The Silent City

[Ruairi Robinson]

if anyone is interested, I've put my most recent short film on the internets. It's called "The Silent City" and features, among others, the actor Cillian Murphy in a small role. I wrote/directed/edited it, and did the vast majority of the visual effects myself. It's shot on 35mm/scope. My previous short film was nominated for an Oscar a few years back, and this one - well it didn't got nominated for an Oscar, but got me an agent in CAA in Hollywood, and a manager in 3Arts Entertainment, and a bunch of scripts sent to me from the big studios... so things are looking up bigtime.


http://www.ruairirobinson.com/silentcity/silentcity_500width.jpg

Download it in standard def and high def formats:
http://www.ruairirobinson.com/silentcity/silentcity_small_h264.mov
(720x306 quicktime - 106MB)
http://www.ruairirobinson.com/silentcity/silentcity_720p_h264.mov
(1280x545 quicktime - 378MB)
(right click + save target as or option+click on a mac)

Apologies, I know it's lame, I know it's pathetic, I know it's much much classier to let people find out about it on their own, and have other people post links to it instead if they actually like it, instead of shoving it in people's faces like a used car salesman, but... ell... I guess someone might be interested. I hope.

Cheers,
Ruairi Robinson
www.ruairirobinson.com

[Erik Rangel]

That came out Great.
I don't think there is any problem with wanting to show off all the hard work it took to make that.
Congrats on landing an agent and manager. I hope to see more of your work...shot with a RED ONE of course.

[Jason Francois]

Great job!!!! Very well done.

I would love to know if you ever post of sell DVD's including the process of how you pulled this off.

Is this a teaser for a feature? The story didn't seem complete to me, so that's my assumption.

Never the less it had a great cinematic style. Nice shot selection.

Best,

Jason

EDIT: in a rare moment of genious I decided to check out your website...yes, it should be the first place. :) Looks to be much information for me to look over.

[Ruairi Robinson]

Great job!!!! Very well done.

I would love to know if you ever post of sell DVD's including the process of how you pulled this off.

Is this a teaser for a feature? The story didn't seem complete to me, so that's my assumption.

Never the less it had a great cinematic style. Nice shot selection.

Best,

Jason

EDIT: in a rare moment of genious I decided to check out your website...yes, it should be the first place. :) Looks to be much information for me to look over.



Cheers guys - the story isn't really... well it's NOT complete... it's sort of the tip of the iceberg, so I can see how you would say that.

I guess my theory was that if I could make people WANT to see the rest, I'd be onto something... that's the theory anyway, hope it was successful...

R.

[PaulClements]

Looks great Ruairi, some very nice shots in there and very atmospheric, would love to see it made into a feature and get to know what the story you have in mind really is all about.

[P Andersson]

Ruari,

Hollywood should just write you a check and wait for the results.

[Geoff Reisner]

I've been trying to download this all afternoon but it keeps canceling out about halfway through. Anyone else experiencing this problem? I really want to see this film.

[Jason Francois]

Cheers guys - the story isn't really... well it's NOT complete... it's sort of the tip of the iceberg, so I can see how you would say that.

I guess my theory was that if I could make people WANT to see the rest, I'd be onto something... that's the theory anyway, hope it was successful...

R.

I understand completely.

As a teaser, I am truly teased and want to see more. :)

[Geoff Reisner]

Wow, this was a great short! Excellent cinematography and production value. I remember seeing some behind the scenes from this a while back, I can't begin to imagine how much time went into post-production.

I too 'want to see more'...someone write the man a check...

Thanks for sharing this Ruairi!

[luis bustamante]

Brilliant!

I'd like to ask you a million questions! Here's a few to get started: Would you care to share your budget? How much of that went to 35mm film related expenses?

The music is very accurate, loved the cello.

Thanks for sharing! Truly inspiring!

[Tom Lowe]

How on earth did you do that "helicopter" shot??

Was that basically all CGI once it booms up from the guy with his legs blown off? Incredible!

I also liked that effect where it kind of looks like a monster or something is running on the ground POV.

Very impressive!

[Milan Nikolic]

Ruairi,
It is very impressive teaser. Very good camera work and atmosphere. I would recommend you for further funding!
Good luck.

[Jaime Vallés]

Very impressive! How big was the crew? What kind of lighting setup did you use? Where on earth was this shot?!

Can't wait to see what you do with RED!

[Ruairi Robinson]

How on earth did you do that "helicopter" shot??

Was that basically all CGI once it booms up from the guy with his legs blown off? Incredible!

I also liked that effect where it kind of looks like a monster or something is running on the ground POV.

Very impressive!


That part was CG too! The live action plate was wobbly as hell, since we couldn't afford to rent a crane, so I had to roto out the moving characters, and project them into a 3D camera mapped version of the location, and re-did the camera move in 3D... There's a VFX breakdown on my site

http://www.ruairirobinson.com/silentcity/silentcity_vfx_breakdowns.mov
(Quicktime h264 - 84 megs)

It was mostly natural light, err... there was a bit of fill in some shots (the first day we shot was miserable weather!)

It was shot in a Quarry in the Dublin Mountains. I had to pull a lot of GREEN out in telecine, and it was on the edge of looking *tinted* the whole time, but I think the Mill did a great job there too... Used Simon Norfolks photographs of Afghanistan as a colour reference for the look...

Here's some pictures from the actual location

http://www.ruairirobinson.com/leveller_shoot_photos.htm


Would you care to share your budget? How much of that went to 35mm film related expenses?

The shooting budget was about 10k euro (I put in about 7 of my own money)

which covered stock/development/camera/lenses/costumes/lights/electrician and catering

Got some completion funding too later on (the film was turned down for funding initially) and that covered the costs of editing/storage/film out and other bits and bobs

[luis bustamante]

thanks for the answers rory!*

It'd be great to know at least an estimate of how much of that 10k went to 35mm film expenses.

Can you talk about yout tools? what programs did you u used?

Also, I saw on your website a visual effects breakdown almost as cool as the film itself! you should post it here as well, it'll be of interest for our fellow red users.

Finally, I saw there that you directed the Einstein commercial by Eboy, we have been drooling on that one since we are HUGE eboy fans. As an "special favor" I'd like to ask if you could let me see a high rez version of it, I just need to see it in it's complete glory and I doubt it'll be shown where I live!

I'm working on a video of my rock band inspired by the work of eboy, so if you could talk a little about your workflow on that one you'd be of great help. Perhaps you like the music and would be intersting in helping us out!!! Check it out here: http://myspace.com/drugdealers

thanks rory!* Oh! and we think you're cool too!*

*more reasons for you to use the F word! :P (just kidding Ruairi!)

[xin]

Might we have a bittorrent link? In fact, might we have a bittorrent page of all our films and clips?

[Rob Lohman]

Really enjoyed that, excellent work! Definitely wanted to see more. I like these kinds of flicks!

That must've been an enormous post-production job. How long did it take to model, render & composite all of that? Unbelievable modeling, texturing & rendering I'd have to say!

[Ruairi Robinson]

Really enjoyed that, excellent work! Definitely wanted to see more. I like these kinds of flicks!

That must've been an enormous post-production job. How long did it take to model, render & composite all of that? Unbelievable modeling, texturing & rendering I'd have to say!

Thanks Rob - the time it took is a bit of a sore point for me, because I basically abandoned the film for over a year, and nearly gave up on it, I'd reached a point where I couldn't bear to look at the thing any more since I hated every frame of it... In all, I'd say the post took about 9 months - six months solid, break of a year+ and then 3 months to finish it off. Actually was reasonably quick to finish it off in the end...

I'd wanted to do another short film REALLY quickly to follow it up, (and to demonstrate I can do stuff QUICKLY) so applied for funding, but then the film came to the attention of a few people in Hollywood, and I very quickly got an agent, and all the rest - and got turned down for funding on the next short I wanted to do. In that order.

Anyway, I may not have to do another short (But I still have this other one I want to do - see my avatar? It stars him!)

R.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Congrats on getting it finished - well done! Excellent post/FX work!

[IAN SUN]

WOW.
My hat is off to you Ruairi.
Extra kudos for your perseverance.

[Rob Lohman]

Thanks for the info Ruairi. Would you mind telling what kind of 3D tools you use? I dabbled a bit with LightWave once, but never got really far with it.

I liked the fake lens effects when you crane over the wall with the wide angle look etc. Definitely adds to the 'real' feeling!

[James T Mather]

Ruairi, Just watched your film again - great, great work. It just gets better each time I see it. A massive well done - on a technical note your daytime environments and particle work are beyond stunning. Get going on the next one (I'm gettin' a red so if you need a second camera let me know - it's all yours).

respec.

James.

[Curran Giddens]

Nice work! Truly inspiring.... That is a lot of 3D and it is well composited with the live action.

[Ruairi Robinson]

Thanks for the info Ruairi. Would you mind telling what kind of 3D tools you use? I dabbled a bit with LightWave once, but never got really far with it.

I liked the fake lens effects when you crane over the wall with the wide angle look etc. Definitely adds to the 'real' feeling!

3d was done in 3dsmax + vray to render (a couple of shots were ARNOLD renders too, if anyone remembers that - it was the never released renderer that started the whole global illumination thing (and ended up being the core behind sony's renderer used in Monster House...)


Ruairi, Just watched your film again - great, great work. It just gets better each time I see it. A massive well done - on a technical note your daytime environments and particle work are beyond stunning. Get going on the next one (I'm gettin' a red so if you need a second camera let me know - it's all yours).

respec.

James.

That you Mr. Mathers? Cheers :)

good to hear from ya! myself, yourself, Nick and Sledge should hook up for a drink some time and took mooooooveeez

thanks again,
R.

[Clayton Harper]

Ruairi,

I think you have the most self-depricating photo captions on production stills that I have ever seen!

Nice one on the movie. You are a man of many skills.

[Ruairi Robinson]

Ruairi,

I think you have the most self-depricating photo captions on production stills that I have ever seen!

Nice one on the movie. You are a man of many skills.

Yeah, I play a mean triangle.

[luis bustamante]

thanks for the info ruairi, where did you do the compositing?

cheers

[Tom Lowe]

That part was CG too! The live action plate was wobbly as hell, since we couldn't afford to rent a crane, so I had to roto out the moving characters, and project them into a 3D camera mapped version of the location, and re-did the camera move in 3D... There's a VFX breakdown on my site

http://www.ruairirobinson.com/silentcity/silentcity_vfx_breakdowns.mov
(Quicktime h264 - 84 megs)

Wow that video was incredibly interesting. you're a genius.

I urge everyone to watch the visual fx breakdown.

[Stephen Gentle]

I just watched the breakdown. I didn't realise that the guy that gets sniped at the start was totally CG!

Those comps are absolutely amazing...

What did you composite in? Was it Shake or Flame or something else?

-Stephen

[James T Mather]

Yep, Mr. Mather here, Ruairi. The Saint and I up for pintage anytime for the ranting and triangle playing. I'll bring my spoons and we can duel.

[Ruairi Robinson]

Yep, Mr. Mather here, Ruairi. The Saint and I up for pintage anytime for the ranting and triangle playing. I'll bring my spoons and we can duel.

Thanks man - will have to wait till I have a couple of pennies back in my bank account hehe, but sounds great!

See you when...

R.

[Tom Lowe]

Ruairi, do you ever do any freelance stuff on the side? I have one shot in mind, for instance, where I want to shoot two army type guys in a desert that is supposedly in the middle east. I can shoot it in the high desert here in CA, but I want to add an Islamic minaret far off in the background, for atmosphere. Maybe a 5-second shot. At 1080p or 2k or 4K, how difficult or expensive would that be? The shot would likely be on a dolly moving somewhat smoothly.

[Manfred Lopez]

Ruairi, this is great work.

I just have one question (for you or anyone who might know). Does the fact that you are sharing your film with us here on Reduser.net disqualify it from mayor film festivals?

I am just wondering since I have seen many that want "undistributed" works and they list the web as a distribution medium. Then again, maybe Reduser.net or dvx.com don't count because they could be considered "niche" member-based industry-forum space not-generaly-open-to-the-general-public-unless-you-own-or-lust-after-a-red-or-hvx-camera.

Well, you probably don't care either way, but I was wondering if it is an issue.

[Simon Blackledge]

Ruairi, do you ever do any freelance stuff on the side? I have one shot in mind, for instance, where I want to shoot two army type guys in a desert that is supposedly in the middle east. I can shoot it in the high desert here in CA, but I want to add an Islamic minaret far off in the background, for atmosphere. Maybe a 5-second shot. At 1080p or 2k or 4K, how difficult or expensive would that be? The shot would likely be on a dolly moving somewhat smoothly.

Matte painting this one.

Put something trackable in the shot, red or blk painted golf balls for sand. min 4 visible at any 1 time, quite well spread out.

Get a photo and track it in. refine till happy :)

send me a pm if ya need any more help/info

S

[Ruairi Robinson]

Ruairi, do you ever do any freelance stuff on the side? I have one shot in mind, for instance, where I want to shoot two army type guys in a desert that is supposedly in the middle east. I can shoot it in the high desert here in CA, but I want to add an Islamic minaret far off in the background, for atmosphere. Maybe a 5-second shot. At 1080p or 2k or 4K, how difficult or expensive would that be? The shot would likely be on a dolly moving somewhat smoothly.

Hey Tom - sounds totally doable... might need to roto some of the foreground characters if they cross the BG area, and if they cross it a LOT then it could take a little while... Like Flameup says, it may need to be just a matte painting (or photocomp) depending on the camera move...

I don't *really* do FX work for other people any more... unless I'm broke...

Umm... I'm broke.


I just have one question (for you or anyone who might know). Does the fact that you are sharing your film with us here on Reduser.net disqualify it from mayor film festivals?

Yes, I've just made my film ineligible for Cannes, and several other high profile festivals. They refused to screen my last short even after it was nominated for an Oscar, so Fuck 'em.

R.

[Sean]

Dare I say it? Most of the bigger festivals have become "out of touch."

[PaulClements]

Dare I say it? Most of the bigger festivals have become "out of touch."

Alot of them seem to be a bit too lar-di-dar if you know what I mean, an excuse for a posh pissup.

[Sean]

This is what Richard Corliss had to say in Time Magazine about the 2007 Sundance Film Festival:

You don't find as much originality in Sundance films these days, and for a simple reason. In the beginning, the festival was a home for the homeless, for a rambunctious outlaw take on filmmaking. There was no need to be cautious, since indie films were rarely hits. But as Sundance became the showcase for a form of movie gaining marketplace pull, young directors naturally made films to fit the new mold.... Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment.

[Ruairi Robinson]

This is what Richard Corliss had to say in Time Magazine about the 2007 Sundance Film Festival:

You don't find as much originality in Sundance films these days, and for a simple reason. In the beginning, the festival was a home for the homeless, for a rambunctious outlaw take on filmmaking. There was no need to be cautious, since indie films were rarely hits. But as Sundance became the showcase for a form of movie gaining marketplace pull, young directors naturally made films to fit the new mold.... Trying to get your intellectual fill with Sundance films is like choosing homemade popcorn over the concession-stand variety: higher quality, little nourishment.


Heh - Now I'm just confused! My last short film was shown in Sundance :)

[Michael Struthers]

Effing Kristmas! Great work. Somebody get this guy a script and a budget!!

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I've got a script for him!

...No budget though. Heh.

[Simon Blackledge]

They refused to screen my last short even after it was nominated for an Oscar, so Fuck 'em.

R.

Ahh the new generation... hurahh!!! :wink:

[Martin Drew]

Love it Ruairi. Especially the "Ram cam" shot at the end, just the right amount of vibration.

M

[Joe Carney]

Somone asked about bittorrent. The film has been uploaded to Zudeo.com , a movie/music site based around the Azureus bittorent app with a nice file management gui. I go there a lot. Note, you have to download and install the free Azureus application and the Zudeo interface. Azureus can also operate as your default bittorrent client if you want it too.

Joe C.

Just found out how to link and download using your browser...\
http://www.zudeo.com/az-web/details/5YRO7CI3WYBG5CNOVEMVNASYAFCGTVR4.html

[Drew Suppa]

I am also whole-heartedly impressed with this effort.

I know a few compositors and VFX guys, but this is truly amazing. Ruairi, you've been PMed about your camera, and check your MySpace; I sent you a friend request and an email.

Drew Suppa

[Jaime Vallés]

Wow, this thread is back from the dead!

So, Ruairi, how's Akira going?