Yesterday was the first shoot for Botnet, and I’d say it was a success. It was the introductory scene for the movie, which features the character known in the script as Black Hat. But what a marathon run it was to get prepared.
The character is played by DJ IDE, who is one of the driving forces behind this movie. There are three of us: me (writer, director, camera), my boyfriend (producer, lighting, sound, camera), and DJ IDE (organizer, motivator). His help is crucial to get this film off the ground.
It was my initial intent to shoot three scenes yesterday: the black hat introduction, the black hat discovering that his botnet was uncovered, and the recently added closing sequence. Time constrictions (DJ IDE had to leave for a show) meant that we had to leave the two latter scenes for another time.
Setting Up the Introductory Scene
For the introductory scene, I created a fake script of code compiling. For that, I basically compiled nmap from source on my computer, dumped the output that that generated to the terminal into a file, and used a few macros so that it would echo (instead of run) the contents of the file. I then changed all references of nmap in the file to meteo (the film’s fictitious botnet), so that it would look like that’s what we were compiling. Not that the user would notice less they freeze a frame of the film.
#!bin/sh
echo ready to configure…
read n1
sleep 0.2
echo ./configure
sleep 0.05
echo checking whether NLS is requested… yes
sleep 0.05
echo checking build system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
sleep 0.05
echo checking host system type… i686-pc-linux-gnu
…
I also created a fake .tar.gz file for the Black Hat to upload to an FTP. DJ IDE had an FTP server he uses for other purposes, and edited his host file so that mail.microsoft.com would point to the said server. In other words, it would look like the Black Hat had compromised Microsoft’s mail server. This was DJ IDE’s idea, and we all thought it would be pretty funny.
Shooting the Introductory Scene
It went really well. Jay set up the lighting equipment (flood lights he got at Canadian Tire), and then slashed a piece of cardboard so that it looks like the light was coming through a light shade. We tested the gear, and on we were.
We decided to integrate the DJ aspect into the film. Thus, the opening sequence was altered – the black hat, instead of looking at Hentai was now spinning tables. As he does this, code is compiling in the background. The code finishes compiling, he looks up – goes to the computer, uploads the file to an FTP. It takes seconds, he smiles, and goes back spinning.
That’s the new intro sequence – and it took two hours to set up and shoot. We figure we’ll be faster as we get used to the process.
Preparing the Other Scenes
For scene where the black hat discovers that his botnet was uncovered, I created a series of fake websites. For this, I used HTTrack to duplicate existing websites, then edited their content to include fake news stories, fake blog entries, and fake WHOIS information. The blog is a parody of Schneier‘s.
The final scene involves the black hat’s wallpaper changing before a power outage. That was done in the Gimp: got a picture that’s non-commercial friendly, got a decent font, and off I was.
What’s Next
More extensive testing of the microphone. There was too much interference/ambient noise to use the sound we captured during this first shoot, due in part to the fact that this shoot location was an electronic nexus.
The main shoots are still scheduled from mid-July to late August.