After the storm Comments

So, currently sitting out at Stockholm airport after spending an extended weekend in Stockholm.  A short but well-needed vacation to say the least. I’ve been involved in quite a lot of interesting and exciting projects since I last wrote here.

First off, I’ve completed my duties as DP on four of the exam films at Skurups Folkhögskola. Feels very exciting to see the films come together in editing and to, at the end of May, finally see them on the big screen (internal screening only), and then eventually, actually finish what has been two very amazing years at film school.

The third exam film I shot, directed by Sergej Israel, took on a bit of a different turn from what I’ve previously shot. Given that the whole film plays out with the basis in shooting all scenes from a first-person perspective, it was very different both in terms of planning and execution. Sergej had made a custom-built helmet rig which I used to shoot the scenes – this also meant I had to do a fair amount of acting, considering I had to portray the vision of many characters in the film. This proved quite difficult, partly due to the cumbersome rig but also in terms of lighting the film, as we wanted to give the characters behind and in front of the camera a relatively free reign in terms of not having specific marks, but dealing with spontaneity as something sought after. While the whole film hasn’t been shot yet, what we did during the production week allotted to us, was to make sure the concept of shooting a whole short film with POV on a  small-budget can be accomplished. I’m sure I’ll continue to work on the film once school finished, as it’s quite an interesting project.

On the fourth and final exam film we shot it felt as if we took out all the stops. On the film “Kärlek kl 03.56” (“Love at 03.56″), directed by Dawid Ullgren, we spent a whole week shooting in Gothenburg. This meant moving what became quite a large cast and crew up by car about 250 kilometres. Not to mention a whole bunch of gear. A big bunch. Shortly before starting production it became clear that the film would become quite a bit larger than what we had previously anticipated. Co-produced by both Redhawk Productions and Pastellfilm (who’ve worked on Martin Wikner’s films in the past), we got access to a RED ONE camera to shoot the film on. While I’ve worked as 1st AC on several short films shot on the RED previously, I’d only shot with it myself on the Rugby Commercial we did about a year ago. It’d be the first scripted project and long-form short film I’d acted as DP whilst shooting on RED. To those uninitiated, it’s pretty damn crazy. We shot the film in 4K resolution – four times the size of HD (which we usually work with when shooting on DSLRs as the Canon 5D or 7D) using some russian high speed lenses. Big thanks to Emma Danielsson of CameraCenter in Gothenburg who made it happen! We also rented out quite a large amount of lights from Solid Entertainment in Malmö (as always), among these a big 1.2kW HMI which was used throughout the film as moonlight and to knock out shadowy areas. It felt good to save what had become the largest production we’ve ever made at film school for last. With a big crew and quite a lot at stake you could feel everybody focusing that extra bit on doing their job in the best way imaginable. It was a good last exercise to work in what became a professional environment. The images look pretty amazing and I can’t wait to dive into color grading the film in a few weeks and to see it on the big screen – perhaps even in 4K, some day? Remember to check out our Facebook page for the film to stay up-to-date with the latest news and images from the film!

Whilst most of the films will be ready for our pre-screening at the end of May, it feels good to know the film we present that day won’t have to be the final version. In many of the exam films, we’ve already discussed how we’re going to continue to work on the films during the summer to get them ready for film festivals in 2013. So it won’t be the last you hear about the exam films once they’re “finished”, not by a long shot.

Hope you’re all doing great and I’ll write to you again soon, hopefully with some updates from the color grading process!

Take care everyone!