Here are four frame grabs from my Avid timeline from "PINK". These are flashback shots of "young Nate". Used a warm wash, slightly contrasty look to depict a past era in time. These were all shot on my Canon XH-A1 in HDV at 1/48 shutter using the Letus35 FE 35mm adapter. Nikon lenses were used - 24mm, 50mm and 85mm. Color correction was done in Avid using three-way corrector, Magic Bullet Colorista, and Boris Continuum.
I think they have a very filmic quality. Remember, the show premieres online Tuesday September 4th!!!
www.myspace.com/pinktheseries
-Blake
Tim Burton attended a film festival in Guanajato, Mexico and Jason (my step-brother's cousin who is a professional trumpet player) played at a private party for him. Pretty cool.
-Blake
Three War Stories (and lessons) from the "Pink" shoot:
1. LIGHTS - On our first day of shooting we were at a small farm south of Fort Worth. Most of our setups were outside, although we did have one short scene to shoot in the house. This shoot had been planned for several months remember, but as I've said many times if things can go wrong they often do... Midway through the morning a TXU truck pulls up to the property looking for the owner (his name is being withheld to protect the guilty). :) I told the TXU guy he wasn't home and he proceeded to tell me he was there to turn off the power. Yep. Shoot planned for months. The one day we're actually shooting TXU shows up. To turn the power off. I love indie fimmaking. I tried to offer to pay the bill but he couldn't accept money. I then asked him if he could come back later. Even offered to "buy" him lunch. No takers. He went ahead and turned the power off. So, the shots we needed to shoot in the house... well, we did them guerilla-style with available light. Ended up looking pretty good though. ALWAYS make sure your location's electric bills have been paid!
2. LETUS - This was my first time to use a 35mm lens adapter. We used the Letus35 Flip Enhanced. What this does is allow you to use 35mm SLR lenses on video cameras (we shot on a Canon XH-A1 HDV camera). The footage you get with this looks amazing. Very, very film-like with the shallow depth-of-field. The thing is you have to remember to turn the thing ON before you shoot. By turning a small motor on it make the ground glass vibrate and thus creates the film-like images. However, if you FORGET to turn the ground glass motor on the footage looks like you're looking through a dirty window at it. Well, we forgot to turn the motor on twice. Bad thing was it was on two scenes with actors and we had to reshoot them both. One was MOS and the other did have dialogue. Luckily I watched dailies everyday, so I caught it and were able to shoot again. Just remember, IF YOU USE A 35MM ADAPTER MAKE SURE YOU TURN THE MOTOR ON. We're actually creating a label to put on the adapter to remind us in the future.
3. LOCUST - Okay, so we're shooting a scene in my backyard. It's summertime in Dallas. Behind my house is a fairly large wooded area. A small forest actually. I scouted it for the shoot several times and thought it would work great. And it did. Well, almost. The one thing I didn't take into consideration was the locust singing their tune. They were so loud that we almost couldn't hear ourselves think. We got the mic very close to the actors and so I think it sounds okay. Plus, the sound is constant, so I should be able to notch it out with an EQ. Or I can always ADR the scene, but that cost money. It's a good lesson to remember - ALWAYS check your locations at the time of day (and year) you'll be shooting - not only for light but for sound.
-Blake
Started a Myspace page for the new web TV show "Pink". Please check it out and if you're on Myspace yourself let me know and I'll add you as a friend...
www.myspace.com/pinktheseries
Also have a new traditional website under construction.
Please check it out too:
www.pinktheseries.com
In the near future we'll be adding still pix from the shoot (some already on Myspace) and then the actual show will play here too. It will play on the main "Pink" website, on Myspace and YouTube.
More info will follow soon. And, I will detail the shoot soon as well.
REMEMBER, SHOW PREMIERES ONLINE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 4TH !!!
Thanks for the support!
-Blake
Well the shoot is over and I must say I'm very tired. Actually yesterday I was really tired. Today I'm much better. Went to bed at 8pm on Monday night and slept a full 12 hours. Night before I only slept 3 hours. So I needed it.
I will detail the shoot in the coming days, but for now I will just say that I had a good time and we got some great footage. BUT, I really hate production. I really do. So many things can go wrong (and often do). You also have a mix of personalities that can (and often do) clash - especially when you're tired, etc. And we had a descent amount of "friction" on this set for some reason. Really the first time I'd experienced it. And I don't like it. Of course not everyone was affected, but it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
Anyway, enough with the drama.
It's really all about the show and the work - and like I said, I'm quite happy with that. I also think I've stumbled upon a REALLY good child actor and I'm going to look into helping her find an agent and get more work in the future.
One last thing is I'd like to thank the cast and crew for all their hard work on the shoot. If any of them are reading this just know that you helped the show tremendously and I greatly appreciate your efforts. Nice work!
Now off to the editing suite... :)
To be continued.
-Blake
This Wednesday we begin shooting the new web TV show. It's going to be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to it - although I must say production is my least favorite part of the filmmaking process. Too many things can go wrong (and often do). But I'm working with a lot of the same crew - and even cast - from previous projects, so that should make things go fairly smoothly. They're all very talented folks, well most of them. :)
I hope to post on the blog some along the way and also get some behind-the-scenes cast and crew video on the web too. But it's funny how things tend to get away from you in the middle of shooting. I'll do my best though.
-Blake
Great little interview with Steve Buscemi about his new directorial effort "Interview". Click here to check it out.
-Blake
I start shooting the new web show on July 25th, so things are really starting to move forward.
Been scouting locations, doing casting, working on the schedule, doing storyboards and shot list, etc. A TON OF WORK. I'm actually doing a lot of the pre-pro myself just based on the budget and availabiltiy of crew. The main person I'd be working with now is the production designer, but the guy I use is on a film in Oklahoma. So, I've been working with a variety of other folks to fill his shoes, and I think we're doing okay.
Next week we build a Jail Cell set. That should be interesting, again, without a production designer - but I know what I want and think it will be fine. Plus, I'm hiring a Scenic (painter) referred by the production designer to make it look good.
I have had some of the normal SNAFUS that come with producing a show, like for example we lost our Church location because it was found to have black mold. We also lost a 80s van I had booked for a scene. And, we're having a heck of time locating a 70s or 80s "farm truck" for another scene.
If anyone has or knows of anyone with an 80s van or a 70s/80s pick-up truck (in the DFW area) please let me know. I can definitely use it in the show! :)
Looking forward to the shoot...
-Blake
Man, Scott Kirshner's CinemaTech blog is really a great place to find info on new distribution models - especially dealing with the Internet. He's really on top of his game.
I HIGHLY suggest reading his blog regularly. I'm especially interested in his reporting right now with my new web show about to shoot, and also with distribution opportunities for several of my feature films.
Definitely check it out!
-Blake
Things are moving ahead nicely on the new web-based TV show I'm producing/directing in late July (still tentative shooting dates). I'll be posting extensively about the actual show in the near future, but for now I just want to comment on working with the actor's union AFTRA (American Federation of Television & Radio Artists).
On my last feature film, "Killing Down", I worked with SAG (Screen Actors Guild). The experience was okay. But SAG is not that easy to work with, well the people are fine, it's all the paperwork and rules, rules, rules you have to deal with. Not that AFTRA doesn't have paperwork and rules - they do - but not like with my SAG experience, and that is very nice.
I understand and appreciate SAG for what they do for their actor members. Heck, a lot of my closest friends are actors and they use SAG for their insurance, etc. The thing that gets me is how MUCH power they have over a given production, and this coming from a union with 96% unemployment! Again, SAG is good and the actors they represent are even better (typically speaking), but they can definitely be a headache.
With the new web series I considered SAG at first, but then talked to a few fellow filmmakers and learned that most "web shows" are going with an AFTRA contract. I found this intriguing so I investigated. Turns out they were right. A lot of big companies like Disney, etc. are turning to AFTRA for their web content dealing with actors.
Funny thing is neither AFTRA or SAG has an agreement yet for the Internet! I really couldn't believe it. I know web TV shows (or shows SPECIFICALLY created for the web) are a fairly new thing, but the IDEA for them has been around for a while. So I was just really surprised that no contracts exist yet for this - so what happened? Well, we got to create our own "custom" contract which worked out very well.
Another filmmaker friend of mine did this on a web show he produced - but he went with SAG - and they created a custom contract for that too. So it can be done with either union, but I must say that SO FAR my experience with AFTRA has been MUCH, MUCH EASIER (than working with SAG). Of course we still have to do all the production paperwork, and then post-production paperwork, etc. (similar to SAG) - but the upfront work has been pretty much a breeze.
Have to give thanks to the local Dallas AFTRA rep T.J. Jones for being very helpful and working things out with me. She's been great, even if at the beginning she really didn't understand what kind of show I was producing. I kept using the word "pilot" and that made her and the AFTRA national reps nervous. I guess they hear that word and think NETWORK TV PILOT and lots of money. So, we dropped that word from the conversation and things went a lot smoother. :)
I'll let folks know how everything ends up after the shoot. But for now I would highly recommend considering AFTRA for web-based TV shows and the like (they're indie friendly too).
-Blake
To accompany the stills below (in the previous post), please see the actual test footage...
Quicktime (SD):
http://www.blakecalhoun.com/canon_letus_test01_sdqt.htm
Windows Media (SD):
http://www.blakecalhoun.com/canon_letus_test01_sdwm.htm
-Blake
These shots are with and without the Letus35 Flip Enhanced adaptor on my Canon XH-A1 HDV camera. Subject was standing 6 feet in front of camera. Everything was shot at 1080p 24fps at 1/48 shutter.
There are notations on the bottom right corner of the pictures as to what lens was used and if the adapter was on or not. Overall I'm impressed with the results. BTW, these stills are directly from the raw footage - no color correction or color grading has been done whatsoever...
You can really see the shallow depth-of-field (DOF) in the shots with the adapter. This give the footage a much more cinematic feel. We found that with the adapter and SLR lens on it is rated at approximately 50 ASA - very slow (2 1/2 stops of light loss). And with the adapter off it was rated around 300 ASA.
I will be posting more information and video from this test soon.
-Blake
These shots are from the set of "In The Electric Mist" from Julio Cedillo. Pictured from top to bottom are the DP (with the camera), John Goodman and Julio (second b&w shot), and then Tommy Lee Jones with the director and producer of the film...
-Blake
Yep, there is a lot going on right now...
1. The Texas Legislature PASSED the new film tax incentives bill and Governor Rick Perry will be signing it today (or very soon). This is GREAT news for Texas.
2. My next feature film project is starting to take shape. The script has been done for about two months and we're now working on financing, etc. We also have sent the script out to a Casting Director and a well-know actress for one of the leading roles. Just got word TODAY that the actress loves the project and wants to work on it! This can and likely will help us secure the rest of our production funds and help us lure other name talent to the project. More news on this very soon.
3. I've been talking some recently about a new Web TV Series I'm developing and now THAT project is moving ahead very quickly too. We're actually planning to shoot it in late July and "premiere" the series after Labor Day. I'm very excited about this project for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it is so different. We'll be producing 10 three-minute webisodes to start with (aka "the pilot"). It is going to play much like a serialized comic strip or graphic novel and we have several recognizable actors in the leading roles for this project too. If the show takes off we'll move ahead with future webisodes later in the fall. Look for a new website and Myspace page for the show in the coming weeks.
NOTE: We will be casting for this show in the next few weeks if you are an actor and are interested.
4. My latest feature film "Killing Down" was just at the Cannes Film Market in France. I don't have many details, but I do know it's bee playing well to foreign buyers. I expect to see DVDs start popping up around Europe and the Middle East any day. We have not as of yet secured a domestic distribution deal, but we do have several offers - but we're playing the field some and not in a huge hurry. Hope to have good news though in the near future about when the DVD will be available in the US and Canada.
5. Matthew Tompkins, Sheree Wilson and Julio Cedillo have all been VERY busy since we wrapped "Killing Down" back in early 2006. Just this last weekend Sheree starred in a Lifetime Movie Network movie-of-the-week called Anna's Storm. Matthew recently wrapped a costarring role opposite Dolph Lundgren in Sony Pictures' "Missionary Man", and Julio just finished a leading role in "The Electric Mist" opposite Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman and Peter Saarsgard, and also a part in the new Frank Darabont movie "The Mist" from a Steven King short story. It's great to see these guys and everyone else involved with the film keeping busy and doing good work.
This is looking like it's going to be a fun summer! :)
-Blake
On June 2nd set your Tivo's to record "Anna's Storm" on the Lifetime Movie Network. Sheree Wilson, the star of my recent film "Killing Down" is starring in this new movie-of-the-week.
Here's a link to the show on IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029097/
-Blake
I pulled this article fromt the LA Times. A good read re: Web TV Series...
---------------------------------------
Eisner wants 90 seconds from you
The former Disney chief's super-short format soap 'Prom Queen' gets the hits.
By Margaret Wappler, Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2007 
"PROM QUEEN," a flashy teen-aimed soap opera, wouldn't be out of place on the CW or MTV. Tribes of teens trade quips and barbs at their lockers. Snatches of rock or hip-hop underscore most of the drama, and there's a blink-of-an-eye edit about every three seconds.
But "Prom Queen" is an Internet show that according to Media Week has gotten nearly 3.7 million views on MySpace, the show's leading distributor. With 80 episodes, each clocking in at a lean 90 seconds, and a new episode airing every day until the show's finale June 14, "Prom Queen" shrinks and shellacs high-concept drama for the text-messaging-while-driving-and-eating-a-burger attention span. Episodes can also be downloaded to a video player or watched at Veoh, sponsor ElleGirl and old reliable YouTube.
What separates "Prom Queen" from scores of similar click-hungry projects is, of course, its financing, which comes courtesy of Michael Eisner's Internet production company, Vuguru.
Eisner was burned by Web-based entertainment during his tenure as chief executive at Disney — the company's disastrous Go Network was shut down in 2001 after losing millions — but those were different days. Speaking on a cellphone from a Manhattan sidewalk between meetings, the 65-year-old executive, who started his investment firm Tornante Co. in 2005, said that for the first year or so, the rewards would "be more in education than economic." The money, he hopes, will come later.
Eisner waved away any distinctions between Old Hollywood and New Media. "Old Hollywood at one point meant motion pictures, and then Old Hollywood had Jack Warner and Leonard Goldstein to make the first deal for Old Hollywood to make broadcast television. Old Hollywood and New Hollywood became one.
"It's simply new ways of doing things…. Old media, new media, it's just labels put on older people and young people. I don't think it really means there's a fine division."
Big Fantastic, the Santa Monica-based Internet video collective behind "Prom Queen," first caught Eisner's attention with their self-funded video podcast "Sam Has 7 Friends," the flagship vehicle for their 80-episode, 90-second format. The Valley-based murder mystery about a struggling actress finished with a strategically open-ended resolution in December.
"Like a lot of things in my life, I was attracted to the content," Eisner said. Internet entertainment, he finds, "is not that different than the beginnings of the Movie of the Week that Barry Diller and I were toying with in the '60s…. We were dealing with a new form in an old platform. Here's a new form in a new platform."
As technological hurdles are cleared, Eisner thinks the Internet will become a primary platform.
"Actors realize they can get discovered here," he said. "Is it better to do off-Broadway theater in New York or an Internet show based in L.A. that gets 8, 12 million views and opens the eyes of agents and TV producers?"
Although the financing for "Prom Queen" is fancy, you wouldn't know it from visiting the set at Valencia's College of the Canyons. On a Saturday in April, the shoot buzzed with the scrappy, hustler energy of a low-budget student movie. Production designer Helen Harwell's appropriately cheesed-out prom set with silver drapes, balloons and a disco ball was cobbled together from loans from vendors Harwell knows in the industry, she said. The nonunion actors, palpably giddy about being on a set — any set — joked around in tuxes and strappy dresses.
Big Fantastic's four director-writer-editor hybrids, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise and Douglas Cheney, all in their late 20s and early 30s, were multitasking to the extreme. Wise and his assistant director lighted the next scene, the crowning of the prom queen. Hampel and McCaleb, former assistant editors for "Miami Vice" director Michael Mann, were outside shooting video for one of the character's MySpace blogs. Cheney, tucked away in a classroom piled with clothes and makeup, was editing an episode on his Mac using Final Cut Pro.
Working with a 10-person skeleton crew, "Prom Queen" is all about running fast. The shoot knocked out four episodes in 12 hours. Filming from a 1 1/2 -page script per episode (whittled from a whopping three to four pages), they often take an episode from script to screen in five to six days, Hampel said. Each of the Big Fantastic members, who met at Washington State University, write and direct 20 episodes and maintain several MySpace pages for the characters.
"We want messages left from character to character on MySpace. We want to hit that viral energy," Hampel said. "It's about what we like to see on the Internet…. YouTube is filled with images like skateboards to the face, girls jumping on their beds. We want things to pop to the camera."
"Prom Queen" is loaded with of-the-minute high school behavior gleaned from Hampel's recordings of his teen brothers and their friends. Plots are heavy on texting, instant-messaging, updating MySpace pages, and recording video diaries with a hand-held recorder.
As an artistic experience, "Prom Queen" doesn't break many rules. The dialogue runs from smartly glib to perfunctory. The displayed rebellion is safe enough for Hot Topic. But to the show's credit, "Prom Queen" doesn't run from teen sex, though it's mostly rendered in soapy, steamy overtones.
BUT for all the tech savvy, mall-princess mentality and backseat relations, "Prom Queen" is still concerned with story continuity and character development. And perhaps surprisingly, it decently hangs together as a feature, bound by its dedication to the cliffhanger-a-minute style.
"You have to get people to watch more than one episode, so it's important that it works as a whole," Eisner said. "You start to understand the characters with the accumulation."
Hampel won't divulge how much Eisner invested in "Prom Queen," but he'll play ballpark: " 'Sam' was done for a little less than $50,000. We got more than that, but not much more."
"These guys are the most fiscally responsible people I've ever worked with," Eisner said. "We're going to make at least one or two more shows with them."
Eisner's support of Big Fantastic officially qualifies as a big break, but so far, Hampel said, "no one's upgraded their lives. We're just paying our rent."
-----------------------------------------
The show I'm developing we're looking at roughly 3 min. webisodes. 90 seconds almost seems TOO fast. Of course I realize that length is really for cell phone users since Verizon is a sponsor of the show.
And if Verizon wants to sponsor my show I'll make 90 second webisodes too. :)
-Blake
In between everything else I have going on I'm now developing a new web TV series.
Hold on, let me back up.
We just finished the screenplay for my next feature film and are just about to start sending the script out to actors, etc. And, we're of course fundraising.
Also, I'm continuing to deal with the foreign ditribution of my latest feature "Killing Down", and we're still shopping the movie for a domestic deal.
And of course I'm still doing my bread and butter corporate and commercial video projects.
So anyway, yes, I am going to tackle developing a new web series. I have a good idea. Have some cast in mind. Already working with a writer. Even have a mock-up poster design done (yeah, I really do - on almost all my features I typically work on a poster look way before the movie even exist - helps me be creative).
Why am I doing this? Do I really think it can be successful?
I get wrestless if I'm not working on some kind of narrative project. "Killing Down" has been done for nine months. The next movie (we hope) will shoot in the fall. I need something to do now.
Can it be a success? Have no idea. Odds are definitely stacked against it, but I'm willing to try.
I really like the idea of the Internet allowing fimmakers to be their "own distributor". I also like the idea of keeping control. And keeping costs down.
So we'll see. Right now we haven't even written word one on the page. We've been bouncing ideas off each other and thinking of show titles, etc.
All I'll say now is if it goes as planned it will not be your "typical" web based fare.
Well on second thought, it will have sex and guns, so maybe it will? ;)
-Blake
Found this cool little company called Cinetactics. They make very affordable matte boxes and LCD screen hoods for video cameras (mainly the medium to smaller sized ones).
I bought a screen hood from them and it's pretty impressive. I will likely be buying a matte box too.
Great stuff for the budget minded indie filmmakers out there...
Check them out!
www.cinetactics.com
-Blake
I'm talking the Movie AND the Dallas Mavericks.
Last night's game was awful. I can't believe the way the overall team performed, but especially Dirk. He choked big time. Not sure what the deal was? But yes, the Mavericks definitely looked "dazed and confused". And so did Mark Cuban.
Speaking of the Movie... I watched "Dazed and Confused" two nights ago and forgot how much I like that film. It's one of Linklater's best movies in my opinion. It has that "Slacker" feel of no real story, but somehow it moves forward and you care about the characters and "the story" - even though there isn't one per se.
Seems everytime I watch it too I notice another familiar face that wasn't familiar when the film came out in 1993. On this viewing I realized Cole Hauser played the bully opposite Ben Afleck. Never realized Cole was in the film. First few times I watched it I didn't realize Afleck was in the movie. All the actors just looked so different - partly because of their real age at the time (very young), and partly (or mainly) because of the time period of the film being set in 1976 (and their costumes/looks).
At any rate, I really like the movie and it reminds me a lot of my high school daze, or days. ;)
-Blake
P.S. Of course I graduated a decade later in the 1980s, but we still listened to a lot of the same tunes from Boston, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, etc. and a lot of us still dressed the same as they did...
So I'm sitting here right now watching the Dallas Mavericks play in Game 5 of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs (behind in the series 3-1). At one point we had a 21 point lead in the game. Now, we're behind by 6 points with only a few minutes left to play. I can't stand to watch. I've actually hit pause on the "Tivo" (satellite DVR). I'm debating on going to bed (it's almost 11:30pm anyway). Or, maybe I'll fast forward through the end. Can we pull it out? Not sure. I am pissed off for sure at how the Mavs are playing.
How does this post relate to filmmaking? Mark Cuban of course. He owns the Mavericks and HDNet, and HDNet Films, and 2929 Entertainment (with Todd Wagner). I'm watching this game in HD on TNT.
So there. I'm not completley off topic. I just had to vent. :)
-Blake
UPDATE: Well, we won! Yeah, I went ahead and hit play on the Tivo. We'll see you in Oakland...
