Homemade rear projection for night shooting in the short film “Soko Loco”
by Timo Landsiedel,
In their current short film “Soko Loco”, director Joscha Seehausen and DoP Marius Milinski did not focus on visual realism, but rather on joy of play. This is particularly noticeable in a night scene in the car. For the dialogue, the two set up an old-school rear projection. For our issue 10.2023, we spoke to the two filmmakers about their idiosyncratic visual ideas, the advantages and disadvantages of independent production and the effectiveness of their own rear projection.
Photo: René Müller
The two sisters Julia and Sandra have not achieved much with their employer so far. That’s stupid because they work for the Cologne police. Now both of them are sitting in their Mini and arguing. Because not only is the name of their special commission rarely stupid, they also fear that their own parents could be behind the robberies on ATMs that they are supposed to investigate there.
The short film plot by director and author Joscha Seehausen and his DoP Marius Milinski sounds a little like the absurdities that both are allowed to implement in the numerous comedy formats of their everyday filming. But like their short film drama “Walküren”, which was only able to enter the festival loop this spring after filming began in 2020, “Soko Loco” is also intended to be an aesthetic alternative to what they shoot every day.
This time, however, it was supposed to be a comedy. The idea of applying for film funding was quickly eliminated. “This is a process that takes six to twelve months,” says the DoP. “’Soko Loco’ was a short-term project, we had the capacity available, the script was ready – then we wanted to do it now.” After the first calculation, the two of them knew: they could do it.
Visual ideas
DoP Milinski used a Canon C300 Mk III from his own technology pool as the A camera. Much of the film technology used also came from our own property. The rental companies Camcar and ARRI Rental in Cologne supported the crew with light and grip technology, which was still missing. “For example, we borrowed a 4 kW light for the night scene to give it a lot of power,” reports the cameraman. On the camera, Milinski used the Sigma FF Cine-Primes, which have the advantage of being consistently T1.5 between 20 and 85 mm. “Mega official lenses,” praises Milinski. The Canon C70 and Canon R6 were also used for certain subjects. A DJI RS2 gimbal was used for a montage sequence in order to be able to quickly shoot the seven motifs. The Canon R6 was the best choice here.
The focal lengths appear more extreme due to the strong bokeh in the background. The Sigma FF Cine Prime 85 mm is in use here. (Photo: René Müller) (Bild: LOST FOOTAGE)
“Soko Loco” was characterized by the fact that director Seehausen and DoP Milinski were able to concentrate more entirely on their area of expertise than in previous projects. For Milinski, this meant gathering his ideas and inspiration in the shot deck early on. Seehausen gave him carte blanche with the trust from previous collaborations. “But above all, we know what each other likes,” says Milinski. “But Marius said: We don’t have to shoot it like a typical crime thriller,” adds Seehausen. “Because that already exists. We also want to show what is his grade and what is more visually interesting.” DoP Milinski therefore suggested excluding realism and looking for what creates good images. “For the Example of the excessive use of fog, which is not at all motivated in terms of content. “It doesn’t take place in a moorland, but it just looks good and it just creates a mood, an emotion, and from my directing point of view I think that’s really cool,” says Joscha Seehausen. For both of them, it was about doing something entirely their own and not following the standard that they often have to serve in their careers.
A good example of this is the night shoot inside and around the Mini Cooper. Night is usually told in blue light or, if you follow Michal Ballhaus in “Gangs of New York,” in yellow. Milinski reports with obvious joy about a completely different approach. “I felt the need to tell the night in a very green way,” said the DoP. “Let’s try something different, which might also run the risk of looking a bit strange, but different!” Seehausen nods. “And the exciting thing is when you look at the material now: it doesn’t look strange at all,” says the director. “You have the feeling that this is a world that I want to get into, that attracts me.” The extreme use of colors in the lighting design runs through the film. The bank robbery is completely red. This is not logically motivated, the filmmakers emphasize, but purely visual.
One of the external motifs in which Nacht is told is the long discussion in the car. The exterior elements around the Mini were filmed at night; most of the shots inside the car were shot in a tunnel-like industrial hall that was around 30 meters long. Previously, the plates for the background had been shot ourselves, also so as not to have to purchase third-party rights. To do this, DoP Milinski handed the Canon C70 to his making-of photographer David Leimanski during the previous night’s outdoor shoot. He then took care of the background plates in the respective direction around the car while filming. “This happened above all from the perspective that yes Colors have to match,” said the DoP. “It worked really well because the Canon C300 and C70 have the same sensor.”
The filmmakers had put the structure through its paces beforehand in order to avoid pitfalls and take learnings with them to the set. So they knew that the projected images did not have a usable black level. They created this by underexposing the camera in the background. This in turn meant that they had to shine differently in the foreground.
A screenshot from the material shows the result. (Photo: Marius Milinski)
Fake Close-ups
There were different versions of the plates, sharp and blurred, sometimes with a longer focal length, sometimes with a wider angle. Milinski loaded the plates into Adobe Premiere Pro and output the image via a converter to a projector mounted on a tripod. “Then I could simply look in Premiere to see what I needed and what worked well with our setting,” says the DoP. By using Premiere as a player, Milinski was able to check the colors on his preview monitor and, if necessary, adjust them live in the color correction tool with just a few simple steps. Of course, the projector also had a color-distorting effect. The filmmakers used the wall of the hall as a screen, as the structure usually disappeared into the bokeh anyway. The area was approximately 3 × 2 meters. Although the team had prepared a butterfly with a sunbounce surface, the brightness of the wall was sufficient for a reflection. [15377]
Would you like to find out more about how DoP Marius Milinski and director Joscha Seehafen realized the rear-pro scenes? Click here for the full article from our issue 10.2023!
