So, the narrative project has been put on the back burner for a bit. We will start shooting again in the spring. Right now I am trying to finish editing the documentary project that I have been shooting with Quest for the last 3 1/2 years (http://questfilm.org). It is coming along really well. Pep is out of jail and continuing to do music as well.
I have also continued shoot documentary footage with Joe the Scrapper (http://thescrapper.org). There a lot a stuff going on in Kensington right now – The Kensington Strangler. I am trying to get Joe’s perspective on everything. In the meantime check out another video we shot for Pep Shooter…Eat
Going into this I knew things would not always go according to plan. Unfortunately, I found out yesterday that Pep (Montana) was arrested and is in jail. Not sure how long he will be there. If it is going to be a long term thing we need to rewrite and figure out how to recast. We had another shoot get canceled a few days ago due to illness. So it goes… Tricky Tricky Tricky
So we’ve got a lot of good footage so far. Here’s a few frame grabs to show you what we have going on so far. Thanks to a great crew and a dedicated cast for making these images possible. More to come! -JonO
We are shooting with the Canon 5D. In order to keep the production lean and mean we needed a camera that was portable and could handle nighttime available light. So far we have used 3 Canon prime lenses: 28mm/1.8, 50mm/1.4, and 85mm/1.8. The first three days of shooting were outside at night using available light with a little bit of augmentation via a lite panels small led light. We started out doing night shots because it has been ridiculously hot during the day in Philly…Pushing 100 degrees! I suggest everyone does all of their shooting in October.
The first night I bumped the ISO up to 2500, but I think this is a bit grainy (though still usable for the simple scene we shot)…From here on out 1250 is gonna be the max. iso. I’ve heard people say that 1600 and below is all pretty smooth. 640 will be for interiors and outside during the day will probably be 160 or 320. I have heard that 160, 320, 640, and 1250 are good numbers to stick with due to image quality and rolling shutter…I’m just gonna trust the forums on this. If anyone thinks different please comment.
I know some people whine about the critical focus area being razor thin shooting wide open with the 5D, but if you put some distance between the lens and the subject you can still shoot wide open and have a some room for error, especially with a wider lens.
As for audio we are going double system with a Tascam, but also using the DSLR Beechtek Adapter. There are a million gadgets for the 5D, but the only essential is an LCD magnifier/viewfinder. We’ve been shooting handheld too.
The Production Phase of Whispers in the Storm is very process oriented. We are beginning with an outline based on true stories with hope that as we shoot we will discover more about the characters and their communities. We also strive to learn more about ourselves and each other as we embark on this collaboration together. The hope is that the intermingling of empowered authors from an array of backgrounds will produce something unique and profound. This journal is an attempt to record elements of this process as it happens. We do not know exactly where we are going or how this will end. I also hope that this journal will be a means to connect others to the project and create interest and anticipation in the final product. We already have 6 days of production under our belts…We have already made some mistakes and learned a lot and still managed to walk away with some beautiful footage thanks to a dedicated cast and crew.
Thanks to everyone who has been involved so far. If anyone out there is interested in jumping on board or contributing send me an email: contact[at]whispersinthestorm.com.
