"The Lifeguard" shot with Letus35A at DVinfo.net

Ben Winter · January 29th, 2007, 08:32 AM

Hi all,
Just finished a fun little thing a couple of my friends and I wrote and shot this past summer (started in August of 2006) and finished editing last week. I had bought a Brevis a few weeks before but as the first day approached I gave Quyen a frantic call asking for overnight shipment of a new Letus35a. Ironically, the Brevis showed up at my door just hours after we shot the last scene.

I received the Letus the day before the first time we had the pool, and checked it over. Unfortunately (perhaps in Quyen's haste) the focusing screen was installed at a bit of an angle, throwing off half of the screen's backfocus and resulting in a sort of split-prism diopter effect. After correcting that issue, I prayed it would survive the rest of shooting and that we wouldn't have to deal with fiddling with it any more. Luckily it held out, and using a few plugins like Neat Video and CinemantiQ we got some pretty neat-looking footage.

I didn't use the Letus for all of it, and the shots with just the bare FX-1 should be pretty apparent. People ask a lot here "will the adapter footage mix well with raw footage" and the straight answer is yes. We shot some pretty grainy footage as we cranked up the shutter speed for a high action scene and not one person we've shown it to has raised a peep about it.

There were very severe cases of chroma aberration, vignetting, barrel distortion and dirt with the Letus when we shot it. However as the film neared completion I took it upon myself to export the shots in question to .bmp sequences, then batch process them in Photoshop with the Lens Distortion filter correcting these issues. This took a lot of time but was well worth it in the end. Some shots that suffered really bad vignetting are completely restored now, you can't even tell they were touched. Very neat stuff. There's still some dirt on some shots, but...in reality, most people just don't care. If it doesn't interfere with the story, I'm not really going to go out of my way to perfect it.

Anyway, here it is. It was a lot of fun to make and I sort of wished I had access to so many enthusiastic people to work with last year in high school.

http://www.thelifeguardmovie.com/

Mike Horrigan · January 29th, 2007, 09:13 AM

I liked it! The quality did vary a little in certain spots but it was a lot of fun. I loved the opening credits as well. Nice job!

The acting was pretty good too.

It seemed like a few shots may have went on a bit too long but that may have been your intention. Great work overall! I wish I had some of your equipment and body count. ;)

How long did this take from start to finish?

Ben Winter · January 29th, 2007, 09:31 AM

Hey Mike,
From start to finish this project represents about six months. Thanks for the feedback!

Mike Horrigan · January 29th, 2007, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Winter

Hey Mike,
From start to finish this project represents about six months. Thanks for the feedback!

It shows! Nice quality work...

Mike

Andrew Todd · January 29th, 2007, 12:47 PM

hey ben, really enjoyed your film.. youve shown awesome improvement over the past year. your stuffs really looking nice

Sheldon Blais · January 29th, 2007, 01:07 PM

I thought the movie was fantastic! That was a great short film......keep up the good work!

Andrew Todd · January 29th, 2007, 01:31 PM

did u sing that song at the end.?

Bruce Foreman · January 29th, 2007, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Winter

Anyway, here it is. It was a lot of fun to make and I sort of wished I had access to so many enthusiastic people to work with last year in high school.

That was like a refreshing slap in the face. It had a neat air of originality so unlike much of what is a pretentios imitation of bg blockbusters.

Yours had a smooth flow, the actors did great, I thought the camera work was just what it needed to be and on top of it all it was highly entertaining.

The mom covering the little girls eyes was a masterpiece of subtle humor.

I think you ought to submit this to the IFC. I think it has a good chance of being shown there.

Bruce Foreman

Ben Winter · January 29th, 2007, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Todd

hey ben, really enjoyed your film.. youve shown awesome improvement over the past year. your stuffs really looking nice

did you sing that song at the end.?

That would be greatly because of this very website. I'm flattered you remember me! The singer of that song is actually Danny Townsend, the actor who portrayed the lifeguard. He has a great voice, one of those jack of all trades :) Rather, I wrote and recorded the instrumentation.

Bruce, thank you, I was never that familiar with IFC but I'll look them up now. Time and again, people have been telling us their favorite part is the family scene.

Thanks very much. I can't even begin to describe how much fun this was to make.

Nick Weeks · January 29th, 2007, 07:34 PM

That was very well done! I really liked the intro, and like others have said, the family scene is my favorite. I also thought you did a really good job with the music, plus the Letus scenes looked great.

I will definitely be keeping up with your work, I've bookmarked your site.

January 29th, 2007, 08:32 AM	#1
Ben Winter Trustee Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 1,675 Images: 1	"The Lifeguard" shot with Letus35A Hi all, Just finished a fun little thing a couple of my friends and I wrote and shot this past summer (started in August of 2006) and finished editing last week. I had bought a Brevis a few weeks before but as the first day approached I gave Quyen a frantic call asking for overnight shipment of a new Letus35a. Ironically, the Brevis showed up at my door just hours after we shot the last scene. I received the Letus the day before the first time we had the pool, and checked it over. Unfortunately (perhaps in Quyen's haste) the focusing screen was installed at a bit of an angle, throwing off half of the screen's backfocus and resulting in a sort of split-prism diopter effect. After correcting that issue, I prayed it would survive the rest of shooting and that we wouldn't have to deal with fiddling with it any more. Luckily it held out, and using a few plugins like Neat Video and CinemantiQ we got some pretty neat-looking footage. I didn't use the Letus for all of it, and the shots with just the bare FX-1 should be pretty apparent. People ask a lot here "will the adapter footage mix well with raw footage" and the straight answer is yes. We shot some pretty grainy footage as we cranked up the shutter speed for a high action scene and not one person we've shown it to has raised a peep about it. There were very severe cases of chroma aberration, vignetting, barrel distortion and dirt with the Letus when we shot it. However as the film neared completion I took it upon myself to export the shots in question to .bmp sequences, then batch process them in Photoshop with the Lens Distortion filter correcting these issues. This took a lot of time but was well worth it in the end. Some shots that suffered really bad vignetting are completely restored now, you can't even tell they were touched. Very neat stuff. There's still some dirt on some shots, but...in reality, most people just don't care. If it doesn't interfere with the story, I'm not really going to go out of my way to perfect it. Anyway, here it is. It was a lot of fun to make and I sort of wished I had access to so many enthusiastic people to work with last year in high school. http://www.thelifeguardmovie.com/ __________________ BenWinter.com

January 29th, 2007, 09:13 AM	#2
Mike Horrigan Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Ottawa Canada Posts: 755	I liked it! The quality did vary a little in certain spots but it was a lot of fun. I loved the opening credits as well. Nice job! The acting was pretty good too. It seemed like a few shots may have went on a bit too long but that may have been your intention. Great work overall! I wish I had some of your equipment and body count. ;) How long did this take from start to finish? __________________ My short films... The Interview & Calls From The Führerbunker

January 29th, 2007, 09:31 AM	#3
Ben Winter Trustee Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Hollywood, CA Posts: 1,675 Images: 1	Hey Mike, From start to finish this project represents about six months. Thanks for the feedback! __________________ BenWinter.com

January 29th, 2007, 12:47 PM	#5
Andrew Todd Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Saint John, CANADA Posts: 633	hey ben, really enjoyed your film.. youve shown awesome improvement over the past year. your stuffs really looking nice __________________ video : xl2 / letus35xl / bogen 503 photo- canon 1dmkII - bronica etrsi

January 29th, 2007, 01:31 PM	#7
Andrew Todd Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Saint John, CANADA Posts: 633	did u sing that song at the end.? __________________ video : xl2 / letus35xl / bogen 503 photo- canon 1dmkII - bronica etrsi

January 29th, 2007, 01:07 PM	#6
Sheldon Blais Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 114	I thought the movie was fantastic! That was a great short film......keep up the good work!

January 29th, 2007, 07:34 PM	#10
Nick Weeks Major Player Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Birmingham, AL USA Posts: 722	That was very well done! I really liked the intro, and like others have said, the family scene is my favorite. I also thought you did a really good job with the music, plus the Letus scenes looked great. I will definitely be keeping up with your work, I've bookmarked your site.