"The Sandpit" - A short film by Aero Director, Sam O'Hare!

UPDATE 10/26/2010:  A lot has happened since we posted this!  Sam's film has gone on to win the Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction and was just selected to show at AFI Fest 2010!  Director, Sam O'Hare also has a follow-up film (also in the style of tilt-shift) called Coachelletta, which he shot at the Coachella Music Festival in early Spring of 2010.  Enjoy and THANK YOU for all the support!

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Aero Director/ VFX artist Sam O’Hare has finished a short film, The Sandpit, that we’re very excited to be able to share with you. This short is inspired by films like Koyaanisqatsi (really, that’s not in spell check??), and time-lapse tilt shift photography.  Click to see The Sandpit.  (For best viewing, check HD and watch in full screen mode.)

The Sandpit is a day in the life of New York City, as seen in miniature:

After watching it, there are 2 immediate questions, “HOW did he do that?!?!” and “WHAT is that music track?!” Well, the 2nd question I can answer on my own, the former, I’ll have Sam explain…. The original music is by Human, co-written by Rosi Golan and Alex Wong. The piece was created for and inspired by the film. The production team at Human were absolutely amazing and incredibly helpful. Immense thanks to Marc Altschuler, Lauren Bleiweiss, Frank Reagan, and Mike Jurasits, as well as the incredibly talented Rosi Golan and Alex Wong.

Ok… now to the “how.” For this, Sam O’Hare joins me!

ME: Hi Sam!

SAM: Hi Sara.

ME: I feel like Stephen Colbert. This is exciting. My first interview in the blog-osphere!

SAM: Should I be frightened?

ME: (thinks) Maybe. Anywho… How did you shoot The Sandpit?

SAM: It is shot on a Nikon D3 (and one shot on a D80), as a series of stills. I used my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 and Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 lenses for all of these shots. Most were shot at 4fps in DX crop mode, which is the fastest the D3 could continuously write out to the memory card. The boats had slower frame rates, and the night shots used exposures up to two seconds each. The camera actually has an automatic cut off after 130 shots, so for longer shots I counted each click and quickly released and re-pressed the shutter release after 130 to keep shooting.

ME: That has to be a lot of stills!

SAM: I shot over 35,000.

ME: Holy shit.

SAM: No kidding.

ME: How did you capture the mini look?

SAM: I did some initial tests a while back using a rented 24mm tilt-shift lens, which is the standard way to do this. However, after my tests, I found it made much more sense to do this effect in post, rather than in camera. Shooting tilt-shift requires a tripod, as it is very hard to stabilise afterwards, and gives less flexibility in the final look. I opted to shoot it on normal lenses, which allowed me options in the depth of field and shot movement in post. I used a tripod for the night shots, and my Gorillapod (which is much more portable) where possible, but many locations—like hanging over the edge of a roof or through a gap in fencing on a bridge-- had to be shot hand held, and the inevitable wobble removed afterwards.

ME: That sounds kinda badass.

SAM: Um, sure?

ME: How long did the shoot take?

SAM: The entire shoot was completed in 5 days and two evenings, during the hottest week of August 2009. Many thanks go to all the people who gave me access to rooftops, penthouses and balconies to shoot from.

ME: So, you’re sitting with 35,000 stills. I’d probably have a Virgo-clutter overload and need a beer… But what did you do?

SAM: At first, I had a beer.

ME: Good man.

SAM: The footage was shot as raw NEFs, which I organised and colour graded in Adobe Lightroom. I always shoot raw, as it gives you so much more latitude when grading. These were then output as 720p jpg sequences and quickly stabilised to do the initial edit. Once the edit was mostly locked, all the final footage was re-output at full 2800px resolution, tracked, stabilised and the DOF effect and movement added in Eyeon Fusion, using Frischluft Lenscare. I output the final shots at 1080p. Although most shots stay with the basic tilt-shift effect, some have focus pulls, or more complex depth mattes were built up along with some paint work to allow buildings to drop out of focus next to the in-focus ground. This would not have been possible if I had shot using tilt shift lenses on the camera, which works best with relatively flat landscapes. New York City is anything but flat!

ME: And you did this all yourself?

SAM: The post? Yeah. It’s good fun. I had help from my friends Mary Joy Lu and Alex Catchpoole at Tanq finding all the locations, and you helped with that, too… And you also kept on me to finish this as soon as possible.

ME: I am delightfully bossy.

SAM: Something like that.

ME: The music track is amazing… How did that come about? Chicken before the egg?

SAM: Towards the end of the process I approached Human to provide music for the piece, and they very generously donated their time to produce a beautiful sound track for the film. It captures the feel of the film beautifully. I wanted the track to speak to what it is like to experience the many rhythms, pulses and moods of the city and the composition, especially the peak, does this beautifully. The vocals add narrative and pacing to the piece, and really help draw you through it.

ME: Without getting too artsy-fartsy, what inspired you to make this film?

SAM: I have always loved time-lapse footage, and films like Koyaanisqatsi especially, which allow you to look at human spaces in different ways, and draw comparisons between patterns at differing scales. I also really liked the tilt-shift look of making large scenes feel small, and wanted to make a film using this technique with New York as its subject.

ME: Thanks so much, Sam. The Sandpit is truly beautiful, and we’re so happy to have you as a part of the Aero Film family.

SAM: I'm happy to be here! I'm really glad you like the film, I had a lot of fun making it.

*****

Check out The Sandpit and then click on “like”! Please forward/tweet to friends, family, pets, etc.

More of Sam’s work can be found at the Rocket Film website as well as on Instagram and Twitter.

Special thanks for locations to:

Alex Catchpool, Mary Joy Lu at Tanq

Grace Kelly at Nice Shoes

Zach Hinden & Even Levy

Susanne Kelly and Chinagraph

Ray Foote & Ann Zagaroli at Big Foote Music

Diane Patrone, Chris Zander & Sean Mihlo at The Family NYC

Ken Duffy at Tams Witmark Music Library

Christopher Marich at The Standard Hotel

Ken Gelman and Dan Real @ One Brooklyn

Happy Olympics Opening Ceremony Day! I hope there's cake...

I have the Olympic Fanfare stuck in my head. That’s a LOT of trumpets to be in one head. I had the misfortune of playing said song in concert band in 10th grade and ever since, I hear one bar of it and it’s a trumpet explosion in my noodle. Thankfully, I played the saxophone so my part was just a bunch of blunt whole notes. (I excelled at those.) But I digress… HUZZAH!  It’s time to root for the good ol’ US of A and marvel at such amazing events like the ski jump, and ice skating, and that one where they cross country ski and then shoot stuff. Well, gotta give them points for practicality. When the ice age comes around again, they’re going to fair much better than the ice dancers. (Won’t we all?)


With the Opening Ceremony at hand, we end our tribute to Shaun "Animal" White and release the final webisodes shot by Jason Farrand for HP. 

Fun fact for the day, Shaun’s brother, Jesse, is a designer at Burton and runs the apparel dept in California. He came to set on the second day with a couple of tshirts that he had designed. You’ll see Barak (the bearded character, who also goes by Bu-Bar) in one of the tees. Another fun fact, Bu-Bar was also in the Dockers “no pants” spot in the Superbowl. I don’t think he had to dig too deep into his actor-inspiration to enjoy running around in underpants. (I’m going out on a limb here, but it seems like a sturdy limb.)

Hope you’ve enjoyed all 13 episodes. If you missed any along the way, here’s the full set of links. Share with your friends! 


Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4 / Final


Wish there were more, but maybe a The Flying Tom…ahem!  I mean, Animal, will be down for shooting more after he’s won a few more gold metals. Here’s hoping on both counts. Have a great weekend everyone!!

The KLAUSCAM!

This week we’re dipping into the Aero Film inbox and answering pressing questions from Aero fans…

Dear Aero Film,

Big fan, first time writer.  I have heard a rumor about something called a “Klaus Cam” over there at Aero. What’s it do? Can I get one?

Curious,

#1 Aero Fan

Dear #1 Aero Fan,

First off, kudos to you for being a fan!  You must be very smart.  VERY SMART.

I'm so glad you asked about the Klaus Cam. In brief summary, the Klaus Cam is a revolutionary gyro-stabilized camera head that hangs below a helicopter on a cable. Aero Film Director/Cinematographer, Klaus Obeymeyer came up with the idea and his grip, Scott Howell from Cinemoves, Inc. made it happen.  

“Why did they invent it?” you ask.  (Great question! You continue to be very smart!)  Klaus is one to push the limits of everything he does and makes his producers and crew be on their toes every second of the day. Klaus was shooting overheads of glaciers and icebergs in Greenland (as you do) and he wanted to have the camera soar between the ice formations and really get in the thick of it—not just superficial overheads that had been done before. Sounds easy enough, why not? Well, the channels are incredibly narrow and helicopters aren’t that nimble… and there are a million safety issues in play. So, da da da daaaaaa! KLAUS CAM! The camera has an unobstructed 360 degree view with tilt, pan and roll, virtually creating an aircraft below an aircraft. You can get into places a helicopter or Ultimate Arm never could. You can capture incredibly close detail shots and then pull out to an extreme wide angle.

Also, you can fly it through fire and explosions without your helicopter pilot needing special under-garments and multiple life-insurance policies. Currently, there is only one in existence so you can’t buy one at B&H quite yet. You’d probably want Klaus’s team to come along with it, though, and they get cranky when you try to ship them in a blister pack.

If you’re shaking your head thinking this sounds unbelievable, I’ll put our video where our mouth is! Or typer is… whatever.  For a much better description and examples of what the Klaus Cam can do, click HERE to see the video showcasing its talents!  It's simply amazing. 

Keep those letters coming! Or emails, tweets, smoke signals, or semaphore.

Till next week,

Sara

Meet more of our directors!

Welcome to Blog entry #2! I know you’ve been eagerly waiting for it, and quite frankly, I can’t blame you.  Since we last met, I have massaged my ego (with Mallomars-- their medicinal properties are formidable) and am ready to tell you more about our directors who make me look like Dullsie McDullserton.

First up, James Mangold! 

 James is feature director extraordinaire, and luckily for us his ego isn’t as big as the blockbusters he’s shot. (Maybe he eats Mallomars too?)  His movies include: Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Girl Interrupted, Identity, Cop Land, Heavy… and most recently Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. It’s an action-comedy with ample explosions. Yeah, it’s an understatement to say that James has a bit of a range. Which is great, as the commercial world tends to pigeon-hole people into one specific genre. But not our James, he’s a genre-bucker! (Note: “Genre-bucker” copyright 1/14/2010, Sara E Eolin.)  Take a look at the latest trailer for Knight and Day and you’ll be happy to see Tom Cruise looking cool again without a glimmer of a his former couch-jumping self. 

Next up, Jason Farrand, who is the only Aero director with a faux-hawk. Probably the only one that can pull it off, too.

He’s a delightful Brit (read: good accent) who got his directorial start in commercials and then moved into TV. He directed and EP’ed the series Head Case on Starz with Alexandra Wentworth (so he’s 1 degree separated from Oprah.  OPRAH!!!!) Ali portrayed a therapist to the stars and actual stars would come on the show as themselves and improv 30 minutes of hilarity. If you think it’s easy to direct celebrities to “just be themselves” you’d be incorrect. After all, an actor’s job is to be other people and they usually have writers making them clever. But Jason has magical powers that encourage even the unfunny to be hilarious. (I guess that’s called talent, or maybe it’s the faux hawk? I’m not sure…) He just finished some Chevy work with Howie Long (not sure WHAT you call his hair-do… “alert”?) and has worked with HP on web series featuring Shawn White (“red mane”?) and Mike Rowe (um, “baseball cap.”)

Sam O’Hare is another delightful Brit (you got it, good accent!). He doesn’t have a clever hair-do but the brain underneath that hair is quite extraordinary.

Sam’s a CGI artist, VFX supervisor and director… Basically, it means he knows how to do a lot of math, as well as being creative. (And because he’s English, he calls it “maths.” Plural! So cute!) Anyhoo, he went to school for architecture and decided that building things on the computer was much more exciting and less dusty than dry wall. He has a remarkable eye and his visual creations are just stunning… and you’d never know they weren’t “real.”  (I think he’s part of the Matrix, but that’s unconfirmed.) He recently shot and created the animation for Lunesta with Deutsch NY. Aero Post handled all the VFX in NY with Sam’s team. He’s also an avid photographer that you can follow on Flickr or look for Aero tweets for his “picture of the day.”

Newbie to Aero, Gary McKendry has pretty much the same hair cut as Sam but he mixes it up a bit with an Irish brogue. (Can you tell I bring the estrogen to Aero?)

 Gary can and has done it all. He started his career as an agency art director, and was a storyboard artist as well. Needless to say, his shooting boards are pretty kick-ass. His work can make you laugh (Ikea, Budweiser) or tug at your emotions and make you cry (Barnardos). He’s a genre-bucker too! (NOTE AGAIN: copyright 2010 Sara E Eolin) He’s shot monologue, dialogue, visual storytelling, short films, and has a feature in the works.  He’s also quite adept at making snowmen, and is the hit of the neighborhood teens as said snowmen come complete holding a can of beer. You can take the boy out of Belfast, but you can’t take Belfast out of the boy….

Stay tuned for the next blog entry when we feature… (drum roll…) The Klaus Cam!! Imagine if Klaus were a camera, and that pretty much sums it up, but I don’t want to give away all our secrets yet. In the meantime, I’m going to work on the paperwork for that copyright…

Aero Film has joined the blogosphere!

Who am I? What am I doing? Perhaps I’m just procrastinating from my usual day to day activities at Aero… Nah, that couldn’t possibly be! I’m starting the company blog!! That’s a very valid activity!  This takes creativity and focus! And a chocolate mint mocha…  hold please…

Oh, much better. So Aero Film is my place of employment, but better yet, I like to think as my daytime family who happen to pay me. Lord knows my “for real” family doesn’t pay me and I didn’t even get to choose them! But I digress. Back to the first question:  Who am I?  I am Sara Eolin, an executive producer with Aero in the NYC office. I’ve been with the Aero Family for a little over a year. Up until then I worked as an agency producer for, well… ahem-cough-cough… long enough. I was at Grey NY back in the day when people were afraid to hold the elevator door for people as that was a fireable offense from the CEO. (Not kidding, folks.) After that I was at Merkley and Partners where I met most of my closest friends in the business and got to know waaaay more about horse racing, cars and cholesterol lowering medications than I ever thought I would. From there I was off to Lowe NY, where I moved up the ranks to head of production. I really enjoyed it, but I wanted to focus on the nuts and bolts of production and to play a more creative role in the process. So off I went into the wild blue production yonder. I had wonderful plans of taking months off to find myself… but I got so incredibly bored I thought I was going to go insane. I was like a sheep dog without a task. Miserable. Drooling a bit. Not so much with the shedding… but you get the point. I’d been friends with the Aero boys for years, and when they asked me to come aboard, it was a bit of a no-brainer. I’d shot with Klaus Obermeyer and Lance O’Connor in 2003 and we remained close friends even though they almost killed me on a boat in Tahiti.  As the boat leaned perilously on its side and Klaus jumped into shark infested water to save another boat, I knew then we’d either be friends forever or tied up in litigation forever.  As you can tell, I did indeed survive, the friendship stuck and I realized that sea sickness can be an excellent diet aide. (I KID!)

Okay, enough about me and more about how I’m by far the most uninteresting person at the company. (Oh, that’s still about me…) Well, for starters, I can’t fly. No, we don’t have Peter Pan on staff, but for the most part, all our directors and producers can fly a plane and/or helicopter—hence the name Aero Film. The main office in California is at the Santa Monica airport, pretty much directly on the runway albeit safely tucked to one side. We house the Aero Jet and Helicopter in our hanger around the corner. Oh sure, this sounds extravagant, but I have to say, if you’ve ever done a tech scout in CA for 10 different locations in a 15-passenger van, you’ll know the benefit of having a small plane that can pop from Bakersfield to San Diego without looking at the 405. (Shudder!) So truly, they’re production tools first and foremost.

Obviously our directors are our pride and joy at Aero. Klaus is one of the founders of Aero and one of the most energetic people I’ve ever met in my life. He’s a Tai Kwon Do master, expert skier, surfer, wind surfer and spears lobsters in his spare time. He’s also great friends with a myriad of base jumpers and incredibly talented (and possibly crazy) stuntmen. When their daring-dos need to be shot, there’s Klaus figuring out the best (and safest!) way to do it. But there’s also a side to Klaus that is amazingly calm and connected to nature in ways that make Snow White seem like an Exxon executive. He can free dive with a camera for almost 2 minutes, which allows him to capture footage of sea life that few others can shoot. Apparently, most sea creatures are scared of the bubbles from SCUBAs and not the person itself. (Who knew?!)

Then there is Ken Arlidge, director/cameraman extraordinaire who’s been with Aero since day 1. He was a feature DP for years and made the transition to directing. He was working on the set of The Crow when Brandon Lee was shot, and helped figure out the series of events that lead to the great tragedy. So don’t shoot anyone around Ken and think you’ll get away with it. (You won’t.) But, it will be captured on film (or to a digital hard drive actually) beautifully. He’s very innovative in his use of new camera systems and has made the Canon 5D Mark II his camera of choice. He’s added on a lot of his own whizbangs (highly technical term) to make it professional grade, but its revolutionized set up times, and ease of shooting dialogue without mag changes. And who needs a technocrane when you can tie the camera to a $18 painters pole? It is a very nice painter’s pole, mind you.

Ok, I must go leaving you wanting more! Conference calls are looming and someone has to type in the host code, you know.  Stay tuned for more Aero news, anecdotes and stories of our other directors: James Mangold, Jason Farrand and our mini-Irish Mafia of Gary McKendry and Sam O’Hare. If you’re aching for more, check out our official Aero Film website, join our Fan Page on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.