{"id":1486,"date":"2020-05-04T17:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T05:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2020-05-04T17:14:59","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T05:14:59","slug":"blood-from-stone-geoff-ryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/blood-from-stone-geoff-ryan\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood From Stone &#8211; Geoff Ryan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Geoff Ryan&#8217;s genre-defying new feature film, &#8216;Blood From Stone&#8217; debuts in June 2020. Below, Geoff describes his textbook indie success story, from the germ of an idea in high school, to assembling a crack team of collaborators, getting distributors on-board, and stretching a micro-budget to encompass a\u00a028 day shoot in three cities, 20+ locations, and over 40 speaking characters!<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 56.25% 0 0 0; position: relative;\"><iframe style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/296108010?color=756f66&amp;title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/api\/player.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1>Geoff Ryan interview<\/h1>\n<p><strong>Give us a bit of detail about yourself &#8211; background, profession, how you got into filmmaking and your current role<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1489\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DWF_award-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DWF_award-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DWF_award-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/DWF_award-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>I always enjoyed drawing then in my early teens took a one-week summer animation class where I both fell in love with the moving image and met lifelong friend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1144916\/\">Jarin Blaschke<\/a> (DP, The Lighthouse). In high school we made our first\u00a0short live-action films together and got our first festival awards. Moving to NYC we became roommates for years and collaborated on\u00a0short films and music videos , all while helping each other survive our starving artist lives.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, having someone of his rich talent around so much had an impact on me and so much of what I know about filmmaking was inspired by Jarin &#8211; and still is. I\u2019d like to think I inspired him as well but most likely his acclaim has been despite my influence and not because of it!<\/p>\n<p>For many years I did the majority of commercials and videos for the brand Nautica\u00a0where I often worked under photographer Anders Overgaard who really helped shape my commercial sensibilities.\u00a0I\u2019d never DP\u2019d anything of note before that and really learned on the fly how to compose and light for glamour and style in those years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1502\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite3a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite3a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite3a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite3a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite3a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While I\u2019d always intended to be a movie director, due to rarely having much of a budget and always helping out on other\u2019s productions in any way I could, I\u00a0ended up learning just about every role on a production. Through this, I ended up working as a one-man post house for many years doing color, video\u00a0retouching, and effects for commercials and web videos. And, somehow, I also ended up having my cinematography career take off around that same time\u00a0shooting (and often directing) for numerous brands from Macy\u2019s to David\u2019s Bridal and many more.\u00a0Other random gigs I landed over those years was art director for a print campaigns, editor for promo videos and live-streamed fashion shows, music composer for films and commercials, and motion graphics artist.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1492\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Geoff_headshot1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"747\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Geoff_headshot1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Geoff_headshot1-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Geoff_headshot1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Geoff_headshot1.jpg 1922w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 747px) 100vw, 747px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While I am incredibly fortunate to have been able have such a career in the commercial world, it was always important to me to remain focused on the pursuit\u00a0of filmmaking. Here again, Jarin was a huge motivating force and together we made my first feature, <em>Fray<\/em>, for an obscenely low budget which went on to win a handful of \u201cbest film\u201d awards including\u00a0\u201cGrand Jury\u201d at Dances With Films. Being able to take the stage with Jarin accepting that award was really a dream come true. Of course, seeing him at the\u00a0Oscars this past year was another dream come true!<\/p>\n<p>This new film is my first without Jarin by my side which was weird\u2026 and very challenging because he was always my crutch in many ways. Beyond his\u00a0obvious cinematic talent, his visual storytelling skills are incredible. Editing stuff he shoots is a breeze. Every shot has a purpose and flows into the next\u00a0seamlessly. As a director I barely had to think about it! I\u2019d considered bringing on a DP for this new one but in the end I decided to shoot it myself.<\/p>\n<p>I thoroughly storyboarded every shot of the film and had a 300+ page \u201cproduction bible\u201d\u00a0to help me keep the film organized which was helpful. This was the most visually complicated film I\u2019ve done. It\u2019s\u00a0nothing revolutionary, but much of the story is told through juxtaposition of shots through the film. So, one botched shot could derail story dynamics in\u00a0numerous other scenes. Even my AC, who I had help me with shot listing &amp; storyboarding says he didn\u2019t really \u201cget it\u201d until seeing the final edit\u00a0just a few days ago. He says it works really well!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your film &#8211; how did it come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1503\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfSartwork_VIDEO-1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfSartwork_VIDEO-1a.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfSartwork_VIDEO-1a-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfSartwork_VIDEO-1a-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfSartwork_VIDEO-1a-1024x576.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The film is called \u201cBlood From Stone\u201d, and was first sparked in my brain way back in high school as a dumb joke that I thought would make a silly short film. Just the idea of a drunk vampire trying to get in a liquor store but the automatic door sensor can\u2019t see him and he keeps walking into the door. Yeah, a dumb idea. But, for whatever reason it stuck in my head.<\/p>\n<p>I tried writing it a handful of times over the years each time it would evolve into something a bit more fleshed out but never anything really worthwhile. I matured as a storyteller and focused more on screenplays with substance and social merit. Doing a silly vampire movie just seemed like a trivial idea in a climate of <em>Twilight<\/em> and <em>True Blood<\/em>. And with smart films like <em>Let The Right One In<\/em> and the amazing <em>What We Do In The Shadows<\/em> I just thought there was nothing new I could possibly add to the genre. So, I scrapped the idea for many years and moved on to making my first feature, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geoffryan-film.com\/pg\/narrative.html#feature-film-1\">Fray<\/a>, and focusing on other projects. But after two films I\u2019d been attached to fizzled out I started seeking out another micro-budget idea I could do DIY-indie style again.<\/p>\n<p>Around that time my grandfather passed away. It\u2019s weird to say, but it wasn\u2019t his passing that impacted me as much as reflecting on the decades leading up to it. Since I was a kid every year it was \u201cthis might be the last (whichever holiday) we have with Grandpa\u201d yet every year he was there for the next one. He ended up living longer than all my other grandparents. And, while he was a good-hearted man, he was stuck in another era.<\/p>\n<p>That was what sparked the concept for this and made it feel like it was worth exploring: A story of an immortal grappling with mortality. Of old eras clashing with the new one and the difficulty of adjusting to social and cultural changes. A book I read a long time ago said, \u201cEvery historical change creates its own mythology\u201d and that \u201cThe gods at the beginning of an era become demons at the end of it\u201d. So, I took it further than his experience. What if someone had been around centuries? Someone who\u2019d always been a god &#8211; immortal and powerful &#8211; able to do as he pleased but was now forced Ito the shadows due to modern weaponry, forensics, surveillance, medicine. How would he exist? Would he want to go on anymore? What does living mean to someone who feels life has passed them by?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1496\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCliquor1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCliquor1a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCliquor1a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCliquor1a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCliquor1a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I told the rough story to my distributors one night over dinner and the next day they texted me saying this needs to be my next film. So, I wrote the script, saved up as much as I could, and with their financial help, assembled enough to make a really low-budget movie. I put together an amazing team of \u201cproduction Swiss army knives\u201d (people that can wear numerous hats) and with a scrappy crew of seven (including the producer) we somehow pulled off a very full 28 day shoot in three cities (Las Vegas, Laughlin, and Los Angeles), 20+ locations, and over 40 speaking characters. And, because it\u2019s about vampires, it was an entirely night production.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1495\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino2a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino2a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino2a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino2a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino2a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then post-production began. This was a beast of a film for post. Mainly because the entirety of it was done by myself. Creative collaborator Geoff Black, who did the (amazing!) score, also did some ADR recording for me. But, otherwise, all editing, sound work, color, effects, etc were done by myself in my home studio. So, while most indie films are personal to the directors, being the writer, director, DP, lead cam op, production designer, costume &amp; props person, set decorator, editor, sound designer, special effects artist, etc\u2026 makes this an exceptionally personal film. Again, hopefully it works. It\u2019s definitely the most \u201cme\u201d of anything I\u2019ve ever made for better or for worse.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0How did you find out about FilmConvert?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I heard about FilmConvert about six or seven years ago from a motion\u00a0graphics artist friend (Todd Rocheford). I\u2019d recently done a piece where I comped film grain textures over footage in a tedious way to create the look of multiple old film stocks for a music video piece and he thought I\u2019d like your product. I was suspicious at first. How many times have I heard, \u201cit looks like film!\u201d over the decades? As one who had started out in the pre-digital world and was familiar with how film actually looks &#8211; still have my Super8 camera &#8211; \u00a0I\u2019d gotten pretty good at faking it with various techniques. But, I tried the trial and was really impressed.<\/p>\n<p>The first project I used it on was an arty music video shot in the rain forests of Puerto Rico. I had just recently gotten a Sony F55 and used my cherished set of Series 2 Cooke Speed Panchro lenses for the shoot which already create an amazing image together. But, when I got to see it projected in a theater (2K projection) it was amazing how authentic the film grain and \u201clook\u201d were. It doesn\u2019t look like film projection because there\u2019s no jitter or flicker that you\u2019d get from an actual film projection (I guess one could use Red Giant\u2019s Misfire to create that if desired) but it really looked like the piece had been shot on film or, at the very least, as if there was a film intermediate in the process.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius2a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius2a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius2a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius2a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius2a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the years since I\u2019ve used it on everything from fashion commercials to animated shorts. Heck, sometimes I even feed my DSLR still photos into After Effects and process them with FilmConvert! (I\u2019d use the Photoshop plugin but for some reason it always crashes the program. Probably something I should look into but not a big deal for me).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you decide to use FilmConvert for this particular project?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>FilmConvert was a part of my creative process for this project from day one. Partly because it\u2019s integral to most of my work at this point. Even if I don\u2019t want a \u201cfilm look\u201d there\u2019s something about your software that just makes the overall look better. Often I\u2019ll apply it as a last step in the workflow just to \u201cpolish\u201d up the image with many of the settings turned off or to a very minimal setting yet it still refines the image in a way I can\u2019t quite explain but it\u2019s noticeable. Or, maybe it\u2019s a placebo effect for me! But, seriously, just the other day I was showing a filmmaker buddy it\u2019s impact on the image and told him to watch the scopes as I applied\/removed it. When applied the scopes smooth out into gentle gradients and the whole color and tonal palette smooth in a subtle way that gives the image a more naturalistic look that may not be obvious to the viewer but really does enhance the image.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1498\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer3a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer3a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer3a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer3a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer3a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was the particular look or style you were going for with your video?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Much of my inspiration for the particular project comes from movies that shaped my own love of the craft and experience of movies in my teens. Films that I took some inspiration from were <em>Leaving Las Vegas, Kalifornia, U-Turn, Bad Lieutenant, <\/em>and <em>Hard Eight<\/em>. And, growing up in small town America many of the movies I saw had traveled around a bit so by the time they got to my theaters they were battered. I wasn\u2019t going for an extreme \u201cgrindhouse\u201d, grit but still wanted it to have some of that 90\u2019s indie vibe.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1497\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer1a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer1a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer1a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCpioneer1a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That said, I also wanted it to have its own distinct look. One of the main themes is the colliding of eras. Old &amp; new interwoven. The score is a fusion of earthy ambient western lap steel and banjo fused with modern ethereal arpeggio Moog synths and Bladerunner-esque pads. There\u2019s aesthetic iconography from old western and noir films mixed in with 90\u2019s Tarantino and Ferrera inspired films. It\u2019s shot on digital but with lenses from the 1930\u2019s and 40\u2019s. Even the actors were chosen partly for their look and demeanor being very \u201cold world\u201d (the leads were all originally from Eastern Europe so their accents are authentic and not campy \u201cDracula\u201d voices). Gabriella, the lead actress, actually grew up in a small Hungarian village just a short drive from the infamous Bathory castle.<\/p>\n<p>And, since it was my first film without Jarin, I went wild with colors! Definitely made up for all the times over the years he denied me a strong magenta backlight! But seriously, considering the themes of this film, light and color were important in a way they hadn\u2019t been on any film I\u2019d done before.<\/p>\n<p>The characters only exist at night so all light for them is artificial light. That\u2019s why it takes place in a casino town where a vampire can be up all night and still be \u201cnormal\u201d and as one character says, the lights remind her of sunlight. So, I intentionally lit scenes with various \u201ceco\u201d bulbs that have crappy color spectrums and mixed them up in strategic ways with some gels that normally would be collecting dust at the back of a grip truck to create subtle mixed lighting that gives all the light an unnatural feel. Yet, the intent was never to make it actually ugly, just unnerving.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1499\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius1a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius1a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius1a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCprius1a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are a few shots with actual sunlight in the film. Some before the sun crested over the horizon and three with actual sunlight (two we had to fake). I wanted them too feel like there was too much light but not take the easy route and just over-expose them. These were shot with an old 40mm I got off eBay that has some obscene fogging which gives the shots a hazy glow and with the clean sunlight they really stand apart from the rest of the film. They feel slightly washed out and ethereal.<\/p>\n<p>One in particular is a simple pan shot across a room that goes from a normal warm amber into an overwhelmingly blue and hazy shot that has become one of my favorite shots in the movie. It\u2019s nothing flashy but it\u2019s just subtly weird. You kind of feel like you\u2019re losing your grip on reality in the scene and it\u2019s at a point where the characters are losing their grip too, so it really works.<\/p>\n<p>One big challenge was the night exteriors in the desert and a scene that takes place entirely inside a Prius driving around at night. \u00a0For these I used the Sony A73 with Sony T.2 primes on a PL mount adapter. It wasn\u2019t a perfect solution due to the lessened image quality from the F55 w\/ Cookes but it was amazing what I was able to capture. We actually have night shots out in the desert with a clear horizon line! There\u2019s scenes we were able to pull off that would have been impossible otherwise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell us about your workflow. What settings, film stock, camera profiles and tweaks did you use in FilmConvert?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To start with: most of the movie was shot on my Sony F55 with Series II Cooke Panchros in 4K raw (4096&#215;2160). And, as I said above, a few scenes were shot on the Sony A73 with PL Primes (recorded on the Atomos Shogun Flame into ProRes UHD (3840&#215;2160).<\/p>\n<p>Due to low light in most settings I pretty much shot wide open at all times. One fun fact about my Cookes &#8211; I never got around to getting them rehoused so they\u2019re still in their original body which means they\u2019re nearly impossible for anyone else to pull focus on so I ended up operating for the majority of the film. I\u2019ve had them so long now that I know them well and do pretty decent with them but there were so many times I would have loved to have had a focus puller!<\/p>\n<p>Once in post, my workflow was fairly straight forward. I like to create as much of the look \u201cin camera\u201d as possible and rarely use DaVinci or any drastic color grading preferring to just use curves and saturation inside Adobe Premiere. This goes for just about every project I do and this one was no exception. Over the entire two hour movie there was only one shot I used masking in the color grade and never anything other than curves and hue &amp; saturation (Fast Color filter).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1501\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite2a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite2a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite2a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite2a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCsuite2a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Then, once I got the look I wanted, the real fun began! Since many of the scenes were low light, there was more digital grain that I wanted so I started out processing those scenes with NeatVideo\u2019s Noise Reduction software. First, I removed all the color grading filters and applied Neat Video to the RAW footage. Then, once processed, load it back into Premiere and re-applied the grading. It really saved all the A73 footage and even a bunch of the F55 low light stuff. But, it cleaned them up so well that I ended up applying it to the entire movie so the whole thing was clean. And that\u2019s when FilmConvert came in to work its magic!<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t afford to upgrade to Nitrate so was still working off the classic FilmConvert Pro. Didn\u2019t use any camera profiles as I did all the major adjustments separately. But I did an overall color temp adjustment to cool the colors by a bit and used the Kodak 5207 stock with film color at about 25%, curve at about 10%, saturation at 105%, and grain (Super35) at 90%. The primary use, as you can see, was for the grain. Since NeatVideo had removed nearly all the digital grain FilmConvert added back in a much more pleasing filmic grain that brought the image back to life and the rest of the settings somehow repaired\/muted a lot of the color and tonal artifacts caused by the NeatVideo and high contrast color grading done to the footage. All FilmConvert was applied on an Adjustment Layer with a soft bit of shadow desaturation applied below it (Premiere\u2019s curves set to saturation). I used the same FilmConvert settings through the entire film with only a few subtle changes to grain in a couple scenes where I turned it up to 100% to add a bit more \u201cgrit\u201d to the scene. FilmConvert runs from the first frame of the movie until the last of the credits fades away.<\/p>\n<p>I won\u2019t go into post sound. That was a whole other journey that could take up an entire interview!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What other effects or tweaking did you use?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the trickiest parts of the movie is a special effects heavy scene involving a lot of fire. There are barely any effects in the movie and I really didn\u2019t want to have one scene that felt like an outtake from an Asylum movie or something cheesy. So, I ended up shooting a few hours of real fire to use in it. I made sure to shoot it all on the same lenses and at the same aperture and camera settings as the primary footage so it would match. Then, I spent about two weeks motion tracking the original shots (which were handheld) and compositing the fire plates onto them.<\/p>\n<p>Then, once I had it where I was happy I realized something wasn\u2019t right\u2026 there was no smoke and embers! I tried using stock footage and particle generators but it all looked like crap so my producer and I went and shot more plates of smoke and embers. Once those were added in it really came together.<\/p>\n<p>With a bit of Video CoPilot\u2019s Heat Distortion, Frischluft\u2019s Lenscare for soft focus bokeh, and a lot of tedious rotoscoping and keyframed color correction to emulate the flickering light reflections given off by the fire, it looks about as convincing as a fake fire scene is going to look. And, of course, FilmConvert over top of it all it melded any noticeable edges and imperfections into a nicely harmonious image.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1494\" src=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1365\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino1a.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino1a-150x79.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino1a-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/BfS_SCcasino1a-1024x540.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1365px) 100vw, 1365px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, I did do some post clean-up of a handful of shots to remove things like mic packs, boom entering the shot, and a few other minor issues like that. All in After Effects. One tricky fix was a slo-mo shot where an actor glanced into camera for about 13 frames. Using a combination of Twixtor, Adobe Premiere\u2019s \u201cmorph\u201d transition, and some After Effects rotoscoping I was able to create a seamless eye replacement over those frames to salvage an otherwise great take.<\/p>\n<p>The final output was to ProRes 4444 at 4096&#215;2160. On my 2012 Mac Pro it took about eight days to render. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Geoff Ryan&#8217;s genre-defying new feature film, &#8216;Blood From Stone&#8217; debuts in June 2020. Below, Geoff describes his textbook indie success story, from the germ of an idea in high school, to assembling a crack team of collaborators, getting distributors on-board, and stretching a micro-budget to encompass a\u00a028 day shoot in three cities, 20+ locations, and&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/blood-from-stone-geoff-ryan\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Blood From Stone &#8211; Geoff Ryan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-1486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-user-showcase","tag-feature-film","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1486"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1506,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions\/1506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmconvert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}