OMEGA - Post Production Diary - Pick Ups

We're nearing the finish line #famouslastwords

POST PRODUCTION DIARY - PICK UPS -  March 4th, 2012 | West Croydon, Cheltenham & Adelaide Airport.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Director of Photography), Jordan Agutter (Gaffer/Camera Assistant), Trent Ninos (First A.D./Body Double).

It seems that cameras never truly stop rolling... here we are again filming for our debut movie Omega almost five months since we wrapped up filming. In that time we've been deep in Post Production and we arrived to the point where we had our film almost entirely edited together. Almost.


Over all the months of post we'd been racking up a neat little list of missing shots. Beats that I was looking for in the edit that we just didn't have. So shooting pick ups was the right course of action. Trent and I spent the weeks leading up to the shoot watching and re-watching our edits and going over all our cut footage to refresh our memories of those shoots, some of which were shot in December of 2010... JESUS! So a list of eleven individual moments we crucially needed to splice into the film. Shots, if absent, would be confusing and jarring to an audience. We'd also brainstormed some additional pick ups which aren't crucial but would be cool to capture on film, so we may have another pick ups shoot in the coming week... never stops rolling...

The awesome thing about editing the footage ourselves was that it's really highlighted, for me at least, the things I needed to have done during principle photography as the Director. My mind needs to be cast forward to the edit and thinking actively about what shots I'll need in that edit suite while we're still shooting. It's an invaluable learning experience, and will hopefully mean our future projects will be a huge improvement in the way we work in front of and behind the camera. 

Now there's one problem with filming these pick ups, all of them are of our main character Jake who was played by Adam Schmerl during the shoot, but Adam has since moved to Melbourne making shooting these pick ups difficult. We flew Adam down to film the Prologue sequence and that was great but for these pick ups we could get creative and try some movie magic. Trent Ninos, my First A.D. agreed to stand in for Adam for all these quick shots. Pick ups also gave us a chance to build more tension into the movie by introducing the actual Omega comet earlier in the film so the slow build starts sooner rather than later.



We had four locations planned for pick ups, I'll explain each of them briefly.


1. The Location Jump. Early in pre-production I'd had the idea of doing a fancy camera transition during the film to merge a live streamed video with the actual event. We filmed the video and the backend of the Jump on Day 11 with Devon Aubert as Prof. David Jameson but the lead in take wasn't yet filmed. Ideally we should have filmed it on Day 4 when we filmed the rest of that scene but I overlooked it. So with Trent sporting the same costume Adam wore during the shoot we dressed the kitchen set, organized the props and DTang and Jordan recreated the same lighting (even though this time we were filming in broad daylight). In the previous takes with Adam he'd finish watching Prof. Jameson's video, grab his keys and rush out. We reviewed the footage of Adam and worked with Trent to get the same movements and speed. In this shot Trent would grab the keys (those damn keys! We spent more time positioning them then anything else that night) then move out of frame and focus off into the background. Then then camera focuses on the laptop screen and moves into the Jump. It looked very seamless and will edit in nicely with the scene we shot two years ago.


2. The Telescope Printouts. This pick up was one settled on early. When we filmed the trashed office scenes on Day 6 we didn't have a locked off graphic for what Omega looked like through the telescope. We filmed Adam's coverage with an early concept which was kept off camera focusing instead of our lead actor. March 2012 rolls around and I'd finished the 3D model of Omega and locked off a final graphic. This pick up didn't really need a specific location as it was just a close up of a sheet of paper so we opted to filming a darkened spare bedroom using an LED for a fill light with my iPhone providing the sweeping reveal of Omega on the printout. This, too, will editing in seamlessly with the shots from the office on both Day 6 and Day 11.


3. The Adelaide Blackout. Back in 2009 when the original Omega concept was in its infancy we'd planned on filming a scene with our lead actor in the foreground with Adelaide and the Hills in the background, then we'd black the city and hills out in post. Back then I'd envisioned we could potentially shoot that scene from the viewing area next to the Adelaide Airport but when the Omega concept exploded out and became much more ambitious that set up was dropped. We did, however, need an establishing shot of Adelaide as it is the films setting. We see the other Australian cities losing power from orbit in a VFX shot I've been working on but for Adelaide it would be good to show some live action footage as well. The shots we did end up getting were passable, a little noisy because of the low light but we caught some good shots with a plane touching down in foreground. Who knows, we may end up using it or not... it's good to have at any rate.


4. The Battle of Kandahar. Here it is folks, the big one. This was a scene I had hoped to film when Adam was down for the Prologue, but I'd underestimated how long and tiring that day ended up being. No matter, Trent Ninos, professional body double to the rescue! The shots I wanted were quick cut aways to be spliced into the opening of the film, even when it looked like we could film with Adam I wanted to keep the camera tight and only showing his legs and feet running through the desert to save the full character reveal until he bursts through the door in the next shot. So the storyboards I'd drawn up were still somewhat relevant. The original location for this scene was to be good ol' Bonython Park which has featured prominently in our previous days of filming. DTang, Trent and I were all ready to head down there to check things up but I wanted to check on one place first. Going back again to the early Omega concept we'd planned it to need only one location, this location was to be a small open dirt field next to the Cheltenham Racecourse. I'd phoned up the council to ask if that area was owned by anyone that we'd need to obtain permission from but was told it was part of a playground and park nearby and therefore open to the public. Prep for this scene was completely on the fly, we had only the three of us (DTang, Trent and myself) and the equipment we'd packed into my car. The scene was expertly lit by David Tang using my cars head lights (corrected with moonlight blue gels) and two LED lights running on battery power. The location was a mix of soft dirt with dry weedy grass patching through. 

Trent... ahh Trent. Ever ready to go above and beyond for the good of the movie. He got to wear the Australian Army uniform worn by Adam (and prior to that an Australian servicemen deployed in Afghanistan). When Gigi D'Angelo originally supplied us with the costume she'd also provided us with doubles of the camo shirt and pants, these came in handy tonight as the pants Adam had worn for the Prologue were dressed with our Patented Fake Blood (patent pending) for his characters bullet wound. The shots involved tracking alongside Trent as he ran past frame, mimed getting shot, falling over, staggering up and running on. We did a multitude of takes from many angles, again and again and again (and again). Trent was a real maverick running full pelt, crashing down onto his knee, kicking up dust and staggering up, DTang had the difficult task of keeping up with him all the while being mindful not to go ass over tit with his camera rig. Sweating and bruised they both did outstanding work!


After fleeing several pursing police cars and fire officials we made our way back to my place, managed to watch our Dailies in that special brand of 2 AM delirium where everything's epic and awesome... but in this case what we'd shot was epic and awesome! It was a long day (10 AM till 1 AM the next morning with several breaks in between arguing about which movie to watch) but it was well worth it.


Huge thanks to Jordan, DTang and Trent for an awesome pick up shoot! Now to splice these scenes into the movie and finish this beast!

Omega (Short Film) - Official Trailer [HD]

OMEGA Release Poster

OMEGA - Final Production Diary - Day 13

At least it didn't take us a whole year...

PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 13 -  October 16th, 2011 | West Croydon, Adelaide.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Director of Photography), Jordan Agutter (Gaffer/Camera Assistant), Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (Production Manager/Location Sound), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader/Grip), Paul Larsen (Grip/Runner) Gigi D'angelo (Costumes). Cast in attendance: Adam Schmerl (Jake Mercer), Thomai Kezios (Afghan mother), Athan Ninos (Afghan boy).

Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Prologue.

We come to it at last, the last day of principle photography for OMEGA. It's been a long year of shooting, thirteen days of long nights, heat, moths, and just about everything else. But we made it through, and I couldn't be happier!


Hot on the heels of yesterdays awesome shoot move onto our last shoot.... which just happened to be the first scene in the movie. This is a crazy business. It also turned out to be our longest single shoot on OMEGA, other days have come close but Day 13 sped towards the 9 hour mark and overshot it by a few minutes. Adam and Jordan join us once more for the days shoot, plus we had Thomai and Athan on set for the first time. Good fun to be had by all.


We are filming OMEGA's prologue today, a prologue that was a major after thought we arrived at long after writing the final draft of the script. Going through all the footage of the previous eleven days of filming lead me to the conclusion we needed a strong character moment to open the film before the narrative kicks forward with the Omega crisis. After careful consideration and some... outlandish concepts we'd arrived at the final concept for the prologue; Kandahar. Our lead character Jake (played to perfection by Adam Schmerl) is a corporal in the Australian Defense Forces. During a later scene Jake reveals his guilt at an event that he was responsible for during his tour in Afghanistan, something that plagues him throughout the plot. While on deployment Corp. Jake Mercer is shot and separated from his unit, seeking refuge in an empty afghan home he calls for evac but there's only static, to make matters worse the power in the house blacks out, there are voices outside, Jake thinks he's being ambushed, everything happens very quickly and innocent lives are caught in the crossfire. This scene is a powerful opening for the film because it's deeply rooted in our main characters motivations and fears. Here we see exactly why Jake is so stressed when power blacks out across Australia, why he tries to solve the mystery of Omega himself, he's trying to atone for that night in Kandahar. Adam jumped at the chance for this deep character study and was completely enthralling during every minute of action.


The Kandahar set, much like yesterdays Radar set, was our most complicated yet. We had access to an empty bare brick room - a blank canvas. Trent, Teena and I spent the weeks leading up to the shoot gathering interesting and unique props that would fill up this empty space, a couch, an old tv, very eastern looking vases and brass urns, and from Trent probably the oldest door ever found, still intact since before time when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Once all the set dressing was in place, the windows were blocked out to simulate darkness (damn night time, more on that later). DTang and Jordan began work on the lights, we need two stages of lighting on this set; power-on and blacked-out. We needed this down in real time on camera so the lights were expertly rigged up so that at the flick of a switch the prop lights (tv and lamp) and set lights were killed at the same time with the moonlight and character back lights took over.


To add some atmosphere DTang hooked us up with some awesome Smoke-in-a-Can called MagiCan (two cans of which he promptly stole... grrr). It's amazing stuff and gives an effect a smoke machine cannot; density. It makes the air look heavy and thick and creates awesomely atmospheric light rays and a bloom around light sources. These were expensive but worth every cent. The holes and slits we'd drilled and sawed out of the ancient door let through the eeriest beams of light that caught the smoke and dust nicely to create a seriously awesome effect.


Supplying us with our most elaborate set of costumes to date is with wonderful Gigi D'angelo. Gigi went above and beyond for us for three costumes for today's shoot. For Thomai and Athan playing afghan mother and son we had a black burqa and child shirt/pants/cap combo. The burqa was stitched by hand and looked amazing. The most involved costume was for Adam, as a soldier in the Australian Armed Forces Jake had to look the part, so Gigi put together an ensemble of desert camo, pants and tops, vest with pouches, belt, backpack, water bottle, shovel and mesh helmet to give Adam the look of an active serviceman. The desert camo clothes, I'm told, we worn by an Australian Digger in Afghanistan, which is very humbling and adds that extra layer of depth to the entire sequence. Gigi did an amazing job with these costumes, outstanding work.


We gave ourselves a good two hours for rehearsals and blocking so we were able to plan out our shoot in greater depth than we'd able to previously. With only minimal dialogue we could focus on the actions, the movements and the timing. The first scene filmed was of the afghan civilians, it's a quick scene so it was better to get this one out of the way first. Thomai and Athan were great sports during the whole ordeal, and despite not being actors they managed to add a great deal to the movie. Once this scene was covered we reset and began filming the bulk of the scene. Adam started out by bursting through the old door (which held together after being slammed in to at least ten times), he'd scan the room for signs of enemies combatants before hobbling into the corner and radioing for help. After bandaging his wound (best fake blood to date, onya Trent!), Jake snaps out his pistol because of a noise, he limps up, moves slowly through the room. Then darkness, a black out hits, it's a tense few moments before BAM! I'll leave it there, can't give away too much. We covered the action from various angles, a neat focus pull here, shooting from ground level there it all worked.

The scene was over. Cut, print and that's a wrap! I called. OMEGA, the filming part at least, was over. We'd done it! Our first film finished. It was a great feeling, I've been grinning like a madman ever since. I've been saying this a lot but it must be said again and again, a huge thank you to every member of the cast and crew for their help and support. There'd be no film with you. Through your hard work, dedication, professionalism, and good nature you've helped create an awesome film! And I promise, the next movie will be set in broad daylight. No blackouts or night shoots for a looooong time.

Now for some acknowledgments.


Adam Schmerl, my main man. As I said above Adam was a last minute addition to our audition roster, and what a performance he gave us. He had committed the entire script to memory and read it with such deep and raw emotion that made me double take. One quick look to Trent in row behind and I knew we'd found our lead. Adam is a complete professional, but still and awesome guy to talk to and has a great sense of humour. Adam moved to Melbourne earlier in the year and was still willing to give up the four straight nights before flying out to filming the remainder of his scenes. Even more, he agreed to let us fly him down to film for two more days to complete the movie. Adam has a bright future ahead of him as an actor and a director, a true asset to any film, great things abound!


Kate Englefield, my leading lady. Kate was with the film longer than anyone else, even while the film as it was back then was a shadow of it's current self Kate stuck with us. Her audition was amazing, even more so as she had to act it with me (I can't act my way out of a paper bag). More so, after we'd offered her the role and she accepted she graciously came down to read with the actors trying out for Jake. Even faced with some... interesting auditions, she'd read her part with Adam like a star. Throughout the shoot Kate has been a joy to work with, a cheeky sense of humour that livened up the set whenever she was around. Kate, a seasoned film and theater actress, needs no help from this humble director, she is a star!


Devon Aubert, the rock star. Devon was the first actor to be filmed on OMEGA, but when we had no idea what we were doing. He'd drove all the way out to Stockport with us to film the viral videos. Devon did an amazing job even though it's a tough thing to act to a camera, but he handled it brilliantly. He let us bash him into the side of a car for his kidnapping scene over and over again, what a good sport. Devon's given us an extremely memorable performance as the inquisitive Professor and will make the viral videos and film scenes he's in a joy to watch.


Aliante Youngdino, the suave Italian. Aliante, or Frenk as I call him, is one of the most enthusiatic actors I've met. He'd message me throughout the shoot with questions and suggestions about his scenes. Frenk put a great deal of effort into finding the motivation and meaning behind all his lines. A gifted actor, dedicated and hard working. 

Nick Buckland, the Samual L. Jackson of Australian films (they're both in everything). Nick, the owner of the Adelaide Artist Agency, helped introduce us to Frenk, but on top of that he'd generously agreed to play a role in our film. Nick was a load of fun to be around and was very patient with those of us still learning the fine art of film making. A true gentleman, much obliged.

Our supporting cast, Paul Larsen, Travis Prosso, Theodora Kezios, Faye Kezios, Thomai Kezios, Tamae Ninos and Athan Ninos all helped flesh out the movies action and did a great job on set despite being new to the world of film making.

David Tang, my steely eyed missile man. David has been instrumental towards the success of OMEGA. From an interesting first meeting in 2009 (we'd pretty much wrapped up our conversation, said our good days when his hot chocolate order arrived and we had nothing left to say while he drank it, awkward). David has helped us immeasurable by lending us the use of his Canon EOS 7D along with a plethora of filming equipment he helped us find and hire for the shoots, to bringing on one awesome camera assistant after another to introducing us to Adam Schmerl, a last minute audition that gave us our star. DTang is a master and has a long and successful career in film ahead of him, a true asset to any director, this one especially.

Trent Ninos, my awesome cuz. Trent will be known as the originator of the OMEGA idea all those years ago. Throughout the production process, shooting and now into post production Trent has been an invaluable sounding board and ideas man that I've found invaluable. Trent always has his camera on hand and has captured a heap of behind the scenes material that will help us remember OMEGA. Whether it's fine tuning dialogue, constructing sets, assistant directing, or just being awesome Trent's an intergral part of TEAM NINOS, this movie wouldn't have been possible without him. My film making wing man.

Teena Ninos, my wrangler. My awesome sister has had the hard job of wrangling Trent and I on the (numerous) occasions that we'd get distracted or want to set something (anything) on fire. As Production Manager Teena has spear headed the unpacking, organizations and logistics of work on the set. On top all that Teena also took charge of location sound recording on the film, something that she handled like a pro despite having less than ten minutes to learn how to use the Zoom recorder. Teena keeps TEAM NINOS on track, what a great sis.

Billy Ninos, the jack of all trades. Bilbo has been the go to guy, he's been our Clapper Loader first and foremost but he's also been wrangled into grip, runner, fleckie operator, boom swinger, stand in and background extra. The youngest member of the film crew and TEAM NINOS Billy is a great cousin and helped out like a boss.

To our camera assistants, gaffers and focus pullers, Michael Tessari, Jordan Agutter, Ian Bethune, Amber McBride, Sam Cherry and Lyndon Warren. They all came together and made up the backbone of the film crew, lending their hands and keen eyes to every aspect of making the film work. Dedicated and professional, great fun to work with.


Gigi D'angelo, our wonderful costume designer. Without Gigi's help our actor would've been wearing jeans and tshirts. Gigi did and fantastic job at sourcing our costumes and making them from scratch as well. From surgeon scrubs, to army attire Gigi had it covered. 


And a big thank you to John Ninos, Tulah Droulias, Con Ninos, George Vlass, George Carr, Elias Mainas, Rebecca Carter, Nicholas Vaidie, Andrew J Clark, Carina Gun, Jeremy Kelly-Bakker, Sebastian Tomczak, Jeremy Diaz and everyone else who lent their time, advice and support through the production.


While the movie is far from over (post production will be grueling but loads of fun at the same time) I'd still like to thank everyone again for their hard work and patience. I'm still new to this whole profession and it's made the learning process so much easier and more fulfilling having patient, friendly and hard working people by my side the whole way.

This is the start of something big.

One down, many many more to go.

Thanks a million.

Pete

OMEGA - Production Diary - Day 12

Almost, almost....

PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 12 -  October 15th, 2011 | Seaton, Adelaide.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Director of Photography), Micheal Tessari (Camera Assistant), Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (Production Manager), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader/Grip), Paul Larsen (Grip/Runner). Cast in attendance: Adam Schmerl (Jake Mercer).

Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Scene 2 (Reshoot).

And we're back! For those of you keeping count our last shoot was way back in July, and now we've arrived at the final two days of filming for OMEGA. Leaving aside some quick pick ups OMEGA will be wrapped by the end of the weekend. 


Our lead actor, Adam Schmerl, had since moved across to Melbourne where he's establishing himself as brilliant actor. Having just finished filming his role in an upcoming mini-series Adam was good enough to fly back to Adelaide and give up his weekend helping the crew and I complete this year-long short film. It's a true testament to Adam's professionalism and dedication that he was willing to do this, and for that I'm extremely grateful. 


So we could grease our gears and get back into the film making mindset we are filming a single scene today, a reshoot of a previous scene to be more accurate. The crew who were on set for DAY 6 back in January will surely attest that that day was a madhouse. We all did great work, no question, but we had four full scenes on four separate sets, and less than seven hours to film it all. For the most part what we filmed looked spectacular, Adam handled the four scenes perfectly, and the DTang and the crew set them up as good as ever. But, the casualty of the jam packed shoot was Scene 2, the Radar Room. I'll admit, my planning of that scene wasn't all it could've been, now it still looked great and was acted perfectly but several things had bothered me about it for the longest time. First and foremost was the set... we didn't have one. We used the same locker room location from the following scene but with a table and a tv monitor playing a radar graphic. And again, it looked fine, but I know it could've been way better and considering it was the first scene with the main character and the start of the crisis we'd need something stronger.


It's nine months later, we're going to do it right this time.


Trent and I began planning for the reshoot in August of this year. We'd decided to build a set for the radar station, the most complicated one we'd attempted so far. The radar set construction will be covered in detail in an upcoming episode of REEL FX, but I'll say now a huge thank you now to John Ninos, Con Ninos and George Vlass for their help planning and constructing the set. Trent purchased a heap of actual LEDs and Switches that we mounted onto the station, these with some LED fairy light made the set pop. We used the same screen set up as last time (a PS3 playing a radar graphic on a flatscreen tv) but this time I had much more time to render a more realistic radar graphic, and the tv was now mounted inside the radar set so it didn't just look like a random tv. We constructed the station over the course of four weeks, the effort certainly paid off because it looked amazing!


Now for the shoot. As usual we were running behind schedule setting up. We were filming inside a vacant transportable unit, as soon as all the pieces of the set were there we got to work setting up. Adam arrived shortly after and we caught up with him while putting on the finishing touches. DTang arrived soon after followed by Mike Tessari, they both did wonders with lighting. The actions of the scene are more or less the same as they were during the first attempt, Adam is on duty monitoring the airspace around Adelaide - the last major city with power - trying to get on with his work. But Adelaide can't escape the darkness, power is lost across the city, the building switches to emergency power. These blackouts tie directly into Jake's troubled past (featured in the prologue) and his unease during a black out. 

Being able to revisit this scene also meant being able to change something that had bothered me since it was filmed. The opening line, "There goes Adelaide", I'd never really been happy with it and after weeks of trying out different variations, even giving the line to other characters, I stopped and thought, is it really a good sign that I'm trying this hard to make it work? Nope, the line was cut. Less is more, as they say. The shot list I had planned out was relatively short, this gave us ample time to plan and rehearse out each set up. It was great fun planning out with Adam the various buttons and parts of the radar station he'd be interacting with. This background action, the blackout and Jake's look of concern have gone a long way to bolstering up the first act of the film.

After reviewing the footage I was pleased that the end results looked amazing, the set, the lighting and the acting were a joy to behold. I'm so grateful that the cast and crew were willing to revisit this scene and help achieve and striking a opening for OMEGA.


Huge thanks to Adam, DTang, Mike, Trent, Teena, Billy & Paul! Day 12 is in the can, now for the long awaited, the much anticipated, the day many thought would never come... the final day of shooting for OMEGA.

OMEGA - Production Diary - Day 11

Nine months since we shot the first half of these videos. That's over half the Lord of the Rings shoot... x_x

PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 11 -  July 2nd, 2011 | UniSA West Campus, Adelaide.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Director of Photography), Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (D.A./Location Sound), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader/Grip), Paul Larsen (Grip/Runner). Cast in attendance: Devon Aubert (Prof. David Jameson).

Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Scenes 7b and 8 & Viral Videos 3, 4 and 5.

This is it, the last shoot at UniSA, the last shoot of the viral videos and the last shoot of the last major scenes left on OMEGA. Well it would be the last if Trent and I didn't keep coming up with new scenes. Oh well! But it's great to get back to filming and finish off the videos that started out our shoot all the way back in October of 2010 - the Prof. Jameson virals.

Joining us for the third time is this always awesome Devon Aubert. Devon was there on our first day of filming all the way up at the Stockport Observatory and he's back with us again at UniSA standing in for the offices at the observatory. Good way to round things off wouldn't you say?

Back at UniSA again but instead of needing a new area to film in, (there were so few corners left), we're filming on a previously used set. The small empty office in the Yungondi Building was dressed as Prof. Jameson's trashed office on DAY 6 for Scene 13 where Jake (Adam Schmerl) sifts through the mess trying to find information about the comet OMEGA that Prof. Jameson discovered. The set looked great the last time trashed but now it was time to show how it looked before getting ransacked. Trent and Billy took a load of continuity photos of the office on DAY 6 so recreating the placement of the furniture, the computers on the desk, the stationary, books, papers and most intricate of all the astronomical jargon on the whiteboard. Luckily the photos were detailed and everyone got straight to work on making the office look like it did before. We did add a few extra layers of detail that weren't present last time (nor would they have been visible in the darkness). A model of the Space Shuttle I spent all day assembling (that kept falling apart, a testament to my building skills) and some posters to fill in the blank walls. I found some images online, and we had Officeworks blow them up and print them on A1 poster sheets. We had two astronomy posters and one Vancouver Canucks hockey poster as a nod to Devon who's a massive Canucks fan, good thing we didn't print out Boston posters, the office would've been thrashed again but this time for real!

A big challenge, I thought, was making the office look different for each video as the videos in the film were shot by Prof. Jameson on different days at different times. First was the whiteboard, I had Trent and Billy only recreate about a third of the writing for our first video on the board. Then we each subsequent video they'd add more and more of the details until by the last video the board was completely the way it looked six months ago - awesome! Secondly was lighting. I had these images in my head of three different levels of lighting for the three videos; midday daylight, dusk, and full moon light. Now as I mentioned in the DAY 6 production diary this office had a nice large window but it wasn't on the outside of the building, it overlooked the Uni's computer room causeway. So DTang and Paul hoisted up the box plant, threw the mighty bright Blondie behind it and we started to get some interesting lighting. I'll explain each video in detail.

Viral Video 3 - Vid 3 is set a few weeks after Prof. Jameson's last video regarding his discovery of the OMEGA comet. In this video we see him confronting and attempting to expose a cover-up and the dirty tactics being used to suppress information. Devon shows his true acting chops by being completely believable as a fun loving, friendly professor in the previous videos then being able to switch to a no-nonsense, take-no-crap guy you wouldn't want to mess with. Devon ran through the big block of text in a single uninterrupted shot and played the scene brilliantly. We did four takes (take three was perfect, but take four was for safety) but we got it. Photography for the scene was also a challenge but one that DTang handled like a pro. Vid 3 was set during the day... but it was pitch black outside so we couldn't rely on the light from the environment. I was of the mind that we could get away with using the fluro-lights in the office, keep it simple and real. Thankfully DTang convinced me these lights look terrible and cast bad shadows so we switched them off. Simulating midday sun was achieved with the Blondie close to the window, with the stand extended up to give the light extra height. Trial and error with the gels to get the desired white, slightly blue, cool sun effect and we were set. The office looked amazing, props to the crew for dressing the set, props to DTang for lighting the set and props to Devon for acting his scenes so well.

Viral Video 4 - Vid 4 was set in the days following Vid 3 so we made only minor changes to the set, a few more scribbles on the whiteboard, shuffled the desk around and we were good to go. I had pictured in my head of a very sharp, unique look. This video would be taking place at sunset with the sun hanging low in the sky and beaming a heavy orange glow into the room. I can't count the amount of times I'd be sitting in my office late in the afternoon when the Sun has decided to smash through my window and assault my fragile eyes with orange death rays. It's uncomfortable, it gets in your eyes and it makes me edgy which I thought would be perfect for Vid 4 as Devon would be playing a nervous Jameson who's being coerced into saying lies and denouncing OMEGA as a hoax. I was extremely pleased with the way this scene worked, the atmosphere was intense and Devon's performance matched it perfectly. I won't give too much away to those outside the production, but the 'tapping' worked out crazy well. Well done!

Scene 8 - Before finishing off the viral videos I decided we'd film Scene 8, it's a quick scene in the script and the lights we'd set up for the next shot fit this one as well. I'll be honest, all the little films and stuff-arounds Trent and I had worked on I always loved controlling the camera, filming OMEGA has been great and DTang is unmatched and has been phenomenal as Cameraman/D.O.P. However, I was very keen on filming at least one part of this movie, Scene 8 seemed like the perfect place. The shot will be a cut away when Jake (Adam) is trying to call Prof. Jameson while watching the viral videos. We cut into the office to show that the phone is dead (Adelaide's blacked out, remember?) and we see Jameson hiding 'something' behind the whiteboard, a 'something' which our main character finds shortly after. A quick focus pull between the phone in the foreground to Jameson in the background and we had a quick, effective scene and I got to film a part of my movie! DTang very graciously allowed me to film with his 7D which is certainly something of a privileged, I was very grateful for the opportunity, thanks a million dude!

Viral Video 5/ Scene 7b - Vids 3 & 4 was both tripod shots (the same as Vids 1 & 2 were all those months ago). Vid 5 changes it up a bit by losing the tripod and shot handheld, but handheld by the cameraman and the character. Vid 5 is the shortest of all the viral videos but there were so many actions and beats that it required as much time as the longest one. To alleviate things Trent and I decided to have a cut in between the video, the opening dialogue as the first half, then the awesome Location Jump was the second half. The location jump is a camera trick that we envisioned to seamlessly merge the viral videos with the scenes in the film. Adam's character Jake is watching each of these well after they've been recorded, the only one he watches via live-stream is Vid 5. So to show that these characters were interacting, however remotely, at the same time we worked out a way to show the virals on Jake's laptop screen in his kitchen, then smoothly transitioning and 'jumping locations' through the camera into Jameson's office at Stockport. It's tricky to explain in text, so I'll let you see it for yourself when we screen the film. The first half had DTang and Devon holding the camera to simulate a handheld shot then Devon read through his frantic scene revealing that he was forced to lie and that OMEGA is a very real, very imminent threat. The camera then swings down as if the videos over. The second half shows that Jameson has more to say, the camera swings up (awesome six-handed co-ordination from DTang, Devon and Trent on the 7D rig), and he tries to get out one last piece of crucial information. The shot rounded out with the Location Jump merging Vid 5 with Scene 7 from DAY 4.

So that wraps out DAY 11 and also completes the Viral Videos which are a crucial part of the film that we started filming way back on DAY 1. I'm so pleased to get these virals and scenes in the bag, with these shot we have successfully completed the last major sequence for OMEGA. Tonight was a awesome shoot and while I apologize for getting sick near the end, everyone pulled together to finish up the night on a strong note. Big thanks to Teena, Trent, Paul and Billy (still with a broken leg in a cast) for your speedy set ups and pack ups. DTang once again outdid himself with photography and lighting - you'd never know the light coming through the window was not the from the sun but from equally (if not more) powerful 2000W Blondie. 

Lastly tonight marks the last day of filming with the sublime Devon Aubert. Devon was the first actor to be filmed for OMEGA in October of 2010 where he drove out with us two hours out of the city to a remote Observatory for filming. He's stuck with us and given us a brilliant, engaging performance as the lovable and the threatened / bashed / kidnapped Professor David Jameson. Devon gave up his time and energy even on DAY 7, his kidnapping scene, where he had no dialogue but still threw himself into the role. 

Thanks a million Devon, you we there when we started and you were there when we finished, OMEGA's going to be awesome thanks to you.

Huge thanks to Devon, DTang, Trent, Teena, Billy & Paul! All that's left to film is the GoPro car scenes, some pick ups and some minor reshoots in the weeks to come. We're almost there, we just need to stop writing more scenes!

OMEGA - Production Diary - Day 10

Last night before Rapture... should get some good footage of the earth burning. Oh, and the movie.

PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 10 -  May 21st, 2011 | UniSA West Campus, Adelaide.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Cinematographer), Sam Cherry (Gaffer), Amber McBride (Camera Assist/Focus Puller), Jordan Agutter (Gaffer/Best Boy) Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (D.A./Sound Recorder), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader), Paul Larsen(Grip/Runner). Cast in attendance: Kate Englefield (Jess). Lending a hand: Gigi D'angelo (Costumes) & Aliante Youngdino (The Agent).

Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Scenes 12b, 15b & 16.

And we're back! It's the last night before Judgement Day so we've only got a few hours in which to film the remaining coverage of the lovely Ms. Englefield.

We are back, once more, at the ever versatile UniSA Campus in the city. Once again, a huge thanks to Mark, Christine and Gordon for allowing us to film in the Yungondi Building which has stood in for a wide variety of locations for OMEGA.

Tonight we're filming Kate's coverage of the dialog from her end in Scenes 12 and 15. Adam already filmed his side of this same two conversations on Day 8 at Bonython Park. We edited the footage of his lines together for Kate to review and also had Paul help out by reading Jake's lines with Kate.

Prep for tonights shoot was the standard affair, the three scenes called for a single location which (after some back and forth) we found nearby our base. DTang, Amber, Sam & Jordan started working out lighting for the area using some cool new LED lights DTang bough along from an earlier shoot. They were very bright, but we had heaps of control over their brightness and intensity. Coupled with a redhead, some gels and a make-shift cutter it was looking very spiff.

Scene 12b is Kate's heavy scene, this is where the emotion really starts to boil over for her character. She's just seen the CM gunned just to get to the mysterious Joseph. We started the shot with Kate saying her opening line, then slowly sliding down the wall and dropping to the floor. It was a great shot because it shows Kate's character, Jess, keeping it together but when she hears her boyfriends voice she's lets go and staggers down the wall. Kate played the scene brilliantly, with plenty of raw, visceral emotion. The fake blood on her hands, the tired drained expression all came together to make us sympathize with her character. A bit of extra work for Billy and Jordan as we directed them in between Kate and the camera, they appeared out of focus and casting long shadows just added to the frenetic energy of the scene of people rushing about the hospital. The scene was played through a number of times going from a mid shot, to our brilliant close ups.

Scene 15b was up next. 15b in the script is two lines of dialog from Jess as a voice over, the scene is really focused on Jake as he's nearing the thrilling conclusion of the film, this is when the stakes are getting higher and we're nearing bursting point as OMEGA rockets closer. Even though it's a voice over scene I still wanted to film Kate acting out the lines on the same set, I figure it's good to have the footage on hand for when we're editing we may find the scene could benefit from quick cuts in between both characters, who knows! It's more for safety then anything else. As always Kate played the dialog perfectly.

Scene 16 was last up for the night (wow, and it's still before midnight!). Scene 16 is a quick shot, no dialog and will be a quiet cut away near the end of the film as the haunting blue light of OMEGA washes over our characters. DTang and I had two different ideas how to play the scene, one with Kate just looking out of the window towards the light and the other with Kate moving out from her position to get an even closer look at the light. Both were equally interesting shots, so we filmed them both and we'll see what looks the best in the editing room.

Finished filming early for a change! Woo! After we'd wrapped filming on Day 10 for OMEGA we managed to get some other stuff shot for side projects. Firstly we filmed a special On-Set Episode of REEL FX (to air next week) where we discussed lighting and the operation of the clapper board. And secondly We filmed some absolute comedy gold "mockumentary" interviews for the OMEGA Behind the Scenes DVD. This is one seriously funny group of people we have working on this filming and our DV Cameras are chock full of one hilarious "interview" after the other.

Day 10 was an awesome night of filming, we had great help from our two newest members of the crew Amber McBride and Sam Cherry, both did a fantastic job first day on OMEGA. Jordan joining us for the second time was also very helpful and provided us with some of more funnier fake interviews. Gigi and Frenk we good enough to visit us on set and even helped out by filming a whole load of Behind the Scenes footage. Trent, Teena, Billy, Paul and of course DTang once again bought their A-Games.

Lastly Day 10 also marks the wonderful Kate Englefield's last day of shooting for OMEGA. Kate has been a joy to work with, volunteering her time and energy and bringing us an amazing and engaging performance that she so skillfully bought to life. Aside from Team Ninos Kate has been with the film the longest (a week before DTang), we first met Kate in 2009 where we instantly found ourselves with a talented and versatile actress.

Thanks so much Kate, I know I speak for everyone on the cast and crew when I say it's been an absolute pleasure, OMEGA is going to rock thanks to you!

Huge thanks to Kate, DTang, Amber, Sam, Jordan, Trent, Teena, Billy, Paul, Gigi & Frenk! Another great shoot, and the world didn't end! Sweeeet.

OMEGA - Production Shots - Day 9

Production Shots from our ninth day of filming have been uploaded to our Flickr account, check them all out here. Many more to come, I'd never seen so many cameras snapping away!

OMEGA - Production Diary - Day 9

Tonight is that last major sequence for OMEGA, not much left to film after this... I can see the finish line!

PRODUCTION DIARY - DAY 9 -  March 31st, 2011 | UniSA West Campus, Adelaide.

Crew in attendance: Peter Ninos (Director), David Tang (Cinematographer), Michael Tessari (Gaffer/Camera Assist), Trent Ninos (First A.D.), Teena Ninos (D.A./Sound Recorder), Gigi D'angelo (Costumes), Billy Ninos (Clapper Loader), Paul Larsen (Grip/Runner) George Carr (Props/Research). Cast in attendance: Kate Englefield (Jess), Nick Buckland (Dr. Blake), Aliante Youngdino (The Agent).

Scenes being filmed: OMEGA Scenes 10 & 11.

We're back at UniSA for the last major sequence in the film. Unlike our other shoots we're only filming for one standalone day, so we need to get all our shots in the can by tonight.

I'll talk first about our prep for Day 9 - the Hospital scenes. We have the same location as Day 3 so we had to dress the corridor in the same way as we did in December when we last filmed it. This time around we had some extra props to add an extra layer of detail. First thing in the morning, after Teena and I picked up all our equipment from the MRC and Picture Hire, we headed to a Medical Supply store recommended to me by my GP (Thanks Doc!). Pushing our way through the wall of incontinence pads we found actual IV bags filled with saline solution and even the IV drip tube set, we also grabbed another stethoscope for Nick to use. All up the props ended up costing less then $30 - for actual medical supplies, how awesome is that?

The night before the shoot I found yet another excuse to transcend this mortal realm and ascend to the promised land of Officeworks. I had mocked up three hospital posters in Photoshop, huge thanks to Teena and George Carr for snapping pics of the posters in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for reference. I must say the posters made the corridor and elevator sets look great, I'll post some photos of them in the Production Shots shortly.

Teena and I arrived at UniSA just after 6PM, DTang, Michael and Trent were already there. We started unloading our gear and moved into the set. We immediately started looking around the area for places to film. This small area has already been on camera over our many filming days (playing various different locations) so we needed to look for fresh areas and angles. By playing with the geography of the location we were able to shoot it so it appeared that one corner led to a completely different area - it was great fun working this all out.

Acting in our scenes today we had the always wonderful Kate Englefield playing Jess. With her was Nick Buckland who kindly agreed to play the Chief of Medicine Dr. Blake. Aliante Youngdino (Frenk) returned playing the nefarious astronomer-napping, security guard-capping Agent. Gigi D'angelo once again supplied us our awesome costumes and delivered them as well, much obliged! Visiting the set was Carina Gun and Jeremy Keller-Bakker, great to meet you guys. Everyone was chatting and laughing, the mood was very light and fun. Props to Paul and Billy who came down to the shoot directly from work and training respectively and still helped us out. Kudos! 


Scenes 10 & 11 are essentially the same scene. Jess, the CM and the Agent walk through the Hospital discussing the mysterious patient Jess operated on earlier in the night. The scene culminates in someone getting shot... but I won't spoil who just yet!

To cover the entire conversation we had six set ups across the location and two to three close ups for each of the actors individual lines. We covered Scene 10 first from three different angles. Even when not in the shot the actors still did a great job providing eye lines and acting through the dialogue. The action was covered hand held by DTang and Mike with the 7D for still and tracking shots, we reviewed the footage and it looked awesome - Scene 10 is in the bag!


Moving directly onto Scene 11 we reset our lights and positions and ran through the cues. We rehearsed the actions a few times before rolling - the cast and the crew did a great job with very little rehearsal. Ideally we should've been able to practice in the days before the shoot but again the train is bearing down on us so we had to fast tracked the process. I appreciate everyone's hard work and patience.

The first third of our shoot was done, we moved to the far end of the Yungondi Building to the elevator area. We set up and filmed our actors waiting for the elevator, delivery their lines and entering. Michael Tessari agreed to film a cameo (he had already put on the patient gown the minute he saw it, so that was easy). He played the part of a sick patient wheeling his IV stand out of the elevator. Looked awesome... thanks man!

The next set up was inside the elevator, we dressed the interior walls with our posters and used a nice wide angle to show the sleek silver interior in all its glory. One of the lights was flickering so we positioned Frenk underneath it to make him look intimidating. The footage looked great, very cold and foreboding.

For when our characters exit the elevator on a different floor we simply redressed the same exterior as before (Big Bang Theory style). New posters, a box plant and some new chairs sold the effect. I really enjoy those types of set ups, it's really innovative using what we have to make something work. Great work everyone.

Our last set up had us inside the main foyer of the Yungondi Building. This is the big finish, someone's about to get shot. We filmed the dialogue leading up to the big moment first, then set up the shot and fall separately. One of the conditions of filming inside UniSA was that we weren't able to fire off our awesome blood shooting (used to great effect in shooting Paul on Day 7). So we filmed the shot plate with the character simulating the shot and falling back onto the safety mattress (supplied by Trent) with the blood effect to be added in during Post. A few extra practical effects were also employed. Fake blood was carefully applied to the wound for the shots of the victim lying on the ground. And we used an empty bullet shell with a small piece of incenses (Sandlewood, my throat's still burning). When lit and placed in the shell it looks just like a newly fired bullet shell still smoking from the heat of the gun - sweet! The low angle was brilliant and the focus shift from the smoking shell to the wounded victim on the ground looked oh so nice.

Without spoiling too much the scene worked really well. Kate was awesome and gave a truly bone chilling scream. Nick was a great sport and literally threw himself into the role. And Frenk played the Agent menacingly and cool. The framing and lighting work crazy well and the staging when the Agent goes from the one being led to circling around into a position of intimating superiority worked like a charm.

We had originally planned on filming Scenes 12b & 15b (Kate's coverage) but it was nearing 1AM and we were all feeling the effects of the loooooong day. This was especially evident in the production shots of DTang molesting accosting Mike with the fake pistol.

Aside from the late hours and losing three Redhead bulbs 'twas an awesome night of filming!

Scenes 10 & 11 are now added to our growing list of completed scenes, we have only to film the last shots with Kate and remaining viral videos with Devon Aubert (Prof. Jameson) in the next few weeks. After that at least one more day for Pick Ups and we're done! Woo!

That wraps up filming for tonight and also marks Nick Buckland's and Aliante Youngdino's last shots on OMEGA. I'd like that thank the both of them for their dedication and hard work, I appreciate you both for volunteering your time and talent and in helping to bring OMEGA to life. You both played your lines brilliantly with Kate and to each other. If I saw Nick in the same costume he wore last night in a hospital I'd be convinced he was the Chief of Medicine and would be obliviously letting myself be injected with god knows what. And if I saw Frenk walking through a dark ally wearing his Agent costume and that creepy grin I'd be bolting it so fast I'd break the sound barrier (and probably my legs).

Thanks to Kate, Nick, Frenk, DTang, Michael, Gigi, Trent, Teena, Billy, Paul, George, Carina, & Jeremy. 'Twas a long night, a much deserved break for you all!

OMEGA Part 1 (Official Trailer)

First A.D. Trent Ninos has edited together our first Teaser Trailer for OMEGA Part 1.
Check out the awesomeness here.