Flickr Blog

Just wanted to post a link to the Flickr blog I set up for our Vegas pictures. Check it out sometime! We'll be updating it constantly.

FLIP Flickr Blog

4 AM in Las Vegas

This morning, we shot the second half of the scene where Aldo and Jennifer get married at a strip-mall wedding chapel. It's right down the street from the "Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. The scene itself involves the characters stopping to take a break from their drunken wandering, and Jennifer turns around to discover that there is a wedding chapel. She suggests that She and Aldo get married, then annulled, so that way their second marriage (to other people) will work better. Aldo, still drunk, sees some logic to that and agrees.
Since we don't really have the cooperation of any businesses in Las Vegas, I was sure to scout the most generic looking "WEDDINGS" sign I could find. It was just a happy accident that it's so close to the famous Las Vegas sign. We arrived right around 5:00 AM. I learned from this site, that the sunrise would occur right around 5:28 AM. That gave us about 45 minutes of good lighting to work with.

As it turns out, the wedding chapel stays open until around 5 AM, then they close for a few hours. We lucked out in that sense, so we were able to pretend to come out of the building. In the scene, Jarrod is carrying a Polaroid of himself and Rebecca at the altar (taken at my house earlier in the week) and a small container of bubbles. Rebecca clutches her marriage certificate to her chest. They walk out of the chapel and towards the street, then she suggests that they go back to the room.


For the scene I used the FigRig again, this time, with a 28mm lens. This let me get right up to the actors while still keeping most of them in frame. Since there was quite a bit of light outside, I was able to shoot at an aperture of around 5.6 which gave me a little more DoP to work with. I had them walk to me, stop, turn left and walk down the street. Once we got that shot, I switched to the 50mm lens. This is great for close ups of the individual actors because it makes the background really defocused. I got some close ups of both of the actors, then I got some insert shots of the bubbles and Polaroid. I realize as I am typing this that I forgot to get an insert shot of the marriage certificate. I'll just get that when we get back home. It'll be a tight enough shot that you wont be able to see the BG.


Once we were done with that, we headed back to the hotel. Casinos are really nice and peaceful in the early morning. The only people playing the machines are angry loners and people waiting to go to the airport. We went back up to the room. Everyone is asleep now, except me. I plan on sleeping soon as well. We'll get up around 1:00 PM and then it's lunch time. We have a big scene to shoot today. It's a 6 page scene that takes place in the room. We are shooting about half of it today (hopefully.) I'll write all about it soon. Bye guys!

End of shoot day 2

We shot on Freemont street tonight. In the movie, Aldo and Jennifer get drunk and walk around Las Vegas. I wanted to shoot somewhere visually interesting AND well lit at night. The Freemont Street experience was just the ticket. We got there around 10:00 PM, and loitered a bit. Geoff got kicked out of a casino, cuz he looks like he's 12 and a half years old. I waited outside with him untill Rebecca and Jarrod returned with their Yard-Long drinks (for the scene, of course).


Freemont street is a closed down section of old Las Vegas. The area directly above the street and sidewalk is covered with lights that act like a giant TV screen. It plays a show every hour. I shot a bunch of stuff of Jarrod and Rebecca walking around, mostly handheld stuff with the FigRig. I used a 28mm lens for the shots of Aldo and Jennfier walking around. I used a 70-210 zoom for a shot of them walking down a long corridor. We had been shooting for almost an hour and the show still hadnt started. Just as we were getting ready to leave, all the lights went out and the Freemont Street Experience started! Not wanting to miss any of it, I grabbed the camera and put the 50mm on it. Once I had enough footage with the 50, I changed to the 28mm. They both worked really well considering the lighting circumstances. So over the course of 1 and a half hours, I used just about every lens I have. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more!

1 day down...

The beautiful Las Vegas strip at 9:00 PM. (Click to enlarge)

Yesterday went very well. We had lunch at Tyler's Taste of Texas around 7:00. The Venetian blinds made everybody look like they were in a film noir movie. After that, we filled up at Acro for an incredible $3.19! (How depressing is it to get excited over a $3.19 gas price?) Since there was NO traffic going into Vegas, we arrived in Vegas about 3 hours too early (Noon), so we went to the Grand Canyon Experience, Gameworks and The M&M's store (which is super lame). After we had killed enough time, we mosied on over to the hotel and checked in. I decided we would be as inconspicuous as possible if we had the bell-hop bring our various bags up, rather than everyone taking a single item (which would take forever). So, $40 in tip money later, all the bags were up in the room. An hour or so later, we started setting up for the scene in the bathroom where Aldo talks to himself in the mirror.

That scene worked well. As I stated before, we shot the scene two ways. The split-screen and the greenscreen method both seemed to work equally well. I opted to use the green posterboard on the mirror, rather than the chromakey tape we had tested the scene with earlier. The decision was made mostly for time reasons. (The tape took a long, long time to remove successfully.) Also, it gave us more green surface area to work with which means Jarrod wasn't as confined in his movements.



After we shot that scene, Rebecca went to the store (K-mart) for provisions while everybody else went across the street to have Dinner. (We picked Rebecca up something there). Around 8:30 or so, we set-up for scene 4 1/2 which involves Jarrod and Rebecca sitting on the couch playing drunken card games. This scene is another Dolly/Crane move, so it took about 2 hours to set up. I just used a 1K on either side of the actors. Each 1k provided the key for the actor it was closest to and the fill for the actor it was farthest away from. After numerous tries to get the camera set-up to remain level, I finally abandoned that idea and just decided that the scene would work better with a Dutch Angle. (Because Rebecca's character is not being entirely truthful with Jarrod's character.) After the moving shot, we shot coverage of the scene from a tripod. And that was the end of the first night's shooting in Vegas. I couldn't be happier with the way it went. We are all about to go out to lunch now. When we return, expect another few posts.

Leaving (for) Las Vegas

In about 7 hours, Myself, Rebecca, Jarrod and Geoff will all be on our way to Las Vegas . We are eating breakfast at 7:00 am, it should take about an hour. And then we'll be back on the road again at 8:00 am. With a stop in Barstow for gas and various foodstuffs, we should arrive at the hotel right at 3:00 pm (check-in time). We have two scenes to shoot when we get there. The first scene is the bathroom scene with Jarrod talking to himself. The other scene is a scene where Jennifer and Aldo are playing cards and decide to go outside to walk around. That will be another crane/dolly shot, so I've budgeted extra set-up time for that. If everything goes according to schedule, we will be done shooting by 1:00 am. I'll post an update as soon as I get an internet connection again. Bye guys!

Another post about the first day of shooting

Well, everybody's doing it, so I think I'll make a post as well.

I headed over to join the boys on-set at 9:45pm. I sent Carleton a text message to let him know I was coming and to ask if they needed anything. I got a call from him almost immediately. The portable dvd player had died, which they were using for an important shot, and he needed an S-video cable to connect the laptop to the hotel room tv.

Producer springs into action!

I jetted over to the closest store that's open at 10pm AND sells electronics. I picked up 6ft of S-video cable and headed to the hotel. My job for the day as a producer was done. Hooray!

They've torn apart the room. One of the beds is on its side out of the way, and I think they rearanged almost all of the furniture. They needed to make room for all of the equipment, so had to move stuff.

At present, we're at least 70% through today's shooting. Then, in approximately 30 hours, we leave for Vegas! YAY!

Photo opp!

Today everybody involved in the movie (except for Matt Jarbo, who has a job which precludes him from all fun activities) met at my house. We had some burgers then we set up for a photo opp. Originally, the script called for Aldo to see the bubbles, the marriage certificate and Jennifer before he realized what happened the previous night. Rebecca had the idea of showing a wedding photo instead of the bubbles. I liked it, but told her the only way I would do it was if we got an old 1970's style Polaroid camera and shot the picture on 669 film. 669 film is different from what people normally think of when they think of Polaroid. Rather than the square, low res pictures that come out of modern polaroids, 669 film produces pictures that look almost like 35mm snap shots. After finding a camera that works (to a degree), we got some props for the picture. Rebecca wanted a cheesy veil to wear and I wanted balloons. We got both. I set up the shot on an empty wall in my house. Altogether, I shot 7 polaroids of Jarrod and Rebecca in costume. I have one that I really like. I also shot some digitals, for backup.

After that, we went back to the dinner table and cleared it off. This was to become the boardroom table for scene 1. I wanted to rehearse the camera move for scene 1 to see if it would indeed work as I intended. I had Fernando be the boss and taped a big "motivational poster" to some cabinets. Once the camera was set up on the crane and dolly, we tried out the movie. Geoff pulled focus very well. The shot looked pretty good. It will look better when we really shot it on location. I also set up the shot I had planned for scene 2, with Aldo in his crummy room. That went well too. All in all, it was a productive night. Only a few more days until we start shooting! Stick around!

Creating an equipment checklist

How many of the moviemakers out there have been in this situation? You pack everything into the car, arrive on location, pull out the camera and tripod- then you realize that you left the tripod adapter plate at home. I've had it happen to me twice, which is the main reason that I have taken to creating equipment checklists.

Equipment checklists can seem like an unnecessary step if you're just doing a short film, but I speak from experience when I say that they are as essential as the tape you are recording on. Basically, an equipment checklist is just like it sounds. It's a sheet (created in Excel) that lists what equipment is needed for the days' shooting. They are really quite easy to create, and they'll save you a lot of time in the long run.

First, open your spreadsheet program. (I use NeoOffice, cuz it's free). For my equipment checklists, I use a template given to me by my producer friend, Barbara. I like to create a header at the top stating the name of the project, the production company and the date. After that, create several columns down the entire length of the page. Add a few rows going across, and viola', you have a template.
It should look something like above. (Click to enlarge)

From left to right, the columns are: Need/Number (# = serial number), OK at check out (this more important is if the gear is from a rental house), Item Description, and Ok at return (if the item is not ok at return, there is a space at the end of the document for comments.) At the very last page, create a large blank space (half the page or so) labeled "Comments". At the very bottom of the page, be sure to have an "Equipment Verified by" signature space and the date. This ensures that you receive the full blame for any problems later on.

I have divided this into different segments by creating new rows. The entire contents of my various cases is listed in it's own row. This helps me stay organized, by checking things bit by bit. As I go, I'm sure to check the appropriate items off the list. If there is something I can't find, I make a note of it and come back to it later. Often I will find the missing item in another case. If I don't find it, I usually go back into the house to find it.

If you are doing a movie that is fairly prop-heavy, it may be useful to use the template you created to make a property list/ wardrobe list. There's nothing worse than showing up to a shoot without a key prop. That's it for tonight kids. Check back tomorrow for more tomfoolery!

The only Special Effect in FLIP

(Click picture for larger image)

In the movie there is a scene where Aldo (Jarrod) talks to himself in the mirror. Since short movies can play around with reality more than features, I'm going to do a splitscreen effect where it looks like Jarrod is talking to another Jarrod on the other side of the mirror. (Think of the scene in 25th Hour where Ed Norton talks to himself in the bar's bathroom). I realize that this technique has been done many times in movies before, but I think it'll be fun to do and will break up the monotony of the scene.

I want to tackle this effect via greenscreen. (If you are not familiar with greenscreen, visit this link .) As you can see from the photo, I outlined Jarrod's... well, his outline with green chromakey tape. I figured this would be the ideal way to do it for several reasons. Since only a small part of the mirror is covered, Jarrod will still be able to make believable eye contact with himself. Also, while I do have a greenscreen big enough to cover up the entire mirror, that would involve evenly lighting it. The bathroom is not really the ideal place to be running a bunch of hot lights, nor is there space to accommodate everything I will need. In addition, if I used a green screen, there would be a TON of green spill all around the mostly white bathroom (A huge giveaway as to how the effect was done.)

For these reasons and more, I will attempt to do the effect using the outline-method. Once the shot is set-up and lit, I will have Jarrod deliver the "reflection" lines to himself (with me giving him his "Aldo" lines). Once that shot is done, I will outline the mirror with the green felt tape. It will be very, very important that I do not touch the camera during this, or the registration will be off and the effect will not work. Once Jarrod has enough of a green "buffer", I will shoot the scene with him giving the "Aldo" lines and a video playback monitor giving his "Reflection" lines from the previous take. This will ensure that the timing is right and it looks like he really is having a conversation with himself.

In post-production, I will go into the shot with the green tape and digitally paint the same color green over the rest of the mirror. Since the scene is locked down, this should be a relatively simple procedure (in Motion, or AE, or whatever). This will make the shot seem as if there had been a large greenscreen there the whole time. The benefit to this method is that I know it will be evenly lit since I will be painting it in myself.

Once these shots (called plates) are both done, I will have Jarrod do the scene again, this time, I'll frame it off for a simple split-screen effect. Aldo will be screen right, the reflection will be screen left. This will be my backup in the event that the greenscreen does not work as well as I want it to. The problem with the split-screen approach is that Jarrod can not cross the invisible dividing line in the middle of the screen. If he brings his left hand up to point at himself, the hand will disappear when it crosses the line. So, this will take a little more pre-visualization and rehearsal than the green screen method. Here is a video of a split-screen test I did with Rebecca the other night. (Note, since we were working quickly and without a script, the timing isn't just right. Also, you can see that the camera moved between takes so the dividing line is clearly visible.)

Obviously, the greenscreen method would be ideal. It would appear the most real and not draw any attention to itself. If it doesn't work though, I have my back up effect ready to go.

Set dressing and avoiding copyrights

One of my many responsibilities as producer is to make sure we don't come across any copyright infringements. The rooms at our hotel have copyrighted artwork hanging in them, so we need to cover them up with original, non-copyrighted artwork.

Having a background in theatre, I decided it would be easiest to paint these originals on pieces of muslin fabric. Muslin is a lightweight cotton cloth that is an off-white color. It's inexpensive to purchase and easy to work with. At a local fabric store it should cost you around 99 cents a yard and our particular fabric happened to be a yard in width also. Muslin is used in theatre mostly to paint scenery. If anyone has seen "The Honeymooners", they used muslin covered frames, (aka soft flats), which is why the walls wiggle when the door shuts.

Another benefit of us using muslin is that it won't take up much space in the car on the way to Vegas. We will be packing 4 people, their luggage, and ALL of our equipment, (lights, props, crane, dolly, wardrobe, etc.), into Carleton's mid-size SUV. It will be cozy, and there wouldn't be room for anything delicate/ fragile, like a painting on canvas board. Muslin can be easily folded, rolled, etc. and won't take up any space at all.

You can paint muslin with pretty much any kind of paint. I chose to use acrylic fabric paint, because that way we could roll/ fold/ spindle/ mutilate the finished piece and not worry about paint possibly coming off. While painting, I used a technique called “wet blending” This is a technique where you blend the colors together while the first application of paint is still wet. You can use a spray bottle to keep it damp. I used this predominantly on the sunset, but also in the other two. I used another technique on the green one called “scumbling”. In this technique, you use a series of unorganized overlapping strokes in different directions. The blue one is a little bit of everything.

As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I am the artist who created these. In order to create something both Carleton (Director) and I (Producer) both liked, I did research into various painters and paintings online to come up with inspiration. I had a lot of fun working on these, and am rather proud of them. It's difficult to tell from the pictures, but these are all fairly large scale paintings. The first one is about 3'x3' and the others are about 3'x 18".

How to block a scene

Tonight we had rehearsal for the movie. I want everything to go smoothly when actual on location in Vegas, so we are planning out camera moves now to see what might give us trouble later. When scouting the room in Vegas, I measured the dimensions and wrote them down in my handy-dandy notebook. When we started rehearsing back here in San Diego, I took some gaffer tape and taped out the layout of the room on the floor of my house. This way the actors can get a feel for the scale of the room, and develop a sense of spatial awareness.

The first thing we planned out was a continuous shot with the camera following behind Aldo as he enters Jennifer's suite from the hallway. The move covers a distance of about 20 feet. We are using the FigRig for this shot, with Geoff pulling focus via an 18" whip. What we did first run through it with the actors. I saw what their natural way of doing the scene was (where they stood, how they moved, ect.) then we re-created it and tweaked various aspects.

To start with, Jennifer opens the door to her room and holds up a bottle of Jeff Daniels, she then moves aside and gestures for Aldo to enter, he does and she follows behind him. Aldo walks to the end of the room and stares out a big window overlooking Las Vegas, Jennifer stands about 8 feet behind and stares at him. Then Aldo turns around and asks what else she found in her mini-bar. The scene, if shot with a normal video camera, would be fairly simple to shoot handheld. I would simply use 2 hands to hold the camera, use mostly existing light with maybe a tota pointed at the ceiling to raise the base light level of the room, and leave the focus on the DVX at... pshh, I duno... let's say 87 (Just to throw a number out there.)

Shooting with a Micro35 adapter means however, that I can not do any of the above. To get this shot with the set-up we are using means a substantial amount of pre-planning and rehearsal. First, the scene must be blocked out very specificity. Each time an actor stops or pivots in the shot, their mark must be taped down for reference ("spiking" as it is called). They must hit these marks with machine-like precision each time. Once the actors have their marks, the First AC (Geoff) will take a tape-measure and measure the distance from the focal point of the camera (a metal handle on the Micro35 adapter) to the actor. I was told once that it is always best to focus on the actor's eyes when measuring for focus. So I had Geoff measure to the actors eyes, or if they were not facing the camera, the very back of their head. Once he measures a distance, he turns the lens to the corresponding focus distance and makes a mark on the follow focus' wheel. I suggested he number them in the order he will pull the focus. Once we have done that for all the actors marks (there are 5 marks, which, in this case, gives us 5 focus pulls) we are ready to light the scene.

For a rehearsal, I didn't waste a lot of time lighting the scene. I just pointed a 1k in the actors general direction, and shined a 300 watt Tota at the ceiling in the part of the room they end up. Then I turned the gain up to +12db (I don't care about the quality of the rehearsal footage). When we actualy set up this scene at the hotel, I will have to spend a lot more time on the lighting.

Once the lighting is done, we are ready to do the scene. Before anybody asks me about it, all the dialog in this shot will be picked up via a concealed wireless lav mic on Jarrod. We don't have the extra hands for a boom opp on the shoot, nor would we have a place to put him in this shot. So, I am ready to go, Jarrod is standing behind Rebecca, I'm standing behind Jarrod, and Geoff is standing behind me. As the actors move through the shot, I follow behind them and when they hit their marks, Geoff pulls focus. For the sake of my forearms, I only want to do this scene a few times. (The entire rig weighs about 17 pounds, fully loaded) So after a few takes, I am confident we are ready to move on to the next scene.





Here is an image of the scene we are working on next. I will tell you more about it tomorrow...

The Shooting Schedule

I just want to post our shooting schedule for everybody. This will outline the days we will be shooting. I will be posting at the end of every shoot day. These posts will go over what we were able to get shot that day and how we solved (or didn't solve) any problems that occurred.

May 27th - Shooting scene 2 (with Aldo) in San Diego hotel.

May 29th thru June 2nd - Shooting in Las Vegas. (More detailed breakdown of scenes to follow)

June 5th - Shooting scene 1 in Downtown San Diego hotel.

Also, we are rehearsing tomorrow night (Friday, May 19th) and next Friday night (May 26th). Both of these will be followed with in-depth posts about various aspects of movie making. (Expect a post from Geoff my First AC, likely about his experiences pulling focus).

Stay tuned tomorrow night. Rehearsal is from 7-9:00 pm, so expect a few decent posts shortly thereafter!

I wanna be a producer!

Jarrod is a fantastic actor, and we are absolutely thrilled to have him on this project, but back in November or so, when we first started thinking about casting, Jarrod wasn't someone who either of us knew that well. Seeing as how we're all sharing a room in Vegas for a week, we wanted to make sure that everyone knew everyone really well before going. We had first asked another actor to play the part of Aldo. He was someone who I had worked with previously and, like Jarrod, is predominantly a theatre actor. We had been in some classes together and were friends. We took him out to a business lunch to try and court him for the film. The following will be a few of the mistakes we made at our lunch and in the process of asking him to do the movie, plus, a few things that you might want to think about.

-Don't go to the restaurant at a busy time. If you have no other choice, make a reservation.

-Make sure you have your credit/debit card or enough cash on you to cover whatever anyone orders. Plus $10.

-Make sure you, (the producer), have your wallet.

-Pick up your actor. Don't rely on them to find there way there or to be on time.

-In addition to that, make sure that they aren't dropped off by their embittered girlfriend who is not only jealous of his possibly of being in a movie, but doesn't like you because you're a female he's friends with.

-When the actors first response to being asked to be in the film is "I am interested...but I don't really want to be on a weeklong out of town trip without my girlfriend....but if you can cast her in it, I'm all ears", just give up right there. It's not worth the hassle to try and convince them otherwise, no matter how good of an actor they might be. Even offering pay does not work.

-Should you not take the advice to pick up your actor and arrive before they do, don't fill up on bread and appetizers so that you wind up not eating while your actor is eating all by themselves. This not only further isolates them, but makes the meal that much more longer and awkward.

-Don't eat while pitching the story. Food in mouths and talking are not a good combo.

-Maintain a business atmosphere and a sense of professionalism.

-Make sure you have a copy of the script that the actor can keep, regardless of their interest in doing the project.

-In addition to the script, provide a one page outline.

-Let them order whatever they want, with the exception of hard liquor. You don't want them drunkly agreeing, and then leaving you the morning after.

I think that just about wraps up this post. If I come up with more, I'll add 'em on. Or if you yourself have any additional comments, feel free to leave them. Have a great day, kids!

Planning ahead

Planning is important when you want to make a movie. Sure, I've done movies that had almost no planning at all and they turned out well enough. But, when a producer is putting up money for a project, they want to see that you know what you are doing... and when you will be doing it. So I created a production schedule in Excel. (I was actually given the template for it by my Producer friend Barbara). It broke down like this:


This is the schedule for our shoot on the 27th. The Excel file made everything really easy. I simply input the "Start Time" and "Length" and it created the "End Time" for me. When I went to the next line, it auto-completed with the correct start time.

To make this kind of sheet on your own in Excel (or NeoOffice) just click the box you want to auto-calculate for you and tell it which boxes to add together. Ie: in the "End Time" box C2 I would type "=A2+B2". This tells the program to add cell A2 and B2 together to get C2. Skipping on down to the next line, for box A3 I would type "=C2". This will tell the program to bring down the results from the last "End Time" cell.

This all sounds a little confusing when it's not shown visually, but it is really easy to do once you have it formatted correctly.

Another thing that is essential to have on a production is the Cast and Crew Call Sheets. These are the sheets of paper that tell everybody on the production where and when to meet on the following day and who else will be there. I make one of these for each crew member and give them out the day before. Having everything in black and white ensures that there is no confusion on the day of. If the sheet says meet at 8 AM, it means meet at 8 AM. No excuses.



As you can see, there are several things to put on a call sheet. At the top, put the name of the project. (When I made this one, the movie still had no title so it just says "Component Pictures Project"). After that list the day the sheet is for. A few rows down you want to list your Crew Assignments. This can be 1 person (Director/Cameraman/Boom/Window Washer) or it can be a list of the 20 crew members needed. It just depends on the size of the production. Make sure to have at least 1 contact phone number for each person (2 is ideal). After that, I leave a few spaces for notes (if needed). Then I list Crew Transportation. On this day, that's just me and my Ford Exploder. On larger productions, this will likely be a Teamster, so get their dispatcher's number as well. After that comes Cast Assignments. This is a scene with just Aldo, so only Jarrod is listed. There is a column labeled "Release". This is to indicate whether or not we have a talent release form signed for him. If not, better get one before the end of the day! After all that junk, I usually have a section with Driving Directions to the shooting location along with the address and phone number.

That's just a small sampling of the kind of paperwork needed to get a production off to a good start. Obviously not every production needs this much, but it's always good to err on the side of caution. I hope not to "err" at all, but Murphy's Law is fond of moviemakers.

The Production Design

Since we don't have a colossal budget or any corporate sponsors for this film, I have taken it upon myself to do the production design for some key props. Since my goal is to submit this to various film festivals and eventuality self-distribute it on DVD, I need to be sure I don't have any unauthorized copyrights or trademarks in my movie. That means that any prop I had written into the story needs to have an Alter-Ego version (or Bizarro version, as I call them). With each of the following props, I have taken their existing logo/design and tweaked it to the point where it is no longer infringing on the existing look. Case in point: a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey.


As you can see, the bottle no-longer says "Jack Daniels". It is now, Jeff Daniels. A few other key differences are: Old Number 7 is now Number 8, Tennessee Sourmash is now Mississippi Sourmash and the general decoration around the label is different.
It was relatively easy to do this all in Photoshop. All I did was measure the existing bottle's label, create a new project in Photoshop with those dimensions, and add the text accordingly. The shapes are all variations of the pre-existing shapes that can be created with the "Shapes Tool" in Photoshop. When I was done, I saved it as JPEG and had it printed at a local photo lab. Altogether, it cost me about $3 plus the cost of the alcohol.

The next product is a box of cigarettes. I don't really want to promote smoking, but I felt it was necessary for the story to have the main character smoke. This prop was a little harder to make than the Jeff Daniels label. I had to first measure the width of the box of cigarettes, then I had to measure the length of the entire box. My end result was a Photoshop project about 9 inches long by 2 inches wide. (Image on right, feel free to use in your own production)



The font I used was actually a font I downloaded for free from Typenow.net called Marlboro font. Unfortunately the lowercase "b" in that font wasn't long enough to match the long "l" in my logo. So the "b" on my package is actually an "l" with an "o" stuck on it. Once again, I made a look-alike logo with the shape tool and added some warnings about smoking to the bottom. I copied and pasted 3 of these onto an 8" by 10" size project and printed it out as an 8x10 at the photolab. This way I had 3 for the price of one. (In case I need to make back-ups).

I know what you're thinking. "Is this movie just about characters getting loaded and smoking?", well, not really. But they do drink and smoke, as people in Vegas are apt to do. These are the little alcohol bottles typically found in mini-bars in hotel rooms. I had to make a few different kinds for the movie. The first 2 are just Smirnoff rip-offs. I followed roughly the same procedure of measuring and printing as before, but this time, I had to make 2 different kinds of labels. I made the blue one first, then I just did a color switch for the red one. (I also changed a number on it). The Maui Rum bottle was pretty easy as well. The trees are standard shapes in Photoshop and I just created an orange half-circle behind them. To that circle I added an "Outer Glow" effect and it looked just great. When I was done with all 3 of the labels, I put as many as possible onto an 8x10 sheet and printed them at the photolab. So, for the cost of 3 8x10 pictures at a photo lab, I got plenty of props that need absolutely no legal clearances! What a deal!

Well, that's all for now. Tune in again tonight for another exciting adventure!

Breakdown of Scene 2, Shot 2&3

I am making this movie with a DVX100a which means I will be running 24P. In addition to this, the Micro35 adapter will give me the shallow DoP that 35MM film cameras get. So with this set-up, I am able to get a look that is very similar to film but with the low-cost of MiniDV video. My entire budget for this production is much, much lower than a comparable short movie being shot on Super16mm film. And since I own all this gear (instead of renting), I can theoretically make another movie for just the cost of tape and food for the cast & crew.

There are some things that may slow me down with this set-up though. First of all, the image the Micro35mm creates is upside down, which means that I must digitally "flip" all my footage (HEY! My title has a dual meaning!!!). That will add to my overall rendering time when it comes time to rendering the finished product. Also, when the camera is fully loaded, it weighs in at just under 10 pounds. The DVX100a was not meant to be so front heavy, so it tends to tilt downward when held by the hand-grip. To remedy this tiltage, my producer bought us a FigRig. The FigRig works wonders with my camera. It evenly distributes the weight so I'm able to move the camera in a way that looks good cinematicaly and doesn't kill my forearms! (The best of both worlds).

Having a camera that is easy to handhold is a good thing because there is a scene in the movie that involves a camera move from a hotel hallway to inside a hotel room to over by a large picture window... in one take. If I didn't have the FigRig, I wouldn't be able to get this shot in one take. Also, since we won't have permission to shoot in this Hotel, I'd like to be as unobtrusive as possible.

One shot I am really looking forward to is one of the first shots we will be filming. In the San Diego hotel location, there will be a shot of Aldo (Played by Jarrod) sitting on his bed watching TV. I know what you're thinking, "Wow, what an amazing shot that will be", but I will be doing a push-in on him as he changes channels on TV. This will be inter-cut with the same push-in move being done to the TV he is watching. At the end of the shot, we'll end on Aldo as he is about to fall asleep.


Here are my crummy drawings. They are done on yellow notebook paper, but I B&W'ed it to save space. To get this shot, we'll have to lay down dolly tracks parallel to the bed. Then, on the dolly I'll put the tripod and crane. Then I'll put the camera on the end of the crane and we'll be ready for the move. This shows the intense kind of acting needed for this scene. Actually, Aldo is supposed to be falling asleep, but my drawings made him look retarded. So he is smiling instead. The shot will end just as a phone RINGS and we cut to a new angle. Getting this shot right will be more complicated than it seems, because my First AC (Geoff) will be pulling focus for the whole shot. Since the auto-focus feature will be disengaged to use the Micro 35mm adapter, all the focusing must be done manually. This means that Geoff has to be turning the follow focus whip the whole duration of the shot. Considering that Geoff has yet to ever use a Follow Focus, this will take a few tries to get just right. But, once we get it, it'll be a great show. Certainly not one you expect to see in such a low budget film. There are other shots like this but, I'll leave them to a later post.

The shooting location(s)

We will be shooting in 2 cities for FLIP. Scene 2 with Aldo in his small hotel room will be shot in San Diego at a local hotel. I picked a local hotel because it will mean one less scene I have to shoot in Vegas. I scouted the hotel a few days ago, and it looks perfect (in a depressing, gross way). Also, I want there to be an obvious difference between Aldo's small, cramped room and Jennifer's larger suite. The other scene we are doing in San Diego is a scene at a prestigious downtown hotel. The very first scene of the movie takes place in a meeting room. Since we will be blowing out the windows (exposure wise I mean, no actual explosives are used in the production) you won't be able to tell it's not Las Vegas outside. Since there are several extras, this scene will be a bit of a hassle to coordinate, but I have it planned out with a little bit of time to spare.

The shooting in Las Vegas will take place in a very nice Hotel/Casino. I'd rather not say which one until we are actualy there and settled in. But it is one of the big ones on the strip. We will have 5 shooting days in this hotel and almost all of it will take place in the room. Luckily the room is a suite, so it wont be too cramped with 4 people in it.

We have 2 exterior scenes in Vegas too. One is at night (oh no!) and the other takes place in front of the wedding chapel at dawn. I'm not looking forward to that scene.

Well, those are our locations. I hope to do them photographic justice.

I forgot!

My posts will be mostly dealing acting and producing relating subjects. Just thought I should mention that.

A quick "HELLO!"

Just wanted to say a quick hello and give a brief introduction of myself. My name is Rebecca, and I'm the producer and a cast member of FLIP. I'm very excited about this project, and can't wait to regale you all with tales of the process. I'll tell ya'll more later. Have a wonderful weekend!

The Technical Specs

[WARNING: Unless you are a film nerd, skip over this post. It will have absolutely no relevance whatsoever]

As I mentioned in my first ever post, I am shooting this on a DVX100a. For those who don't know, the DVX-100a is a digital video camera that records in a format called 24P. All that really matters is that this format looks like film, as opposed to the "smoother" look of normal video. In addition to this I am using a Micro35 adapter (M2) This adapter lets me use normal 35MM SLR lenses to get the same Depth of Field (DOP) as larger 35mm motion picture cameras do.

Lighting-wise, I am pretty well stocked. I have 2 Lowel DP lights with both 1K and 500 watt bulbs. These will be my set light as well as my key on the actors. I have 2 Lowel Pro Lights with 250 and 125 watt bulbs. When put on a dimmer the Pro lights are great for adding a subtle rim light to the actors, which helps separate them from the background. I also have a Tota light for general light wherever it is needed. These are handy raising the base light level of a room, just point it at the ceiling! Those are my basic lights, but I also have a few smaller stick-up's for whatever I need.

We will be using a Rowe Cine Dolly as well as a 5.5 foot crane from Kessler Crane . These will allow us to move the camera freely, but at the same time keep the degree of repeatability that narrative work requires. For handheld shots, I will be mounting the camera to a Fig Rig, which is essentially a steering wheel that you can mount you camera to. It sounds funny in principle, but it works great!

In the audio department, I will be mostly using a Sennheizer shotgun mic on a boompole. For traveling shots where both myself and the AC (Geoff) must be operating the camera, I will hook a wireless lav mic to whichever actor has more dialog. For most all of the shoot, I will be within 15 feet of the actors so the wireless shouldn't be a problem. There are 2 scenes that take place outside, but I'm not too concerned about it... yet.

Lets see, Video? Check! Lighting? Check! Grip gear? Check! Audio? Double check! Ok, that's it for the technical specs. If anyone has any questions about anything relating to this stuff, please leave a comment. I'd love to talk about this stuff with someone who cares!

The Cast

I was lucky enough to get a whole bunch of extremely talented actors for this movie and I am very excited to be working with them all.

The cast of FLIP is as follows:

Jennifer Bright will be played by the lovely and vivacious Rebecca Seubert
Aldo Freeman will be played by the strong and manly Jarrod Weintraub
The BOSS will be played by the most excellent Charley Miller

Videogame Fan #1 will be played by the enthusiastic Fernando Huerto
Videogame Fan # 2 will be played by the somewhat less enthusiastic Matt Jarbo

There are also several non-speaking roles which will be given to my friends.

The crew for this movie will consist of the following:

Director/ Writer: Carleton Torpin (me)
Producer: Rebecca Seubert (yes, the female lead)
First AC/ Gaffer: Geoff Goodloe (not me, but similar)
Key Grip: Matt Jarbo (already listed in Cast)
Assorted other positions: Whoever is closest to what needs to be done

Well, that's the whole cast and crew. Unless someone wants to give me a whole bunch of money, in which case I can add an Executive Producer credit.

The Plot

You all waited patiently for a full hour, so I will now go into the basic outline of the movie. READY?! Here we go:

It's a story about a 23 year old guy named Aldo Freeman. Aldo is in Las Vegas for a bussiness meeting. It is at the aforementioned meeting that he meets Jennifer Bright. They have worked together at the same company for a few years, but have never actualy talked. Later that night, Jennifer calls Aldo's room (they are staying in the same hotel) and informs him that she cracked her mini-bar open. Never wanting to turn down free alcohol, Aldo rushes right over to Jennifer's room.

After several bottles of schnapps, they decide to venture outside the hotel and go out onto the strip. They stay out until sunrise, ending up in front of a wedding chappel (which are a dime a dozen in Vegas). It is outside this chappel that they decide it would be a good idea to get married... and then go get divorced. That way their second marriages will be stronger when they get married for real (to other people). Well, they follow through with their plans, and do indeed get married. And what's the one thing that pre-occupies newleywed couples mind's more than anything else? That's right, they have sex.

The next morning Aldo wakes up and...

Well, I think I've given away just about all I care to now. So far I have taken you up to page 7 of a 14 page script. Stay tuned for more updates!!!!

LOGO

This is my tenative logo for the movie. I made it real quick in Photoshop.

First post! WOW!

Ok, I know it's not OK to start a sentence with OK, but what the hey! So, this blog (or "web-log" as it once was called) is to keep up-to-date on the progress of a new short film entitled FLIP. The basic story will be layed out in a future post, what I can divulge right now is that it's 15 minutes long, takes place in Las Vegas, and will be shot with a DVX-100a video camera.

This blog will follow the Director (myself) and my daily activities with the movie. There may also be posts by Rebecca (Producer and Actress) , Jarrod (Actor) and Geoff (First AC). It will start in the pre-production stage (now), move on to production (later) then finally post-production (after the "later"). That's really all I can say now, but stick with me a while and I'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about moviemaking! (AND MORE!)