Actor, November 24th 2005

Week's job : ACTOR AND HELPING AROUND THE SET

Date : November 24th 2005

Cast :

Lucas - Director
Lone Wolf, John, James - Actors
Yosuke - Camera Operator
James - Lights

On a snowy day in Toronto, we were actually down to just 5 people on the set. Ricardo was a notable absentee, so John and James had to take up the acting roles again.

The script was about three guys playing cards. It was meant to be a comedy and effectively we had our good laughs on the day. We managed to finish on time and with only 5 people including myself. We did a few good coverage shots too, and played once more with lights.

The download this week includes pictures taken on the set as well as your weekly video clip. Thanks to James who has the courage every Thursday to deal with lighting, and he manages to do it so quickly. I barely have the time to go pick up a sandbag, I turn around and it's all set up and I'm like wow, how did that get here? :D So of course my picture of the week is that of James. Good job man.

You can download a short video sequence of the set here!

You'll need Apple Quicktime to playback, if you don't have the latest version, you can download for free at Apple

Thanks for the patience,
JC

Camera Operator, November 17th 2005

Week's job : CAMERA OPERATOR AND LIGHTS SUPERVISOR

Date : November 17th 2005

Cast :

Ricardo - Director
Justin, Andrew, Sebastian, Ricardo - Actors
John, Lone Wolf - Camera Operators (2 cameras)
James - Lights, Assistant Director
Yosuke - Boom Operator
Lucas - Lights

The set was pretty basic but at the same time quite tricky to manipulate. We had a table and two chairs on the stage, surround by set walls, but they didn't form a squarish pattern as on mine. The walls sort of went off in a diagonal line, allowing more depth.

I saw a flaw in the set since the background we used was a black curtain. Since the curtain has uneven shapes, it was only obvious to use two stand-grips and attach the curtain, and then spread it to make it look like a wall.

I was the second camera operator as we had two cameras on the day. I had the tricky job to follow the character's movements, and not just do a static capture shot. With both pan and tilt tensions set at 2 out of 3, it was relatively easy.

We had to use fake blood towards the end, but the application of the prostetics, and make up actually took about 2 hours alone. It didn't work as we would have hoped, but thankfuly my camera captured the blood spilling out of the throat of the actor.

I will say this, I was proud of my job on that day even though I lost my temper with the people in the lab on the other side of the curtain. Working with two cameras was fun and fast.

We also played a lot with lights, using blocking and covering areas to create zones of light and zones of darkness. Below is a picture of Sebastian who had the unfortunate role of the actor who gets his throat cut. Even more below are links to videos i took on the set, there are 2 videos in the archive, enjoy!!

You can download a short video sequence of the set here!

You'll need Apple Quicktime to playback, if you don't have the latest version, you can download for free at Apple

Peace out,
JC

Director, November 10th 2005

Week's job : DIRECTOR

Date : November 10th 2005

Cast :

James, Ricardo, John, Yosuke - Actors
Andrew - Boom Operator, DoP
Lone Wolf - Director, Off-screen actor, Special FX operator
Lucas - Camera Operator

This is the first project I am posting on this blog. This was a project that my good friend John started the week before. I decided to do a sequel to it. The basic story is that a Russian soldier catches a Japanese "terrorist" planting a C4 charge on the Russian bunker. Historically, there was a conflict between Russian and Japanese forces just to set the background.

We started shooting as the Russian sergeant was about to plant a bullet into the Japanese soldier's head. To do a sequel, I introduced a new character that only popped into the scene to disturb the other characters in the room. After this disturbance is created the Japanese soldier tricks the Russian sergeant and steals his gun. Now the Russians are hostages, and the Japanese is setting up the explosive. A loud explosion however disorients the Japanese soldier and this time the Russian sergeant steals the gun back. The Japanese however retains control of the explosive charge. The scenario ends as the Japanese soldier is holding the charge and it is about to blow, I switched a light on to give more power, this created an effect of the Empire of the Rising Sun approaching. Then we cut there and then did some coverage shots. It was fun to do, and I shot a mini video with my phone's camera.

You can download a short video sequence of the set here!

You'll need Apple Quicktime to playback, if you don't have the latest version, you can download for free at Apple

Peace out,
JC