WWII Camp

Time: Summer 2004
Camera: Panasonic AG-DVX100a
Location: woods behind Greenbelt Lake, my backyard
Lighting: natural

For one of the shortest scenes in the film, this took a lot of effort.

First I filmed the human aspect of the scene: generic German soldier played by my friend Patrick Hanns. (I think he looked the part.) The tent he was supposedly inside was actually a blanket held up by two light stands and duct tape. It fell on him once while filming. This part was filmed in the Greenbelt Lake woods but when we got home, I discovered through some camera malfunction that most of the material had not been recorded. Consequently we re-shot everything that was missing in my backyard.

To create the establishing shot of the tent I took a wide-angle reference shot of the location and composited a CG tent into the scene.

The final step was creating the oil effect. Early on I decided this would have to be done physically; my CG attempts didn't look remotely acceptable. For crude oil I opted to use black latex paint, which has a similar look and consistency. I covered a large piece of cardboard with dirt to create a fake ground, and inserted a rubber tube up through the middle of the surface. The paint was then poured through the tube, causing it to flow up and bubble as I assume oil does (not that I have ever seen it). All in all it was about three hours of setup and shooting for about 10 seconds of film. But I suppose that's just how things go.

One other note, this scene contains my first cameo in the film. I didn't have a shot of Pat's hand grabbing the notepad, so I did a quick pickup with my own hand a few days before the film's release.