Post-Production: 3D Cleaver

With this post, I want to take the opportunity to present to all of you, Antoine Tadros.

Antoine is a 3D model artist, and he's been making several 3D elements we need for SAT. One of these elements is a "cleaver".

At some point in the story, a person throws a cleaver to the main character. Obviously, for security reasons we didn't throw the real cleaver at him; I mean, we can't afford to have any accidents, specially when it's being thrown at the main character... we need him for the other scenes!!! Hahahaaa.

Jokes aside, the cleaver gets thrown at the main character, misses him and the cleaver continues its fly at the camera (towards the audience). In order to do this particular shot, we created the cleaver in 3D, which is going to be added -in post- to the real shot of the main character 'reacting' at the cleaver being thrown at him.

Here's a picture of the real cleaver compared with the 3D one.



Pretty cool, right?

We still have more elements to build. When we get more done, we'll post them!

Until next time!

JF

December... Low activity

Hello to all,

December has arrived, and post-production is... not as fast as we had hoped for.

We've been very busy with our professional commitments (i.e.: our jobs), so I suspect this month we won't have updates or videos. Hopefully, by January things will cool down, and we'll be able to press the accelerator in the effects and music departments!!!

Making something as "low budget" has it's 'issues'. One of them: that things take longer to be completed. It's just part of the process. It's completelly normal.

It would be a differnet story if we were getting paid to work on SAT. I'm sure we'd probably had it finished by now. But because we all have jobs, we can only work on SAT on our spare time.

For all of you that have been present so far, thank you very much for your comments.

We hope to get back on track next year!

If by any chance we make progress this month, we'll post it!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!
Let this month be filled of joy and happyness!

Until next time,

JF

Check list

Pre-production... CHECK!
That means: finishing the script, finding locations, finding actors, getting/building props, organizing everything for "the shoot", etc.

Production... CHECK!
That means, the actual shoot.

Post-Production.... (?)

Last Monday we finished shooting everything needed for SAT. I can finally say that we have everything "in the can", or in our case: "in the tapes".

Now it's time for the Post Production to begin!

For those of you who have no idea what Post-production is, here's a quick rundown:
Editing. Creating the visual effects. Composing and recording the music. Sound design and sound mixing. Color correction, among others (these are the main ones).

I do have to clarify that I began editing a long time ago. Once we shot a scene, I was editing right away. So the first scene we did (Pencil Man), was the first one I edited. Then it was the last scene of SAT: the Parking Structure. Then came the Restaurant scene, which we had to shoot in two separate days (two weeks apart); and last Monday we shot the remaining scene, which happens to be the opening scene.

So, the editing was happening at the same time as we were shooting. I oficially finished editing everything today. (For you editors out there, I edited each scene in a separate sequences).

At least, they are rought cuts which -I think- are 90-95% perfect. There are slight timing issues (a few frames) in the shots where we have visual effects that will have to be trimmed a little bit. We'll define these, once all the effects are done.

I've exported quicktimes of each scene. Damion and Robert will use them to create the effects (Damion) and the music and sound design (Robert).

We don't have a video to post, but we plan to make one about the process making the music, another one making the sound, and a third one about the visual effects.

We'll keep everyone posted as this process goes forward.

Until next time!

JF

Stills of the Restaurant Scene

Its' been a while since our last post. We've been very busy with our daily jobs, but we're finally back.

Although busy, we -somehow- managed to shoot the Restaurant scene. This was last Friday. We were allowed to shoot at the restaurant AFTER it closes, which is at midnight; and we had to be done BEFORE it opens, at 8:00am. So, it was a very 'interesting shoot' as we had to do everything from midnight to 8:00am. Here are a few pictures of that day, or should I say "morning'?


Here Damion aims at the camera.


Same shot but from the other side.

Damion rushes in...


Damion hides behind the metallic table.


Of course, we had to post a still with the slate!!! haha.

This picture was taken at 3:15am. It's the actors playing the two Bad Guys, they were resting. hahaha.

One of the Bad Guys aims and shoots at the Student...


Bad Guy 2 lurking...

This scene is going to be the longest. Not only that, but it also had three bad guys!!! The most of any scene.

At some point, we thought we weren't going to make it, 'cause we still had too much shots to do. But, we were able to do everything we had planned by the time the first employee of the restaurant arrived, which was at 7:30am. At that point we were doing the last shot!!!

At this point, we have 3 scenes "in the can": The 2nd, 3rd and 4th. We still have to do the 1st one, the shortest one. We'll do it on our lunch break. As with movies and TV, everything is shot out of sequence, so although the 1st scene opens the movie, it will be the last scene we shoot.

We'll try to post another video before we begin the post production process.

Episode 06: The $14 Steadycam

Click To Play

Here's a technical episode!!! In this video, the steadycam is built. The instructions to build it are from this great website: http://www.steadycam.org
If you want to build one yourself, please be VERY CAREFUL, look for professional assistance. I am not a professional, so I had to ask for help to my good friend Joe, who knows about this stuff.

Although the Steadycam is supposed to cost $14 dollars. In our case, it was $16.54. And that doesn't include the spray black paint, and the tennis racquet grip. Still, it's a very cheap steadycam. We already used it, and it's wonderful!!!

Next Week Episode 07: ?????
Oh my God.... I have no episode for next week!!!!!!
There are a few images of things we had to prepare (props). That might be interesting for next weeks episode.

New to this website? Do you want to see all the videos? Please click on the blue word "VIDEO" where it says: LABELS: VIDEO. (Two lines down).

Episode 05: The Guns Arrive!

Click To Play

On this occasion, the boys receive the guns for the production. These guns are NOT REAL GUNS. They DO NOT FIRE BULLETS.

One of the objectives of making SAT, is making fake guns look like real guns. So, we decided to buy BB guns, which look like real guns, but aren't.

Next Week Episode 06: The $14 Steadycam

The SAT logo is made!

Finally, here is the official presentation of the SAT logo:


We needed a logo that's going to be printed and seen in several parts of the story. So, Robert made this really cool design.

For those of you geeks out there: the three symbols inside the corners of the triangle are from an ancient language from another world. The first person who leaves the answer as a comment with the name of the language, or the origin of it, will receive a copy of SAT on DVD.

Episode 04: Storyboards

Click To Play

On this episode we talk and show part of the storyboard process.

Next Week Episode 05: The guns arrive!!!!

Stills of The Parking Structure Scene!!!!!

Last Sunday (Oct. 07) we shot the Parking Structure scene, which is the last scene of the story.

Here are a few stills of that day. Enjoy!


Marking the shot with the slate. That's Riko behind me, he is playing "Uzi Man".



Here is Robert with our $16 dollar steadycam, doing a 180 degree michael-bay-shot!!! Hahaha.
For more information on building a cheap steadycam, click here.



Coming back from doing another shot with the steadycam.



Here we're shooting a CU (close up) of Uzi Man (Riko), while he aims at the Student, who is standing behind us.



Robert and I setting up a shot.

That's all for now. We hope these pictures give you guys another insight into the making of SAT.

Stills of The Pencil Man Scene!!!!!

Hello to all.

Last Saturday (Oct. 06) we shot the Pencil Man scene (which is the second scene of the story). I'm so happy because the material is even better than what I imagined. Plus, I can finally start editing!

Here are a few pictures of the first day. Enjoy!


On this picture you can see Robert who is playing the Pencil Man. We used three lights, which can be seen here too. That's Damion (with the dark shirt) and me. The white paper with the six rectangular boxes is the storyboard we had for the shoot.



Here's Pencil Man getting ready for... THE ACTION!!!!



Damion and me setting up the green screen.



Here I am explaining the shot to Damion, who is playing the Student.



This one is interesting. That "top secret sign" is something we don't want to reveal just yet. Hahaha. And obviously, the famous 'film pose' with the slate.

We don't want to give away too much of the story, so that's all we're going to show for the Pencil Man scene. We hope these pictures will give you a little more insight into the making of SAT.

We'll make a new post with the pictures of the second day: The Parking Structure!

We want to thank our photographer of the day: Ximena!
She also was in charge of shoting footage for the Making Of, Make Up; and, my favourite: Pencil Handler. Hahahaaa.

Budget Updated #3

2 MiniDV tapes DVM63AMQ $9.95 each + tax $1.64 = $21.54
Used for the first shoot day.

Food/water for 1st day shoot: $18.45

4 MiniDV tapes DVM63AMQ $9.95 each + tax $3.28 = $43.08
Used for the second shoot day, and we still have three tapes left for our third and final shoot day.

Budget before: $220.08
The new updated budget is: $303.15

For a complete list, click here.

Budget Updated #2

As the first shoot date approaches, we are buying more stuff:

Aluminum Foil paper (50 sq. ft.): $3.29
This with the black tape, to make the bullet holes of the car.

Black tape: $6.98

Foam Mounting Squares: $2.99 To stick the "bullet holes' to the car.

Masking tape: $5.49 You always need masking tape for various purpose.

Black Paint: $6.79 Orange Paint: $4.39
This is to paint the orange tips of the BB guns black for the shoot. By law, all BB guns need to have the orange tip at all times. So when we finish the shoot, We'll paint the tips orange again.

2 Glue sticks bags at $5.29 each: $10.58
We're using the glue gun to stick a pencil to a shirt, when Pencil man gets hit.

Budget before: $186.55
The new updated budget is: $220.08

For a complete list, click here.

Episode 03: Location Scout

Click To Play

Here's our third episode!!!
Although we have 4 different locations in the story of SAT, we only had to do a location scout of the Restaurant scene, as I already new which are the other three locations. So this video shows when I when with a good friend to see 4 restaurants.

Next Week Episode 04: Storyboards

Budget updated

We bought more stuff:

Metal Washers: $0.98 cents
Although the bag came with 16 washers, we only used two to fix the Uzi we're using in the last scene.

Aluminium briefcase: $20.00
This one is where the Student carries the gun and three bullets.

Velcro: $3.00
We're using velcro to stick the pencils inside Pencil Man's coat.

3 dozen of My First Ticonderoga pencils: $29.46
1 dozen: $5.70
2-day shipping: $10.95
Tax: $1.41 (for a total of $29.46)

The new updated budget is: $186.55

For a complete list, click here.

Episode 02: The Script

Click To Play

Here's the second episode!!!

Next Week Episode 03: "Location Scout"

Episode 01: The Beginning

Click To Play

Okay, finally! Here is our first video. Enjoy!

Next Week Episode 02: "The Script"

The Budget of S.A.T.

When S.A.T. is finished, we expect it to look like we spend several hundred thousand dollars doing it. But how much money did we really spend?

In this page we’re going to list all the things we’re spending money on. Although the idea behind S.A.T. is to do an extremely low budget film, in no way does this means that we’re not going to have to put some of our own money.

So here is a list of all the things we’re buying to make S.A.T.

Red Binder: $7.79
This binder is our Production Book. If you don’t know what a Production Book is, wait for the video on this subject, soon to come.

Separators for Binder: $8.29

Yellow Ticonderoga pencils: $1.99
Red Pencils $3.29
These were bought as a visual reference to choose which ones to use for PENCIL MAN. We liked the big and thick Ticonderoga pencils.

BB Gun #1: $4 + Shipping: $1.99
BB Gun #2: $17.99 + Shipping: $1.99
Base Shipping Charge: $5.99
Total Guns: $31.95

Lunch for Visual Storyboard: $59.48
The day we made the Visual Storyboard (coming soon as a video) we had lunch in the restaurant, the bill: $59.48

Steadycam components: $16.54
For a picture of all the receipts, please click here.

Foam Bricks: $3.78
6 in total. To be used with pencils as a visual reference of how the pencils would hit the wall.

(TOTAL SO FAR: $133.11)

Metal Washers: $0.98 cents
Although the bag came with 16 washers, we only used two to fix the Uzi we're using in the last scene.

Aluminium briefcase: $20.00
This one is where the Student carries the gun and three bullets.

Velcro: $3.00
We're using velcro to stick the pencils inside Pencil Man's coat.

3 dozen of My First Ticonderoga pencils: $29.46
1 dozen: $5.70
2-day shipping: $10.95
Tax: $1.41 (for a total of $29.46)

(TOTAL SO FAR: $186.55)

Updated on October 5, 2007.

Aluminum Foil paper (50 sq. ft.): $3.29
This with the black tape, to make the bullet holes of the car.

Black tape: $6.98

Foam Mounting Squares: $2.99
To stick the "bullet holes' to the car.

Masking tape: $5.49
You always need masking tape for various purpose.

Black Paint: $6.79
Orange Paint: $4.39
This is to paint the orange tips of the BB guns black for the shoot. By law, all BB guns need to have the orange tip at all times. So when we finish the shoot, We'll paint the tips orange again.

2 Glue sticks bags at $5.29 each: $10.58
We're using the glue gun to stick a pencil to a shirt, when Pencil man gets hit.

(The new updated budget is: $220.08)

Updated on October 8, 2007.

2 MiniDV tapes DVM63AMQ $9.95 each + tax $1.64 = $21.54
Used for the first shoot day.

Food/water for 1st day shoot: $18.45

4 MiniDV tapes DVM63AMQ $9.95 each + tax $3.28 = $43.08
Used for the second shoot day, and we still have three tapes left for our third and final shoot day.

The new updated budget is: $303.15

Update Nov 15: The following was bought for the Restaurant scene:

Pelican 3pc Replace Foam: $53.95 + tax: $4.45 = $58.40
This is the foam we used to create the inside of the briefcase where the gun, magazin and three bullets are kept.

At the 99 cent store we bought:

Chef Classic - Cook Knife
We bought two, as one had to be "cut" to use when it "kills" a - (too much information).

2 plates
For Onions and Tomatoes

1 Pasta Keeper
For the pasta!!!

1 Bowl
For the pasta sauce.

And some junk food...

99 cent store total: $10.79

Shirt for Bad Guy: $5.50

Fishing Nylon: $10.81

Work Light 500W: $14.97
Work Light 250W: $7.97
(+ tax: 1.89) Total: $24.83

Tomato sauce x2, Onions, Tomatoes, Pasta, & Water: $18.27

The new updated budget is: $431.76

As of today Nov 15 (that we've shot everything), $431.76 dollars is the final budget to produce (shoot) SAT.

Obviously this budget does not include 'man hours' spent on SAT. And we still have all the post production ahead of us. I guess if we had to 'pay someone' to edit, do visual effects, music, sound design, etc; the budget would probably explode! But because we're doing everything ourselves, we can spend as much time as we need to on the post-production process, as it is there where all the magic happens!

Note: We'll continue to add more expenses until we finish SAT.
(Hopefully, there won't be any more).

FAQ

Welcome to the oficial page of S.A.T.: The Short Film

What is S.A.T.?

S.A.T. is a short film which is being made by Damion Lewin, Robert Gaston and Juan Falla.

When is it coming out?

S.A.T. is currently in post-production. The release date has not been determined as of today May 2008.

What is the porpouse of this website?

This will me a mixture between website, blog and videoblog. Here, you will be able to read articles and watch videos about the making off this short film. Articles will be posted randomly by any of the three minds behind S.A.T. Videos documenting the making of this short film will also be uploaded.

Can I write to Damion, Robert and/or Juan?

If you have any comments or questions about the process of making S.A.T., please write to the following E-mail: sat.short.film@gmail.com.

What camera are you going to use? Are you going to shoot it on film or digitally?

S.A.T. is going to be shot digitally. We used the Panasonic DVX100.

Who is behind S.A.T.?

The A Team

Damion Lewin:

Damion daydreams of being Bruce Lee. Traveling the world in search of all the wisdom of the various martial arts would be his slice of apple pie. He animates, designs, and also surfs.

Damion has been a 3D animator/compositor for 13 years. He began his career in cartoons as a Visual EFX Supervisor and later branched out into Creative Director of broadcast motion for television networks. He’s worked overseas in 6 different countries, including China.

In SAT, Damion will be Head of Visual Effects. As well as operating the camera when needed. He will design the 3D objects for the film. And, he will play UZI MAN in S.A.T. To see some of Damion’s work, please click here to visit his website.

Robert Gaston:

Mr. Gaston is a Sound Master. At nights his alter ego MakinaDomination takes over and rocks the planet, playing guitar in a Rage Against The Machine tribute band called “The Battle of Los Angeles”. Some say, he has been arrested several times trying to get inside Tom Morello’s house.

Robert also writes and sings his own original music, and performs throughout the Southern California area.

During the day, he creates original music and sound design for broadcast television.

In S.A.T, he will be doing all the sound and music; and will be playing the character PENCIL MAN. To listen to a sample of Robert’s work, please visit his websites.
Robert-Gaston.com
Digital-Mechanix.com
TheBattleofLosangeles.com

Juan Falla:

Juan could eat chocolate ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner. His office is filled with comic book characters keeping him in the unrealistic side of life. He is such a bad actor, that Damion and Robert forbade him to act in S.A.T.

He wrote the script for S.A.T., he will also produce, direct and edit.

Juan has edited many music videos and promos, as well as an award short film called “Snap”. To watch some of Juan’s work, please click here to visit his website.