Smuggler's Ransom- OFFICIAL THREAD

Nothing too new to report on the movie. Worked a little today on some color grading for the finale...also worked on inserting establishing shots. We start cranking on music tomorrow, and I also am working on another Director's Diary to release.
 
One of the establishing shots... Carmen's holding room.

carmens.jpg
 
Yes. This represents a very high-end government building. As you can see by the photos below (actually in Romania) we tried to match the square windows and architecture type.

romania1.jpg



romania2.jpg


This is the establishing shot for Lubenkoff's apartment (also in Romania) as you can see it is much less attractive and more trashy. Which is the image we were looking for, as a contrast to the place Carmen's being held.

lubenkoff.jpg
 
Ok. Just wondering.

For me, it feels like South-West architecture, adobe, spanish tile roof etc... Is it just the square windows, or was there another reason you chose that building ? Clearances et al...

When you are trying to sell the production design, an establishing shot is one of the tools in the low budget filmmakers tool box. You know, grabbing an establishing shot of a bulding you never could afford to film in, then cut to your own interior.:) I know (in school), I bluffed my way onto properties and shot establishing shots (without making the building too recognizable) for that very reason.

Anywhoo, looks like your projects coming along nicely.
I've seen some cool stuff in Smugglers Ransom.

:beer:
 
You have a good point in the Spanish tile thought... I never thought of that... You are right about establishing shots being important. We've got great ones for everything I think (though a little uncertain about the Carmen one now). Any ideas?

I'd be ecstatic if someone had a particular exterior they think might fit the bill better and they could go shoot a few seconds for the film. Please let me know, thanks.
 
D_and_G was definitely right about the southwest architecture. You might check with the local film commission to get some ideas for exterior establishing shots. But I've got to say that that building would never sell me on the location.
 
All right, two nays... I am reconsidering the choice now. Good call. Any ideas? I have searched LA, and this was the best building I found.
 
It does look a bit to modern. Why don't you take a high-res pic off the internet and keyframe it to see how it looks? It might end up awful, but it's worth a try.
 
Good idea... I am open for anyone to shoot some stuff they might find more the feel I am going for as well... I would give you full credit for 2nd Unit DP. Please let me know. Thanks!
 
Here are three high resolution pictures that I found on Google Images that you might be able to use for the exterior. All you have to do is keyframe a zoom or movement, add some noise (or create a particle effect) to make it look more like moving video, and maybe some color correction. It's worth a try.

Broken Down Apartment in Romania:
http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/7901/romaniahires1fw0.jpg

Apartments from far away (Romania):
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/9267/romaniahires2vs7.jpg

In-Progress Build in Romania:
http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1998/romaniahires3zs4.jpg
(I promise the image is bigger than this, right click and download)

Hopefully those will work. If they don't, you can always use your original footage.

-zach
 
Brandon-

Because I wanted to see if it could be done, I decided to work on making those images look like video. I'll send them to you when I'm done or upload them here if you want.

z

EDIT:
It's really hard to make the images look like video. I'm getting major interlacing problems for some reason when I keyframe. It's thirty after twelve here, I'm goin to bed. Check back in tomorrow.
 
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Thanks zach! I look forward to seeing what you can do. Also, Weston PM'd me and he might get some shots tomorrow... I'll see what he comes up with and post here for some comments as well. thanks all!
 
Knowing since i work with images and copyright stuff alot, you would definatly need permission from the original person who took those photos, or if they were sold , then whoever now owns them. It could be very difficult to track them down. Looking through a stock data base would be best, but we have paid up to 250+ for single photos and a CD of photos around 600+ , and weve got 10,000's of photos. LOL
 
Yeah, safe bet not to use em' I'd much rather get a shooter in another city somewhere that has more appropriate architecture... seeing as how I can't actually go to Romania myself and shoot stuff. haha.
 
-zach- said:
Brandon-

Because I wanted to see if it could be done, I decided to work on making those images look like video. I'll send them to you when I'm done or upload them here if you want.

z

EDIT:
It's really hard to make the images look like video. I'm getting major interlacing problems for some reason when I keyframe. It's thirty after twelve here, I'm goin to bed. Check back in tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the efforts my friend. One other little thing, other than the copywrite issue as mentioned by Cynic and Malcolm is that the pics you have here are of some real drab buildings. While that works for Lubenkoff's apartment, it doesn't entirely work for Carmen's holding facility, as she is a VIP prisoner and is given very good treatment. Just a little note on that. Thanks again for the efforts! :thumbsup:
 
Hey Brandon,
My dvx is off at the shop for a head cleaning and won't be back to me till next week. but if you need some exterior shots of some romanian looking buildings i might have something in mind nearby here. how soon do you need the shot?

Also, on a public note to everyone. I live in a small town in northern germany just north of düsseldorf and I am moving to tver, russia(just 2 hours north of moscow) in november. so if anyone needs some pretty sweet stock footage of anything related to those areas. just hit me up and ill see what i can do. :)
 
Hey man! It doesn't have to be too soon at all... I am still in post and will be for awhile.. I'd love to see what you can get... some static wides/tights and some pans would be great!
 
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