View Full Version : "The Date" new short film


Brian Duke
February 11th, 2007, 01:59 AM
Check out a new short film I did and please give any feedback, postive or negative, including any constructive criticism. Thanks guys.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=SuperbadDuke

Its 5 minutes. Around 19MB. Hsould play for everyone on youtube.

Mike Horrigan
February 11th, 2007, 08:20 AM
Great work!
Very funny... the acting was pretty good as well.
Nice look too!

I would have liked a longer shot of the shirt the camera guy was wearing... maybe with a better quality clip it wouldn't be an issue.

Mike

Mark Williams
February 11th, 2007, 09:55 AM
Brian,

I really enjoyed it. The acting was pretty good as well as the story. Do you care to share you encoding settings for youtube.

Robert Kirkpatrick
February 11th, 2007, 11:31 AM
Duke, that was absolutely awesome. Nicely shot and composed, excellent acting, beautiful look.

The only thing I wonder about is that the editing was pretty fast -- not a lot of pauses between conversations -- but that may have been your point, to make us as bewildered and bombarded as the guy.

Nice work.

Brian Duke
February 11th, 2007, 02:31 PM
Do you care to share you encoding settings for youtube.

That's pretty easy, since I also have been trying to learn to get the best encoding. I found out that Quicktime H264 gives you the best quality at the lowest MB for your money. I exported a 1.6GB movie to Quicktime H264 at one of the smallest sizes. I think it was around 360X280 or something like that. Hope that helps and thanks for your comments.

The only thing I wonder about is that the editing was pretty fast -- not a lot of pauses between conversations -- but that may have been your point, to make us as bewildered and bombarded as the guy.

Thats' exactly what I wanted. You hit it on the nail. Bombarded, no chance to speak or get a word in. I wanted the audience to feel the same way. I'm glad you liked it.

maybe with a better quality clip it wouldn't be an issue.

I agree with you but I have been trying to make it longer and it seems like there is too long of a pause between the dialogue. I.e. it loses the beat of the movie, however, I will give it another shot, since I do agree you want to see the short more. Thanks again for your kind comments.

Marcus Marchesseault
February 16th, 2007, 04:57 PM
I really liked it. The icing on the cake was the German film crew. The cake was that actress. She's really talented. She fired off dialog like a gatling gun and looked cute along the way. I loved the way the editing accentuated her vacillating attitude which kept Nevada, and the audience, off balance.

Brian Duke
February 16th, 2007, 05:05 PM
Thanks Marcus. Really appreciate the encouragement. Filmmakers work hard and long on projects and to get a satisfactory response is always helpful.. Obviously I welcome negative and constructive comments too.

George Chapanian
February 16th, 2007, 05:14 PM
that was great

Reese Leysen
February 18th, 2007, 09:40 AM
I think most of it is very well done and was pleasant to watch, definitely way above average.

Some remarks: the scene with the German crew coming in felt a little bit messy and rushed, it could have been shot in a 'tighter' way to make it feel like it's really the climax of the short.

The lighting was also very nice but, and I don't know if this was intentional, it did feel more like it was lit like a commercial and while that does have a nice look, it makes everything feel less real.


But I am struggling with lighting myself and would love to hear how exactly you lit it, what was the equipment etc, because I did think it looked real nice.

Brian Duke
February 18th, 2007, 04:01 PM
Some remarks: the scene with the German crew coming in felt a little bit messy and rushed, it could have been shot in a 'tighter' way to make it feel like it's really the climax of the short.

I am no exatcly sure what you mean, because "messy" was what I was going for to get a feel of reality. Now, would I have doen things differently? Absolutely. This movie to me is only about 40% of my initial vision so far from perfect, but I was still determined to finish it.

The lighting was also very nice but, and I don't know if this was intentional, it did feel more like it was lit like a commercial and while that does have a nice look, it makes everything feel less real.

I'm not sure if commercials are really lite like this. In any event, I am not a DP so I amprobably not the best person to ask about lighting. I had a DP do it. Again, we were under bad condition. Tiny apartment, ton of people, 120 degrees from a REALLY hot day and no AC and also all the lights. Plus we were trying to manuver the equipement around within a 16x16ft space.


But I am struggling with lighting myself and would love to hear how exactly you lit it, what was the equipment etc, because I did think it looked real nice.

I used the JVC HD100 with a Mini35, my lowell lighting kit, had a dolly but it really didn't work in such a small space. One of my mistakes I regret. Hope that helps. Thansk for your input and comments.

Marlon Torres
February 18th, 2007, 05:03 PM
Loved it. Do you have quicktime version? I hate youtube quality.

Brian Duke
February 18th, 2007, 05:29 PM
Loved it. Do you have quicktime version? I hate youtube quality.

Hey Marlon, Thanks

Here is the link for better quality: http://hd-motionpictures.com/The%20Date.html