production blog

DAY 2 & 3:

Well the shoots done and for the most part I think the stuff is not too bad.  I especially like the results from shooting nearly wide-open (ƒ2.0) and the long lens (namely the 85mm) and getting that wonderfully soft-focus background or narrow depth-of-field that practically looks like a shift-tilt lens.

Here are some lessons learned from this shoot.

USE TWO CAMERAS
Our schedule was packed with shots.  The manual claims that it only take 30 seconds to download the photos from the internal cache to the card.  Well it takes a little longer than that, often as much as a couple of minutes.  Doesn’t sound like a lot of time but it adds up over the course of the day.  Two camera would certainly help - just swap the lens and shoot.

PLAN FOR SHORTER DIALOGUE
If your gonna shoot with this method, plan on shorter dialogue or limit dialogue.  The back and forth of five second clips might be too jarring to watch.  I think lots of planning is required and I would strongly suggest storyboards.

TAIL SLATE
To mark a series of photographs as a shot, we photographed one frame of a slate at the head of the take (head slate) and one frame at the end (with the slate upside down or tail slate).  This made sorting through the images easier when the card was downloaded.  When the card was nearly full, the image sequences were downloaded to a hard drive with each clip having its own folder.

NOT ALWAYS 8.5 FPS
The camera can shoot 8.5 frames a second so long as it doesn’t have to re-adjust for focus.  If the camera is trying to follow focus (auto focus activated) it’ll slow down to about 4.5 frames a second or sometimes even less.  Plan your shots accordingly.  Also, manual follow focus can be done by hand but still photography lenses these days don’t make focus marks very easy to use in a traditional motion picture application.  And remember that you also can’t get 8.5 frames per second if you’re using very slow shutter speeds.

NOISE
The camera when it shoots bursts sounds like a Gatling gun.  This could be an issue if you’re in, say, a library.  I didn’t check to see if there’s a way to lock back the mirror but that wouldn’t have helped much since you couldn’t see the image during the take - I’ll look into it and update this entry when I find out.  (For those of you who have shot still photography before, this will make sense.)  The other option is to rent a blip for the camera - something similar to what set photographers use when working on a motion picture set.

VIDEO TRIPOD
To get camera movement but still maintain a controlled shot, we used a tripod for most of our shooting (roughly 80%).  Just move the arm to the left side since you’ll need the right hand to fire the shutter (or use a remote).

I’ll have images from the shoot and some sequences later to show.  For now a tease…

Photo from just before a scene - our director/actor poses for a publicity photo.

My favorite shirt - “Twister”

Day One of Three - “Prozak”

To paraphrase Yogi Berra… this short is half experimental, half narrative, and half something completely different.  “Prozak” is a story of a woman on the road to self-discovery through Buddhism when psychology fails to help her find her way.  The narrative portion is easy enough.  What makes this experiential is that we’re shooting this sync sound project with a still camera.

The Canon EOS 1D Mark II N is an SLR camera with the ability to shoot roughly 48 frames at 8.5 frames-per-second.  This translates to roughly 6 seconds per clip.  Ultimately, we’re hoping for a film finish since the files we’re shooting with are larger then 2K or (2048 vertical).

Today we shot the first three scenes of the short in an office in Beverly Hills.  It’s a funny process we’re shooting here.  Neither still nor motion.  I have often been reminded of Andy Laszlo’s book title, “Every Frame a Rembrandt”.  (One of my favorite cinematography books by far.)  Almost all the footage today was shoot at the M2 setting which translates to 2,544 x 1696 pixels and with the JPEG compression rate set to the highest quality.

To make the best use of the medium, I decided I’d control certain aspects of shoot ing in the following way.  Limited depth-of-field was something the director (Deja) requested.  I opted to shoot with mostly an ƒ2 and adjust the shutter speed to fit the narrative.  Slow shutters for dialogue and shots where the movement of the actor could use some blur.  Faster shutter for shots shat required a crispness to them.  To accommodate that, I adjusted the ISO from roughly 100 to 1000.  Artifacts from increasing the ISO do not appear to significantly degrade the image.

After taking color temperature readings, I also adjusted the White Balance preset from 4200K to 4600K.

We’re composing for 1.85 with a little wiggle room on the sides for post repositioning of the frame and plenty of room on top and bottom.  I’ve placed masking tape on the LCD to mark the to and bottom of our 1.85 frame (center extraction).

One last note about the project, we’re shooting with two lenses.  A 50mm and an 85mm.    With the 1.3 conversion factor, the focal lengths work out to 65mm and 110mm.

FYI - The chip on this camera is slightly smaller (20%) than a standard 35mm film frame (36mm x 24mm film vs a 28.7mm x 19.1mm CMOS).

Note to self…

BELOW Here are some test frames from our location scout earlier this week.  I’ve touched the photographs up a bit in a color corrector just to see what could be done with just primaries.

(Slight desaturation of all colors and a slight increase to the contrast and brightness.)

(Boost to brightness and contrast.)

(Addition of blue and green in the mid tones.)

(Increase to the blues and greens in the mid tones and slight desaturation overall.)

(Slight increase in brightness and a decrease in contrast as well as a increase in the red to keep skin tones fairly true.)

(First shot of the day is a frame chart.)

22 February - Day two is through.  My friend Toby IM’d me the other day saying he liked my “travelogue”.  I acknowledged his choice of words but it didn’t hit me till today how right he was.  This entry has less to do with cinematography than it does with travel.  Since there isn’t much to tell that is very insightful camera wise, let’s continue with the travelogue…

It’s funny to see that Miami - or at least the parts that we’re at - are very much like Orange County, California.  This job is really more like a five hour trip to the OC to shoot a corporate spot.  Everything is kinda new, kinda “plastic” and not really meant to last.  I think about my apartment in Hollywood with its crown molding, hardwood floors, curved archways and I know it’ll be around at least another 80 years if not more.

Even here at this exclusive resort, the walls, walkways, doorways, and exteriors have this false sense of grandeur.  I’ve been on locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and even West Virginia where the architecture just seem to suggest it’ll be here another 100 years from now and maybe even get better with time.  I suppose it’s a good thing that virtual sets are coming into there own since the filmmakers of the future are gonna have little to work with with buildings design today.

But enough of that.  We ate breakfast this morning at the restaurant in the hotel.  A couple of things came up that made me laugh and feel concern.  Let’s start with a somber note…

A woman in the dining room fell ill.  Possibly due to high-blood pressure or it might have been a mild stroke.  To the credit of the wait staff there, almost none of the guests even noticed the paramedics who helped the woman and deliver her to the hospital.  Too bad for this elderly couple.  We were informed that they were scheduled to go on a cruise later that day.  I hope they can still make it.

On a lighter note, it seems that many folks from Great Britain take holiday in Florida. In the restaurant this morning there was a couple that came in with two kids.  I almost lost it when this woman spoke.  You see, my friend Toby is originally from England and from time-to-time he mimics his mother’s voice.  This woman sounds so much like Toby mimicking his mum.  But what really got me chuckling was the sight of one of her little boy’s head.  It was SO HUGE it was almost cartoon like!  I do understand that kids often suffer from “big head, little body” syndrome but this mellon was gigantic, mammoth, prodigious, one might say even elephantine and without a doubt, down right honking monstrous!!!  It was SO big that if it were to rain his whole body would be kept nice and dry!  I do hope all that mass works out to smarts, ’cause he’ll need it!

One last note of the great wait staff here.  They’re also very funny.  Last night we came in very hungry after a long day.  At the end of our meal our plates didn’t even have a morsel of food on them, our waiter say while clearing the table, “would you like to take the rest home?!”.  And today for breakfast, I got yogurt still in its container and needed a smaller spoon than the one I had on the table.  I asked for one and the waiter returned with the largest spoon he could find only switch it with right one.  It funny, right?!… or maybe you had to be there!

Oh, wait… information that might be useful!  I started using some other features in VideoScope that have come in a little handy.  The first is a two-point, IRE readout (IRE is the video amplitude expressed as a percentage or units above and below 0 - 140 total units: 100 above 0 and 40 below.  It’s now often called IEEE on digital systems).  It also has a picture-in-picture option that zooms a boxed area that the cursor controls.  Kinda cool, yes?!

Ah, one more thing.  It’s a “lesson learned” moment.  Always call ahead. I’ll say no more, but if you need a cab, call ahead.  If you need a room unlocked, call ahead.  Oh, wait!  I said more.  Doh!

So far the Brits win hands down as the funniest and most fun to work with.  Especially between the takes.  One guy in particular, talked about the difference between media groomed American executives and European executives.  According to him, Americans always use an “Auto Cue” (TelePrompTer) and always button their coat.  I thought they were the stuffy ones and we’re the casual kids from across the pond?!

Well we’re done, packed up and tomorrow we fly out.  We’re waiting for an approval on a video insert for a presentation tomorrow morning before we can leave this hotel for ours.  We’ll be on a plane tomorrow morning and home by noon.  I might write something else along the way or I might not.  Either way, stay tuned for another exciting episode…

(Salt Lake City)

(Somewhere over the Rockies)

21 February - Day one is done.  Never enough time, power, or resources - it’s par for the coarse, I know.  Much like the Deloitte shoot in New York, we’re shooting elements for a website and for… well, who knows.  Here seems to be some confusion as to what’s next with some of this footage.  As much as it would be helpful to know - really helpful - the greenscreen makes it possible to port the footage into whatever they might want to use it for.  So we charge ever forward.

(The face has been obscured to protect the unknowing.
One shiny penny if you can reconstruct
his face from the waveform image! I kid!)

We set-up in a conference room in the Doral Golf Resort and Spa.  Hatchi-matchi!  Very nice, very posh.  The service there is so choice from top to bottom.

Anyone with even a little technical knowledge can probably see that the greenscreen’s vectorscope has a “bit” of an arch!  That’s one of the limitations we have.  We could only bring so much luggage on the plane and we packed as much as we could into every nook available in the cases.  We shot with this same set-up in New York and it wasn’t an issue for the compositor.  One more light, though, sure would be nice!

Look ma!  I’m using my Spanish.  It’s a sign a put up on the door.  It was a secure room, but it can’t hurt.  Almost everyone here is bilingual.  I feel quite at home.

It’s been a long day with little to eat so, it’s Miller time!

Back from dinner.  Yum!  Bruschetta appetizer, Florida seafood soup, and a Florida lobster salad with English cucumbers, tomatoes and mesclun salad with a tangy white sauce.  Since this is Florida, I also ordered a side of fried plantains.  The food was superb.  And for a little something-something, a rum-and-coke and jack-and-coke (not at the same time and yes, the room was spinning for a while).  The service here is really very good.  Every waiter finish any request with “my pleasure”.  Also the test of a fine restaurant has to be when the waiter takes your knife, he returns promptly with a clean one.  I could get used to this!

10PM.  I’m outside the hotel near the pool and under the stars.  From time-to-tiime, the planes fly over with a roar.  It’s nice here.  It reminds me of hanging out late at night as a kid.  The cool, moist breeze and the rustling sound of the trees swaying. Crickets chirp.  What sets tonight apart from fifteen years ago is the instrumental version of “Waterfall” by TLC, but mostly it’s the sound of two Cuban men speaking.  It’s familiar and yet different.  I know what they’re saying, but how they say it is so different to what I’m accustom to.  Even though it’s only been a couple of days, I miss home, then and now.

One last note after such a somber one.  I’m sending this update by way of my cell phone.  I’m typing this entry on my computer using “ecto” and then my computer is connected to my phone by bluetooth and I have my phone dial to SBC dial-up to access the internet.  Not fast, but it is convenient.

Deloitte Touche Tomatsu - Take 2, Miami

Sunday - 23:00 hrs PST- We’re finally up in the air.  It never fails. Delays, delays.  We got to the airport 1 1/2 hours early and check-in was quick enough, but when it came to the security check-in, that took a bit longer.  They were doing full checks on just about everyone and just short of a cavity check.  Oooo!  We ran out of room in our check-in bags and cases so I packed some extra equipment in the carry on.  Boy did that trip the sensors and gave the TSA guy quite a look of concern.  I took a hand full of video connectors, some Cardellini clamps, and my meter and contrast glass.  They went through everything nook and cranny of my bag and made us take off our shoes too.  All clear, now time to wait.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be boarding at gate 212 bound for Miami.  Your flight should be leaving on time.  Well, almost.  Did I mention I hate flying out of Ontario.  This time not a huge delay but enough.  Ten minutes to secure a door that “wouldn’t arm”?!  “ARM” what the…

TRAVEL TIP:  The last time I flew with equipment, it took forever to label stuff with addresses and “Fragile” labels.  I got smart.  I printed a bunch of labels using name tag labels that have a bright red boarder.  Posted them all over the place - worked like a charm.  I included the production company’s name, address, phone number, and email address.  I know I’m not the first to do this, but it could be helpful if you’ve never read it anywhere else.  I would suggest using J-lar tape over the label incase it’s raining or moist.  Here’s an example…

The view from 30,000 feet is something to behold.  The pilot said that we’re flying with a 150 mph tailwind so we’re set to arrive an hour ahead of schedule.  That would be great news if we were flying straight into Miami.  Instead, we have a lay-over in Atlanta.

Monday - 02:30 hrs CST - Touch Down!  We’re in rainy Atlanta and a two hour wait for our flight.  Every airport has wi-fi but not for free.  It’s a bit of a pain.  They all want $10 for 24 hours of use.  A bit steep and how much can it really cost to provide.

I’ve seen the same same story on CNN about Jack Johnson.  I didn’t care the second time seeing it - I really don’t care the twelfth time watching.

Monday - 07:00 hrs EST - The eagle has landed!  We rolled into Miami just after dawn with cloudy skies and thick, humid air.

While watching the bags and cases, just a stones throw are a couple of porters that, as near as I can tell, are from the West Indies.  The two men were having a lively discussion with loud voices, arms flailing about but I’m certain they weren’t angry at each other, simply interacting.

RANT: It reminded me of a recent show where the host complained about how many immigrants are mostly here to feed off the system.  I have no doubt that might be true to a certain degree.  To see these guys busting there hump, working for the American Dream, he needs to see a world away from his south Orange County compound.  Sorry for the soap box.

Culture is a funny thing.  Another two men were talking to each other well within what most Americans would consider comfortable - that “personal zone”.  The older man was holding the younger man by the arm like one might help an elderly woman cross the street.  Perfectly comfortable and acceptable.

While on the flight, Julian (the producer/director) found an article in the paper that rated airlines for lost luggage.  A cold chill when we saw that Delta - our airline on this trip - ranked 2nd.  Fortunately, we arrived with all our luggage intact and non the worse for wear.

The luggage might be alright but we’re a mess.  When we called the hotel, they don’t know anything about us!  Great.  We packed up our things and when to the hotel anyways.  It all got resolved once there, but a bit hairy for awhile.

It’s funny the homogeneity of the country these days.  The drive from the airport featured industrial complexes, coffee shops and diners similar to every city I’ve been to in the U.S.

RANT: We paid several different folks at several different times to help us move our cargo from one place to another, no time for more than thirty feet.  Almost everyone of them gave us a “stick-eye” for the five buck tip.  What’s up with that?!  (Inside joke.)  We usually helped with the bags and took no more than ten minutes of their time.  And the bags weren’t that heavy.  Then one stewardess huffed about having to move one of our carry-on bags that didn’t fit into the overhead racks and she had to move it to the front of the plane.  Smile, we’re the customer and say “thank you” or quit your job if you don’t like it.  We were courteous, we said “hello”, etc. etc.  Very upsetting.

Lunch time.

Back from lunch.  Nice.  Grilled ahi sandwich with a fruit salad and water.  Healthy from me, surprise, surprise!  RANT: It’s amazing to see how acceptable Spanish speaking is here and without the stigma attached to it like in California.  Everyone here speaks Spanish openly and without restraint.  Los Angeles, and the west coast for the most part, seems to look down on folk who speak Spanish openly.  It’s surprising and disappointing.

Day’s end - It’s dinner time and what’s on TV CSI: Miami.  Hah!

A bit of a waste of a day.  Nothing to do.  The colleague I’m with had to finish something for the client.  So why am I here, I have no idea, but here I am.

I’m done for today.  Boy did I rant today, but hey, it’s my soap box.

It’s that time again… your moment of Zen.

Why did I pick this?  Well, it’s a storage center and the logo has the guy with a box but why are his legs buckling?  I thought it was funny, but I haven’t had too much sleep!

I’m packing my bags and heading out again…  This time it’s to the great state of Florida.  Or, more specifically, to quote Will Smith: “Party in the city where the heat is on - All night, on the beach till the break of dawn - Welcome to Miami - Buenvenidos a Miami”

Alright, maybe it won’t be all about clubbing and bumping, but I’m sure gonna try to make it fun.  It’s another shoot for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.  More details when I return.  Till then…

May you get all your wishes but one,
so that you will always have something to strive for!
Cheers.
- old Irish toast

— — — — — — — — —

UPDATE: I have the worst luck flying out from Ontario.  (I think it’s the 909 mo-jo!)  Last time it was a three hour delay, this time Atlanta is snowed in.  We’ve got another flight opportunity this evening and the only good thing about the red-eye flight is we’re going first class. (I’ve been advised NOT to go back into coach and yell about the noise while carrying a glass of champagne and an ice cream dripping on my nice wool blanket.)  Time to sleep a little before I go back to the OC skids (kiddin’). 

I just learned that the short film I shot last year, “Lure” will be screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Mark Mollenkamp (the director) for an incredible honor!

I’m planning on attending the screening.  Can’t wait!

TRIBECA | FILM | FESTIVAL
APRIL 25 - MAY 7

I might need some when this is done.  “Prozak” is an slightly experimental short film I’ll be shooting at the end of the month.  The story has elements of cross-dressing, sexuality, buddhism, and personal growth - but sorry, not little people.  It’s not the subject matter that is making this project necessarily experimental as much as the method of image acquisition.  We had a pre-production meeting today to go over as much as possible.

We’re capturing it using a digital SLR camera - the Canon EOS-1D Mark IIn.  Why this camera, well it’s able to shoot 48 frames in an 8.5 frame-per-second burst.  That translates to approximately 6 second clip.  Six seconds!  What can you capture in six seconds.  Well alot actually.  Take a look at any commercial.

The inspiration of this method comes from two other projects.  Take a look.

music video | short film

Wasn’t that fun!?  So what’s our twist?  We’re shooting with sync sound.  All the logistical and work flow procedurals are still being worked out.  Here’s kinda how we’re breaking it down.

The camera is capable of the following bursts (maximum burst capacity 153 MB):

At 8.5 frames-per-second:
3,504 x 2,336 > 48 frames (3.2MB per frame) = 6 seconds per take
3,104 x 2,073 > 59 frames (2.6MB per frame) = 7 seconds per take
2,544 x 1,696 > 77 frames (1.9MB per frame) = 9 seconds per take
1,728 x 1,152 > 135 frames (1.1MB per frame) = 16 seconds per take

We’re looking to shoot at full resolution, which will give us 6 seconds per take.  The camera will have multiple 2 Gig CF cards.  We’re looking to see if we can download via Wi-Fi or a FireWire cable (IEEE 1934).  The editor will be on location with us to deal with data management and work flow.  The image sequences are then brought into Final Cut Pro to review and to edit.  Time conversions (converting 8.5 frames-per-second into 24 frames-per-second) will either be done in FCP or After Effects.  Sound will proceed as if this is a film shoot.

The plan is to edit this for a film-out.  How?  Well, we might have to edit for HD instead of 2K and use the HD version of the movie for our 2K finish.  Or it might mean editing in HD and then getting our EDL into After Effects and replacing the HD files used in FCP to the original files for 2K.  Or…  Like I said, it’s all still being worked out.

San Pedro.  Can you think about the last time you were in San Pedro.  The last time I was there it was for fish and a big bag of shrimp.  Not bad fish at that.

But tonight was for another reason entirely.  Tonight was the 1st Annual Southern California Music Awards at the Warner Grand Theatre.  I didn’t add any photographs of the venue because it was too dark and my camera just isn’t fast enough.  But if you click on the link you’ll see what the venue looks like and you’ll see that it’s a wonderful looking old movie palace.    What a place!

(Say, can you find what’s wrong with this picture?!)

(I got a tan from the last two days.  Sweet!)

(The boys!!! Now, get back to work!)

(Dick Dale and his son.  Dale got honored with a Life Achievement Award.)

More fun in the sun, this time it’s in Surf City USA - Huntington Beach.  We took our MTV2 VJ to do some more 30 second spots.

The morning started out overcast and a bit foggy.  It didn’t take long to clear up nicely.  Mostly the same shooting style.  High shutter angle (often 1/2000) and the polarizer again.  The sky was amazing again - dark blue.

Tony did a great job of directing his talent and keeping her calm and confident (minus one little slip that went something like, “if you screw-up, stop yourself”).  Still, a great job considering she’s never had any professional experience in front of the camera.  He always seem to have the right thing to say to her and keep her calm even after numerous takes.  And despite the number of takes, you’d hardly know she was an amature.  Great energy, she took direction well, and really put herself into the role.  Great stuff!

Lighting was simple enough.  Mostly it boiled down to picking the right angles so that she either faced the low-lying winter sun or the sun was at her back and a large 4×4 foam bounce filled her face. Most of the time though, the sand worked wonders as a natural bounce/fill.

No major changes to the camera settings also other than switching the black stretch to on.  This helped us see her dark top better and lessened the darkness under the chin.

(From our LCD monitor)

(Tony directs our talent)

(I got short hair again)

Spent the most gorgeous day today in the San Fernando Valley city of Northridge.  MTV2 and Time Warner Cable teamed up for a cross promotion campaign where a locally selected youth gets to VJ thirty-second segments that’ll air on MTV2.

For this group of segments, we when to Cal State Northridge.  It was windy and very hot for what is suppose to be winter.  And it was dry.  So dry that the sky was an almost unnatural blue.  Add to that a polarizer on the lens and you get a blue that’s almost black.  Looks great, though.  Looks like a music video.

We shot on a Canon XL2 on fairly neural settings, 24Pn, and 4:3 aspect ratio.  We used the wide-angle Canon lens with the camera often below her eye-line to give it a “rap video” look.  We asked her to gesticulate  with her hands close to the camera to add to the effect and often increased the shutter angle to add to the look but also for practical reason of cutting down the light and shooting at a lower ƒ-stop.

I’ll have frame-grabs of the footage later this week.

Tony (director) watches a rehearsal and Joe (grip) helps with a little bounce.)

(It’s me, enjoying the hot, dry sun.)

(Our VJ Vanessa waits for the next shot.)

I think I finally got my demo reel to stream instead of downloading.  For those of you interested, I used the following settings:

[ click on image ]

I noticed that the compression adds some brightness so you’ll notice I decreased the brightness a bit and also increased the contrast by 10 units.  I’ve also noticed some color shifts from time-to-time.  I’m still trying to fix that.

Enjoy.