FEATURE: Stricken the Feature - A Matt Sconce Film

Haven't heard of the "fishtail" thing. Could you offer a bit of illumination on that?

Congrats on the favorable comments from the students. Sounds like a very successful effort!
 
I say... Don't tell anyone. Write it in your book! Then, SELL IT! :thumbsup:

(It's a Mnemonic for important stuff...):grin:
 
Gary Sconce said:
(It's a Mnemonic for important stuff...):grin:
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Yep Fishtail is a Mnemonic device for several tools that really help an actor in setting their character free. I don't know if I will share it yet, I will see.

Here is a recent still from the VFX shot I am working on.

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We got the crew together tonight to shoot a pickup shot. All three of us were there.:thumbsup: (Matt, Troy Ruff and I.)

Five Shocklights, the Aftershock Rain Rig, and our Hypercrane were utilized for the shot. I got a new digital still camera (Canon SD1200 image stabilized Powershot) so BTS pics were shot. It felt really good shooting and not doing post for a while.

Matt did the take almost immediately and ruined the lingering moment...LOL! :engel017: He does work fast... :shocked:
 
Hey guys! Here are some shots from last night. The first is an actual screen grab from what we shot. The rest are BTS. Enjoy!
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Shooting the scene with the Aftershock Rain Rig and Crane
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AD Troy Ruff and "Jenny Hansen" Christina Tellifson
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The Setup:
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Crane Designer and EP Gary Sconce:
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Editing Chamber of Glory!
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Nice grab. Also like the new VFX test.

For that crane shot pick up shot, were you just shooting blind, then watching playback to see if you got the shot?
 
Go team!

I'm fascinated whenever I see that crane being used. Flexible, light, and easy to use. Especially compared to the bigger and heavier versions.

Gary, are those conduit pipes you used for the Aftershock Rain Rig? Punched holes throughout and connected to a hose?
 
Hypercrane and Rain Rig

Hypercrane and Rain Rig

The Aftershock Rain Rig is simple. I made an oval approximately 10'x 5', cross-braced the middle, then put on irrigation hose in a dual loop, outside and inside, on the top. I punched small holes with a punch made for the hose on the TOP of the hose and connected both sides of the irrigation hose to a 'Y' on one end. The spray shoots up and you get all different sizes of drops that are small to huge from the rig. I welded down tubes on both ends that mount on my light stands, and can raise the rain rig up to 12' high. We then shoot through the stream. With proper water pressure, it can douse an area 20' x 25'. With another grip on a high pressure hose shooting around the back over the action, you can have a great water distribution for a shot.

The Hypercrane is made of electrical conduit of various sizes and is a hybrid of trussed 10' short rig section and suspension 21' design. We also have a 90 degree lock down head for interior look down shots. It is solid as a rock, incredibly strong, light, fast to set up and take down, and moves like a dream. We really like using it. Notice how thumped the black paint on the crane is, and you will know how much we have used it. We usually use an HD monitor with the rig, but for simple shots like the one above, we sometimes don't even bother to set up a monitor as Matt just looks at the HVX or RED monitor. We could take it right in and check the shots on an HD monitor instantly.
 
Hey Matt-

Looks great really coming along, just got a quick question. In the special effects shots that your doing, I noticed that it seems to be pouring rain but your main actress isn't getting wet, do you fix that in post as well or am I looking at the picture wrong?
 
jasonthewho said:
Nice grab. Also like the new VFX test.

For that crane shot pick up shot, were you just shooting blind, then watching playback to see if you got the shot?
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I stood at the front of the crane and just watched the LCD flipped sideways for the shot that night. Usually, we use a 1280 by 720 monitor. :)

Brooksy said:
Hey Matt-

Looks great really coming along, just got a quick question. In the special effects shots that your doing, I noticed that it seems to be pouring rain but your main actress isn't getting wet, do you fix that in post as well or am I looking at the picture wrong?
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It is an interesting problem. We wetted down the actors in that scene before each take but it does not read on camera extremely well. The nice thing is they JUST fell out of a dry hospital room so they are only in that scene a couple seconds and start dry. I think it works in motion, but if it ends up being an issue to viewers, I will have to have an effects house add the rain to faces. I will finish the entire movie then see how it all fits together and make the call. :)
 
Are you worried at all about it sucking the viewer out of the spot and having to re-shoot that entire sequence or will you just let it be a production mistake?
 
It won't pull the viewer out because
A. It will work in motion (Which I think it does as you can see the sheen of water on the actors) or
B. I will have a VFX guru add running water to the characters faces that also drips off their hair and chin.

Either way, I for sure won't let a final product out that I feel I have settled on. That is my motto in this entire production. "Never Settle"
 
I admire that never settle attitude. I think that is a great thing. I am also kind of curious to see how you make their clothes and bodies look wet. Considering that in that shot it looks like it is down pouring and they would be sopping wet, I would think that the clothes would have to not only hanging down and the actors/actresses hair lose all volume and looked soaked, but the clothes would have to stick to the actors/actresses body as well. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Not only that but your right if they are only hanging out the window for a couple of seconds they wouldn't need to become soaked just a little wet. I hope that everything is going well otherwise. Seems like your keeping busy. Looking forward to the finished product.
 
Brooksy said:
I admire that never settle attitude. I think that is a great thing. I am also kind of curious to see how you make their clothes and bodies look wet. Considering that in that shot it looks like it is down pouring and they would be sopping wet, I would think that the clothes would have to not only hanging down and the actors/actresses hair lose all volume and looked soaked, but the clothes would have to stick to the actors/actresses body as well. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Not only that but your right if they are only hanging out the window for a couple of seconds they wouldn't need to become soaked just a little wet. I hope that everything is going well otherwise. Seems like your keeping busy. Looking forward to the finished product.
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Yep, Our saving Grace will be that they are only in the rain briefly. It is looking good! :engel017:

Brandon Rice said:
So, how's the film looking? Are you locked yet?
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Yep, we've been locked for months. Sound is almost done, Score is as well and I am moving along on VFX. Things are looking great. We have an ADR session in Burbank on the 23rd and 24th of April where most of the Pickup dialogue can be added. I am happy there is not too much of it. We worked hard to get good audio on set and it seems we did pretty well.
 
Cool, where in Burbank are you doing that? I'll be shooting a 36 hour film entry that weekend... but would have loved to hang out.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Cool, where in Burbank are you doing that? I'll be shooting a 36 hour film entry that weekend... but would have loved to hang out.
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800th post! Woohoo!


We will be at Black Box over at an undisclosed Sound Studio. If you end up in the area on those dates, let me know and I will let you know where it is so you can swing by. -Matt
 
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