"Sleep Shift" trailer.

[Chris Keth]

Hey, everyone. So for the better part of a year I've been talking to a friend of mine from school, Neal Dhand, about a feature he has written and is raising funds to make. He's a good writer, a great director, and he always seems to come out with a great film no matter the budget or problems. I've recently been asked to go back to Rochester and shoot a promo trailer with him to shop around to help raise investors.

 

I intend to keep a day by day diary thing with some good set photos. we'll see about the day-by-day but I promise set photos.

 

We'll be shooting super 16 with an SR3 and either a zeiss 11-110 or a set of series 2 cookes. I haven't decided on the lenses yet. The stock will probably be 7219, perhaps eterna 500 if the deal on V3 falls through.

 

Lighting package will be film school small but enough. Looks like probably 2 1200 HMI pars, a smallish kit of kinos and a smallish tungsten package.

 

To whet your appetite, I'll post a few bits of concept art for the film. It is on the dark side, visually, as most of Neal's work tends to be.

 

 

 

 

 

We've been chatting about a few films in particular for reference including Blade Runner and Blue Velvet.

 

I'll update more when I know more.

[Michael Collier]

Looks like it will be a fun shoot. very dark and dramatic. I love the storyboard panels, they are very well fleshed out. If they were a cartoon, I would probably watch it and enjoy it. If possible I would like to see camera view shots of these panels as you shoot them, to see how you take the story board through production. Are these boards the work of the director or a story board artist?

[Chris Keth]

Looks like it will be a fun shoot. very dark and dramatic. I love the storyboard panels, they are very well fleshed out. If they were a cartoon, I would probably watch it and enjoy it. If possible I would like to see camera view shots of these panels as you shoot them, to see how you take the story board through production. Are these boards the work of the director or a story board artist?

 

Good call! I'll make a mental note to make sure to take some good stills from those camera positions. Obviously things change but I think in this case, the finished product should be pretty close to concept. The drawings are by a friend of the directors, apparently not someone I know since he didn't mention a name.

[Chris Keth]

So four days this week are shoots for the trailer. Tomorrow is on location in a sleep lab at the University of Rochester. The last style frame above is part of this. I'll post some photos.

 

I've decided to take some good stills and photoshop correct them to send to the colorist. I'll make sure some of those at least get put up here. I'm pretty excited.

[Chris Keth]

Good evening everyone! We finished the first day of the Sleep Shift trailer today. We shot on location in a real sleep lab, complete with creepy patient rooms equipped with infrared cameras. We concentrated on some material set in a monitoring room, where one can see the live video of patients, as well as scopes displaying vital signs, etc.

 

Here are some roughly corrected stills. I started with the camera on a daylight balance so the skintones on some of these is uncorrectably red. <_< Michael, I'm sure you'll notice a few of these coincide with one of the style frames.

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2008 by Chris Keth

[Chris Keth]

 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2008 by Chris Keth

[Chris Keth]

Only one still today. I kept forgetting to get camera view stuff:

 

Unfortunately, I missed grabbing a still of one of my favorite shots I've done in a while. In the still above, the main character is being held at knifepoint. We find out there is a mystery smoking man in the alley, too. In a quite tight shot from about mouth to chest, we very slowly rack back to the smoking man while an inky dims up/down on his mouth area in unison with his inhaling on the cigarette/exhaling.

Edited January 9, 2008 by Chris Keth

[Chris Keth]

Final Installment, at least until I get some footage.

 

First is a very simple night shot. The guy has a sleeping disorder that plays into the film so, naturally, we see him sleeping in some significant way. I'll leave it at that. I just like the realistic simplicity.

 

 

We busted out a few crane shots in the daytime and then a nightclub scene this evening. I think the nightclub is going to turn out beautiful. It's definitely some of the better work I've done, perhaps the best. Here are a few stills from that. As usual, they're roughly corrected and framed as the camera framing was, or close-ish.

 

 

 

[Chris Keth]

 

[Chris Keth]

I should mention that I welcome any criticism anyone has. Just be honest, I like hearing what people think and what people might have done different in my shoes.

[Chris Keth]

A couple random production stills I liked:

 

 

and my right-hand guys. Dave Regan, my 1st AC, and John Kelly, Gaffer.

 

[Steve Goodloe]

Hey, looks really good. I really like the blue, what gel is it? I like the stylized feel that I get from the photos. Hope to see more!

 

-Steve Goodloe

[Chris Keth]

Hey, looks really good. I really like the blue, what gel is it? I like the stylized feel that I get from the photos. Hope to see more!

 

-Steve Goodloe

 

I assume you mean the blue in the nightclub? That's Rosco's calcolor 30 cyan (#4330). They're on uncorrected HMI's though so it's more like full CTB+30 cyan.

Edited January 12, 2008 by Chris Keth

[Steve Goodloe]

I assume you mean the blue in the nightclub? That's Rosco's calcolor 30 cyan (#4330). They're on uncorrected HMI's though so it's more like full CTB+30 cyan.

 

Ya thats what I was referring to, sorry for being unclear. Thats really cool, I'm big into colors, its neat to see what things look like. Cant wait to see more.

 

-Steve Goodloe

[Chris Keth]

Ya thats what I was referring to, sorry for being unclear. Thats really cool, I'm big into colors, its neat to see what things look like. Cant wait to see more.

 

-Steve Goodloe

 

I'll be sure to get some grabs from the actual footage when it gets to me.

[benjamin aguilar]

I'll be sure to get some grabs from the actual footage when it gets to me.

 

Hey Chris,

 

I like the fact that you have plenty of color in the frame, it looks a bit too much, but sure it will turn out fine on film, especially with a lower contrast stock. Also, one thing that I think might be helpful is to add some fog in your shots. A light layer in the background(the crowd in the later shots and in the club) and in general for some nice atmosphere as sometimes certain shots can come out too clean. Not too much in the foreground though as things might start to get too low in contrast/muddy, I know I've been there ;) . Fog also seems perfect for this type of piece, also seems your storyboards have that look as well. Anyways, would like to see stills from the footage. By the way, what are you guys transfering on(spirit, rank ect...)?

 

-Benjamin

[Chris Keth]

Hey Chris,

 

I like the fact that you have plenty of color in the frame, it looks a bit too much, but sure it will turn out fine on film, especially with a lower contrast stock. Also, one thing that I think might be helpful is to add some fog in your shots. A light layer in the background(the crowd in the later shots and in the club) and in general for some nice atmosphere as sometimes certain shots can come out too clean. Not too much in the foreground though as things might start to get too low in contrast/muddy, I know I've been there ;) . Fog also seems perfect for this type of piece, also seems your storyboards have that look as well. Anyways, would like to see stills from the footage. By the way, what are you guys transfering on(spirit, rank ect...)?

 

-Benjamin

 

Hey Benjamin! I tend to agree with you about the color on a lot of these stills. I was on the edge of loving it and thinking it too garish so I am dying to see the transferred footage. I think you're right that on a lower contrast stock it will be fine...but seeing is believing, right?

 

You're absolutely dead on about some haze. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to haze the location and a different bar wasn't much of a possibility as we nabbed this location a bit late as it was. I would love to see the shot from behind the singer with a tiny bit of haze. I bet it would be a knockout.

 

We're getting it transferred on a spirit to HDCam. We're going through Postworks in NYC. Neal and I have gone through them a few times and they have been wonderful.

[benjamin aguilar]

Hey Benjamin! I tend to agree with you about the color on a lot of these stills. I was on the edge of loving it and thinking it too garish so I am dying to see the transferred footage. I think you're right that on a lower contrast stock it will be fine...but seeing is believing, right?

 

You're absolutely dead on about some haze. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to haze the location and a different bar wasn't much of a possibility as we nabbed this location a bit late as it was. I would love to see the shot from behind the singer with a tiny bit of haze. I bet it would be a knockout.

 

We're getting it transferred on a spirit to HDCam. We're going through Postworks in NYC. Neal and I have gone through them a few times and they have been wonderful.

 

It's nice to see a colorful set, it's very refreshing and artful, it can be like a painting. That sucks the smoke / fog machine wasn't allowed. You'd have a fun time with smoke detectors though if you had it running :lol: I had that problem once at a friend's house, they just wouldn't turn off no matter how hard we tried, good thing his parents were pretty laid back though.

Very interested to see the footage, keep us updated!

 

-Benjamin

[Chris Keth]

I finally have some of the footage. I snipped some quick stills. It's exactly as received from the transfer. This is just DVCam, a final transfer will be done onto HDCam.

 

 

 

 

The next couple are a progression during the shot.

 

[Chris Keth]

 

The next three are a progression we stumbled onto on set. I was zoomed in to check focus while someone was waving a curtain we were going to use for a transition (it would wipe frame). The director was watching the monitor when I zoomed out from the eye. Right when I zoomed someone waved the curtain and it made a really cool effect where the curtain wipes frame and when it clears frame, the shot size has changed. You never actually see the zoom as the frame is blacked out at the time. We tried it, I'm not sure how it will be used but it looks pretty cool.

 

 

 

[Chris Keth]

This is a very creepy bit in a sleep lab. One of the characters is taling about watching people sleep and she taps a monitor and the person wakes up as if they react to her tap.

 

[Chris Keth]

I like this shot a lot. I wish we would have had more favorable light for it, though. The camera starts low and moves counter to the guy running down the fire escape.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally here is the film version of the still above in the nightclub.

 

 

I'll post more when I have more. :ph34r:

[adam berk]

The stuff looks great. I can't wait to see the trailer.

 

Which lens(es) and stock did you end up shooting?

[Chris Keth]

The stuff looks great. I can't wait to see the trailer.

 

Which lens(es) and stock did you end up shooting?

 

Thanks, Adam. In the end, I went with 7219 rated at 320 and the zeiss 11-110 zoom. On a couple occasions, I used a cooke series II prime if I needed a better close focus distance. Those shots will be warmer than the shots on the zoom but not so much that correcting it will be a problem. Everything was shot clean.

[Chris Keth]

The trailer premiers at a fundraiser in Rochester tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to post the trailer and some more footage very soon. I'm told the trailer looks great.