I have a question about movie-making. First, did you rent the guns or buy them; where did you buy the blanks for the guns; how do you compose the music and make it synchronized with the film; and was the explosion in TERRARIUM CGI shot?
shareYeah, the explosion was a CGI shot.
>>>"did you rent the guns or buy them; where did you buy the blanks for the guns"<<<
I bought blanks, 9mm Glock and Beretta replicas from Collector's Armory:
http://ssl.maxsell.com/default.aspx?stname=collectorsarmory
Click the link for "Blank Guns" and you should find what you need. They sell 8mm blanks (The guns can't fit a real 9mm bullet).
The M-16s were rubber training replicas. They did not actually fire.
Even though the blank guns do not require a license, be aware that they are very loud and that onlookers and police can easily mistake them for real. As an alternative, you can get gas compressed Air Soft guns, which we used in THE AWAKENING.
http://www.airsoft.com/
These guns have slide action. You will have to add in the flash effects, with After Effects, Photoshop or similar program. Add some sound effects and this can be very convincing:
http://www.midnightsunent.com/Shootout.mov
(2 megs)
Kelly Johnston gives examples of his FX work, here:
http://www.midnightsunent.com/Docscenes.mov
(4 megs)
For sound effects, I use:
http://www.sounddogs.com/
>>>"how do you compose the music and make it synchronized with the film"<<<
I watch the movie and pick an "IN" and an "Out" point. Usually, I'll pick the first shot of a scene and start my sequencer on the previous shot, so I have some leeway. Sometimes, I'll put in some percussion, first. Generally, I'll watch the scene, several times, then work up a theme to it.
For TERRARIUM, I rough sketched some key themes -
Captain's theme
Main Title
...and then I added some minor supporting character themes -
Waynes theme
Leonard and Nicole's theme
A lot of times, a song in the movie is a variation of one of the above themes. If the aliens are involved, I make it darker.
I edited the movie in Adobe Premiere 6. I composed the music, but I kept chopping up the movie. To keep sync, I also had to chop and crossfade portions of the music. The crossfading was key to making that more seamless. Of course, you can move your audio where ever you want.
I've composed for other directors, so I've learned to sync up a song as close as I can. I have also had to retouch up the music, after they changed their movie. Sometimes, inserting tempo commands into the sequence did the trick.
If you are interested in more examples, there are scenes, pics and music on the website:
www.terrariumthemovie.com
Thanks, Mr. Conway. I guess the rubber replicas of M16's explains why the camera was never on the barrel of the gun when fired. And the nightvision, was it also CGI? What will your next movie be? I can't wait to know about it. A few more questions: 1. In the Benson Chased clip, did you use SFX and CGI or blanks? 2. Do you use ear plugs when shooting blanks? 3. How do I copy and paste music/clips URL that u send me? I tried it but it didn't work. 4. Do you do any CGI shots by yourself? 5. What are the small movies on the Special Features disc about? Sorry about all the questions because I'd like to become a simple movie maker.
share>>>"I guess the rubber replicas of M16's explains why the camera was never on the barrel of the gun when fired."<<<
Yes, that was why. I actually shot that movie in fall, 2000. I was brand new to computer editing and didn't know how to add flash effects. Nowadays, I would have no problem adding the flash, so rubber M16s could look good.
>>>"In the Benson Chased clip, did you use SFX and CGI or blanks?"<<<
When he is first being chased, the Black Ops are firing blanks, from a pistol. When Benson turns around and shoots them, that is CGI and sound effects.
>>>"Do you use ear plugs when shooting blanks?"<<<
If you are not in the shot, then you should use ear plugs. I did. Wadded up tissue works.
>>>"And the nightvision, was it also CGI?"<<<
No, that was negative film, with some color adjust. To get those shots, I had actors wear black outfits and black masks. In a negative shot, those look white. Also, I shot those scenes in the day, so that light would appear dark. Furthermore, I used black chalk, so that the gunblasts would look white.
>>>"Do you do any CGI shots by yourself?"<<<
Some. I do greenscreen compositing, region FX and masks (with my DV Storm) and I do some effects in Photoshop. For Photoshop, you have to export your Premiere clip as a Tiff sequence. You can touch up each frame and then import it back into Premiere. I can create gunblasts in this way. I can do some effects, like this picture:
http://www.midnightsunent.com/Oasysmilk.jpg
Here is the original shot:
http://www.midnightsunent.com/Oasysmilkreveal.jpg
I actually don't own my own copy of After Effects, yet. I plan on getting that, soon. Kelly Johnston did his FX work, for THE AWAKENING, with that program.
>>>"How do I copy and paste music/clips URL that u send me?"<<<
Remember, this clip is 4 megs. It might take a while for your computer to download it. The other thing is, this is a Quicktime 5 file. Your computer might not like Quicktime. Otherwise, copy this and it should work:
http://www.midnightsunent.com/Docscenes.mov
If that doesn't work, go to the website:
http://www.terrariumthemovie.com/message.html
Right under BENSON SHOOTS and OPS SHOOT MARINE, you can click on that "CLIP."
>>>"What are the small movies on the Special Features disc about?"<<<
These are great shorts. They are action thrillers.
ROADKILL - A husband videotapes his cheating wife and her boyfriend. Afraid of losing her husbands fortune, the wife convinces the boyfriend to help her kill the husband and retrieve the tape. Everything goes wrong. There is some really good action and physical FX work in this. The wife gets run over, but just won't die. There is a clip on the Download page (Fifth picture down):
http://www.terrariumthemovie.com/downloads.html
PRISONER 810 - A Marshall escorts a prisoner, across a void of desert. They fight to the death over a canteen of water.
KILLER'S LAIR - Two undercover detectives bust in on a killer's home. The killer shoots one detective and ties up the other. Good suspense in this one.
>>>"What will your next movie be? I can't wait to know about it."<<<
It will be another sci-fi movie. Unlike TERRARIUM, this will be shot in High-Def and use more experienced actors. I'm putting together a budget where I can actually pay actors and afford some sophisticated creature FX, as opposed to just a guy in a gorilla suit. :>)
I don't want to give away the story, but it has a pretty good (dark) twist to it. There will be a lot of daylight desert shots. There will be quite a bit of action and some scares.
Thanks for the answers, but what I meant about the clips' URL was where to paste it. This may sound stupid, but I tried pasting it on GOOGLE and no documents were matched.
The sound effects for the airsoft guns sound like they're actually blanks--you don't hear that sound in any other new movie with M4's firing without additional SFX. And some compliments on your movies: Terrarium was good, suspenseful, and the first time I watched it I was practically afraid to watch. And the soundtrack is awesome. In fact, I didn't even know it was homemade until I read some reviews. Sure, it was horror. Sure, people thought it needed more action. Sure, I didn't get the ending, but it was great. And By all the clips in THE AWAKENING, I'm sure it would be better than Terrarium. By the way, will THE AWAKENING have special features on that disc? It's an honor to speak with the director of one of my now favorite movies. =)
>>>"I meant about the clips' URL was where to paste it."<<<
Type or copy it right to your browser address line. If you were going to the TERRARIUM website, you would type, www.terrariumthemovie.com You could also copy:
www.terrariumthemovie.com
Paste that in your address browser and it should take you to the site. A lot of times "http://" is in front of the "www" part. This will take you to the same place:
http://www.terrariumthemovie.com/
Thanks, for the movie comments!
>>>"will THE AWAKENING have special features on that disc?"<<<
There is a 35 minute documentary, GUNS, GIRLS & CLONES. There are also two trailers. These are on the same DVD as the movie.
The TERRARIUM DVD needed two discs, because I jammed all the short movies on there. Too bad, the general public didn't get these extras. They were the best part of the package.
ohhh, so i paste it onto the browser. OK thanks. sorry, but each time I watch WOTP I have some new questions. I am a very curious person. One of the biggest is what did you use for the barrier; and why did you assign a yourself a small part? When was Roadkill, Prisoner 810 and Killer's Lair filmed? And if Terrarium was filmed in 2000, why was it distributed 3 years later? About the "jammed into one disc" thing on Terrarium, did it have a limit to what you can put onto it? Are you allowed to request the 2 discs to be in one package instead of the Bonuses disc being ordered? I'm planning to get the Bonus features disc and maybe even THE AWAKENING DVD for Christmas or something and I can't wait to see both! For some reason, I seem to like movies that most other people dislike (e.g. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Terrarium).
I saw the Roadkill clip on the Terrarium site, and was the guy in the suitcase the husband; and the 2 people in the car (Jason Hall and a woman) the wife & boyfriend? Sorry about all the questions but I like to know what sometimes can't be known other than talking to the creator. Since I'd like to be friends with you, is it OK if we talk on E-mail?
>>>"what did you use for the barrier"<<<
That was a 4' x 6' piece of plexiglass.
>>>"why did you assign a yourself a small part?"<<<
Though I like acting, I had no intention of being in the movie. (There was too much to do.) However, all the guys that I wanted to play Wayne couldn't commit. I just took the part and got killed, early.
>>>"When was Roadkill, Prisoner 810 and Killer's Lair filmed?"<<<
1999 and 2002.
>>>"if Terrarium was filmed in 2000, why was it distributed 3 years later?"<<<
Copy this address to your browser and read the answer to Question #8:
http://www.makingthefilm.com/interview19.html
Once I had it on DVD, then things started happening, like getting a producer's rep, to sell the movie, etc.
>>>"About the "jammed into one disc" thing on Terrarium, did it have a limit to what you can put onto it?"<<<
Recently, recordable, dual layer discs have been made available to us low budget people, so it's less of an issue to put a lot on one disc. Before, with the 4.7 gig discs, it was good enough for a 100 minute movie, but any more than that, you have to record with less than desirable quality. At least, with two discs, the picture quality was better.
The two disc version does not exist in stores.
>>>"I saw the Roadkill clip on the Terrarium site, and was the guy in the suitcase the husband; and the 2 people in the car (Jason Hall and a woman) the wife & boyfriend?"<<<
Correct.
>>>"is it OK if we talk on E-mail?"<<<
You can find my email on the website.