We are starting to kick out our first bits of work from our Consumption series … and first out the gate is Absinthe. And we’ve melded the photo and motion works to provide a complimentary work for an enriched experience. The photos were captured using a fresh Nikon D3x at 1/250 with an old 50mm 1.2 at f8. And then we retooled the set to work with HMIs and Kinos to do the motion work on Red with the Red Primes 60fps with the lenses wide open.
While the short has a very simple narrative it does bring the story of the photo out a bit, and it leaves in of the subjectivity enjoyed by the still medium.
A taste of Absinthe … and for the movie click here.
Had an extremely prolific week last week with a pair of photo/motion shoots for our consumption series (described in an earlier post). As always you are as strong as the team you pull together.
For both shoots we had the scrumptious fashions of Meli. She pulled together a couple of gauzie numbers and a special bustle to hide a flying harness. The details are always what make the outfit with little red bows dripping down the legs and black leather straps.
On hair and makeup was the freaky stylie Mill and some fantastically big hair. I had to grab a couple specials just to highlight his concoctions. The makeup was superb and flowed with the concepts nicely providing a great punch.
And I am a bit biased, but Stacey rocked three kick ass sets to put our models into an ocean of goodness. She flipped one of the old-money sets from the first shoot to make a decayed decadance for our Absynth drinking damsel. You could put the two next to each other and you’d be hard pressed to see the similar bones.
We topped it off with some lovely motion captures that should cut into something interesting. I’ll hopefully run it through next week and have a little something to show for our efforts. I finally have the edit suite up and running at the studio. It’s painfully easy to work there in the little opportunity I’ve had so far. There is a photo shoot in there Sunday that will give me a some more time in the seat.
Another important detail is that I need to dial in the music to the piece. Something that will compliment it and find the right tone. Again, a chance to dabble in something hehe.
I’ll post up a couple of karma shots when I get home (writing this post while killing time at the tattoo shop). I want to make sure you know everyone who’s responsible for what has become. Especially cats like Joe Mendoza and Jesse Dana who helped hang Hattie through a ceiling from a box truss. It’s nice to have commrads with skills.
I had the good fortune to team up with Eric Shamlin on another project now that he’s made his move over to JVST from Goodby. As is happening these days, they had a campaign that needed the talents of both a photographer and director/dp. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii was making it’s push out and due to the concept at the time, they needed someone who could shoot a range of styles and stay true to the vision. The funny / ironic thing was literally the day before, Stacey and I were talking about career paths and shooting Resident Evil came up. So, uh, check.
As the industry goes with combining acquisitions, this was for print campaigns in SF and NYC plastered all over the trains and subways with corresponding web banners with motion.
And as a bonus, they opened it up to worldwide and the UK tossed in a concept.
Each setup for the US was shot both still and motion. In the directing I found myself playing the roll of the zombie to get the proper reaction when there were two ‘normal’ actors in the shot. I’m sure it must have hilarious to be down the hall from us and here me doing repetitive zombie roars (or shouting some non sequitur). And due to the cross shooting, I again chose to go with a gaffer (Charles Griswold from Little Giant) and a photo assistant (Lauren Stocker) to shape lighting and ideas … plus they’re good company on set.
Here are some of the tasty fruit that came from our wonderfully fabricated arm pit jungle (thank you Stacey). First up is a link to our Old Spice Ever Clear spot on Poptent (where it currently vies for attention from OS).
It was sure fun creating and and at times we all had to excuse ourselves to go and get the giggle out. Nothing like arm pit goobers hitting an apple box to really set you off. Special thanks to Bob (the one with the hairy pits) for keeping it together while the rest of us lost our minds.
The last thing we went for on the jungle set was another fashion / editoral spread featuring make up by Don Tunnell, gowns by Cory Tron, Sydney from Stars and Soo Joo from Ford. The first image out is a beauty shot of Sydney looking stunning against the twisted and foggy background. There will be a bunch more served up on our website and at DA.
So we finally shot the death scenes (where the band is killed off) and a number of the supporting photos of a bunch of different comedians who were so kind as to stop by. Now a little blood spatter and we’ve a finished visual product. This section will have the longest post process and will turn out pretty kick as with a very stylistic look. Each of the guys is really getting it.
I won’t say when we’ll have the whole project set, but at least we have the goods.
We’re finally getting to some of the desperately needed post production items on the list. The coloring for FIONA’S SCRIPT has gotten out the door just in time for a cast & crew screening next week and it’s first fest in LA later this month.
Next up, THE APPRAISAL is in the can and Stephanie and I have gone through the first cut. I have an email in my inbox with some more refinements after some extended online viewing, but the cut is certainly on the way.
And THEY TURNED OUR DESERT INTO FIRE is being packaged up and sent off to DER for the master … yes. Tucked in there nicely is a copy of WAR AS A SECOND LANGUAGE, Mark’s previous film that I also edited. And DESERT INTO FIRE has been selected for the Santa Cruz Film Festival in May which we’ll go down and check out.
And Monday is our final shooting day for LUCIFER’S CREWCUT. Green screen elements to assemble into the death sequences where the quartet meet their gruesome demise. Nice that it’s a lock-off shot which equals an easier day for me and we can focus on performance. I’d love to get this project in the home stretch so we can fully share this irreverent little film (be careful, you might get some on you).
Oohhh … and photos in the next post!
Breathing … One project in the can … need to get cutting on it. Hot -n- Cheesy … how could we resist this little challenge from the folks over at Poptent. We came up with a concept a little out of the box so we’ll see how it flies. We’ll like it for sure. So much that we went cranked it up and notch and double dipped a photo shoot with the same characters and sets. I’ll flip up some of the takes hopefully next week (after Stacey wraps work on another set for another shoot …).
I actually owe a lot of footage from recent work trying to get it into some semblance of finished shape but have been pinned down by recent work. It’s a good problem. Snagged a couple of days doing some corporate … one on the shoulder for 14 hours … it’s a little sore. And poor Ozi’s been feeling the brunt getting tossed around a little. Seems like he’s been holding his own in it though and tomorrow’s a full daddy day to catch up.
Another photo shoot lined up for next week. Then into some serious post!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks at the ranch. Swooped in from Sundance to take care of a couple of gigs going through the studio. Finished prepping and then shot THE APPRAISAL by Stephanie Carwin. Have just set up casting for a video / photo shoot I’m planning in a week and a half. Found out our Doritos spot didn’t win a million bucks (one nut shot short), but the Bud DD spot did win over at poptent (yeah!). In the meantime, finally settled on the tattoo for my left arm and inked in the outline and some shading.
All of these need more explaining on their own … when’s that gonna happen. Cutting and coloring first.
Finally getting the chance to catch up on jotting down some notes. And I’m happy to say we are wrapped on principal photography on Lucifer’s Crewcut! This has been a long and awesome show. Just two more bits of shooting for fx and we’re done acquiring. In the meantime, I’ve been working a cut together to get into color. I should have some teaser clips up soon … especially the dolly shots through their cribs. Those were pretty tight. It will take a little bit to get them just right and I’ll have to do the color first and then comp the 10-bit pro res clips to maintain a consistent look and quality. I’m pretty happy working in Color to preform look surgery on the Red material.
But for now, I leave you with some of the photos grabbed by Mark Brecke that really capture the days.
The glory days of Lucifer’s Crewcut!
Jason talks the shot over with the amassing throngs of extras. Sal provides moral support (and comic relief).
You can see the finished spot here …
http://www.poptent.net/media/7033
and a little karma photo at the end …
