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!

Hey everyone! First update in a while, as I’ve had my hands full all summer with a whole bunch of film work on a big bunch of projects. We’re still gearing up to hopefully shoot our next short in the last week of July, but up until that, and after it there’s a few projects left in the calendar.

So since summer started, what we first did, and what you might have seen in the above news slider, is that we shot a music video along with the team over at Air-Wipp – a national parkour team. We shot most of the film using a steadicam and at 60 frames/second. We also used Twixtor in post-production, a plug-in which enables speed slowdowns to over 500 or a 1000 frames/second. We’re hoping to be able to finish the music video sometime during next week, as I’ll be going over to Tegler Film and working on a few last touches, including some 3D lens flares, courtsey of Optical Flares from Video Co-Pilot.

A week ago I worked as 1st AC (assistant camera) on a local feature film pilot called Gesta Danorum (directed by Karen Helene Haugaard), shot in a viking village during two days. We shot the pilot using the Red One camera with some anamorphic lenses – meaning we were able to use all available pixels in the sensor to shoot some stunning 2.35:1 Cinemascope footage. Was a very fun experience. Also learned quite a lot, as I constantly worked with the experienced Anders Brandt, our DP for the weekend. Working as 1st AC (or “Focus Puller”) is fun albeit a constant challenge. I basically took care of the camera, changed lenses and had to work with an eye on the monitor as well as some intuition to keep all the correct things in focus. And when you get on a 300mm lens and shoot almost wide open, it proves to be quite difficult. But despite it being hard, I’m really interested and hope to be able to work in a similar role if the film gets funding to make the full feature sometime next year, or the year after that.

But that’s not all! I’m working as camera assistant this weekend along with my good friend Janssen Herr on a music video in Malmö. Got a great and very handy camera bag as birthday present last week so it’ll be the first real test of that. Looking forward to some long days outside in the sun shooting a whole bunch of footage using DSLR cameras – the other side of cinematography compared to the big and clunky RED camera. But both have their upsides and downsides.

Currently in discussion to hopefully work on a few other short films during the summer before I start working as 2nd AC on a feature film in August. The project is full-time and spanning 8 weeks, and I really look forward to starting to work there. Have had a few meetings with the crew behind the film, and while it’s a fairly small-sized production, we’re still shooting on Red and hopefully using some Compact Primes, which is always fun!

I’ll have some more updates in a few days, along with a larger update on the plan for our short film project.

Before I leave you though, you should all check out the new software package from FXhome, HitFilm, which combines NLE editing and 3D compositing and some powerful effect engines. I’ve been involved in the development since a couple of months ago, and I think this really will change the game for indie filmmakers in terms of both price point and usability.

Along with the product launch, the guys over at FXhome joined forces with Corridor Digital a while back to produce this wonderful short film, Prism, which utilizes a lot of the capabilities of HitFilm. Check it out embedded below!

Hope you all like it! Also, as part of our upgrade to the 2011 website (mostly under-the-hood, non-cosmetic changes), you might have noticed our first bit of Facebook integration right below the news scroller on the home page. This will be expanded greatly in the summer and you’ll be able to comment on posts and pages using your Facebook account. More on that soon though! Take care everyone and let’s talk again soon!

Just came back from a really fun and excting shoot for a new commercial which will be debuting online in a couple of weeks. It’s related to the Malmö high schools, and we shot the whole commercial on the Red One M-X camera, which as always is a fun experience and the first project we’ve shot so far exclusively with a cinema rig. Pictures were taken by one of the crewmembers, so you can expect some pictures from the shoot probably tomorrow. More details concerning the subject of the commerical will also be revealed soon – under embargo at the moment but details will trickle out quite quickly soon as the premiere date draws closer.

Finished our first documentary, titled “Kåseberga” last Sunday, which had a small premiere in film school on Monday. It was recieved well, but I’ve also decided to produce a longer version of it, as the subject matter as it stands now is a bit too thick to stand on just a ten-minute running time. So you could call what we showed in film school as a sort of pilot for the entire documentary, which I’m hoping will land around 30 minutes. Soon I’ll be uploading the pilot with subtitles to the website so you’ll be able to check it out.

Also shot another commercial for a local club a week ago which I’m hoping will go live within the next day – was pretty happy with how it turned out.

As I’m on a tight schedule at the moment, I’ll have a longer blog post tomorrow explaining more projects I’m working on! So until then, take care!