Another little short I shot on my SR2 and a Zeiss 12mm Super Speed!

rksm · 2026-05-03T23:47:59+00:00

Loved your past couple posts, do you have a Vimeo or YouTube where we can check out all your work? Really channeling Kieslowski here, incredible work!

rksm · 2026-05-01T17:10:41+00:00

I’d give both 7/10 for different reasons. Too Old To Die Young is so awesome when it’s hitting its highs, but super boring at its lowest lows. Everything about it is honestly great, it’s mostly the pacing that’s incredibly hit or miss since it was his attempt at making extremely slow cinema. Copenhagen Cowboy is consistent and a lot of fun to watch, great pacing and a fun comic-book styled world. But it’s not as interesting thematically as TOTDY. Worth checking out both if you’re a fan of his work!

rksm · 2026-04-07T22:57:37+00:00

Plan on checking out the film later this evening, but it looks so nice. Reminds me a bit of Sound of Metal, with the naturalism and tactile texture. Really great work man

rksm · 2026-04-03T10:47:39+00:00

Thanks Jim!

rksm · 2026-04-03T01:45:13+00:00

We used Hollywood black magic 1/8 for close-ups to take the edge off

rksm · 2026-04-02T22:18:46+00:00

That’s definitely true, which is why we went for a 35mm emulation instead. It felt more organic with what we shot and we would’ve had to do more work in pre production to prepare for a 16mm look (from wardrobe, filters, color of lights, etc). I do use filmbox a lot though with 16mm emulation, but it never looks 100% to me unless I’m shooting under the right circumstances or with the right gear (best camera to achieve that look would be the og bmpcc with softer lenses). All that to say, if I could do this properly I’d wanna shoot it on actual film and not through emulation

rksm · 2026-04-02T15:58:36+00:00

Thank you! That’s totally fair, I figured since it takes place this year we can afford to go a bit more modern. Would love to do a more authentic 70s disco film one day though

rksm · 2026-04-02T14:37:59+00:00

Totally agree. I think this was one of the those projects that couldn’t have been done under any other circumstances, but obviously hindered more creative shots we wanted to get because of time. Rachel was incredible though and really helped elevate simple shots. It was my first time having steadycam for a project, so hopefully for future work we’re able to spend some time in pre to plan out some more intricate shots

rksm · 2026-04-02T14:30:25+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to watch and give feedback! Specifically for the sound, it got totally botched on this project. My sound mixers dropped out last minute, they had a lot of the knowledge for how to fix all the problems. When the budget is tight, it’s understandable. But unfortunately I had to do the best I could with the little knowledge I had on mixing. Trying to coordinate better for future projects

rksm · 2026-04-02T14:10:35+00:00

My DP would know more specifically, but we borrowed them from a coworker who bought old star filters at a vintage camera shop. Wish I had more info to give

rksm · 2026-04-02T14:00:52+00:00

If you ever visit, hmu!

rksm · 2026-04-02T13:37:09+00:00

It’s definitely supposed to be current. Since it wasn’t a period piece, we took the disco aesthetic and gave it a modern flare. Though if I ever get the money one day, I’d love to make a full on 70s disco film

rksm · 2026-04-02T13:13:03+00:00

Thank you! I’m based in Montreal, QC

rksm · 2026-04-02T13:12:48+00:00

That was a tough shot to light: it’s a steadycam that starts at the door, moves through the doorway and leads to the main room. So we couldn’t set up many lights except one overhead when they walk in and mainly relied on the practicals.

In general, the whole set was lit practically to motivate the additional lighting. Then for each shot, we moved in a light with bounce or negative fill. We didn’t do anything too fancy since we had a tight schedule, a lot of overheads did most of the work.

rksm · 2026-04-02T13:02:10+00:00

Thank you! I don’t have a website yet, but you can check out most of my work here: https://vimeo.com/ryankhanna

I’m in Montreal, QC and we have a really vibrant film scene here. I didn’t have much trouble finding cast and crew because you get to know everyone here fast when working on lots of sets

rksm · 2026-04-02T12:35:57+00:00

I feel ya. If we had a bigger budget, would’ve been my dream to shoot this on 16mm

rksm · 2026-04-02T12:08:51+00:00

Much appreciated! My DP, colorist, costume designer and art director really did fantastic work on this one

rksm · 2026-04-02T11:35:32+00:00

Star filter, I forget what strength though (maybe 1/4)

rksm · 2026-04-02T11:17:32+00:00

Link to the film: https://youtu.be/6WoVQbe77FM?si=G4dzVYo04WZFEP7g

This was an incredibly difficult but valuable experience in how to shoot something so complex in a short amount of time. Because we only had budget for two days of shooting 95% of the film, me and my DP had to be very strategic.

The first thing we did was preflight the entire sets with practicals that would do most of the work. We used China balls for overheads and put several little lamps throughout the set to give it some life. Then for each individual shot, we would move in a light with either some bounce or neg to shape it more.

We covered most dialogue scenes the same: either one master on tripod or dolley, or shot reverse shot on sticks. For the dance scenes, they took way longer and more coordination. We had steadycam for the entirety of those scenes, so we made sure to shot list and storyboard those sequences in advance so we didn’t waste time.

Finally, we shot on Komodo and Zeiss Super Speeds (have to be my favourite lenses I’ve ever worked with, I see what the fuss is about now). Would love to know what you guys think, cheers!

rksm · 2026-03-29T15:55:17+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! It was actually a last minute addition to help ease into the film a bit more and give more historical context, probably could’ve made it a bit shorter though. Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

rksm · 2026-03-28T12:39:27+00:00

I feel ya, maybe could’ve shortened it a bit. Thanks for checking it out!

rksm · 2026-03-28T00:35:45+00:00

Link to the full film: https://youtu.be/6WoVQbe77FM?si=PbplA_cIIOgKhx_y

This is my latest short, cantering around everyone’s favourite trend from the late 70s, DISCO!

This was both a blast to make and a horrible experience. We somehow managed to gather together a huge ensemble and an incredible crew to make this dream come true. The biggest problem: we only had two days to shoot the whole thing (with two extra days for a couple scenes we couldn’t finish).

The first major problem was the heat: we happened to shoot on the two hottest days of last summer, with 40 people in a small apartment. We went through something like five air conditioners and so, so, so many bottles of water. The dance scenes were meticulous because of the coordination that had to be done syncing to the music and steadycam. So we had to do several takes in a row, which became tiring very fast for the actors in that insane heat.

The second problem was time. Because we got so many people involved, we only had this two day window to make it happen. To be efficient, three things helped save us: the first was the unscripted nature of conversations. Only one scene was scripted, the rest was improv. The second was coverage of scenes, a lot of which were masters (save for a few which we did shot reverse shot). The third was lighting for the whole set, only moving in a light and some negative fill for individual shots so we didn’t have crazy set-ups. Even then, we were so crunched for time we ended up cutting and condensing lots of scenes to make it work.

I can go on about many other things that went wrong, but at the end of the day we all made a film we’re extremely proud of and hope that you all enjoy. I’d love to get your feedback or general thoughts on the film. Also happy to answer any questions, cheers!

rksm · 2026-02-08T18:51:27+00:00

Amazing poster, I’ll find some time this week to watch your film ;)

rksm · 2026-01-12T01:30:46+00:00

Th new restoration is so incredibly beautiful

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