Lab 36 - Red One MX with Zeiss CP.2's

[Matt Ryan]

Hey Everyone,

For your viewing pleasure and criticism I present LAB 36.

Dailies from a student short film Lab 36. With a budget of $1,000 and 3 Days of shooting (1 full , 2 half), I present you with just a few of the dailies from the film. I should mention that none of these files have been colored. This is an h264 version of the already compressed 1080p prores 422hq file. I was the DP on the film. Feel free to leave your comments but remember these have not been colored or edited just transcodes from the original R3D's. This was my first time with the CP.2's. I've mainly used the Red 18-85 and 18-50 in the past, and minus the slower t stops I believe the Red lenses to be much sharper (but thats just my opinion).

Tech Specs:
Camera - Red One MX 4.5k 23.98 Recode 42
Lenses - Zeiss CP.2 Lenses
Support - Oconnor 2060
Lights - 1x Litepanel 1x1 Bi Color, 2x Arri kit, 1 Kino Flo kit, 1.2k HMI, 2 Shadowmaker 3 channel flicker boxes, all run off of house power only (and no not all at the same time).
Grip - Mathews Doorway Dolly and 20ft of track
Processed in RCX Pro with Redcolor2 & Redgamma2

Writer/Director: Reid Goldin
Director of Photography: Matt Ryan Hayslett

Thanks for looking.
-Matt

 

[Matt Ryan]

Any comments? Anyone...

 

[PatrickFaith]

It's hard to tell from daily's ... but i really like the "yellow" feel of some of these shots. I like the garage/key shot (aside from the light guy ... which is cropable). lmao ... that music is kind of annoying For post like that i like to here the DP or director kind of talking. I worry about sound in shooting like this (can be hard to mic). I can't figure out the story (which is impossible anyway from daily's). Good luck !!!

 

[Matt Ryan]

It's hard to tell from daily's ... but i really like the "yellow" feel of some of these shots. I like the garage/key shot (aside from the light guy ... which is cropable). lmao ... that music is kind of annoying For post like that i like to here the DP or director kind of talking. I worry about sound in shooting like this (can be hard to mic). I can't figure out the story (which is impossible anyway from daily's). Good luck !!!

Hey Patrick,
Music was just because this is mainly a MOS shoot with the exception of 3 lines of total dialogue at the end of the film (Dialogue was all captured by lav and shotgun mics). The rest is all ambience, sfx, and score. As for the light guy we are only using the shot for a few seconds so the start can be cut, and there are 3 more takes of that shot if we need the whole walk. The editor was trying to be humorous with the music as there is no audio and screening this in class would have been awkward without any form of sound or music.
As required by the school the Director and Myself have to intro the film, then discuss and answer questions after the screening thus why it is not done in this video.

The story is about a janitor at a University who finds weird things in the trash (teeth, hair, etc.). He witnesses a bag the size of a body being dragged into the Lab 36 one night which sparks his interest. He begins to investigate the Doctor and figure out what he is up to. One night the power starts fluctuating and the janitor knows something has happened so he runs to the lab where he finds the doctor and his "creation". It's based on the Tom Waits song "What's He Building".

Thanks for checking out the thread!

 

[Matt Ryan]

Anyone else?

 

[Matt Ryan]

Anyone else?

 

[Matt Ryan]

Someone?

 

[Matt Ryan]

some more grabs....

 

[David Carstens]

What was your method for the "lightning" type effect?

 

[Matt Ryan]

What was your method for the "lightning" type effect?

We stripped kino tubes out of the housing and placed 2 tubes in 3 overhead fixtures. The kino's were run into a Shadowmaker flicker box to create the flickering. We were shooting in a government building with no light switches and were told not to touch anything haha. I had the gaffer pull the wires for the lights overhead to cut the power since there are no switches in the building and the kino tubes were literally just laying inside the housing on the housing diffusion panel.

At the end of the hall I had a 1k on each side running into a seperate flicker box for a slight flicker in the back halls to give a hint of light off the back wall.

There are dozens of ways to do this technique but with our budget and limitations ( lack of lighting and the fact I only had 2 grips and one gaffer plus myself to do any work) this is all we could really do.

Thanks for checking out my thread!

 

[Matt Ryan]

bump for comments

 

[Harva Raj]

Which mattebox/filters were you using. Is it the red pro 6x6?

 

[Matt Ryan]

Which mattebox/filters were you using. Is it the red pro 6x6?

No filters on this shoot, and for mattebox an Old beat up Arri swing away.

 

[Stefan Antonescu]

Matt, it looks fantastic. The best footage I've seen for a while - and it's not even graded...

You have done a great job.

The image is so sharp and filmic - just love it. Did you do something special in RCX Pro ?

What CP.2 lenses did you use ? How big was the crew ?

This is freaking inspiring.

 

[Matt Ryan]

Matt, it looks fantastic. The best footage I've seen for a while - and it's not even graded...

You have done a great job.

The image is so sharp and filmic - just love it. Did you do something special in RCX Pro ?

What CP.2 lenses did you use ? How big was the crew ?

This is freaking inspiring.

Thanks Stefan,

All I did in RCX Pro is apply Redcolor 2 and Redgamma 2. No curves or color temp adjustments etc. My train of thought has always been to shoot it as close to how I intend it to look in the final to keep the post work to a minimum. I don't like to rely on post to get me the look I want when I can do it on set (or at least get most of the way there).

In regards to the CP.2's I mainly used the 28, 35, 50, and 85. I used the 21 a couple times but not too much since its a 2.9 and I like to shoot things how I want them to look in camera rather than for a post session.

As for crew,
This was the first time I didn't DP and Cam OP so it was a large camera crew for me haha (Which was a good thing considering we had 200 shots to get through in 1 full day and 2 half days). We had 2 Producers, Director, AD, 2nd AD, Myself, Cam Op, 1ST AC, 2ND AC, 2 Grips, 1 Gaffer, plus the 2 actors. BTS photos are funny cause it looks like just a couple kids shooting. Its a small crew but thats mainly how the student films go. I can't wait to get paid to do this and have a professional team around me.
Lets just say with this size of a crew you end up doing a lot more than just your main position.

Here are some stills from another of my student shorts with a $4,000 budget which $2,000 went to a Red Rental and 18-85 lens. These haven't been colored yet either. Same as above just Redcolor 2, Redgamma 2 and slight s curve since Redgamma 2 sorta lifts the darks.

Im available if anyone needs a DP/Cam Op. Im looking for my first paid gig.

 

[Stefan Antonescu]

Matt, I wish you the best of luck in the business.

 

[Matt Ryan]

Matt, I wish you the best of luck in the business.

Thanks Stefan, I appreciate it!

 

[Matt Ryan]

Anyone else have any criticism, comments, or questions?

 

[Matt Ryan]

bump

 

[Julian Fort]

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed watching it. I really dug the music by the way. Such a nice change from the usual terribly over dramatic stuff that often accompanies these type of posts. Really liked the shot where your actor walked into focus. The extreme CU that starts on his forehand I thought was a little soft, but maybe that was intended. The location looks great. Looks like you guys had fun.