Jump to content

The Great Dying


Recommended Posts

We are in the final month of pre production of a new web series called The Great Dying. It is a post apocalyptic zombie tale of a group of people traveling from the west coast to the east coast in search of a promised land where the dead stay in their graves. I will DP and share the directing job with my spouse who is directing and producing the show. It will be shot on a 5D MII.

The plan is to shot three episodes every quarter and continually release an episode every month of which the first is scheduled for october.

 

I will update this thread from time to time.

 

These are some zombie make up tests we did earlier today. Enjoy!

zombie2.jpgzombie1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the tip. We will probably be looking for some more funding at a later date if we can continue with more episodes.

First day of shooting completed anyway. It went absolutely fine aside some minor mishaps and delays in the beginning. I will keep posting the shoot through at odmarden.se and will try to get something nice here too.

 

I've got two stills to share taken with the 5D using the same setups as when I was shooting video.

4943374840_fee8877b23_z.jpg

4943375024_a5889053bb_z.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last day of shooting finished yesterday. Ten days of sleep deprivation is now finished. The cast and crew has just been wonderful and I am proud of the result. The 5D has been a real trooper. I have used very little lights on this show and the 5D sensor has just kept giving me wonderful images, even, at times, with some ungodly high isos. It's almost spooky how clean images you can get with very little light. Some days I was just forced to pick a notch higher on the iso for every take as we were shooting until the sun went down.

Now, post production...

4974728988_ea14898e5a.jpg

aftershave

4974731118_b7143b39bb.jpg

underground

Edited by klas persson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

Here are a couple of images from Episode 2 with descriptions.

 

5534533700_c1ea48599f.jpg

This is a shot of the hero, chased by ghouls through a derelict mental asylum. This is done

as day for night. Interior day for night is very effective, you just have to be careful where

pointing the camera. As this is a pretty long handheld action scene we had to rehearse

the whole chase quite a few times, blind some windows I couldn't avoid and placing a

red head to enhance the ghouls face when he enters the scene.

 

5533951635_f7ba952bce.jpg

This is also day for night. But a quiet scene with no action. Just a camera on a tripod.

The location does a whole lot for me here.

 

5533951537_90d0e0c088.jpg

Above day for night shot is cross cut with this lit scene. This is done with a blue gelled

red head pointed through a window. I have some kind of reflector or maybe a red head

bounced of a white sheet too. Can't remember but it looks like there is something coming

from the other way. In front of the actor i have a burnt out fire glowing.

 

5533951437_acd3087248.jpg

This is a little earlier in the episode than the above image. The fire is still burning and is

done with a bounced red head. The moon light is the same red head, through the window,

as above.

 

5533951883_dc22bffefb.jpg

5534533478_18086ac718.jpg

Same location, during the day. The backlight is actual sunlight coming through the window.

One or two redheads are bounced of a white bed sheet. On the wider shot I've also lit a

dripping from the ceiling, which is not visible on this exact frame. Very effective in the

actual episode though.

 

5533951715_433aeea071.jpg

Exterior from the above location. Only natural light, very cloudy and raining. Oh, and I've

forgot to clear the lens from the garbage bag I used as a cover from the rain.

 

5534532630_c2bf9a1cd2.jpg

Only one light behind the actor. Then bounced of a steel plate to light his face.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check out episode 3 at thegreatdying.com.

 

I have some stills extracted from this episode too that I thought I should share.

5532525023_641bdf6958.jpg

5532524885_d98da5aca2.jpg

5532524597_8a1bf72683.jpg

5533106388_d17d4061fd.jpg

This is shot as day for night under the unrelenting midday sun. The wider shots were

meant to be finished in the morning sun but delays pushed us to not begin until the

sun was all the way up. Then we continued with the singles until it was time for lunch.

This is lit with three redheads, one pointed at each actor and one making a ring of light

around the candle(actually a tin can filled with grease with a wick made of natural fibers,

survivor style). Any moonlight effects is just the sun working.

 

5533106436_9cceb36845.jpg

This is done with a homemade light. I did a variation of the Roger Deakins way of building

a board with several house bulbs. Look here for pictures of it. So this is just

several house bulbs, making a soft light source. As always when doing fire I have a dude

sitting in front of it waving either a branch or some blackwrap.

 

5532525789_a1a0879a51.jpg

5533106676_f23a3c763b.jpg

5532525879_814866661a.jpg

Natural light on all of these. No reflectors used either. The first two images is from

the opening scene of episode 3 when the heroes are pushing forward on a railroad.

The last image is from a later scene when they have decided not to use the open

railroad due to a ghoul attack. The first image is shot through a 400mm super tele to

get the effect of them just walking and walking but not coming anywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

The season finale, episode five, is now online at www.thegreatdying.com

It has been two incredible fun years working with this. We started shooting in september last year and did the fourth and fifth episodes in november and have been working day and night pulling the episodes together since. Enjoy!

 

5960545752_2e7f82dcc0_b.jpg

This is lit with the homemade light I mentioned earlier. Symbolizing a oil lamp shown earlier in the scene.

 

5959987467_60996a3cce_b.jpg

This is the same homemade light also symbolizing the same oil lamp. The moonlight is a single redhead coming through the entrance of the tent.

 

5960546002_3da17a4c22_b.jpg

5959987277_7513fb4359_b.jpg

Here I have an orange gelled redhead bouncing off a regular sheet clamped on a c-stand. The moonlight is blue gelled red heads pointed directly on the actors.

 

5959987063_c373febe4b_b.jpg

5959986843_42af0e6fa9_b.jpg

5960545366_084f2050ab_b.jpg

5959988299_f484c6c61d_b.jpg

These are all day for night.

 

5960546508_a692cb8452_b.jpg

Here is an digitally extended shot. I used Shake to get the Rocky mountains into the scene.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...