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"Pawn Sacrifice" Vignette - shot on 2 Dragons

Nick Morrison

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Hey everyone. Incredibly proud to tease this recent shoot of ours, a :60 Vignette about PAWN SACRIFICE (shot by Bradford Young of Selma, Ain't Those Bodies Saints, A Most Violent Year...and directed by Edward Zwick of Glory, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, etc).

This was a project for History, and led by our fantastic client Jason Letchko, we were determined to saturate this shoot in as much cinematic pedigree and presence as we could.

Our "wide" was the 24mm Standard Prime (thank you American Hustle), and our filtration was Smoque (thank you Rodrigo Prieto).

We mixed and matched Standard Primes (24mm - an incredible lens) and Contax Primes (35mm, 50mm, 85mm - great 6K coverage), and shot in both 6K and 5K. We also mixed in some Hasselblads for tilt shifted portraits, and a Contax 80-200 and 60 2.8 Macro on B-Cam (for Chess B-Roll and cutaways).

We shot on two Epic Dragons (LLO), each on a Dana Dolly (a truly versatile system).

Our lighting was a lot of soft Chimeras. My DP Ted Rex King did an amazing job, as did our gaffer Seth Coleman, and my production manager Andrew Rupinski. Feel very fortunate to work with such a talented team!

Jake Blackstone did our dailies grades (as always). These are straight lifts.

We shot at the historic Down Town Association (near wall street), where both Elementary and Gotham had just been. Filming in such a breathtaking location always elevates the work, and energizes the set experience!

We'll have the cut to share next week! This was an incredibly fast turn around, and feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have clients that always demand excellence, and push us to do more!

Hope you enjoy.


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Uhhmmm.. WOW, Nick!


Love them Standard Speeds on the Dragon.. such a beautiful texture!


Would love to see a little lighting diagram..

Thanks Simran so much! Yeah, the Standard Primes and Contax primes mix and match really well. The organic coatings are a real dream. Adding in that Smoque filtration only seemed to augment their wonderful texture even more!

Lemme reach out to Ted and Seth now, maybe they can rustle something up (lighting info, etc)!


Exciting, can't wait to see it, thanks for the background info. I really love those rack focus's on the pawn moves.

Thanks Patrick! Yeah, the B-Cam was doing a lot of rack focusing! The chess set in foreground was a nice element to play with. We bought it at a Chess Store in Bobby Fischer's old neighborhood, so felt very authentic and inspiring!

We'll post the final in a week or two!

best
 
Great stuff!

I enjoyed reading the eloquent description of what you were aiming for... and then right after that you post a bunch of images that evoke exactly what you described.

Not sure what more a client can ask for. You do a great treatment - and then follow through to the T. The goal of every director.

Look forward to seeing the cut :)

Bruce Allen
www.twitter.com/bruce_allen
 
Great stuff!

I enjoyed reading the eloquent description of what you were aiming for... and then right after that you post a bunch of images that evoke exactly what you described.

Not sure what more a client can ask for. You do a great treatment - and then follow through to the T. The goal of every director.

Look forward to seeing the cut :)

Bruce Allen
www.twitter.com/bruce_allen

Thanks Bruce, you are way, way too kind.

Yeah this was a dream project. There was a fast turn around, but everyone was on same page (client, team, crew), and it all came together wonderfully - much kudos goes to the great vibe on set, and how fantastic client is!

Our mantra on set was "Whiskey Soaked History", and we often had "Dos Equis: The Most Interesting Man In The World" in the back of our minds!

Thanks again for the kind words!!
 
Looks great sir! Can't wait to see it!

WONDERFUL WORK!!!!

BRAVO!!!

GREAT GREAT work Nick!! Love these frames! Congrats my friend!

Thanks guys so so much. Really, really appreciate it!

Every now and then a job comes around in your gut you know you need to DIVE INTO, and this was one of them. So glad and proud it actually came together! Thanks again for the support and kind words!!
 
Looks great! I just shot there a few weeks ago too!
 
Hey everyone. Incredibly proud to tease this recent shoot of ours, a :60 Vignette about PAWN SACRIFICE (shot by Bradford Young of Selma, Ain't Those Bodies Saints, A Most Violent Year...and directed by Edward Zwick of Glory, Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, etc).

This was a project for History, and led by our fantastic client Jason Letchko, we were determined to saturate this shoot in as much cinematic pedigree and presence as we could.

Our "wide" was the 24mm Standard Prime (thank you American Hustle), and our filtration was Smoque (thank you Rodrigo Prieto).

We mixed and matched Standard Primes (24mm - an incredible lens) and Contax Primes (35mm, 50mm, 85mm - great 6K coverage), and shot in both 6K and 5K. We also mixed in some Hasselblads for tilt shifted portraits, and a Contax 80-200 and 60 2.8 Macro on B-Cam (for Chess B-Roll and cutaways).

We shot on two Epic Dragons (LLO), each on a Dana Dolly (a truly versatile system).

Our lighting was a lot of soft Chimeras. My DP Ted Rex King did an amazing job, as did our gaffer Seth Coleman, and my production manager Andrew Rupinski. Feel very fortunate to work with such a talented team!

Jake Blackstone did our dailies grades (as always). These are straight lifts.

We shot at the historic Down Town Association (near wall street), where both Elementary and Gotham had just been. Filming in such a breathtaking location always elevates the work, and energizes the set experience!

We'll have the cut to share next week! This was an incredibly fast turn around, and feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have clients that always demand excellence, and push us to do more!

Hope you enjoy.

PAWN_SAMPLES_1.14.2.jpg






PAWN_SAMPLES_1.30.4.jpg


PAWN_SAMPLES_1.30.8.jpg

Those shots are so organic, really gorgeous Nick !
I dig the 60 macro. :)
 
By the way, is it the 60AE ?

Thanks Brice!!!!!

Yes the 60 AE...only made in AE, never MM, though the serials were often to close to MM (late 6s!).

Its a FANTASTIC lens!!!

PS that first shot is a Hassy 50 2.8...tilt shifted!!
 
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