This past winter we ran our second Gear Junkie contest in which we received a ton of amazing project ideas, all vying for a $3000 rental credit to help make them happen. Our winner was Chicago filmmaker Frank T. Ziede and his short film, Volition, a psychological thriller in which a cop kidnapped by a vigilante is forced to decide the fate of a corrupt politician, as well as his own. The themes are large, but the story is intimate and powerful.

Back in February we spent time on set and talked with some of the crew, including Frank Ziede (director, writer), Corey Gilbert (director, executive producer), Jon Phillips (creative producer), and Max Heiligman (director of photography). Take a look at our Volition behind the scenes video here:

Although Frank and Corey have some great equipment already, winning the $3000 rental credit allowed them to rent some gear from us and really take their production to the next level. The main attraction was a set of Leica Summicron C cinema primes lenses that they paired with a Sony FS700 and Odyssey 7Q external recorder. Summicrons are built for even the most demanding film production standards and create images of incredible beauty, capturing every nuance and texture.

To extract the full potential of the Summicrons and FS700, they also rented a series of top shelf LED lights like the Kino Flo Celeb 401 and 200, as well as the ECO Punch Plus from AAdynTech. The Celebs create soft and color faithful light great for enhancing skin tones, while the Punch Plus is a powerhouse LED nearly equivalent to a 2.5K HMI that draws only five amps and has zero warm-up wait time.

Being able to have the directors, producers, and other crew members see what was being shot was also an important consideration, so they rented the color accurate Flanders Scientific 21″ monitor to get a reliable preview of the finished product and also instinctively make precise adjustments of the image, production design, and performances. They also got a host of grip gear like C-Stands, Combo Stands, sandbags, apple boxes, and more. Besides making life easier during production, this also actually helped create the set, which was meant to look like a makeshift drop cloth hideout created by a killer who needs to leave as little trace of his operation as possible.

Winning the Gear Junkie contest also helped out the production of Volition indirectly by allowing funds that would normally be needed for gear to be diverted elsewhere. Because of this, they were able to pay the crew, increase the quality of the production design, and even provide a fully catered set to keep morale up. All of these things allowed for not only a more robust production but one that ran better as well, which ultimately in the end means a better film.

Keep an eye out for Volition, and in the meantime take a look at the production company behind the project at p3mediaworks.com. Also take a look at more of screenwriter Frank Ziede’s work at powerforwardfilms.com. As always, come back here to magnanimousrentals.com for all your film gear rental needs, and make sure to check out our updated site that lets you easily make orders online, including shipping inside the continental United States.