Hi all.

This was a fun project for my wife and I, with an appearance by our grand daughter Emily, who has been a regular in our fun family productions. Almost didn't get done, but we finally gathered ourselves for a big push on the weekend.

Shot with the Black Magic Cinema Camera, EF version. All shots with a 1970's vintage 24mm Nikon Nikkor, F 2.8. In many of the shots, I added a simple .45x Vivitar wide angle adapter to get a wider shot. The edges definite get a little softer, but for most narrative situations that is not a major issue.

Because of low light situation, I shot it all in raw, and converted to Cineform raw. Exception is the short shot in car, which was just ProRes, converted to Cineform too. All edited in Vegas.

This camera sound issues are still not resolved by Black Magic, but I did shoot in camera sound recording using an older Juiced Link preamp with a Rode NTG2 mic. Juiced Link was maxed out. Mic was on camera whole time. Raised gain in post, and managed to avoid major noise issues that way.


Where Have They Gone - YouTube



WhereHaveTheyGone on Vimeo

Close Encounters meets the Black Magic Cinema Camera.

So, well done on getting a film done, and on doing the near-impossible task of being in front of and behind the camera at the same time. I'm sure your family enjoyed being part of it.

The mystery for me was what the light was meant to represent: alien abduction? death? a door to another dimension? Maybe you didn't have an answer yourself in the script and wanted to leave it up to the audience?

I would like to know how you did the light effect though. What technique was that?

Obviously you faced many challenges getting this done with a skeleton crew of one. But it is a good investment to get a microphone off camera and close to the talent. Is there and way on the cam you used of plugging a cable in and putting the NTG2 up closer to the actors? It would help a lot. Alternatively, you could record the sound separately on an iPhone and synchronise in the edit, although the iPhone's mike is a bit tinny.

Anyway, great that you made the film and entered. Maybe your granddaughter will catch the filmmaking bug and help out behind the camera as well on the next one!

Marc:

Lighting effects were done with Rays from Boris Continuum Complete. Rays were provided free in a promotion, that came with upgrade to Sony Vegas 11, I think.

Add Flair to your Projects with BCC Rays and Damaged TV (http://www.borisfx.com/videos/BCCVegas/Rays-Damaged-TV.php)

I liked how matter of fact the film was. Rather than trying to offer an explanation or wider context it simply presented the events and asked us to make up our own minds about exactly what had happened.

The stop frame ending reminded me of British dramas like Threads and in fact the whole piece reminded me of that rather direct and unsentimental school of filmmaking.

I thought this was deceptively simple Chris. Quite straight forward but with a slightly ominous tone hanging over the entire piece. Lots of little pieces to come to your own conclusion.

And Henry, Threads is exactly what came to mind for the freeze frame ending with me too

Pretty good acting considering it was a one man crew. I enjoyed the ambiguity of the ending, allowing the audience to interpret where they went in the end. I would have possibly liked the grand daughter involved in the opening scene, maybe something along the lines of her wanting to check up on grandma, to add some tension, but maybe I'm nitpicking. Nice job!

Sean, it's what it brought to mind but I'm not watching Threads again to check, that show traumatised me for life ;)

We'll stick to the more upbeat 80's British output like Boys From The Blackstuff

Nice work Chris. I'm not sure whether to feel sad or a sense of solace after watching your piece - something that was obviously left for the viewer. It's something that depending on one's own personal experiences might be viewed completely differently.

Storytelling wise, it would be nice to get a close up of the note the end. I was able to read it but it appeared as if your granddaughter intentionally turns the note towards camera at the end which came across as forced/unnatural, whereas, a punch in would have resolved that. (A voice over would be another option). Anyway, small thing - just food for thought.

Well done sir.

Great work Chris. I loved the effects too.

This was elegantly simple, very emotional, with great acting.
The opening credits cracked me up. I really enjoyed this one!

Hi Chris,

I love how you get the family involved!

The first scene with the light emanating from your wife's face was really cool. Enjoyed the storyline and made me think about the movie Cocoon.

At the end when we see what was written on the notepad it felt a little too presentational to me. Instead, I would have preferred a cut right in on the text. Just a preference.

Toni

More flies! Between you, Sean, and this area's unusually bad late summer invasion of flies I'm starting to feel a bit traumatized myself. ;)

Nice work, as usual, Chris. After all these years, I believe I could pick out one of your films from a host of them, even if you weren't it it.

Like Adam suggested, I did not find myself feeling a sense of dread, but rather, peace. Walking into the light is certainly smile-worthy! Except for those darn flies...