Images copyright © 2007 Velvet Revolution Pictures all rights reserved.
The Project: Two-Eleven
The Client: Velvet Revolution Pictures, Director: Velvet Andrews-Smith
Synopsis: A charismatic criminal and a brilliant detective finally meet their match. Blake Turner lives a life on his own terms. He's talented, daring and rich. Little does anyone know he's actually a serial bank robber. He likes the adrenaline rush from pulling off high-tech bank heists. He loves the lifestyle that comes along with money. Rich Sommerfield plays life by the rules. He's a hard-working family man. He's also the smartest detective on the police force. The two men find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Yet they're equally brilliant, determined and driven. Their paths are destined to collide, with explosive results.
Background Information: 3-day shoot, 4 locations, 20-page script. Sounds daunting but not so when you have the type of energy a director like Velvet brings to her projects. Velvet is a well-established AD who has worked with many of Hollywood's leading talent and crew on features such as Mission Impossible III and War of the Worlds. As a DP, Velvet is the perfect Director to work for: smart, prepared, passionate and extremely grateful. Two- Eleven was Velvet's first foray into directing. Her presence, confidence and vision in her work is immense. Velvet cares deeply about people and her disposition ensures that she has plenty of positive, creative energy on her set. Velvet briefs the crew each morning about her vision for the day, then reiterates to everyone how grateful she is for their efforts.
Cinematic Treatment: We shot this short in Panavision Super 35mm wide-screen format with Primo Spherical Prime Lenses.
We utilized a 30-foot Technocrane for the bank robbery scenes, a 6-foot slide and glide for the interior bedroom scenes, and a dolly and steadicam for the remaining setups.
Many of the action sequences were shot on a 400mm telephoto lens, which heightens the drama by foreshortening / stacking up the action. I shot the slow motion shots at 60FPS.
One of my favorite tricks are split field diopters. I used split field diopters for the loading of the gun scenes, so that the gun in the foreground, as well as the expressions on the face, are in focus simultaneously.
For the scenes in the precinct I shot with uncorrected green overhead fluorescent lights in conjunction with 1/2 plus green on my dino lights streaming through the window. In telecine we dialed out 50% of the overall green in the precinct scenes, giving it a subtle greenish-blue feel. We shot on Kodak filmstock, primarily 5217 200ASA Tungsten Vision2 and 5279 500ASA Tungsten films.
A first for me was the last day once the light had gone. We had one shot left and the generator had already been wrapped. We needed a quick shot of Blake leaving his car. The car was now illuminated with a sodium vapor streetlamp as the day's ambience had disappeared. I took out a roll of 5279 500ASA Tungsten film, put the T-stop to 1.3 on the prime lens and instructed the loader to push process the stock two stops. I felt that the Tungsten stock with the orange cast of the sodium vapor would render the image a fairly neutral color temperature and I was blown away at telecine. We have a wide shot of Blake getting out of the car and I don't believe anyone watching this shot won't believe it wasn't shot at 10am in full sunlight as opposed to 10pm at night, utilizing just a one-source sodium vapor streetlamp.
To view Two - Eleven at at theatre near you, go to festival updates at: http://www.twoelevenmovie.com
Crew:
Production Company: Velvet Revolution Pictures
Director/Writer/Producer: Velvet Andrews-Smith
Producer: Kirk M. Smith
Producer: Michael Ryan
Composer: Tobias Marberger
Sound Designer: Bob Gremore
Cinematographer: Daron Keet
Editor: Kirk M. Smith
Associate Producer: Kelly Lane
Associate Producer: Richard Amadril
1st ADs: Tom Snyder, Timothy R. Price and Scooter Perrotta
2nd ADs: Stephen J D'Amato and Peter Dress
Stunt Coordinator: Will Leong
Stunt Drivers: Richard Bucher and Gary Toy
A Camera Operator: Christine Wagner
B Camera Operator: Cale Finot and Bryan Fletchall
1st ACs: Sven Heinrich and Wade Whitley
2nd ACs: Gabriel Velasco and Felipe Perez-Burchard
Loader: Kirk M. Smith
Camera Intern: Adam Maywhart
Still Photographer: Steve Krul
Technocrane Operator: Jim Lay
Gaffer: David Chung
Lighting Technician: Jason Puliti
Electricians: Kolter Bethurem and Karron Johnson
Key Grip: Gregory Brezovec
Best Boy Grip: Justin Wolack
Dolly Grip: Cruz Bethurem
Grip: Brad Jenkins
Sound Mixer: Jerry Wolfe
Boom Operator: Ben Rhodes-Whickett
Property Master: David Touster
Production Designers: Joseph H. Avalos and Bill Eigenbrodt
Construction Coordinator: David Weinman
General Foreman: Chris Kubin
Art Department Coordinator: William M. Escobar
On Set Props: Freddy Padilla
Costume Design: Tania Pacheco
Makeup Artist: Sheila Moran
Script Supervisor: Sigrine Vally
PAs: Andre Hoogeveen, Nick Sogard and Muffett Brinkman
Opening Title Sequence: Tom Pik
Finishing Colorist: Larry Yore
Colorist: Marcelo Aprile
Nitris Editor: Mitch Fehr
Audio Engineer: Bob Gremore
Assistant Audio Engineer: Robert Gomez
Cast:
Blake Turner: Richard Danielson
Detective Rich Sommerfield: Jared Ward
Elizabeth Sommerfield: Erica Shaffer
Teller 1: Mitchel Evans
Lauren: Patricia Kara
Daughter: Samantha Will
Jerry: Larry Guli
Female Teller: Mimi Karsh
Teller 2: Cesario Tio
Bossy Teller: Bonnie Hellman
Bank Manager: Will Martin Brennan
Rosie: Veronica Alicino
Wife: Amanda Curtin
Husband: Jonathan Winn
Officer 1: Andrea Rosenthal
