Below is a sample clip from a short film that I am currently shooting. This project is being shot over the course of a few weekends. After last weekend’s shoot, I decided to show the director, Sam Rossi, and producer, Chris Naylor, what kind of potential these shots have by giving them a sample shot.
Initially, Sam was looking for a dolly back to reveal the characters around the table for this shot, but using a table-top dolly (skate board) didn’t give us enough table to complete the move. So I executed the move with the Steadicam Merlin. I think the Merlin performs better with the smaller cameras like my HV20, but is doing just fine with over 5 pounds of load. That could just be my laziness talking, but getting the Merlin tuned and balanced with a heavier camera takes a little bit more time initially. Audio was coming in to this camera, so a Sennheiser wireless receiver added to the weight. I found it nearly impossible to get the Merlin balanced with the receiver mounted in the hot-shoe. So I attached it to the back of the camera with Velcro to keep the center of gravity low. That helped immensely.
The look Sam wanted for this scene was dark and sinister with the background of the room falling off into black. The scene was lit with a single 500w Lowel Omni light hung from a ceiling fan over the table. We reflected the same light for some of the other shots in the scene like close-ups and two-shots. The lighting scheme couldn’t get any more simple than this. The background is visible in the footage as it was shot, but a little bit of post fixed that.
To really give the sample clip the look it deserved, I took it in to Apple Color and gave it a quick look using a modification of the Bleach Bypass preset. That’s it. I sent it to Sam and Chris and they are pleased. Here are some photos from the set.We have another couple of days of shooting exteriors coming up this weekend. More later.
[vimeo 852016]
