In the USA a Tramway is what we Europeans call a Cable Car. In Albuquerque, NM they have the world’s longest one.
Whilst filming in Albuquerque for “Nightshift”, myself and Tony Selzer, the Producer, went up there so I could do some pretty shots for myself for one of my shorts. As it turned out I was able to get some great high shots of the Sunset over the city which would be really useful for the film too.
The “Trolley” was very smooth as you can see from the shots and I was shocked when I got to the top to find a couple of feet of snow. I stepped into in thinking it would be a dusting. It wasn’t. Incredibly just an hour south of here was Tent Rock which was hot and desert like, here I was knee deep in snow!
The sunsets were so stunning I wish had brought both Ex1s with me. One to get timelapses the other to pick off other shots.
This is the last short I shot in the US. The rest of my filming was for the doc which I can’t publish footage of just yet.
I was supposed to go to Venice Beach on Friday with Dandobi and Eric Pascarelli from the DVX forums, but I suddenly took ill on Thursday night and spent the whole day feeling very sorry for myself. I also missed a chance to see Faith Granger’s film. Sorry Faith, Dan and Eric. Maybe if you guys go to NAB we could hook up?
One perk, at LAX airport at Starbucks I met the lovely Evangeline Lilly standing in the queue in front of me, on her way back to Hawaii to film Lost. We discussed protein drinks. Random huh? Cuter in real life.
By the way I had to mention my sound recordist Edwardo Santiago. I have never worked with such a professional and committed soundo. He went the extra mile in getting all the sound we needed. He was fast, had all the right gear and more importantly he cared. I thoroughly recommend him for any work. He does a lot of feature films as well as doc work, He mixes as well as booms and does ADR work. His email is sonanceinscribed@cableone.net. He is based in Albuquerque.
It was also a pleasure working with both Tony Selzer and Vanessa Vassar and I look forward to part two of our shoot next month.
See the film here.
Music is from the film “Signs” by James Newton Howard.
Steve
March 16, 2008 at 23:33Philip very nice. Loved the cable ride!
John Bain
March 17, 2008 at 01:21Excellent footage. Very other worldly – the cable car leaving the terminal reminded me of some outer space footage that I had seen of two space craft undocking.
Gabriel
March 17, 2008 at 01:36Great short! Beautiful work – as usual. I love the shot of the tram leaving the docking station.
Jacob Dyer
March 17, 2008 at 04:39Nice work! That looks really nice.
Graded with MBL? Were you using the Letus Adaptor for that one?
Philip
March 17, 2008 at 05:11MBL of couse! Letus Extreme, of course!!
Bots
March 17, 2008 at 06:02Excellent footage! Wow, brought back some memories, too. Took that tram ride about 20 years ago. Beautiful. Nice work.
Anonymous
March 17, 2008 at 07:55Beautiful work as usual Phil… Cheers
Atilio
March 17, 2008 at 11:54Great as usual!! Thanks!
The link to the 720p file is broken, it should be:
http://www.aerialsfilm.com/bloom/trolley720.mp4
Will Mahoney
March 17, 2008 at 17:00That cable ride was really badass. With the music, it was like you were smoothly lifting off for a voyage to outerspace or something, or maybe leaving bas station at some underground cavern. Whatever. It was great. And very smooth! Would you just set the camcorder on the window ledge?
Philip
March 17, 2008 at 17:13It was on a the tripod, full wide 17mm shooting through a heavily tinted window.
Rob
March 17, 2008 at 19:17Beautiful! The ride, the clouds, view of the city at night, very nice! And all with the Letus Extreme, I am amazed!
BTW, working outdoors, when you have to much light, do you use extra ND filters on your lenses or do you use the shutter angle on the EX1?
Philip
March 17, 2008 at 19:21i try and avoid the shutter when using the Letus. There wasnt much light. Much more when shooting the tent rock short. I was on ND2 for that
Shiv
March 17, 2008 at 21:53Phil,
This is a great video! I love the wide “ness” of it all. Now you must be special because I don’t see such skys and colours and clouds. I mean how can you see the bottom and top of clouds at the same time huh?
Pulling away from the cable car bay was almost like being there. Reminded be of an old Jame Bond flick.
Thanks for posting this.
Willem
March 17, 2008 at 22:27Philip,
What you present here, is once again so wonderful.
Cable car makes for an exquisite dolly. Great motion. Great film-look, too.
Jacob Dyer
March 18, 2008 at 02:45I think I need a Letus now. And some great looking places to go and shoot! What sort of lenses do you use?
Philip
March 18, 2008 at 05:03http://web.mac.com/philip.bloom/Blooms_Blog/Blooms_Blog/Entries/2008/1/27_The_ideal_set_up_and_kit_for_35mm_adaptors.html
Anonymous
March 18, 2008 at 07:45Which song is this? Beautiful stuff. Impressive!
Edwardo Santiago
March 18, 2008 at 15:44Incredible stuff Philip. Thanks for the plug in the Blog. I had a great time working with you too. People, I’ve had the good fortune of working with some great DP’s, Camera, and more pro’s in TV and Film these last three years and Philip is one of the most patient and meticulous I’ve worked with. He’s also one of the most natural comedians I know. He’ll Pick the perfect shot in an instant and have you laughing just as fast.
Hope to work with you again soon.
Damon Martens
March 19, 2008 at 02:45Great piece Phil! Beautiful colors at the end. (The track sounds like ‘First Crop Circles’.)
Phil, how did you manage the exposure when you were leaving the docking station? Did you adjust the aperature on the EX1 or on the mounted lens?
Philip
March 19, 2008 at 05:50I used the iris on the ex1, much, much smoother