NEW SHORT UP TODAY

Yes, it's finally time. The new short is here! And this one is special -- being that it's my first ever attempt at live action. 
For the best viewing experience, I would highly recommend using headphones if you have them.
Without further ado, here it is... and be warned, it's scary.


Bait from Santino Vitale on Vimeo.

This film was an incredible learning experience. Everything that went into it, from the perils of production, and "on set" etiquette, all the way to new puppet-making techniques and extensive sound design -- everything was new, and exciting, and challenging.
I say, "on set," even though I filmed this whole thing in my house.

Which makes for a neat segue to the technical stuff -- FUN FACTS:

This whole film was shot in 2 days (with a few extra pick-ups shot later). With a crew of 2 and a budget of $660. I originally estimated that it would cost around $450, but things quickly ballooned.
I made a pie chart.

It was shot on a Sony A7s and my Canon T3i -- the Sony was rented from the wonderful folks at LensPro To Go. I only had the camera for 4 days, so I used the first two to figure out how it worked, where all the buttons were etc, and the remaining time was filming.

I used a Samyang Ultra Wide 14mm f/2.8 for about 70% of the film, with a few old M42 primes thrown in -- a 28mm, a Hanimex 35mm, Pentax 50mm f/1.5, and a 135mm.

90% of the film was shot with available light, the rest being lit with some cheap LEDs and clamp lights from the hardware store. We would generally start the day around noon, and shoot till 9 or 10 at night. Which means, most of the film was day-for-night. A ton of color grading was used to give this film the right look, and I'll be detailing everything in a behind the scenes post that's soon to come.

For now though, I'll stop my rambling and just show you the monster -- his name is Walter. And as you can see by the pie chart, he wasn't cheap to make… come to think of it, pie charts aren't cheap either.

I'll see you all later. Be sure to keep an eye out for the BTS stuff. I've got a ton more info that I didn't cover here, including in-depth creature design and construction, as well as animation tests and more!