Here's a shot from the main shooting day.
Here's a shot done a week later that got forgotten
Here is my attempt to make the new glasses look like the old glasses.
Monday, May 31, 2010
What do you do?
What do you do when an actor wears the wrong glasses to a shot (actually he couldn't find the ones he wore before)? You have to edit the footage to look like the original glasses.
Here's a shot from the main shooting day.
Here's a shot done a week later that got forgotten
Here is my attempt to make the new glasses look like the old glasses.
Here's a shot from the main shooting day.
Here's a shot done a week later that got forgotten
Here is my attempt to make the new glasses look like the old glasses.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A Huge Day
Had my longest shooting day ever. Started at 8 in the morning to be let into my location, returned at about 10to15 after 9 and didn't leave again until 9:30 pm. Very long day but very worth it. I guess that's how alot of the pros do it.
We shot 3 different scenes, 1 that is earlier in the movie involving a politician giving a press conference. We didn't plan on shooting this scene, but there was a perfect place in our shooting location (a local skating rink) that made it hard to resist.
The other 2 scenes were late in the movie.
Did all kinds of shots. Tripod, my hand held rig, used my crane which is always cool but sucks to transport, and even got to use my track dolly.
Everyone did great. Thanks to Bradd, Matt, Sonny, Danny, Janine, Amy, Natalie, and even Barbara who I think had any intention of being in a movie but played along just the same. Thank you, you did great.
We shot 3 different scenes, 1 that is earlier in the movie involving a politician giving a press conference. We didn't plan on shooting this scene, but there was a perfect place in our shooting location (a local skating rink) that made it hard to resist.
The other 2 scenes were late in the movie.
Did all kinds of shots. Tripod, my hand held rig, used my crane which is always cool but sucks to transport, and even got to use my track dolly.
Everyone did great. Thanks to Bradd, Matt, Sonny, Danny, Janine, Amy, Natalie, and even Barbara who I think had any intention of being in a movie but played along just the same. Thank you, you did great.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Basically caught up
This gets me caught up to the present on the movie process. I did fly through many details in which I'm sorry. But now we will get a true blog of what is going on as it happens.
May 1st
After a long pause which consisted of costume design, starting to build a set in Bradd's shop building, and a hunt to finish casting the movie, we finally got to shooting again on May 1st.
Cast in the role of Vinni, one of the villains, is Sonny Salmons.
Cast as the leading lady, Summer Austin, is Janine Livett.
It was a very windy day unfortunately and we were plagued by audio and video trouble. But we got everything except for one green screen shot, one shot lost its video, and one lost its audio. The one that lost the video had to be reshot on May 12th.
At this point in the movie, scene 1, the opening credits, and scene 6 are mostly complete. Scenes 1,6,11,and 15 are the longest scenes and everything is downhill after those are complete. On May 22nd we work on 14 and 15. Then we are really in business.
Cast in the role of Vinni, one of the villains, is Sonny Salmons.
Cast as the leading lady, Summer Austin, is Janine Livett.
It was a very windy day unfortunately and we were plagued by audio and video trouble. But we got everything except for one green screen shot, one shot lost its video, and one lost its audio. The one that lost the video had to be reshot on May 12th.
At this point in the movie, scene 1, the opening credits, and scene 6 are mostly complete. Scenes 1,6,11,and 15 are the longest scenes and everything is downhill after those are complete. On May 22nd we work on 14 and 15. Then we are really in business.
Some random shots
There were a few days in this time period where we went to remote places to shoot shots for the credit sequence.
The first shot was just shooting Bradd's car taking a turn off of a street. Sounds easy. This guy stops by in a truck while we're shooting it and starts talking "You guys making a movie?" The first thing we thought was 'not anymore'. He dropped by twice more to check on progress.
In another credit shot I found a windy section of road between Hwy 160 and Tacopa, California. I hiked a long way up the mountain with my camera and tripod and filmed the road below. Unfortunately cell phones didn't work out there and I had to use big gestures to try to communicate to Natalie what to do with the car. It all worked out well though. Even got another car in the shot which I didn't plan, but worked out good. No hecklers in that shot either which is good.
The first shot was just shooting Bradd's car taking a turn off of a street. Sounds easy. This guy stops by in a truck while we're shooting it and starts talking "You guys making a movie?" The first thing we thought was 'not anymore'. He dropped by twice more to check on progress.
In another credit shot I found a windy section of road between Hwy 160 and Tacopa, California. I hiked a long way up the mountain with my camera and tripod and filmed the road below. Unfortunately cell phones didn't work out there and I had to use big gestures to try to communicate to Natalie what to do with the car. It all worked out well though. Even got another car in the shot which I didn't plan, but worked out good. No hecklers in that shot either which is good.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
February 27 - more of scene 1
Scene 1 mostly takes place in a crater of sorts left by a UFO. But there are quite a few shots that lead up to this point. A week after filming the crater shots, Matt Daun, Natalie (my wife and production assistant), and I shot the rest of the shots (well, most of) for scene 1 as well as some shots for the credit sequence.
Featured in this round of shooting was Matt Daun and Bradd's Ford Taurus.
Got to truly pull out my homemade camera crane for this. It worked great.
Matt did a great job both in the field and in front of the green screen. We made him run so much that he was truly out of breath and not acting in a couple shots.
Matt also sported a pretty narly fake wart for the day (as well as last week).
Here's a couple shots from the day featuring the crane in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6nkPj-xFT8
Featured in this round of shooting was Matt Daun and Bradd's Ford Taurus.
Got to truly pull out my homemade camera crane for this. It worked great.
Matt did a great job both in the field and in front of the green screen. We made him run so much that he was truly out of breath and not acting in a couple shots.
Matt also sported a pretty narly fake wart for the day (as well as last week).
Here's a couple shots from the day featuring the crane in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6nkPj-xFT8
February 20th
Shooting began on "Don't Call Me a Hero".
We found a decorative rock quarry in the mountains near Pahrump, Nevada and shot a scene involving our main character played by Matt Daun, and 4 alien creatures. Playing our aliens were:
Zachary Handy as "The Leader"
Allyssa Statz as "Teal"
Joshua Handy as "Mint"
Bradd Childress as "The Zomblehar Beast"
The costumes were created by Amy Childress with some direction and help from Natalie and Loney Childress. She did great.
We were worried about somebody driving up and flipping out when they saw aliens around. Lucky for us no one was shot (or hunted). At the time of this post this scene is pretty well wrapped up in editing and just needs soundtrack work.
We found a decorative rock quarry in the mountains near Pahrump, Nevada and shot a scene involving our main character played by Matt Daun, and 4 alien creatures. Playing our aliens were:
Zachary Handy as "The Leader"
Allyssa Statz as "Teal"
Joshua Handy as "Mint"
Bradd Childress as "The Zomblehar Beast"
The costumes were created by Amy Childress with some direction and help from Natalie and Loney Childress. She did great.
We were worried about somebody driving up and flipping out when they saw aliens around. Lucky for us no one was shot (or hunted). At the time of this post this scene is pretty well wrapped up in editing and just needs soundtrack work.
CG elements
"Don't Call Me a Hero" has a become a new first for me in the fact that it is my first movie to use some 3d models. I created a UFO model from scratch in 3D Studio Max. It took MANY attempts. I think it came out pretty good. The movie also uses a 3D beer bottle for a cool shot as well as some 3D beer cans.
The title is also text made in 3D Studio Max rather than just After Effects which is how I usually do it.
The first few shots of this movie actually included no real video footage. They are part of the opening credit sequence.
The title is also text made in 3D Studio Max rather than just After Effects which is how I usually do it.
The first few shots of this movie actually included no real video footage. They are part of the opening credit sequence.
Script / Title / etc
After finishing "Never Quit While You're Ahead" Bradd (Childress) and I (Loney Childress) both thought this would be a great project to do next.
We announced a "superhero" movie as our next movie at the High Desert Shorts International Film Festival after the viewing of "Never Quit While You're Ahead" in November 2009.
Around this same time version one of the script was completed. Originally called "A Few Improvements" It had less characters and less content. As the script kept growing and more characters/scenes were added, we knew we had a short feature-length movie on our hands (Our current estimate is around 45 minutes).
In December of 2009, I wrote a song for use in a montage sequence in the middle of the movie. Called "Don't Call Me a Hero", it is to be played during a pivotal spot in the story line. After serious consideration, I decided to change the name of the movie to match the song. I think it was a good choice.
We announced a "superhero" movie as our next movie at the High Desert Shorts International Film Festival after the viewing of "Never Quit While You're Ahead" in November 2009.
Around this same time version one of the script was completed. Originally called "A Few Improvements" It had less characters and less content. As the script kept growing and more characters/scenes were added, we knew we had a short feature-length movie on our hands (Our current estimate is around 45 minutes).
In December of 2009, I wrote a song for use in a montage sequence in the middle of the movie. Called "Don't Call Me a Hero", it is to be played during a pivotal spot in the story line. After serious consideration, I decided to change the name of the movie to match the song. I think it was a good choice.
Original Concept
I will do my best in this blog to not-ruin the movie for those that want to watch it. That being said I must get into the inspiration of this movie.
The first scene of this movie was written by my father as the beginning to a novel. He wrote the beginning and was hoping that I and maybe my brother would help him write a book in which a guy gets super powers and doesn't know how it happened.
So when you see the first scene of this movie, you will basically be seeing a film version of what my late father wrote, which I think is pretty cool.
Either way after scene 1 we went in our own direction with the story. I hope you'll all like it.
The first scene of this movie was written by my father as the beginning to a novel. He wrote the beginning and was hoping that I and maybe my brother would help him write a book in which a guy gets super powers and doesn't know how it happened.
So when you see the first scene of this movie, you will basically be seeing a film version of what my late father wrote, which I think is pretty cool.
Either way after scene 1 we went in our own direction with the story. I hope you'll all like it.
Don't Call Me a Hero
I was asked to create a production blog for the current project I am working on, which is called "Don't Call Me a Hero". I will have to do some 'make up' posts to get to the point where I am at today. So for all of those checking out this production log I say 'thank you' and I hope you get something out of this.
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