super 16 short diary

Post by **mattias** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 12:18 am

september 3.

first day of princinple photography started with the gaffer driving a truck into a store sign, which broke into a million pieces. luckily we think we're insured. after that the film stock hadn't arrived, but it soon did. and after that it went like a charm. shot two 400' rolls on vision2 500t. all beautiful, according to the video monitor (we don't have the budget for dailies). our lead acress was so in the moment that people cried on the set, living in oblivion style, including me, even though i take credit for taking her there. :-) five more days to go and 9 more rolls. wish us luck.

/matt

Post by **sunrise** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 1:37 am

The wheater will hold nicely the next days. I'm really looking forward to this. Do you shot chronologically off the script?

michael

Santo · Post by **Santo** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 4:08 am

Some of us more jealous types would prefer that you use your own website for such updates and leave these boards for us super 8 and regular 16 peasants and serfs.

Post by **Filmosity** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 2:48 pm

And some of us less jealous types really wouldn't mind you posting your diary here.

Though perhaps it would be better suited in the Filmmaking forum of this site. Maybe just a link in this one since this seems to be the more popular of the two.

Post by **mattias** » Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:58 pm

i won't start a new thread for every day, don't worry. if you've opened this message by mistake you don't have to again. :-)

september 4
pretty much the same. two more rolls shot. two more actresses on the set, both a bit nervous and rather tense, but we worked it out. one of them later said i was one of the best directors she'd ever worked with. she probably just wanted to say thanks for helping her, but since she's been acting for 20 years i think i'll use that later when i feel like a complete loser, which i always do at one point during a shoot. :-)

moving on to the night exteriors tomorrow, which means i'll have more to tell about technical stuff. if you want a preview to drool over, here's our equipment list:

arri sr3 s16
video tap, monitor (w/ rec), follow focus, matte box, tripods and so on
set of primes from 6 to 100mm
hmi's, four 6k's (man, those are cool), two 1k's, four 300's
kino's, two large banks, one small, four single fixtures, daylight and tungsten tubes
redhead and blondie kit
full grip kit
doorway dolly
dat walkman + mixer, shotgun on boom, two lavaliers

and some more that i don't remember.

/matt

Post by **christoph** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:13 am

mattias wrote:moving on to the night exteriors tomorrow, which means i'll have more to tell about technical stuff. if you want a preview to drool over, here's our equipment list:
[snip]
set of primes from 6 to 100mm
hmi's, four 6k's (man, those are cool), two 1k's, four 300's
kino's, two large banks, one small, four single fixtures, daylight and tungsten tubes

you sure have a weird setup of lenses and lights... i'd say, leave the 6mm and the 100mm at home and replace two 6k's with a 4k and a 2,5k and you save a lot of money without not limiting yourself a lot... but then again, of course these comments are completely random without knowing your visual concept ;)

oh yes, as a last rather pointless remark: i don't like using kino's.. the light always looks artificial.
specially on exteriours where you have enough space to do the same thing with a blonde and a 1x1 for much less money ;)

++ christoph ++

Post by **mattias** » Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:27 am

christoph wrote:you sure have a weird setup of lenses and lights...

yeah, we got what we could get. we got a very good deal from the rental company, and we got what they hadn't already rented out at full price. we need the ultra wide angle for one specific shot, and since they didn't have a zoom to spare we felt we needed a very long one too. we shoot most of the film with a 25 though. if we had to pay full price but on the other hand could get what we wanted it'd sure look a bit different.

replace two 6k's with a 4k and a 2,5k

we're doing a big lighting rig where we can shoot in any direction and just switch on and off lights as needed (and then move in with fill and eyelights), that's why, and we paid a fixed amount anyway.

oh yes, as a last rather pointless remark: i don't like using kino's.. the light always looks artificial.

i agree. we're going for an artificial look for some scenes though. dreamy hospital stuff.

thanks a lot for your feedback.

/matt

btw, i'm not the dp, nor the producer or production manager, so what do i know? :-)

Post by **mattias** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 6:59 am

september 5

hmi update: four 4k's, two 1200's, four 300's. sorry.
kino update: three large banks, two small.
dolly update: it's one of those really small ones you run on a ladder. don't know what they're called in english.

first night of exteriors. plenty of fun, great shots, very, very rushed at the end while the sun was rising. had to cut a few shots. might be able to pick them up tomorrow, but it should work as is. the male actors entered the production, and i throwed them straight into the making out scenes with the girls. wanted to get the energy of the first encounter, and i think it worked (although we've rehearsed quite a bit i deliberatly left this part out of that). very tired now, so this report will have to end here. good night.

/matt

Post by **christoph** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 9:03 am

mattias wrote:september 5
hmi update: four 4k's, two 1200's, four 300's. sorry.

good to hear that your dp and production manager know what they're doing afterall :)

just out of curiosity, are they really 300W HMIs in sweden? over here you can only get them as 200W or 575W

++ christoph ++

Post by **mattias** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:55 pm

they are reffered to as "threehundreds" by the dp and gaffer all the time. don't know if that's just lingo or the actual wattage.

/matt

Post by **mattias** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:26 am

september 6

woah, the fourth day angst kicked in. the movie sucks. not really i guess, but suddenly halfway into the night both me and the dp were lost creatively. we had no idea how to get a shot after the planned setup didn't quite work. we had to figure out a way to shoot so we could edit around the problem, and that started an entire review of every single shot and possible edit point we had gotten so far. we finally worked it out, but only after an hour of director, dp, assistant camera, gaffer, assistant director and a few pa's running around with lamps, props, tripods and god knows what, with nobody leading the way. the actors saved us. i told them we were lost and they just said "take your time. do your thing. we'll be ready", and then delivered. good night. thanks for tuning in.

hmi update. the small hmi's are arrisun 5's, which are 575 watts according to google. don't know why they call them 300's.

/matt

Post by **mattias** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 2:18 pm

yesterday's angst gone. everything felt good, until: a call from the lab. "a problem" with one of the 7 rolls processed so far. production manager and dp are there now. report will follow.

/matt

Post by **mattias** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:36 pm

one shot in one scene was ruined due to a light leak at the end of the roll. looked like a bad mag according to the dp, but the first half of the roll was fine and we've used that same mag for other rolls and got no leak. we might cut around it or reshoot. i feel better now anyway. not as bad as my worst nightmare. :-)

/matt

Post by **S8 Booster** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:46 pm

Nice to see you are underway with your project.

Possible to tape the magÃ‚Â´s critical areas/joints to ensure no light leaks - protective countermeasure?

R

Post by **mattias** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:56 pm

for sure. the mags were taped, but not that thorougly and mainly to see which ones contained film. you just don't expect light leaks with a serviced sr3.

/matt