. They had some great thoughts and insights into different ways we could play things, and were overall a treat to work with.
- Crew – they were awesome. Everyone was willing to pitch in wherever I asked them to, learn new things, and were still enthusiastic even when they weren’t needed for an hour. Bless them all.
- The dolly - I made a home-made dolly using a spare board, casters and some 1x6 tracks. When I tested the dolly, with no load it squeaked quite badly but with a bit of weight it was quiet. Fortunately the dolly was quiet for the shoot. I do wish I had picked up some longer tracks though.
- Costumes – my wife did (in my opinion) an awesome job on the costumes. It’s not authentic, we stole a lot of tips from Marlon’s great thread, but I think they look great.
- Weather – the weather was absolutely perfect, just what we were hoping for. I wish I could take credit for it, but I’ll give this one to God.
The bad:
- Delegating – We didn’t really have any extra bodies, but different people were idle at different times – I could have got them to pitch in more with things like grip and set work than I did. It often felt like I was running around trying to get everything ready, and everyone was waiting on me – not how I really want to do things.
- Get a DOP or at least a decent camera operator – I read about it and knew not to do it in my head, but in the interest of trying to keep things small I ran the camera myself. Now that I’ve done it once, I know to never do it again – way too much of my energy went to the camera and not enough went to the performance. Fortunately I had really solid actors who had their characters well in line with my vision, so I think it worked out okay.
- One of three actors did not show up. Apparently he did get there about two hours late, by which point we had substituted him, so he left without even saying hi. The sub did a remarkably good job, all considering.
- Audio quality – I haven’t listened to all the takes yet, but pulling good audio is going to be a challenge. During the indoor scene, we had the ice machine on for part of it, and random kitchen noises as well. Example: Actor says, “What the hell are you doing here?” DING DING, Order up! I think they were tenderizing meat for about an hour too. Outside had less background noise, but more wind and we didn’t have a proper windsock. Again, we tried to work around the wind, but there is only so much you can do.
- Reflector – I made a DIY foil/foam-core reflector. It worked great on the interior shots. Only I forgot it at the restaurant, so we didn’t have it outside where it would have been very handy as well.
- A bazillion newbie mistakes, primarily around not clearing the frame before rolling. Not too many boom poles showed up but lots of other oddities did. My favourite was panning across to follow an actor and having a “Diva Girls” drag queen show poster land squarely (and legibly) in the frame.
The ugly:
- We were shooting in a restaurant with an ice machine in the bar. It was quite noisy, so we tried turning it off and accidentally broke the drain pipe off. Lots of water on the floor ensued. Fortunately, one of the workers at the restaurant was able to fix it. We paid for his time, naturally, and cleaned up the mess, but I still feel like crap about it.
What’s next:
Now comes the editing. We’ve got some great post crew helping out, so I’m trying for picture lock by the end of May to give them as much time as possible to do the sound design and music. I have a bit of VFX to do, although I did shoot and will edit with the intention of minimizing that. Also, I need a few pick-up shots, but mostly static shots of scenes and props, so there should be no problem getting those.
Having never made narrative before, the thing I’m happiest to say is I did it - in less than six weeks I wrote and produced what I hope will be a respectable entry in the fest. I joined DVXuser in the middle of betrayalfest, and wasn’t by comfortable joining in then. But I promised myself I would do the next fest no matter what it was. I was surprised the western theme, but excited as I probably would never have made a western otherwise.
I am also happy to say I was one of the first to finish shooting, at least of those posting regularly here. And based on the posts in Troy’s thread, I think I beat him by an hour or two. But also based on those posts, I’m thinking he got a lot more done and did it a lot better than I. I’m excited to see everyones’ entries – it’s going to be a long two months until I can see them.
I put some screen grabs above. I have some BTS stills coming, but my photographer decided to take off to Ontario the day after shooting, so I have to hunt him down next week.
Wednesday and Thursday – I was out of town for my Mother’s funeral service
Friday – back home, finishing the props and costumes and checking the gear for tomorrow. Oh, and it was my wife’s birthday.
Saturday – Shooting from 8:00 AM until ~4:00 PM on what would have been my mom’s 52nd birthday. Car broke down on the way to our outdoor location, so our actors had to push. Apparently this means I am a real filmmaker now.
Sunday – Mother’s day, trying to make up to my wife for not paying enough attention to her on her birthday.
This was my first time ever filming a narrative. All my previous work has been documentary, so directing was quite new to me. Fitting in with our theme, here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of production.
The good:
- Actors – The two that actually showed up were well prepared and solid. The sub-in did very well for himself as well. They had some great thoughts and insights into different ways we could play things, and were overall a treat to work with.
- Crew – they were awesome. Everyone was willing to pitch in wherever I asked them to, learn new things, and were still enthusiastic even when they weren’t needed for an hour. Bless them all.
- The dolly - I made a home-made dolly using a spare board, casters and some 1x6 tracks. When I tested the dolly, with no load it squeaked quite badly but with a bit of weight it was quiet. Fortunately the dolly was quiet for the shoot. I do wish I had picked up some longer tracks though.
- Costumes – my wife did (in my opinion) an awesome job on the costumes. It’s not authentic, we stole a lot of tips from Marlon’s great thread, but I think they look great.
- Weather – the weather was absolutely perfect, just what we were hoping for. I wish I could take credit for it, but I’ll give this one to God.
The bad:
- Delegating – We didn’t really have any extra bodies, but different people were idle at different times – I could have got them to pitch in more with things like grip and set work than I did. It often felt like I was running around trying to get everything ready, and everyone was waiting on me – not how I really want to do things.
- Get a DOP or at least a decent camera operator – I read about it and knew not to do it in my head, but in the interest of trying to keep things small I ran the camera myself. Now that I’ve done it once, I know to never do it again – way too much of my energy went to the camera and not enough went to the performance. Fortunately I had really solid actors who had their characters well in line with my vision, so I think it worked out okay.
- One of three actors did not show up. Apparently he did get there about two hours late, by which point we had substituted him, so he left without even saying hi. The sub did a remarkably good job, all considering.
- Audio quality – I haven’t listened to all the takes yet, but pulling good audio is going to be a challenge. During the indoor scene, we had the ice machine on for part of it, and random kitchen noises as well. Example: Actor says, “What the hell are you doing here?” DING DING, Order up! I think they were tenderizing meat for about an hour too. Outside had less background noise, but more wind and we didn’t have a proper windsock. Again, we tried to work around the wind, but there is only so much you can do.
- Reflector – I made a DIY foil/foam-core reflector. It worked great on the interior shots. Only I forgot it at the restaurant, so we didn’t have it outside where it would have been very handy as well.
- A bazillion newbie mistakes, primarily around not clearing the frame before rolling. Not too many boom poles showed up but lots of other oddities did. My favourite was panning across to follow an actor and having a “Diva Girls” drag queen show poster land squarely (and legibly) in the frame.
The ugly:
- We were shooting in a restaurant with an ice machine in the bar. It was quite noisy, so we tried turning it off and accidentally broke the drain pipe off. Lots of water on the floor ensued. Fortunately, one of the workers at the restaurant was able to fix it. We paid for his time, naturally, and cleaned up the mess, but I still feel like crap about it.
What’s next:
Now comes the editing. We’ve got some great post crew helping out, so I’m trying for picture lock by the end of May to give them as much time as possible to do the sound design and music. I have a bit of VFX to do, although I did shoot and will edit with the intention of minimizing that. Also, I need a few pick-up shots, but mostly static shots of scenes and props, so there should be no problem getting those.
Having never made narrative before, the thing I’m happiest to say is I did it - in less than six weeks I wrote and produced what I hope will be a respectable entry in the fest. I joined DVXuser in the middle of betrayalfest, and wasn’t by comfortable joining in then. But I promised myself I would do the next fest no matter what it was. I was surprised the western theme, but excited as I probably would never have made a western otherwise.
I am also happy to say I was one of the first to finish shooting, at least of those posting regularly here. And based on the posts in Troy’s thread, I think I beat him by an hour or two
. But also based on those posts, I’m thinking he got a lot more done and did it a lot better than I. I’m excited to see everyones’ entries – it’s going to be a long two months until I can see them. I put some screen grabs above. I have some BTS stills coming, but my photographer decided to take off to Ontario the day after shooting, so I have to hunt him down next week.
BTS Stills
Poor Brad - he originally came along to get some location sound, but ended up being cast when one of the actors didn't show up. He did really well for himself.
Bottles bottles everywhere.
Aerial shot! And the mop we used to clean up the flood.
Darren brought his best hair for the shoot.
Mike taking a drink.
Mike taking another drink.
Poor Brad - he originally came along to get some location sound, but ended up being cast when one of the actors didn't show up. He did really well for himself.
Bottles bottles everywhere.
Aerial shot! And the mop we used to clean up the flood.
Darren brought his best hair for the shoot.
Mike taking a drink.
Mike taking another drink.
Russell Moore
Well-known member
Nice grabs and bts pics. Sounds like you did a pretty good job improvising around the "bad".
Looking forward to seeing it.
Looking forward to seeing it.
Thanks Conlan. You know how it is - things never go the way you plan. But you get those little serendipities along the way too, so I think it all evens out in the end.
More bad: Serious audio issues. Really serious. In the old west, this would be 'String him up from a noose' type serious. So much so I'm pulling the guys back in for an ADR session. Fortunately they're keen on helping. I really can't say enough good things about the cast.
And the good - rough cut is complete! Clocking in at 6:40, and I know there is fat in there. Meeting the time limit should be fairly straightforward. Now it's time to tighten the screws and let some other folks ply their craft at this.
More bad: Serious audio issues. Really serious. In the old west, this would be 'String him up from a noose' type serious. So much so I'm pulling the guys back in for an ADR session. Fortunately they're keen on helping. I really can't say enough good things about the cast.
And the good - rough cut is complete! Clocking in at 6:40, and I know there is fat in there. Meeting the time limit should be fairly straightforward. Now it's time to tighten the screws and let some other folks ply their craft at this.
Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
Sounds like this one is coming along nicely. Keep us up to date with how the editing process is going.
Best of luck,
MAH
Best of luck,
MAH
ADR session one complete. This was the first time I have ever done it. However, I used to run live sound for a few bars, so I'm not a total noob when i comes to sound.
We live in a two bedroom apartment, so I don't have my editing room/sound studio yet. I couldn't get the closets to work, se we ended up recording in the dining room. I hung as many blankets and towels as I could find around us to deaden the space.
My original plan was to run a mic to the editing computer, and use the punch in recording feature on Vegas. However all three mics I tested o. The computer sounds distant and hollow no matter whati did. Oddly the laptop's built in mic sounded better then anything external.
Given that, I went with a double sound system. I don't have an actual audio recorder, but I do have an HV20. I ran a basic dynamic mic to the HV, and recorded with the laptop internal mic so I can sync to it.
The session took a lot longer than I anticipated. But, it was very productive, we got 10-15 takes of each scene, with at least two good takes per scene. And while I haven't reviewed the entire session yet, at first listen the quality is way better than I expected, and waaaaaaay better thanthe location sound.
The laptop mic naturally sounds a little tinny, and caught more reverb and some hum than I was hoping for. But the dynamic/HV20 combo sounds great. Clean, clear, isolated and dead. I am really happy with how it turned out (at least the few clips I listened to). Tomorrow is session two with the 2nd lead - I hope it turns out as well as today did.
We live in a two bedroom apartment, so I don't have my editing room/sound studio yet. I couldn't get the closets to work, se we ended up recording in the dining room. I hung as many blankets and towels as I could find around us to deaden the space.
My original plan was to run a mic to the editing computer, and use the punch in recording feature on Vegas. However all three mics I tested o. The computer sounds distant and hollow no matter whati did. Oddly the laptop's built in mic sounded better then anything external.
Given that, I went with a double sound system. I don't have an actual audio recorder, but I do have an HV20. I ran a basic dynamic mic to the HV, and recorded with the laptop internal mic so I can sync to it.
The session took a lot longer than I anticipated. But, it was very productive, we got 10-15 takes of each scene, with at least two good takes per scene. And while I haven't reviewed the entire session yet, at first listen the quality is way better than I expected, and waaaaaaay better thanthe location sound.
The laptop mic naturally sounds a little tinny, and caught more reverb and some hum than I was hoping for. But the dynamic/HV20 combo sounds great. Clean, clear, isolated and dead. I am really happy with how it turned out (at least the few clips I listened to). Tomorrow is session two with the 2nd lead - I hope it turns out as well as today did.
ADR is more difficult then most people might think.
Most people think "ow ADR, JUST ONLY speaking AT SAME rithm... can't be that difficult, you only have to repeat the real recorded sound"
Well.... that's the difficulty of it. Besides you also as an actor, have to act, do small sounds.
Even small sounds like "hu, euh, a, o, " are very important.
But there's a first time for everyone, and trying it is better then sitting there and crying
Most people think "ow ADR, JUST ONLY speaking AT SAME rithm... can't be that difficult, you only have to repeat the real recorded sound"
Well.... that's the difficulty of it. Besides you also as an actor, have to act, do small sounds.
Even small sounds like "hu, euh, a, o, " are very important.
But there's a first time for everyone, and trying it is better then sitting there and crying
Matt Harris
Veteran
ADR is a pain but well worth it in the end. recording it is one thing, but aligning all the words to the lips is a whole nother challenge. good luck.
ADR is more difficult then most people might think.
Most people think "ow ADR, JUST ONLY speaking AT SAME rithm... can't be that difficult, you only have to repeat the real recorded sound"
Well.... that's the difficulty of it. Besides you also as an actor, have to act, do small sounds.
Even small sounds like "hu, euh, a, o, " are very important.
But there's a first time for everyone, and trying it is better then sitting there and crying
YES I agree, ADR is harder then most people think. But man I have to say we did some ADR sessions with Steve Tibbo for our movie Stricken and he made it seem easy. I have done it before and man it does help having the right equipment.
Yes, the ADR certainly was challenging - especially since we didn't even have the bad takes for them to mimic. That's right, my audio disaster mentioned above was a complete loss of all audio tracks. No sound, whatsoever. My editing computer got wiped, and when I went to restore the files from the backup, magically the audio files no longer existed. I was choked.
With no audio at all, that meant the ADR in this instance constituted of lip reading to verify the lines (the script helps, but there are always minor variations) and then attempting to lip synch with themselves.
I actually did the lip reading beforehand and recorded some attempts at all the lines to get something close for the actors to work from. It was tough. We did maybe 20-30 rehearsals per scene, followed by 10-15 takes. Most scenes we got 2-3 good full takes. But most of the bad takes had some good lines in them too. I'm pretty confident we'll be able to get it tight. And like I said, the quality blows away all the location sound we had.
I'm just happy we have dialogue again
With no audio at all, that meant the ADR in this instance constituted of lip reading to verify the lines (the script helps, but there are always minor variations) and then attempting to lip synch with themselves.
I actually did the lip reading beforehand and recorded some attempts at all the lines to get something close for the actors to work from. It was tough. We did maybe 20-30 rehearsals per scene, followed by 10-15 takes. Most scenes we got 2-3 good full takes. But most of the bad takes had some good lines in them too. I'm pretty confident we'll be able to get it tight. And like I said, the quality blows away all the location sound we had.
I'm just happy we have dialogue again
