Post Production

For the last few weeks, we've been working on the post production of the piece. This involved several shots that needed VFX or clean up. Jared made a detailed list of all these shots. We split up the list of files based on their importance. We (Jared, Chris, Tyler, Brian, Jacob & I) then organized them into 3 categories - high, medium and low. We went through the list and each voted for the files that we wanted to take up. I took up on several high priority shots and once I waged through them, I took on several medium and low priority shots.

Color Correction & Grading

Once all the compositing was done I went through the entire film and color corrected and color graded every shot manually, one by one. For color grading, I used the lighting plot diagrams I had made earlier and went back to the reference images from various movies that I had in mind for each shot, and tried to achieve the corresponding look and feel for the actual footage. I enhanced the color-mood association for each scene. I also added fake fogs, some lens flare and made minor clean ups wherever I found apt.

Cinemascope Fix

After color grading, I went in and added the cinemascope bars for the entire film. This process involved cropping and reframing each shot. The actual video was shot at 1920x1080 and adding cinmeascope brought it down to 1920x820 making it look more like traditional film. It also helped me get rid of several light stands, and unnecessary elements from certain shots. I also added a few subtle camera movements to exaggerate the comedic effects at certain moments in the acts.

Quick Shot Tests

Jared, Cassie and I went to the mansion to get some test shots. Cassie shot pictures of all the rooms.

Meanwhile, I shot some mock footage. Most of these shots I have stabilized in post. Also looks like we'll need lot more light than expected if we want to shoot at the night. These test clips were shot at f2.8 at 6400 ISO on the 5D. Ideally we would want to shoot these somewhere around f7.1 at around 100 ISO on the 5D, otherwise the footage will be too noisy.

Projector Setup Shot

Slow dolly in for the projector to start playing, then we dolly into the projected image.

Knight walks in - steady-cam shot

Steady cam tracking as Mr Knight is escorted by the butler into the dining room.

Rosemary Death

Murderer switching weapons, before he strikes Rosemary in the head. She then collapses and falls off the balcony. Murderer hands her the reel just before she falls. Last part of this shot will be in slow-motion.