Stills from a film I'm making

[Mr. Sable]

I'm making a traditional noir film on 16mm. Here are some stills from it so far.

What'chou folks think?

 

[Terry Lennox]

what's it about?

How long is it? Feature or short?

Is it b/w or color?

What camera are you using?

so many questions....

 

[Sefton]

Where's the dames?

 

[jake_fink]

Where's the dingus?

 

[CharlieH.]

Brilliant! I love that poster.
So....
Is it a full fledged period piece?
Is that a Bolex camera in your avatar?

Ok, I guess that's enough questions for the moment.

 

[Story]

You're in Canada!

Are you allowed to even use the word "Bullets" up there?

Seriously, what's the plot?

 

[jdjs]

Ah, the Tigerstedt. One of my favorite signs around.

I'm going to jump the queue on the questions and refer interested people to http://www.geocities.com/pallisercity/ (and no, I have nothing to do with the production, but look forward in anticipation to seeing it. Best wishes.

JD

 

[The Wolf]

Mr. Sable

I've wondered where you've been.
The stills have me quite intrigued. I also like the title.
Best of luck.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Mr. Sable]

Terry: what's it about? How long is it? Feature or short? Is it b/w or color? What camera are you using?

It's a B&W short (15 min.) shot on 16mm Plus-X using the 1954 Bolex seen in my avatar and a 1970's Russian Krasnogosk-3. It's about an unemployed plumber coerced into killing five strangers on a list or he ends up on the list himself. He's only got 5 bullets to do the job. I left the one photo as colour, because I liked the blue light in it.

Charlie: Is it a full fledged period piece? Is that a Bolex camera in your avatar?

Yes, and yes.

Sefton: Where's the dames?

Oh, there's dames in the picture. A picture's no good without dames.

Jake: Where's the dingus?

Uhhhhh ....I'm gonna have to look that up.

Story: Are you allowed to even use the word "Bullets" up there?

Yes. The word and real bullets. We just use some restraint in the frozen north. That, and triggers tend to ice up, keeping the murder rate low. A few cabin fevered lumberjacks occassionally stab each other in the spring, but that only happens when the ice warms up enough to melt and form icicles.

JDJS: Ah, the Tigerstedt. One of my favorite signs around.

Do I know you, man?!

The Wolf: I've wondered where you've been.

Do I know you, man?!

Thanks for the well wishes, questions, and interest, boys. You have no idea how much you've motivated me to take this thing further.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Where's his heater?

 

[Hemingway Jones]

The Stills look great, Sable, very rich, very noir. Good luck with this project. I'm sure we all would like to see it.

 

[jake_fink]

A dingus:

Good luck. I hope to see this in Toronto. Keep us posted on your progress. Seriosuly.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Can I be in it??...

I die good!
-dixon cannon

 

[Baggers]

Looks great! But are those filter tipped king size or 100mm cigarettes I see in two of those stills?

Cheers!

 

[Mr. Sable]

Those are some kinda herbal cigarettes. They don't stink up the place. These are PRE-production stills so I can get a feel for what and how I'm going to shoot and approach the lighting properly and such.

Any period smoking info you could impart?

I inherited my grandfather's amber cigarette holder and a pipe and such, but nowadays folks see cigarette holders as feminine, don't they? I was thinking this joe should maybe smoke cigars. I dunno.

 

[Terry Lennox]

a question and a suggestion.

first the suggestion... use un-filtered cigs. Lucky Strike, Camel, ect...

now the question... what about a barney? both of those are pretty noisy? What are you recording the sounds on?

Okay, I quess that's two questions....

 

[Baggers]

Echhh, herbal cigarettes. They may not stink up the place, but there's something about the way they burn that just doesn't look right to me.

My advice? Either use cigars or cut the herbals down to 2 3/4 inches -- with no filter. King size and filtertips didn't come on the scene until sometime after WW2. There was such a thing as cork tipped filter cigarettes, but to my knowledge they were relatively uncommon and expensive. The average working stiff either rolled his own or bought something like Lucky Strike, Chesterfield, Phillip Morris, or Camel (prewar, in the green packet). Or since you're in Canada, Sweet Caporals or Players Navy Cut. Luckys and Players are actually very mild for an unfiltered cigarette. Much milder than Camels. As for cigars, depending on what you use, the smell could be worse than real cigarette smoke. that, and the ends get soggy after being clenched in the corner of your mouth for too long.

As for cigarette holders, they definitely weren't just a ladies' only item. Plenty of men used them too, but it's mostly identified as a cultured or rich man's smoking accessory. I'd be real careful about which character you give one to.

And on the other hand, if your actor(s) aren't comfortable with smoking, don't force them. I've yet to see a non smoker who could fake it convincingly.

Cheers!

 

[Mr. Sable]

Terry, I ain't using a barney because I'm shooting MOS. The very few bits of dialogue will be done in post production. The rest is narration. After making films for 26 years, I'm still not ready for synch sound. I prefer telling st

Baggers, my Gran'pa was a dairy worker before and after WWII, definately not the cultured type... unless he worked in the yogurt department. Ha! I'll take your advice and have people smoke the unfiltered deals.

 

[jdjs]

JDJS: Ah, the Tigerstedt. One of my favorite signs around.

Do I know you, man?!

Nope, don't think we've met. I'm one of those rarities (native Calgarian) living up on the north side of the city. Then again, possibly at the film festival or trouncing somewhere around the city.

JD

 

[Mr. Sable]

Here's some moving pictures from 'the making of': on the website.

I had some nice historical insight for an elevator scene we're shooting this weekend - I had a chance to talk with one of the last of the elevator operators. Apparantly, there are only three manned public elevators left in all of Canada and one is in my town. The old guy running the lift was very cool and showed us how it all worked and gave us a bit of a history lesson as well. I love it when that happens.