Filmweavers New Feature Film (Brevis & HVX)

[Nathan Webster]

Filmweavers latest feature film tentatively titled "The Penny" is currently now in post-production. It was shot on the HVX200 with a Brevis MP.1 and Nikon lenses.

Synopsis:
“The Penny” is a drama/thriller that follows a series of seemingly insignificant events in a number of people’s lives. Hidden amidst their “bigger” problems, these disconnected pieces of their lives go unnoticed until they begin to fit together in a totally unexpected way. Suddenly these strangers are thrust together by what some would call luck, chance, fate, coincidence, or even destiny. But is it something even bigger than that?

Principal photography took place in SE Wisconsin last November-December, with some pick-up shooting still to be done later this spring.

More info and updates can be found at: http://www.filmweavers.com

The brand new teaser trailer can be found on Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/3717224

To see the clip in all it's full 1080p HD glory you can go to our website at: http://www.filmweavers.com/blog/templat ... asp?id=186

Below are some still frames from the production:

[jayfilms]

Looks pretty sick, great work, can't wait to see the trailer.

[Adam Zell]

Nathan, did you pick SE Wisconsin for it's location for the film, or is it your roots to the area here that you chose this spot? It's nice to see part of our, or my hometown involved in such a project! Are you filming in the Milwaukee area, or towards us in Oconomowoc to Madison?

[jonroads]

Great looking stills! I'm eager to see some footage, even if it's just a teaser. I'm planning on getting the MP.1 for my HVX200 real soon. Nathan, you willing to share what equipment was used for the film?

[Nathan Webster]

Nathan, did you pick SE Wisconsin for it's location for the film, or is it your roots to the area here that you chose this spot? It's nice to see part of our, or my hometown involved in such a project! Are you filming in the Milwaukee area, or towards us in Oconomowoc to Madison?

Thanks for the interest Adam! It's always great to hear from fellow Wisconsinites. "The Penny" was shot mainly in the Fond du Lac, Waupun, Mayville, and Beaver Dam areas, so we're actually about an hour NW of Milwaukee and just under an hour NE of Madison. We did have a number of cast members come up from both cities. The decision to film here was based mainly on my roots to the area (I grew up here). Over time I've acquired quite a few contacts with people in the area which lends itself well to low budget film production.

[Nathan Webster]

I'm planning on getting the MP.1 for my HVX200 real soon. Nathan, you willing to share what equipment was used for the film?

Not sure how much/exactly what equipment info you're looking for but I'll focus on the camera rig and just let me know if you were looking for something else.

Having worked with most of the adapter brands out there, I can say that the Brevis is definitely my pick of the bunch and I'd highly recommend it. It worked out great with our HVX200 and the DP was pleasantly surprised by how little light loss the adapter produced. Even when we had some technical issues with the adapter, the Cinevate team was very professional, courteous, and quick in getting the issues resolved.

Along with the Brevis and HVX, we used a Redrock Micro Follow Focus (decent for the price) and Hyson mattebox (pretty flimsy) mounted on Proteus rails. Our set of Nikon lenses started out with 24mm 2.8f, 35mm 1.4f, 50mm 1.8f, and 85mm 2.0f manual lenses. We added a 105mm 2.8f macro during the shoot for a little more reach and some CU macro shots we needed. The 24mm never ended up leaving the case, we broke out the 35mm once in awhile, but the 50mm and 85mm got by far the most use. Video was sent to an Ikan V8000HD 8" LCD monitor for our camera op and focus puller, with another feed sent to a 19" HD LCD panel for the director. The rig was used handheld, on a Kessler crane, and mounted on Sachtler DV-6 sticks (definitely recommend a heavy duty tripod such as this that can handle the weight of an HVX/Brevis rig).

Footage was shot in 108024pA and recorded onto two 8gb P2 cards (would recommend larger, but we used what we had). Once a card was filled our Data Management guy would offload it onto 2TB custom built external hard drives via his 15" MacBook Pro and a Duel Systems PCMCIA adapter. We had four 2TB hard drives with a master and back up drive for the native MXF files, and a master and back up for the Quicktime files generated by FCP (definitely want FCP6 as opposed to FCP5 - much better P2 management and handling).

[jonroads]

Yah, I forgot to mention that, but I did mean the camera rig. Thanks!

I'm glad you recommend the Brevis. It just reinforces my intent to purchase soon. Now I can also arrange my lens priority list. I don't have nearly as much equipment, but it's interesting to hear about stuff used to shoot feature films.

I'm still debating between the 60mm or 45mm proteus rails. Which do you have? I just plan on using the MP.1 w/ flip module, nikon lenses, and follow focus... no matte box just yet.

Also, when using the rig handheld, was it shoulder mounted?

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[Nathan Webster]

I'm still debating between the 60mm or 45mm proteus rails. Which do you have? I just plan on using the MP.1 w/ flip module, nikon lenses, and follow focus... no matte box just yet.

Also, when using the rig handheld, was it shoulder mounted?

We used the 45mm rods - plenty of room for what we were using. From the sounds of it that should be plenty for your setup as well.

When shooting handheld, the rig was shoulder mounted using the Proteus rail system. We didn't even set it up in a "shoulder mount" configuration, but instead just took it off the sticks and the DP rested the rig on his shoulder. He used the angled arm of the riser plate (it angles backwards and actually provides a surprisingly workable spot for your shoulder) and a cloth or something soft in between for padding on the shoulder. It worked for us but if you're going to do extended shooting in a shoulder mount configuration I'd probably recommend getting an actual dedicated shoulder mount solution (such as Cinevate's).

Thanks for the interest and newsletter sign-up.

[Nathan Webster]

The official teaser trailer for "The Penny" is here! A short but sweet visual taste of what's to come in the new feature film from Filmweavers. You can watch it on Vimeo here: http://www.vimeo.com/3717224

To watch the teaser in all it's full 1080p HD glory, or if you'd like to download the clip you can do so by using one of the Quicktime links on our website at: http://www.filmweavers.com/blog/templat ... asp?id=186

[Nathan Webster]

Just wrapped up a week of pickup shooting. Filming is now 99% complete and post-production is continuing ahead full steam. Here are a couple new stills from the past week:

[mark langton]

nice lighting! the DP's done a great job.

[Nathan Webster]

nice lighting! the DP's done a great job.

Thanks Mark. I've worked with Ethan Ledden (our DP) on a number of shoots now and it's amazing what he can pull off even sometimes with a very limited lighting kit. If anyone's in need of a DP for an upcoming shoot I'd highly recommend him. He has a brand new website with updated demo reels going live in the next couple weeks, but for now you can contact him via our prod. co. website at: http://www.filmweavers.com/contactus.htm

[Nathan Webster]

As of 1:00am this morning we are now officially wrapped on production of "The Penny"! Post-production is now in full swing and we'll have a website for the film up soon. For more info and regular updates you can check out: http://www.filmweavers.com/blog/templat ... asp?cat=22


Here's a few new untouched stills from our final pickup shoot:

[Adam Zell]

Well I expect that fellow Wisconsonites will have a early private screening at the Marcus amphitheater just in time for Summerfest?! Comon, we have to showcase your final cut

Looking out to be great!! Can't wait to see it finished Nathan!!

[Dennis Wood]

Wow...as you might guess I'm finally taking some long, long overdue time to review posted footage. The images here and posted trailer look simply outstanding. I always breath a sigh of relief when I see footage where back-focus is perfect, focus spot on, and lighting etc. obviously done by an experienced crew. Shooting with an adapter is not a simple task but your images pretty much indicate you had it figured.

Please keep us posted and if you'd like some swag for your premiere, give Hubert a call so we can send it out

Cheers,
Dennis.

[Nathan Webster]

Thanks for the kind words Dennis.

We'll continue to keep you all posted here on the latest updates, and we'll definitely take you up on the swag offer when premiere time rolls around.

Adam, wish we could have a polished cut in time for Summerfest... There are plans to do some test screenings at some point later on, so if there are any in the area I'll let you know.

For now we continue plugging away at post-production and are looking forward to seeing the final cut just as much as anyone!