Savefile is having issues

Use this link for a slightly different trailer. Were about to get our festival leaf priviliges from CineSol festival so this is going to change the trailer.

http://www.savefile.com/files/14811

i almost stopped viewing it after 2 min - but i glad i didn't ... i found most of it a bit rough but under it all is a sense of humor that is very creative ... i think you should do some more and over time that humor/creativeness will come out more & more .. IMO you are on to something .. keep developing/refining the character ...

over all i liked it ... it catches my interest and i'm ready to see MORE ...
to knit pick i found from 36sec to 50 sec just not as tight/together as the 1st 35sec and end after 50sec ...
now don't get what i'm trying to say wrong - it is GOOD - just think the 36-50 seconds could be better ? not sure how?

and a very good 2 min ...
on the web it's hard to read the text but i assume on the DVD it can be read ..
IMO start sending out the DVD ...
keep up the good work ...
you planning to go into animation ?
special effects ?

Here's my entry into the 48 Hour Film Festival: Edmonton Edition.

http://definitiveprojx.net/film-cognitive-dissonance/

We won an Honorable Mention award for Cinematography.

Any comments and/or feedback appreciated.
Thanks.

Very nicely done.

I would have reduced the green color just slightly but maybe it's my monitor that's oversaturating the colors...

I really liked the fact that you left the reds in. The narration and music are great too.

Walter, superb job. The voiceover was excellent, perfectly clear. It was really a terrific job. After he said 'that was then and this is now', I thought it would be better if he was boxing for real, like in a match and he regained his eyesight through the fight, instead of training in the garage.

I like the green colours. I can tell it wasn't totally monochromatic, but green overpowered everything else, except for red.

The font choice for the credits was is a little busy. Something gritty but more simple would work better.

Congratulations on the Honorable Mention.

Justin

Very nicely done.

I would have reduced the green color just slightly but maybe it's my monitor that's oversaturating the colors...

I really liked the fact that you left the reds in. The narration and music are great too.

Thanks Dave.

I might have blown out some of the highlights when I was CCing but it was all intended.

Walter, superb job. The voiceover was excellent, perfectly clear. It was really a terrific job. After he said 'that was then and this is now', I thought it would be better if he was boxing for real, like in a match and he regained his eyesight through the fight, instead of training in the garage.

I like the green colours. I can tell it wasn't totally monochromatic, but green overpowered everything else, except for red.

The font choice for the credits was is a little busy. Something gritty but more simple would work better.

Congratulations on the Honorable Mention.

Justin

Thanks Justin.

I agree that it would have been better if he had been in a real fight, and that was the way it was originally written but we couldn't get a single boxing club/facility to co-operate with us in Edmonton so we had to write around what we had access to. Pain in the ass to do on any film but an even bigger pain in the ass to do on a 48 Hour Film when you've got extremely limited time.

Glad you liked the green. I was going for the Tony Scott film look.

I wasn't a fan of the font at first but it kind of grew on me. I'll probably never use it again.

Again, thanks for checking it out.

heres another 2 minute clip from my student film

http://www.citizencine.com/films/junipero/junipero_part3.mov

its 100mb QT7 H.264

I've been following junipero as you've posted it, I think you have a keen sense of how films are put together and how to make them flow. I also think your script is excelent...did you write it yourself? it's like a mix between mad max and shakespeare
.Anyway good work.

Andy.

took a few minutes to get used to it .. moves along very well ( good pacing) .... had me laughing ... i'll tune in again ....
the last time i saw somebody go out on the limb like ( or should i say had the gonads like) that was about 9 years ago and that was vin diesel ...
keep em coming !

in all reality it is just me, but here is a link to my website: www.yellowcow.net and also if you find that doesnt work so well or you would just rather watch it at youtube you can watch them at www.youtube.com/misternils Leave any comments here or where ever, or if you really want you can e-mail me at yelowcow@yahoo.com

Hello. This is the second short film I post. Hope this one has better luck than the last one... ^_^

I made it for my Montage class. It's supposed to be a structural composition over framing cuts, where it's all harmoniously put together to provide a meaning... Though I don't know if I've succeded or not, since we haven't been told of the outcome of the evaluation of the practical works.

Anyways, hope you can tell me whether it's worth a penny at least, so please leave any feedback you feel like, 'cause I'm not very sure what to think of it, since I had to toss some ideas, and I really need some criticism.

By the way, it was shot on digital, of course, but I would like you to watch it before I tell you what I shot it with, 'cause hopefully you'll be surprised to know afterwards what camera I used.
Here's the link. It's a .mov file, 18MB. Just go to the blue link "Download for free with FileFactory Basic", and on the next page hit "Click here to begin your download":

http://www.filefactory.com/file/2fa341/

See ya!

i don't see any clip ?
does one have to register to view clips ?

Oh, I just got here. You just have to hit the link that says:

"Download for free with FileFactory Basic"

That will lead you to another page where the link for the video will be made available. That one will be:

"Click here to begin your download"

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I don't have any dedicated server to host the file. Hope you don't have any more problems.

www.greenbench.tv/Violence.wmv

Hey all, just finished the first episode of our sketch comedy show. It's just something me and my friends have been doing for fun over the past few years. We spent a whopping total of $21 on this one! But nonetheless, it still came out pretty funny.

Problems I am aware of:

Audio in a few places overmodulates and the crinkling of clothes against the mic can be heard.

Lighting is a little harsh at some places, but we shot guerilla style so there was no time to set up lighting (same applies to audio).

A few other problems as well since again, we shot guerilla style, but it was a fun learning experience. Any feedback is greatly appreciated (even if you absolutely hated it).

I have been working on a new short called "How to be a Girl" and just posted a trailer for it on Saturday. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear comments or criticisms!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2708582621733701968&hl=en

For a more high quality version that requires the DivX Plugin please visit:

http://stage6.divx.com/members/84029/videos/1008430

This trailer features music by Elyce. http://www.myspace.com/elycemusic Check out her profile for more great music!

Thanks,
Josh
http://www.howtobeagirlmovie.com

That was a good laugh, Nils. Nice work :)

I agree with Don - It was good. Lots of fun. Some of the...ahem...humor was a bit gross, but I thought it was a real hoot.

I appreciate the feedback, guys.

I plan to keep shooting. I come from a concert/event background, so directing is all new to me. Looking back, I wish I would have pushed the talent more, but we were both tired or rushed whenever we got together. We both have full-time careers, wives, (and two kids, in my case), so scheduling was a pain. Dealing with the day-to-day of "real life" definitely zapped some of our initial enthusiasm and energy, which unfortunately made its way on screen. We had delays in securing a rooftop location and a convertible, too, so the shooting took place over six weeks when it could have been done in three days.

Still, I learned a lot from this experience and look forward to doing it again. Most importantly, I learned the importance of having a PA, even if it's somebody updating the slate or cueing up the song. Most of the time, it was just the talent and I on location, which required a lot of extra sweat.

T.J.

Looks like a nice drama. The trailer looked "indie professional." Best of luck!

Dave,

Looks great. Really dig the transitions you've used with your exisiting footage to give folks an idea of what you can do. And you've definitely put some great footage in here as well. The only thing I thought that kind of slowed it down a bit was giving the "InDecision" logo it's own screen. The first couple of viewings I wasn't sure if it was a plug for the band or a demo of what you can do from a titling perspective, but I think I would put it over the footage of the band.

I liked the "and strange" part personally . . . but I do think you could cut it in half . . . looked like a loop anyway.

Nicely done.

Thanks Jason, and everyone else, for the input.

Jason, I think I agree about the Indecision logo and it does feel like a promo for the band, but I have a lot of footage of them compared to everything else I've shot.

The end is a loop and I'll cut it down some. I gotta keep it in there though because I AM strange, and want to publicize it.

If a client wants straight stuff, they can go to my employer, Carter Media. If they want strange, they can come to me. Actually, I'd just send them to Carter Media and do the work through them.

I also must say that one of the owners of one of the more affluent and influential agancies we do work for, saw this and loved it. I was trying to get an idea of what kind of feel he was looking for and when he saw it he said "That's what I want!"

It really is nice to get a different take on stuff like this from folks who don't know me and are more objective. Thanks again everyone.

Short film I did a couple of years ago on an XL1

About to shoot my first feature (next week!) on an XL2 so any thoughts would be great....

www.louisfilm.com/eternalfilm.html

... and please get past the credits, there rubbishness irritates me. It's something that will definitely be worked on for the next one.

About to shoot my first feature (next week!) on an XL2 so any thoughts would be great....

I recommend reading this thread, you may learn a thing or two of what to look out for and what to avoid when you start your feature.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=73454

Be sure you have a good sound team cause it's what takes up the most time on set by far and getting good sound is a hard thing to do even with great gear. And I cannot stress enough how important it is to take a slate after every take...if you do things like mix boom with lapel mic write on the slate who is wearing the lapel mic and who is on boom, It will save you a lot of heartache and work in post.

Anyway good luck and most importantly enjoy it.

Andy.

Allright, it was shot on a Sony DCR-TRV250, Digital 8 format.

I edited it on Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 and color corrected it with it too. It has some cool music, and it's three "crush-on-her" stories and a love story. It's basically the story of a guy's pain in love. It's quite sad actually.

Maybe I should have promoted the short that way, "[I], a Sad Love Story".

One thing to note is that there is no dialogue whatsoever. It's a cry out of loss. Images and music.

And I'd really like to hear what you have to say about it, 'cause this short is very important to me and I need to know whether I succeeded on conveying that feeling of loss or not, if I got to create that (in lack of a better word) atmosphere.

Please, I need some criticism, I trust you.

A friend and I made a short (ode to) film noir and it's selected for the Dutch Online Film Festival

http://www.filmfestival.nl/index.php?id=295

It's in English. Would love to hear some comments, and if you have some spare time left you might want to register and vote for my film :-)

Well shot...one little bobble on the camera move in the last shot. Coloring was really neat, what did you do to it to keep the color but make it black and whiteish...The end of the cigarette is still glowing red and there are still some flesh tones. Nice audio...good movie guy voice. Funny little concept. Nice set design.

in short...well done.

Hi,

http://www.reelinspirations.com/dornier.htm (running time, 8 minutes)

This is something I produced back in 2004. I shot it on a Sony VX1000, edited in Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects and one 3D effect in Lightwave 3D.

This was made for DVD and I was viewing all output on my TV, so there are some green/screen shots that don't go all the way to the edge.

It requires Flash 8, and you might want to pause it, wait a while, then press play. Depending on bandwidth, it can stop and go a bit.

Enjoy,

Jim

Thanks, we used a very improvised dolly which I had to operate while operating the camera, so not every movement went as smooth as we wanted.

The attached photo's show what we did with the colors.

Looks like you removed all the color from the mids, then desaturated slightly...very cool look.

Thoughts? Based on this film...

As Andy says, main problem, sound - the song at the start was to loud and ran counter to the scene - I actually thought it must be playing of another window on the browser until I paused the film. It drowned the dialogue and didn't fit with the scene at all.

Music choices felt completely arbitary. It does pay dividends to get at least a HALF decent original score. In your own mind the songs fit the scenes perfectly (in one's own head, they always do) but to me they disrupted the film. I couldn't feelthe reasons behind the choice of songs, other than if lyrics ("Unhappy Birthday") were meant to refer to the themes (always a bad idea, the DayTime TV approach) or for some rather over-intellectualised reason (the music from Le Mepris, because the film has lots of jump cuts, self reflexive references, etc. Just like a Godard film!)

Coverage: LOTS to say... For your feature, GET MORE. Too many scenes were shot from one angle, which may have been an artistic decision, but left you with loooong dialogue scenes that weren't particularly well delivered by the actors, especially the "best friend", that really could have been trimmed and tightened up if you've been able to cut to other angles or reactions. Also it's best not to shoot over-the-shoulder shots, as in the two scenes with the girl, in wide angle. It means your main character is a small figure loomed over by a massive back of the head in the foreground. Also in those over the shoulder shots, your to-the-camera character needs to occupy the side 2/3rds of the frame, not dead centre, as that large foreground character, large as she is, seems to be shunted uncomfortably out of frame. Generally you need to look into shot composition, especially the rule of 3rds, because a lot of the framing and staging in this film felt just slightly off.

The pace was all over the place, from long, meandering scenes to sudden jump cuts and self reflexive freeze frames, documentary style asides to the camera/grabbing the camera, and back again. There was plenty of stuff that seemed thrown in just to pad out the running time, like the climbing over the bar furniture and the scene with the sunglasses which was just f***ing creepy! I get the feeling the dialogue was largely improvised, it had a slightly directionless feel. Again, more coverage and cutting it down to about 5 minutes would have helped this.

In the end I found the central character rather... unsympathetic. I couldn't work out if this was deliberate or not. In the end the thought I had was "hmmm, do you wonder why she dumped him?" I wasn't really sure his "philosophy" was that coherent, after all, if the character is in his early twenties, then his parents probably got married in the 1980s, not the 1950s! So I don't think he's that different from his parents' generation.

Try a bit of restraint, there was a sense of "everything and the kitchen sink" in this film, long takes to fast cutting, freeze frames, long "steadicam" style handheld shots, voice overs, five pop sings in a 11 minute. There was no consistency in style, and the shifts seemed random rather that calculated. This is what made it feel like the movie was unscripted and largely improvised on the spot.

Have a look at Marco Van Belle's (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=73896) short - it's a lot more "high concept" that your film, which is more character based, but is a good example of script, visuals, sound and editing really coming together.

Hope you don't think I've been too harsh, but if you're making a feature this is all stuff you really need to be aware of. To be brutally frank, based on this short alone, I wouldn't think you're ready to do a feature yet.

After much work, I am proud to share my first short with you. Tell me what you think of it, and whether you had any technical difficulties. If you do not have time to sit through the whole thing, there is a trailer. (The audio track is encoded with Dolby Prologic II so you can listen to it in surround, with the right setup)

That's Funny, Isn't It? (http://olivebarrel.com/tfii/)

an in camera edit/audio mix art video for class. used only the camera, no external mics, etc. only used computer for end title and compression for web
www.rileyharmon.com/8_20_06/
click projects then electron dance

weee

To say hello!

A couple of things made ready the last 24 hours...

http://www.vulture.no/testvid/

Gunleik

What camera were these shot with?

Shot on Panny HVX-200
Straight out of the box model
(No adapter to get the DOF)

The printshop:
Two lights
One fill
One "Spot" (dunno what fresnell is in english)
Shutter: 120/250
Just tweaked the scene files as I felt like
Mildly CC'ed in FCP to make the shots more coherent.

Shot at 1080 psf25

The timelapse
Same camera, same story (no lights tho')
2 secs interval
Removed unwanted birds and mild CC'ing in Shake

That's it I think

Gunleik

looks great, very clean, sharp images

Emre, some qick thoughts based on a single viewing.

Some OK camerawork, but some of the scenes seemed underexposed, it wasn;'t a consistent look.

The two male actors were good, better than you usually see in this level of production. The weak link was the actress, you need to get more angles of her in any given scene so in the edit you can "cut" a performance together (ie tighten up timing, use a close up for emphasis when her line readings are a little flat)

Sound - I can sound like a stuck record on this but it was really uneven. The opening montage between the two characters was largely obscured by too much background sound from the restaurant. I didn't get what the conversation between the girl and the customers was about. Like I said, that was on one viewing, but it should really need more. There was also some loud room noise in the kitchen scenes. Like really loud AC or plumming I think.

I think it really needs to be shorter. it felt slack as a narrative at 18 minutes and didn't really hold my attention as it should have done. When you think that TV sit comes in teh US are usually 23 minutes long, excluding ads, they can put a lot of story into those 23 minutes. I'm not saying all stories need to move at that sort of clip, but you're not offering a lot of story in 18 minutes. I think you can get away with a slower pace in a features becuase going in people are thinking abut investing more time in a film and going with the films own speed. With shorts, epsecially those on the web, you need to hold peoples attention a bit stronger.

Thanks!

Gunleik

Appreciate anyone taking the time to give feedback, constructive criticism and technical advice is always welcome. This is obviously the reason why people post on here.

Dylan- Agree with loads of your points, particularly in relation to the music, I also know that the middle section was the weakest. But it was a first film, I'm proud of it and I've learnt from it.

... I'd begin a defence of my choices but you don't strike me as somebody who is open to different ideas. You write as if film is a medium which is black and white (unintentional pun) or right and wrong. Your criticism of the framing of the character for example, makes sense in a film textbook kind of way but it was done intentionally to try and reinforce what was happening in the narrative.

Don't particularly enjoy being told that I'm 'not ready' to do anything though, particularly from an anonymous face over the internet- that's not constructive just a bit condescending.

Anyway the film must have made you a least think for a bit (even if it was about how much you didn't like it!) because it must have a taken you quite a while to get all that down.

Not sure if I've ever been called over-intellectualised before though , so I thank you for that.

It didn't really grab me... the first scene went on too long. I think what Dylan is saying is that if you really want to do a good job, get a lot of people involved, and shoot a great feature, you might want to hone your skills some more first. Shooting a feature sounds great and all, but what then? Is it going to be distributed, released, pressed to DVD... or just sit on the shelf? Remember, there are tons of people who are just jumping into film making, and many with little experience. Doesn't mean you can't go forward or your movie won't be a great success, but its good to remember that there is no substitute for hard work. We had a class where my fellow instructor showed a music video he had shot. One student was absolutely dumbfounded to hear that he spent 1 month preping (storyboards, shot lists, lighting plans, ect) before he started shooting. I also spoke with a "director" that had no idea what format she was going to be shooting on, did not know the difference between video and film, had no script, no shot lists, no equipment, but was going to be shooting her film and it was going to be great, and she felt absolutely ready to go. You're a lot further along, but maybe you just need to really nail a short before leaping into a really long format program, that's all.
By the way, did you get permission to use the music in your short? Awesome if you did (would take a lot of ground work to get permission to use Eric Clapton) but if you didn't, be really careful. It'll scare the heck out of ya when you get a cease and desist letter from a lawyer, along with a possible request of compensation.

Wow Jim, pretty cool! So you shot all that footage? Must have been neat to go up in the plane in the cockpit! It seems a little odd to call it a "documentary" because it feels more like a corporate video about how great the plane was (the only people interviewed were the pilots from what I could tell, and there seemed to be no background on the plane itself), but I liked the look of it very much. Nice work!

Louis,
Wanted to tell you that I really liked it for is direction and the choices you made. Technically there are plenty of flags for many people who love slick and packaged film. Myself, I love content over presentation. Not for all.

It was refreshing to see a film where its director listened to his instinct and ideas and made the film that he wanted. People might say that the film was crude, slow, with poor production, but I thought it had a sophistication that I don’t always see in fringe subject matter and story telling. It seems to me that your interests are in story content not glossy finish and asking for criticism in forums can be counter productive; if you can’t separate others people’s ideas on film making from your own.

I think that you have something.

Keep on listening to yourself and best of luck with your feature.

We launched the intro to our upcoming Vodcast a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.kineda.com/?p=968

Shot with a Sony VX2000, but probably going to go with a Canon HV10 for portability. Would love to hear any feedback or comments you may have!

Terry

Hey Cal,

Actually, I flew that airplane for the airline. I wanted to show what it was like to fly the plane and interview the pilots who flew it.

Yeah, it wasn't a 'true documentary' in the truest since of the term, as I didn't interview more people, but it wasn't a promo/image piece either. I just interviewed the pilots to get their thoughts, and put together some footage I shot while flying and jumpseating.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Jim

Very nice, but could you explain why the aircraft is being retired?

90% users are PC based... why only quicktime? I know I know... quality is better, controls are better... but for hard headed guys like me (and most people who hate downloaded extra stuff) it is my opinion you are isolating a major audience. Personally I do not like quicktime for the reason it tries to take over my system/codecs and crap... so, cant watch it.

XL2
Heres a really short clip of a bunch of teenagers enlisting in the army. In Singapore it is a must for all males enlist into the army and serve for 2 years.
Tell me wad ya think ;)

http://media.putfile.com/5SIRMONO-Compressed

OR for a faster load....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwF1Wjyd_vE