Coulrophobia

Coulrophobia - a 48 hour film (San Jose) · August 25th, 2009, 04:19 PM

Finally got our most recent 48 hour film entry posted:

Coulrophobia on Vimeo

Genre: Surprise Ending
Prop: Piece from a board game
Line of Dialogue: "Tell me again why this matters?"
Character: Zack or Zelda Alexander, Exterminator

The shoot for this was pretty minimalist and run & gun. 5D, 24-105mm lens, existing lighting plus fill from a Comer 1800 and induro's smallest carbon fiber monopod (couple of tripod shots too but not many). I'm really liking the monopod, still figuring out the best way to use it in some situations but I basically didn't take it off the camera all day. For all handheld & running shots I just shortened it up enough so that it didn't hit the ground and then used it like a poor man's steadicam.

Shoot ran late, and we had some technical issues with syncing the sound, so we started the edit late too and ran out of time to color correct - other than one or two shots this is all straight out of the camera.

Jon Fairhurst · August 25th, 2009, 08:27 PM

Very nice! That's one of the strongest 48 hour films that I've seen. There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple (one zoom, monopod, natural light...) and just plain getting it done.

Evan Donn · August 25th, 2009, 09:27 PM

Thanks! I don't think we could have done this one any other way - as it was we didn't wrap the final shot until 2am sunday morning, and we got it in with 7 minutes to spare.

Our post workflow wasn't too efficient though - we converted clips throughout the day but didn't start syncing or editing until the shoot was done. Next time around I plan to try and coordinate things better so that by the time I sit down for the edit it's already synced and roughed out. I feel like on the last couple projects we've done (we did another one a week before this one) a few more hours for color correction and careful sound mixing would have made a significant improvement.

Chris Barcellos · August 25th, 2009, 10:45 PM

Evan.... Super job.... that one should hold up well in the competition. Held my attention throughout.

Tramm Hudson · August 28th, 2009, 12:00 PM

That was great! "Best use of prop", for sure. The main actors bright blue shirt in the dark of the parking garage was really striking.

There was one scene early on where the tripod was visible in the reflection of the glass door. My recent 48-hour practice film had a similar problem -- you can see the entire crew reflected in the sunglasses of the actresses!

I have a heavier monopod, the Bogen 557, that I use as a steadicam replacement, too. It is sufficiently massive that it provide a good bit of dampening. And since it has the same quick-release plate as my tripod, it makes for very quick setup changes.

Oren Arieli · August 28th, 2009, 04:21 PM

Nicely done! Must have been quite a rush to get everything done on time. Really forces you to be efficient in your workflow. Looks like you got quite a bit accomplished which means you're well 'dialed in'. The story was well put together and held my attention till the surprise ending. Thanks for sharing.

Evan Donn · September 15th, 2009, 08:48 PM

We just found out we won best editing! Funny because we also won best editing for the film we did the week before (not online yet) - so I guess we've got that part down. We've won a lot of these category awards over the past couple years (11 films total) but have yet to take the overall award, so now it's time to look at our workflow and try to figure out a way to bring everything together in a single project.... time for a training montage in which we go into the wilderness and run in the snow, do pull ups in a barn, and do curls with the 5D and 70-200mm IS in a full redrock rig.

August 25th, 2009, 08:27 PM	#2
Jon Fairhurst Inner Circle Join Date: May 2006 Location: Camas, WA, USA Posts: 5,513	Very nice! That's one of the strongest 48 hour films that I've seen. There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple (one zoom, monopod, natural light...) and just plain getting it done. __________________ Jon Fairhurst

August 25th, 2009, 09:27 PM	#3
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	Thanks! I don't think we could have done this one any other way - as it was we didn't wrap the final shot until 2am sunday morning, and we got it in with 7 minutes to spare. Our post workflow wasn't too efficient though - we converted clips throughout the day but didn't start syncing or editing until the shoot was done. Next time around I plan to try and coordinate things better so that by the time I sit down for the edit it's already synced and roughed out. I feel like on the last couple projects we've done (we did another one a week before this one) a few more hours for color correction and careful sound mixing would have made a significant improvement. __________________ My latest short documentary: "Four Pauls: Bring the Hat Back!"

August 25th, 2009, 10:45 PM	#4
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Evan.... Super job.... that one should hold up well in the competition. Held my attention throughout. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

September 15th, 2009, 08:48 PM	#7
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	We just found out we won best editing! Funny because we also won best editing for the film we did the week before (not online yet) - so I guess we've got that part down. We've won a lot of these category awards over the past couple years (11 films total) but have yet to take the overall award, so now it's time to look at our workflow and try to figure out a way to bring everything together in a single project.... time for a training montage in which we go into the wilderness and run in the snow, do pull ups in a barn, and do curls with the 5D and 70-200mm IS in a full redrock rig. __________________ My latest short documentary: "Four Pauls: Bring the Hat Back!"

August 28th, 2009, 12:00 PM	#5
Tramm Hudson Wizard Status Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: New York, NY Posts: 239	That was great! "Best use of prop", for sure. The main actors bright blue shirt in the dark of the parking garage was really striking. There was one scene early on where the tripod was visible in the reflection of the glass door. My recent 48-hour practice film had a similar problem -- you can see the entire crew reflected in the sunglasses of the actresses! I have a heavier monopod, the Bogen 557, that I use as a steadicam replacement, too. It is sufficiently massive that it provide a good bit of dampening. And since it has the same quick-release plate as my tripod, it makes for very quick setup changes.

August 28th, 2009, 04:21 PM	#6
Oren Arieli Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Jose, California Posts: 918	Nicely done! Must have been quite a rush to get everything done on time. Really forces you to be efficient in your workflow. Looks like you got quite a bit accomplished which means you're well 'dialed in'. The story was well put together and held my attention till the surprise ending. Thanks for sharing.