Most of us have grand dreams when we’re kids about what we want to be when we grow up, but as we get older and learn the ways of the real world, a lot of us lose that childlike belief that we can do anything so we settle for something more practical. There are many things that I like about filmmakers, but the one quality that I absolutely love the most is our ability to hold onto that childlike love for filmmaking and our drive to never stop until our dreams come true. Jump Ship Productions recently participated in both the IFP Breakout Challenge and the Almost Famous Film Festival’s (A3F) 48 hour film challenge, and during both there was one group that caught our eye. LJR Productions put out two delightfully whimsical films that were very obviously made with a lot of love. We had the pleasure of interviewing Jon Ray, the writer/director and owner of LJR Productions about his experiences.
Jon Ray is a perfect example of a filmmaker who will never give up on his dream; he wanted to be an actor as a kid, and even skipped school to go to an audition for a feature film, but unfortunately there weren’t too many productions in his hometown of Tyler, Texas. He got his start as a filmmaker in 2001, “when (he) shot 3 episodes of a Claymation series called ‘Toby Bear.’” From there, Jon received his first paying gig as “a PA on a Wonder Woman music video,” and he became a working filmmaker (which is a major accomplishment in itself). Jon gained experience as an “actor, A.D., cameraman, boom pole, script supervisor, special FX, prop maker and of course PA.” From 2007 to 2012, Jon’s film career slowed down. He worked on finishing a degree in Digital Video at UAT and got “caught up in the game of making a living,” putting his family’s needs first.
In Dec. 2012, Jon decided it was time “to walk away from a 12 year career in Information Technology and change career fields to TV/Film,” and now he is able to do what he loves full-time as a freelance Videographer and filmmaker. So far, Jon has “directed at least 11 shorts films,” not counting ones that were made for film school. He says, “I’m working my way towards Hollywood. One of my ultimate goals is to write and direct a studio film. Afterwards, I’d be happy going back to being an Indie or taking on more studio projects, but at least I want that one shoot in LA.” He is currently under a six month contract doing video work, but after that’s up he plans to “go back to working for my wife’s production company Sysnia Creative, where she is developing a TV show and has years of experience working on other TV shows.”
Jon has participated in six 48 hour film challenges with the IFP, the National, and most recently the A3F. His film Ring of Time was my favorite of all of the honorable mention films (and would have made it to the top 20 if I had been judging). One of the things that I personally found to be impressive about his film was the sheer size of the production that LJR pulled off in just 48 hours. They had a huge cast and what appeared to be several different locations. Jon says, “I signed up for the challenge a week before it began so I didn’t have a lot of prep work. Also, I only had 2 actors who were committed to the project, no location, no story idea and not much in the way of funds… Within the week leading up to that Saturday… we grew to 26 cast/crew members. We obtained access to a very nice mansion in north Scottsdale, thanks entirely to my producer and wife Samantha Ray… My secret was the mansion though in regards to locations. The place was so huge and the property varied so much I was able to stage all my scenes from photos of the place I got the night of the kickoff.”
Jon only knew five of the people involved in his production when the challenge kicked off Friday night, and one of the things he is most proud of was his ability to “take a group of people who have never worked together and forge them into an awesome cast and crew to make great art.”Jon says “It was amazing to see everyone come together to help bring my written word to life within such a short period of time.” What most people don’t understand about filmmaking is that getting your film shot is only half the battle. Postproduction is where a film really comes together, and Jon worked very closely with his wife, who edited the film while he worked on pulling together other information for the entry. He hoped to save time in post by using royalty free music, but he wasn’t satisfied with anything he found “So, being a keyboardist and composer, (he) wrote every bit of music you hear in the film in the final 2 hours before (they) left to turn the film in.”
It was difficult for Jon to cut down such a grand idea into just 5 minutes. He learned during this challenge that the widely known rule that one page of script equals one minute of screen time does not always work out, and he ended up with about a six and a half minute film. Although he had to cut out one and a half minutes, Jon was able to keep everyone’s scenes, which is something he is very proud of. Jon says, “I feel like we are the underdogs, team wise. No one really knew LJR Productions or me and it was a group of mostly strangers who came together to make a great little film. As this was my most ambitious 48 Hour film project to date, I was hoping it’d at least screen with the top 20, but regardless, the feedback has been great and I’m proud of this film and the work everyone on my team put into it. We had some real professionals on hand that if not for them being there, might have made this a much more difficult interview to answer.”
Jon is currently working on three documentaries, one of which is about his own struggles to make it to Hollywood. Jon says, “Regardless, what ends up happening to me, I plan to eventually release a documentary showing my ups and downs to hopefully inspire others to reach for their dreams and believe in themselves. It starts with letting go to all the things holding you back and then believing that with skill and effort the journey will take care of you… Never give up and never stop believing.” He is also writing two feature films and plans to start production of one of them later this year. One is “a paranormal thriller… the other bigger budget film is a high fantasy about knights and the Fae realm.”Jon has “started acting as an extra for other productions in order to be a better director, by understanding the process in front of the camera,” and offers his skills as an extra and production designer to interested filmmakers. He can be contacted HERE or through the LJR Productions Facebook Page, and you can see his work and look for cast and crew calls on his website.
Last weekend, Jump Ship Productions participated in the Almost Famous Film Festival’s (A3F) 48 hour challenge. We have participated in four challenges so far, and our crew has grown bigger and better for each one. During the Breakout Challenge, we turned to Sean Rasbury to do some Photoshop work on one of our props. We were so happy with his work that we decided to bring him back for the A3F 48 hour challenge as an editor. Sean worked tirelessly during the shoot, dumping, organizing, and syncing all of the footage from our dual cameras, and when the shoot was over and the majority of the crew went home for some much needed shuteye, Sean downed a pot of coffee so he could work on the edit. Sean grew up in Metro Detroit; he “wanted to move to an area that had more film and video opportunities, but (he) didn’t want to move to California,” so he moved to the beautiful valley of the sun.
Sean has “been working on graphic design and video production since 2004, and audio production since 1998.” He was drawn to the wonderful world of film because it provides a diverse range of areas and ways that he can exercise his skills. Sean loves that “there’s endless subject matter and new worlds to be created when you’re working in film.” He is most fond of editing, because “going through all the footage and assembling it is like a giant fun puzzle,” but his skills don’t end there. Sean also loves compositing and doing visual effects. Sean thinks he might also like to try writing and editing scripts, although being on screen is out of the question because as he says, “I have a face for radio and a voice for silent film.”Sean attended Schoolcraft College in Michigan for his degree in graphics, where he “won first and second place with two projects for the Motion Graphics category in a student and teacher judged competition.”Sean is a big believer in the programs at community college as an alternative to bigger film schools, and he can’t say enough good things about his experiences at Schoolcraft College.
When Jump Ship Productions invited Sean to work with us on the A3F 48 hour challenge, he jumped on board. He participated in this exact challenge several years ago with JP Frydrych and Craig MacDonald on their submission, Open Mic Night with Ber Co. Productions. What sold Sean on the challenge was the ability to work with people he enjoyed working with on previous projects, while also getting the opportunity to work with some new people as well. He says his favorite thing about these challenges is “the camaraderie on the set.” Obviously the worst thing about these challenges is the lack of sleep (Especially for the editor who stays up all night while the rest of us sleep… Seriously… Thank you, Sean), but Sean never let that slow him down. As far as prepping for the challenge, he made sure to pack up all of his gear ahead of time so he could begin work on set while the scenes were being shot, and to get a few extra hours of sleep the night before. Sean says he might participate in another challenge because this last one was so fun.
As of right now, Sean does not have any definite projects lined up; however he is working on creating a variety of stock footage. He is always willing to work with other people and groups, and he has a wide variety of skills to offer. Sean believes that you learn something new and valuable on every set, and he loves to learn from new people and experiences; it is an added perk when he has more pieces to add to his portfolio. If anyone is interested in working with Sean, he can be reached HERE.
During the month of January, Jump Ship Productions had the pleasure of participating in the IFP Phoenix Breakout Challenge, and last week was the seemingly long awaited premiere of all the participant’s films. I definitely feel for the judges this year; there was a wide variety of excellent films from a number of talented teams. Although I had more than one favorite, the film that really stood out as a whole was Mission Control. This little gem took home Best Overall Film, Best Story, Best use of Theme, and Best Poster. We had the pleasure of interviewing the Producer and Editor, Parco Richardson about his experiences with the challenge.
Parco was born in in Memphis, Tennessee and grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. He relocated to California when he joined the Marines and fell in love with the West. Once he was out of the Marines, he decided to say on the West coast, but California was a little too expensive for his taste so he moved to Arizona. Parco has been interested in the film industry since he was in the 6th grade, but did not start getting his hands dirty until he began film school a few years ago. Parco says, “I wanted to become an actor/ comedian when I was younger, but when I first saw Pulp Fiction it inspired me to work behind the camera.” Now his main area of interest is Cinematography, although he does like to dabble in writing and directing as well. Parco has “collaborated on about 15 projects over the last three years.” Above all else, Parco just loves to tell stories. He is always astounded by “how you can get a group of people to collaborate together and bring the story to life.” His favorite project so far was a short film, directed by Travis Mills, called “Escort Driver.” This was Parco’s very first Cinematography job so it has always been close to his heart.
Parco decided to participate in the IFP Breakout Challenge because he is now in his senior year of film school and he “wanted to test (his) skills that (he) learned over the past three years.” He said that overall the challenge was pretty much what he expected, however there weren’t as many teams participating as he had hoped. Parco’s favorite part of the challenge was designing a kid’s room filled with all sorts of fun space paraphernalia. Parco said that his team came up with a number of solid concepts, but they ultimately chose to film Mission Control because it was the most fun and the easiest for the span of time they had. To prepare for the challenge, Parco invited several people on board who had participated in similar challenges; giving them the experience that helped them win four awards.
The premier of “The Face of Innocence” will be held at The Phoenix Art Museum, February 7th 2013. Purchase your tickets here!
Until then Jump Ship Productions will be releasing pictures taken by our wonderful set photographer Jacquelyn Nelson. She has picked 19 of her favorite pics from the set and color corrected them for your enjoyment. You will only be able to see these photo’s on our website and on her Facebook page Decorated Photos! Don’t forget to like her page, if you want to comment or like any of the photos below simply click the pic! To contact Jacquelyn Nelson message her through her facebook page or click here.
Get your tickets for the IFP Breakout Challenge Screening HERE!
This project is especially significant to me because it is my first drama. When we all got together to brainstorm concepts for the Breakout Challenge, I was particularly drawn to this one. I have never had the privilege of working with a story so full of complex emotion, and with such a heavy subject matter, I knew it would truly be a challenge to make it into something beautiful. The Face of Innocence has been Jump Ship’s most ambitious project to date; we had the most locations and biggest crew of any other project that we have done together. I cannot express how lucky I am to have such a talented collection of people in my crew. We managed to make it rain on the coldest night in December, push through a 16 hour day with a broken Dolly and overheating hard drive, and my exceptional AD took the reins and directed the opening scene while I was stuck on the other side of town with a broken-down truck. This project is the perfect example of how you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. Together we made a film that we can truly be proud of.
This past weekend, Jump Ship Productions took on one of our most ambitious films to date for the IFP Breakout Challenge, and with bigger films come bigger crews. One crew member who especially stood out to me was Mike Rea, our amazing Lighting Technician. No matter how impossible the task seemed, Mike not only gave us exactly what we wanted, but he did it with enthusiasm. He also volunteered to be the Director of Photography for our unit 2 team, and did a stellar job; he is responsible for some of my favorite shots in the film. Mike grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. He moved to the valley in the summer of 2008 to start film school at Collins College, and he’s been making films ever since. Mike loves everything about film. He says that growing up, “When I had free time, I watched movies, when I was sick, sad, happy, angry, it didn’t matter. Movies have always been there for me.” He has already been involved in more films than he can count, and doesn’t plan to slow down any time soon.
Mike has always been inspired by his “idol, Trey Parker, Co-creator of South Park,” along with other big names like Bill Murray, Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock, and The Coen Brothers. But aside from these Hollywood stars, his biggest inspiration comes from his family. Mike says, “I am a very lucky guy; my parents (certainly including my stepmom) have been unbelievably supportive throughout. My brother, his fiance, and all 3 of his kids are always asking about my projects and they all keep me going when it gets difficult.” All of the visual aspects of film are what Mike finds to be the most fascinating. He believes that “With lighting, you can create a mood without anyone on screen saying a word. With the right lighting you can make the audience uncomfortable, happy, or even scared.” Although Mike is very passionate about lighting (and this shows in his work), he believes that “camera work is possibly the most important aspect of filmmaking.” He hopes to work his way up to be a Director of Photography, and then finally a writer/director.
Mike in Action
Mike believes that every project has “its own unique charm.” Because “Every set is different and every crew is different… (he) gets to interact and learn from all different kinds of filmmakers.” This has created an environment where he continues to learn and grow; he has not yet left a set once without learning something valuable. Mike is always up for a challenge because “it keeps him on his toes,” so when our producer, JP Frydrych, invited him to join our crew for the IFP Breakout Challenge, Mike accepted with no hesitation. His favorite part of the challenge was “Meeting new people and reuniting with old colleagues.” And although his least favorite part was being outside and wet on one of Arizona’s coldest nights, he learned that “As a team, we were able to achieve a really cool rain effect” with the proper placing of lights and a garden hose.
Mike loves to keep himself busy. He says “There is always stuff on the horizon, just need to keep your eyes open.” He is willing to work with any production crew, and believes that “No one team is perfect, no one team has all the answers. But if I can get in with several companies and groups, then that’s just more people I can learn from.”Mike is an extremely talented Lighting Technician and DP; he would be a wonderful addition to any crew. If anyone is interested in contacting Mike, contact him here.
Jump Ship Productions will be shooting a short film for the IFP Phoenix Breakout Challenge. We have a long weekend ahead of us starting tonight! Check out the details below about the Breakout Challange. You can still register on the IFP Phoenix’s website!
Breakout Challenge – January 2013
We have some awesome filmmakers here in Arizona and we want to help your film break out and get seen all over the world! You’ll have more than just a final film to submit, but we’ll help make resources available to you, so you can take your time and do it right!
Membership is the Key! Now is the best time to become an IFP Phoenix Member, trust us! Discounts on team registration and on all upcoming workshops and seminars. Membership will quickly pay for itself, and continue to pay for itself if you plan on participating in other IFP Phoenix challenges and seminars/workshops over the next year!
Registrations for this challenge are reduced price: $20 for IFP/Phoenix members, $40 for non-members.
Kickoff begins January 3rd, 2013 - Are you tired of having to sacrifice quality in order to crank out a short film in just 48 hours? So are we! The Breakout Film Challenge from IFP/Phoenix concentrates on taking your time and getting the best possible quality from your short film.
IFP Phoenix welcomes all filmmakers from all corners of Arizona to compete in the first ever Breakout Film Challenge. Novice, hobbyist, professional? We want to see your best! In fact, most Arizona film schools and colleges are currently in session, making this competition a perfect opportunity to make a film for the competition that satisfies a course requirement. But as an added benefit, that film will also be guaranteed screening and possibly win prizes which include submission to film festivals across the country. No better way for student filmmakers to break out!
Kickoff Location: FILMBAR - 815 North 2nd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004 Time: 5:00pm Industry Mixer; 6:15pm Kickoff Announcements
The Criteria
We are skipping the traditional Prop, Line, and Genre criteria. Instead, we want to inspire your team by providing you with just a THEME. What is a theme you ask? It is the underlying message of your film, separate from your story, genre, and dialog. It is the heart of any story.
Also, you’ll be delivering more than just a final film for judging. You’ll have to deliver a trailer, digital artwork, and marketing materials too.
So What Makes it so Challenging?
With minimal requirements, what makes it so challenging you ask? Make a film that will get Arizona noticed! Can you make a film that will get the attention of filmgoers and gain the respect of other filmmakers across the country? That is a challenge! If you succeed, you’ll not only make a name for yourself, but you’ll help all of Arizona succeed in building a stronger film community.
“Red Sand” is a visually stunning fan film based on the Mass Effect franchise by EA Games. This 14 minute short tells the story of what happened 35 years before the time of Commander Shepard. It was released to Youtube less than a month ago, and already has 131,500 views! Most people, who claim to be gamers or even just fans of video games, are familiar with the Mass Effect franchise. It is well known for its stunning graphics, intricate storylines, and captivating characters, making it a perfect candidate for a fan film. This, however, is not a task that can be easily taken on by just any team. The University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, AZ is well known for its programs in digital media, such as Game Design and Digital Video, making UAT DV the perfect team to take on the challenge of creating such an amazing film. We had the pleasure of interviewing Paul DeNigris, a professor at UAT and one of the producers of “Red Sand.”
Preproduction:
In the behind the scenes, you mentioned that you decided to create “Red Sand” because you wanted to do a fan film. Were there ideas on the table other than Mass Effect? What made the team choose Mass Effect over other popular franchises?
My students and I were inspired by “Portal: No Escape” to make a fan film, and we kicked around a lot of different ideas before landing on Mass Effect. Red Dead Redemption was mentioned but we discounted that because it would basically just be a Western and we wanted to do something sci-fi. BioShock was considered for a while but I kind of steered them away from that because I felt the water effects and the environments would be too difficult. It was really student Caleb Evans who stepped up to write a prequel to Mass Effect because he loved the source material and also felt we could leverage our desert locale to do a prequel set mostly on Mars.
Aside from playing the game, what kind of research did UAT DV do prior to writing the script? What tools did you use?
Caleb spent a lot of time on the various Mass Effect wiki’s just to double-check dates and such, and I frankly knew nothing about the Mass Effect franchise at all so I had to learn everything. So a big part of the research phase was just me asking the crew a ton of questions and them having to find answers that were both dramatically satisfying and consistent with established Mass Effect canon. And we played a lot of Mass Effect in class!
When did UAT DV officially start preproduction on “Red Sand?”
Preproduction on “Red Sand” began in September 2011. Caleb and most of the project leaders were in my Production Studio II class and were developing this project while also producing some other, smaller-scale films, including a neat little time travel flick called “Reset” that we did for an IFP/Phoenix challenge and which won “Best VFX.”
I noticed that Nola Yergen mentioned shopping at the dollar store for components of the costumes. What was the budget for this project?
Nola is great at stretching whatever budget she’s given, so the dollar store is one of her favorite places to find odd stuff that no one else would consider. That’s her greatest skill – the ability to see a bunch of random components and tie them all together into an awesome costume. The budget for this one is hard to pin down exactly, because UAT sponsored us with catering, craft services, equipment, and facilities that I can’t put a price tag on. The items I had an actual budget for totaled up to under $10,000.
Who did the casting for the project? Did they have Mark Meer in mind for Colonel Grissom’s character, or did they place him in the role once they knew he was interested in participating in the project?
We did the casting for this one in-house, though we owe a debt to Faith Hibbs-Clark of Good Faith Casting for finding Ayman Samman (“Dr. Averroes”) for a previous project, my thesis film “Parallax.” Caleb wrote the role in “Red Sand” with him in mind. As for Mark Meer, we came up with the idea of asking him to be in the film after the script was written, but once we had that idea in our heads it was hard to picture him as anyone but Grissom, and hard to picture Grissom played by anyone but Mark. The fact that he said yes to the role brought so much momentum and legitimacy to the project that I can’t even fathom what the project would have been like without him.
Production:
Was this a project that students received a grade for in class, or was it considered more of an extracurricular activity? How did you decide who to assign to each role on the crew?
Production on the film was a mandatory class activity in my Production Studio classes. I run it like an actual studio, where I’m the producer and everyone works for me, like it’s their first professional job. I find it provides an invaluable educational experience, produces great work, and turns the students into a seasoned, pro-level crew in just a few semesters. As for crew assignments, in a lot of ways the team self-decides that. Most people come into the Production Studio class already thinking of themselves as cinematographers, editors, compositors, what have you. And since many of them have already worked together on smaller projects before, they come into the class with some pre-established team configurations in mind. They know who they want to work with and what role they want to fill. So I generally just have to focus on the few kids who come to the class without a crew position or a career path in mind, and I help them find it. A great example of this is Samantha Hammond, who produced “Red Sand” with me. A semester before, she had no idea where she fit in the hierarchy of her peers, or what she wanted to specialize in. But I watched her organize and produce several smaller projects almost by default because no one else stepped up to the producer tasks. At that point I said to her, “I want you to produce ‘Red Sand‘ with me” and she took to the job as if she had been doing it for years.
In this photo: Dr. Zachary Robinson, Paul DeNigris, Mark Meer, Jamil M. Abubakar, Ariel Navarrete Spahn, Paul Rosario, Sarah Levinson, Jared Oppie and Caleb Evans.
It is mentioned in the behind the scenes that the shoot took five days, and Jamil Abubakar said that he was constantly trying to beat the sun. Was this shot solely during class hours? If not, what was the schedule like for the project?
We shot for 5 days, around 12 hours a day, during the first week of our January 2012 semester. My students were excused from the first week of their other classes by my fellow professors, who are super supportive of what I’m doing with my crew. We were “constantly trying to beat the sun” because we were shooting almost the entire film “day for night” and using the sun as our backlight. So as each day went on, we continually rotated the greenscreens to keep the sun at the actors’ backs.
When did UAT DV start filming this project? Did it happen to fall close to the premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises?” We noticed in the behind the scenes that quite a few crew members were wearing Batman T-shirts on set.
Since most of the film takes place on Mars, Red Sand has several interesting locations. Where was the film shot?
UAT conveniently owns a pretty big empty lot immediately east of our campus. On my thesis film “Parallax,” we used “the dirt lot” as we call it to double for Iraq (with the help of visual effects, of course). So it was a no-brainer to employ the same techniques to create our Martian environments. Shooting so close to home base made everything easier – catering, costuming, battery recharging – all could be housed in the academic building. To have shot this film on location somewhere else would have taken longer and cost way more than we had in our budget.
In one of the behind the scenes videos, Mark Meer appears to be is suiting up in the motion capture room at UAT. Was there any motion capture used in the film, or was the room used for its massive green screen?
At UAT our indoor greenscreen stage just happens to also be housed in the same room as our optical motion capture system. We filmed our interior scenes – such as the interior of the Prothean ruins and onboard the SSV Phoenix spacecraft – in there. So in the behind the scenes video, you’re seeing us applauding for Mark after he wrapped – and the last thing he filmed was our original teaser trailer which shows him on the observation deck of the Phoenix looking down on Mars.
This film uses quite a few visual effects. Were there any special effects used during production?
Well, whenever it makes sense for us to do so, we try to shoot effects material in-camera. So for example when the Red Sand marauders erupt from the ground, all of the dirt and dust they kick up was filmed at 60fps using an air cannon I bought when we were doing “Parallax,” dubbed the “ThunderPipe.” Basically, it allows you to fill the hopper with dirt and then pump up the chamber with compressed air at several hundred PSI. Makes for some really cool dirt explosions that look infinitely better than what we could do with a particle simulation. Another practical element we filmed was the Martian dust storm. My pal David Stipes, who did VFX work on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” among many other shows, suggested we use “spinning cotton” to create the dust cloud elements. So I picked up some polyester fiber stuffing from a fabric store and we made dust cloud shapes and skewered them on long wooden dowels. We then put one dowel at a time onto a power drill and filmed 60fps elements of the polyester clouds spinning, which when color-corrected, overlayed on top of each other, and combined with other elements like dust and lightning, look remarkably like a dust storm!
SSV Phoenix in orbit of Mars. 3D Model: Elissa Clare Lighting and Rendering: Dr. Zachary Robinson Texturing and Comp: Paul DeNigris
How long was postproduction?
Postproduction began as soon as filming wrapped in January, and lasted until we debuted the film on YouTube in October.
Did the team know what it wanted all of the backgrounds and locations to look like before shooting, or was a lot of that figured out during postproduction?
I’d say a little of both. We had concept art for the Prothean ruins and we had lots of reference images of Mars. And of course we knew what the interior of an Alliance ship should look like because we had three games’ worth of imagery to look at. But the look of the ruins definitely evolved throughout post, and our Mars image library grew and grew once Curiosity landed. Plus we took a class trip up to Salt Lake City during postproduction and stopped off to shoot a ton of pics on the Arizona / Utah border that looked rather otherworldly. A lot of that material got incorporated into our Mars matte paintings by our 2D art team.
Did the team face any challenges with visual effects?
Visual effects work is always a challenge! Especially on a film where EVERY shot is a VFX shot. Every single shot in the film had something in it that proved to be a challenge. But the biggest issues we faced were related to the greenscreens, the helmets, and the biotics. Our greenscreens were pretty large, but at times not large enough to encompass all our action. So whenever actors would leave the greenscreen it would require rotoscoping, a frame-by-frame tracing process where the actor is separated from the background. There are some great software tools for that, but it’s still drudgery. The helmets posed an issue because of the way they were constructed. The entire bottom of the helmet was open, so on occasion you’d see the background right through it. That required some additional roto to build out digital bottoms for the helmets and close those holes. And as far as the biotics go, we worked really hard to make them consistent with the games but at the same time put our own spin on them.
While in post did any last minute changes have to be made to either the story or the visuals?
During editing you always find stuff that you wish you’d shot differently, or just stuff you missed and really need to make the story complete. On a film like this where so much of the image is being manufactured anyway, it’s often easy to bring the actors back to reshoot elements. Obviously we weren’t going to bring Mark Meer back down from Edmonton but luckily our director of photography Jared Oppie has the same build as Mark so we were able to use him as a stand-in for Mark in a couple of shots. There’s even one shot where Jared is standing in for Mark and we are shooting over his shoulder to look at the oncoming Red Sand marauders – and Jared is also doubling for the Red Sand leader because that element was shot at a separate time. So he is effectively staring himself down in that shot!
Dr. Averroes (Ayman Samman) announces his historic discovery on the surface of Mars.
On a film like this, the edit is left pretty loose until the VFX start getting put into the cut. Shots run a little long here and there and they get trimmed and tightened as the VFX get added. So yes, our editor Paul Rosario then went in and tightened the whole cut over and over and over again as the VFX team gave him more and more material. On the one hand that makes things very flexible for the editorial team to continue refining the story and the pacing, but on the other hand the audio team hates it because the overall picture keeps changing and they aren’t really able to lock down their effects and dialogue tracks until VFX are completely done. So we literally were still tweaking the sound mix until about an hour before I had to upload the film to YouTube for our advertised premiere.
What editing software and VFX software did the team use?
For editing we use Avid Media Composer. For audio, we’re using Avid Pro Tools as our primary mixing tool, with Adobe Audition used here and there for editing of individual sound effects elements. For the visual effects, Adobe After Effects is our primary compositing tool – the software we use to put the shots together. Backgrounds and other still images were edited using Adobe Photoshop. We used Mocha for what’s called “planar tracking” – a process we used for a variety of things such as the HUDs inside the helmets. Our CGI environments were modeled in a number of different tools – a little Maya, a little 3DS Max, and a little ZBrush – but everything was lit and rendered in Maya. For serious motion tracking – pretty much any time the camera is moving and the background is CGI – we used PFTrack to develop 3D camera tracking solutions.
While the intent with “Red Sand” was always to release it via the Internet, we have already been invited to four cons next year. And I have submitted to both Phoenix and San Diego Comicons. Not sure if I will submit to any traditional film festivals though, because they tend to frown upon films being available on the Web during their festival run. Cons are a little more relaxed about that, and frankly that’s where our audience is!
After the success of “Red Sand” does UAT DV plan to write a sequel, or have any other fan films in the works?
We are definitely discussing a sequel or potentially a web series. More on that as things develop!
Are there any other projects that UAT DV is currently working on?
Every semester we’re cranking out new films. We just took first place at the IFP/Phoenix 48 Hour Film Challenge over the summer, placed in the top 20 of the A3f (Almost Famous Film Festival) 24 Hour Film Challenge this fall, and just days ago swept the Inter-College 48 Hour Film Challenge, taking home 3 awards. Many of those films will be hitting our YouTube channel over the coming weeks. We also just posted a short sci-fi comedy called “Flight of the Melvin” which has been on the festival circuit since January and scored a bunch of awards in the process. If your readers want to keep up with us, they can subscribe to our YouTube Channel, ”Like” our page on Facebook, Or they can follow us on Twitter.
Get your tickets for the IFP Masterpiece Challenge Screening HERE!
Written by: Nicki Legge – Writer/Director/Cinematographer
“Titus” is an eerie Sci-Fi about the once thriving colony of Titus that has almost been completely evacuated, and one man’s struggle to find his daughter before it is too late. Our multitalented producer, JP Frydrych, wrote, produced, and starred in this film, and I actually had the opportunity to direct alongside Robert Garcia for my very first time. “Titus” was created as a part of the Masterpiece Challenge with the IFP. The basic premise of the challenge is to find a piece of art at the Phoenix Art Museum that inspires you, and then create a 5-7 minute short film based on that inspiration. The challenge took place over the corse of four weeks, giving each team an adequate amount of time to write, shoot, and edit each film.
When our team heard about the challenge, we knew we had to do it. You get to go to the museum AND make a film! What could be more fun than that? After wandering the halls of the Phoenix Art Museum for a few hours, all of us at Jump Ship Productions seemed to have our own inspiration. When we began to work on our basic film premise, there were quite a few story ideas being thrown around. I would have to say that the most difficult part of the entire challenge was to decide which idea to write because there were so many good ones. We went with “Titus” because it was exciting, well thought out, and none of us had ever done a Sci-Fi film before. And since we had so many good ideas that came out of the challenge, we now have our next two films already figured out as well!
I normally take on the role of Assistant Director and Assistant Camera, but for this film Robert Garcia, our Director, Editor, and Cinematographer, wanted to give me a little more experience. He gave me the opportunity to direct for the first time and do some of the camerawork myself. I worked closely with JP while the concept was being fleshed out and even got to write a bit of the script myself, so it was a big honor for me to undertake such important roles for this film in particular. Since we were working with both a child actor who’s somewhat new to the business, Emmy Boucher, and a first time actor, Kelly Rence, I wasn’t sure what to expect as a director, but both of these lovely ladies did a fantastic job on set making my job easier than I expected. It also helped to have Jacquelyn Nelson, our set photographer, around; she is absolutely amazing with children and became fast friends with Emmy.
More Photos from the Set Next Week! BTS Coming Soon!
I think the first thing that amazed me about my experience, was that I was able to hold our massive camera on my shoulder, push the right buttons without being able to see them, and keep JP in frame. The second thing that amazed me was that my shots actually fit in with Rob’s. It helps a lot that Rob and I are very like minded and I’ve learned everything I know about cinematography and directing from him. Working side by side with him is one of my favorite parts of filming. The last thing that amazed me was that I felt immediately comfortable taking charge as a director. Jump Ship works with a lot of talented and just all around exceptional people. With such a stellar team, it’s really a delight to be a director.
I would like to thank the entire team for all of their hard work on this project. There would have been no project without JP Frydrych. He wrote, produced, and starred in “Titus.” He coordinated every single piece of this film challenge from beginning to end and kept the whole crew on task. Robert Garcia, as always, took the script and ran with it, making it even better than we could have imagined. Devon Garcia did amazing things with the set design and makeup to help bring the story to life. Jacquelyn Nelson took amazing photographs on set and helped out with multiple other jobs that needed to be filled. Craig MacDonald did an awesome job of capturing the behind the scenes footage and helping out with the production side of things. Nile Popchock created some ridiculously impressive original music that really drove the feel of the film. Eric MacDonald really set the eerie tone with just the right lighting. And Ryan Ammann was a guru at getting perfect audio, while running with the camera and staying out of the shot.
All of you people are amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better crew.
Most of us have grand dreams when we’re kids about what we want to be when we grow up, but as we get older and learn the ways of the real world, a lot of us lose that childlike belief that we can do anything so we settle for something more practical. There are many things that I like about filmmakers, but the one quality that I absolutely love the most is our ability to hold onto that childlike love for filmmaking and our drive to never stop until our dreams come true. Jump Ship Productions recently participated in both the IFP Breakout Challenge and the Almost Famous Film Festival’s (A3F) 48 hour film challenge, and during both there was one group that caught our eye. LJR Productions put out two delightfully whimsical films that were very obviously made with a lot of love. We had the pleasure of interviewing Jon Ray, the writer/director and owner of LJR Productions about his experiences.
