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
