Archive for December, 2010

Late Christmas Present!! Panasonic AF102

By Logan McMillan
On 30 Dec ’10
With 43 Comments
In Panasonic AF102

So after winning the best cinematography prize for New Zealand’s 48 Hour movie making competition back in May I got $20,000 worth of product from Panasonic.

I held out until Panasonics new AF102 shipped – picked it up from the airport today (pictured above on the back of my pickup/ute).

These cameras are fantastic. Micro 4/3rds mount – so I can use all the lenses from my Lumix GF1.

Test video I shot on the way to get coffee today…

1st shot is on the 20mm 1.7f “Pancake” lens – the rest is on the 7-14mm f4.0 Lumix lens.

You can view the 48 Hour Best Cinematography winning film here: www.gorillapictures.co.nz/2010/05/death-in-the-west-48-ho…

Thanks to Ant Timpson @ 48 Hours www.48hours.co.nz
and all the guys at Panasonic New Zealand!!

Wayne and Emma’s Wedding

By Logan McMillan
On 23 Dec ’10
With 6 Comments
In Canon 7D, Weddings

Wayne ( a South African) & Emma (a kiwi) met each other in China and went to Terrace Downs last weekend to marry.

What a fantastic location! Damien (editor) and myself were lucky enough to get a 3 bedroom villa for the night.

The below video is we edited together on the day and played at the end of the reception.

Camera LOGAN McMILLAN | Edit DAMIEN SHATFORD

Photoshop overlays

By Logan McMillan
On 20 Dec ’10
With 2 Comments
In Lumix GF1, Photography

I was in Wellington last week for some film related meetings. While I was there I took some shots of my friends flatmate Ange.

I thought I’d have a go at creating a image similar to the style of Leah Sweet.

Below is a quick rundown of my Photoshop process. The above photo was a composition of this shot I took in her lounge…

…and this ‘bokeh‘ shot I took a few weeks back in Christchurch…

Firstly since this was an impromptu shoot and Ange didn’t have any makeup on I smoothed the skin in Photoshop.

Steps to get smooth skin:

(a) Duplicate the layer in Photoshop

(b) Add ‘Dust & Scratches’ filter to the top layer

(c) Use a ‘Reveal All’ layer mask on the top layer. Then use a black or grey brush to draw back in the details – like the eyes, nostrils and lips.

Example of the eye half done.

Then I’ve added the bokeh shot on a new layer with the transfer mode set to ‘Multiply’ and opacity to 88%.

Finally I’ve brought back the girls face details using another ‘Reveal All’ layer mask. This time however using grey brushes so some of the bokeh shot still overlays the face.

Hope that all makes sense! If you found this handy please leave a comment :)

Jack’s War – alternative funding

By Logan McMillan
On 12 Dec ’10
With No Comments
In Film
Tagged WW2

So after not being able to get money from the NZ Film Commision for the short film Jack’s War we decided to fund it out of our pockets (which aren’t exactly deep). Then I got a Facebook message from Hera (who I did photo’s of a few weeks back) – she suggested to look at IndieGoGo.

In their words: “IndieGoGo offers anyone with an idea – creative, cause-related, or entrepreneurial – the tools to effectively build a campaign and ultimately raise money.”

Brilliant – exactly what we are after. So I have set up a page for Jack’s War here. On the page you can make a contribution, or simply follow updates. $100 NZD gets you an official title as ‘Executive Producer’ :)

(Yes the top picture is of a german paratrooper – it’s the coolest pic I could find for our temp logo type thingy!)

A casting call has gone out on StarNow – for any interested actors! Check it out here.

Jack’s War – location scouting

By Logan McMillan
On 12 Dec ’10
With No Comments
In Film
Tagged WW2

Katie O’Brien (producer) and myself applied to the New Zealand Film Commission for funding to shoot a kiwi WW2 short film called “Jack’s War”. We got a big no.

So now we’re moving ahead to self fund it and get it shot this summer. Pretty much meaning – we have to be creative about how we get it made on a shoestring budget. My aim is to document as much of the process as possible.

The screenplay was written by Edwin McRae (a writer for Shortland Street amongst other things) and myself and is based on a true story from the battle of Crete in 1941.

Crete’s landscape is quite similar to Banks Peninsula here in New Zealand – this is one of the main reasons I went with a story from that part of the war. The one thing we don’t have however is the Mediterranean style architecture like below:

So we’re going to build a couple of sets. Mark Hitge, a local artist / set builder is going to replicatie the above church out of polystyrene. We’ll be able to then place that set wherever we want.

Another set Mark is helping with is turning these abandoned buildings in town…

…into this…

…a Crete village street.

We will repaint the walls and add doors, window shutters, dirt on the floor, live sheep & various other props to sell it as a 1941 Crete village.

Help us out by donating to the film – check out the details here.

Carpark shoot

By Logan McMillan
On 2 Dec ’10
With No Comments
In Lumix GF1, Photography

Wow – so I seem to be doing a lot of photography lately! Just got back from a shoot with model / actress Georgia Easter. She was one of the leads in my entry to this years 48 Hour film challenge. Check it out here.

As always I was shooting on the trusty Lumix GF1 & a 20mm f1.7 lens. The shoot was purely just for my practice. Used the available light from the overhead fluorescents and 1 off camera flash (fired via my new wireless trigger).