VIDEO: New bird scene previs... comments?

Here's the latest version of the bird scene for you for your viewing and commenting pleasure. About 75% the footage is actual footage. The color corrections are over-contrasty experiments.

The main things I'm trying to do with this revision is make the scene less cerebral and more active. By less cerebral, I mean less thinking, more immediate. Before, I had Ben's hand getting scratched and then you had to infer through montage that there was an infection coursing through his veins. Too much inferring. Plus, as I wrote earlier, the second attack needs to be stronger and more malevolent.

Things of interest

The clue that Ben looks at when he first gets out of the truck will change to the AT TURNING'S END clue. I'm glad that I shot this to make the clue changeable. As it is, the close up you see was shot in Ben's backyard.

The sky filter in the desert shots is just a Photoshop gradient. Real DP's use real sky filters to be able to change exposure. I'm using the gradients because I like the look and they help keep the eye in the frame.

The shot where Ben stops walking and looks at the green shrine is totally recomposed. That's the one where I used the sky as a blue screen, pulled out his image and then stuck a blue Photoshop file behind him. To me it's undetectable, mostly because there's no reason to expect any funny business. I had to recompose the shot because Ben missed his mark and didn't stop in the center of the frame. The takes where he hit his mark weren't as good.

I tweaked the shrine interior sequence. I'm not sure whether Ben should actually touch the interior star as I have it now or whether the star should just fall because of the wind. I changed this sequence so that it would more closely parallel what happens in the other two "attacks" on Ben; a star drops to the ground which triggers an invisible warning which leads to the attack.

The bird-in-the-car scene test went well I thought. I'm still working on the crow model. Before you see the crow shots we'll hear sounds of flocking birds. So we'll recognize the object as a bird even though it's mostly in shadow and all you can really see is its claw which is a dried rooster foot I bought off Ebay. I'd like to get a wing in there too but I have to dye a wing from the old white dove first. I know having the medium shot followed by the close up is SO Hitchcock. But you sort of need it. If .you cut directly from Ben to the close up, it's too abrupt. If you cut only to the medium shot, you can't see anything.