Man explodes after Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Unstuffed. News Parody by Indie League (http://one.revver.com/watch/102972)

Here's the short story behind this video. Back in September, I started a film club in the Seattle area called Indie League. It's sort of a free-form group that gets together to brainstorm, write, and film short projects. The idea is to accelerate the learning cycle and get everyone involved in all aspects of the film from start to finish. This is our first complete short.

Comments welcome.

Details:
1 Canon XL1s
3 1960s era "Sun Guns"
2 Radio Shack Omni Mics
2 Jars of Spaghetti Sauce + Strawberry Daquiri Mix
1 Man in Drag
Edited in Final Cut Pro on a MacBook (not pro)

For info on the club is at IndieLeague.com (http://www.indieleague.com)

-ej

Michael,

I was just sitting here at my computer, doing my own writing, when an idea for your short popped in my head. Take it or leave it as you wish, but I thought I'd at least share it.

First, what exactly is this short for? Are you guys killing time, or is this a true interest of yours? If you are doing this for a purpose, you might consider taking the time to fix it.

I agree with the other criticisms, btw, that the sound needs to be cleaner, and, for me, the momentum comes to a screeching halt at the cereal part. As I said, I would lop off everything from there on out.

When the main character copes with the loss of Roy by breaking out a guitar, you could add two more quick parts there, maybe him painting, or at a piano, or writing a poem...something along those lines.

Then for an ending to wrap it up, what about having the main character unable to sleep at night, or mumbling in his dream about Roy, then you show a sunrise, and the doorbell rings. When he answers it, it's Roy, business as usual, picking him up for school.

Last scene, at a bus stop or something, is just them staring ahead. Roy asks how his night was. He says: good, good. You know...the usual. Then Roy asks if they are gonna work out later. And you close with a couple quick shots of them working out again (as if the whole thing happens everyday).

Anyway, I have no idea why this popped in my head, but I think it fits the great tone you got going on there. Later.

Hello everyone ----

a new beginning | http://www.mdfilms.net

comments... anyone??

:(

I hope it's OK to post this. I don't think it competes with the DVi forums or any of its sponsors but if the moderators think it does, then I'll understand if the post is removed!

www.ndividz.com/forum is a brand new (and I mean brand new - at this point it's waiting for your input!) forum dedicated SOLELY to the business, technique, art and critiquing of independently produced music videos. There doesn't seem to be any other similar resource out there at the moment so I decided to start one. Please let me know if I'm wasting my time!

Anyone who has created a music video is invited to post a link in the Showcase forum, tell us something about the making of the video, and critique other peoples work. If my hosting company agrees (in negotiation) then I may be able to host videos at the site as well.

Hope to see you there.

Ian . . .

I'm just looking for some opinions on my reel. It's the first one I've made. I was thinking of sending it to production companies (the ones working on low budget corporate / event / music video productions).

I've been doing camera / DP / editing work for a little less than 2 years now. Only been doing it part time, both as a video production owner and freelance worker.

I'm starting to get some more calls and I've arrived to a point where I think I can take most low budget jobs out there and do something that will please the producer / director.

So here goes.

WMP: www.bicubik.ca/videos/demo_david_lachambre.wmv
QT: www.bicubik.ca/videos/demo_david_lachambre.mov

BTW, I am already aware of the quality level I am operating at, I am not trying to get a DP job on the next big multi-million feature production with this reel, I have realistic expectations and am fully aware of my strengths and limitations, so I'm mostly looking for opinions on reel structure (pacing, shot order, arrangement, etc), shot selection (is one clearly sub-par compared to the rest) and even choice of music for that matter.

For example, there is a shot in there where we see light reflections on a girl's glasses (second shot). This reflection was motivated in the story, but I've gotten comments from people on how unprofessional it looked to them. I liked the shot, didn't bother me, but this is the kind of feedback I'm after.

Fire away.

This film was made at the end of 2006 as yet another film school assignment. We were each given 3 hours in a studio, a crew of about 20 people and two actors to create a short three minute scene. 'The Same Old Line' was my attempt.

Penny, an assembly line worker in a doll factory, announces to her colleague Andrea that today will be last working before she embarks on her new, more exciting, life.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

Watch film Here: http://www.reifsneider.com/The%20Same%20Old%20Line-%20Watch%20Film%20Flash.html

any other opinions would be great, thanks.

Hi David:

I think it's a strong first reel. I like your choice of music and the pacing scheme with the fadeouts and hard cut ins on the beat.

The shots that work the least for me are:

--the redhead with her hair in a bun; not much visual interest in this shot. I mean, she's cute and all, but photographically it doesn't have much going on.
--the black and white shot where the person is walking away from the guy in the "p" cap--looks a bit muddy, especially compared to the nice tones you had in the earlier b&w shot.

The shot with the reflections in the glasses doesn't bother me that much on a small web image. Possibly it would be more of a deal on a full-screen, full-res image. But I think the camera move makes up for it, although it would have been nice to have seen the exposure of the screen behind the two been less washed out. Overall, the shot works well within the opening sequence and I think you should keep it. Reflections in glasses happen all the time even in the biggest movies.

Corporate and event clients might not be all that interested in the first half of the reel since it's got that "indie film" vibe that may even raise a red flag with that group, so it's good that you have the second half. I do feel like there is a fair amount of repetition within this, probably it could be half as long. Quick cutting does actually make sense for this sort of thing because it lets people know that you HAVE done this kind of work and they can see that it is good technically, and the fast pace of the cuts gives it a bit more interest than if the shots were longer (and thus more banal!)

Overall, a clean job and you should do well with it. Once you get some more material you'll be on your way. The real joy is when you get to the stage that you no longer have any of the material from your first reel on your current reel--that's a milestone!

Thanks for your comments Charles. Yes I had already decided to get rid of the 2nd B&W shot. I first chose it because I liked the choreography in the movement of the actors in it (it was longer than what is in there) but I think in this reel it is rather dull visually and doesn't really work.

I agree about the fast cutting of the second half, this is exactly what I had in mind, those are pretty generic shots of events and interviews, not much going on visually and a few frames per shot are IMO sufficient to get a good idea about their technical qualities (exposure and framing mainly).

Might be right about making it shorter and I thought about it (btw when you talk about repetition you are talking about the first or second half?), I just didn't want it to be too short, don't know if a reel of say a minute would be deemed insufficient by producers. I've been doing this on an occasional basis so I don't have a lot of material to work with and some of those shots I recognize are a bit weaker as a result. Also, lots of the footage I shot as a freelancer is not in my possession so I no longer have access to it.

I also deliberatelly chose to avoid product shots or shots where there were no people in it, as it felt a bit awkward in the second half of the reel when I was trying to edit quick shots of people with quick shots of objects I shot commercially (faucets, machinery, etc.). Maybe I could divide the second half in people / object segments.

I am at the point where I can finally start moving on to productions where budget and time will allow for more diversity and hopefully better results (they are still low budget, which is a notch above my previous ridiculously low/no budget productions). I'm really hoping I can develop much more in the next 2 years than I did in these first 2 struggling to get interesting work (most of it was event coverage, not much creativity involved). This reel is my first step.

I have modified a few things based on Charles' recommendations. The time lapse shots I've put in the middle part are temporary. I don't think I'm going to leave them in, at least not for so long and not as many. The city shot I might keep. But for now it'll have to do until I go through all my tapes and find something better.

I hope it doesn't feel too short, but I myself don't think it does.

WMP: www.bicubik.ca/videos/demo_david_lachambre2.wmv
QT: www.bicubik.ca/videos/demo_david_lachambre2.mov

As far as repitition in the second half, by the halfway mark I felt like I was seeing similar (not necessarily identical) images. In other words, I'm thinking "OK, I get it" but it keeps going.

Not really a problem as most producers make their decision within the first minute of watching a reel anyway.

As you start to get work and gathering material, you can begin tailoring reels for specific purposes, i.e. an event reel, a corporate reel and a narrative film reel. Probably the first two could be combined though. Keep a short but uber-sexy montage of your absolute best shots at the beginning, no more than 45 seconds or so and from there it can continue on to longer form clips that are specific to the genre. This is the formula I follow on my DP reel (charlespapert.com) and it seems to work well.

Actually I tried at first making 2 different reels, one for narrative / documentary work and one for corporate / event videography but I didn't have nearly enough material and they both ended up looking awful. So I decided to condense and combine. But once I get enough quality work under my belt I'll definitelly go for this option, I'm not all that comfortable as is sending reels to corporate / event video production companies with a reel starting with narrative work, but those shots probably look better, so I guess they are the closest thing I have to sexy shots.

I've already gotten one gig from this reel, which was to recreate one show of Trump's The Apprentice as a spoof for a Montreal firm and their employees. It went well, producer was happy, more work to come, it's a start.

Here are my thoughts, please accept it with a grain of salt.

I watched it, but I don't know what the story is. Just seemed like two talking heads. No conflict, no drama, no punchline. Sound wasn't that good. It lacked fullness in the beginning and maybe some music. There should have been a punchline somewhere, thus no pay off. Do ADR next time if you can't get better sound and add more background noise. Make the sound fuller. It also lacked camera angles, movement, direction. IT pretty much seemed like one shot of two women just chatting. But is that a movie? I'm not sure. Otherwise it was find. Keep going at it. Its not easy to make movies.

Cheers

Even though I am a bit new to this, I'll throw in my 2 cents... Can you incorporate a bit of quick live audio/video clips without the background music either between the fist and second cuts or at the end? The different aspects of video quality look really good, but audio quality can make a difference as well. Also the hotlink mail account looks cheap, (OK, I'm being picky) I sent you a gmail account invite.

I liked it. Not everyone´s cup of pee, I mean tea. But well shot, well acted, and well executed...

Regards
Van Zijl

Hey Everyone,

We've finished up our feature we've been working on for quite a while and are showing it this Saturday, Dec 2nd at Studio 35 at 4pm (for anyone in the Columbus, OH area)

We have a cleaner cut of the trailer I need to repost but you can see it at www.redhead-movie.com

Well Scott it might be an idea, but I'll have to check the quality of my sound on the footage I would like to put in first. I must say I had not thought about that. Not sure if it would work or not, but I'm going to give it a try later this week. It would certainly change the structure of the reel, but it might add something that is not currently there. Might also take away from it. We'll see.

As for the hotmail account, it is widely used here in Canada, for both professional and personal use, don't think it would bother anybody really, especially that I'm sending this as a person, not a company (I do have a company mail account).

Hi.

A higher resolution version of this film (Quicktime, 22.4mb) can be found and downloaded here: http://www.reifsneider.com/The%20Same%20Old%20Line%20High.mov
__________________
For more films visit: www.reifsneider.com

Hey guys!

Just wanted to get the word out.

For you Canadians, tonight at 8pm on OLN is the documentary "Stroud: Off the Grid" that I worked on as a cameraman and editor.

We followed Les Stroud (Survivorman) and his family as they became dedicated to self-sufficiency, moving to an old farm building, far from the nearest water source or hydro line.

Also, Season 2 of Survivorman is in full force! Les is off shooting the first episode right now and will be back soon so the editing will begin!

Les will also be posting a live blog from his Sat-Phone in the field, really cool.

http://www.lesstroudonline.com/blog/

Season 1 of Survivorman DVDs are available for sale now through the www.survivorman.ca website!

That's all for now.

Cheers!

-Andy Peterson
Survivorman II Productions

That's wonderful news! There are so many other "Survivorman" type shows showing up on the Discovery Channels that I was wondered if Les was done... I love that show as well as everyone I know! Thanks!

here is a short documentary i did last year for my school project.

I am quite happy with the audio, but the camera movement and some of the lighting is bad.

Please give me some opinion~~~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS-t4QcVhJU

hey shane, what an interesting place to find yourself, i have been trying to track you down regarding, firstly the information previously provided on anti-rocker.com which was incredibly useful for my current thesis on the relations of rollerblading to urban theory, subcultural evolution and performance theory! purely for a qoutable, selective history of the technology it was a prefect reference, i stupidly did not copy all information from the page and now it has been taken down, i wonder if by any chance you could fwd me the contents of said page.

and secondly, i have been talking with jess dyrenforth in order to further clarify the early days in which i wasn't involved and i would be grateful if i could ask you some further questions (perhaps via email) about your involvement in the rolling scene as a whole.

i think it is important that i complete this dissertation to the most competant and professional level as (to my knowledge) it is the first concise study of the entire lifestyle's positioning with regard to current social, cultural and political situations.

please let me know asap, clowse

hey shane, what an interesting place to find yourself, i have been trying to track you down regarding, firstly the information previously provided on anti-rocker.com which was incredibly useful for my current thesis on the relations of rollerblading to urban theory, subcultural evolution and performance theory! purely for a qoutable, selective history of the technology it was a prefect reference, i stupidly did not copy all information from the page and now it has been taken down, i wonder if by any chance you could fwd me the contents of said page.

and secondly, i have been talking with jess dyrenforth in order to further clarify the early days in which i wasn't involved and i would be grateful if i could ask you some further questions (perhaps via email) about your involvement in the rolling scene as a whole.

i think it is important that i complete this dissertation to the most competant and professional level as (to my knowledge) it is the first concise study of the entire lifestyle's positioning with regard to current social, cultural and political situations.

please let me know asap, clowse
I will have to find the info you're talking about as it is on a back-up disk somewhere. I will try my best to answer any questions you might have. Drop me a PM and I will get you my email address so that we don't clog the board with that stuff.

We shot Smuggler's Ransom on one Panasonic DVX-100 (stock lens) this summer, over the course of 4 days. The final film has a runtime of 45 minutes and stars Anthony Tyler Quinn (might remember him from one of his many TV roles... or his recurring role on Boy Meets World as Mr. Turner)

We have several "Director's Diaries" as well as a bunch of Behind the Scenes photos on our website, as well as the teaser trailer.

We are looking at an early 2007 release date.

www.smugglersransom.com

This is a short film I shot in the winter of 2005. We used the Panasonic DVX-100 (stock lens) and edited on Avid Xpress Pro HD. Enjoy.

www.noaricedigital.com/apth/apth_web.mov

Nice short movie. I liked the music during the first hospital healing scene and the drones during her first bout of illin' . Your assassin put in an intense performance. I cracked up during the assination scene when the two ducks were waddling over for handouts. Good job.

I liked it. Somewhere between the victims brother and the exploding subject, it slowed down a bit but it was fun.

Comments??

Very entertaining, good video and audio... liked the graphics, well done.

Good acting, and very creative.

Nice. This trailer was much more engaging than your previous short film. Are you in the religious film genre? Cool. And thank you very much for the behind the scenes movies. In particular, I liked watching how you filmed the opening scene of the movie with the fellow running. Very cool scene. Excellent choice of bad guys.

One comment about the trailer, which I also liked. Consider swapping the two scenes of the daughter (brown headscarf) asking about the bibles, as the first answers the question asked in the second.

I'm looking forward to seeing this movie sometime.

Thanks for watching! I indeed enjoy the religious aspect of films and a message... I think all films have a message to an audience... Thanks for watching again, and we are hoping to have this film finished by Jan. 2007.

When I saw the test subject explode, I exploded with laughter. Great job!

This film was funny man. Kind od depressing to see him go through that just cause his freind wouldn't hang out with him. Music was a good selection. dont have much time to comment but it hink the film was pretty good - pz

Hey, we have the same last names!

I would like you all to take a look at my reel: http://www.macvilleproductions.com/matthewrogersreel.mov

Tell me what's good and bad.

Thanks,

Matthew Rogers

Funny right up to the reseach scientist part. I'd cut everything after the he/she person. The rest was great.

Excellent video quality, no audio though without soundtrack... might want to cut in a few audio/video clips over soundtrack, text cuts out too quick, too hard to read without rewinding / reading again, cut out last 5 seconds of black video. Looks good, like the animation at beginning but should cut out the repeated animation at the end.

hi,
this is Austin R. Hartman and I finished my new short. It is a new style and voice for me. But this will be my first submission to sundance next year. I want your thoughts, criticisms, etc...

please watch at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RomIMuu00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RomIMuu00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97RomIMuu00

and send your comments to arhartman@gmail.com

tell your friends and family and get their feedback too...

thank you so much...


143,
-Austin R. Hartman

Started in July 2006, this 5 minute, 55 second short took 5 months to complete. Overcoming a near fatal cancerous tumor and ongoing cancer treatment, I managed to finish this final installment in the series with some much deserved laughs. Take that cancer!

Visit http://www.loudorangecat.com/movies/ to download the final installment (I swear) in the Bad Cat series.

My next little horror short is now available for your viewing. It's more a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits type thing really but there is some minor bloodshed. "Track 11"

Some folks are really liking it. I sort of like it too. Naturally I see all it's flaws - so you don't really need to point them out unless you feel extremely compelled to do so.

You are welcome to see all my shorts on my web page at
http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com
or on MySpace at
http://www.MySpace.com/DeepBlueEdit

"Cat Fight at OK and Corral" has been watched or downloaded over 17,000 times in just under 3 months.

I don't get to these forums as much as I used to but feel free to leave comments or catch my e-mail off the web pages.

Alex Ferrari of "Broken" liked it. Mike Flanagan of "Oculus" liked it. You might like it too. Turn off the lights at 2am and turn up the sound.

Thanks,

Sean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVvpaeQrRm4

my first wedding i shot and edited, any opinions would be great thanks.

Austin,

I enjoyed it. Took me a minute to get into it. Kind of...too artsy at first, but I came around and found it very sublime. Nice.

Hi Rob,

I watched all the videos in the series, and enjoyed them a lot. My only comments are some inconsistant sound with some areas too soft and some too loud. I loved the story line but think the "farting" did run a bit long (as you mentioned on your page).

I've got a couple of cat videos you might get a smile from. Just me messin' around with my new kittens.

As you know, cats are always waking you up in the morning before you're ready. This little video explains why: http://www.satoauto.com/video/24_cats_512.wmv

Jack decided to make a withdrawl from our coin sorter. I grabbed the camera and a short clip spiraled out of control. Before you knew it, I needed to act, my wife needed to act and all for this fun clip. http://www.satoauto.com/video/Framed.wmv

As you'll see from the footage, I have no training in anything I've ever made, but if you have time to kill to follow the 3rd part of a series I've created about a superhero (as a joke), check out these three links (I had to split it in 3 because Youtube has limits on size):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=20Eg77Qw12U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V8uduWpEKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT5gd2zPWAI

PS~~> The budget for this film was $6.

I am waiting for the movie to buffer. So far, the first 15 seconds leads me to believe that Sonicfire Pro Quicktracks is definitely the way to go! LOL!

I filmed this band (Approaching August) in OKC, OK. Since it was a live concert, there were no redo's. What do you think? What could be better? Also, how do I compress the file so it looks as clean online as it does on my computer (I had to save it in FCP as a broadband file to reduce the size):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=erYMTm1z2_g

I just finished a documentary about motorcycles, the title, "Spare Parts"
It was shot with Sony's crappy FX-1 and cut with Apple's stellar FCP 5.
If you would like check out the trailer go here

http://www.hmpfilms.com/media.htm

or

http://www.myspace.com/sparepartsmovie

am i doing something wrong, cause no one seems to be commenting on my post. not being rude or anything but some opinions would be great thanks guys.