Feature in Production - Herts UK
 

Hi there

I'm making my first feature using the following...

JVC GY-DV500 with a Fujinon Aspheric S19x6.5 lens
Polarizing Filter
Custom built Matte Box
Sony VX1000 with wide angle lens
Doorway Dolly (DIY to a very high spec)
Manfrotto fluid-head tripod
B-Hague 2 cup car mount
Sennheiser shot gun mics x2
Sony Radio mic system x1
3 point lighting system (half DIY, half bought)
7 inch LCD monitor
14 inch CRT monitor
Apple G5 Dual 2gig
Final Cut Pro 5
Pentium 4 PC running After Effects 7
Magic Bullet Editors

Only made pop promos before...so new to drama. Weighed up the pros and cons of going HDV, but came to the following conclusions..

a) Everything would need upgrading which would cost loads.
b) The audio side of HDV isn't as good...and as a sound engineer...that's not cool
c) A great lens and high production values on DV look fantastic... it's all about the lighting..

So... the shoot starts in 2 weeks. We've found out that even doing it super low budget still requires lots of cash and/favours. We've got a crew of 3 plus a professional make-up artist and a total cast of 34. That's lots of people to feed...

I'll let you know how it goes..

Sean

Hi Sean,
Sounds like fun. We could waffle on for hours about DV vs HDV, but really whats important is that you're actually going out there and making something, yes its expensive, but you'll have a blast doing it and you'll never have to sit back in your old age and go "Oh, I once almost made a feature film, but..."

True...
 

Cheers Paul..

You're right... i've talked about making something like this for about 5 years now....so it's about time i got on with it. We start shooting a week today...

Would have loved to have shot it all in HDV....regardless of any of the downsides, the images in HDV look awesome...but the budget just wont cover it.

If anyone with an HDV rig fancies spending the next 3 weeks shooting a movie...let me know!!!

S

In production..."Shoot The DJ"
 

Well, we're one week into the 3 week shoot....

It's been a lot of hard work, but loads of fun too. Locations have fallen through, but others have fallen into place....actors have dropped out, but again, people have stepped up and it's all coming together better than we hoped.

We were really lucky with our choice of people...we've had some stunning performances and some real magic moments caught on the camera.

The make-up girl, Annelise Levy, has been invaluable... couldn't imagine it working without her now... she's been fantastic. (gonna have to credit her with continuity, catering, production and direction too at this rate...)

Had a few technical issues... fading light in the afternoons...and most annoyingly...dreadful acoustics on some of the sets so the sound will need a lot of over-dubbing...but that's fine as we have our own recording studios. All the outdoor set-ups sound great...but shooting indoors is very tricky...room acoustics aren't always what you want....and the mic can never be too close.

All running to schedule so far... will let you know how it all goes.

btw - Without the meticulous planning of the shoots and allowing lots of time for each set-up...we'd have been scuppered by the end of the second day.. so bear that in mind if you attempt something similar.

S

Trailer...SHOOT THE DJ
 

Hi all

I've knocked up a quick trailer to show everyone what we've been up to...

Only a ruffy for now...but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh8M25cp564

Comments appreciated.

Sean