A Glimpse Into The Making Of
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A GLIMPSE INTO THE MAKING OF
Filmmaker Marco Solorio gives insight into performing all the major roles
while making this two-hour documentary feature film.
Marco Solorio as:
Co-executive Producer • Director • Cinematographer • Audio Recordist • Editor • Writer
VFX Artist • Music Score Composer • 5.1 Re-recording Mixer • Colorist • Marketer
Version: 170408.01
© 2017 OneRiver Media. All rights reserved.
A Glimpse Into The Making Of
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Summary
The purpose of this short e-book is to highlight and give brief summary of the work involved in making of the two-hour
documentary feature film, “10/10ths” by filmmaker Marco Solorio of OneRiver Media. In an unorthodox venture, Solorio took it solely upon himself to serve all major roles in the production and post-production processes in making the
film, including: Co-executive Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Sound Recordist, Editor, Visual Effects Artist, Music
Composer/Performer, 5.1 Re-recording Mixer, Colorist, and Marketer. While it’s highly uncommon for one person to
fulfill every role of the filmmaking process, Solorio shows that not only can it be done, but also that it can be done at a
low cost by combining affordable, high-quality technology with high-value techniques.
Although this short introductory read is a quick reference into the making of the two-hour documentary feature film,
“10/10ths”, a larger in-depth book will be published and released at a later date to outline the intricacies of each of
the filmmaking steps. It will expand, in detail, the technology, techniques, and objectives that were involved at each
stage of the filmmaking process that Solorio had to prepare, manage, perform, problem-solve, and overcome. These
solutions will help other filmmakers in their quest to shooting their own films, especially when low budget, high quality,
and fast turn-around times are a priority. This e-book will give some insight into those solutions to help you evolve your
own filmmaking development.
Marco Solorio shooting the final interviews of “10/10ths” on location in Dublin, California.
About The Filmmaker
Marco Solorio, the man behind the making of “10/10ths” is a veteran professional in the media production industry. His
career started as a budding artist in music, sound engineering, still photography, and video production in the mid-tolate 1980s, and began his professional career in 1991.
Besides Solorio’s duties for “1010ths”, he’s also a published author and international presenter/speaker in the industry
with many awards to his name. As owner of OneRiver Media, he has produced, directed, and lensed content spanning
from commercial to feature film works. As a credited thought leader in the industry, Solorio has consulted for the likes
of Pixar, Apple, and Google. Along with published books to his credit including, “Rigging Your Cinema Camera,” Solorio has also been featured in POST Magazine, DV Magazine, and countless other publications and online outlets like
PostPerspective and Studio Daily. Solorio enjoys giving back to the filmmaking community as an international speaker/
presenter and has presented at the National Associations of Broadcasters (NAB), Hollywood Professionals Association
(HPA), Broadcast Asia, SXSW, Digital Cinema Society (DSC), and countless other major industry conferences across the
globe.
A Glimpse Into The Making Of
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Author’s Words
Whether you’re a veteran filmmaker, a developing filmmaker, or thinking about beginning a career into filmmaking,
my hope is that this short introductory reader will develop some added insight into your independent filmmaking. And
when I refer to “independent filmmaking”, I truly mean independent, without obligations to large investors, limitations
of technology, and the freedom to be as creative as your time and abilities allow.
BMWs, motorsports, and filmmaking have always been huge passions in my life. For years, I’ve tried to figure out how
I could meld the three together but ideas always fell short. That was, until early 2013 when the idea of “10/10ths” was
a rough concept that evolved into its finished format what was originally supposed to be a documentary-style commercial. The move to turn this concept into a complete documentary feature film was decided after a couple of weeks of
discussions with Co-executive Producer Joe Gaffey. From that point forward, my journey as a filmmaker has been full
speed ahead (sorry for the pun).
Starting and completing “10/10ths” was also a personal goal. It’s extremely uncommon for one person to perform all
the major production/post-production roles of a film, but I was up for the challenge. I also wanted to show that this was
possible from a technological perspective, thanks to the advancements in affordable high quality camera technology
and recent software advancements.
Although I made the conscious choice to perform all the major roles of this film, I do believe in the power of collaboration. This is nicely summed up in one of my favorite quotes I share when presenting:
“The filmmaking process should generally be a collaborative effort, assigning individuals with a developed craft,
specific for the task at hand.”
But for “10/10ths”, I wanted to utilize my cultivated crafts in each facet of production and post-production into this
single project. Every task I took on, I can directly attribute to decades of professional experiences in directing, cinematography, editing with real-world, client-paid, deadline-induced projects.
The making of this feature film was the most arduous undertaking of my life There were aspects of naivety on my part,
underestimating the length of time to fulfill some aspects of the production and post-production processes, despite the
fact I’ve performed each of these aspects professionally for more than a quarter of a century. But when you’re performing ALL the major production and post-production roles of a feature film, there was a bit of unexpected misperception
of time-overlap. But like anything in life, these are extremely valuable lessons learned; something exciting to share on
the filmmaking journey.
Marco Solorio presenting in New York City to industry professionals on the making of “10/10ths”.
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The Co-executive Producer
At the core of the filmmaking process itself for, “10/10ths”, I had to oversee the “grand picture” of how everything
would all work and function together. Even while performing all the other major roles, I had to logically calculate critical
aspects of the filmmaking process itself:
The core story of the film
The point of the film
How the story would be blocked out
The delivery resolution/format
Shooting formats, etc.
I also needed insight into the technology I was using, to ensure it would work on such a demanding production scale
over 2-3 years time. One of the biggest challenges was ensuring that every single race in that season would get covered
for the film; not an easy task considering races were not only limited to California. Many of these shooting locations
required additional crew, especially when multi-cam coverage was needed. In some cases, I knew that I would be able
to cover production shoots myself for the small stuff or for pickup shots. All of these scenarios had to be pre-planned far
in advance so that they would not interfere with client projects. Conversely, there were some production days that were
unplanned as a result of the changing/developing story of the documentary itself. With any successful documentary film,
there’s a fair amount of “luck” involved. Fortunately, we had luck on our side for much of the production of “10/10ths”.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Scheduling
Budgeting
Gear
Legal
Partnerships
Finance
Outsourcing
Splitting duties
Production planning
Post-production timeline
Film festival preparation/submission
Technical format decisions
Working with venue management
Permits
Co-executive Producer, Marco Solorio (left), Co-executive Producer, Joe Gaffey (center), Producer, Suzette Mariel (right).
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The Director
Directing any project, whether it’s a feature film like, a short film, a commercial project, or a music video, the role of the
director is a very involved and critical one. Because we didn’t implement 1st ADs and 2nd ADs, I had to perform all the
directorial processes for “10/10ths”. This included managing crews on production shoots with what gear to use and how
it was to be used. In order to convey the overall vision of the shoot to the crew, it was important that clear direction was
delivered. But because this is a documentary film, the crew also needed flexibility in order to adapt to the ebb and flow
of real-world situations as we were shooting them.
The other major component of the Director role is to ensure the people we were shooting understood what the goals
and intentions were. Because this was a documentary, I never wanted to “tell them what to do or say” or it becomes
nothing more than a scripted narrative documentary.
On some shooting days, interview questions were prepared, but more often than not, it wasn’t an option. For the days
when questions were intentionally not prepared, we let real-world events unfold, at which time a quick interview at the
end of the events (or day) to recap what had happened was recorded. This worked effectively since it (A) brought a recap
of the story as it was happening and (B) maintained the actual emotions from the day into the interview. One big thing
to keep in mind a well is that the people that were interviewed on camera for “10/10ths” are not actors and therefore
not used to do doing professional interviews on camera. It’s the Director’s objective to ensure that these people feel
comfortable in front of the camera. What they needed to say had to be clear and concise so that it could be edited in
such a way that didn’t require the questions to be formulated for their interview answers. Being the Editor of “10/10ths”
aided in my vision as the Director and Cinematographer to ensure all critical story structures were captured in a logical,
usable fashion.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Execute: Passion into vision into organization into production
Setting the tone
Assigning crew duties
Pulling memories and emotion from interviewees
Adapting to changing circumstances as the real-life story evolves
Working with interviewees who have never been in front of a professional film crew setup
Time management
Marco Solorio directing the crew during the 6-camera shoot for the final interviews of “10/10ths”.
A Glimpse Into The Making Of
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The Cinematographer
Performing the duties as Cinematographer and Director of Photography encompassed one of the most enjoyable
phases in the making of the film. When it comes down to it, this was the primary reason I wanted to create this film in
the first place. But one of my goals was to shoot this film affordably while not lacking in visual quality. The clear answer
was implementing Blackmagic Design cameras. This allowed to shoot in either ProRes or RAW and with any optical
path I needed for any particular shoot day. When I first started production of “10/10ths”, I had only one Blackmagic
Design camera to use, which was the original Cinema Camera 2.5K EF (a beta unit from Blackmagic that was the first
unit outside of Australia and New Zealand, that I still have to this day). By the end of shooting, I had about six different
Blackmagic cameras that could be used to shoot the film (the last model being the URSA 4K EF).
It was known ahead of time that the delivery format would be 1080 HD but at 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Aesthetically, having
a wide format like 2.39:1 would aid in the film, considering many shots would inherently be wide framing (like a panning
shot of a race car speeding down a straightaway). Much thought went into deciding whether or not we’d actually shoot
in anamorphic for the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, or to just crop it. The latter was ultimately decided upon, as it allowed the use
of way more optical options, had greater affordability, and offered much faster camera rigging speeds. While most of us
love the look of true anamorphic, it just didn’t make sense for this film with speed and cost in mind.
Because of the various shooting conditions, just about every lens type was used, including: ENG lenses, prime lenses,
standard zoom lenses, super wide lenses, and compact lenses. Optical filtration was also key since many environmental
changes would change with regard to sun brightness, haze, reflections, etc.
Lighting was also another constant variable. Some production days we were outdoors at the racetrack, so many times,
no production lighting was used other than the sun as the key light source. In more controllable situations, we’d implement bounce to better control fill on our subject matter. Interior interview setups ranged from full studio production with
dozens of lights to simple bounce to nothing but the sun itself. With documentary shooting, you work with what you
have and adapt accordingly. I have no regrets in any of the camera or lighting setups we did to get this film shot while
still creating a pleasing look.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Camera setups
Exposure setups
Format decisions
Lens choices
Optical filtration
Multi-cam
Controlled studio setups
Working with uncontrollable lighting scenarios
High contrast ratios
Run-and-gun situations
Being the Cinematographer AND the DIT
Typical of shooting, “10/10ths”, Marco Solorio used compact and low-cost Blackmagic Design cameras achieving cinema-like quality.
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The Audio Recordist
As passionate as I am with my cinematography, my love of audio is just as strong. I knew going into this film that there
would be no shortcutting the audio production. I really had two roles as the Audio Recordist: (A) to capture audio as
the action was unfolding, by use of external mics routed to either the camera, dual system sound, or both and (B) as a
second unit sound, of sorts, to capture key sound that wasn’t necessarily occurring during the moments of action.
For the first example, lav mics were commonly used on our people of interest during the shot (e.g., trackside during a
race), a recording of the radio transmission between driver and crew, and recording of the ambient sound during that
action.
Meanwhile, there was much more creative license with the sound acquisition since there was more time at our disposal;
during actual race events, time was extremely short and we couldn’t load up the race car with a bunch of audio gear for
weight and safety concerns. In some cases, sound acquisition came from multiple points on the car to really get a feel
for its ambience, allowing for options later in the 5.1 audio mix. A big help was to implement studio techniques from our
own audio facilities at OneRiver Media to be used on-location. For example, one of our stereo-matched pairs of high
quality studio vocal mics would be used as stereo acquisition in the garage as the crew worked on the car, creating a
greater ambient image of the sonic space. This and many other microphone strategies and setups would ultimately go
into the 5.1 surround mix for the film.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Gear options
Choosing between DSS and in-camera sound
Wireless audio
Wired audio
Audio bracketing
Second unit sound acquisition (nat, SFX, ambience)
Planning for 5.1 mix using mono and stereo sources
When the cinematographer is both the camera op and audio op
When to use a separate audio op
Multi source living for interviews (including interviewer)
Micing/recording the primary race car
Marco Solorio capturing stereophonic sound of the #46 Performance Technic car at Sonoma Raceway for “10/10ths”.
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The Editor
Because the filming occurred over a two-year timespan, the process of editing the film started early on. After the first
two months of production covering the early events as they unfolded, I decided to edit a couple of “conceptual cuts”
to see if the concept was holding up and to get a rough idea of what would be the film. Watching these conceptual cuts
also gave motivation during challenging times in the production of the film.
As the film’s Cinematographer, there was a huge advantage of intimately knowing what was covered between main
stories and sub-stories, from the visuals to the audio. As the Director and Cinematographer, the vision could carry over
into the edit of the film itself.
If you’re keeping budgets low, prepare to be the editor AND assistant editor. There are no luxuries in independent
budget filmmaking and hiring an assistant editor is typically not an option. That means you’ll be the person to manage
and organize the entirety of the project and weed out what isn’t going to be needed. One of the hardest parts of being
both the Cinematographer and the Editor of a film is losing attachment from beauty shots that don’t aid or support the
flow of the story. As the Cinematographer you want all your shots to make the final cut, but that’s almost never going
to happen, especially in a documentary film. As the Editor, you have to firmly remove your Cinematographer hat so
that you can, without hesitation, use shots that support the story of the film. In many cases, this is difficult to do, but if
you plan on performing both the Cinematographer and Editor roles, you must keep this clause in mind before you start
editing or you’ll set yourself up for unnecessary heartache and possibly never completing the film (because it’ll be five
hours long with all the shots you want to keep).
Marco Solorio editing “10/10ths” in the OneRiver Media edit suite.
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The story of “10/10ths” actually fulfills a traditional three-act system. This was not the original intent of the film But as
production was carried out and the film was edited in full, the story followed the three-act system: a beginning “setup”
section building confidence, a middle “confrontation” section sustaining humility, second-guessing, obstacles, disaster,
etc., and a final “resolution” section that finished with descending action, achievements, enlightenment, retrospect, and
a wrap-up. In essence, the three-act system really unfolded unto itself, which made the editorial process much more
fluid.
Lastly, because this is a motorsport documentary film, I felt that continually showing race after race would have been
boring for the viewer, especially for people who aren’t necessarily into motorsports or even general automotive stories.
The solution to this was inserting sub-stories into the main story of the film. These sub-stories included vignettes about
the BMW community itself, some of which were not relative to the main racing story but tied into the overall theme of
the film. This allowed the pace to keep moving, the story to change in interesting ways, and kept the viewer guessing
as to what would happen next. All of this was prepared during the pre-production of the film, so that we could shoot
these events and have them ready at the editing stage. There were some sub-stories we shot for the film, but in the end,
didn’t make the final cut, either due to pacing or overall running time of the film. All in all, the process of interweaving
the main story with sub-stories worked out wonderfully.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Organizing all assets
Redundant backups/archives, versioning, file naming conventions, folder structures
Creating conceptual cuts early on
Beginning/completing the two-hour edit
Working with temp tracks (selection/timing/pacing/emotion)
VO scratch tracks
Multi-cam editing
Rough cut to final interviews production
Lower thirds
Opening credits, closing credit crawl
Picture lock, Timeline cleanup (prep for mix and grade).
“I don’t personally believe that every film made should follow the
rules of any imposed story structure, but ‘10/10ths’ happened
to follow the traditional three-act system on its own.”
~ Marco Solorio presenting in Singapore on the making of “10/10ths”
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The Writer
My role as the writer was specifically for the film’s voice-over narration script. This was in fact, the only scripted entity of
the film, since this is after all, a documentary film. The narration script wasn’t developed or written until the rough cut of
the film had been completed. It’s almost impossible to write a narration script before the editing of a documentary film
since so many things can change during the film process itself.
Once a solid draft of the narration script was completed, I recorded myself on narration scratch tracks to see how the
script played out within the actual edit itself. Once changes and tweaks were made, it was imperative that my fellow
producers Joe Gaffey and Suzette Mariel watched the film with these scratch tracks in place to get a feel of how it
all worked together. After further changes and tweaks, the finalized narration script was sent to my copy editor Nick
Geogandis, to perform the final technical tweaks to the script. Once that was completed, the locked script went to Justin
LeGrange for narration recording.
The real purpose of the narration itself is to build cohesiveness to the body of the film that would “glue” everything
together. In many cases, the narration acts as a third person voice that described what was happening without actually
being a part of the action itself. This allowed the narrator to have an unbiased viewpoint of the action in the film. And
while there is plenty of narration in “10/10ths”, it doesn’t take away from the “real life” action of the film as it unfolds.
The people we see in the action of the film deliver the vast majority of dialogue.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Building the rough draft from the rough edit
Gluing the action and edits together
Creating a tone for the entirety of the film
Encapsulating the mood
Driving emotion
Recording narration scratch tracks (and fine tuning the edit accordingly with timing, pacing, and tempo)
Refining the narration script
Copy editing the script
Finalizing the script
Selecting the narrator to represent and reflect the voice of 10/10ths
Recording requirements of the narrator
Directing the narrator
Narrator re-takes
Final narration tracks and editing
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The VFX Artist
Although “10/10ths” only had a small bit of 3D animation in the film, the process was still required in order to explain
the motive behind the main race car in the film. And by implementing 3D modeling and animation, it allowed us to show
these portions in a creative way that helped strengthen that section of the story.
There were a few industry colleagues who asked how we were able to shoot those sections, not realizing the shots were
animated instead. To that end, the animation was a success since it conveyed realism without taking away from the tone
of the film itself.
I decided to render these scenes in 16-bit space so that I’d have tons of room in the color grade to further stylize the
look without losing quality. This ultimately played a large role in creating a “look” for these animations and the extra
rendering and storage space was well worth it.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Scene selection
3D modeling
Lighting
Surfacing
Animation
Compositing
16-bit rendering and pushing the grade
Marco Solorio building 3D animation shots for “10/10ths”.
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The Music Composer
Having started music when I was 7 years old, it has always been my core art form. In a strange sort of way, I almost feel
I created “10/10ths” so that I could write a complete score. I knew right off the bat that the film was going to be scored
with 100% original music and I was looking forward to that moment since the first frame of footage was shot.
In order to even think about what music was going to be written, there needed to be a logical plan of attack that included a speedy process. For starters, I engulfed myself in listening to the genres of music that I knew would be included in
the style of 10/10ths”. This started with my own vast music collection. From there, I used tools to “discover” other music
within the same genre that could be potentially suited for the film.
During the editorial process of the film, these music selections were then used as temp tracks to aid in the emotion,
pacing, and timing of the edits. Almost 100% of the film was first edited with music temp tracks (with a few pre-recorded tracks of my own thrown into the mix). Once we were at 100% picture-lock of the film, I was free to finally begin the
actual scoring process and do away with the temp tracks.
Each music track was essentially its own micro project. The first task was to tempo-match the temp track song that was
being replaced. Then a selection of instruments was chosen within that track (most songs in “10/10ths” are a hybrid of
orchestral and synth, while others are either 100% orchestral, 100% acoustic, or 100% synth based). On the orchestral
end of things, I wanted a large, full orchestra that included individual parts (bass strings, cellos, violas, violins, bass trombones, French horns, trumpets, timpanis, percussion, and so on). Some songs partially included live instruments (steel
string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, etc.) and had to be recorded in the traditional manner. Many of the synth tracks (or
tracks that included synth parts) were re-modeled to suit the feel for the track.
All in all, this was a very involved process that ended up consuming 32 individual tracks (for a total of 39 songs) that
spanned several musical genres and countless musical instrumentation.
Because of the looming deadlines of the film festival entries drawing near at this stage of post-production, speed was
the name of the game but at no time was quality going to be hindered. Because of this, some songs had to be written,
performed, recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered all in a single day. For a portion of two months, I was living, breathing, and literally dreaming of music everyday to ensure our deadline goals were strictly maintained. While the scoring
process of “10/10ths” was highly enjoyable, it was also one of the most strenuous processes in the making of the film
due to the time constraints.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Deciding when music is supporting and not supporting
Creating stem outs
Organizing the scoring project (globally and per track)
Match-timing
Selecting instrumentation
Crafting the mood/emotion
Composing the score
Performing the instruments (synth/analog)
Analog recording setups
Mixing, Mastering
Completely “working in the box”
Track replacements in edit.
Scoring versus stock
Marco Solorio composing soundtracks for “10/10ths”.
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The 5.1 Re-recording Mixer
During the entirety of the production and post-production of “10/10ths”, I was on the fence if this film was to be mixed
in 2.0 stereo or 5.1 surround. Knowing that the theatrical releases of “10/10ths” would require at least a 3.0 mix, I
ultimately decided it was best to just do a full 5.1 surround mix, even though it would consume a little more time and
resources at the mixing stage.
The first plan of attack was exporting the picture-locked edit from the NLE (Non-Linear Editor) into the DAW (Digital
Audio Workstation). After some project management within the DAW to get things in order, everything looked good
and was ready to mix.
But before attempting any of that, it is necessary to calibrate your mixing environment, mostly because the process of
mixing a film for theatrical release is very, very different than mixing for things like TV broadcast or the Internet. With a
theatrical release, you have an incredible amount of dynamic range (something you don’t get with other delivery platforms). And because of this, the mix has to be spot on, balanced, and within standardized loudness levels.
Once situated, the next step was working on the dialogue mix. After the dialogue mix was completed, next were nat
tracks, various types of sound effect tracks, reverb tracks, and ultimately the music score tracks. Also added were a few
“technical tracks” that included vocal safety bleed into other channels, dedicated LsRs tracks, and others. Everything
was balanced and ready for cinema testing before releasing to actual theaters. The big surprise here is that I ultimately chose to NOT use ProTools to mix the audio (after being a hardcore ProTools user for about 20 years) for technical
reasons and because of high costs.
The 5.1 audio mix is one of the more surgical parts in the making of this film, as it needs to sound clear and balanced.
I live by my mantra: “If you’re not serious about your audio, you’re not serious about your video” or in this case, “your
film”. I don’t take audio lightly and want to always ensure it’s the best it can be. If the audience cannot understand
the dialogue clearly or it’s too quiet or loud, then the audience will immediately disconnect and lose the immersive
experience, no matter how good the visuals look. Studies have shown time and again that audiences prefer clean and
balanced audio over image quality. If you can do both, you’ve hit a grand slam!
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Choosing the right DAW for the task
XML output from master edit
Exporting/importing into DAW
5.1 master project setup (DR for cinema output)
Bussing setup
System setup/calibration
Audio repair, noise reduction, dynamics
Stereo-izing mono sources
Creating a 5.1 spread from non 5.1/5.0 sources
Synthesizing LFE from sources that do not have low
frequencies
Dialog mix (narration, A-roll dialog)
Nat mix, SFX mix, music mix, master surround mix
Safety bleeds
5.1 stem output for NLE/Resolve, cinema testing.
Mixing 5.1 surround on a budget
Marco Solorio performing various audio duties for “10/10ths” in the audio control room at OneRiver Media.
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The Colorist
Professional color grading is my area of shortest practical application, having first started around 2002. But it is one
of the more enjoyable aspects of media production I’ve had the pleasure of doing for clients. While it’s my belief that
music is the foundational driver of a film’s emotion and mood, it is the color grade that caps that emotion and mood to
completion. Being the cinematographer and composer of “10/10ths”, it allowed me to carry the emotion of the cinematography and music directly into the color grade, encapsulating the original vision. That’s not to say there weren’t
changes or shifts along the way, but having a foundation of ideas and building upon them is what filmmaking is about.
Once the 5.1 surround mix was officially completed, the same picture-lock edit was taken from the NLE timeline and
exported into DaVinci Resolve Studio (along with the completed 5.1 surround mix). All the shots were conformed with
either the same video clips or in some cases, the original RAW footage files.
Once the DaVinci Resolve project was organized and ready to go, the first step is more of a traditional color timing of
a shot in that the preference is to get the shots balanced for exposure and color before any actual grading by which a
style is created (this includes balancing footage between entirely different cameras under different dynamic range within
various cuts). Essentially, a normalized base zone is created to work from. This is done in a way that doesn’t sacrifice
latitude between timing and grading. Once that base is built, the scene is analyzed as a whole with regard to the original
vision, the emotion, the mood, etc., all of it from the original shots themselves, the editing pace, and the supporting
music score. All of those factors play into how to ultimately grade the visuals to reflect those emotions and moods.
For the record, I do not grade/stylize with LUTs (Look Up Tables). While I do use LUTs on set for client previews or
window dubs, I prefer to manually grade each clip, one by one, to ensure their maximum latitude is exposed within the
thresholds I want to keep (e.g., ensuring certain highlights are maintained within a shot, whereas others can be clipped
as needed). Everything was performed in DaVinci Resolve and monitored with our Flanders Scientific DM240 professional grading monitor, a serious combination that is the crème de la crème for both flexibility and precision, whether you’re
an independent like me or a Hollywood giant.
Once the grade was completed, we reviewed the film again (for the millionth time) to ensure there was nothing left for
changes. And ultimately, that was it… I had finally come to the finish line in making “10/10ths” after several arduous
years.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Color space selection
Export NLE XML into Resolve
Project organization
Conforming
Base timing
Scene grading
Group grading
Image stabilization
Noise reduction
Composited stylization (flares, defocus)
Master balance
Subtitles
Caching/rendering
Master encode/output
DCP conversion
QT backups
Marco Solorio working on the color grade in DaVinci Resolve for “10/10ths” in the OneRiver Media edit suite.
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The Final Bits & Pieces
Even when a film is completed, the process is really not finished. The next processes deal with cutting trailers, teasers,
entering film festivals, theatrical releases, Blu-ray delivery, VOD (Video On Demand), distribution, marketing, and the
list goes on.
Once the film was totally completed, the next step was the DCP (Digital Cinema Package). I confess, I am not an expert
in this field, so this was a learning experience for me. For the basic private screenings to test the film in theaters before
it went to the film festival circuit and theatrical releases, I created the DCPs myself. I also created them for any festivals
that didn’t have heavy particulars in their requirements. But for any major film festival that has specific DCP requirements
outside of my comfort zone, using dedicated services for the DCP creation and delivery is preferred.
Having produced DVDs and Blu-rays for many years now, I felt comfortable authoring the Blu-ray for “10/10ths”. Knowing there would be many extras in the Blu-ray (including a new behind-the-scenes extra that I don’t think has ever been
done before), I wanted to ensure everything had the ability to be added to the Blu-ray, from both a creative standpoint
and a technical one. In short, I wanted to ensure that people getting the Blu-ray felt it was absolutely worth getting with
all of the included extras, far and above what they’d get from just watching the film through VOD or even the theater.
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
DCP creation: Doing it yourself vs. hiring as a service
Showing at film festivals AND dedicated theatrical release
Blu-ray authoring and translating theatrical picture/audio to Blu-ray
Blu-ray extras production and what we included
The goal of every filmmaker is to have their hard work projected on the silver screen for an audience to experience.
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The Marketer
From the moment we started making “10/10ths”, so too was the marketing process started. In essence, two roles were
always in play that always worked together: the filmmaker and the marketer.
The marketing process started with the branding identity of the film title itself. We needed something that would always
put a “stamp” on our marketing materials, so the design of the “10/10ths” logo was created first and foremost. From
there, social media accounts were created on all the major platforms. Then we had to build a website to centrally locate
all forms of information about the film. These were all of the critical platforms we initially created to ensure people could
get updated on the filmmaking process itself, as well as news about when the film is to be released at different delivery
platforms (theatrical, Blu-ray, VOD).
Traditional print-based marketing was also created in the form of postcards, movie posters (small and large), presentation booklets, and popup banners, which were all used in various forms of promotion of the film during workshops and
speaking presentations before the film was released.
The key with all of this is building an audience, long before the film is officially released so that you have a solid foundation of people that will go see the film out the gate. And even when the film has run its course through the theatrical
release, there is still plenty of marketing during/after the Blu-ray release and the VOD release. The work never ends!
TOPICS INCLUDED IN THE UPCOMING BOOK
Website production
Film posters
Print materials
Presentations
Social media outlets
Building an audience
Advertising
Grow visibility
Create branding materials that help reinforce the impact of your film for special events. Aligning with supporting companies is also key.
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Conclusion
Even though creating “10/10ths” was the most arduous endeavor of my professional career, I have absolutely no regrets
in the making (and delivery) of this film. I’ve learned so much, I’ve grown so much, I have a deeper appreciation for the
time involved, and the feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming. Despite the sleepless nights, the time away from
family, the lack of socializing with friends, the out-of-pocket expenses, and the many days I had to push through the
monotonous non-creative tasks to ensure the film got completed, it was all worth it in the end.
To you I say, you must believe in your talents and abilities. You must believe in yourself. This should be the cornerstone
of your filmmaking path. No matter what, do not give any thought to any potential naysayers in your life. As filmmakers
and artists, it is very easy for others to think that their way of life is better than what you are choosing to do. Do not let
other people’s failures, lack of goals, or pessimisms get in the way of your path to succeeding. Often times, those people
are negative because of their own insecurities or failures in life and want others to fail as well… as the old saying goes,
“misery loves company”.
Listen to your heart, your dreams, and your goals. Turn them into action. Go out and shoot a three-minute film, a
10-minute film, a 30-minute film, and continue to expand from there. If you’re lacking in one aspect of filmmaking, just
make the time and simply do it. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Nobody even has to see or hear it. Just simply do it. Then
do it again and again and again. That is how you learn new crafts and build from the previous experience.
If you can afford professional instruction (either in person or online), then absolutely do that as well. I still also believe in
instructional books, as it allows the person to learn at their own pace, take notes, and reference back at any time.
The amount of low-cost and even no-cost tools is abundant (DaVinci Resolve Free is a perfect example of that). At no
other time in the history of filmmaking has there ever been such an abundant amount of low-cost tools sustaining high
quality that is accessible to everyone. I can honestly say that “10/10ths” wouldn’t have been made if it weren’t so.
But you have to do the work. You HAVE to do the work. YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK!!! A film will not get done by
itself! You are the only one accountable, but because you believe in yourself, the film will get done. Starting a film is the
easiest part but completing a film is the most difficult, but that is your primary goal: Completing the film. Always know
that you will complete the film. You will NOT try to complete the film, you WILL complete the film. You will probably
encounter tough times in the making of the film, but you must push through them. But because of these trials and tribulations, you will become a stronger filmmaker through and through.
Marco Solorio presenting a “10/10ths” filmmaking workshop to film students in Singapore during his Broadcast Asia speaking tour.
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ADDITIONAL BEHIND THE SCENES
The color grading setup for “10/10ths” at OneRiver Media using DaVinci Resolve on the Flanders Scientific DM240 grading monitor.
The only time a studio was used for the production of, “10/10ths” to capture footage for the “reveal” of the car in the film.
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The orchestrated score of one of 39 songs composed for, “10/10ths” in MOTU Digital Performer.
Using an inverted slider setup on the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera to get the lens “on the ground”, as seen in the opening credits.
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Marco Solorio using the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera in an “ENG” modified configuration to capture the film’s action at Laguna Seca.
The complete two-hour “picture lock” edit of, “10/10ths” in Adobe Premiere.
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Contact Information
For inquiries regarding screening opportunities, workshops, and speaking engagements, please
contact us at [email protected].
[email protected]
1010film.com
@1010film
@1010film
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