SHORT: The Red Rider

Alexis Evangér

Alexis Evangér

Active member
Hi guys, i thought this might interest you. My film parter and I are in the process of making a 3 part series heavily centered around and for motorcyclists. We're using Kick Starter (http://kck.st/TheRedRider) to help raise funds to cover the costs of filming and need to have our full amount of $2500 pledged by the 26th or we get nothing. We'd love it if you pledged to the project, but please also pass it along to others!

So I thought it would be fun to keep a sort of journal of our production process. I'll be maintaining this thread through the duration.

Click image for larger version Name: trr-promo.jpg Views: 1 Size: 34.4 KB ID: 4996741
Part 1 Synopsis: The Red Rider is caught in the middle of a crime scene and dragged into the situation. His only option is fight or flight... or both.
 
Last edited:
Production diary:

02-13-12: We've had two shoot days so far, and we have been amazed even at our own work. This is far and above our best personal project yet.
The camera package we are using is a Sony FS 100 with Hotrod PL mount. We're also using a TLS Hawk matte box with a custom filter across all shots as a "look".
Lenses are provided by Duclos Lenses - CP.2's and the Duclos 11-16/T 2.8.

So far our biggest challenge has been scheduling. Wow. it's tough to get everyone on the same schedule when it's a volunteer crew and cast. So we've whittled it down to a skeleton crew. Chet and I are performing most duties and our main actors have helped out with what they can when they are not in the shot. It's weird how the hardest part of shooting is actually setting a date and a time to do it all. Then once you are all there, the hardest part is getting every thing set up and ready for the first shot.

Saturday we had an issue that prevented us from using the CP.2's (swappable mounts) and we had to shoot everything on the Duclos 11-16. Let me just say, the lens is great. The only issues we had with it, were the angle of view and close focus. But those are actual characteristics of the lens, not flaws. Many of our shots called for ECU's and we simply couldn't focus close enough for a few shots once we had the right framing. So we held off on those particular shots for pick-up when we had the CP.2's working. The ability to go from 11-16 is really useful. There were a few times where 16 JUST wasn't cutting it and we brought it out to about 12 or so. For the price, there really isn't a better lens on the market (in my slightly biased opinion).

Sunday we were able to use the CP.2's and they absolutely saved our butts. The 50mm Close Focus was our main work-horse. Because we were shooting indoors, a wide lens (like the Duclos 11-16) made sense for many shots, but the Zeiss 50mm CP.2 really helped us get some money shots. The angle of view was perfect for getting an intimate feel and the 18 inch close focus made for some beautiful close-ups. It will be very interesting to see how the 11-16 and the CP.2's cut together.

I also got the flex my skills in MUA. I've done it a few times minimally, but this was my first time creating a full on brawl look complete with gun-shot wound. For face bruising i found some cheap purple-red make-up that when feathered in looks like a bruise starting to form. For the blood, I used standard stage blood with black zombie blood for a base layer when it was supposed to be a deep gash. The bullet hole and exit wound were wax formed on the spot and despite having trouble getting it to stick on the characters body, it looked good. It was a rushed job, but people kept coming over going, "Wow... dude! That looks so good!" I felt pretty proud. BTW, does anyone know a good way to affix prosthetics and wax to skin more securely?

02-23-12
Working with an extremely tight schedule here. One of our main actors has a very hectic/spread out availability, and most of our crew including the co-director work exact opposite hours of me. So, I took the morning off work and we headed out to our location.
Once we got there, the possibilities of what we could shoot astounded me. The building and grounds were a veritable mansion. I hadn't seen it in person yet. It took a bit longer to set up because the owner was standing there as we set up a jib and dolly in his tile floored kitchen. Tried to be VERY careful and respectful. By the time we got set up, we were only 30 minutes away from when we had originally anticipated wrapping. Dang.
With the addition of a jib arm, we started to go a little crazy on the possibilities of how we could shoot our shot. We ended up doing some crazy dolly/jib/pan moves. But the more we tried, the more we just kept getting bad takes. So I pulled the co-director aside and showed him the storyboards. "Ok, so this is what we had originally planned. Simply dolly shots. No pan here, no jib there. And we know it works! We've got it all fleshed out! We're running out of time here, we just gotta get this shot and the rest will follow."
We realized we were falling into a trap that I suspect many small productions do, where they just go off script and it ends up costing them time.
When all was said and done, we were an hour past our intended wrap time, but we absolutely nailed our takes. It's been pretty incredible the level of responsibility we've had to own up to.

02-25-12
Call time: 7AM
Phone call: 6:40AM Main actor - "Hey, I kinda hurt my leg. I don't think I should shoot today... we can do tomorrow?"
Wow. You got balls.
SO! Shoot cancelled for the day, postponed until the morrow. In the end, Chet and I took stock of all our gear, tested some setups, and locked down a few things we'd been neglecting.
We made the best of a poor situation, but wow is that trying on your patience. I just feel bad about all the other people who were called in for a 7AM call time (many of them getting off another job at 1AM), and frantically warning them 20 till there was no need to come in. I'm sure they appreciated the break, but they could have got a lot more rest. Oh well. Low-budget right? Or do these issues exist on big budget stuff too?
 
Last edited:
A good preparation wins 90% of time during shooting. That's why for example location visiting is very important. If you know in advance that there's a big fan/heater/boiler/ running or turning well then you can search for a solution. If you have to do that on "aaaaand action... oooh wait I hear something"... then it's to late or you'll loose time.

Same for light (is there electricity), image, a toilet, place for costume, place to drop material,.... Toilets are the most "forgotten" things to think about. :-p

This is just something general I wanted to post.
 
Wow, I have been floored by the repsonse of everyone who's been in contact with me. It looks like we're not the only ones who want a good motorcycle themed flick. Well it's 3 day till our deadline, and we're JUST shy of our minimum needed. Remember, if we don't get full funding, we don't get any. If you've been sitting on the fence, now is the time. Even $1 gets you a copy and credit in the film. Help make a truly awesome Motorcycle short film, and kickstart the series.

More production updates soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top