More opening credit sequences

Last week I shot more elements for the opening title sequences of another show. Once again, I can't name the show, but it's a big one. It's not due to air until 2016 according to my internet searches, so it'll be a little while before I can say which one it is.

This time there was a lot of macro work with the camera on a Dana Dolly which was tough to do, as the macro nature amplifies any bumps. At one point, the director said out loud (more to himself than anyone else) that he wished we had a crane so we could jib up and down instead of being limited to only side to side. So we rigged up a solution where I mounted the tripod plate to the side cheeseplate of my camera (rotating it sideways) and then turned our object sideways as well. This way, instead of dollying side to side on the piece, it turned into a dolly from top to bottom, effectively giving us a jib movement relative to the frame. My setup is pictured below.

It was a long day of work, but we managed to get everything shot. Part of the fun was figuring out how to shoot FX sequences practically instead of relying on compositing later. I think we came up with some very interesting solutions (including rear projection, glass, and printing graphics on paper). I'm curious to see how it all comes together.

Sideways camera on the Dana Dolly.

Back from San Diego Comic Con

I took last week off to attend Comic Con. Space Command had a panel along with a signing, and Nobility had a panel, a couple signings, and a booth. It's pretty cool to have shot two projects that both have panels at SDCC.

The big announcement for Nobility is that they will be debuting the series at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo in October. I've been told that they've brought a colorist on to finish the looks and the FX are coming along nicely. A lot of these sci-fi films I shoot have very long post-production times, mostly due to the amount of VFX work needed on lower budgets. So it'll be nice to have Nobility coming out this year and seeing the final product.

At the Edge of Time: screengrabs pt. 4

Okay, here's the last batch of screengrabs that I managed to snag for At the Edge of Time. Hope you like them!

At the Edge of Time: screengrabs pt. 3

I got to review more of the footage from the feature I shot last November-December, At the Edge of Time. Here are a few more screengrabs that I wanted to share.

Quick update

I haven't been too good about updating lately, so thought I do a quick one.

My feature for late May-mid June shut down unexpectedly during pre-production, so I've been doing the odd job here and there. One of them was shooting some title sequence elements for an upcoming television series. It was pretty secretive and the first time I've had to sign a $1 million non-disclosure agreement. Needless to say, I can't really say much about it right now. When the show comes out, I'll grab a couple screencaps to share the parts I shot.

Another thing I did in May was shoot some miniatures for Mystic Cosmic Patrol. While at the location, I also got to see a rough cut of one of the episodes. I have to say, even in the rough stage I was quite pleased. It came together nicely and is pretty funny. I'm looking forward to seeing the final cuts of all 3 episodes and hopefully it'll get picked up so that we can continue the show, because it was a lot of fun.

One of the benefits of the extra downtime I've had is that it's given me a chance to work on a couple of my own ideas I've been kicking around for a while. I'm not the most naturally gifted writer, so it's been some hard work as I develop the stories and characters for a couple projects I'd like to shoot. Progress is moving forward and I'm making some headway.

Coming up, I'm also in the early pre-production stages of a short film, a very cinematic Kickstarter campaign video, and I also have two panels to attend at San Diego Comic Con for projects I shot, Space Command and Nobility. Besides these DP jobs, I'm excited to do a little directing with one of my own projects. June and July look like they'll be keeping me quite busy!

Sony CineAlta T2 six-lens set

Earlier this month I received my first set of PL mount lenses, the Sony CineAlta T2 set.  Now, they aren't super common and my set is the first I've actually seen in person.  They have a nice clean, modern look and are pleasantly sharp.  Many people have compared them to the RED Pro Prime lenses, but I feel like these are slightly less sharp in a good way, helping to soften up the digital look that can become apparent with the RPPs.  Build quality is top notch, with smooth, even dampening on the focus and iris, and a full metal cine housing with proper cinema focus rotation (which should make my AC happy after all the Canon lenses he's suffered through).  All the ring spacing is the same, so follow focus gears/motors don't need re-positioning when switching lenses.  All lenses except the 135mm are the same length, so the matte box doesn't need to be adjusted either.

Immediately after receiving them, I took them over to an acquaintance's place and we put them up on one Epic Dragon, with a Fujinon Cabrio 19-90mm zoom on the other.  Side by side, they were fairly similar, with just a slightest of color shift between the two.  Optically, the Sony set seemed to pull just a bit ahead on some focal lengths while drawing neck and neck on others.  The Sony's even seem pretty sharp wide open.  They do tend to exhibit some CA on super high contrast scenes, but I was pushing them to their limits by shooting with a contrast ratio that I certainly would almost never shoot in a real life situation.  Today I put them on a Sony F55 to conduct further testing and liked what I was seeing.  While these are obviously no Master Primes, I'm very pleased with how nice they look, performing better than I would have expected at this price point.

I'm a bit surprised that I've never seen these lenses around before.  Perhaps people are put off by their size and weight (they are a bit large and heavy).  Or maybe because Sony isn't a well known lens name (it's speculated that Minolta -who has a long history of making lenses- supplies the glass, seeing as how their camera and lens business in now owned by Sony).  Whatever the reason, I'm happy to have this new set of lenses and am eager to put them to work.

And that's another wrap!

Today we wrapped on principle photography of the latest feature film I'm shooting.  We got to shoot in some fantastic locations, from the abandoned towns of Salton Sea and fields of grass in Malibu, to a bit on a soundstage and the basement of an old hospital.  Mostly shot handheld on a RED Epic, with some small pieces on a Panasonic GH4 riding the DJI Ronin.  While I've flown my Dragon on a Ronin, I have to admit that something small like the GH4 is much easier to hold for longer takes.

While I've already begun some basic pre-production for my next shoot, now that I'm wrapped on this I can really dig in.  Although it's a smaller project (teaser trailer for a Kickstarter campaign), it is ambitious, should be a lot of fun, and we have some really cool shots lined up.  Once that's all done, it's likely straight into another feature, currently scheduled for early May.  Gotta keep shooting!

Nothing quite like natural sun right before sunset.  That soft, golden light is beautiful.  Too bad it doesn't last a couple hours longer.