The film titled Remus is about a character named Chris, who newly engaged, must introduce his fiancé to his bizarre brother, Remus—a man whom he has been avoiding for seven years. After much collaboration with writer Max Azulay, we developed a 10-minute dark comedy off of his original story. Initially, I fell in love with the characters and I knew immediately that I had to take on this project…

1) Surround Yourself With The Best Artists
The production of Remus would never have been possible without my writer, my wonderful cast, cinematographer, composer, and editor. While some people have the impression that a director is this sole leader commanding the troops, I’ve found that my job is really about surrounding myself with the most talented artists at my disposal, listening to their ideas and then picking and choosing which of their ideas I want to use.

That said I believe I took on a bit too much with this project. I served as the Producer, Director, Production Designer (The entire art department), Location Manager, Casting manager… The list goes on. Truthfully, looking back at the experience, a director must really focus on the telling of the story. By taking on multiple roles, I was often overextended and stressed out on set. When creating an environment for your actors to perform at their best, the director should be focused on them and what they are communicating.

Eli Jane on the set of "Remus"

2) Location, Location, Location
I cannot stress the importance of finding the right location. Aside from the fact that location plays a crucial role in developing your characters and your story, with a low budget project, location will inevitably serve as most of your production design. With an out-of-pocket budget of $2,500, I had to find two affordable locations that would not only speak to my characters, but also would provide furniture and background decorations to create Chris and Remus’ old house. The idea was that Remus, deeply affected by the death of their father, refused to mature or change anything about the old family home—therefore, the house had to appear dusty, old and of a past era. Finding the two locations for my film took a little over 3 months. If you have the time, never settle for a location that is “good enough.”

3) Production Design
Looking at a lot of student productions and professional productions, the aspect that often differentiates the two is production design. A good production design helps in the telling of the story, and provides your cinematographer with a place to position light sources. If you don’t have enough money for lighting and film gear, location and production design will serve as your tools. Use practicals to light if you have to. Home Depot, Ikea, Target and Walmart have cheap and inexpensive lights. Just make sure to run some tests on color temperature before you shoot.

4) Bribe Or Kidnap A Good Editor
While there are directors that believe in cutting their own material, I think the task of editing should be left to an editor. As a director, developing an attachment to your footage is inevitable and when it comes to the chopping block, you might shy away from trimming the fat. Working with Zak Stoltz, I provided him with the footage, the script, the central ideas of the piece and the themes. Then I left the room. He called me about two months later to look at the rough cut. At first glance, the movie’s ending didn’t follow the script at all, but it worked! The ending I had previously envisioned failed to communicate the message that the new ending Zak cut together succeeded in doing. While the central idea was intact, the structure was different. I believe only a good editor can help you arrive at these changes that in many cases will save your film. Without Zak, Remus most definitely would not have come together in the way that it did.

5) Film School?
You don’t need film school to tell a good story. Attending a small liberal arts school with a very basic film program, I was given very little to work with.

At our school, most students didn’t even know what an applebox was—and I swear I’m not exaggerating. Not attending film school forced me to educate myself on the process of filmmaking. With no guidelines, I was thrown into production knowing very little about how the whole thing would come together. And who knows, maybe it’s not the most brilliant film ever made but the education I received from this experience, not to mention gray hairs, was invaluable.

6) Last But Not Least… People
Making a film is all about people. If it weren’t for the extremely generous donation of film gear by Shane Hurlbut, ASC and Elite Team member Michael Svitak through Hurlbut Visuals HDSLR Cinema Rentals, none of this would have been possible. I can’t offer much insight in this department, as I believe it’s more about the aligning of cosmic forces. Hopefully you’ll find, when perusing your next film, some filmmakers like Shane and Mikey that will believe in your project. I truly can’t thank them enough. I also have to thank my cinematographer, Bodie Orman, a member of Shane’s Elite Team, for collaborating and giving so much to this film. He was an absolute pleasure to work with and I look forward to our next project.
Lastly, I just want to include a thank you to everyone who was involved in the production of Remus. Truthfully, there is no way this would have ever come together without your help. Please look at IMDB soon for the full credits and look out for Remus, which will hopefully be accepted by the film festival circuit!

The first job that I ever shot with the Canon 5D was as Director and DP on a webisode series that Director of “Terminator Salvation” McG asked me to do.  We produced these webisodes as part of the “Terminator Salvation” marketing campaign to be used before the movie was released. When I saw how amazing the imagery from this camera looked and the way that it moved on someone’s head or in someone’s hands, I was sold.

First person perspective footage was taken to the next level when I signed on to lens the Navy SEAL action picture “Act of Valor” with the Bandito Brothers. Directors Scotty Waugh and Mouse McCoy wanted to think outside of the box for a new look and feel. I said, “What if we put the viewer in the eyes of the Navy SEAL. The film would feel like the video game ‘Call of Duty,’ with this first person shooter perspective.”

We set out on a mission to design and build a Hurlbut Visuals helmet cam that would be rigged on the right side of the SEALs’ heads and over their gun sights. It moved like you have never seen a camera move before. Jumping into rivers, running down tunnels, chasing bad guys in trucks, and going underwater was all do-able while using the helmet cam. The shots were intimate, visceral, and breathtaking.

When Hurlbut Visuals produced the critically acclaimed short film “The Last 3 Minutes,” (http://www.ojaifilmfestival.com/ and http://www.cinemastlouis.org/) the director, Po Chan, wanted a first person perspective that was different from the video game quality of “Act of Valor.” She wanted the footage to be elegant, smooth, and to transport the viewer through time. I knew that the helmet cam that we had designed for AOV was too far away from the wearer’s eyes and that we needed to outsource in order to get the equipment necessary. I called Gary Thieltges at Doggicam to see if he had made anything for this camera system that was closer to the eyes. I have used Doggicam on almost every one of my feature films. I have employed their body mount rigs, carbon fiber remote heads, and unique rigs on bikes and motorcycles. You name it, they can mount it. Gary told me that he had just made a helmet cam that he thought that I would really like. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. In one word, “WOW.” It is so well designed. He had taken a Baseball helmet and cut the right ear flap off. This gives you the ability to get the camera very close to the right eye, which was a more fine tuned version of my original helmet cam design. It uses all of Gary’s special 5/8” rods and rod clamps to mount the camera anywhere you like. This integrates incredibly well with a remote follow focus system and anything else that you might need to add like wireless video, a battery, etc. It has a very simple counter weight design that enables you to balance the rig on anyone’s head, and a neck support travels in the kit as well.
The Last 3 Minutes – Directed by Po Chan

In “The Last 3 Minutes” we slid into home plate with this helmet rigged to my Elite Team member Bodie Orman’s head. We were able to take viewers on a journey, showing them what it would feel like to slide into home along with the emotion that goes into scoring a winning run. We took all of the batteries and the wireless video transmitter and put them in a backpack for Bodie to wear so that we could reduce the weight on his head and neck as much as possible.

Bodie fastens the Doggicam helmet cam and is ready for action

Bodie speeds around third base

Bodie celebrates with his teammates while Elite Team member Marc Margulies plays the Third Base coach as well as the focus puller on this complex shot.

The Elite Team of Marc Margulies, Darin Necessary and Bodie Orman. Filmmakers to the core.

Bodie takes a break before we blow the bomb off.

Elite team member Julien Lasseur readies the slate while Bodie gets into character.

The Vietnam sequence was another example of taking this platform to the next level. As a bomb goes off, Bodie drops to the ground with his hands and M-16 in the bottom of frame. The viewer is emotionally involved, and again, it is a visceral experience.

Josh Pritz rolls out with the helmet cam - he is ready for a street fight with my son Myles.

We mounted the helmet cam on Josh Pritz’s head. He was playing our young William. Josh gets into a street fight with my son Myles.

The helmet cam was the only tool that could give us this unique first person perspective with the elegance and beauty that Po wanted.

Hurlbut Visuals helmet cam at work in the Dominican Republic

The Hurlbut Visuals helmet cam wired and ready for action

I assist the actress getting into the helmet cam.

Dominican Republic shoot - at the edge of the ocean.

When we were doing a Travel and Tourism spot in the Dominican Republic for AM Resorts, director Rob Lawe at Fresh Pictures wanted viewers to experience the resort through the eyes of the couple that was staying at the Zoëtry resort. We rigged the Hurlbut Visuals helmet to our beautiful model and she revealed footage of exotic room locations that transitioned right into the aquamarine color waters of the Caribbean, as well as relaxing spas and night clubs.

When you are shooting an intimate scene and you want to be in the middle of the action, a helmet cam is an amazing tool to meet your needs. It is powerful for two things: immersing you in the action and having a first person point of view. The mixture of the helmet cam and the 5D is very powerful. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on what equipment you have used to achieve this same type of effect.

As a cinematographer, one of the jobs that I think it is most exciting is to create visual illusions. I come up with many crazy lighting ideas in my sleep.  I call them lightmares.  I have to say that my pre-rigging crew hates it when I have a lightmare.  I will set a plan in action on many of the movies that I have photographed and at the eleventh hour change almost everything after a lightmare.  I remember on Terminator:Salvation my Rigging Gaffer Scotty Graves www.imdb.com/name/nm0336351/ had almost completed the Skynet set at the old Albuquerque Train repair yard and I said “What if we go to Grainger and buy all these sports fixtures?” Scotty said, “What are you talking about?”  I said,  ‘You know those fixtures that light the football fields.”  Scotty replied, “Ok and we do what with them?” I said “We need 400 of them.”  I had an idea that we can create a massive tractor beam that blasts up into space to guide the Skynet Transporter in through all the pollution and smoke that they are generating to create a new industrial revolution of machines.

Skynet transporter

Scotty immediately said, “You had a lightmare last night didn’t you?”  I said, “Yes and this is going to be so cool.  We need eight 55’ articulating forklifts so that we can mount 50 lights per lift. We will send them up into the air aim them into space and then when our CGI spaceship is landing we will tilt these babies down and nuke the camera.”  Scotty said “Alright then, I will get on it. Let me call Kent Baker.”

Terminator 3

Kent Baker was my rigging Key Grip, www.imdb.com/name/nm0048656/. Both of these guys are so impressive and they make it happen.  Against all odds they make me shine everyday. When I showed up on the set the lights and rig were getting finished just as the summer sun was on the horizon.  When they fired up, it was awesome.

So, back to Carnival. For this sequence I had a lightmare that was this crazy spinning Carousel lighting rig.

Carousel Rig

Po described this sequence to me as beautiful moving balloons of light that make an ordinary night picnic extraordinary.  So the dream rig was 4 speedrail spokes that came out about 8’ from a hub that was mounted on a light stand that could support it, just like a bicycle tire.  At the end was 5’ speed rail posts that hung down from each spoke.  Then we took colored 4’ Fluorescents and mounted them to those posts and the spokes.  It was all cabled to the center where we mounted a 1000 watt igloo cooler Honda generator.  You cannot spin something around that has cable to it.  The cables will wind up and bind and you can’t continue to spin.  So, by putting the generator on the top and cabling it to the center we could spin that rig all night in whatever direction inspired us.  We had a storage shed in the deep background so we rigged some Fluorescents to that so it felt like a snack shack vendor.

Carnival Lights

Next, it was on to creating the balloons of light.  Gore, our very talented Production Designer and the Art Director hung 4 long strands of carnival lights from the tree and the light poles.  We had two fantastic interns helping us on this job.  One flew all the way from Kansas City to work on this, he put himself up at a hotel and rented a car just to participate; meet Brandon.  The other one was a film student from Occidental College studying Cinematography and Direction; meet Julien.  These guys were the backbone of the crew.

Julien, HV Intern

Anything that Antonio, my gaffer, needed they were on it.One critical request was to black wrap every street light that was going to turn on at sunset and destroy the mood lighting on the carnival set.  I think they did at least 25 lights, where they had to use an extension ladder to scale the 20’ pole and then wrap the black foil around the fixture.  When I finally got to the set the carousel light rig looked amazing but it was too hot for the 5D.  The colored Fluorescents were just white because they were so overexposed.  So the grips grabbed some Neutral Density gel and wrapped it around to bring them down so that the sensor saw them as a color, not a white nuclear stick.

Game Vendor Rig

Once that fell in, I moved on to creating a motivation for a beautiful warm back light on our stunning actress Eli’s blonde hair www.imdb.com/name/nm2897828/.  So I positioned  baton lights off to the left side of the frame and put them on a chase pattern so that it felt like one of those crazy game vendors; you know those people who take all your money in a game that looks easy to kids but is impossible to win.  It looked really good out of focus and gave me the necessary motivation for the back light. To the naked eye it just looked like a lot of lights hung in disarray, but when we put the Canon 85mm L series lens up on the 5D and focused on Eli’s beautiful face, the background came alive with a magical feel.

Carnival Lights At Night

Po looked at the monitor when we racked focus to Eli’s face and she said, “Yes, that is it. This is what I was looking for, this is going to be great.”

However, it was not quite that smooth. I needed to put the camera to create that intimacy that Po wanted and the minimum focus was right at her face, so when Eli leaned in to kiss the camera, she immediately went out of focus.

Eli In Carnival

So we tried the 50mm Canon L series that had 9 inches for a minimum focus, but our background lost all of its beauty, even when we took the exposure down to a 1.4.  It did not make the lights look the way the 85mm did.  You have to think on your feet when problems arise, use a disadvantage and turn it into creative genius.

Eli Going Out of Focus

Po said “Let’s go with the 85mm. It looks amazing, it is creamier on Eli’s skin and when she goes out of focus, this will just help my transition to the baseball diamond.”  So here is our creative interpretation of a night Carnival where William proposes to his girlfriend.  Enjoy!!

Episode II “Vietnam” was the most difficult of William’s memories to deliver.  When you design shots that play all out as one shot everything has to work.  The camera has to be in sync with the explosions, the performance has to work, the smoke level has to be just right, the focus must be sharp, and I could go on and on.

When McG and I designed the helicopter crash in the beginning of Terminator:Salvation it played as one shot but it was a series of hook-ups as we call them that seamlessly go together to give the viewer the appearance of one complete uninterrupted shot.

Click here to view Helicopter Sequence from Terminator Salvation

Breaking down the Terminator Sequence.  Here is how we did it:

Shot ONE;  Handheld: Millennium XL: John Connor climbs up out of the hole and we see him look camera left.  The camera pans over to see his commander shot in the head.  We pan back to reveal John Connor readying his gun, he looks up and we whip pan.

Shot TWO; 50’ Technocrane, we whip pan to see a helicopter and a Skynet transporter taking off in the B.G.  John Connor runs into frame and we push in with him.  Now, this Helicopter is on a large gimbal which lifts the chopper up into the air and spins it around to make it seem like John Connor is piloting it.  Behind the chopper is a huge Blue Screen 100’ x 60’ that we painted on the North facing wall at Albuquerque Studios.  We continue to move in with John Connor, he jumps into the cargo bay and tells the pilot to take off and follow that transport, he touches him and the pilot falls out of the seat, DEAD.  John then hops into the seat and starts to take off, we boom up with the crane so that it feels like he is taking off.  The gimbal also booms up and banks to the side and the crane continues to rotate around to be in more of a profile so we now see the huge Satellite dishes in the F.G. Moving past the choppers doors. THEN IT HAPPENS, an explosion from underground blows the camera back, the technocrane swings back rapidly to reveal all of the chopper as it spins out of control from the blast. Dust and debris is added in post.  The tail spins around and the camera then pushes in to the cargo bay and lands in an over the shoulder of both seats in the cockpit.

Shot THREE; Handheld w/ Arri 235 in chopper. The gimbal has now moved to another location where were able to build a 360 degree blue screen to spin the chopper on the gimbal. I used the shadow of Stage One to give soft ambient daylight to illuminate the blue screen so we did not have hard, harsh sunlight on the screen. Kent Baker my brilliant rigging Key Grip had to add small 12’ x 12’ blue screen frames for the small windows that were on the floor of the chopper, which were attached to the gimbal.  You should have seen this rig.  It looked ridiculous but it did the trick.  The screens had to be lit with 1200 HMI par lights that we had to wind up so that the gimbal could spin approximately 12 times before it sheared our cable in half.  The camera moves into the cargo bay just like the Technocrane did in the previous shot. We move in and wrap around to see John Connor in profile, then down to the stick and then back up to his face. While all this is happening I am in the chopper spinning around. We mounted a 3-18k’s on a condor that poked over the top of the blue screen to give the rotation more speed so he is constantly moving in and out of the sunlight. Then our camera moves back to the over the shoulder as John braces for impact.

Shot FOUR; Arri III mounted in a tube crash housing, hard mounted in the exact place that our last frame of the Arri 235 handheld shot left off.  We mount the chaisse of the helicopter to a huge construction crane that will now sling this into the air like a pendulum.  At its highest swing Mike Meinardus, www.mikemeinardus.com, our Special EFX’s genius releases the chopper it flies through air with a articulated dummy in John’s seat.  Camera impacts the earth and dust debris fills the cabin.

Shot FIVE; Arri 235 Handheld in the same place that the hard mounted crash camera was and now we add a stuntman to unclip himself in the upside down cockpit. My camera is also upside down when this is happening, so the viewers world is upside down.  Dust and debris is blown into the chopper’s cockpit to help mend the shots.  The stuntman impacts his head and body onto the roof of the chopper.

Shot SIX; Arri 235 Handheld still in the same place but now Christian Bale gets in to the pilot’s seat and acts like he just unclipped out of the seat, falls and hits the ceiling of the chopper. John Connor is dazed and starts to crawl towards the camera, we pan with him as he exits the cargo bay. In this pan Chris Mosley, my A camera operator, www.hurlbutvisuals.com/team.php starts to spin so the viewer sees their world rotate as the upside down camera now rights itself. It moves with John Connor out of the helicopter and lands in an over the shoulder shot. We take in the Nuclear cloud in the deep background and then we wrap around him to reveal the emotion on his face when John Connor discovers that all his unit is gone; the resistance has been wiped out.  Then, all of a sudden a T-600 grabs his shoulder and throws him out of shot.  End of the sequence.

This was a hugh collaboration with Charlie Gibson, www.imdb.com/name/nm0002716/ and Ben Snow, www.imdb.com/name/nm0811240/ our Visual EFX’s Guru’s, Adolfo Martinez Perez, www.imdb.com/name/nm0553439/ our storyboard artist, PLF’s pre-vis team, and my amazing camera, lighting and grip teams to pull off the impossible, seamless sequence.

Now, our little short did not have the luxury of this time and money. Yet, we had the expertise of a visionary crew that was determined to make it happen. The Terminator sequence could be repeated several times to get it exactly right.  On “The Last 3 Minutes” we could rehearse but we still had only 6 takes with explosions.  Dan Cangemi, www.imdb.com/name/nm0133958/ and Al Di Sarro, www.imdb.com/name/nm0224298/ the SPEFX”S team from “Act of Valor” were nice enough to come and play with us to make an ordinary scene extraordinary. We ran it many times to get all the departments in sync: actors, camera, effects, smoke, explosions, etc.   Much of this was a dance in showing the director, Po Chan what it would be like and then adjusting so that her vision came to life.

Shane Hurlbut and Director Po Chan viewing the shot

The explosion in the beginning was not big enough so we first had to make sure that worked because that was our transition element from William’s wife in the ocean splashing around to the mortar going off.  We finally got the blast to wipe the frame, so now we needed to make it feel like there was a battle going on.  I asked Al if we could add another mortar to assist in my lighting.  This is something I did on Terminator a lot.  I would use trapezoid mortars to blow debris, dirt and dust into the air to diffuse the sunlight.  Al loaded in the second one that we blew right as Bodie Orman, my Helmet Cam operator, crawls to his friend.

HV Elite Team Member Bodie Orman with the Helmet Cam

It worked very well because you feel the weight of the explosion. It takes out the sun and lowers the light so that it becomes very dark. I wanted that mood to assist the emotion, as a foreshadowing of his  upcoming death when the world goes dark.  Then, when the soldier actually dies, the dust clears and bright sunlight basks his face, like a sun ray from heaven. But, there was still something missing.  We all decided that a 3rd mortar was needed and that one needed fire to cut through all the smoke and dust that was in the air.

Al Di Sarro and HV Elite Team Member Darin Necessary

The fire marshall’s ears perked up and he came over and said “Now, what do you want to do?”  Al explained that we were lacking something in our scene to really make the audience feel like they were there experiencing it. So, we scoped out a safe position behind William’s friend that was not going to light the forest on fire.  It was awesome because with each take, Al would increase the gasoline amount to the level that you see on the screen, 2.5 gallons that gets ignited inside a trapezoid mortar.  Enjoy!!

“The Janitor” episode ONE is the first of three which takes you on a journey of  how we captured, lit and shot William’s custodial duties leading up to his heart attack. Then, you are thrown on his emotional roller coaster ride of memories from his young wife leaving him backward in time until his birth.

You see problem solving, thinking on your feet, and lighting with instruments that you can build or things that you can buy at Home Depot.  This was lit very simply.  I wanted to inspire you with tools that anyone would have access to and not big Hollywood lights and generators.  I was using lots of practical lights to my advantage in the office space and there were some that I could not turn off that I had to deal with and you see that thought process.  I  break down the whole scene as it played in the short film, by labeling each shot with a lens and an f-stop so that you can see the depth of field. The fact is that I light most of my films from purchases at Home Depot and Grainger.  So, using a good amount of practical light and shaping it so that it has mood and can assist in telling the story is paramount.

I want to thank you all for your amazing comments and support on this little short film.  We are sending it to all the film festivals and will be giving you details on where it will be shown so that you can see this baby on a big screen. It will blow you out.  Enjoy!!

Here are details from our EPK crew on “The Last 3 Minutes.” With this first person perspective, it is not like a scene where you do a wide shot and then go in for coverage. It plays out like a play where everything has to work. If you did a normal scene, there would be 5 takes on a master, 6 takes on over the shoulder, another 6 takes on over the shoulder, 4 takes on a close-up and 4 takes on another close-up. We did 10-20 takes so it all worked as one shot which was very challenging. One of the most difficult things in film making is to have it all happen in one shot and not breaking it up into individual set-ups. Here is how we did it.

EPK Director/Camera Operator: Tim Holtermann

“When Shane told me he wanted to shoot behind the scenes footage of “The Last 3 Minutes” I was very excited as I had only used the 5D MKII for narrative work. I knew that using the 5D for run and gun style documentary work might be a challenge and loved the idea of diving in head first.

Shane and The Hurlbut Visuals Elite Team

Prep: There was no real prep for this because of time constraints and schedules so I pretty much showed up on set day one and just started shooting. However, we had discussed some things ahead of time like shooting freehand (no rigs) vs mounting the camera on a RedRock shoulder mount rig with follow focus and a Zoom H4n for sound. What we found out after a few hours on day one was that free style was the way to go. It was light, nimble and easy to move around a sometimes crowded set. The less intrusive the better – especially for low key documentary style stuff.

Director Po Chan, Rudy Harbon, Shane and Marc Marguiles check out a shot

Crew: Shane’s Elite Team Members Marc Marguiles and Rudy Harbon helped me with delivering two different perspectives with their camera work. Not only was it a blast to work with Marc and Rudy but a privilege too. Nothing like a good group around you when you are pulling long days and nights.

Shane, Tim Holtermann and Derek Edwards With the Helmet Cam

Gear: Aside from the 5D MKII my lens of choice was the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens. This lens proved to be a great help in low light situations and is perfect for run and gun style shootings. I tend to stay around 24 for most hand held work because it just helps keep the image steady but there were occasions where I did zoom in, you just have to watch the motion. Marc used the Canon EF 24-105 f/4 with IS. The image stabilization seemed to work well when he zoomed in which was helpful for those times where we couldn’t get close enough. When we were shooting in low light he would be up in the 1600 ISO range where I was happy at ISO 640. So there are some trade offs.

For the most part it was just the 5D MKII and a lens griped with our hands. No tripods, no camera supports, no lighting, nothing at all.

Derek Edwards, Tim Holtermann, Antonio Soriano and Shane

Audio: I guess I could have included this in the gear section but I think audio is important so it gets its own special section. We did have a Zoom H4n and a Rhode microphone with us and if I had an extra sound guy to follow us around I might have had it rolling sound. The problem with recording sound like this is that you have to deal with it sooner or later in post. You either need to slate your shots or use some type of plug-in to help sync up the sound with the visuals not to mention the extra time you’ll need to catalog all of the sound files. Sometimes in run and gun style documentary shooting there is just no time or ability to shoot a slate so the question became, do we just roll the audio and attach the Zoom to one of us and hope for the best or should we just concentrate on the visuals and hope the camera mics hold up. We decided to let the cameras record with their own mics. We just didn’t have the time or crew to fuss with the Zoom in such a fast paced schedule. For the most part the sound from the cameras holds up pretty well except during any amount of wind or camera/hand shake.

If we had had the time before hand I would have tested a few more options – for example, mounting one of the smaller mics such as the Rhode VideoMic or Sennheiser MKE 400 directly to the camera which would have probably been a lot better than the on board mic and since they would feed directly to the camera we would not have to worry about syncing the audio up later. The other nice option would have been to try out the new audio control of the 24P firmware but there was no time.

Shane and Kyra Hurlbut

We wanted to get some dialogue from Shane to lay down as voice over as well as an introduction so when there were a few minutes to spare during lunch on one of the days we put Shane under a tree with a Sennheiser G3 wireless lavalier which fed into the Zoom H4n and recorded away. This was the only time we ended up using the second system sound.

So the bottom line – I was surprised the camera mics did as well as they did but would have loved to have improved upon this and will make sure to get some testing done before the next run and gun shoot.

Lighting: Well there wasn’t any – not by the behind the scenes crew anyway. We relied on available light. Outdoors we used the sun to our advantage but had to ND the lens most of the time. There were a few times where I just stopped the camera down past 11. Usually lenses show their weaknesses when you go into the 11+ range but since we were not shooting things for beauty I wasn’t too concerned. In fact the images look pretty good and it allowed me to keep focus more easily. The choice was – worry about a less pristine image due to the aperture or an out of focus image. I would rather have the focus, at least in this situation.

During the lower light scenes and night shots we tried to use the set lighting as much as possible. There were times where I was wide open at 2.8 and 640 ISO or higher but the camera held up fine. It’s just that pulling focus can be a problem at this point so I highly suggest getting use to using the cameras 10x magnification feature, finding a focus point and then hitting record quickly or using something like the Zacuto ZFinder.

Rudy Harbon, Shane and Derek Edwards discuss a shot

Marc Marguiles, Shane and Derek Edwards

Shooting the behind the scenes for “The Last 3 Minutes” was a labor of love. It was challenging, fun and exhausting all at the same time but that is what makes film making so rewarding. It was great documenting Shane and the rest of the crew at work as they are all so passionate about what they do. A true pleasure. If you have specific questions or want more details, my email is Tim@hurlbutvisuals.com.”

Marc Marguiles, Po Chan, Darin Necessary, Bodie Orman and Shane

EPK Camera Operator: Marc Marguiles

“When you tell a story it is important to have a beginning, middle and end. I thought of opening the case and ending it with putting the camera back in the case and the in between would be sequenced by a scene by scene telling a story within the story.

I preferred using the 5D over 7D and 1D because it was more familiar and we had done extensive testing with picture quality and noise reduction. The lens choice needed to be able to do a wide shot while also capturing closeups without being right in the middle of the action or in everyone’s face and getting in the way of production. I chose a Canon 24:105 zoom with a Tiffen ND .9 or ND 1.2 to decrease the depth of field while shooting at 160 ISO during the daytime to make it look more like film. The night shots were at 1600 and 3200 ISO because the t-stop was a 4.0 on that lens.

It was great to collaborate with Tim to compliment certain shots; we alternated with wide or tight angles. The overall vision was to have an educational how “The Last 3 Minutes” was made so the audience felt like they were actually present on the set. If you would like to discuss everything in more detail, my email is Marc@hurlbutvisuals.com.”

Shane, Darin Necessary and Bodie Orman

So Lydia Hurlbut negotiated with Canon to sponsor a visual short produced by Hurlbut Visuals and Bandito Brothers Productions that showcased the 24p firmware update in the 5D to remind everyone of the power of this amazing tool.  A tool that can inspire out of the box thinking.  I wanted to feature the Canon glass to show what I had learned over the last 13 months shooting one feature, 12 commercials, and 20 short films with this platform.

Director: Po Chan

“The day when Shane asked me to come up with “The Last 3 Minutes” treatment I was so excited. I knew that I did not have to limit my vision and could go wild because of what this camera can do.  I wanted to write a story which would enable us to showcase different kinds of lighting scenarios and extreme camera angles that will touch audiences hearts. Visuals without a story have no meaning. My own little philosophy about life is that life is like a BIG CIRCLE. We are all born INNOCENT. No matter how many wrong doings or right things we have done, at the last minutes before death we will again become innocent. This is the big circle of life and it is the inspiration behind “The Last 3 Minutes.” The main element in this film is the CRYSTAL that William carries with him, which represents the theme of INNOCENCE and William’s own conscience. A crystal refracts light, so when William looks inside it each refraction becomes a different memory in the course of his life. It is analogous to peeling back layers of an onion with the center layer being just at the moments before death. All of the elements in this film: casting, music, wardrobe style and color, make up (the lipstick color on the actress), hairstyle and color, set dress pieces and the texture of those pieces to the look of the crystal. Everything was carefully planned and considered to make sure every element worked in concert with the story, together in harmony.” For further questions about the concept please email Po at pchan731@yahoo.com.

Canon 5D First Person Perspective

Cinematographer and Executive Producer: Shane Hurlbut, ASC

“I asked Po to write this short and she delivered a phenomenally creative concept within a day. Po not only wrote a heartfelt story but a piece that took advantage of every unique possibility with the Canon 5D technology, especially because of her ideas with using a first person experience. A huge thank-you to Po for her tireless vision and leadership.

When Po and I discussed her creative concept, I believed that the Canon L series glass would be the perfect lens choice because of the close-focus ability and creamy quality.  The Canon glass shined on this project and I was so impressed with the 35, 50, 85, 100mm Macro L Series lenses.  Their contrast range and color knocked me out.

The main character in the short is William Turner, a janitor who’s life seems mundane and uninteresting on the surface but as it unfolds there are many layers. We shot his boring existence in the present day at 24p utilizing the new firmware.  The story then goes on a journey of William’s life over a time period of 67 years which we shot 30p and pulled it in at 24fps so that it would have a slightly dreamy feel. The creamy Canon glass delivered the period look that we were going for as we went back in time beginning in the 1980′s and moving backward to end in the 1940′s.

On the tech front, Doggicam came forth with an amazing new 5D helmet cam that put the 5D very close to the right eye and moved gracefully down the 3rd base line as well as crawling through the high grass in the Vietnam sequence. It uses Doggicam’s patented 5/8″ rod technology to put the camera wherever you would like.  It is extremely lightweight and stable.

HV Elite Team member Bodie Orman wearing the Doggiecam Helmet

Our shoot encompassed 17 different location over 4 1/2 days.  The project was a labor of love from the Hurlbut Visuals Elite Team Members and all the production staff from Bandito Brothers.  This would never have been possible without their time, expertise, willingness to donate gear and take on whatever roles the project demanded. Jacob Rosenberg and his post production Elite Team from Bandito Brothers knocked it out of the park!!  For specific post questions, please email Jacob at jacob@banditobrothers.com. A big thank you to Andrew Huebscher (andrew.huebscher@gmail.com) for his amazing color correction and Brett Novak for his beautiful crystal transitions. The biggest thank you goes to my wife and collaborator. She was the glue that held this little short together with countless hours on the phone connecting people, arranging the deal, coordinating the finances, working with the parents to schedule all of the children and watching over the kids on the set which was a daunting task.”

Director Po Chan and Shane with HV Elite Team Members in action

Carmela McCoy (Costume designer and Makeup) on right and Hether Breckrest (Makeup) on left

HV Elite Team Member Rudy Harbon and Shane viewing a shot

Producer: Greg Haggart

“My team and I knew that we had the task of making this project go off without a hitch. Our job is to anticipate potential problems so we can avoid them to stay on time and within the budget. I location scouted with Po and asked many favors from equipment vendors and the special effects team members from “Act of Valor.”  I believe that the Canon 5D encourages the essence of what film making is all about. Everyone giving it their all; whatever needs to be done for the love of the project with the end result of putting the highest quality image possible up on the screen.”  For further questions about production, please email Greg at greghaggart@mac.com

Vietnam scene with HV Elite Team Members Darin Necessary and Bodie Orman

Editor: Vashi Nedomansky

“Po asked me cut “The Last 3 Minutes” and then brought me super-detailed storyboards and the script that proceeded to act out every shot, angle and transition.  What I realized right away was this was to be no ordinary short film.  Once I received the footage, I had confirmation.  As an editor, I have seen the best and worst shot footage from every camera.  What Shane can do with the 5D mkii will make your jaw drop.  The images are so organic and pleasing that we spent most of the time looking at the reference monitors in disbelief.  The edit was a smooth one and with so many choices for each scene, I let the visuals do all the work.  I did hide a couple zero-cuts in the edit to blend two takes together but otherwise I tried to stay out of the story’s way.  It’s amazing how a cinematic image can instill more emotion into a scene.  That, along with the shallow depth of field, really gives you more tools to tell your stories in the most visually interesting way.” For further questions about editing, please email Vashi at vashikoo@yahoo.com.

Behind the Scenes of “The Last 3 Minutes”

Stay tuned for a sizzle reel of the Behind The Scenes video of “The Last 3 Minutes” directed and edited by Elite Team Member Tim Holtermann.  In the Behind The Scenes footage, we break down how different scenes were done and discuss how a particular scene was blocked, different camera angle choices and unique lighting set ups.  It will be released on the Canon’s Digital Learning Center usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=3409 as well as the Hurlbut Visuals website and the HurlBlog.