Nick Morrison
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2011
- Messages
- 9,141
- Reaction score
- 50
- Points
- 48
- Location
- Brooklyn
- Website
- www.smallgiant.tv
The title says it all. I got a chance two months ago to fly to LA, and direct a spot with the hope of giving it a dark David Fincher Hollywood feel. That was what the client and I wanted...to give this entire project the sweeping grandeur and pacing of a Hollywood feature.
Here's what the project was. For the first time, my clients at H2 were able to get 4 experts from Ancient Aliens all at once. An amazing opportunity. Never been possible on a promo shoot before. But what todo with them?
What we ended up with was a secret "Bunker" meeting, where the experts...anchored by Giorgio, the star...all hash out some of the biggest secrets they are about to reveal in the new season. Visually, the client really wanted to make it feel like we were "spying" on this meeting...like a fly on the wall...and I immediately thought of how Fringe was shot (thanks American Cinematographer!)...with its incredibly dirty framings, and placement of camera behind foreground elements, and in spots generally out of the stars eyelines...so they can't see us...but we can see them. We also drew a lot of inspiration from Dr.Strangelove, and were happy to see Kubrick used a language pretty similar to Fringe...very dirty framings, and with cameras that peered up a lot.
I got to work with a fabulous DP, Adam Chambers, and together we chose to shoot the piece on 2 Epics and a Scarlet. To give it a classic look, we used Super Speeds. I really wanted to be far back, and peer in on telephotos, so I also requested we get the Standard Prime 135 f2 and Standard Prime 180 2.8. These two telephotos became our workhorses.
Our C-Cam was the Scarlet I brought with me (in case we needed it) and that rocked my Contax 60 2.8 Macro, which matched the Standard Primes perfectly (serial numbers were pretty close).
During the prelight, all the Epics were locked up, but my Scarlet was available, so Adam and I threw on my Contax 28-85 and grabbed a ton of b-roll. The whole beginning...with the door opening...and the light switch..and all those small elements were completely improvised the day before...and were not in the boards at all. Adam and I just thought it would be fun to give the whole piece a "meeting at the OK Coral" kind of vibe...as if each expert is coming from a far corner of the earth...and taking his own secret route through the bunker to the table in the center.
I was on a tight timeline, so I rushed back to NYC and cut this spot in 2 days with one of the best editors in the biz. We also cut about a dozen other spots with this material, but this trailer was the main event. This was the first time I've ever been hired as a director and sent out without the client. They just trusted me. So I consider this a major achievement in my carreer. The client was super happy, and I couldn't believe that we did...in fact..give this piece the "David Fincher" vibe we were looking for. A dark, big Hollywood feel.
Some projects don't work out, but this one did. Hope you enjoy.
Here's what the project was. For the first time, my clients at H2 were able to get 4 experts from Ancient Aliens all at once. An amazing opportunity. Never been possible on a promo shoot before. But what todo with them?
What we ended up with was a secret "Bunker" meeting, where the experts...anchored by Giorgio, the star...all hash out some of the biggest secrets they are about to reveal in the new season. Visually, the client really wanted to make it feel like we were "spying" on this meeting...like a fly on the wall...and I immediately thought of how Fringe was shot (thanks American Cinematographer!)...with its incredibly dirty framings, and placement of camera behind foreground elements, and in spots generally out of the stars eyelines...so they can't see us...but we can see them. We also drew a lot of inspiration from Dr.Strangelove, and were happy to see Kubrick used a language pretty similar to Fringe...very dirty framings, and with cameras that peered up a lot.
I got to work with a fabulous DP, Adam Chambers, and together we chose to shoot the piece on 2 Epics and a Scarlet. To give it a classic look, we used Super Speeds. I really wanted to be far back, and peer in on telephotos, so I also requested we get the Standard Prime 135 f2 and Standard Prime 180 2.8. These two telephotos became our workhorses.
Our C-Cam was the Scarlet I brought with me (in case we needed it) and that rocked my Contax 60 2.8 Macro, which matched the Standard Primes perfectly (serial numbers were pretty close).
During the prelight, all the Epics were locked up, but my Scarlet was available, so Adam and I threw on my Contax 28-85 and grabbed a ton of b-roll. The whole beginning...with the door opening...and the light switch..and all those small elements were completely improvised the day before...and were not in the boards at all. Adam and I just thought it would be fun to give the whole piece a "meeting at the OK Coral" kind of vibe...as if each expert is coming from a far corner of the earth...and taking his own secret route through the bunker to the table in the center.
I was on a tight timeline, so I rushed back to NYC and cut this spot in 2 days with one of the best editors in the biz. We also cut about a dozen other spots with this material, but this trailer was the main event. This was the first time I've ever been hired as a director and sent out without the client. They just trusted me. So I consider this a major achievement in my carreer. The client was super happy, and I couldn't believe that we did...in fact..give this piece the "David Fincher" vibe we were looking for. A dark, big Hollywood feel.
Some projects don't work out, but this one did. Hope you enjoy.
