“omar and his skyhook, is the story of a young boy yearning to go on his first fishing trip with his grandpa. when his wish is denied, omar finds the courage and mischievously steps out alone into the unknown world. when he lands his first catch, an unsuspecting predator swoops in and takes omar for the ride of his life.
"omar & his skyhook", is the story of a young boy yearning to go on his first fishing trip with his grandpa. when his wish is denied, omar finds the courage and mischievously steps out alone into the unknown world. when he lands his first catch, an unsuspecting predator swoops in and takes omar for the ride of his life.
the idea for omar came from a few different places. conversations about aerial photography, kite flying, and an unfounded obsession with fish. it was initiated, as part of an ongoing collaborative series, Psst… Pass it On! when it was realized that omar’s story had a little more to offer, it became its own, full length piece. so we set off to make something of it. Michael Neithardt was an enormous help, with his vast knowledge of production. we were able to get through the shoot in 2 days. the first day was all interiors, the second, exteriors. with little to no budget, it was clear that we would rely on post-production to really build out this world. we shot, very minimal sets, basically, just a room with great light. our DP Michael Huss, brought his wealth of experience to set these shots up proper, and let the space breath and live naturally in fram
i don’t think casting could have been any more perfect. when we received head shots from Background Casting, it was clear from the start, who would fill these rolls. Brandon Fink, playing omar, had the perfect look. a face still filled with childlike wonder, and energy that was unstoppable. Bill Kleinman, i think, had the stereotypical grandpa look, a stern-ish face, deep eyes. make-up by stefanie bassett really nailed it home.
the shoot days went really smooth, a surprise for us, with greenscreen and different locations to go to. as soon as we wrapped, the footage was all handed over to ryan mckenna, to start timing this out, and finessing an edit. one of ryan’s major strengths, is that he has worked as an editor in the post world for so long now, he completely understands the big picture, able to visualize where the film is going to end up. we kept it pretty loose at the start, as a lot of work was going to be done in post. from set extensions, to fully realized scenes, every shot was going to be touched. after a couple of versions, this is where we landed…
once we had a solid base to go with, animation and compositing commenced. helping out on this end was mara smalley and dave white. mara’s amazing eye for detail and beauty, really brought some of these exteriors to life. with just some reference and a couple conversations, she created some matte paintings that defined the era and space we were living in. dave white provided his modeling expertise to sculpt and create the evil fish. all of the interior scenes, were fleshed out and dressed with a mixture of photography and shot footage. everything then was given a matching lighting source, trying hard to match what had already been shot. then, an overall look was applied to tie everything together. with the inspiration of silent films for style, vignetting, grain, flickers, light pulsing, and frame jumps were all added in. finally, we went back to edit, to really trim and tighten it up to a final piece.
with picture locked, audio was the next step. it was important for this film to feel old, but somehow have a modern unique sound. the amazingly talented people over at Q-Department, really brought it to the next level. they were excited to be involved, and really just added the perfect mood to the film.
so after a year and change of on and off laboring…
directed and produced by - douglas purver
live action producer - michael neithardt
edited by - ryan mckenna
music and sound design by - q department
omar played by brandon fink
grandpa played by bill kleinman
director of photography - michael huss
assistant camera - albert elmazovski
camera opperator - john mccarthy
gaffer - daniel yates
grip - travis tips
additional matte painting - mara smalley
additional 3d modeling - dave white
hair and makeup - stefanie bassett
locations and photography - vanessa lenz neithardt
live action producer - michael neithardt
edited by - ryan mckenna
music and sound design by - q department
omar played by brandon fink
grandpa played by bill kleinman
director of photography - michael huss
assistant camera - albert elmazovski
camera opperator - john mccarthy
gaffer - daniel yates
grip - travis tips
additional matte painting - mara smalley
additional 3d modeling - dave white
hair and makeup - stefanie bassett
locations and photography - vanessa lenz neithardt
