Short film "Adalynn" shot with DVX200

[Jason R. Johnston]

This weekend I participated in a film race where teams had 24 hours to conceptualize, write, shoot, edit, and deliver, a 5 minute short film. The competition was from noon Saturday to noon Sunday. Judging commenced soon after. This coming Saturday, May 27, 2017, the sponsor film festival will screen the competing films. Afterward, there will be an awards ceremony, plus the audience will choose their favorite film. I was with team Watchmen Productions, and our film was titled "Adalynn." Of course, the film was shot exclusively with DVX200. That's all I'm going to say for now. Here's a screenshot to last everyone till I can show the film after the ceremony this Saturday.

 

[Design Media Consultants]

Good tease, the photo will keep us anticipating the release. To create a short in a 24 hour turnaround, from script to editable footage is next to impossible, unless you know what your doing and have a trusty DVX200 at hand. The DVX200 should be faster than anyone using a DSLR. Tall order and a bit of pressure. Somewhat like an "Iron Chef" competition.

The still shows you have a pretty dramatic story. A good actor, expressive. You also have realistic detail, the sweat on his face - real sweat or make up effect? Technically sound, no green tint or dots floating around LOL. The shot shows something intense is going on. You have our curiosity and attention. Nice! Looking forward to this one!

 

[Design Media Consultants]

If possible would like some detail on crew size, other equipment used, etc. Thanks Jason

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

The crew/cast: The director (also actor), me, sound guy/composer, two assistants/grips, two actors and a mom that did a little background. A few people watched. I lit it with a few tungsten open-face 1ks (called redheads) and some cheap yongnuo (yn-600 or yn-300) led lights. 6x6 butterfly, some gels. V-log L. Maybe one or two tripod shots, everything else was handheld. Not sure what the sound guy's gear was. Even though that's rain in the shot and on his head, it didn't rain at all where we were while shooting. There's a few gags like that throughout.

The shot above is lit with two yongnuos and the dusk skybox.

It's technically sound because I know what I'm doing.

 

[Design Media Consultants]

The crew/cast: The director (also actor), me, sound guy/composer, two assistants/grips, two actors and a mom that did a little background. A few people watched. I lit it with a few tungsten open-face 1ks (called redheads) and some cheap yongnuo (yn-600 or yn-300) led lights. 6x6 butterfly, some gels. V-log L. Maybe one or two tripod shots, everything else was handheld. Not sure what the sound guy's gear was. Even though that's rain in the shot and on his head, it didn't rain at all where we were while shooting. There's a few gags like that throughout.

The shot above is lit with two yongnuos and the dusk skybox.

It's technically sound because I know what I'm doing.

Impressive. You have a good crew and enough equipment to get the job done. The rain water looks natural and effective, along with the expression in the eyes, it creates a sign of distress. Something is going on and about to happen. Suspense.

This forum needs more input from people with technical knowledge and creative ability such as yourself.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

The screening and awards ceremony was tonight. We took home Best Picture, as well as a number of other awards. I won Best Cinematography. The director and myself used pseudonyms...because we're silly...and some other reasons. But, mostly because we're silly.

Plot Psynopsis: A single father is concerned about his daughter's recent strange behavior in school.

24 Hour Film Dash required elements:
Theme: twist ending
Character: creepy roommate
Action: hair flip
Prop or Wardrobe: swim fins/flippers
Line of Dialogue: "you don't have to be a librarian to check me out"

Warning: the first five seconds is color bars and modulation tone. Movie proper starts at 00:17 seconds. Anyway, here it is:

https://vimeo.com/219318870#t=16s

Director: Christian Blake (as Josh Klein)
Producers: Aaron Soto, Danny Vera, Art Garza
Director of Photography: Jason R. Johnston (as John Stone)
Original Music: Aaron Soto
Sound Operator: Aaron Soto
Editor: Christian Blake (as John Stone)

Cast: Josh Klein, Adalynn Klein, Christian Blake

Awards:

Cinesol Film Festival
9th Annual 24 Hour Film Dash
Winner: Best Picture
Winner: Best Cinematography (Jason R. Johnston (as John Stone))
Winner: Best Editing (Christian Blake (as John Stone))
Winner: Best Music (Aaron Soto)
Winner: Best Sound Design (Aaron Soto)
Winner: Best End Credits
Winner: Breakout Actress (Adalynn Klein)

 

[Design Media Consultants]

Extremely impressive. Better than I thought it could be considering the turnaround time. Wow, 24 hours to produce a great short.

The DVX200 in your hands was amazing. The skin tones right on. Lighting excellent. Your shot composition great. Watched it twice. Will watch again. Have you guys worked together before? I see a perfect flow of ideas and execution. Looks like you guys work well when being "silly."

Everything flowed and worked well , from script, shooting, editing, and final product. The soundtrack worked well too. Was not conscious of the music (a good thing), it added to the dramatic effect. Very cinematic. A real winner.

 

[McKnee]

Congratulations, very very well done. A pity for pseudonym, would have deserved your real name.

 

[MichaelA]

Oh bloody well done, mate! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsupas my NZ friends would say)
I'm going to watch that several times and reverse engineer some of the scenes & lighting.
I actually learn a lot from stuff like that!
See... I have a saying... "Very, very few people can teach me anything; but I can learn something from just about anyone".

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Thanks, all. It's good practice to reverse-engineer, but I'm right here if anyone has any specific questions. Be warned: don't ask me what time it is; I usually wind up telling you how to build a watch.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Have you guys worked together before?

The director, Christian, and I have worked together before. He asked me to participate this year as I had not done so in a film race for that film festival since 2013...an entry that I directed and shot, and where Christian acted, called Morning Star, for their 36 hour film race. That was our second collab.

Our first colab was earlier in 2013 when we were brought in by another team that was interested in competing in the international 48 hour film race. Christian directed, I DP'd. The entry was called Perfect Timing. We didn't care for it too much but we had always been on competing film race teams but admired each others' work and wanted to work together so that was our introduction. We enjoyed working together but not the final film. Generally, I prefer filming to be pleasant, efficient, and productive. If the film itself winds up not being Cotizen Kane, I'm ok with that. Perfect Timing was shot with that team's C100.

In 2014 he asked me to DP Ingress, a feature film shot in both Texas and Alaska which is currently being screened at various film festivals. Both Ingress and Morning Star were shot with my Blackmagic Cinema Camera.

In 2015 I directed him in Immobile for a 48 hour film race put on by Colchester Film Festival. Shot with my 6D.

In 2016 he asked me to DP the dancer sequences for a church Easter pageant that would be projected behind the band during a song. That footage was later integrated into the performance footage and completed as a music video called Here Now. That was shot with a rented FS700 as it required lots of overcranked footage conformed to 24p.

For Adalynn, except for Christian and myself, everyone else was a total newb.

 

[Design Media Consultants]

Thanks, all. It's good practice to reverse-engineer, but I'm right here if anyone has any specific questions. Be warned: don't ask me what time it is; I usually wind up telling you how to build a watch.

Ah, how do you build a watch?
The guy with the flippers is scary. Did he ever pay the rent? I would evict him for the creepy persona.

OK, it was not raining. Did you use a sprinkler? The car never moved correct? Very realistic effects. Was it night when you shot the bedroom scene? -- the window is dark with rain on it - it appears to be night. That appears to be a complicated lighting set up. Be PREPARED for more questions.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Ah, how do you build a watch?

I suspect with watch parts, some diagrams, little tiny tools, and lots of patience.

The guy with the flippers is scary. Did he ever pay the rent? I would evict him for the creepy persona.

I imagine the person allowing him to sublet was killed immediately following the end of the movie, so there probably wouldn't be anyone to pay the rent to. I'm sure he's a fine subtenant, just creepy.

OK, it was not raining. Did you use a sprinkler? The car never moved correct? Very realistic effects. Was it night when you shot the bedroom scene? -- the window is dark with rain on it - it appears to be night. That appears to be a complicated lighting set up. Be PREPARED for more questions.

Regular commercial-grade garden hose with one of those miniature versions of a fire fighter's nozzle that you twist to give the different strengths to the output. In this case it was a spray that went up about 15 feet in the air and came down in what you see in the film. It didn't cover a lot of ground, so it panned with the umbrella, basically. The shot was nice and tight and we wet the entire area to make it look right. I exposed for the sky and it was graded for effect.

The cars never moved. I zoomed all the way in and pan/tilt-ed the camera on the tripod for effect (smoother than handheld), while the sound guy sprayed the water, the actor acted, and Christian, the biggest dude, rocked the car (his) so the actor would flop around without having to resort to Star Trek methods. Another thing is the car driving shot was done night-for-day. I had a redhead with CTB full positioned directly in front of the car, aimed so the light was hitting the talent's chest. A second redhead with full CTB was positioned stage right through a 2-stop 6x6' artificial silk that was actually draped over the windows and held in place by a grip (strong winds) which provided what appears on camera to be an over-exposed background. There was an LED providing a ~3200ºK rim light (motivated "dusk") for the other car interiors. I didn't need to move it, so I didn't. So, all the car shots appear to be happening in the evening with the sun setting behind the car, when really that was only true for the exterior of the dad running from the rear passenger door to the drive side door. Every other shot the sun had already set and we were racing to get the other shots before the sky went black. It did, while shooting a scene inside the car which was later cut out because it was very obviously "suddenly night time" and we couldn't work with the little girl for very long. So, we wrapped her for that scene and continued shooting with the "father" (actual father and daughter, btw). Christian wanted to cut the sequence and I suggested a bridging shot of the car on the road, the father looking anxious. I think we intended to get some drone shots of the car driving, but I hate drone shots, it would have been illegal, and there was no time, anyway. I suggested setting up this gag (I'd done it before) and once I got it all set up, the director got it and was cool with it and made it work. The sound design helped a lot, too.

The bedroom interiors were night-for-night. Simple setup: redhead with full CTB through the window, water hose hitting the window for effect. This is considered a gobo. CTB is also a gobo, but specifically called a gel. On the closeups a Lowel Pro light was used with a bunch of 216. Motivated by the desk lamp which didn't light a thing until the wide walking shot. The lowel was 86'd and flown out, the practical was flown in and turned on and you can kinda see a difference between the closeups and the wide because there's a big difference between a 250w tungsten through double 216 and a 25w household. But, it sells it, and you understand that the amber light is coming from the room (which you later see as the practical lamp), and the cool rain textures were coming from outside from, maybe a full moon, or a neighbor's security lamp, or....something. Who cares? It looks cool. Sometimes the motivation for light is that the light needs to help sell a mood. At that point it doesn't matter where the light comes from or why it's there. In real life, light is everywhere all the time, even at night in the middle of nowhere. Our eyes see quite a bit. That's why the lamp light had to be kinda bright and the rain needed to be a bit brighter. Technically, that scene could have been graded darker and the rain gobo effect would have still played.

 

[Design Media Consultants]

The attention to detail really shows and it helps make this an excellent piece. Thanks for answering and sharing the info on how the some of the scenes were shot. I think your experience allowed you to set up quickly and immediately see how you wanted to approach each shot. Keeping the continuity and color quality consistent is a sign of a true pro. Great work.

Nice to see the DVX shine instead of hearing complaints. You have helped highlight the capabilities of this camera.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

The camera is only a tool. It's usually not the hammer's fault when a house is poorly built.

 

[Design Media Consultants]

The camera is only a tool. It's usually not the hammer's fault when a house is poorly built.

The only time I blame the hammer is when it hits my thumb. Ouch.

I am not sure that some people understand that the camera is a tool, and expect the camera to create cinematic stories under any and all circumstances, without any proper background knowledge. All cameras have limitations, strengths and weaknesses. The DVX is a potent contender in it's price range and can bring great results.

Were you shooting 4K 24p? For color correction and style, did you start with a LUT and then adjust? Did skin tones give you any problems? Did you use gels on every scene?

 

[Matt_Bigwood]

Really impressive, I enjoyed watching that.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Were you shooting 4K 24p? For color correction and style, did you start with a LUT and then adjust? Did skin tones give you any problems? Did you use gels on every scene?

Yup, used DCI 4K at 24p, knowing it would be cropped for 2.40:1, I used the appropriate guides on the monitor.

The director did the color grading, but it was shot log, and the grade was just adjusting the color and image parameters in FCPX, no plugins or LUTs. That's usually how I do it, too. I rarely use luts. Skintones did not give us problems...the 8-bit 4:2:0 was the biggest problem, but it's the kinda thing you're used to after 7 years of working with DSLR.

CTB gels were used on the redheads whenever we needed daylight plus punch....so the only scene that didn't use CTB was the one in the hallway. Just a redhead bounced from the ceiling.



However, there was an LED set to daylight behind the other actor with a pink party gel to make him and his room a bit creepier, but in a subtle and funny way. Neon green would have been less subtle and probably would have suggested he is a user of recreational drugs.



That light would then be key for the dad. The pink light mixed with the tungsten light in an ugly way which was appropriate for the scene.



The redheads always had CTB except for that hallway scene. Otherwise, when the LEDs were used, they were bicolor and so didn't need gels. But, I would mix the color temperatures. Like the image from the first post uses two LEDs, one at 56, the other at 32, plus the much cooler skybox as it was already blue hour. Mix all that together. Love it. That's like real life. And it looks real, but he'd be dark and without form if I hadn't lit him. And the sky would need to be overexposed to get good exposure on him (I didn't have any sheets of ND for the window...and that would've taken too long. It was just me doing all the camera and genie work).

For the bedroom interiors, it was that CTB tungsten, the water sprinkler gobo, and the camera set to 3200K, with a lowel pro with double 216 bouncing off the lamp shade that did the work, motivated by the lamp that didn't light much in the tracking shot.



It's not that DVX200 is a low light camera. It's not, and I don't think there is anything like that whose footage isn't green, but if you light it a certain way intending for the darks to go dark, then you won't need to ever worry about noise since the noise is in the blacks and they're black. The parts that are lit, the rims and all that, are exposed for properly. Oh, and the lowel pro was attached to a dimmer, and it was at maybe 50% brightness...so, that plus the double 216, plus the (short) distance, plus the bouncing from what was essentially a CTS gel, plus the fact that dimming incandescent bulbs makes them warmer, added to the effect in the closeups. So, it's always mixing daylight temps with tungsten.



It's too bad I really didn't do too much BTS.

Apologies for the low quality of the screengrabs, they're just from the vimeo video above, which was already a highly compressed mp4 which comes from transcoded 100Mbps h.264 8-bit 4:2:0 in a MOV wrapper. As opposed to the image in the first post which is direct from the raw, which I loaded and graded and exported specifically for thumbnail purposes.

 

[Jason R. Johnston]

Really impressive, I enjoyed watching that.

Thanks, Matt!

 

[Design Media Consultants]

It's too bad I really didn't do too much BTS.

Apologies for the low quality of the screengrabs, they're just from the vimeo video above, which was already a highly compressed mp4 which comes from transcoded 100Mbps h.264 8-bit 4:2:0 in a MOV wrapper. As opposed to the image in the first post which is direct from the raw, which I loaded and graded and exported specifically for thumbnail purposes.

LOL - it appears that your hands were probably full at the time. A BTS would be nice, but sounds pretty difficult under the time constraints. It would be very helpful for people to see the way a set is approached. This is a nice little lesson tutorial.

The images are fine and it is understandable that you grabbed them from the compressed footage.

I think another key point that helped this shoot was having good actors. They all played their parts well. Are they professional actors?

Thanks for sharing the info.