[The Madness that is Production] Cyn is a trimmed down version of a longer script writer/director Alex Ferrari created for his upcoming feature film project called “Red Princess Blues.” As he developed the "Princess" short film he noticed that it had less and less in common with his characters and storyline of his feature project. So when Alex made the Top 100 of Steven Speilberg’s “On the Lot” and they ask him to create a short film in 6 days, Cyn was born. Done for under $1000, Cyn brings together an amazing group of talented people. Without these remarkably talented friends and professionals, Cyn would have never made it's 6 day schedule. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The Production Breakdown] Friday: Write the script and prep the shoot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The Pre-Production] Cyn was shot on the Panasonic HVX200 in HD 720p Native using four 8 gig P2 cards. This allowed the director to have his assistant editor/cameraman Ricky Pierre-Louis to download the footage on a Final Cut Pro editing system while still on set. The workflow was amazingly fast and the images were beautiful. This time around the director wanted to have a small fight scene in Cyn so he brought on Martial Art Specialist and fight Choreographer Anthony Cory. Tony worked with the actors heavily on rehearsal day to ensure not only their safety but to make sure the scene KICKED ALL SORTS OF ASS!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The Production] With such a tight schedule, a killer producer was needed. Enter producer extraordinaire Kyra Ozuna of K2 Productions in Miami, FL. Kyra has been producing for years. When Alex needed a co-pilot producer on this crazy journey, he choose Kyra. She put together the entire production in hours and had a season crew hired, location locked, and craft services stocked within three days. She also had a hand in production design, wardrobe and make-up. She is truly, as Kyra puts it an "everythingoloigist." Kyra was truly the fuel in the engine that made Cyn move. Our location was G-Star Studios in West Palm Beach, FL. It has an 84,000 sq. ft. motion picture studio space as well as an amazing staff that bent over backwards to help us. G-Star Studios, it's staff and student population was very excited to have us there and made us feel like we were at home. The Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade film commissions also where instrumental in making this a smooth production. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [The Post Production] Cyn was edited by the editor/director Alex Ferrari on Apple's Final Cut Pro HD. The workflow from the Panasonic HVX200 was seamless. The final edit took a record breaking 4 1/2 hours to edit and about 6 hours to do all the color correction. For color grading he used Red Giant's Magic Bullet Editors and Colorista, as well as Natress's G Film plugin's. He wanted to bring a "graphic novel" stylized look to Cyn. This was achieved with great lighting by seasoned director of photography Egon Stephan Jr. of CineVideoTech fame in Miami, FL. Alex and Egon only had a few brief moments to discuss the look and feeling of the project in "pre-production." Together they created a very unique and polished look. Visual effects are always a part of an Alex Ferrari film and Cyn was no exception. Dan Cregan from Numb Robot was asked to create multiple explosions, a room being shaken to pieces and an opening and closing title sequence, all within 4 days. Sean Falcon also was brought in to do what he does so well "muzzle flashes." Music was a key element in creating the mood for Cyn. Frequent collaborator Mark Roumelis of Cmpozr, Inc. and Felipe Tichauer of Red Traxx both scored the entire film in under 3 days. The director wanted to capture a Danny Elfman vibe with the score being, very twisted, dark but yet playful. Both Mark and Felipe did a remarkable job. Sound Design also was key in the final sound of Cyn. Carlos Arrieta of Roar POST in Miami, FL beautifully designed all the sound effects in the film. From explosions to a sack being pulled off a person's head, Carlos had the project covered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All the crew brought a level of professionalism and talent that made Cyn possible.
Cyn - Stephaine Michaels CREW: Alex Ferrari - Writer/Producer/Editor/Production
Designer Egon Stephan Jr. - Director of Photography/Camera
A Dolly Grip - Reynaldo Guillet Chris Cimagla - Location Sound Mark Roumelis - Composer/Sound Mixer Dan Cregan - Visual Effect Supervisor/Compositor Anthony Cory - Fight Choreographer Ken Robkin - Production Assistant
Production: Visual Effects/Editorial: Camera/Lighting and Grip: Location Sound: Sound Post Production: |
