We've just found out that Malachi Rempen's "La Nina del Desierto" has been chosen for 2009's "First Cut," and will be screening October 7th at the Los Angeles Director's Guild of America!

For the screening there has been organized the very generous donation of a free 35mm print from our DPX sequence out of Autodesk Lustre, completing our digital intermediate process! I'm incredibly excited to see the film truly completed; while watching the 1080p DPX sequence is satisfying to a point, I can't wait to see what the emulsion will bring back to the image!

A quick update: worked again with Evolution Image Group’s Red package shooting a spec ad for Old Spice’s commercial contest. Michael Nie and I worked together to shoot the spot over a single day after director Malachi Rempen and I planned the show over a couple hours’ phone conversation the night prior (the equipment only became available by serendipitous coincidence, so we weren’t planning on shooting anything until that phone conversation). Google Maps was an integral part of the impromptu pre-production: even hours away from each other I could mark map points & routes for him to see, and pull up photos of locations through Google Maps’ Panoramio plugin. I suggested pulling up Open Canvas to share storyboards, but we understood each other’s language enough that Malachi was confident with the frames Michael & I would photograph.

On a very limited schedule and even more limited crew, Michael & I set ourselves on carrying a Cooke 10:1 for all of our daytime photography. Gaffer & Key Grip Kyle Bjordahl strapped and secured a Fisher dolly inside the back of our cube truck, and with a safety line on each Michael and myself hauled the truck through the winding mountain roads near Ramona for photography of a racing convertible. Of course the picture car couldn’t peak above 50 and stay behind our rig, but kinetic camera movement and a thin shutter angle heightened the sense of motion; Michael and I traded off operating and whip pulling, with one whip for focus another snapping the zoom. By the time we got into Los Angeles it was dark and we switched to faster primes; riding through areas which might have been more permit sensitive we had a few scares snapping the cube truck closed around ourselves and our rig.

Once we rendezvoused with Malachi we picked up our story bookend; unfortunately restricted by uncompassionate locals we shot available augmented only by a 575w HMI. We had more control over the product shot we closed the night with, and I even improvised a diffusion filter with a dab of the Old Spice spread over an optical flat!

Dan McClellan cut the spot together two days later, and I polished it that night in Apple Color; composer Brian Andrews sent in a score (while on vacation in Oregon!) and the whole spot was together from concept to delivery within five days. Nothing to win an Addy, but maybe enough to win Old Spice’s contest!

1:1.76
RED ONE
Zeiss Standard Speed Primes
4K Acquisition, Redcode 36
Rentals from Evolution Image Group, Otto Nemenz International

Dir Malachi Rempen
Co – Director of Photography Michael Nie
Gaffer Kyle Bjordahl

Photos courtesy of Kyle Bjordahl

On the 19th of July we wrapped photography of Ben Sandlin's as yet untitled film which we named "Rock Climbing" for the purposes of production. A film about two formerly outdoorsy brothers taking one last trip to climb together before parting ways for good, "Rock Climbing" took us from Los Angeles for the urban book ends of the film to Big Bear and Idyllwild for the meat of the characters' journey. Our rugged location work climaxed at Suicide Rock in Idyllwild, where a hike that would account for 1000 feet of vertical climb stood between the crew & the day's photography. The show's hard drives are now in Nate Orloff's hands, and we'll see how it comes together!

From our first conversations Ben was set on RED as our acquisition format; while the production didn't have the budget to shoot 35mm, capturing the majesty of our locations with a wide field of view through lenses which still had emotional depth of field was a requisite. While I'm typically inclined to give rental contracts to friends whenever possible I had recently witnessed horror stories develop with rentals via private RED owners and was planning to head to one of the rental houses when I got a call from Eric Ulbrich of Evolution Image Group. Eric detailed to me his incredibly comprehensive RED package, and I booked the camera for our shoot by the end of the week.

To say a RED package from Evolution Image Group is a comprehensive rental is to understate: traveling on a senior camera cart, EIG's collection of cases contain all the typical camera necessities (with ARRI accessories, wherever possible) and quite a few pleasant surprises: after lengthy discussion with DITs, ACs, and DPs, Eric has tailored EIG's RED package to be a camera department's best friend. For the DIT, CF & SD readers with a full set of Firewire 800 & 400 protocol cables cover the connection from camera to DIT station and from camera to camera for painting; for the AC hex keys, a sensor loupe, and a selection of 640 gig RED Drives & 16 gig CF cards for acquisition; the DP stays in touch with the operator via a director's viewfinder & 7 inch RED Monitor, whether the operator is using the included handheld handles & pad or the O'Connor 2060 head, which has been geared with 2575 weights & springs for cinema use. Then there's the 17 inch Panasonic production monitor for video village; it sounds like I've pulled copy from EIG's website, but he doesn't have one and he hasn't written any. The fact is that the camera package has few flaws (camera dept. will always find SOMETHING to complain about) and certainly nothing to work on; if we'd have additionally rented EIG's DIT package (including a RED streamlined MacBook Pro, RAID Arrays, and E-Sata connections for quickly developing on-set dailies) we'd have been running smooth as butter.

Of course, suggesting that production might have run more smoothly implies that there were difficulties; working far away from the common electric grid & in locations inhospitable for even a Honda or likewise carryable generator, we found ourselves in an endless struggle to keep our technology alive. While the difficulty in setting up a digital loading station with enough power to run the hard drives within a proximity to be logistically feasible was largely avoided through the use of RED Drives, (careful use; we'd unmount the drives during any significant moves to avoid damage to the spinning hard disks) the RED eats through its RED Bricks quite fast and would require a runner making the ten minute to half hour trip down the mountain nearly every hour and a half of production. It certainly didn't help that the RED offers only electronic viewfinding; without an optical viewfinder, the RED must be powered on to position camera, check frame, and rehearse. The RED chargers were also a hassle; I was surprised to learn that they are designed to charge only one RED Brick at a time despite having two mounts per charger. And it hardly needs to be said, but 90 seconds to power up? It takes four for the Varicam!

RED's quirks are not limited to its electronics, unfortunately; the camera physically suits its adolescent place in the industry, persistently awkward despite its adaptability. I divided the worlds of the two brothers visually with a commitment to standard fluid head support for the brother in med school and handheld work for the brother who insists on going climbing; therefore the entirety of the outdoors photography would be handheld. Despite having a full selection of parts and accessories in EIG's package to build up the camera, the RED's design makes handheld troublesome. We solved the camera's front-heaviness by tossing the brick plate far off the back of the camera on the long iris rods, but found no solution for the dangerous position of ports on the back of the camera; the butt of a camera is usually a great place to grab or put weight for extra control or support, but with the RED you're liable to put damaging tension on the power or drive cables or else change vital settings by accident. In the end none of our difficulties were insurmountable, and Eric's taken great strides with EIG's package to mitigate the peculiarities of the RED system with first-class accessories. With the state of the industry I expect to be shooting RED via EIG again soon. (in fact, I already have; more on that soon)

Our climbing at Suicide Rock in Idyllwild was rigged and supervised by Bob Gaines & Erik Kramer-Webb of Vertical Adventures, whose vast experience found us precisely the spots to deliver the sense that our reasonably climbing-savvy talent were only a slip away from the plummet. Despite some harrowing camera positions operator Michael Nie felt quite secure in the harness.




1:2.39
RED ONE
Zeiss Standard Speed Primes
4K Acquisition, Redcode 36
Rentals from Evolution Image Group, Otto Nemenz International, Digital Film Studios, Wooden Nickel Lighting

Dir Ben Sandlin
Cam Op Michael Nie
1st AC Katy Echols & Jenny Hou
2nd AC Christa Watkins
Gaffers Andre Herrera & Kyle Bjordahl
Production Designer Chelsea Pickens
Makeup Artist Jenny Hou

Photos courtesy of Kyle Bjordahl, myself

Watch the showreel for "La Nina del Desierto" here!


Malachi Rempen's "La Nina del Desierto" swept at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts' 2009 Cecil Awards, winning Best Director for Malachi, Best Cinematography for myself, and Best Picture for the show!

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in this project!

Watch the showreel for "Mounting" here!
On May 23rd Eric Soth's "Mounting" screened for the first time at Marion Knott Studios' Folino Theatre. Production for Mounting wrapped in April, but I've been a little too busy to write about the experience until now.

"Mounting" was a particular challenge by virtue of some of the sources we would often reference in preproduction: for me, Tim Orr's work with David Gordon Green was of frequent discussion; for Eric, Vincent Gallo's strange sense of reality was the mark. With an eerily strange script and excellently cast talent, we prepared to go into photography with an eye out for the spontaneous; editor Mike Cox often joked with us that he would a place in the assembly for a shot which, mid dialogue coverage, gently pans away from the speaking character and zooms in to a bird passing in the background of the scene. While we never found our bird, Michael Nie and I found ourselves reaching for the microforce absurdly often, throwing a creeping zoom in to add significance to moments and elements which in the typical narrative wouldn't have deserved the attention.

Panasonic's AJ-HPX3700 found its way onto our set for this production; the camera came as a wonderful donation from Panasonic via Dan Leonard at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. Apart from shooting to P2, the camera makes a great many improvements against its predecessors in the Varicam family: the camera shoots with a true native 1080p chipset, and captures its images with the new 10-Bit AVC-Intra codec. The 10-Bit chroma & luma depth of the codec makes a difference in clarity throughout the dynamic range, making the difference incontestable to anyone who's worked with a Varicam at the DVCPRO settings. The HPX3700 also offers 4:4:4 recording via Dual Link connection, but without a system to connect to we passed on this feature. The many advantages of the camera are not without drawbacks, however: the HPX3700 offers variable frame rates in any mode only from 1-30 fps, severely limiting options for overcranking. One personal complaint concerns the P2 system as it is implemented throughout the line: compulsory rolling recording requires that only one P2 card can be in the camera at the time if accidentally rolling to the next card during an unexpectedly long take is to be avoided; it's hardly a hassle but seems incredibly easy for rolling recording to be a toggleable option. The viewfinder we saw with the camera was of course black, a complaint against the standards for this range of camera; also, the disposition of these cameras toward the chip system which requires incredibly expensive and particular B4 Mount lenses makes me wonder why a "cinema" camera should be created from this design. Also, the lack of any sort of waveform or other image analysis for either the viewfinder or the camera's awkwardly placed LCD monitor (it should be in the empty space opposite the operator's side, not placed to slap against the operator's mouth) is baffling. Having worked very recently with RED, however, I'll defend Panasonic's design with the observation that the dynamic range on the HPX3700 is notably broader, and noise is comparably imperceivable even unto the darkest dark of a frame.

Our workflow ran through Final Cut Pro into Autodesk Lustre via DPX sequence; we made the mistake of migrating to Lustre the first time by TIFF sequence; the restricted color space was unacceptable for the quality of the footage. We'll be coloring again soon before the film heads to the festival circuit.



1:2.35
Panasonic HPX-3700
Fujinon HD Cine-Style Zoom
Shot to Panasonic P2 in 1080p
Rentals from Panasonic, Birns & Sawyer, Wooden Nickel Lighting

Dir Eric Soth
Cam Op Michael Nie
1st 1st AC Aaron Moorehouse
1st AC Katy Echols
2nd 1st AC Nicholas Dunakin Wiesnet
2nd AC Josh Wolk
Gaffer Kyle Bjordahl
Key Grip Matt Perez
Production Designer Andrea Mgebroff, Alex Lotz
Makeup Artist Jenny Hou

The 10th of May saw the wrap for principal photography of Chelsea Pickens' "Myling," which follows a party-bound high schooler who is tricked into escorting a ghost child back to her grave. While much of the script was easily accomplished on location as day-for-night, the demands of a few choice scenes saw us working out the logistics of photographing a forest on a sound stage at Marion Knott Studios. Production Designer Katy Echols pulled together the materials from Los Angeles greens provider Green Set, and with a wrap of duvetine 20 feet tall walling in the perimeter of the set we began to see the forest come together.

I've posted a short clip showcasing some of Katy's stage design here.

On a tight budget the selection and quantity of trees was limited; few of the trees were of a height comparable to what we found on location. Luckily Katy Echols was able to use the shorter trees to our advantage, loading the end of the set opposite the camera with shorter trees to patch up the black backdrop and imply a falloff of foliage in the distance. While this demanded frequent adjustment of the forest and ground cover our shot organization allowed only two major rearrangements of the space, accommodating for the addition and removal of a graveyard space. The graveyard set was put together with one end saved for camera, the set being redressed to acquire the reverses for each scene; a bluescreen was assembled and lit at the end of the set opposite the camera, where a 20x20 solid could be swung in and out as the bluescreen was needed. A battery of 10k tungsten fresnels were hung on each end of the set and were fired up as necessary to create the hard day-for-night light which we would need to match our location footage. The Marion Knott's self-climbing Desisti hoists allowed for fast adjustment of "moonlight" position as needed by the particular shot.

As far as the color photographed on set, we opted to retain a full spectrum of color on set to later drain in color correction with Autodesk Lustre. While the foliage on location was mostly in the range of greens and browns, Katy brought yellow and red foliage into the stage forest to push a sense of separation as the characters progress into the most fantasy-driven portion of their journey. Our tests in preproduction and with a basic color correction with the uncut footage has proven to imply just the hint of extra color we were hoping to capture.

Part of the decision to shoot in an artificial forest was driven by the extensive makeup necessary for the scenes we were shooting: through a series of tests Makeup Artist Jenny Hou streamlined a workflow to put actor Michael Sasso, young actress Danielle Soibelman, and the legendary Doug Jones through transformational prosthetics each morning of stage photography; the process was smooth and never held up production, by the benefit of Jenny's craft and the facilities available at Marion Knott.

It of course bears mentioning again that Doug Jones lent us his considerable talent for this show; an incredibly pleasant presence to have around whether he's in front of the camera or not, we all had a great time working with Doug even after our blinding explosions of geeky bliss had subsided. Just that Doug took the time to come out and join such a small production based on his interest in the script says a great deal about the quality of his passion and character.

While principal photography is wrapped, we went into things understanding we'd have a sort of prologue segment still left to photograph once we were done with the scheduled shooting; we're working the schedule for those pickups this week.



1:2.35
Panasonic HPX-3000G
Fujinon HD Cine-Style Zoom
Shot to Panasonic P2 in 1080p
Rentals from Panasonic, Clairmont Camera, Green Set, Wooden Nickel Lighting

Dir Chelsea Pickens
Cam Op Michael Nie
1st AC Daniel Schade
Gaffer Matt Perez, Jorge Andres Moore Coco
Key Grip David Landon
Production Designer Katy Echols
Makeup Artist Jenny Hou

Watch the showreel for "La Nina del Desierto" here!

Malachi Rempen's "La Nina del Desierto" screened on May 2nd at Marion Knott Studios to a wonderful audience reception. The film is temporarily available to watch at Dodge College's Cecil Awards page at http://film.chapman.edu/cecils/

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