Published at: 03:10 am - Wednesday October 28 2009
So It seems again that i have neglected the good ol’ weblog. I feel pretty good that I am at least updating it before actor extraordinaire and web guru, Harold Philips, got a chance to harass me about it!
So what’s new? Earlier this month i had to privilege to work on A. L. Steens web series “Animus Cross.” I was brought on to the project by kick ass pro photographer turning photographer/cinematographer, Andy Batt. I acted as Andy’s assistant camera for the six day shoot that took place all over the greater Portland, Vancouver, St. Helens, and other interesting outdoor locations.
Galvin Collins slating a shot on Set of animus Cross
Andy shot the film primarily on the Canon 5Dmark2 but also used the new Canon 7D as well as a Panasonic HVX200 for specialty shots. I had a great time working on this show! It was long days in cold locations but honestly i can thing of a single time during the shoot that was anything less than enjoyable. The crew is an incredibly dedicated and high spirited bunch that i am proud to say i worked with. What we just shot will hit the web some time next year. I’ll post more specific info when i have it but you can follow up information on the Animus Cross Blog HERE. A few more Animus Cross links Making of photography gallery HERE. Animus Cross write up in The Portlander.
So the day after we wrapped principal photography on this season of “Animus Cross” I came down with a wicked cold that lasted for about 5 long days. Here it is a few weeks later and i am still working to shake a cough that is lingering. Luckily i haven’t had any big shoots or jobs and have been able to properly rest. I have been using the down time to work on putting together work for my resume, portfolio, demo reel package. It is a few years out of date and in desperate need of re vamping. This will more than likely migrate into a large web page redesign soon.
Its getting late and this is a good start to keeping the weblog up to date!
Published at: 05:09 pm - Tuesday September 08 2009
I logged into my withoutabox.com account and got the bummer news today that my senior thesis film “L.E.A.D.” was not accepted into the BendFilm festival. It was a bummer but not a huge shock. I had hopped that i would be able make it into my home town’s film festival but unfortunately we didn’t. My dad pushed me to FINALLY finish the film and get it sumbitted so it was a great achievement for Screaming Inside Films LLC to get all the work done on the film (Big thanks to Chris Davis who composited diligently for about a month to bring it back to life.) Dad submitted a film that he completed and it was his dream to see both our films screening at the BendFilm festival. My dad is still waiting to hear back from the fest on his final submition status.
Steve Coker’s film “Cracking the Code” was submitted to BendFilm as well as Mark Steels short film “Marvin’s Plan.” Unfortunaltly both were also Not accepted. I was hoping for three successful entries and instead we got three strike outs.
On a lighter more cheery note: Everyone who has been patiently awaiting their copy of “L.E.A.D.” The wait is soon to be over. We are crafting a DVD to deliver to you all that will hopefully meet your expectations. I have in mind to do a few screenings and i feel like there is a festival out there will fit this film!
So I’m back! Again! It has been a while since the last time i posted so i’ll try to do a catch up.
June: Many good things in June. I celebrated my 27th birthday with friends and had a great time! The house is now the proud owner of a brand new banana suit! When all my friends were singing the birthday song my roomate Chris jumped out in a banana suit, I laughed so hard! Next thing i knew i was rocking around in a banana suit and a kilt. Not somthing that you see everyday, i’m told! Later that eveing Kyle put the banana suit on and let me shoot some photos. He also put on a fake mustach. That was funny! Great night!
The day after my birthday my Dad and I embarked on a road trip to Jamestown, ND. Not the destination that most think about on a road trip but let me tell you it’s a good town. My cousin Dustin graduated high school in Jamestown and we went to celbrate that event with family. Dad and i took an event filled journey enjoying the travel. I’ll post more about that trip soon.
July: When i got back from my trip with my dad i found out that my employment with Laika was coming to and end. They are in between projects right now and don’t have much for me to do. I look forward to rejoing them in the future! Thank you Laika for a great two years!
I also started teaching at The Art Institute of Portland. The first day was a little rough but after that it got better. I hope that the students are learning, I have never taought before so this has been a unique chalange!
Shame on me, i haven’t updated in a while. I have been enjoying the spuratic sun that Portland has been rationing out. Trying ot enjoy the great outdoors this year! I have also been preping for a job teaching. Thats right i am going to give teaching a shot. Still part time at laika and my company Screaming Inside Films LLC is putting bid in on a big project. Looking forward to hearing about that soon.
And now for the real reason for the post. In a moment of brilliance I created a slice of awesome. Chris davis went to Ikea the other day and bought a new office chair. This act made me take a second look at my trusty computer chair. Holes in the fake leather everywhere, at least one couch pillow adding to the butt pad, and arm rest that look like they are going to fall right off. Though trusty and long lived it seemed that a new chair might be in my future. As i turned my pockets inside out without finding the nessesary funding to purchase a new chair i knew i had to get creative. About a year ago i took one of the middle captain chairs out of my 91 toyota previa van to make room for the mass of film making gear that i was hauling around for shooting the feature film “Crackin the Code.” Since then the lone bucket seat has sat in the garage. Lightning struck and in a moment of brilliance I bolted van seat to the rolling legs off of my old chair. Behold the most comfortable office chair i have ever owned.
A few months ago I purchased a Canon 5D mark 2 camera. One of the things that sets this camera apart from others in its class and price point is its ability to shoot amazing HD video. Since i got the camera in the mail I had been looking for a project to test it on. My friend director Vincent Caldoni from Portland acting, asked if we could shoot what he calls “Video Head Shots” using the 5D2. At the end of their 4 week class sessions they provide an on camera session that is cut into a complete scene that is perfect for an actors reel. He had been thinking about buying a 5D2 and he wanted to see if it was going to be the right camera for his needs. This was the perfect opportunity to test out the video capabilities. Here are the final results from that shoot!
I shot the two videos above with the stock camera body, no modifications. We used two lenses, Nikon 50mm ƒ1.8, and a Sigma 24-70 ƒ2.8 both are Nikon lenses mounted to the camera with an adapter. Doing this gave us the ability to lock in an ƒ-Stop, a feature that as of this writing is not available using canon lenses. To light these we used primarily available light augmented with some small portable compact florescent lights that matched the color temperature of the locations light. It truly was amazing the image that we got in such low light situations. The garage that we shot the car scene in was what i previously would have thought would be to dark to shoot. On the con sides i would say the primary problem we faced was the camera clicks off into a power save mode, this may be adjustable but in video mode it was a pain to try to keep the preview up for framing and lighting. Second along the same lines was that when you use the video out cable and run to a monitor you loose your on cameras LCD. It would be nice to have the option for both, for the operator to see the image and have a monitor up for the director. I didn’t manage the post workflow but Vincent Caldoni metioned a few workflow issues that he had to make is way around. The native footage is 30p and he wanted a 24p look, so he had to convert it. I belive he used a free plugin for FCP to achive this. He was using and older mac G5 with out the intel processors so the native footage was unplayable (not unsportted but unplayable, computer was to slow to give smooth playback) and had to be converted to another HD format that had smoot playback on the G5. Previously i have used DVCproHD in these circumstances but the editor went with the sony XDCAM HD codec and that seemed to work well for him. Maybe I’ll have Vincent write up a work flow debrief and post it if anyone is interested.
Over all i thought the footage that we shot and the final product looked great. With a propper cinema package (matt box, follow focuse, HD monitor or Eyepiece) and some firmware updates with increased manual control this camera will be an indi film powerhouse.
If you would like more information about Portland Acting or ar interested in takeing some of there classes have a look at there blog: http://www.portlandacting.blogspot.com/
