Blarbus

Alistair Sloan: Post-Production

The movie is definitely coming along nicely, and is now in the final stages of post-production.  Visual effects are, for the most part, completed, and the overall cutting and pacing of the movie has been laid out and tinkered with.  The last big step coming up will be polishing everything to make it sound and look awesome.  This includes our composer starting work on the musical score as well as a few of us going through the film shot by shot, making sure the sound and image is as clear and vibrant as it can be.

And as the post-production winds down, marketing and distribution is being fired up.  Posters, DVD menus, special features, and packaging are all in the pipeline.  Below are a few stills from the visual effects shots as well as the current version of our poster.

Alistair Sloan: Week Three

Another week is done, and I can now safely say that the film is in the can.  Principal photography is  complete as of yesterday, and, judging by the dailies, it's doesn't look like we'll need to go back and get any annoying pickup shots to fill in the blanks.

Compared to last week's escapades, this time around was relatively uneventful.  Our night shoot on the hill of three oaks was a little cold and uncomfortable, but thankfully we had a fire going to keep everybody warm.  The shoot on Sunday, however, saw some of the most beautiful fall weather this year, which was especially appreciated, considering we were filming outside for seven hours non-stop.

Here's a taste of the week's efforts.  These beautiful images are brought to you by Max Silver and Thomas McCauley, the incomparable cinematographer/cameraman team that's been cranking out awesome work all throughout the film.

 

Stay tuned for post-production updates.  I should have a trailer done in three weeks time.

Snowy Classwork

Here's an editing assignment I did for my directing course.  The scene is an excerpt from a movie already made by my professor, Eric Tretbar, called "Snow," and was shot as a class.

This one was a multi-camera shoot, which had its drawbacks as well as its advantages.  It makes editing a lot easier, since all the different angles are being covered at the same time, and it gives you a lot of material to work with.  On the down side, it means that you can't cater the lighting to one particular camera, making the whole thing look more like an evenly lit sitcom.

"Snow" Scene from Alexander Cooney on Vimeo.

Alistair Sloan: Week Two

Two scenes down, three to go.  This week saw the rehearsal and shooting of the second scene in the film, as well as a fair amount of work on props and costumes.  The shoot was fantastic, especially considering the fact that it almost didn't happen at all.  A few seconds after we had all finished scampering across highway 19 on our way to the arb, we suddenly became witnesses to a motorcycle accident.  To make things stranger, a downpour of rain came out of nowhere seconds after we dialed 911, and an old dog emerged from the forest; wandering into the middle of the road where he began howling his heart out.  Now imagine all this happening while we're running around, trying to block traffic with our medieval costumes and camera gear.

Surreal would be an understatement.  One concerned samaritan even rushed over to Geoff, our main character, after noticing the fake blood splashed all over his tunic. 

Luckily, the situation was handled very well, and within seconds we had an ambulance on the way and passersby sheltering the man with umbrellas, telling him sternly not to move.  I was amazed by how everybody just jumped right out of their cars and offered assistance without hesitation.  It was a matter of minutes before he was on his way to the hospital.

The whole thing seemed like a pretty blatant sign that we should just call it a day and reschedule.  So what did we do?  Well, we went deeper into the arb and filmed scene two, of course.  Before we even reached the location, the rain suddenly stopped, and shooting went on strangely as if nothing had happened.

   

We tried out a bunch of new photographic techniques, especially lowering the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second and zooming in from far away for closeups.  Both of these things tend to make movies appear more legitimately "filmic," so that the audience can more easily forget the technical shortcomings of our equipment and truly get lost in the story.  Here are some frame grabs of this week's shoot for your viewing pleasure:

Alistair Sloan: Week One

If you're wondering where I am or what I'm up to these days, the answer will almost always start with an "Al" and end with a "oan."  "Alastair Sloan," my current distraction, is essentially a short film about a cowboy who comes back from the sunset... In medieval England.  It might sound a little outlandish, but if you've seen any Kurosawa movies, you're going to feel right at home watching this.  Starting off where most westerns like to end, "Alastair Sloan" tells the story of a weary, drifting crusader who is forced to take a fresh look at fate after coming face to face with who he was, who he is, and who he will ultimately become.  It's a film about ambition, war, destiny, and the enduring power of love.

It will be all those things... when it's finished.  It's easy to forget the big picture while you're searching for dartless dresses at thrift stores and spending hours making scabbards out of duct tape and cardboard.  Thankfully, production started in earnest last week with the first rehearsal and shooting day, which meant that I finally got a taste of what this thing is actually going to look like.  Everybody did a great job, despite a bit of a time crunch we ran into towards the end when the sun decided to be jerk and disappear over the treeline.

Unfortunately, the strange dots you see on the images are not caused by some kind of newfangled, grungy image filter.  I just totally forgot to clean the camera lens before we started shooting.  Usually it's not that big of a deal, but when you're shooting right into the sun, it's like your toupe just got torn off.  With that said, here are a few screen grabs to whet your appetites.

Stay tuned.  More updates to come next week.