(production diary )
This film shot Super 8 - Tri X will be part of a 15 min film.
Story by Simon Mullen
The Torpiglia new production is a film for an in-camera edit Super-8 film festival in Strasbourg.
The film is called Cambridge 2012, part 3 and conserns the last man alive in Cambridge after an apocalypse brought about by global warming.
The director Thierry Bonnaud.
DOP Tony Clark
Set Desginer Colin Dewar.
General wrangler Anna Bonnaud.
Ink wrangler Barnaby Harding.
FXs and principle actor . . . me :)
And ofcourse a Minolta cine camera with an anamorphic lens attached with a bracket.
Thats right, we shot a super 8 film in Cinemascope!!!!
Normal TV and Super 8 is viewed with an aspect of 4:3, Cinemascope is viewed with an aspect of 8:3.
Here is a picture I took through the anamorphic lens, it has an aspect 4:3.
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If this picture were projected back through the anamorphic lens, its aspect would be transformed from 4:3 to 8:3 and it would look something like this.
The film opens with an FXs sequence I hacked up from some DV footage and stuff I made in Photoshop.
I put it all together in Premeire as 10 second film in cinemascope aspect 8:3 which I exported 239 single frames of size 720x270. I than used photoshop to batch them to 239 frames of size 720x540 i.e. 4:3 aspect. If these new frames were projected back through the anamorphic lens, they would end up with an aspect 8:3 cinemascope!
We printed out all 239 frames with aspect 4:3, then we took two single frame exposures of each printed frame to produce a 20 second sequence that when projected back through an anomorphic lens will be in 8:3 cinemascope aspect and will look FANTASTIC!
Heres the opening shot. Parkers Piece deluged with crashing sea, a long shot of the hotel.
Then a mid shot of the hotel.
Close up with the reflected clouds zooooooming by in window . . .
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The registration board we hung the print outs on.
Close up.
Thierry took two single frames of each print out after which I removed the print out.
There was a pig pile of print out fixed to the board. When they ran out, I put the next pile on.
It took about an hour maybe abit more to do all 239 print out to profuce a 20 second sequence on the fim.
While we did this, Tony worked on the bracket that was to hold the anomorphic lens.
And Colin was upstairs dressing the bedroom which was the location of the first live shot.
He created a sub-basment factory look with photocopies of pitures he took with his digital camera.
He stuck them to the wall.
We film with a beautiful B&W film stock called Tri-X.
These photocopies will look very good when filmed.
We rigged the camera up with the anamorphic lens.
We mounted a video camera in parallel with the cine camera.
And we masked the view screen on the video camera to give a good approcimation of the cinemascope footage that the cine camera would produce.
That way we could practice a take with the video camera until we knew how to do it, then take the shot for real with the cine camera . . . leaving the video camera runnig as well so that we could effectively review what the cine camera had just filmed . . . very very very nice.
The first live action was of me and colin in bed togther . . . I took great pleasure in shouting at Thierry from bed what kind of a film are you making Thierry
Tony framing the shot.
I had to wake up and slap Colin . . . and find to my horror he was dead.
He had a horribe wound on his leg with maggots in it.
We made the wound from liver and for the long shots the maggots were prawns.
Colin took a piture of his wound.
And I took a picture of the light bulb.
We had several setups for that scene.
Tony took lots light reading.
And we worked hard to get the right lighting effects.
Another setup for the first live scene.
Then we put live maggots on Colins leg for a close up . . . tee hee :)
In the next scene I leave the bedroom for the bathroom . . . Tony works out the first setup for the scene.
When I left the bed room a kicked over a pot which was catching rain drops leaking in through the roof . . .
Anna was outside reflecting light on to me . . . it always took a long time to work out the lighting and we took great care with it.
And that ended the first days shooting on Saturday.
We then all went to a party and got very drunk . . . very sensible . . . for an early start the nexy morning.
First thing Sunday morning at Thierrys feeling a little ill . . . although not as ill as some :)
Thierry and Tony work on the first setup for the bathroom.
Barnaby sorts out the ink that will flood out of the taps.
He gets the ink out of ink cartrages because we couldnt find any bottled ink.
Cotton wool is soaked in the ink and stuffed up the taps :)
The story board.
Some parts of the setup work difficult to work out.
At the end of the scene I was wet and covered in blue ink.
In the next scene I had to throw a can on a string out of a window, to get water.
The setup took ages like normal :)
After that Tony and Thierry went out of the house to a lake location to do the can hitting the water.
I dressed the living room for the next live scene and also sorted out the print outs for a short FXs scene.
When Thierry and Tony came back, we setup the animation sequence.
Tony took light levels.
And we shot it.
Then a scene in which I eat tasty food.
Then I hear a noise coming from the front door . . . I get up and run into the hall.
Thierry cleaning a window through which I can be seen running down the hall.
Almost the last setup in the hall.
I run to the front door were a letter is being pushed through (its Anna on the otherside)
It falls to the ground
Hundreds of letters start puring through the letter box and I try vainly to push them back.
And thats the end of the film, we go to credits.
We film the credits . . .
And thats it. We send the undeveloped film to the Super 8 film festival in Strasbourg
http://festivalsuper8.free.fr/
Cambridge 2012, Part 3 (parts 1 and 2 yet to be made) is in the can.
