Making footage look better

[kmcclung]

Been a while since I posted... still working on the EX1 feature KERBEROS. Never said I was fast!

I constantly see examples of wonderfully lit and shot footage on this forum, and hats off to all who are 'doing'.

As people start moving into bigger and better camera (i.e. more expensive) like the EX3 and the iterations of the Red camera, just a quick reminder to keep pushing the 'post' processing and color grading for nearly all footage so as to maximize the story telling ability of whatever formats and cameras we shoot on. Rarely can the success or lack of success on a movie (short, feature, or music video) these days be attributed to the shortcomings of a camera.

Story, story, story... then acting, acting, and then the 'art' of the frame... (at least equal to if not more important than the image is sound) - but back to the footage...

Here are a few shots from KERBEROS - before and after - presented at 50% size and compressed with a med quality jpeg setting. These are 'normal' shots - no effects or action. Shot on EX1 with stock lens in a variety of lighting situations - all certainly helped with some subtle and some not so subtle post - time consuming but worth it to my eye. I've tried to add a few basic notes and will get more detailed in subsequent pages.

Many (and maybe most) the time I am trying to make up for my mistakes or rushed shots - not everyone will have as many - but if I deleted all the mistakes, I wouldn't have a movie at all!

For those interested, there is also a link on the bottom of the thumbnail page to the graphics created for the title sequence - predominately footage from the film manipulated and composited using various transfer modes to control.

the link to color grading examples

keep filming

Kely
KERBEROS
BLOOD TIES


for those who want to see a bit more in motion, there are high rez clips on the website and of course even more on YOUTUBE

hope it all helps!

 

[kmcclung]

KERBEROS wins "Best Director" at AOF!

Wow - so out of it - the red eye home from LA and back to the Atl's heat and humidity.

"Kerberos" was up for 5 awards at the Action On Film International Film Festival outside of LA in downtown Pasadena.

A solid week of films in 4 theaters, parties until 1 and 2 am every night, an awards dinner for the Writers... more about that later as it's one of the very few WGA qualifying fests that exists.

"Kerberos" screened 7:30 pm on a Sat night to a nearly sold out crowd - maybe 3 or 4 empty seats but another dozen standing in the aisles - the sound and projector were great and people seemed overwhelmed by it all.. pretty cool.

I was one of 5 who spoke for 3 hours the next day on filmmaking to about 150 people during an awesome brunch and symposium.

Akiko Izumitani (winner for Best Political Film, and Kely McClung (winner Best Director) at the Action On Film awards dinner


And then the Awards Dinner - black tie for nearly 500 people - with people like Deborah Unger and Kim Coates in the audience and competing with films made by people like Cybill Shepherd and actors like James Brolin. There was a moving tribute to Talia Shire who was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award - when you saw the 10 minute retrospective showcasing a fraction of her work you realized just how huge this and valuable this star has been to Hollywood.

My friends were winning well deserved awards, notably Stan Harrington's movie "Small Days" won awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Timothy McNeil.

Of course the dinner was running long and I kept coming up as the 1st runner up for the other 4 nominations - Best Cinematography, Best Picture (against Cybill Shepherd's faith based feature), Action Film of the Year, etc...

As a filmmaker - in my case writer/director/editor/actor and more... winning "Best Director" at such a huge event was pretty overwhelming... I really should of won Best Actor for not crying or tripping or anything.

I honestly was glad when they rushed through the rest of the awards and never called me back to say it was mistake or something...

More coming on this awesome festival founded by Del Weston and probably one of the fastest growing festivals in the world!

Once I settle back in I'll try to post more pics, put up some cool fest info, some more of the lessons I'm learning on Kerberos, and answer some of the questions that have been posted previously.

Making movies!

Our page is growing on FB too! Seems like a pretty cool way to interact with some other filmmakers!

KERBEROS

Kely

 

[Zensteve]

Hey, congratulations on Best Director!

I was in the audience, btw. I spoke to you afterwards briefly. (I was the guy with the crazy-man beard... it's being grown out for a film project, so I'm not really crazy ) Yup, sure was an awesome crowd.

I loved the film. The only thing I was sure of was that there was going to be

Spoiler

a mexican standoff

at some point. With so many different players & threadlines going on at once, there was no way everything was going to be wrapped up one by one.

Great cast all the way through. My fave in particular was the cop-father. He looked (and behaved) just like a weasel should. The bad guy you love to hate. The best thing about all the characters was that none of them were saints.

I don't really understand the film's tagline, though. How'd you decide on that one?

 

[kmcclung]

Thanks so much! Stan Harrington played the bad cop/father...

Kerberos is the 3-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades in Greek mythology... so you get in - but you don't get out! The 3 main characters representing the ugly beast...

Exactly what I was going for on all the characters - no saints - and like you noted - a LOT of them!

Was a great fest and sorry I was pulled so many directions I didn't spend much time... and good luck on your project!

more coming!