Shooting "The Board"

Here's my long-overdue update....

It's been a crazy last few weeks actually shooting the movie. The crew was huge... there were at least 25 people on-hand every night to assist with food, make-up, moving large walls and equipment, and whatever else was needed. It was quite the team effort, and I really had a lot of fun while learning a ton at the same time.

To give you a sense of the production flow... I was behind the camera the whole time (except on camera crane shots). My dad was watching the monitor, giving direction on both photography and acting while the director (Brett) was actually acting in the scene. I had a helper named Mike who was in charge of moving the Fisher Dolly that I and the camera rode on. We had two microphone operators who held the boom mics above the actors heads and just out of the frame. The video from my camera and the sound from the microphones traveled through long cables to the closet where Brice and Neil and the audio mixer were seated. They were responsible for capturing the video into the Mac computer system (that I put together the previous week). All of it went directly into a huge 3 terrabyte harddrive, which streamlines the editing process because we won't have to handle any tapes... the video is all ready to edit :-) Neil made notes about every shot, regarding whether it was "ok," meaning acceptable, "bad," meaning we would never use it, or a "print," meaning it was the take we intend to use in the final film.

So for every take, this is what was involved:
1) position the camera
2) position the microphones
3) rehearse the camera movement with the actors' dialog and actions
4) record on both the Mac computer, backup video tape, and DVD for the audio
5) record the "slate" clapper with the scene and take number
6) call "action" for the scene to begin
7) record the scene, attempting to make it flawless
8) call "cut" to end the take
9) watch playback on the video monitor in the control room and on the set
10) determine if the cut was no good, ok, or a "print"
11) re-shoot the scene if myself, Brett, or my Dad felt it was necessary

...that whole process was repeated an average of 5-8 times for each of the 200+ scenes in the movie. We usually left the set by 1am each night.

The final day of shooting, we arrived at 8am and stayed almost 24 hours... until about 7am the following morning. Luckily, we were able to get every shot we needed, and re-shoot a few scenes we wanted to change. The big finale shot was done on the camera crane and required a lot of special effects with lighting and fog. We spent the most time on that shot, capturing it from different angles in slo-motion and fast-motion so we have some choices in editing.

Here are some pictures from behind-the scenes:Inside the Board Room, Dad is working on setting up our backup camera.

The lighting grid in the boardroom, complete with 25 lights controlled by dimmers and switches on the outside of the set. I labeled and mapped each one so we could access them quickly between scene changes.


Me operating the Panasonic Varicam. Behind me is the monitoring station so we could watch the live picture while we were shooting and also watch playback once we completed a take.


The control room in the maintenance closet just off the set. This is where Brice and Neil sat to record the video and sound from the camera and microphones on the set. The sound mixer sat at the back table to monitor microphone levels.


The view from the Mac computer system where the video was recorded.


"Spaghetti" as we call it. These were all the cables I ran in order get everything connected from set to control room and vice versa. This is the view from behind the Mac computer.

The green screen set-up where we recorded the hologram characters in the movie. The green color in the video will be replaced with transparency, so the people will appear to be "floating" above the board room table.

Me operating the camera on the J.L. Fisher dolly, which was a critical piece of equipment. It allowed the camera to be moved around the board room in virtually any position quickly and easily. We also mounted it on rail-road type tracks for shots that required a tracking movement.

Now we move into post-production, or editing. I went back to Channel 6 last Wednesday to help Dad move all of his equipment back into the station. I mounted the big high-definition plasma screen in his edit suite where Brett and I will cut everything together. Brett won't be involved until after his honeymoon in the next week or so, but I will be going in to do some preparation work before that. The film will be getting a custom music score and authored on to Blu-ray hi-def DVDs (something I've never done before!) once we're done editing.

You can also check out the movie's official blog at: http://theboardmovie.blogspot.com/

Hope all is well, and I will keep you updated as editing gets underway.

Saturday, June 7

I was scheduled to shoot a wedding in Bloomington today, but I couldn't make the trip due to all the road closings due to the massive floods... so after I had exhausted all my options and given up on the wedding, I drove to Brownsburg to meet Dad and Neil who were starting to bring equipment from Channel 6 to the church. We started to set-up the "control room" where everything will be recorded, complete with a brand-new high definition plasma TV. We set-up light diffusion screens, got the dolly tracks ready, and started building the jib (camera crane). I took a peek at the set, which is developing very nicely.... it has been painted and wired for electricity. The level of detail to make it look like an old, neglected board room is just amazing.

The Set (aka "The Boardroom")

The Jib (camera crane)

The Control Room

Thursday, June 5

The first of two Macintosh HD editing systems arrived today... I had the "pleasure" of getting it out of it's box and getting it operational, installing photoshop, editing software, graphics programs and more. It was a pretty long process since the software came it sets of 5-6 discs each! Once everything was installed, I took it into the editing room and connected it to all of it's other components and was able to configure it so that we can monitor a high definition tv while working on the computer, editing video, making animations, or editing photos. The display is just incredible sharp and clear... HD is amazing!

Wednesday, June 4

Wednesday I was on the way to go shoot a video for the "In His Name Clothing Ministry" based out of Mt. Pleasant, when we had to cancel due to severe weather. I ended up going into Channel 6 to help get the office ready for the new Macintosh High-Definition editing systems. I cleared cables and ran some new ones to make space for the new computers, which were scheduled to come in on Thursday.

Sunday, June 1

Sunday Dad and I met with Brett (the Director) and his father Gary (the writer)... both will be acting in the film as well. I got my first look at the incredible set... complete with 12-foot high walls, fully enclosed. The cool thing about the set is that it's modular, so different panels of walls can be removed to make room for cameras and lighting gear depending on the scenes we're shooting. Gary, Brett, Dad, and I discussed scheduling and addressed needs for equipment we need. We also talked about the editing process, which will start once we're finished shooting. We agreed that the best way to do it is to go into my Dad's office at Channel 6 in the evening to edit on his new state-of-the art Macintosh system, which came in perfect timing for this project. We'll be editing on weeknights and weekends once we wrap up shooting. I will be doing most of the technical work of the editing while Brett will give the artistic direction. I'm really excited about what's to come on this project!