After we finished writing the film, we all decided to go sleep off the pancakes, pie, gravy fries, and in general a long week. Some of us "slept it off" by grabbing a few pitchers at the karaoke bar. The important thing was to relax a little. We had a script, we had a schedule, equipment and props were covered, and we generally had a grasp on the shoot. Downtime is one of the most vital things to be removed from the creative process, and it's usually the first to go. More on that another time.
We set a call time for 10am Saturday morning. By 11am everyone was there, the equipment was generally set up, and a few of us had paced the set and surrounding areas looking for those extra touches. A wrench here, a gas can there. How are the lights? Where do we block the action? By the time everyone was in costume we were ready to shoot the hell out of it. Our goal was to be done by 4pm.
The first thing we had to do was tie our hero to a chair. For continuity reasons, we realized he was stuck until we were done with that location. This would not normally be so bad, but he's a smoker. I too am a smoker, and knew what he was feeling. Since he couldn't go outside, I wasn't going to, especially since I was shooting, so my trip outside is just putting off the end of the shoot.
We ran two cameras through the major part of the shoot. I generally went for wider shots and bits further back. I'd grabbed the inserts and second unit bits while we were waiting on other things. The second camera covered closer and lower shots. I like having two cameras, one wide and one tight, just for editing. It's easier to match from a wide to a close up if it's the same gestures. Then reverse to a close up of the other person from a take you want to get to, then cut to the corresponding master. It really opens up options to salvage continuity if needed.
We broke, we smoked, we enjoyed some soda and donuts and discussed what was left. The bulk of the shoot was the location we had just wrapped, and all that was left were some inserts, a chase scene, and an opening shot. All of those could be done where we were. We split up and marked areas that worked, then just started picking up shots. By 4pm, our target wrap time, we were running out of ideas for extra bits. We were beyond done with coverage, and all done with minimal frustration, a generally relaxed pace, and results we were happy with at the time.
All that was left at this point was editing. I'd planned to get the rough cut done, go out Saturday night, then tweak bits and compose the soundtrack on Sunday morning, render, burn, and still have time for some other activities. Yeah, didn't quite work out that way.
The first problem was pulling the footage. The frame rates were not reading as consistent, then frames would drop on input, then the time code would reset, then my camera (which isn't exactly new) would randomly power off while a batch was pulling, then the sound wouldn't get pulled in synch, all just glitch after glitch. It wasn't a matter of setting for most of this, just temperamental equipment. This meant trying to pull each shot or take one by one until it came in successfully. Every so often I would reboot, just to clear the RAM for certain. Good times.
The next problem was the footage. Unfortunately, because of where the two cameras were, because they were under different lighting, or because of differences in the cameras, or something else I haven't accounted for, the color didn't match. I'd white balanced on a regular basis, and requested that camera two was white balanced periodically as well. Maybe we were using different white or light sources to balance, which is something to remember in the future.
If it was a subtle difference it would have been easily tweakable. Unfortunately one was way red, one fairly even toned. One had a deep contrast between the highlights and shadows, the other pretty much dancing around the mid-tones. Getting the right pull to the middle on all issues between the cameras was a pretty heavy nightmare, one I still live as I watch the short. It's nowhere near as bad as it was, but you can still tell there is a shift. It also required that the look I was specifically going for when I set the lighting levels and color tones, the frame rate, and what we had created with the costuming colors, all of that was tainted. It wasn't what we were going for. I was disappointed.
The rest of the footage cut together quick and easy. The titles were fairly simple once I figured out how to chop, re-center, and animate each element in a consistent work flow. It was more repetition than difficulty, s I got that done while talking on the phone or what not.
The dream sequence was fun because I knew I was going to just play with tools I'd never used, at least in this version of my editing software. I did multipoint mattes, I solarized, polarized, overlaid, all mixed together in a fun little jam just to see how they all worked these days. The whole thing took maybe a half an hour, and that was primarily me playing with gimmicks.
One trick was to create a duplicate layer of the cut sequence sans effects, drop it on the next track up, then apply the effect. Repeat for each separate look or effect. Then I just used the razor tool and clicked away at the whole sequence, making "cuts" all over. All that was left was going through and deleting out bits at random, then with more judgment, revealing the layers beneath. Adjust and key frame levels on individual snippets, and you have a very trippy look.
The last issue was the soundtrack. I'd tried using my keyboard and guitar, but my interface wasn't complying. There was an issue with the firewire, a new driver, and the sequence of the upgrade that got sorted out later. I was forced to compose on the computer alone. I got some loops and samples, played some original bits, layered and compiled, listened to it against the video, and liked it. It was 4pm, and all I needed to do was move the music over to the project file, output in two formats, and be done! With plenty of time to spare!
More technical difficulty. It wouldn't import to the original project, nor a duplicate, nor an empty file. It actually removed the audio from the project at one point. It just wasn't happening. I couldn't export it to AIFF, WAV, and high-end format. Ultimately I was able to export to mp3, but that took about an hour to process. No idea to this day what the issue was, except the fates knowing I had a deadline.
The rendering went as expected, save for a random flicker on two of the discs. I burned several just for coverage, like dropping one into a pile of rocks and acetone on the way in. With how my luck goes, it pays to be paranoid. We got the copies in before the deadline, then just waited until our screening.
The first time you see something you've worked on blown up that big, all you see is every flaw. No matter how many projects you do, that first big viewing is just rough. The sound hiss: our external microphone would up being a quarter jack output, so I had to use the in--camera audio. The aforementioned color and lighting issues. Angles I wish we'd had. Deliveries that could have been different. Every possible nitpick I could've had, I did. I can't help it.
Still, rewatching it on my computer, I think for what we did in the time we did, and with the issues we could have had or that we overcame, we made a fun little short. We also learned a fair amount about our group dynamic. Now we plan on doing more short with fast turnarounds, just for the practice.
If you would like to see the short we did, we posted it here:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=37319814
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| Make Me Proud |
Every other Monday
Exploring everything you should consider as you make your
indie masterpiece.
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| Patrick Storck |
Patrick hails from Baltimore, MD, where playing by the rules is frowned upon. Only average things come from playing it safe.
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