Website update!

Thanks to Andrew Wolson at SCAD, we have a new well-designed front page. Now you can view the trailer, pics, bios, synopsis, etc all from the same page. Check it out! It's still a work in progress, but we're finally getting somewhere.

Owen's Hobby Teaser Trailer

Making of Owens Hobby

I came up with the premise for this film in the summer for 2010. It was part of a list of premises that we were assigned to come up with for class. "A stalker freaks when his stalkee gets kidnapped." That's all there was to it. I had no other idea of how that story would come together. I remember brainstorming some of the plot for it. There would be another detective involved and the stalker would both aid and avoid the detective in their efforts to save this girl. It seemed complicated and unlikely to work in a 12 minute format. In the end I wrote a feature based on a different premise and left this one alone for about six months.

December 2011: I'm working as an assistant editor, labeling, organizing, and ingesting footage. Often the computer would be slowly importing, and I would have an hour here and there to sit and work on whatever I like. I decided that it was time to get back into writing. I looked at the list of ideas that I had worked on before, and I decided to go on this one. 

I had also recently had an idea which I thought connected to this premise. The idea was based on tricking our perception of people based on their actions. What if we saw somebody in a dark room cutting out magazine letters and pasting them on a page? We would assume that he is up to no good, surely. I decided this was a great way to begin the script. Because of the nature of the hero, we shouldn't initially accept that he's the good guy. He leads a dark life and we should be disturbed or creeped out by him at first. 

I wrote the first draft fairly fast and showed it to my friends and fiancé. They are often my closest confidants and I trust them to tell me when I'm doing something stupid....

Well they weren't impressed, to say the least. I took a hint and wrote something else, setting this script aside for another six months. 

The next script I completed I took into the preproduction phase. We were working with a large amount of preparation time. Two quarters. Several months to go before production starts. Everything was looking good for this production.

It's about that time certain key members quit, and I silently rejoiced. I was making the wrong movie. 

I shifted all of my resources into making Owen's Hobby. I had redrafted it a couple of times and had given it to a few different friends. Reactions were getting better. Some people even really liked it. 

I started pre-production as a solo act, and I was desperately in need of assistance. I was really lucky to be recommended to a hard-working and intelligent aspiring producer by a mentor/professor of mine. Molly Mayo seemed to like the script a lot and thought it was a great opportunity. She signed on pretty quickly and we formed a strong team. 

Things were getting done. The movie was moving forward.

The rehearsals and production ran relatively smooth while I transitioned more of the pre-production work to Molly and focused on developing the film's performances as well as the visual and auditory experience.  Production saw relatively few hiccups. Most obstacles were overcome quickly or worked around logically. We shot for 5 days initially. 5 really long days of early mornings and late nights, of intense Tybee heat and threatening rain (which ended up being torrential the moment we wrapped). Even though the first 3 and the last two were a couple weeks apart. It felt like a marathon. However, we wrapped to an exhausted cheer, knowing that we'd eventually be back out for reshoots. 

Two months later, after reviewing the initial cut with several trusted professors and friends, I made a list of what shots I thought would be necessary or extremely beneficial to the film. Last week we went out during our school's midterms and amongst the chaos of other projects and made it happen. 

And today. They're in. The picture of Owen's Hobby is complete. All shots that will be shot for it are finally in. 

So here's what happens next:

Since the beginning, I've said six months for post. I set a goal for the end of February. I intend to make that goal, perhaps even beat it by a month or so. I have a very busy, but talented Sound Designer. He starts working over the break in November and December. My composer is great, we just need to put together the funds to get him.  Motion media has already started. Visual effects and color correction will happen over the break. And everything will come together in January and February. It seems like a long schedule, but it's completely necessary for a quality product. 

I know I'm eager to get the film into festivals. I've been seeing deadlines flying by for the last month, and we'll submit to them next year. For now, I must be patient and wait for things to happen naturally and organically. 

Thanks to all of you who have supported the project. The best way that you can continue to help is to spread to word. The more people who click "like" on Facebook or follow the film on twitter or the blog, the more likely the film will be to get into festivals and continue to be seen. So we need your help. Support us!

-Zachary J. Burke

Pick ups!

Just completed the pick up shots! We should have them back next week around Thursday or Friday.  16 1/2 rolls. 6600 ft. 183 mins. Running time of the film: 16 mins 30 seconds.

Shooting on Film

Just picked up equipment for pick-ups! It's our last 7 shots of the film!



For those of you who have already expressed great enthusiasm for the look of the film, I'd like to introduce you to a very special part of our team: the Arri 416. This beautiful piece of machinery held strong and true throughout the shoot.

We shot on Kodak film stock. We had collected a few different stocks over the course of our film schooling, but we coordinated the use of them, so they could artistically represent the story. Notice the change in grain and color response that Kodak's 7229 and 7230 film stocks give us in the doctor's office scene. We decided to use those in that environment to enhance the dangers of the new world Owen has found himself in. We kept the rest of the film in relatively low grain with Vision 3 200T and 250T. The vision 3 stocks have gorgeous color response, and a great latitude. We're very satisfied!

Why shoot film over digital?

We've all heard this question, haven't we? What's the difference? Can't tell?

The bottom line is a little something we call latitude.

First take this still shot from Owen's Hobby. On digital, it would probably look something like this:

All of the subtleties of the highlights would be completely lost and displayed as white or "blown-out" pixels. The result might even be potentially worse than this depending on what camera you're using. Most digital cameras have only 5 stops of latitude. This means that from the darkest darks to the lightest lights on the image, the amount of light only double 5 times. Film, on the other hand, has 7 stops of latitude. allowing us to expose for our actors, which the camera will end up on, while still capturing the beauty of the sunrise over the ocean.

Now there are a few cameras that are developing better latitude response (the Arri Alexa), particularly in the low end. But there's still a long way to go with this technology. 

The color response is also fairly different. This is more of a subjective matter, though as it seems that many of this generation's tastes are tailoring themselves towards that digital look. Which do you prefer?

Screen cap from the film.

Photo taken with a Canon T2i by Francisco Vasquez on set during the shoot.

Notice the vibrant, artificial pop of the blue in comparison to the film. The reds are similar, but I personally think that the film offers a slightly richer tone. The skin tone however is miles apart. That warmth of the film image is really valuable to film making because it allows the audience to make a connection with the character just a bit easier. I think this is more important than most people realize. The change from film to digital in this day is an economic one. It saves a fair bit of budget, especially for students. But I believe there are plenty of reasons to spend that money. 

Now, I admit this was a very general discussion, and every camera is different and so are the different film stocks. All I'm saying is go out there and find out for yourself. This generation is quick to write off film because we have the quicker, easier option, and we do tend to lean towards quicker and easier these days, don't we? However, as artists, we must ask ourselves if we can afford to think like that.

Note also that the digital image above has been heavily color corrected in photoshop whereas the film image has not received any correction yet.

Updates!

Next Tuesday and Wednesday we're shooting pick up shots. Contact us if you're interested in helping out in any way.

Picture has been handed off to motion media. Should be done in a few weeks.

We have finally found a website designer to lift us up and save us from this sad little Blogger page! Hopefully things will start changing soon.

There's still a ton to do. The kickstarter isn't going to work out, so I'm looking into alternatives for the music budget as well as working around some other things. By the way, nothing in life is free. Nothing worth having anyway.

Stay tuned because not only are we finishing up this phenomenal little film, but we're also going to launch the next project very soon! I'm excited. Be patient.