A Merry Christmas was Had ,,, Now a Happy New Year ,,, Come on 2010 ,,, Luck Numbers

I will be back doing this retro Blog soon ,,,,,, Just hAd a House Fire in my Attic Room in Sydney while down south at Birdhaven Lodge ( another blog ) So sorting that out ,,, Then Back to it .

Timing at LaserPacific with Timothy Vincent on Lustre and a Master Craftsman on it he is ,,, We just Needed More time to really have some fun .

All the Lab work at LaserPacific is done ,,, Now back to this Retro Blog

I was so glad that I took the time and spent the $ ( in my Travel Budget) to get to LA and involve myself in the Final Timing ..... Boy dont you just love the LUSTRE and those new style windows like stretchy go anywhere strings . I was able to get some things done but other things were left undone , but not enough to ask to have my name removed from the film ,,,,,,,,,, How the people concerned happened not to notice and not remember the deal to put rain on the left side of the screen and a little out of focus foreground rain in a Cliff side night rain phone call I will never know . ( it was impossible to back light the Left side of this wide shot on the magic hour shoot )

Flying to LA tomorrow for a week grading this Film

So I dont know what the internet situation will be for adding the posts ,,, But I will start them when I can ...... Maybe sitting in the grading suite while the powers that be screw the Look .

How we decided to do the NIGHT VISION shots

In Pre production when Robert was still directing the movie we had done a few tests with a consumer Sony handy cam ,,,,,,, Sony has stopped making the Night Vision feature on their handy cams as from this year ,,, we were able to buy one with the feature still in it ,,,, We also got a couple of screw on Wide lens attachments .

A Little Night Vision shot to Start the Day off

We started shooting at the Front door of the Jesses House Set ,,,,,,,, We had some "normal" shots at the door then changed over to NIGHT VISION shots for a point of view oneshot sequence that I am sure will be cut into in post .

View through my Window

It was night when we Left the set and we had a casual start at the studio for the two days of a machine gun shoot out in Jesse's house set ,,,,,,,, So I got to see the Sunrise from my unit ,,, Nice moment ,,,,, Makes you want to stay home all day ....

10 points to those who noticed the DOUBLE SHADOWS on the blinds in the very first photo of this set

Dont worry I didnt shoot it like that ,,, We were just lining the 18k up for when the sun went away ......... and dont worry about the smoke coming and going through the stills ,,, we try not to shoot with such inconsistency ,,,,,,,,, But there are times when it happens ,,,,,,, and I look upon it as a Plus for any B camera with a very long lens on . ( which really should not be shooting at the same time ) Such is Life .

Another final thing before I get out of this set FINALLY ,,, How would you like to spend ALL day in one of the cherry pickers with an 18K or two .

SUN GONE DOWN BOSS

It had to happen ,,,, the building blocked the sun from the windows and Blinds ,,,,,,,, Swing in the 18ks ,,,,,,,,,,, Ok lets shoot ,,,

A Quick foreground Matt shot

For reasons we won't go into here ,,, ,, A full silloute foreground was requested ,,, I suggested we do it seperately as a black matt against white background ,,,,,,, we then shot the background seperately .

Its great having professional Standins ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, It takes a lot of concentration to stand there doing nothing ,,,,,,, and Not be goofing off or looking the wrong way or telling a story about what a good root or meal you had last night when the Cinematographer wants to check the light on a face or body ,,,,,,, Thanks Fellas

A Great SET when the Sun is out ,,, or put it on a Stage as a set ,,, Shoot all day

I do really like this room for shooting in , but it always has the sun problem ,,, It goes behind a building towards the end of the day so you have to be prepared to reproduce the Sun Look at a moments notice ,,,,,, Or work bloody fast ,,, See theVan blooking our gear ,,,,,,, In the end we mounted lights on the roof of it . The Boys were really fast with that as well .

Now we worked bloody fast ,,,, but if you have a lot of shooting it doesnt matter how fast you are .

Dont EVER take time to Fix lighting things that are out of the Shot unless you are going to suggest a shot that will see that problem

Some times it would be GREAT to be able to block shoot different scenes ,,,,,,,, Shoot one way for several different scenes then turn around and shoot the other way for different scenes ,,,,,,,, It becomes an Actor thing ,,, I they are not comfortable with doing part of a scene then jumping forward to do part of another scene you shouldnt ruin their performance by doing it that way .

Wht does the Sun just keep moving ???

Although the interrogation room set is one floor down and further along the wall it is still not easy to get the lighting equipment near the windows due to vans and catering vehicles parked there ,,, but I was able to start off with two 12x12 frames very close and square to the walls ,,, either side of the Windows . The sun had now moved around to punch straight into the warm coloured blinds that David Chapman and I had discussed hanging over the windows . The sun was not controllable at all ,,,,,,,,, And not reliable in Halifax ,,, So the Blinds were my only defence . I was hoping to get ALL the wide shots finished before the sun moved off the Blinds ,,, But Actor shooting order and a Lunch that always seems to be toooo long interfered ......... I had to position a 18K under slung on a man lift ,, ( boom boom , cherry picker , or what ever you call them . depending where you are ) ,,, hight up between the 2 windows to reproduce a hard sun like shadow .... It would not be exactly the same but it would be close enough for the lengths of the Wide shot cuts to fool most viewers .

After we finish the scenes on the top floor we move down a floor to the interrogation room set

Back on a Brand new day for a morning of SAME SAME

Steven gets a touch up from hair and Makeup just before the take ,

Scott gives us a Lighting Walk through ,,, It is good to work with experienced Stand ins who understand about the light ,,, Scott

is a Pro .

We finished of the day with a Computer screen information set up ,,, a boring but necessary shot ,,,

Than god for flat screen computers and TV screens ,,,,,,, No bars to worry about just turn the brightness all the way up get the RIGHT exposure and shoot them ,,,,,,,, There are brightness issues when the screen is off angle to the camera but compared to the time and equipment required on the old tube screens it is a breeze ,,,,,,,, My only complaint was the design of the content we were putting on the screen ,,,,,, If only someone had asked my opinion BEFORE they made them up .//// Such is Life on a TV movie .

We had quite a few scenes to complete today ,,,, but we got stuck into them quick smart .

This lighting situation is really great for doing multipul camera setups straight down the line or raking coverage shots as long as you stay on the Shadow side and dont go to the Key light side as it will be to flatly lit and would not match ,,,,( apart from the obvious wrong screen direction issues )

Shooting through the Glass partitions can be challenging but very interesting

Andy our Camera Operator HATES glass reflections and goes to extreme lengths to avoid them ,,,,,, But he has accepted that we like to see a natural reflection for the real look of the set ,,,

So he has desisted in cutting a hole for the lens through a Huge piece of black card and shooting through that at most times ,,,,, and now we can all see what is going past the camera as well . We of course use 2 cameras and Chris is usually on some close up avoiding the A camera and crew ,,,, ,,,,,, The onboard camera monitors are very useful for me to move around and check the shots and to offer suggestions to improve it ,,, Or just to annoy the operators .

Dick's 2nd Week on the job and he is having fun at AST

Dick is saying " See these shoes they are killing me , they are SO painful , Thats how I want you to play the scene ,,,, Painful "

Steven is thinking ,,," Right Painful ,,,, You want painful ,,, I will just think about coming back up here in a years time ,,,, thats painful "

Now Dick is Thinking ,,,,,," I wonder what he is thinking "

I know He can do Painful I saw it in the last take ,,,, But this take I want to swing around 180 degrees zoom and dolly down the hall to get Jesse's entrance then pull back to reveal the whole office while avoiding see the camera and crew in the glass partitions ...... It should be easy if Andy stops complaining and Gribble lets me Move the Bloody camera around with out seeing the Stupid Lights out the window ,,, What does he need them for anyway ,,,,,,, They should be using a REd camera and just open up the stop on the lens ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, " HELL where was I ,,, got carried away for a bit there ,,,, AHHH Yes Painful ,,, Thats what we Need more Pain ,. " What is Gribs Smiling about ,,, Is he trying to read my mind again .

Week 2 ,,, Day 7 The set that cameramen Love to Hate

We have a few days at our favourite location ( NOT ) It is Healys Office and in the AST building a Great old empty Victorian building , the interior loos great and the Art department makes it look better .

We have a set that is 3 floors up so any lighting coming through the windows is a difficult exercize in the car park below ,,,,,,, The sun also comes around to shine straight into the windows in the afternoon and it is to high up to have any effective control over it without seeing it through the windows ,,,,,,,, To add to that is the fact that you mostly see only hot sky outside the windows .

The View From My Window

Some days off you dont even have to go out side your apartment ,,,,,,, Just looking out the window is enough .

DAY OFF ,,, WHAT BLISS

When I was walking around Halifax I saw a strang looking guy Stalking me ,,,,,,, Maybe just a homeless man looking for a cup of coffee

DAY OFF BUT NOT OFF 2

It had been a tough FIRST week ,,, It felt like we had been shooting for weeks ,,, The change of a Director 2 days before you start a movie had been a little stressful for everyone concerned ,,,,,,,,, The Great News was that Robert was Well on his way to being back on set ,,,

We had survived the First week ,,,,,,,,, Now we had to Scout next weeks locations ,,,,, Doesnt look like I will get any 2 day weekends anytime soon .

It s always fun to do a scout for a Night scene in the Daytime ... But the little digital camera still comes in handy for scoping out shots ,,, THe Leica has a 16 by 9 format to make it easier ,

The content of an interesting leadlight window in one of our main locations caught my eye ,,, Bloody Missionaries out to convert the Natives ,,, And ruin their Lives .