Alcatraz BTS
Alcatraz – BTS from Vincent Laforet on Vimeo.
It’s important to remember that being a filmmaker or photographer is both a craft and a business. We all need to make enough money so that we can not only pay our bills, pay our employees, re-invest in our business and gear, and hopefully have a little extra to put toward future personal projects.
The dark little secret is that some jobs we’d do for free… for me this was one of those! (And no – I didn’t do it for free!)
I was contacted by the Red Bull Media House and TJ Walker from Boombox, to go shoot footage for the upcoming Red Bull King of the Rock – a global one-on-one basketball tournament held in the yard on Alcatraz!
I’ve been fascinated by the island since I first visited it as a young teenager. Al Capone – the attempted escapes – the birdman … such incredible history! The place is absolutely magical – and at times a little spooky.
Our job was to go and shoot a series of time lapses and some RED EPIC footage for use in the TV promo. The challenge is that our crew had to be very small and we had to get on and off the island by boat. So we kept is as compact as possible. We had a total of 5 cases and somehow brought enough gear to shoot w/ the Epic on the Kessler Shuttle Pod (8ft.) and to shoot five 5D MKII cameras simultaneously for time lapses. We were able to get 13 time lapses that afternoon and a bevy of live action footage as well. The National Park Service was incredibly accommodating and a pleasure to work with. We were able to shoot in locations closed off to the public (we even got to go on the roof!) and we had the Island to ourselves after the last ferry had left the Island… it was absolutely amazing! The total silence was a bit spooky I must admit. Nonetheless I was sad to leave the island after sunset on a private boat back to San Francisco. A huge thanks goes to TJ and Boombox, as well as the RedBull crew and Todd at H5 Events for taking care of many of our logistics!
Besides video/ and time lapses we also played with audio. We used the the Mitra 3D audio mic and got some pretty stunning results. Normally I would hire a sound engineer but in this case we couldn’t have gotten an extra body on the island. And to be honest we weren’t asked to do audio – but I was able to "throw it in" if you will – given how little effort we had to put into collecting the audio. (But pls don’t misinterpret this – there is NO SUBSTITUTE for a solid audio engineer on all of your jobs. None.) You can hear some of the audio in the piece above or check out our previous post on the Mitra 3D audio. (You can also still take advantage of a 15% discount on both the "Pro" and "Indie" version of the mic Go to www.3dmicpro.com and use coupon code VL3D2011 during checkout.)
That’s it for now. Hope you enjoy the video.
Vincent,
Your footage looks amazing.
I “boated” around Alcatraz last week and couldn’t get in. Your visual was exactly what I was dreaming of.
You manage to tell a story in one shot. Very impressive.
Thanks for bringing us more amazing stuff every time.
Can’t wait to see more.
Cheers.
Brice.
Wow, great little BTS video of your time filming on Alcatraz. I really appreciate the beauty you showcased in the simplicity of what Alcatraz is now. Watched it three times! =) Thanks for sharing.
Love shooting at Alcatraz. I am an intern for SF Parks Dept. and have had a lot of great opportunities to shoot Alcatraz, and under Golden Gate and next week from the north tower!
Beautiful work. I love how compact your rig is. I just received my Epic#430. From the vid it looks like you are using a top plate from viewfactor. Is that the prototype backplate from them as well? Im looking for a compact way to mount my redbricks. I ordered the Red Backpack, but it is backordered for who knows how long.
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Yes on viewfactor!
Fantastic as always. Would love to get the opportunity to shoot on the Epic. Had some time on the Alexa this year and loved that. However, the HDRX on the epic is great to look at and makes our job so much more easier.
It’s awesome to see you using the Red Epic!!
Hi,
in a couple of shots you’re winding a handle on the side of the camera. What is that?
(sorry if that’s a completely basic question)
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
It’s called a crank – you hook it into most Follow focus units to do quick focus pulls/racks
Love it!!
Vincent, what a great BTS video, would love to see the final product. I was over on Alcatraz for a few days in April for a corporate event and just the short footage really brings out the feel of The ROCK.
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
It’ll be on TV – see http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Red-Bull-King-of-the-Rock-2011/001243001489516
One space between sentences helps legibility.
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
ohhh… it took every once of self control not to hit delete on this one… it’s a blog – not the NYTimes. We aim for a high level – but snarky comments like this can be delivered in a multitude of better ways! Fair enough?
Absolutely that’s fair enough. I’m glad you have a comments section and I am happy you chose to publish mine.
Cool! You get to do some amazing stuff.
I’m so jealous you have the Red Epic.
Felt like I was there with those super smooth moves! Thank you for sharing!
For timelapses I had seen you use a rig (on an earlier post) where you had two 5dmark II’s on the shuttlepod, so you could shoot two timelapses from one move.
Would you have a shot of the rig that you can share?
Thank you for the inspiration!
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 15th, 2011 at 6:42 pm
The shot of the tufas (the push on the rocks w/ the waves) in Epic #308 was shot w/ that rig. As were the shots of the lone tree atop the hill – always best to have two lens choices when it doesn’t cost you much more than a bit more time to setup…
@Jason, Thanks ๐
@Vincent Laforet, absolutely agree! I’m using some of the Kessler gear you are, mostly the shuttle pod, cineslider and revolution head.
Would you have a shot of the rig/plates that you attached to the shuttle pod? Would love to have a closer look ๐
Thanks!
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 15th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Busy in pre-production. Don’t have time right now. Mostly use Manfrotto and Really Right stuff plates (swear by those!)
@Vincent Laforet, will check those out. Thanks!
If you do a get a chance to post it whenever it would be super ๐
all the best with pre prod!
Hey Vincent!
What a great piece. The jail corridor and ceiling shots are just stunning, can you share at what focal lengths were these shot?
On a sidenote, I’m about to get my own Epic-M and scratching my head over the lens choice. My budget is not stretchable yet to something like Master Primes or Ultra Primes, but enough to get some Cooke Panchro lenses. The trick is I can only get 3 at the moment due to the cost of the camera and other necessary accessories.
The Panchros set consists of 18, 25, 32, 50, 75 and a 100mm. Which three would you recommend to get first in order to be equipped for most shooting situations.
Also, what’s your opinion on RED glass if you’ve used any on your shoots?
Thanks again for your great work!
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 16th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
I was shooting w/ the RED 17~55 and the Canon 14mm 2.8 and 16~35mm.
Panchros are AWESOME. But a bit dark for my tastes for primes… unless you MUST own them – I’d rent. Otherwise I’d consider Zeiss CP.2s so you have lenses on you at all times. And rent the expensive glass when a client is paying. My two cents – I’ve been EXTREMELY pleased w/ the CP.2 performance. Cookes are gorgeous – but I love the brighter (more expensive) ones. If I had to pick – I use the 25mm, 50mm the most. I’d then debate between an 18mm or a 100mm – probably going w the 100mm… if I did a lot of portrait/ commercial work – and the 18mm if I did more narrative… although it rocks for everything…
Hey, great video, the sound is really spot on..
How did you made the transition from 00:01 to 00:03 (black, red, then the sea with birds)? I’m wondering how I could achieve this look since I’ve seen ‘The dark side of the lens’..
Vincent Laforet Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 10:07 am
It’s stock footage of a film being flashed/exposed overlayed in the transition.
making BTS is really in your DNA
@Vincent Laforet, ok, try to find it via google, thanks!
Pretty amazing and storied place–finally had a chance to visit with my sweetie this spring, as a tourist. Hard to tune out the other tourists, but yes, it’s definitely a journey one should make. Having your access and tool kit looks amazing! On a gear note, my iPhone/Hipstamatic of Alcatraz influenced a client’s decision for me to do the same while shooting a juvenile detention center.
i am fan! i could not help by inspire with your work sir, i am an multimedia design student in Singapore. and i really wanted to do things what i love to do. like what you are doing here.