Archive for July 2011

Basis Weekly Update 7/30/2011

Better late than never, that’s what my doctor always used to say.

It is strange to think that there will not be any more major filming days for Spirit’s Requiem. In fact, there might not be any more filming days with actors, as it appears that all we have left to film are establishing shots of nature. It all hinges on whether we got everything we needed, and whether everything we got is usable. So far so good. Knock on wood.

Filming this week consisted of “second unit photography,” which wasn’t actual second unit work because on most films the second unit would be filming simultaneously with the first – principal – unit, and it would have a different director. I can’t think of a better name for it (b-roll, perhaps?) so I’m just calling it second unit. We filmed Aster running around in a field, running around in a forest, running around in another field, and some clouds. It was much easier than our previous filming days as we were able to run around freely, unconstrained by the script. We did have a list of shots we needed to get, but we mostly just meandered about the countryside until we found a spot we liked and got out the camera to start shooting. It was far more relaxed. Plus we got a 6 minute long shot of clouds in the sky. What for? Who knows. It looks pretty sped up, like those cloud shots in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Good movie.

Close to 70% of the film has been edited into a rough cut, and it’s beginning to look a lot like a movie (and Christmas). Depending on how quickly our editor works we might be able to have 90% of the movie assembled in a week’s time.

Hopefully we’ll be able to have some more edited movie footage for you next week, and maybe some sort of trailer in the coming weeks. For now we leave you with some brief behind the scenes footage of our night shoot, lit entirely by firelight. Our lighting technicians had fun running around with torches. They did a great job, the footage looks gorgeous, if a bit (or very) chiaroscuro. Wish we had those wide aperture lenses Kubrick used in Barry Lyndon.

Basis Weekly Update 7/22/2011

After a week off the Basis Weekly Update returns with some very exciting news – principal photography has wrapped! Seven weeks after shooting began we filmed the last scene tonight, which happened to be the third to last scene chronologically. We had far too much fun this evening, with over a third of our time on set being wasted by telling jokes and general faffing about. But we deserved it didn’t we? After all this hard work we deserved a chance to let it all out. Plus it was hotter than a sauna in the middle of the Sahara.

Our final shot was of the sacred flute, an item which was used extensively on our first day of shooting. The sacred flute is used by the Girl to summon the power of the wind, similar to the whistle in The Legend of Zelda.

We’ve already made quick progress with editing, and about 2/3 of the film has been edited into a rough cut. Sound is our next big obstacle, and audio production is just starting to ramp up. What happens there is beyond my expertise, I simply must supervise the people who know what they’re doing and hope that they’re doing a good job as I know very little about sound. Our composer, Jon, has a terrific ear so he’ll let me know if the audio isn’t up to par. You will, right buddy?

Filming continues with what would be considered second-unit photography, if we had a second-unit. Insert shots, establishing shots, and shots for our main field montage sequences. Easy stuff. It will mostly be used to fill in gaps between scenes.

Keep your eyes out for more video in the coming weeks. I have a few bits and pieces of footage and behind the scenes stuff that I’ve been meaning to post. Until then, we leave you with a cool music video.

Production Photos

We’re revamping our photo gallery, now all our photos are available on Flickr. It’s more organized and it’s easier for me to use, I’d call that a win-win.

Basis Weekly Update 7/8/2011

No filming this week. Our camera hungered for tape, and we nearly lost a lot of footage I had been uploading to my computer for editing. I opened up the tape deck to find a sight I haven’t seen since the days of VHS: a long ribbon flowing out of a plastic brick, a tangled mess of crumpled tape. Fortunately most of the damage was to some nature footage I had taken for insert shots, but we did lose about 5 seconds of a key scene that annoys me very much (and we didn’t do a second take because the first was perfect). Do I haul my actors an hour out of the city to a location that we then have to hike 30 minutes to get to just to film the 5 missing seconds, or do I throw in an insert shot and hope the edit isn’t too jarring? Decisions, decisions…

The camera appears to be back to normal, though I fear that a voracious hunger has awakened within it now that it has tasted flesh. Filming will restart a week from today, later than I would have liked but necessary due to the schedules of our actors.

Now some good news – here is the first actual portion of footage from the movie. It was difficult to find something that a) had a decent audio track, b) didn’t have me shouting orders in the background, and c) was from the first half of the film so as to avoid spoilers. This is a relatively early scene in the film where the Girl is traveling with a Merchant across the Western Plains. Keep in mind that the audio is only temporary, as we are replacing most, if not all, of the sound recorded on location with sound that sounds better.

Basis Weekly Update 7/1/2011

Have you ever run a marathon? Well I haven’t. But I know a guy who did. He died.

Okay not really. Spirit’s Requiem is a marathon that keeps getting longer. Filming delays are to be expected, no matter how much planning and preparation you put into it, production will always be delayed. It’s kind of like death and taxes, except it’s somewhat more pleasant. We are ahead of schedule with editing, which is a very good thing indeed. Some of our actors and actresses have spoken of films they worked on months or even years ago that are still in post-production. We must give credit where credit is due for our mad editing skills – Dziga Vertov – master, teacher, and incredible filmmaker. Vertov’s “Man with a Movie Camera” is a must see film for anyone who wishes to understand the editing technique.

We filmed two days this past week. On Saturday we shot scenes set in the Secluded Wood, including the penultimate scene. Monday was host to the Western Plains, and we filmed in some of the best light we’ve ever had. The sunset cast a golden color over the tall grasses, and the wide shots of the prairie are absolutely stunning. I’m hoping that I can find some non-spoiler footage of the scene that I can post sometime soon. Overall it was a successful week, with some great performances by our actors and an especially great performance by Helios.

Below is the first part of Man with the Movie Camera, for your enjoyment. Or perhaps boredom, depending on whether or not you can take a silent black and white movie that barely has a narrative.