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GARRISON is the title of a feature I've been shooting in San Antonio, TX. We started July 5th and end July 30th. It's loosely based on some killings that were committed at Fort Bragg by soldiers returning from Iraq.

 

We're shooting with the Canon XL-2 and 20x lens in 24p mode. Because this is a DV feature and because of the nature of the content we decided to embrace the format we are shooting on and play to its strengths. It's not film so we are not treating it like film. After looking at various movies for reference, most notably 'Traffic' we decided to set some guidelines as to the style of coverage. We are always hand-held but very steady, no walking hand-held, no zooming and minimal panning. We have a Glidecam with vest if we need to travel with the characters. We only shoot the top of the scene as a master because the meat is in the close-ups on DV where we can back up and get good depth of field.

 

For the visual scheme I am playing off of the military camouflage uniforms. Using greens, browns and yellows wherever I can. All DAY EXT. is shot through a Chocolate 2 usually combined with an Ultra-Pol. DAY INT. is no filter with lighting pushed through windows and pumped up practicals. NIGHT INT. and EXT. is a mix of 1/2 CTB+Pale Green for moonlight effect and Rosco Storaro 2003 Yellow as a sodium vapor effect. The Chocolate filter lays a nice yellow on the lighter areas of the camo uniform and any specular highlights in the frame. It echoes the VS yellow used at night.

 

We have been trying some ambitious things for the budget size of this film like using a 2,000 gallon pumper truck for rain effects and wet downs. It worked out pretty good that the director?s father happens to own said truck. I wasn't sure if we had the crew or time to use it but it has worked well so far and I'll post about "the monster" later.

 

I'm using the Custom Preset 1 on the XL-2 pushing Master Ped down 3, Black Press On and Knee High. I've mostly used the 5600 and 3200 white balance presets. Only white balancing a few times when we were using practicals as the main source of light. Exposure is set via 100% Zebras with an eye toward exposing for the highlight. Kinda like you do with reversal stock. I only have an 8 inch monitor for reference.

 

I've played around using SpeedGrade On-Set to see if my final grade is what I'm looking for. I plan to use it as a guide for a grade on Lustre or something in post.

Edited by J. Lamar King
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On to some set-ups. Here is the inside of a house where the characters are looking for a soldier who they think has murdered someone. Due to budget restraints my biggest lights are 1K Rock'n Roll PAR's, I have six of them. In this setup I used them to punch my 1/2 CTB+Pale Green "moonlight" through the windows. The camera is set into 5600K White balance preset. The room is hazed and the characters are carrying Surefire flashlights which occasionally bounce back to fill their faces in. The background out the door is hit with the Storaro Yellow as a Sodium street light effect.

 

crosshouse2-1.jpg

 

A lighting plot:

 

crossnightintweb.jpg

Edited by J. Lamar King
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Another setup shot last week. Two characters sit in a Jeep waiting for another outside of a house. This is the exterior of the one shown above. Pretty basic setup with two Tweenie Back-cross lights, a Tweenie through a 2x3 silk for fill and a 1K PAR to light the background. There were some other scrims/flags and such but I don't remember their positions. Mostly we had to knock down the light on the white house by rolling in a double bottomer.

 

Frame Grab:

 

crosshousejeepwide.jpg

 

Lighting Plot:

 

crossextngt.jpg

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Here is a production still of the Jeep setup above.

 

crosshoussetupext.jpg

 

looking good

 

i liked the ext with the chocolate never use one my self i think there is any in Israel

 

what software you us for the light plan?

 

 

That Chocolate filter was very hard to find here in Texas. We went through four rental houses to find one in 4x4". I originally wanted to use Antique Suede but that was impossible to find here in 4x4. If I had a bigger matte-box I wouldn't have had as much trouble finding one.

 

I'm using MS Publisher to make the plots.

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"The Monster"

 

A unique thing on this shoot is a 2,000 gallon pumper truck with 100' boom arm. You normaly just couldn't do a rain scene on a budget this small but this truck is free. I wasn't sure it was going to work at all but we were able to get some really nice medium to medium wide rain shots with it. So far we used it mostly to get some setups at a drive in theater. It was the Mission theater in San Antonio. I used my 1K PAR cans to punch light into the scene from a distance then used a 4x4 frame of 216 with a Tweenie for fill on the actors. We then used the boom arm to boom the rain nozzle to the right place. It worked a treat. We had a projectionist on hand to project those snack bar promos behind the action and the XL-2 picked it up great in 24p mode 1/48th shutter. Sorry I don't have a frame grab right now but I have some plots and some production stills to give you an idea.

 

Thanks to David Mullen for his thoughts on this. He pointed out that drive-ins usually close in rainy weather but we discovered that they do keep playing films if it starts to rain in the middle. At least this one does.

 

The setup:

 

crossatdrivein-1.jpg

 

Some production stills:

 

driveintarp.jpg

 

raindrivein.jpg

 

camraindrivein.jpg

 

snackbar.jpg

 

 

 

The Monster bucket:

 

rainboom.jpg

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So we had one day this week where we shot all this little pickup stuff instead of waiting until the end. That was nice and allowed us to get ahead of our schedule. Here is a production still of one such pick-up of a character spying on a house. no lighting just shooting.

 

crosspics.jpg

 

The thing on these no budget/no time shoots that really gets you is you have to make up time somehwere. I decided to do it at the location that is supposed to be an Army barracks. The location was lit with flourescents so I just white balanced and shot. I only lit about four scenes. We shot 36 pages there in two days. Seems like a compromise but a justifiable one because the barracks is not supposed to be a comfortable place. I think letting the practicals play was the right choice. At most I would of flew in a few Kinos to fill in eyes and add some seperation. But I have no Kinos or the crew to move them around. Sorry no frame grabs as all the material is now with the editor. I'll post some when he sends me some frame grabs for CC in SpeedGrade.

 

One of the pick-ups we had to shoot was actually a reshoot of a character on a six mile road march on a dusty rocky road. I had to reshoot because we had gotten some specks of trash on the outermost filter which was the Chocolate. I was using it in combo with the T-pol. I never recall having so much problem with DOF on DV. During the reshoot I saw something in the viewfinder again. This time it was a piece of lint on the front element. I can't believe it, that lens could look up a nats ass if it landed on the element! The problem is I couldn't just zoom through it because I was shooting from a Glidecam which are a bitch to control at best. I wouldn't normally even use a Glidecam but I felt it looked right along with our handheld footage. I wanted to keep that feel yet running with a handheld camera would be too much movement and a Steadicam or dolly too smooth.

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Beautiful lighting, great job.

 

Just remember not to try to demonize our guys - I guess I'm just saying that cause I'm joining the marines next year. Last thing we need is an American version of "The valley of the wolves Iraq". :D

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Beautiful lighting, great job.

 

Just remember not to try to demonize our guys - I guess I'm just saying that cause I'm joining the marines next year. Last thing we need is an American version of "The valley of the wolves Iraq". :D

 

 

The film was written and directed by a U.S. Army vet of Afghanistan and I believe Iraq. It doesn't really take any political sides but rather talks about military life after warfare.

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"GARRISON" wrapped last Sunday with a small crew shooting in a strip club. We were shooting insert footage for another place that we had dressed as a strip club and all the dialogue took place there. There were only actresses who didn't want to appear topless though. So I guess we were basically shooting insert boobies. Not that sexy after a month of 10 and 12 hour days. I'll try to post some more screen grabs after I visit the editor next week to view an assembly and discuss color correction.

 

I'm shooting a music video for two days this month and packing for L.A. as I write this. So next time from La La land!

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The film was written and directed by a U.S. Army vet of Afghanistan and I believe Iraq. It doesn't really take any political sides but rather talks about military life after warfare.

 

Sounds great. Can't wait to hear more. Looking good though.

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  • 2 months later...

Just wanted to send along a little update on this film. The Director/Producer showed a cut of the film to a post house in Dallas in hopes of cutting a deal with them for color grading and finishing. The post house really liked what we achieved for such a low budget they gave us really incredible deal.

 

We did a color grade on an Avid Symphony running on Nitris hardware. Not as good a situation as using a DaVinci, Poggle or Pirhana but it worked well for what we had to do. Especially because we really had no idea IF there would ever be a color grade.

 

The grade mostly consisted of finding a good look for the scenes that take place in a Barracks location that I shot with just the available flos and bounce. We had to do that to make our schedule and budget. We wound up desaturating those scenes quite a bit, upping the contrast and lending the whole image a greenish tone. The rest was just general density and contrast matching.

 

The film will go to festivals next year and we made the Sundance entry deadline.

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  • 1 year later...

I hope nobody minds if I dig up my old thread for a bit of shameless pluggery! If you are in Los Angeles there will be a FREE screening of "GARRISON" which I shot and outlined some setups in this thread. It will screen this Friday the 28th of March, 3:30pm at the Regency Fairfax Theater in Los Angeles. Corner of Beverly and Fairfax Ave. I'll be in attendance along with the director. Please come on out. It will be a digital projection probably from Beta on who knows what kind of projector so I'm hoping it will look OK.

 

For a little thread follow-up the film did not get accepted to Sundance but I never thought it would. I wish filmmakers would not let themselves be pressured by that deadline and scramble to complete their movie. It did screen at some other fests and won a Gold Remi for Cinematography at WordFest in Houston.

 

After the first round of fests the film attracted some additional capital so a year later some scenes were re-shot and new material added. This turned out to be a big chunk of the film and I wasn't available to do it so I have to thank A.J. Garces for doing such a great job on the pick ups.

 

 

 

"GARRISON"

 

A military mystery, Garrison revolves around an AWOL soldier who is being searched for by his fellow troops.

 

 

 

http://www.garrisonthemovie.com

 

http://digitalvideofestival.bside.com/?_vi...filmId=51990340

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985051/

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