Xtinction Day 7

We are almost halfway done with shooting and have finally settled into a nice routine. 2nd Unit has not been nearly as active as expected, as just as with my previous 2nd Unit experience, the production has realized it takes twice the manpower to produce an additional unit. With that said, we have had several productive days shooting picture cars, picture boats, scenics, and a few vfx plates.

One of the most beneficial things I have come across on this project is the post flow and dailies delivery. When shooting sync sound, each camera is outfitted with a timecode box jamming timecode into the camera from the sound mixer. Then when brought into FCP, the editor syncs the sound and picture with a pluggin called Sync N Link, so almost immediately all the sound files are synced to their respective picture takes on the timeline. The dailies have been delivered digitally via YouSendIt; the director is even watching dailies on his Iphone!

We have been shooting on two REDs, build 21, and have had just about no failures or crashes. The two cameras have been sharing a set of Master Primes and a Cooke 20-100mm. We have also had the convenience of a 30ft jimmy jib, which plays just about every day with the zoom lens. This has allowed us a number of nice crane moves that have been improvised on just about each scene.

Day 7 was a stunt and fx-heavy day, running a truck through a makeshift shaft and then a propane fireball. 2nd Unit played as 1st unit B-cam, as I anticipate will happen more often as needed to maintain pace with a heavily scheduled second half of the shoot. Danny Cosmo and Jeff Galpin are the guys responsible for the stunt work, aka Cajun Stunts, and are great guys I have worked with several times before in Louisiana. Everything went off without a hitch!

Here are some photos from set: