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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

NETFLIX - Empire Rising: Ottoman

Clint Lealos

Clint Lealos

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The camera was Scarlet-W, and the glass was Zeiss B-Speeds for the majority of the scene work and Clavius lenses for the interviews. Occasionally we broke out the Kinoptik 9.8mm, Angenieux 25-250 mkI, Leica R 100mm macro, Canon FD 300mm, and even an old Kowa 6 MF lens for one shot.

We shot the entire 6 part series in 62 days on location in Istanbul with a documentary sized budget. We're talking a tiny fraction of what The Witcher had, so I'm really proud of what we were able to accomplish. However, I'm curious to hear feedback on the hybrid format or anything else. Check it out on Netflix January 24th. Thanks for your time :)

TRAILER: https://www.netflix.com/watch/81168709?trackId=14277282&tctx=0%2C0%2C1239d20d-56fa-471f-9155-4ee5c1e4937e-52832217%2C%2C
 
Thanks fellas! Yes Julen...everything was shot on Scarlet-W with Zeiss B-Speeds.

Looks like its actually called "Rise of Empires: Ottoman" and not the original title "Empire Rising: Ottoman".
 
That looks like it's right up my alley. I remember when History Ch and Discovery and the like aired great stuff like this all of the time, before they decided to just do cheap "reality TV" instead.
 
Streaming now! I'd love to hear some feedback if anyone watches it...thanks!
 
wow looks amazing. love the look overall. great lighting for interviews. great use of vintage lenses my main issues
1- I wasn't sure it was a documentary from the promo material, the trailer made it look like a series, so totally not on your team.
2- sometimes the costumes looked too 'new'

im just amazed what you acoomplished with the gear and the time. congrats
 
Dude I loved it....

There is no Cinematographer listed on IMDB. Major Omission. I didnt know you shot it. I watched the whole series in one sitting.
 
Thanks Timur! Means a lot coming from you. I'm working on updating IMDB now...I'm terrible at that stuff :)
 
Christopher S Johnson said:
Why did they choose to use an SW? Was it that much cheaper than the other options?
Click to expand...

Reasonable question...Our production company owns an army of Red cameras, but only Scarlets and Ravens. I'm happy to shoot 5K on a Dragon sensor for a Netflix deliverable. It does everything I want it to do and I'm very familiar with its characteristics. It also allowed us to use several cameras without affecting the budget. For example, even the Director was operating a camera during all the battle scenes, and some of the best shots are his!
 
I will say this.

I watched 8 seasons of game of thrones and left it feeling like i was cheated.

8 episodes of ROE: Ottoman i felt like i went on a journey that had purpose. You guys pulled off period well, and i know how hard that is. Honestly... im a bit upset you didn't call me to come shoot with you. especially with the subject matter ;)

But seriously, i like how He approached it. No good guys, no bad guys. Just that old school medieval mentality of destiny and prophecy. IT feels backwards today, but the historical interjections gave context to the decision making, and helped you as the viewer understand the momentum of the battle and the politics.
 
Timur Civan said:
I will say this.

I watched 8 seasons of game of thrones and left it feeling like i was cheated.

8 episodes of ROE: Ottoman i felt like i went on a journey that had purpose. You guys pulled off period well, and i know how hard that is. Honestly... im a bit upset you didn't call me to come shoot with you. especially with the subject matter ;)

But seriously, i like how He approached it. No good guys, no bad guys. Just that old school medieval mentality of destiny and prophecy. IT feels backwards today, but the historical interjections gave context to the decision making, and helped you as the viewer understand the momentum of the battle and the politics.
Click to expand...

Hocam! Seni seviyorum. If we had any money you would have been there :) If I told you the budget on that project you wouldn't believe me. Let's hope there's a season two and I'll be sure to call you this time. Thank you for the kind words my friend.
 
Dude, this looks bananas good. Reminds me of the OG amazing History Channel shows I used to make promos for - when they used hundreds of re-enactors in painstakingly accurate uniforms, etc.

SO GOOD!!!!

This is epic and awesome. A million congrats.
 
Clint,

EXCELLENT WORK!!!! I would be very proud to have shot that, it looks fantastic. I'm not going to comment on the writing decisions and such because I assume those are outside of your purview anyway, but the technical side of it, specifically the cinematography is outstanding. The framing and angles are creative, yet serve the scene without calling attention to themselves. I don't know what sets you shot in, but having worked in those historical locations in Turkey, I know it is difficult to frame without making scenes look repetitive or having to shoot close at all times. You managed to make the best out of the locations, and bring to the fore the one asset you had, which was excellent wardrobe. The lighting is truly excellent, helping sculpt the surfaces and textures, as well as the faces, and giving you a great sense of depth to all the shots. Yet, you can never feel the intrusion of lights as you feel subconsciously on so many pieces where your mind keeps going "that light's angle doesn't match the sun coming through the window, that's probably a par and it is too damn close", etc, etc, etc. I was telling one of my friends who's embarking on the daunting task of shooting a series with a low budget that he should look at this carefully and see how well you guys put every penny on the screen and how you managed to make it look like a big budget epic when I'm sure your budget was not that high. And I'm sure I'm already assuming your budget was much higher than it actually was :-) I also liked how the interviews were set up, each interviewed in a surrounding to match their personality, well lit, AND presented in fully saturated colors, something most other fiction/interview hybrids fail to do, showing the talking heads in ugly places and muted colors. The use of effect shots like slow-mo and POV is also judiciously mixed, never staying on for too long. Other than that, the casting was superb, every actor making the best of what the role could offer. Great job!

On another note, it made me miss Istanbul, haven't been there in a while and when I'm there I always promise myself never to go back to that chaos, yet, what a wonderful place that is....
 
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