"It's not a motorcycle baby, It's a Chopper."

[Evin Grant]

Client: Big Bear Choppers
Title: "American Dream"
Prod. Co.: Crossover Film Co. INC.
Director: Mark Cross
Director of Photography: Evin Grant
Redninja DIT: Brook Willard
Red# 81 (Sam Druckerman's)

This was a long day but it was a blast. The narrative elements were filmed at Sand Canyon in the Budwiser shack (Rember those frog commercials) and then the production moved to downtown where we had a 12' Jimmy jib mounted on a Shotmaker. We used Cooke S4s for the narrative and an Angenioux 15-40 T2.6 Optimo for the rolling footage.

Here are two 1K h264 clips.
http://www.redninjas.net/chopperboy.mov
http://www.redninjas.net/tunnelsled.mov

And some BTS stills.


Me operating with 1st AC Bobby Settemire


Brook on the Shotmaker helping the jib op. Shane Harness.


I love the mixed lighing.

Check out these awesome Choppers too...
http://www.bigbearchoppers.com

[Brook Willard]

What a day... I'm still deliriously tired.

We had the jib down around 1-2" off the ground at times... and maybe 6" from the bike. We shot 29 rolls for about 170GB - 95% 4K with a little 2K 48fps in there.

[Zakaree Sandberg]

hehe I can see you in the headlight:)

[Brook Willard]

hehe I can see you in the headlight:)

You should see the 4K. You can identify people in the reflections.

[Zakaree Sandberg]

haha i bet!
But honestly.. the tunnel scene kicks some serious ass.. the pavement looks ridiculous! (i use ridiculous in a good way)

[Tim Lüdin]

Hi Evin

Nice shots. Tack sharp. Almost unreal sharp.
What mattebox did you use in the barn and what mattebox with the optimo?
Was that a arri MB-14?

What do you think about the optimo? Must be a crazy lens.

Looking forward to the whole clip.

Thanks
Tim

[Evin Grant]

Not really much you can do when you're product is a shit load of mirrored chrome bolted to glossy painted sheetmetal.

[Brook Willard]

The mattebox was a little Arri clip-on. We used the same MB for the whole day. I didn't bother to check the model number.

I don't know how Evin felt, but I personally wasn't blown away by the Optimo... if only for its slower speed and somewhat awkward design.

[Daniel Reichenbach]

This picts are stunning, this clarity and beautifull light on the first and the mixed lights on the second clip. 29 rolls, hehehe, that sounds funny.

[Evin Grant]

The mattebox was just a clip on 4x5.65 Arri, might have been the 14, I didn't look for a model number either. It was the same box on all lenses. The Optimo was sharp but I would have prefered the 15-40 T2 Cooke, the extra 2/3 stop would have been very useful.