Autumn - Heather Mac

I had the pleasure recently to shoot the Music Video for the first Single from Heather Mac's new Album. We filmed the video up thin the Mountains above Simon's Town close to Cape Town in South Africa.

Part of the inspiration of the music video for “Autumn” stems from Native American Indian tribal culture. An intrinsic part of many of these tribes is “The Contrary”, usually young men who spend most of their lives doing everything backwards, some of the contraries were considered to be clowns or fools.

The philosophy behind this is not merely to be different but rather a playful reminder to the rest of the tribe that the way things are done is not always necessarily the right way. The Contraries are an absolute mirror of the societies they live in, and their actions are a form of therapy for the people who are being contrary as well as for the people witnessing their action.

We found an amazing location high in the cape mountains for our film and thought that the stark but beautiful surroundings would prove an excellent stage to for our simple story.

The story in a nutshell is about someone trying to get back in touch with her spirit through meditation. This journey inwards reveals a playful persona , “The Contra’. One of the lines of the song: “… here in my heart, a drumbeat calling…” invoked this link to her inner calling and innate connection to tribalism.

Because we wanted to create an intimate atmosphere in a vast and not easily accessible location, we decided to keep the shooting process as simple as possible. With the help of some of the latest camera technology we were able to produce a high quality image with extremely lightweight gear and with some careful scheduling we were also able to shoot with virtually no lighting.

All in all the process of making this video was fun, quick and had zero environmental impact -We did not shoot on film, so no processing chemicals were used and there were only 4 people working on the location. The opportunity to shoot in unspoiled nature inspired us to leave only our footprints and take only the images we we created.

I hope you enjoy the film.

Beyond the Still

Much can be said about the rise of the DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) Camera as a viable film making tool. This project helmed by Vincent Laforet & Canon shows how powerful this tool really is. Vincent Laforet became somewhat of a underground star of the DSLR film making world with his video commissioned by Canon to show what their DSLR's could do.

The idea behind "Beyond the Still" was to start a story with a short film and then get to pass the story on to film makers to tell the next chapter. Once the winner of the chapter was announced the competition was opened again and film makers were invited to continue the story using the last chapter's film as a point of reference.

The result is a short film in 8 chapter which makes surprisingly compelling viewing. Not only is the story a fun ride, but the films really show the versatility and ability of the DSLR as a quality film making tool.

Here are all the eight chapters of "Beyond the Still"




For more information follow this link:
http://vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill

Make a Movie using a Scanner!

So you want to make a movie and you don't have a camera... Well how about a scanner. This animated short was shot on a Canon Flatbed Computer Scanner. The short apparently took about six hours to make. Its called "Memoirs of a Scanner" Enjoy:

Memoirs of a Scanner (Martinibomb Version) from Damon Stea on Vimeo.

The music is by Coconut Monkey Rocket & Martinibomb

The new campaign for Mars UK

Mars UK owns the branding for various sweets in the UK Market and this particular campaign focusses on Maltesers. In two days we shot various vignettes of 10 seconds and 5 seconds each that viewed together will make up a story about a Hand knocking on the door where all the Mars products live and then the hand chases a Maltesers packet through various situations until it finally catches Maltesers on a Golf Course. For the commercials one of our local FX companies (CFX) that specialises in prosthetics and devices built us a Hand that could be worn by a perfomer. because the hand was lightweight and totally pliable the perfomer was able to run, walk and even ride a skateboard while in the Hand suit.

Again the commercial was shot using the RED Camera in a documentary style to add realism to a totally unrealistic situation.

Kontrolfreax

On the current project I am working on we have the honor of being the first to use some brand new technology developed by a UK based company called Kontrolfreax.

When working with computer animation or CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) the images are presented to the viewer through the use of a "Virtual Camera". This virtual camera records the images in the same way that a real camera would were it able to record the images in a virtual world. You can select lenses etc that perfectly match what a real life camera would see. This helps marry the CGI to live footage.

The Virtual Camera films a virtual world which is mapped out in three dimensions. Sometimes this virtual world is imagined and sometimes it represents a real space.

Traditionally this virtual world was created after principal photography was completed and then added to the green screen shots that had been filmed. But now Kontrolfreax is offering a new solution that gives the film makers a easier way of dealing with this virtual world.

With the Kontrolfreax system the virtual world is created before shooting begins (in a low resolution render - similar to the kind of quality you would see on google earth).



Then sensors are attached to all the camera equipment we are using (Heads, Dolly, Crane Etc...) So now where ever our camera moves the sensors instruct the virtual camera to make the identical move in our virtual world.

The result is that when we film green screens we can immediately see what the backgrounds will be on our video take off and make the necessary adjustments to the shot or to the virtual world to make sure that the finished product will look great. There is also a massive time saving for post production because the virtual world gets married to the live action as we shoot so high rez rendering can begin as soon as an edit has been done (All the maths is done already "in camera" so to say).

Our film is being shot on the Arri D21 cameras and the system works well with them, but I don't see any reason that the system couldn't work on any format providing the video take off is clean enough to be able to key off green screen live (So I guess HD is preferable for this).

As an AD the system has plus points and minus points. First the negative: because the virtual world offers almost endless possibilities for backgrounds especially if the foreground sets are limited a lot of time can be spent on set tweaking an additional dimension of each shot while the crew stand and wait. But to its credit if the system is used with discipline then the images it provides instantly can show the director and actors the space they are in and how things look and there are far less conversations about an imaginary world that going to be created in post - so its a time saver too.

You can see more about Kontolfreax at their website: LINK

Kellogs Crunchy Nut

Remember a while ago I posted about working on the Kellogs Crunchy Nut commercial for the UK. Well now you can see how it turned out - You wouldn't think by looking at it that we had so many problems with that white chocolate fountain. I guess that's how things go, you know you have done a good job when nobody knows there was a problem...

The Milo Motion Control System

The Milo Motion Control System is probably the most well known and reliable of the motion control systems. The particular one we are using spends most of the year in Cape Town and some of the year in London. But for this commercial we have had to bring the system up to Johannesburg.

The Milo is a large beast of a machine that reminds me of a robot used in the manufacture of cars and in essence that's what the Milo is. In a nut shell the Milo is a system that can do a camera move and then repeat that move time and time again. It can even be programmed to repeat the exact same move for different camera frame rates (i.e. if your master shot is done at 24fps then is can do a pass at 12fps and then it will do exactly the same camera move but in half the time, so when you blend the two takes together they blend seamlessly - very clever!)

To learn more about Motion Control click here

One of the issues using Motion Control is that its a laborious task that can often take a lot of time so we decided to spend a rehearsal day finding our shots with the motion control. There were three shots that we planned on getting and we had two days to shoot them - quite a luxurious schedule except that we had a whole heap of other work we were going to try to achieve over and above the motion control work and we could not afford to let the motion control work bog down the rest of the shoot.

Having the rehearsal day proved to be invaluable and I'm now convinced that if we didn't do this we would not have completed our schedule.

Some notes:

1. The Motion Control comes on a large truck so if your large truck cannot get to where you need the motion control to be then count on possibly needing to disassemble the whole rig and carry it to where you need it; this will require a lot of man power and time. Little things like steps and 1 foot high walls can become a major issue.

2. Having a good operator can save hours of time. Essentially the Milo is a five axis system (Pan, Tilt, boom, telescope and track) so you need someone who can really utilize the true scope that this machine has or there is a chance that things can get just too complicated.

3. Because of the many different passes often required when working with motion control I find it best to design the shot with the main action pass - some DOP's and Directors can get too bogged down with the BG passes and often this stuff is hardly seen especially once everything is comped together, also some moves may work well with the background but then once live actors are introduced they cannot keep up with the camera.

Here's our Milo under a highway near Newtown in Johannesburg

The Cineflex Aerial Camera System

The Cineflex Aerial Camera System is a dedicated HD Digital Helicopter Mount that features the following:
• 5 Axis - gyro stabilized Platform
• Sony HDC - 1500 Camera
• Fujinon HA42 x 9.7 lens with servo driven 2x extender
• Sony HDW-S280 Recorder.

In my opinion this system is truly an amazing advancement in Helicopter Mount Systems, with the only downfall being the fact that its designed for a specific camera and is not a film system. But at the same time this is one of the main reasons why it works so well.

The lens and camera pickup/chip is housed in the Mount, the recorder is kept inside the cockpit of the helicopter. This results in a much smaller mount with far less wind resistance and less weight which provides some of the steadiest aerial images I have ever seen. Another advantage of having the recording system in the cockpit is that you can reload without having to ever land - providing you are airborne for that long; each HD tape can record about 45min of footage.

So purely from a cost point of view the system makes a lot of sense... (Less flying time due to less reloads, HD instead of Film, and due to a more stable system less takes due to technical problems).

With the added stability comes the added bonus of being able to use really long lenses and really get into the action from a far vantage point and then zoom out to extreme wides. With the help of an experienced pilot truly dynamic shots can be designed with ease.

Besides the obvious gripe that you can't shoot film or the camera of your choice there is one other gripe that I have and that is flare issues. Because the unit is a closed system additional flags etc cannot be added to the lens and if you consider that most aerial work is attempted when the sun is low in the sky and vistas look beautiful this is also camera flare time of the day. In my opinion there is about 100 to 140 degrees of sky that are NG as a shooting direction due to flare and this is something the technicians at Cineflex will need to work on for their next model.

But in all other respects the Cineflex is a great system to work with, its quick, simple, reliable and very stable - if you are shooting for TV there definitely is no better system, but for Feature Film use is may need some improvements or carefully selected lighting conditions.

For more information go to: CINEFLEX LINK (In South Africa)
or: CINEFLEX LINK

The Vision Research Phantom Photosonic Camera

Today we shoot CU photosonic work of milk being poured into tea for a Nigerian Milk Company called Peak. Not too long ago this would have been done with a 35mm photosonics camera but the cost of the film alone for these shots have made the HD Phantom camera the way to go. The chip size of this camera is comprable to Super 35mm so resolution and depth of field are really quite good. They also make an IMAX resolution camera, but I have not seen it yet.

So here's how it works: you roll a take and the you can immediately see playback at the desired frame rate. If the take is good you then need to record the take to hardrive which takes about 5 to 10mins depending on the length of the take. This Phantom is able to shoot 1500fps at a 720p resolution which is fine for TV. But if you need a 2K image then the fastest it will go is 1000fps.

Today shooting liquids we will be shooting between 250fps and 500fps so we will get the 2K resolution.

Kellogs Crunchy Nut

The Kellogg's Crunchy Nut commercial wasn't ever going to be anything groundbreaking
We had some fun comedy story lines to shoot, which were fun, and for the whole the commercials were all about performance. We had enough time to get a few variations on each performance for the director, so there are lots of options in the editing room from dead-pan to "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"
We had some art department problems with our chocolate fountain - I can't tell you about what the fountain was used for until the commercial is aired. I can say however that I'm quite an expert on Chocolate Fountains now, so if you ever have a problem then feel free to drop me a line and I'll do my best to help.
We did get to use one interesting piece of equipment however; The Optex Probe Module. This is a specialized lensing system for closeup work. You attach the Optex Probe to the camera via the usual PL Mount system and then you attach the different lenses to the end of the probe. The lenses are not your usual 35mm or 50mm but rather degree lenses, so the amount you see through the lens is measured in degrees, we used a 60 degree lens.
What was interesting about using this lens was that because the actual glass was so far away from the actual camera whenever you moves the camera (pan or tilt) the effect looks almost like a mini crane or dolly move - this was the first time I've worked with the Probe Module and I can definitely recommend it for macro work
  

In the second photo you can see the type of image we were getting on the video assist, unfortunately we were shooting outside so the image on the video monitor isn't too clear, but it gives an impression

The Red Camera

My first time working with the RED CAMERA. A new cheap option for shooting HD - Far cheaper then the Arri D21 we used on "Crusoe" and also a lot cheaper than the Sony F35 we used on Natalee Holloway. The D21 and F35 have bigger chips which means a shallower depth of feild which seems to help make the digital images look less crisp and more film like, but this also means needing more light and a challenge for the focus pullers. So far I'm impresed with the RED Camera; it takes PL mounted 35mm lenses and they are planning a larger chip version of their cameras soon. Where the Red Camera really knocks their competitor's socks off though is the pricing the RED ONE body will cost you $17 500.00 where as the D-21 or F35 is in the region of $80 000.00 or more...

The D-21 has to be tethered to a DIT* system as an AD I hate this - it really slows things down, but it doea allow for more precise control from the DOP which is needed considering the lack of latitude that HD still has in comparason to Film. The F35 has the recorder attached or it can be configured to be tethered to a DIT. With the recorder attached (The way we did it on Holloway) it was a really heavy beast that made some of the steadicam shots have a slight shudder due to the weight and another issue was the amount of juice required to run the beast. Two batteries were required one for the camera, one for the recorder and everytime one of the batteries went down you would have to reboot the camera and review the recored to make sure you weren't recording over footage and tome make sure that the timecode was still set correctly (Us AD's don't have much patience for these kinds of delays - Film you load and then you can just shoot and the batteries last for hours...)

The RED CAMERA system that we used recorded onto 16GB flashdrives that held about the same amount of footage as a 400ft roll of film - not a bad concept because reloading is really quick and easy and I'm sure 32GB and 64GB drives will be available soon. The RED can also be tethered for full HD monitoring and even attached to a DIT if need be so it seemed to be the most versitile system.

The camera assistants were not too impressd with the quality of the RD though and they agreed that they all prefered working with the Arri D-21, but hey Arri also makes film cameras so I guess they are used to working on Arri film cameras that must be very similar to the D-21 in many ways.

All in all I'm impressed with the RED CAMERA and I will be keeping and eye on its progress, I think they have found a niche and if they can keep their priced low ARRI may be reduced to only supplying lenses, although I think Zeiss and Angenieux already have a head start in that department.

(*DIT: basically the recorders that record what the camera is seeing using a HD cable, The DOP will usually sit in the DIT tent along side the DIT technician and also have access to a degree of color processing and possible have iris contol on the cameras to set the premium stop for each shot and often will need to pull the stops due to the lack of stop latitude)