Hawks & Deserts

I have always digged hawks.

Since a child myself I have always admired the royal elegance of such a beautiful strong bird. It's typical silverish tone of the first one I saw in my life made it look like shining metal and so magestic it look soft and respected at the same time.

In psychology class back in college days I found out why I happened to relate myself to those birds, for its elegance and for its ability to soar high and away and always protect its bird family as they are very territorial and protective of what it considers its own. As corny as it sounds to some, I relate to that much.

Now, years later, I wanted to say such a strong image in the song "Utopia" while writing the lyrics and now, for this shot I have tried to get in contact with people that breed and train hawks and pray birds, and I finally got one!

Im just waiting to confirm for the hour they can get the falcon to our location in the deserts south of Lima. I went location scouting today and found a place close to what I had in mind with that dried-soil look to it.

So now....sunday is the day. It will be awesome to have finally a hawk for the takes.
Later that night, the pick up takes for the middle part of the song.

Color test of the "Utopía" videoclip

Here is the first color timing test of random clips from the video.
So far, so good.


UTOPIA videoclip color test from Juan Carlos Oganes on Vimeo.

Filming the Alter Ego video

So finally....the Utopía videoclip was shot on monday.
The day was packed with details that made it a frenzy one in production anecdotes.

Lighting took quite a while as the place was big and the main power box was a bit far from the shooting sets. We had a late start and had to push my singing shots to the end of the day and overrun our schedule ending time by three and a half hours. We wrapped for the day early morning the next day. Besides of that, it was good to see all the band together after years of being apart.

Establishing shots were done in 720p at 24fps using a Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM, medium and tight tele shots were done with the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD and Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF zoom lenses all using the Letus Extreme.

The HVX200 delivered beautiful colors and details but had to lower the V-detail a bit to get rid of the "video" sharpness and get closer to film edge-quality.

Tried far to hue the colors in-camera as not to overload post-production and rendering times. So far, on today's tests, it's giving me five hours per minute of video.
The Jib-arm bringed those floating shots I so love and raising up to 12 feet, it sure brought production value to the shots.
As always, my good old friend Aguinaga was with me on the lights and it was a good thing to work once again together after so many years and like on every job, he is quite ready for light directions I might have. Most of my latter work was done with him under and I must say he is not only a great professional but a great friend.

Here are some pics of the shooting.
The second day of shooting will be on the weekend.

Here below is a first color grading test of random clips from the video.

Utopía wardrobes

We went to pick up the wardrobes for the videoclip. The wardrobe maker is Emilio Montero, excellent professional and good friend. He makes costumes for the Lima Prolírica Opera and also the Zarzuela. I chose him not only because he is so talented in his craft, but also as HD captures every nuance in fabric and texture that we need to be very picky on things like this and he is the guy for it. Toño Valero also came with me, his guitar riffs are gonna look cool with wardrobes like this.

So far, this is what he has. I'm liking it!

"Utopía" videoclip getting close

Now as the day for the Alter Ego videoclip shooting comes close, I'm making visual examples to aid on the look style I want for it so I show my gaffers and crew. I always loved medieval, ancient, castle-like structures kinda like in the gothic arquictecture and for interiors the classy candle light ambiences. The song "Utopía" is dark and heavy so this bloomy and contrasty light/dark atmospehere need to resemble it. From wardrobe to make up, from scenography to lighting. All needs to be thought of well Tomorrow I'm checking for the type of cloth each band member fits to.


Here are some pics that exposes in a way the look I want to achieve for the clip.

The widescreen pictures are from Aaron Hobson that I happened to stumble on the net. Excellent work he does.

Nikon zoom fixed again

I took the Nikon zoom lens for repair and the guy did well. He dismantled the whole lens in parts and found that the problem was the the Manual/Automatic switch: it wasn't clamping well enough and it became loose, leaving the focus ring to spin freely without engaging the focusing internal motors.
This was the ofending part: The switch that didn't clamp well.
I have another Canon 35mm f/2.0 Prime lens that the focus ring didn't work as well. Dismantled the whole thing also.
It seems that it has the internal spining mechanism broken. I bought it refurbished in the US and I still have the warranty but it's too much hassle having it sent there, paying shipping and waiting for weeks to have it fixed, so just went ahead and took care of business myself. The guy sure seems to know what he's doing. Gotta pick it tomorrow though.
I just hope the Nikon lens doesn't become broken again and this time its fixed for good.

UPDATE: Went to pick up my Canon 35mm Prime and it works fine at last. The Nikon zoom lens is not giving me any problems either. Hope it stays that way.

Got the Nikon zoom lens

Finally...the Letus Nikon Lens Mount has arrived. Customs agents gave it clearance today but it was to be delivered tomorrow. I couldn't wait so I drove like 60km to Fedex's main office to pick it up. Then, off to get the Nikon lens. The guy was just finishing cleaning it up for the sell and it looked good. Now the focus barrel was better (but not smooth yet). I tried it a couple of times on the camera kit with the Letus Extreme and it worked pretty well: no vignetting on wide apertures, nice beautiful bokeh at 2.8, sharp, no scrathes and good contrast. But the focus ring got stuck once so the dealer gave it to me for some days to test it without buying it yet to see if it worked for me. So far, already installed with my HVX200 kit at home, the focus ring got stuck and doesn't move.
Tomorrow I'm taking it back for repair. This time it has to work. It is the best bargain ever and this Nikon zoom is quite solid and rigid and together with the Tamron 28-75mm, I really have a good range from wide to tele. I really dont want to let this lens go.

Found a bargain Nikon zoom lens

I bought a Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR lens a month ago. I guess it was second hand but it looked like new. The quality of the picture is quite good and decided to buy it after reading some reviews. But Im kinda short on the far end of the zoom range. I cant get tight shots from far away as 75mm isnt enough so I need to go shopping.

Some days ago, while searching for weeks for fast zoom lenses on a local market (cant go higher than 2.8, the Letus eats up 1/2 of a stop) I found a nice little (big actually) Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF lens. It looks amazing! It's condition was quite abused (the focus ring was loose, the zoom ring was jerky and it stuck often) but it looked repairable. Besides, the price was tempting (less than 1/4 of its actual price new) and it seemed repairable. So I told the guy if he could have it repaired and if done well I'll take it. He agreed.

That lens is really huge. Almost the size of the Canon XL 16x II, and the good news it can keep a 2.8 stop in all it's range. It can also go down to 22. I checked the glass under bright light and I didn't see any scratches and dont detect any aberrations either.

I called the guy yesterday and he has it repaired. Im just waiting for the Nikon Lens Mount from Letus to arrive tomorrow to have that huge lens installed on my cam rig!

It's quite a bargain...I just hope the repair is not just a momentary "make-up" and down the road in some days it starts falling apart again. The place doesn't offer a warranty.

Edward Gorey

I have always been a fan of Tim Burton films.

Starting young as an animator in Disney projects, he quickly made a name of himself by concetrating on his style that ranges between the dark, kinda film noir and gothic.

There has been an author and illustrator that I stumbled upon researching art galleries and odd concepts like Salvador Dalí's beautiful paintings and what Im talking about are the drawings of Edward Gorey. His visual style resembles much or at least transports me to the turn-of-the-century british era in the streets of London. When one sees his work Im sure that many have (and defintely any shrink that likes to analize anything) guessed he was a british or he was into death stuff or something. When I read his bio it was quite interesting to learn that he never ever stepped on english soil nor he had an adiction for that kind of stuff. In fact, many of his books were children's books....yes!! Children's books (ok, If I had a kid that loved that type of drawings and was attracted to all that dark stuff...im sure I'd send him off to the school counselor!).

His topics always inpired macabre, cemetery, dark and contrasty looks that revolved around the goth and the surrealist. He was into "literary nonsense"...much like Lewis Caroll.

Anyway, Im sure Tim Burton has come with ideas of his own watching his drawings as inspiration for The Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, Sweeny Todd and others in the same horror/gothic type of gloomy atmospheric films.

I'd like to give the Utopia videoclip that look and air. Keep it dark, contrasty, lury, gothic....yes, that Gorey type of look. The lens I'll use together with the HVX200 will help to give it that tight flat sensation. Definetly, a lot of post work will be done in grading it to a darker picture. Plan to hue it toward the dark blues and greens.

Let's see how it develops. The day for principal shooting is getting closer.

Another option

Still searching for a good location for the video and another option has come up in my mind: The Posada del Angel pub/bar. They keep in place antique old stuff that with precise lightning can look rather spooky or gothic and that's the look I want. The AAA is quite nice too but it comes with little light and no props that'd help achieve what we need.

The problem comes in the fact that saturday is a day chosen as everyone is free and in the city, but it's also a busy day for any pub/bar too....so let's see what we can come up with.
If we lock that place for us it would be awesome but we must be quick as the owner is a bit dodgy but I talked to him and I just need to know how much he is gonna charge me. The shooting day is getting closer!


UPDATE: We got the place!! I talked with the owner and we have the place. Now, off to keep the pre-prodcution going fast. Not all memebers are here in Lima or available at the same day or at the same hours. Wardrobe will be needed.

Alter Ego new video

The band....our band....

We had pretty good times back then playing concerts and the peruvian musical circuit.
I still meet and talk with some fellow members and some months ago, because of my new adquisition (the HD camera), we came up with the idea of shooting another videoclip for a song we wanted to have one for, so we chose "Utopia".

So far, Rodolfo Carreño, Toño valero, Israel Beltran "Putre" and Israel "Doom" Medina are on board. We tried to contact Miguel Flores but he is lost somewhere not returning calls. He doesnt even know why he is called so I don't think it's personal. He is just into his own stuff.

Not only "Utopia" has that dark/gothic sound to it but it is very majestic and gives a lot of imaginery to my mind. Besides testing the HD camera, getting back together for the day at least would be a very good thing to do and to remember.