We're running a short "Airbags" in the IFC Media Lab competition. We originally shot this for the Amazon/Tribeca Competition but since it met the requirements we thought we'd dust it off and give it a shot

In any event, we'd love to get some more feedback on the piece:

http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp

Thanks.

Hi,
The link you posted does not work (but I saw the film by going via the link on your website). Good simple idea - minor criticisms - the reaper's scythe at the end looks cheap, it brings the quality of the whole film down. Also, I would lose the handhald shot of the man walking with the two cups of coffee - it would tighten the film up if he first appeared by just walking into shot holding the coffee, keeping all the action at the intersection. Otherwise solidly put together. Good luck.

Thanks!

Yeah, whoops, here's the correct URL:

http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp?film_id=198&list=1

Yeah we really had a hard time sourcing the scythe in the time we had, and ended up going with a cheap plastic one (regretably). I even tried to make it look better in post, but the results were even worse.

Thanks again for the feedback!

I liked the premise. The story was told pretty well. I didn't mind the shot of the guy walking at the beginning, but if you're going to do it, I'd have your cameraman on a dolly of some sort to reduce the handheld shake (anything with wheels would have been better IMO).

The scythe looked plastic, but it didn't bother me that much. I was more bothered that the shot lingered on the hand grabbing it for too long. It took me out of the story because I felt I was being given time to see what was in the shot. Maybe shorten that shot and include a closeup of the scythe going over the guy's shoulder.

Overall, it was entertaining. Just my constructive criticism for ya.

but if you're going to do it, I'd have your cameraman on a dolly of some sort to reduce the handheld shake (anything with wheels would have been better IMO).

Thank you very much Travis for the feedback!

For that shot we tried using one of these DIY iron pipe "stabilizers". To be fair, our operator only got to practice with it for about 10 minutes before we made him take the shot (one of three), but yeah, I'm already building a dolly for next time...

We also used this device for all of the "extreme" close-ups and it worked really well as a way to get a stable static shot with more flexibility than a tripod allows.

You can see a little more of what that thing can do in the "making of" on our website:

http://2soc.net/airbags/

Thanks again for the feedback guys, it's so nice to hear something besides "why did you shoot it in black & white?"...

Why did you shoot it in B&W?

d:-)

Why did you shoot it in B&W?
d:-)

...made the color-correction in post much easier :)

I bet. Good answer.