Too hard?

Larry Rutledge

Larry Rutledge

Fest Master
There is a town along the river, not far from where I live that still has the old time look which could potentially give me that "western visual" I'm after ... but I wonder if it would require too post work to eradicate the modern elements (telephone poles, asphalt street, etc)?

Thoughts?

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You might want to look into this. Would have to go frame-by-frame but could be worth it I suppose. Don't know when it comes out. I've heard rumors of April, but not sure.
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I AGREE
 
I don't know how hard it would be but it is a cool street with some good buildings. Maybe just frame the shoots to get most of it out.
 
I haven't been down there in a long time, so I may go scout it out soon. From these photos though it looks like the telephone poles are all on one side of the street with aerial wires connecting the buildings on the other side. So perhaps if I always frame "from" the side with the poles I could pull it off. Then just use some simple garbage matte/sky replacement to get rid of the aerial wire across the sky when/if it comes into frame.

How hard would it be to make the street look like a dirt street (without bringing in trucks of dirt)? Could it be done in post easily enough?
 
Larry R said:
I haven't been down there in a long time, so I may go scout it out soon. From these photos though it looks like the telephone poles are all on one side of the street with aerial wires connecting the buildings on the other side. So perhaps if I always frame "from" the side with the poles I could pull it off. Then just use some simple garbage matte/sky replacement to get rid of the aerial wire across the sky when/if it comes into frame.

How hard would it be to make the street look like a dirt street (without bringing in trucks of dirt)? Could it be done in post easily enough?
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Wasn't it in "Raiders of the Lost ArK" where they had to pay to have the residents take down all the TV antennas in the shot, to make the Egypt setting 'look vintage 30's'...

These days, it seems like a photoshopped plate would be much easer...

The biggest problem I've had with making a still plate from a 'moving picture', while it is obvious the camera has to be on sticks, the 'noise' in the plate doesn't move or match the 'noise' in the live running video.

I haven't been successful in creating 'noise' that matches that in the reworked still area...
 
ramsaur - dude, is that video for real? That was incredible! I NEED that! :D

j1 - I actually meant to shoot on location, not to get a plate. I think in this case it would be the best way to work with the location, give me the most choices.

I think my limited fx skills would be able to do the necessary wire removal if I keep the lens off the side of the street with the poles, but I'm not sure about that street. Needs to be a dirt road rather than asphalt, but it might be expensive to bring in dirt and then clean up after. Not sure I can handle that kind of FX myself.

Well I've got a call into the film commission, see what it would take to be able to shoot there. It's a great looking location for sure.
 
What about large sheets of light brown fabric? Might work if not really focusing on it or going too wide
 
Use that last building and maybe use a sepia filter on it make it look rustic. Or as stated above all about the angles or make it a modern day western maybe...
 
That is a really cool place! As long as you're careful I don't see much problem with using it pretty much as-is. Parts of the country were still pretty "Old West" well into the 1910s and 1920s, and phone lines and asphalt wouldn't be out of place there. Transformer boxes and streetlights would be a problem, but doesn't look too hard to shoot around those or remove them.

If you've got a story that HAS to be set in 1870, of course, then that doesn't work.
 
One way to reduce the rotoscoping load would be to do a couple of establishing shots, take the problematic elements out of those, and then frame your remaining shots around the wires, etc. The suggestion above of changing the color of the road seems like a good one, and should be relatively easy to accomplish in Color with an HSL matte. Of course, you likely would still have to remove the occasional transformer or wire that somehow will wander into other shots.

Good luck,
Kevin
 
Well never mind. In order to shoot there I have get a permit ($125), a street use permit (because I'd be in the street, potentially blocking traffic), hire a CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer because I'd be in the street, potentially blocking traffic, Sheriff and/or Fire if we have any gunfire in the street (even if its blanks), and $1MM liability insurance.

For a shoot that I have $0 currently to do, that's a lot of over budget expense. I'll have to hip pocket this script and this location and come back to it another time I guess
 
ramsaur said:
You might want to look into this. Would have to go frame-by-frame but could be worth it I suppose. Don't know when it comes out. I've heard rumors of April, but not sure.
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I AGREE
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That is amazing!
 
Alan H. Chang said:
Holy cow!

Is this what one of your ideas were?
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Oh that was just what the county requires because I intended to film in the street. Because it is a living town, people walk and drive and park there and visit those businesses. So essentially to use that space I would have to shut down access to that street, and to do so requires all those permits and personnel.

It's certainly do-able, but requires a bit more money than I have at the moment. But I might have a way to re-write it work with a ranch and/or desert area. I also have a second idea which would be on the open plain/desert and in a cave, so I may work on those and see if I can't pull one of those off. We'll see.
 
Larry,

I'm wondering if you can get a film student onboard from one of the film schools out here. I know we (at Ithaca) can get a 1million dollar policy no problem. If you can get a film student on board as a producer or something, that might get the insurance out of the way.

Per releases, I don't know how to navigate those without spending all of your money you don't have. A student show might be able to push around that for less money, maybe...something to consider.

Or you can run and gun it. You can alert the neighbors, make sure everyone is on board with allowing the shoot, and just do it. That might work too.
 
ramsaur said:
You might want to look into this. Would have to go frame-by-frame but could be worth it I suppose. Don't know when it comes out. I've heard rumors of April, but not sure.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: No media files are hosted on these forums. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website. We can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. If the video does not play, wait a minute or try again later.
I AGREE
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about halfway through this, i realized my jaw had dropped and there was drool coming out of my mouth. incredible.
 
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