Tell me what you think! - 16mm Drama short shot on Eclair ACL2

[Cailin Tamplin]

Hey all, I pretty much just want to get this film in front of strangers. Tell me what you think! I am an iterative type of person, wherein I will go into the next project with what I learned.

Here is what I can tell you about this project:

Shot in Portland, Oregon - Dec. 2023, Final cut: Feb 2024

I shot this film on an Eclair ACL 2 (and an ACL 1 for B-Roll) using Kodak 500T 16mm Film. I shot 900 feet of film, which comes to exactly 25 minutes and 32 seconds (at 24fps). I sent the film to "The Negative Space," by Nicki Coyle, to be processed and scanned in 4k.

The filming was spaced out over 3 days - All of Vincent's lines were in one session; a week later, we shot all of the Dean's lines. The following Saturday, we shot the creepy basement scene. For sound, I used a TASCAM DR-40x with an Audio-Technica AT875R Microphone. The whole setup worked really great, with a wider angle microphone I think the sound of the camera would've been a problem, though you can still here the shutter in some moments, I tried to mask it with room tone added in post.

I edited the project in Davinci Resolve with some visual effects in Blender, Photoshop, and After Effects. The Painting was made in Photoshop. I took pictures of DeAndre (Vincent). Similarly, I positioned him to "Not to be Reproduced" by René Magritte (ironic, I know). Then, using Generative Fill, I filtered the image with the prompt: "Abstract Oil Painting" to get the final look. I motion-tracked and often rotoscoped in the final PNG in After Effects, which is difficult when working with 16mm film.

I learned a lot with this project from a directing and writing standpoint. My two biggest takeaways are:
1.) I cannot simultaneously operate a camera and direct the actors. I need to hire a Camera Operator next time!
2.) At least one whole page of dialogue didn't make the final cut. This was okay because the dialogue was motivated to have the same end. This means I could cut out a large portion of dialogue to make the interview part more succinct without losing any crucial story points since everything they discussed pointed to the Painting. It was nice to have different dialogue options to intercut, so it worked out in the end.

 

Please let me know what you think!