Well, I have enterd the less than one minute club (54 seconds start to finish, 30 seconds without credits). was going for a possible PSA length. This was inspired by a bit of Graffiti Art that made me think. Only took a few minutes of tape to have it done. Hope you enjoy.

128MB 1080 HD MPG
http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/SimpleShorts/Spare_Change/SpareChange_HD.mpg

Medium Quality Flash
http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/2008/03/08/spare-change/

Josh

You have a strong message to tell. Visually you need to bring that strength, the struggle to make that change, a reality. The images that were presented depict a melancholy almost resignation softness to the piece.

Take inspiration from you graffiti artist. Angular, hard light, powerful colors, visual movement come to mind.

You have the hard part done, developing a story and telling it effectively.

Jim

I did like the shots. they were compelling. I like the color, or lack there of, to the piece. Great Idea and you're right this would be a great PSA. Try to tell the story a bit more. I get that it isn't a conventional story in a sense (three acts or whatever). But there is a story to be told. Tell it with your shots and you could pitch this to some company for alot of moolah!
good job

Well, I can't say I like watching films about this particular subject, but only because they remind me how spoiled I am, how good I have it, and how little I appreciate it. Of course, that is the point, after all, and you got your message across. In under a minute, too! I don't think I could do that.

The picture was a touch dark on my display (I only just now noticed the sign says "I want change", which is a wonderful touch, but I can't make out what's above it), and I have to wonder just how hard it is for people to land a coin in one of those giant Solo plastic cups, but beside that I have no complaints. That dim yellowy kinda color fits for some reason I don't fully understand, and if it were a little brighter I think it'd really make the movie shine.

You have an honestly, genuinely incredible soundtrack running under this piece, may I ask where you got the music?

Well Thanks for the comments so far, Something that I tried to put in obviously did not show through as I wanted but that is OK. :)

I chose the color for almost the exact reasons Jim talked about. That being that in my opinion, handing out money isnt really an answer most of the time but it is often thought of as an answer. I thought the lack of color and such would inforce this a little. It would show that giving the coins was not a good solution in the eyes of this short. I did start a render that had more harsh colors and blur filters added but it made it feel to jumpy and hard hitting. Maybe that would be a good thing though? My style tends to be to quietly put forth a simple thought and let people go with it. Maybe I need to be a bit louder :p

As for the missing the cup, they actually did not miss. What I was trying to show was the money was being rejected, in the HD version it is a little easier to see the money is heading directly for the cup but gets stopped right above the cup, this was a cheap trick accomplished with a grabage mat and an extra solo cup but I am realizing that no one has realized that the money was being rejected. I wanted it to be as if a force above the cup was stopping the money but I was not able to do this.

Jesse, thank you for the words of encouragement. I am constantly trying to better my self in terms of cinimatography and each time I do one of these things I learn a little more :)

The sound effects were mainly from soundrangers.com and some of my own recordings and the music was from http://www.shockwave-sound.com/

I encourage everyone to watch the version on my site as I have brightend it so people can easily make out the sign. It said "Keep your coins, I want CHANGE"

http://www.simplethoughtproductions.com/2008/03/08/spare-change/

All righty, then, I guess scratch everything I said, I completely misunderstood the entire thing.

Turns out I like it even more now that I can see what's going on, I agree with the "spare change isn't the answer" point of view, and that coin rejection trick is much clearer with the brightness up.

Sorry I didn't check your site before commenting, I should've been more thorough.

The YouTube compression can kill some of these. My opinion on it, though, is that we have to keep that in mind when we shoot. Lighting gets even more crucial. I’m trying to keep that in mind, because the one thing I will say about YouTube is that it’s an equalizer for judging—none of them look their best!

Thanks for clearing all that up, Josh. I’ll confess I haven’t felt like I had time to watch the HD version, but I will now, because that effect sounds really cool and will make all the difference to the story.

I'm a big fan of telling stories with no dialogue and I think you really pulled it off. As has been pointed out, the clarity on the sign is a bit of an issue, which is unfortunate, because that sign's message brings the whole piece its meaning. However, I read a few pieces of this feedback before watching, so I felt like I got the full brunt of the piece. The Yellow Bleach Bypass is very effective in evoking a particular mood quickly and I felt that it was well used here. I enjoyed it and would have liked to have seen it even a bit longer! Way to go.

Thanks all for taking the time to watch it. The flash version on my website should be just fine to see everything and its small enough that people can watch it just as fast as youtube. I actually had considered blowing up the text just for the youtube version but it didnt seem right. Plus I originally thought the due date was saturday :-p Either way I would love to help setup a site similar to UWOL where we can control the quality as everyone does suffer as you pointed out and it does force you to film a different way which can be a good thing but it can also be negative. I enjoy seeing the small things in a better quality video, even if its not HD just a decent bit rate.

Josh,

I thought the sign said, keep your cars, I WANT CHANGE.

hahaha, I thought the drivers were missing the cup out of spite.

Either way, very nicely done short piece. I liked the washed out colors.

haha. OK OK, next time I will make all of the text really bold :p

Josh, bang up job! great technically and the message was clear and concise. I was able to read the sign on youtube version but i missed the coin thing, great touch.

Josh, this was a tight, technically beautiful little movie that not only made a powerful point but also made perfect use of the theme. Please try like the devil to get that picked up as a PSA of some sort. The understatement projected nicely and your actress' expression was perfect.

Josh, really good work here technically. I liked the tone of the shots. I think there was a sub-message in hear about the coins missing their mark. But I guess each viewer takes something different out of each work.

I simply love this one... so simple... but so brilliant story... a genious idea and a great composition. I love it! The old film-look is a littlebit boring... but it doesn't bother me at all because the film is so great! :-)

I SIMPLY LOVE IT!
Best of luck! :-)

Sometimes the simplest ideas have the biggest messages.

Please tell me you're gonna submit this to some PSA competitions, cause you've got a GREAT idea here!