blog Leap

Backstory:
I've completed three independent feature films, plus countless shorts and adverts. My first feature was a no budget slasher I shot in 2007 for a budget of $600 called "Wulf". It played a few festivals and then I buried it, considering it my trunk novel. In 2009, I turned my back on horror and decided to be the Christian I considered myself to be. I still wanted to make movies and had an idea to combine parkour and the last days into a movie that was ultimately called "Leap".

I shot it in 2009 on MiniDV (a Canon ZR800) for a budget of $200. I spent three months teaching my actors parkour and they did most of their own stunts. It screened at a local theater and we sold 200 DVDs. Let's be honest though- it's bad. My heart was in the right place, wanting to share what I was finding in my own personal Bible studies with the rest of the world, but it was poorly executed.

In 2010, I made the sequel, "Leap: Rise of the Beast". It was the first feature film shot on a Canon Rebel T2i and we only had the kit lens. The budget was $2000 and continued the story I began in the first film: a group of college kids trying to save the world while the Vatican hunts them down. My goal was to make a Christian version of the Bourne series. We had a theatrical screening for it, sold 100 DVDs and then I stuck it on YouTube in 2012 and it now has over 1.5 million views and has made over $10,000 over the past ten years. Most of that money has gone toward purchasing better equipment because hey, tax write-offs

Immediately after Leap 2 came out, I wanted to do something different before finishing the story. So I wrote a supernatural Christian thriller but everyone kept begging me to do Leap 3 next instead. I caved and wrote the script called "Leap: Revelation". It picked up in the middle of Leap 2, followed a new parkour crew and took us to the end of the world. The only thing stopping me from shooting it was the financing. I figured that I'd need $20,000 to do the movie on a "low-budget" while paying for actors and a few key crew members. Unfortunately I never raised the funds.

The past ten years saw me being homeless, getting a dream job as a VFX supervisor, losing everything I owned (including my dog) in a house fire, rebuilding my life, getting a wife, a new dog, and moving back to Montana. Now I run my own production studio called Pyro Studios and I feel like I'm at a point where I want to revisit this material again. I've grown a lot as a person and as a filmmaker and finally feel like now is the time. I've been keeping a production journal on my computer and I'll be sharing that here.

I hope it is useful and I welcome you all along this journey.

-Chris

Ten Years Difference

 

[Chris Tempel]

Spent most of the day today working on a proof of concept for a single shot where a character sees a hospital overrun by people. The background plate was shot with my iPhone 14 Pro while on a walk near a middle school this morning.

As far as VFX, there was a lot of work. First, the crowd. I purchased "Crowd Fashionista" for Blender and had a crowd of thousands within a few minutes. Next, I changed the signage on the school to look more like a hospital. The yellow school buses were a dead giveaway, so I made them blue, implying that the military is present (the Air Force uses blue buses). I added a rather simple Coast Guard helicopter landing on the roof (this will be improved in the final shot when I do this for real), a few military hummers, and a yellow ambulance (again, this will be replaced with an American one later). Also added some CG people running toward the hospital using the Horde add-on for Blender.

My favorite touch to the shot is the car windshield and dashboard in the foreground. The idea is that we're getting the character's POV from his truck. Plus all the window grime helps make the CG effects look a little better.

I was originally going to use an actual hospital, but I like the idea of using this school. I'll probably end keeping that location, just re-shooting it with my URSA Mini. All of the elements in this test are just 2D tracked in Nuke, I may try a match move on the actual shot, but overall this worked well minus the helicopter. That will need to be a real animation, not just a 2D card animated in Nuke.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Today is my birthday, and if things work out, we start shooting in one month. Honestly, I'm not sure how that's going to work. I'm still having a difficult time casting the lead. I've got one guy that is super eager and did a good job with his audition, but he lives three hours away and would need travel expenses covered, which isn't a big deal, except that it's just not in my budget right now. I was really hoping to find someone more local, but we'll see. The female lead is cast and I'm excited to work with her. Besides these two, I need to cast the parents and a few day players. Nothing too crazy.

I also need to lock down some locations. I've held off on scouting dwellings hoping that maybe my cast would be able to provide some locations, but I really should get something locked down. If I need to rent an Air BnB, those book up fast out here since I live 30 minutes from Glacier National Park. I might see if I can convince one of my video production clients to let me use his cabin for a day or two.

I would love to push production back to August like I did on the last two movies, but that was over ten years ago and fire season wasn't a thing like it is today. Though we do end up dealing with the end of the world later in the movie, the beginning is still normal and I want it to look beautiful.

I'm still testing a few VFX ideas and also workflows. I'm planning to shoot this in RAW, which is the CDNG flavor with my camera. I've been testing editing this in Resolve and on my current computer, I just can't pull it off, plus I'd rather edit in Avid anyway which I'd transcode to MXF for. I'm finishing a project for the local chamber of commerce and that payday is earmarked for building a new editing machine. Editing RAW might work better there, but I think I'm best of sticking with what I know works.

Most of my client work is actually just cut in Resolve, but I'm usually shooting ProRes 444 which isn't a problem. If I shoot RAW though, I'll have to transcode just to edit, so I might as well set that up for Avid and just do the online and sound mix in Resolve.

I've also just finished writing a book about indie filmmaking that I'm hoping to self publish next week. I'm currently having some editors go through it and I'm adding all the pictures and stuff. My goal was to make something modern, but on par with Rebel Without A Crew and The DV Rebel's Guide. This one is called "Indie Rebel: A Masterclass in Independent Filmmaking". If I can sell a few hundred ebooks, I can probably afford to pay for the lead to come out here. Fingers crossed.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Great new - I did cast my lead actor! With the two leads cast, now I can focus on the secondary roles and locations. The only downside right now is that I've had to push production back to August, mostly due to funding. Spring was pretty slow for business, so I'm hoping to make it up in June and July. Got my book published too, along with a companion series on YouTube, so hopefully that contributes a little to the budget.

Pretty excited though to see things coming together!

One of the big budget hits that I've taken is having to build a new computer. My current machine is an HP Z800 from like 2010 that I bought for $1000 refurbished in 2016. It's been doing well, but I can't run my new GPU in it, and lately it's been crashing on exports from Resolve. Rather than buy a pre-built computer, I decided to build one myself. I just ordered all the components from Amazon, and by signing up for the Amazon credit card, I got $150 off, plus 5% rewards. At the end of the day, I spent just $1100 out of pocket for a computer that would cost me $2500 pre-built. Now I just have to wait for the parts to arrive.

On all of my previous films, I had to limp my editing computer along as it was always quite a few years old. I'm excited to have a new, fast machine for this movie.

 

[mlesemann]

Great new - I did cast my lead actor! With the two leads cast, now I can focus on the secondary roles and locations.

Congratulations! That's awesome.

And good luck with the other stuff. I can't even imagine building my own computer so hats off to you.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Thanks! I've never built one from scratch before, but I've replaced enough parts in my computers over the years that I think I can handle it. Fingers crossed

 

[Nate North]

Spent most of the day today working on a proof of concept for a single shot where a character sees a hospital overrun by people. The background plate was shot with my iPhone 14 Pro while on a walk near a middle school this morning.

As far as VFX, there was a lot of work. First, the crowd. I purchased "Crowd Fashionista" for Blender and had a crowd of thousands within a few minutes. Next, I changed the signage on the school to look more like a hospital. The yellow school buses were a dead giveaway, so I made them blue, implying that the military is present (the Air Force uses blue buses). I added a rather simple Coast Guard helicopter landing on the roof (this will be improved in the final shot when I do this for real), a few military hummers, and a yellow ambulance (again, this will be replaced with an American one later). Also added some CG people running toward the hospital using the Horde add-on for Blender.

My favorite touch to the shot is the car windshield and dashboard in the foreground. The idea is that we're getting the character's POV from his truck. Plus all the window grime helps make the CG effects look a little better.

I was originally going to use an actual hospital, but I like the idea of using this school. I'll probably end keeping that location, just re-shooting it with my URSA Mini. All of the elements in this test are just 2D tracked in Nuke, I may try a match move on the actual shot, but overall this worked well minus the helicopter. That will need to be a real animation, not just a 2D card animated in Nuke.

Just a thought, and it's a bit expensive (I think it was 700 for a 1 year license) but you might consider Anima 4 for crowds and movement as well. The benefit is that they have this package that includes a huge number of closer range animations, so on top of being able to manipulate crowds, you can also plant these higher detail crowd members strategically, which goes a long way towards selling the illusion. They have bad SEO, so here's a link if you're interested - https://secure.axyz-design.com/en/anima4

 

[Chris Tempel]

Just a thought, and it's a bit expensive (I think it was 700 for a 1 year license) but you might consider Anima 4 for crowds and movement as well. The benefit is that they have this package that includes a huge number of closer range animations, so on top of being able to manipulate crowds, you can also plant these higher detail crowd members strategically, which goes a long way towards selling the illusion. They have bad SEO, so here's a link if you're interested - https://secure.axyz-design.com/en/anima4

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out, hadn't heard of that before.

 

[Chris Tempel]

Workflow Fun
I apologize if all this tech stuff is boring, but I like having a record of every aspect of this adventure.

First, parts to my new system are starting to arrive. All I'm waiting on now is the motherboard and case and I can get building.

Onto the workflow stuff.

Previously, I would ingest footage and apply a LUT in Resolve, then transcode to MXF for cutting in Avid. In Avid, I'd sync audio, cut the film, then export an AAF that I would import twice in Resolve to get both audio and video linked to the original files. Easy. Except for the syncing in Avid part.

I have Avid Media Composer 8.5 and really don't see the point of upgrading. In this version, I sync dual system audio and video by manually syncing to the slate and then sub clipping. On my client shoots that I cut in Resolve, I don't even worry about a slate anymore. Just select the clips (audio and video) and sync by waveform, appending to the video. Easy. I can shoot faster and edit faster and I'd like to apply a variation of this to cutting in Avid. The more automated I can make the monkey work, the better.

So here's what I'd like to do: Ingest, sync, and transcode in Resolve, cut in Avid, then conform in Resolve to the original audio and video for grading, vfx and mixing. The problem: I can't get the original audio files to conform with the edit when I bring it all back into Resolve. Picture is fine, but the audio is the onboard camera mic. This is confusing to me because when I'm syncing, part of the process involves me removing the camera audio under "Clip Attributes" so that only the good sound from my Zoom remains. But somehow, when everything gets relinked, it's using the cam audio and not the Zoom.

At least I have a few months to figure this out.

Oh, and Canada is on fire right now and all the smoke is down here. Fire season came early, so I guess it really doesn't matter when I shoot. If this is still going on come August, I'll just work it into the script.

 

[mlesemann]

If this is still going on come August, I'll just work it into the script.

Because that's what we do

 

[sfoster]

Awesome that you published a book and have more time to plan for your movie now, that extra time is going to pay off for sure

 

[Chris Tempel]

Thanks sfoster! I feel better now having the extra time.

COMPUTER BUILD:
The final parts arrived yesterday and I was able to start putting things together around 10:30 in the morning. It took me 2.5 hours, but I finally got it all pieced together. Had a couple of mistakes that I had to go fix, especially regarding the cooler and the case. Once the machine was assembled, I fired it up and it posted, so that was good. I checked the BIOS and saw that everything was working and running as it should. Then I tried to install Windows 10...

I had purchased it for $25 from a third party seller and while the serial number worked fine, the ISO image that I had downloaded from Microsoft did not. Seven hours later, I finally got it to work by making a new bootable thumb drive and changing the format to MBR. After that fix, the install went off fine and now I have a working monster.

I tested the new build by starting Blender and loading up a project I made six months ago. Earlier that morning, it had taken 10 minutes to render a frame on my old computer. The new computer rendered it in 30 seconds. I'd say this is a major win.

Final specs are an Intel i9, 64GB RAM, GeForce 3090 GPU and a 1000w power supply to run everything. I also ordered a case that would fit my blu ray burner, so that was a nice plus

 

[Nate North]

This is the mental picture I get when anyone else starts getting close to my computing power. Lol.

Congratulations! You are not going to regret this one. The 3090 is an absolute beast, especially when you get into the CUDA stuff.

Whenever you get to the point where you need it, remind me and I'll walk you through setting up your own free manual AI upscaler. Now that you have the power to run it, you can just uprez your whole film to 8k, and then make masters from that print. The process, done post post, gives you a small but noticable improvement in compositing invisibility, and you can probably get some extra viewers by simply being an early 8k film. Oh, also I could give you a chunk of code from our pipeline that creates alpha channel roto frames from humans in motion without the need for greenscreen. So, just have someone do a parkour move in front of a low wall, run this, and then you have a near production Png with alpha.

 

[Chris Tempel]

The video wouldn't play, but thanks! I'm just scratching the surface of this GPU and it's blowing me away. My previous card was a 6GB 1060 and that would constantly get full in Resolve. It was pretty slow in Blender too. But this new one is smoking fast, at least to me

I'm a ways away from getting the film finished, but I'm definitely intrigued about the AI upscale. I'm planning to shoot in 4K and master at 2048x856, that way I can do all the VFX work at 2K. I'll be reaching out for sure when the film is done to learn more about this.

Thanks again!

 

[Nate North]

it was just a video of Christian Bale and Matt Damon racing Ferraris, lol, don't know why it didn't play.

The 3090 is a really, really, big step up from a 1060, and 64gb ram is solid for pro editing. All your 3d stuff is going to run maybe 5-10x faster, maybe more. The big thing is that the card has 24gb localized on chip vram, which ends up being a huge deal when you get into certain areas of VFX and compositing. Early days, I would suggest that for each of your main programs, check online to make sure you have the 3d acceleration or CUDA drive functioning. The reason I mention it is because most of them default to CPU only, and it's usually buried in the menus. In example, some editing programs don't use 3d cards by default, but will instantly speed up 10x if you just tick a box in one of the menus. You likely already have them all set up, but I've had a few instances where I thought the 3d card was being used, and a version update had reset it to a default state with no acceleration.

 

[sfoster]

it was just a video of Christian Bale and Matt Damon racing Ferraris, lol, don't know why it didn't play.

The 3090 is a really, really, big step up from a 1060, and 64gb ram is solid for pro editing. All your 3d stuff is going to run maybe 5-10x faster, maybe more. The big thing is that the card has 24gb localized on chip vram, which ends up being a huge deal when you get into certain areas of VFX and compositing. Early days, I would suggest that for each of your main programs, check online to make sure you have the 3d acceleration or CUDA drive functioning. The reason I mention it is because most of them default to CPU only, and it's usually buried in the menus. In example, some editing programs don't use 3d cards by default, but will instantly speed up 10x if you just tick a box in one of the menus. You likely already have them all set up, but I've had a few instances where I thought the 3d card was being used, and a version update had reset it to a default state with no acceleration.

It's because you have an S on the end of the parameter, just delete the last character.

 

[Nate North]

Thx

Oh, and by the way, this comment is directed at all readers, all filmmakers -

Up above in Chris's picture of his system unboxing, there is a strange device sitting on the top left.

That's called a fan.

If you're a serious modern filmmaker, you CANNOT, live without this device.

If there's one thing across my entire time at Save Point that confused and irritated me more than anything else, it was the fact that 40 people in a row came through wanting to do video work, and nobody had ever bought a cooling system.

At least a dozen people asked me what system to buy, then said, as long as it's a laptop.

You can't fit a #@#%^$# 10 inch fan, and definitely not 3, into a laptop that's a half inch thick. You can't draw 400 watts of constant heat off of your editing system with no fan, or a fan the size of your thumbnail.

Please video editing people, please start buying $15 fans for your editing rigs. The apple logo does not power your footage processor. Do not buy a 5000 dollar apple laptop with a giant fashionable logo and no #$%#$%# fan. That 15 dollar fan will add 40% speed to your 5,000 dollar computer, making it one of the single most valuable parts of your rig.

For the record, every single person I've given this advice to has bought an expensive laptop that's terrible for editing, and then contacted me later to ask why it doesn't work as well as a 700 dollar desktop. It's because heat built up while you were working, and the computer throttled itself down so it didn't catch on fire.

Fans. It doesn't work right because you didn't buy any #$#$%#$ fans.

Rant complete, and congratulations to Chris for being the first filmmaker in almost a year actually build a work machine correctly. No notes.

 

[Chris Tempel]

I learned my lesson on my last feature. I was using an eight year old computer that I had bought from Best Buy in 2003. Intel Celeron, 2 GB RAM and no GPU. When the time came to render my final master from After Effects (I onlined the entire film there via seven reels), the computer kept crashing due to overheating, so I had to render with the side of the case off, and a big window box fan pumping air into it. It was a nightmare. So yeah, when I decided to build this one, cooling and airflow was a HUGE priority!

 

[Chris Tempel]

The final setup. I went out and purchased a 32 inch TV and swivel mount that works as a preview or client monitor. I still need to calibrate it and my main displays, but I'm loving it!

 

[Nate North]

Setup looks perfect! I've found 3 monitors to be the ideal number. Just being able to have an entire screen for submenus, control panels, and all the other stuff that gets in the way of the main interface is really helpful, and a pixel native output monitor really saves you from a lot of tiny errors that happen because you can't see the full res in the edit window. Obviously you can switch in and out of full screen mode, but it takes like 1 second to do that. Noob people say, I'm not spending 250 bucks to save 1 second. I tell them, but it's one second in, then one second out, and often you're having to check stuff 2-3 times in a minute as your alter things, so now we're talking about 6 seconds out of 60, year in, year out. You're better off spending the 250.

 

[Chris Tempel]

I've ordered a few props last week and they're finally starting arrive which is nice. Mostly things that I either don't have or can't find for free or cheap anywhere. In this case, eBay has been my friend. I ordered a rosary and a crucifix. I'll need the crucifix for a few set locations, but figured I'd just use the same one each time. Just pull down a painting or artwork wherever I'm filming and put this up in it's place. I doubt anyone will notice it's the same one.

I'm also going to use a local Facebook page to see if I can get some of the other props I need for free or dirt cheap. Trying to avoid spending money when I can.

Since I've pushed back filming to August, I went into Movie Magic today and redid the schedule from scratch. I'm pretty happy with it, it's looking to be an 18 day shoot over three weeks.

And my author copy of my book will finally arrive today. Can't believe it took three weeks to print and ship.