behind the scenes

Day 4 of editing captivity. I see a light …  Not sure if it’s the end of the tunnel or just a mirage.  That often happens in these situations.

The fun and excitement of 4 big shoots has now turned into the grim reality of piecing them all together. I believe the equation is something like 1 day of shooting equals 10 days of post.  If that’s the case,  that light is further away than I thought.  

The spots are coming out cute (I can say that cause I’m married).  I’ve been cutting at home on my laptop and 24 inch monitor.  Works really nice for simple stuff.   If I get too deep in compositing I need a bigger, faster box, but for rough cuts it’s perfect.  

When I try to edit at the office, it’s really hard to concentrate with all the hustle and bustle of the production team wrapping the job.  So I prefer to lock myself up at the Dugan Ranch.  Pictures to follow.

Cheers, I’m headed back to my cave!  Keep the light on for me.

I saw this commercial last night and loved it… Too funny.

Whew!  A new week is starting and we have four new spots in the can.  Lauren and I are at the office wrapping today, and Fagan and Jerry are logging and editing away.  Our client wants a rough cut of one of the spots today!

We had lots of fun with all the spots last week, but I think Cabbage Patch Kids and Lucky Bee Bee were my favorites.  Both were very girly, with super fun creative concepts (thanks to our rockin writer Bernice), fabulous talent (thanks to our LA-based casting director Michael), infectious jingles (thanks to our composer Ric), and very current looks for the sets, wardrobe, and hair/ makeup (thanks to Art Director Jeff, Stylist Jeanne, and Kandee the Makeup Artist).

Here’s a pic of our three little Cabbage Patch stars.  They were adorable!  

In the background, you can see our doll styling station.  Our two professional doll stylists - the Jennifers - were fabulous.  For one sequence in the commercial, they had to create 10 different, intricately styled hair-do’s.  To make each look really good takes a lot of effort (and funny miniature doll hairstyling tools… including tiny curling irons and hot glue guns).

We also shot for a new product called Dunkadoos.  Our look for the spot was very clean… People kept commenting that it looked like an Apple commercial.  

My favorite part was a shot with a big, slimy, live frog.  So fun!   

I also got to totally embarrass myself that day when our client said he wouldn’t sign off on the jingle unless we convinced him with a live performance of it.  I recruited Lyndi (our wardrobe assistant), Kandee the makeup artist, production coordinator Lauren, and assistant director Garrett to help me perform it at lunch.  We rocked it out.   

We’ll post production stills from our set photographer later this week, and in the meantime, we’re going to go lock ourselves away in the edit bay!

Hey!  Mike the Intern checkin’ in with a little behind the scenes look at a few of our sets this week (Cabbage Patch Kids and GX Racers). 

Enjoy!

Hey - It’s Mike the Intern.  Crazy prep day at the office!  Check out what’s goin on at FLF Films…

It’s been a long week of prep, and I’m happy to say we’re ready to shoot 4 national commercials next week!   Locations are locked, cast is booked, crew and gear are en route.   We’ve got little girls actors learning our choreography in LA, and our composer recording jingles in NY.    

Production Coordinator Lauren, Mike the Intern, and Damien have been hard at work prepping at our office “picnic table” all day.  Generally, the more cluttered it is, the more we’re getting done.  Looks like they’ve been busy…

Lauren, Damien & Mike the Intern

TGIF, everyone!   Have  a great weekend!

Since we’ve been talking cowboys, guns, and all things Western in the last few posts, I thought I’d post a project we did a little earlier this year: a commissioned artwork for an exhibit at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Cowboy poetry art piece for the Nevada Museum of Art

It was an amazing project in which we filmed three current day cowboy poets reciting the poem “Grass” by Buck Ramsey.  The filming took us from the grasslands of Texas to the high deserts of Nevada.  

Called “Between Grass and Sky: Rhythms of a Cowboy Poem,” the exhibit opened on January 16th.   Hundreds of people from the community came to the premiere night… We were honored to be a part of it, and amazed to see our piece projected in full blu-ray glory on a giant, beautifully decrepit, old roadside billboard.   Here are some pics (by photographer Aaron Underwood — thank you, Aaron!) of the exhibit and the opening night:

Very cool concept… Artist Nik Hafermaas, who designed the exhibit, wanted to present cowboy life in a non-traditional way: not folksy, rather modern and avant-garde.   You can see that idea reflected in our film:  instead of cutting at the end of lines or stanzas, Nik urged us to cut in unexpected places.  He also told us he wanted extreme close ups of the poets — so we “stitch them together in our imagination.”  It was inspired art direction, and a wonderful experience working with him.

If you’re in the Reno area, check out the exhibit, “Between Grass & Sky,” at the Nevada Museum of Art!  It’s on display for another month (until May 17th).

As some of you know, we just wrapped a Western short film “The Sierra” shot entirely in the snow.  We were at a beautiful location called White Wolf.  Amazing, amazing amazing.  It was fast, fun and furious with gunfights, stunts, horses, cowboys and indians.  We shot a 25-minute film in about 6 days.    

It brought me back to the old days of making snowboard films, minus the cowboys and indians, probably about as many guns.  I spent a lot of years trudging around the snow with an Arri SB and a tripod strapped to my back.  Times have changed and my back has gotten weaker, but I hopefully have become a bit wiser.  That said, I believe  many of the lessons I learned still hold true. So I thought I would throw out a couple of useful tips for shooting in the snow….

1.  Lots of manpower, the more the better.  It always takes twice as long to get around and set positions.  It just physically takes more energy to move, especially carrying equipment.

2.  Always have foul weather gear for your camera.  Even if it’s not snowing, you’ll get blowing crystals or falling snow debris off of  tree limbs that will scuttle even the best camera, or spot your lens at the least.

3.  Neutral density filters are your friend. You should have no lack of light or fill while out in the winter wonderland but you might have way too much DOF with all the exposure.  I like to run with an N9 and a Pola depending on time of day and direction.  On this shoot we were shooting a RED ONE camera with an N9, IR and Pola most of the time.  Occasionally we would go to the N1.2, which should take about 4 stops out of the equation.

4.  When we were making snowboard films, we would do our follow work hand-held on a snowboard or skis just “suitcasing” the camera.  For this shoot, we used a combo of hand-held and steadi-cam, jib arm and dolly.  For the steadi-cam, it was super important to pack down a trail for the operator to have the smoothest possible track. The same applies to hand-held.

For the dolly we brought 10ft long 2×12 planks to lay first and level the dolly track on.  Wood has a slower sink rate and this is important when trying to maintain a level dolly.  When you put the metal down on the snow, it just kinda sinks no matter how firm it is.

5.  When shooting film, I would always expose for the ambient fill.  Basically put the ball of the meter towards camera without angling towards the ground or sky.  I was looking for a very average reading, knowing that the snow would reflect way hotter than other more neutral shooting environments.  If a little sun snuck onto the ball from the backlight that was ok, or conversely if it were front lit, letting the ball of the meter take what light the sun was throwing.  Just once again not angling any other way than towards the camera.  This was a very simple and effective way to get a fat negative and compensate for the abundance of fill.

Now with the RED ONE camera, protecting highlights is key and especially important in the snow.  Usually in the morning I would set my meter to the native ISO of the RED (320) and check what that looked like on the monitor —  maybe even transfer a shot to RED Alert to see what was holding and what wasn’t.  I also had my camera set up in Redspace.  This allowed me to see a higher key image on the monitors.  This was important because of the snow blinding that happens after a full day in the snow.  Brights start to seem duller and your inclination is to open up a little more.  Having a hotter image on the screens helped to keep me honest and true to my original exposure ideals.

6. Bring lots of sunscreen and reapply as much as you drink water.  You’re gonna be at elevation and you can get dehydration and altitude sickness in a heart beat.  Just ask Erika about that.

Cheers

J

Some of the most memorable moments from the shoot:

The very dark/ disturbed/ loveable Tom Surprenant smoking a ciggie after a truly disgusting bloody-wound scene…

The hilarious Sandy Danto taking a digger off a horse galloping at full speed.  Our crew watching, stunned…  Not a single camera caught it!

Kandee playing in the dirt, “weathering” the too-new cowboy clothes…

Ray’s crazy snow mobile driving…

Markus getting shot off the horse and missing the crash pad…

Hot fudge sundaes before lunch!  Felt like a kid eating ice cream for breakfast…

Brian rollin up with the make-up entourage day 1…

Watching the back country skiier get busted coming down the peak behind us…

Danny Epper stunt doubling for someone half his size… and wearing his wardrobe…

…Anybody else…?

AND …more production stills from behind the scenes of “The Sierra” !   Thanks again, photog Lauren Randolph!

It’s been exactly 3 weeks since we wrapped The Sierra, and I feel like I’ve finally caught back up on my rest and office work.  Whew!  What a crazy, exciting project: a Western short film shot in snowy Lake Tahoe.  From the live gunfire, exploding bloodbags, rearing horses, and stunts, to our amazing cast and crew, it was an action-packed week not soon to be forgotten!  

Lauren Randolph, our stills photographer, just brought in the photos this week.  She did such a great job capturing the mood on set, I’m excited to share some of my favorite images:

A huge, huge thank you to everyone who participated…  You all put so much hard work into this project, and it’s going to be a great film because of it.

Our cast:  

Scott Ashby, Markus Cartellieri, Monej Cruz, Sandy Danto, Timothy V. Murphy, Kalani Queypo, Greg Sporleder, Drew Taylor, and of course Alano Massi.

Our crew:

Alano Massi, Jerry Dugan, Lauren Carbone, Michael Jordan, Adam Stern aka Chili, Mike McIntyre aka Mack Dawg, Jeff Ferrero, Klaus Kenneman, Ryan Baker, Ryan Fagan, Nathan Garofalos, Austin Blank, Sabrina Zackery, Chad Eshbaugh, Jeff Pettit, Peter Orr, Joe Viskocil, Danny Epper & son Nick Epper, Kandee Johnson, Tom Surprenant,  Brian Jensen, Jennifer Oxier, Nikki Becker, Lloyd Cooper & Alan (Fort Hope, yo!), Ray O’Brien, Kaleb Temple, Elton De Leon, Cory Ahtoong, Marco Biljanic, Damien Acker, Randy Ventura, Adam Marina, Steve Zideck, Troy & Sue Caldwell, Randy Redinger, Reuben Bankston, Lauren Randolph, Eileen Kennedy, Brian Alderman, and Ken Golden.  What an amazing team of people.  

And the companies (and people) that seriously hooked us up:

Especially Nova Lighting, Action Grip, One Take Productions, Michael Risolli, Greg Benitez, and Mack Dawg.  Also Crest Catering, Mourelatos Lakeshore Resort, The California Film Commission, North Tahoe Fire District & Alan Griffith.

Thank you again for your time, your talents, your equipment, and your help in making this happen!