klas persson Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Stephen Williams Posted July 30, 2010 Premium Member Share Posted July 30, 2010 I think you should speak with Richard Boddington, he has some horror Film experiance, he may well want to invest in your project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted August 30, 2010 Premium Member Share Posted August 30, 2010 Nice lighting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted September 3, 2010 Author Share Posted September 3, 2010 Thanks! And I've got a Zombie still... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted September 9, 2010 Author Share Posted September 9, 2010 (edited) 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... Edited September 9, 2010 by klas persson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted October 24, 2010 Author Share Posted October 24, 2010 A teaser up at www.thegreatdying.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted November 8, 2010 Author Share Posted November 8, 2010 And now we have the first episode up. Check it out. Either here or at thegreatdying.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFCY6Eqncv4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Episode 2 is now online. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBQpbZslcHc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 Here are a couple of images from Episode 2 with descriptions. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Only one light behind the actor. Then bounced of a steel plate to light his face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 Check out episode 3 at thegreatdying.com. I have some stills extracted from this episode too that I thought I should share. 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. 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. 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 More sharing options...
Aaron Solomon Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Just wanted to say, I'm excited to see these images coming off the 5D. They look absolutely gorgeous. I'm shooting a couple things on the 7D this summer. Did you do any comparison tests between the two? Thanks, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 Thanks Aaron. I have not used the 7D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted April 14, 2011 Premium Member Share Posted April 14, 2011 Zombieeees! Sorry, it's more or less de rigeur to say that, isn't it? P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted April 14, 2011 Author Share Posted April 14, 2011 I think it is Braaains! that is the correct response to a forum thread involving the undead, though I might be wrong. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Episode four is out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klas persson Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 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! This is lit with the homemade light I mentioned earlier. Symbolizing a oil lamp shown earlier in the scene. 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. 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. These are all day for night. Here is an digitally extended shot. I used Shake to get the Rocky mountains into the scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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