Dropouts is an indie short film that I co-produced with some friends in Grand Junction, CO in 2022. We found an abundance of outdoor locations in western Colorado for the production, but we couldn't nail down a gas station that met our needs within driving distance. So I got together with the writer/ director and the cinematographer/ editor and we planned out a series of digital matte paintings to create a gas station in the background. Since I could do the painting and the editor could do the compositing, it made the production cheaper and easier and even gave us a little more creative freedom.
I conceptualized "Pepper's Convenience Store" with the writer/ director, painted it from a few angles in conjunction with our shooting plan, helped prepare them for composition, and the editor composed the plates into the footage. It was my second time doing this technique, so the process was challenging and brought quite the learning experience, but we made it work and were all very happy with the result!
Below are some painted plates, stills, and a link to the full short film (twenty five minutes) on Youtube.
My favorite shot of the sequence.
Comparing the shot with and without the painted portion
