I backed a kick starter a while back for a thing called a Wiral LITE. It is essentially a small cable cam that you can string up and grab footage anywhere ! I have had it for weeks and being sick and it raining and what not has meant that I haven’t come close to being able to try it out on anything cool But on Saturday I was hanging on set for a Film called #thephotographershort and this was a perfect time to try it out!
One of these is with the GoPro an the other is the Sony A6300
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of hanging out on set, shooting some Behind The Scenes for a short film Called “The Photographer” It was written by the lovely and super Talented Andrea, Directed by Matthew Campbell and Shot by Jeff Zwicker as well as a whole team of amazing folk! The Scene was in an old school darkroom so it was a day of seeing RED while we shot on a Red :)
After spending the past two months super sick and not really having energy to do much other then the bare minimum I am super excited to be out in the world again.
Thought I would share some quick ISO tests from the new Ursa Mini Pro 6.0 Firmware! having a whole stop to ISO 3200 is cool. While it is no A7SII but it ain’t all that bad :) Not sure if the internet compression will show the best details but here we are!
Matched the Exposure shot to shot by stopping up/down as needed using False colour as the guide. Just added the Blackmagic Film to Extended Video Lut and Rendered directly out of Resolve. Some shots are BRAW and Others ProRes XQ. 4.6K (the scope ones are 4.6k – 2.4:1)
We are doing a Call out for Auditions for our Short Film “Pour Away The Ocean”
Union Status: NON-UNION
Pay/Compensation: NO Pay but Snacks/meals as well as a copy of the finished film/BTS film, IMDB Credit. Any extra footage for reels and other self promotion. A Professional Head-shot session for all involved crew.
Shoot Location: Vancouver British Columbia Canada
Tentative Filming Dates: Sept 19th to 25th 2018
Audition Date(s):August 16th to 20th 2018
Submission Instructions: Please Email info@jerkwithacamera.com with your head-shot/CV/demo reel or what you have to show your skills off! Only potential candidates will be contacted.
Project Info:Â Three estranged friends road trip across western Canada to the sudden funeral of a close friend. But guilt-ridden regret causes old secrets to surface, long held grudges begin to flare As they attempt to say goodbye while following her last wishes they work thought the regret of things left unsaid while they each discover the importance of forgiveness and that love, friendship, and embracing each moment is all that really matters in the end
Looking to cast Main Female roles (3 Female Roles in total) Set to tentatively start filming on Sept 19th
Roles:
[LINA]
23 to 28 years old, female Role. She runs a non profit artist foundation – Strong willed stubborn, ambitious puts duty before self, refuses to show emotions, is the rock that our other characters lean on. The story is mainly about her journey
[CYNTHIA]
23 to 28 years old, female. Cynthia – The character who has died, but is represented in Flashbacks. Impulsive Nothing to loose lived life to the fullest character.
[ALLISON]
25 to 30 years old, female. Allison – Sister of Cynthia – Shy and pragmatic Literal and Intellectual
Storyline:Â After the sudden death of their late best friend, four estranged friends come together after two years and make their way from Edmonton to Vancouver for the funeral. However, when a guilt-ridden regret causes old secrets to surface, long held grudges begin to flare. As the four friends attempt to say goodbye to their late best friend in all her favorite places, old memories and new life lessons force each of them to realize that love, friendship, and embracing each moment is all that really matters in the end.
So Last week you might remember that I had recorded a Song with EJ and Sam! Well here is said Song!! In all it’s Glory!
I will do tutorial on how I did this multi-take song as a single camera edit. and Trust me It is not perfect to be sure, But with some time and Finesse you wouldn’t even be able to tell this was multiple takes at the song with out a click track or anything. For Now THE SONG!
Just our view of things tonight here at Fort Ebey Park in Washington State! Yup that is correct… We are on another trek into the unknown! This time we are headed all the way down to to big trees in northern California
This is my stills/NOT Ursa camera Kit for all those fiddly bits and Not ursa stuff. It is in a pelican Air Case which I LOVE FYI!
These are just some Stills From a quick impromptu recording session I did with Ej & the equally talented friend Sam who was visiting in town for one night only. We literately grabbed the Ursa (which I think needs a name BTW) the Zoom F8 and some microphones that I had lying about and jumped into the studio and they laid out this amazing song. Which was written that afternoon I might add, and I filmed it.
Today We decided to go for a trek up Indian Arm In North Vancouver!
This not our boat, it was just there on the trip :)
The Butzen Lake Generator Station
Granite Falls in Say Nuth Kaw Yum Provincial Park
A random flotilla of boats just hanging out! :)
While Kickin’ it waiting for a live stream event I fired the drone up in the air.
Yes you heard it right! Old Man Darren the forever bachelor and Sharon GOT MARRIED on the Galiano Island! Naked Dave was not only clothed the whole weekend but he was all dressed in respectable clothing and everything! But I am not a wedding Photographer anymore so here are some drone photos instead :)
This was our Entry into the This is a spoon 48hr Run & Gun Film Competition!! This film was written, cast, shot, and edited in just 48 hours!
We were nominated in no fewer than SEVEN categories, with props for best director, best writing, best sound engineer, best actor, best actress, best film, and then even the audience choice.
Ultimately we took home best actress with a regrets-by-1-point on best film and best director and a solid 2nd for audience favorite. Couldn’t be more proud of the Polka Dot Rocket Team for doing such an amazing job!
UPDATE: Jan 2019
We are playing at the Vancouver Short Film Festival!
This is just another video in my never ending goal to not only to capture brilliant footage of the places I visit be but to also make sure that this footage doesn’t just rot on a hard drive somewhere. Tonight’s footage gathering session was actually cut a bit short as I clipped a log on landing and broke a prop. :| I was in a Class C flying zone but I also was never more then 4 Meters off the ground :)
Just got the Ursa all setup with the SSD recorder last night and I figured I would test out what resolutions/fps I could do with a few SSD’s I have & here are my findings! These are by no means super scientific tests as I assumed that if it can record in a resolution at 60fps that 50, 40 etc would also work. same is true with resolutions. With the exception of 4.6k 2.4:1, 4k 16:9 & 2k 120fps I tested those individually) but I assumed that if 4k DCI 60fps worked then UHD, 2k and 1080 etc would also work. Also Prores at 4.6k just doesn’t even let you select above 40fps as is normal regardless of the media.
What do you guys think? Does this hold true to what you have been getting for the same cards?
Tested here are the Samsung Pro 256 and the Samsung Evo 500, and lastly an old Crucial M4 512 that I had been using with my BMCC 2.5k. I would love to see if the larger 500 it 1TB Samsung pro’s can do better? Thoughts?
While we wait for our Ursa Mini Pro to come from B&H to replace the on that was stolen at the end of November I figured I would dig up some random footage I shot in the early fall. I shot this mostly in Raw 3:1 or Uncompressed Raw, but it was before my C-fast cards came so I was shooting on dual SD cards so I could only get 3-5 seconds of footage before it would drop frames and cut out :) But 3-5 seconds at 60 fps is enough :) Lenses were Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 and the Nikon 24-70 f/2.8
This is just a quick ‘grade’ in premiere. AKA I applied a lut and called it good :)
I had some time to kill so I scouted for an idea I had under the Lions Gate Bridge. Shot with the Sony A7SII
Scouting
FUN FACTS!! The Cast and Crew of Unlikely present you with Fun Facts about filming our one camera webseries! Join Us! Tune in July 21st at 7:00pm (pst) for the Launch of the First Episode followed by a live Q&A with the cast and crew!
Lets ask the cast and crew about the representation on the show! Plus, OUTTAKES!! The Cast and Crew of Unlikely present you with some behind the scenes and Outtakes from filming our one camera web-series!
Join Us! Tune in July 21st at 7:00pm (pst) for the Launch of the First Episode followed by a live Q&A with the cast and crew!
In Preparation For The Upcoming Film Noir Film Competition We Gathered The Troops Last Night And Did Our First Ever Script & Shoot. What Is That? Well We Sat Down Around The Table And Wrote A Film Noir Scene, Cast It, Blocked It, Lit It, Filmed It & Then Edited It All In A Single Evening Of Fun! This Is The Results!
Cock fight Explores the masculine tensions that can occur between two men Where they feel very strongly about each other but your really don’t know what are those feelings.
This was shot Mother’s Day morning at the windiest place in the lower mainland that day Iona Beach. The wind was nearly enough to knock you over and waves were crashing in like we were on the open ocean. We shot this with the Blackmagic 2.5k and a stacked ISCOStar Anamorphic Projector lens. Audio was captured with the NTG1 in the Rode blimp and dead wombat into the Tascam 70D recorder.
Cock fight explores the masculine tensions that can occur between two men Where they feel very strongly about each other but your really don’t know what are those feelings.
This was shot Mother’s Day morning at the windiest place in the lower mainland that day Iona Beach. The wind was nearly enough to knock you over and waves were crashing in like we were on the open ocean. We shot this with the Blackmagic 2.5k and a stacked ISCOStar Anamorphic Projector lens. Audio was captured with the NTG1 in the Rode blimp and dead wombat into the Tascam 70D recorder.
We participated in a 72 hour Film Noir Film Competition. Here are some photos as well as the finished Film!
Today Spencer got to get in touch with his inner B-Movie and get repeatedly eaten by a foam VJJ monster. Seriously!
I absolutely adore the stitch a Pano feature that comes in Lightroom these days! Just saying! The thing that I love over a photoshop Pano is that it preserves the RAW nature of the files in a DNG
For some reason my brain first read this as “Funeral Cakes” and I now I can’t not see this.
Nothing like ringing in the new year by not being able to see 15 feet ahead :)
