Life is full of decisions. Some are as simple as deciding what to wear or eat, while some can be life changing and have profound effects on those around us. Most life changing decisions require careful thought and consideration, and often times the journey involved in coming to these decisions is just as important as the decision itself. Thomas Hennessy explores this theme in the new independent feature length dramatic comedy that also has a sci-fi twist, “Another Time.” The film stars Justin Hartley (“Smallville,” “Revenge”), James Kyson (“Heroes”) Chrishell Stauss (“All My Children,” “Days of our Lives”) and Arielle Kebbel (“John Tucker Must Die,” “The Grudge 2”).
Directed by Thomas, and co-written by Thomas and Scott Kennard, with cinematography by Colin P. McDonald, “Another Time” is a character driven exploration of the idea that the journey is more important than the destination. When Eric (Hartley) meets Julia (Stauss), the girl of his dreams, only to find out she is already taken, he sets off on journey that will forever change his life. He ultimately has to decide what is most important in life, and what he’s willing to risk to get it.
“Luckily the theme of difficult decisions didn’t translate to our workflow off screen, and when it came time to decide what camera to use, it was a no brainer,” said Colin. “Thomas and I had worked with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera on many occasions, and the price, resolution and dynamic range are incredible. For a cinematographer on a budget film, these are the three scariest words when deciding on a camera. But with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, I didn’t have to compromise on anything.”
He continued, “On many of my budget projects, the clients will ask to shoot on a DSLR because they want the cheapest option while still looking like film. I always try my best to dissuade them because often times you will get excessive amounts of shallow depth of field and angle of view, and it’s becoming a look in itself. For me, this look distracts from the story. I always push for a camera that gives a more natural, organic look, and the Blackmagic Cinema Camera is an incredibly inexpensive camera that provides just the look I want.”
Quality Cinematics
“Another Time” was shot with two Blackmagic Cinema Cameras EF in 2.5K RAW transcoded in DaVinci Resolve to ProRes proxies, and then brought back into DaVinci Resolve for color grading. “We chose the Blackmagic Cinema Cameras because of the dynamic range and cinematic look, combined with the flexibility of shooting RAW on a camera that fits into an independent film budget. Also, the flexibility in post when it comes to coloring made this camera my top choice,” said Thomas.
“We shot in 2.5K RAW, and it was a perfect resolution for us. We knew our final export would be in 2K, but we also knew we would need to make use of a few digital zooms,” explained Colin. “Part of the film takes place in a very scientific and digital world, and as such, we wanted to make use of digital zooms as opposed to optical ones. The Cinema Camera’s extra resolution made that creative decision possible.”
Thomas and Colin used a simple yet effective rig for the two cameras, including a set of Rokinon Cinema Prime lenses, Switronix PB70 batteries, Cinematics matte boxes, Skier Hot Mirror IRND filters and SanDisk Extreme and PNY SSDs. On average, they shot about 1TB of RAW footage each day.
“The flexibility of being able to strip it down to a basic camera and lens and stick in in tight spaces for a specialty shot, or build up a full cinema rig depending on our needs was great,” said Thomas.
Creating In Camera Effects
Because of the heavy use of time travel, Thomas and Colin needed a simple yet effective way to create a time travel effect. According to Thomas, they opted to shoot those scenes at a 90 degree shutter angle.
Added Colin, “We shot all the time travel scenes at a 90 degree shutter to speed up the perceived motion of the characters. It was such a simple change within the Cinema Camera’s menu settings. Too many times camera manufactures are so focused on the engineering of the camera that they forget to add a human touch. The GUI for all Blackmagic products is just beautiful.”
Thomas and Colin also appreciated the Blackmagic Cinema Camera’s durability when it came time to shoot in the deserts of California’s Joshua Tree National Park in the middle of the summer. “A fourth of the film was shot in the desert during July, the hottest part of the year,” said Colin. “I can’t tell you how many productions I’ve been on where we had to run out and buy dry ice to keep the camera from overheating. Not once did the Blackmagic Cinema Camera flinch. It was amazing.”
He concluded, “We will be doing our color grade in DaVinci Resolve, so for us, shooting on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera was a perfect option. With such a small budget, we didn’t have time for workflow inconsistencies or workarounds. It was such a relief to know everything was just ‘plug n play’ from day one.”
Pushing the Grade
According to Art Chudabala, online editor/colorist, Pixelbox Creative, when it came time to grade the film, he explored different tones for the film based on the narrative and Thomas’ vision for the scenes.
“DaVinci Resolve was instrumental in being able to correct for certain light changes during production. Its tracking tool, as well as being able to keyframe grades and Power Windows, were life savers,” said Art. “There were a couple of scenes that were shot in daylight that Thomas wanted to turn into night. Being able to go back to the camera metadata and adjust the temperature, as a starting point, was invaluable for this.”
He continued: “The cinematic feel of the Blackmagic Cinema Camera footage impressed me and being able to grade from the RAW was tremendous as we were able to really push things dynamically. The camera metadata saved us in more than one occasion when we graded ourselves into a corner and had to back out to a better starting point.”
A fairly loose post schedule allowed Art to work on the grade over a few sessions then come back to review the look. “From a creative standpoint, DaVinci Resolve allowed me to free flow with my imagination and try numerous grades. Once we were happy with the look of a scene, being able to save the grade and apply it throughout was a huge time saver. We played out of DaVinci Resolve to see how the graded scenes flowed from one scene to another, and we were able to stop and adjust as we went,” noted Art.
“I’ve become a fan of the newest release of DaVinci Resolve and having the ability to do some editorial work within the application helped out in a few situations during grading,” he added. “I used the basic cut and slip tools on a couple of shots as well as inserts for an ALT reel.”
While Art mainly works in the studio system, he tries to participate in independent films as it keeps his skills sharp and allows him to work with newer technologies.
“DaVinci Resolve is robust, packed with great features and is very intuitive and nimble. Overall, I love this program as it’s given me a ton of creative tools that challenge my imagination and technical skills,” Art concluded. “I’ve used Blackmagic products for more than 10 years, so integrating DaVinci Resolve into my current configuration was a no brainer. It’s helped elevate my work and creativity. I love that Blackmagic Design is a bit disruptive and has helped democratize post production products and technology for independent filmmakers to realize their visions.”
For more information about “Another Time,” please visit https://www.facebook.com/anothertimethemovie