Here's a little short film I made originally for the Chiller Channel's Dare2Direct contest. Let me know what you think. Shot with a Canon HV20 with no adapters (and no budget) and soundtracked by myself using Finale 2008's Native Instruments.

Movie Teaser - Vimeo 720p less than a minute (http://www.vimeo.com/1433741)


Enter the Trojan Horse - Vimeo 720p 11m07s (http://www.vimeo.com/1580922)

Okay Froyo..;)

I got to watch the rest. You got a lot of great soundbites, maybe too many. I know we all want to keep all the good stuff, but sometimes there might just be too much good stuff. LOL, so take a good hard look at that and be ruthless in the edit.

Heard a good deal about what the camp means to the counselors, the warm fuzzies they get, but what's missing?

The kids. What does it mean to the kids? Now I realize this is all in the can, but one of the best ways to illustrate a point is to profile someone affected by what you are talking about. I wanted to hear from the kids. I wanted to hear them laugh. I heard talk about laughter but didn't hear it, except for one short bit of sound mixed way down under an interview. I know the one counselor said they dont have any empirical data etc, but did any of those counselors go thru the camp when they were younger, was anyone on staff a former participant? I want to hear from them. Those that have experinced the camp and what it meant to them.

Those are my thoughts.

Hey Bill, thanks for your comments on this. I agree with you on many of the points you brought up. The amount of soundbites was also a concern for me and I will definitely take a hard look to cut them down since it’s probably the right approach.

Regarding the inclusion of kid interviews, I luckily DID interview a good amount of kids in the same style as you see the counselors being interviewed. I found it difficult to find a point where I could cut to interviews with the kids, but I’ll admit I gave up a little too early on that portion and just kind of stuck with this style. I’m definitely going to take another look at that tonight.

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

If anyone else has any advice, please let me know!

Well, I'd like to watch the film. The trailer is intriguing.

But you have the film password protected.

I don't have the password.

(Sigh)

I liked it...well paced (although I thought the first scene lasted a bit too long), well timed edits, nice shots. Told the story of making a nice breakfast, quickly. About the only thing I think would make it a bit better is work on the exposure. Some of the scenes were over exposed and that also contributes to focus issues. Aside from those two things, very well done!

Sorry about that. I fixed it.

Hi,

in Belgium an Apple Premium Reseller and a mac forum donated a new iPhone 3G (cost in Belgium: 525 euros). You only had to make something digital about the iPhone.
We choose at the last minute to make a fake commercial about the iPhone 3G.
And... we won!

Shot with an EX1, a dolly and edited with Final Cut Studio 2, color correction with Magic Bullet.

The commercial's text is in Dutch, but what it says is:

"If you only had... your own music.

If you only had... your own GPS

If you only had... your own camera

If you only had... your own phone

If you only had... your own iPhone 3G".

It was shot in a rush job, I had the idea in the evening before the day of the deadline. Quickly shot in a couple of hours (transportation included between locations) and edited in a couple of hours. So editing could be a bit tighter, it's a tad too slow to my liking. It was made with a couple of friends, as a fun thing to try.
The first and last music you hear in the commercial is a famous Dutch song, which is a very old fashioned love-song, people funningly think it's only for old people.
The last sentence your hear in the commercial, from the same song as the beginning, is, translated: "Because I love you so much...".
Rest of the music was quickly made in Garageband.

Feedback is very welcome.

Best regards,

iPhone 3G contest : our submission on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/1540131)

I enjoyed it. Pretty funny commercial.
I think you could have tightened up the edit a bit but other than that I liked it quite a lot.

Cheers,

Mike

Had to password protect the link: "formula" is the password.

Any other thoughts?

Hello!

Just filmed my first project for filmschool. It's about...well, see it for yourself. It cost me about 5 hours to make, but everything was storyboarded and well prepared.
Shot on Canon Xh A1 with SGpro
Cut with FCP on an iMac in HDV (yes, iMacs does the job perfectly)

Have fun! Any criticism is more than welcome!
Zielsveel on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/1753677)

Yep, that about sums it up.
Nice work!

I liked it...well paced (although I thought the first scene lasted a bit too long), well timed edits, nice shots. Told the story of making a nice breakfast, quickly. About the only thing I think would make it a bit better is work on the exposure. Some of the scenes were over exposed and that also contributes to focus issues. Aside from those two things, very well done!

Thank you for the comment. Some people had alredy told me that the first scene is too long, but I think it contributes to a better "shock" effect when the fast-paced editing comes in.

I fully agree with you in the overexposure issue. I'm not a professional, so it's hard for me to get the look I want, because every time I see some cool shot, behind there is days of searching over the internet and reading books about how to achieve that particular look. And when it comes to making it for real, you find problems that you never imagined before...

I'll be working hard in the next project, so it looks better!

Thank you again!

Thanks!

Anyone else? :-)

Without any doubt one of the most beautiful shorts ever. This really is stunning. Simplicity above all. Less is more. This 2 minutes are a classic. I do not exagerate.

Superb acting of the guy, I love how the camera keeps rolling after he gets the heart back.

Terrific use of audio. Let this short be an example. You don't need dolly's, cranes and huge crews to make something that is universal, something that we all recognize and touches us.
I would have casted another type of girl, but that's personal, nothing against her.

Ivo, you should start realising that this 2 minutes are splendid. Many congratulations!

I liked the acting of the guy, too.
I loved colors and everything else!
Good work!

JJ

Thank you for sharing your reel!
I liked most of it, but I have to agree more with Lori. I myself am making reel for my company right now, and the first thing even before I gather the footage was what to put in the beginning, middle and end. sorta arranging and planning things out.
I have NO DOUBT that you are very artistic, and got some top notch tech skill. But just like Lori said, storytelling was somewhat not focused and footages were scattered.
I wrote down some of the shots in the middle: LeBron James-Guy on the sofa-Band music video-Rapper-Guitar-shoes-Guy wondering-LeBron James-Band-Guy wondering-Water Fountain at Park-Band-Rapper-Guy wondering-Rapper-Rescue Team-James LeBron- and I think you get my point.
I would definitely arrange some of it, put similar stuff closer together instead of here and there.
Here is my 2cents...
Keep up the great work, man!

JJ

Hello!

Just filmed my first project for filmschool. It's about...well, see it for yourself. It cost me about 5 hours to make, but everything was storyboarded and well prepared.
Shot on Canon Xh A1 with SGpro
Cut with FCP on an iMac in HDV (yes, iMacs does the job perfectly)

Have fun! Any criticism is more than welcome!
Zielsveel on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/1753677)

Very good use of facial expressions and actions to indicate what was un-spoken. For her actions, it seems like her face and body language could have given more to the scene (not like I know what I'm talking about... just what I'm seeing).

Very impressive story.

I have undertaken a recent project: Document a local string quartet as they prepare for their next concert series. I have learned that documentary is a totally different style. I am interested in all of your comments. Help out the new guy!

First interview on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/1769903)

P.S. Something was messed up in the encode and/or upload, so the audio is wack.

A few suggestions:
Choose a better location with less noise - that audio was not the best.
Don't shoot someone with a window behind them with bright daylight outside.
You have some interlacing issues going on there.

Thank you, Dennis. Duly noted on all points. Unfortunately, I don't have the best gear around, which, I think, had more to do with the audio problems. Not enough isolation.

But the background, yes, I will agree, that was terrible planning. I may have to re-shoot with all of the sunlight off the windshields.

This is how we learn though, thanks again!

Eric

There are definitely some problems with the interlacing. I have had issues with the same thing on a few of my recent projects. Does anyone know how to fix/prevent this?

thank you very much :)

Make sure to select the deinterlace option from your video editor when exporting the video for use on computers and the web. This should remove the lines you are seeing in the video.

Thank you, Josh. I love these boards. Everyone here is awesome.

I enjoyed this short. The score perfectly pushes the story along, without over-doing it. Whar filters did you use for the color? Very impressive work.

Very nice! Keep working.

I enjoyed this short. The score perfectly pushes the story along, without over-doing it. Whar filters did you use for the color? Very impressive work.

I just fiddle with the 3-way colorcorrector. I love to pull the mids up a lot, which gives a kinda bleachy look.

My first 3 minute short done back in early August when I got my Sony PMW EX3.

http://vimeo.com/1796053

Comments/constructive critique welcome!

Andy, i enjoyed that as I am always in Ely on a Saturday taking the girls to ballet lessons and having a relaxing coffee at starbucks!

Out of interest are you capturing your footage from the EX3 using Prores codec?

cheers
Sherif

Hi Sherif,

Actually, just the standard Sony Clip Browser (version 1 as I heard it was much faster on here when V2 came out - not sure if that's true or not) to MBP 15-inch hooked up to a 24-inch Dell 2408WFP and then editing in FCS2 with the XDCAM 1920x1080p settings in the timeline (I've not got past the basics of FCP 6 and a little of Soundtrack Pro 2 within that suite yet so forgive my ignorance.

Then it was just a quick conversion to Quicktime using pretty much the Vimeo recommended settings on their site. Nothing fancy as this was my first project with EX3/MBP/FCS2 etc. I'm never totally happy with what Vimeo does to my videos as dicussed to death on Dvinfo by me a few months ago.

Lots to learn yet!

Glad you liked it!

Hello.
So I am finishing up this couple's final long cut. It's not all that great like others, but I am practicing and studying everyday to get better.
It was shot by only Canon XHA1 only by me. It was one man show... which I not prefer, but... oh well.
Enjoy, and feedback is always welcomed and appreciated!

Wedding Intro (prep) on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/1801384)

JJ

J.J., I have left this thread in place because this is the appropriate forum. I deleted the other one. We have a 'no cross posting' policy at DVINFO.

Regards,

-gb-

Sorry about that! Rookie mistake!

Sometimes post feels like it's going on forever, but we're finally premiering at the San Diego Film Festival this weekend. So far the response has been good, and we've been able to stay on top of the most scheduled list at the festival. The trailer is strong, and I'm confident the film delivers on what the trailer promises. It's a great script, beautifully directed and edited with wonderful, charming actors. A friend popped it on a few weeks ago, and called back within three minutes of the beginning to find out who the DP was - so everyone's work has gotten high marks.


Here's the trailer:
YouTube - THE WATERMELON (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAcG9qtYN48)

And if you're in San Diego area and are coming out for the festival, we'd love to see you. Here's the festival page for the film:
San Diego Film Festival 2008 : The Watermelon (http://sdff.bside.com/2008/films/thewatermelon_sdff2008)

Hee hee. Funny Trailer-- the strange thing is, I have seen it somewhere...I don't know where though. I wish you the best in Sandiego. Looks like a fun piece!

I just finished another chocolate commercial in the Fanny May campaign.

http://www.blackbagfilms.com/fmcpixiessmall.mov

I like it a lot, feel free to add your comments.

Michael Azzariti
Director Cameraman
Black Bag Films, Inc.

Very nice - made me want some candy. I guess that's the whole point, now isn't it? :)

Yes, there were a couple off-focus or over-exposed shots, but it was very well made - I'm hungry!

if any of you have got the time to look over a few of my videos i would appreciate your feedback of what you think works and what dosn't and what i could do to make them better

thanks

kevob's videos on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/kevob/videos/sort:plays)

MTV Baltic & Coca-Cola had a contest called Soundwave for unsigned bands, the winner band would get a music video as a prize. I was chosen to do it, check it out: fff.ee (http://www.fff.ee/?ln=1&i=1&videoid=4)

We had 10 shooting days, in some scenes we used two cameras. A-cam: HVX+M2, B-cam: HVX+SGpro.

Aero shots were done from shoulder, original footage was very shaky. Underwater shots were done with home-built underwater housing.

This was filmed in one day and edited in the next. Our assignment was to create a five minute short about anything we wanted. This was our first film project for my Cinematography class.

Philip: A Filmmaker on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/1848127)

Comments are appreciated.

That was amazing. I loved the concept and the way you blended the 'real-ugly-life' with a child's perspective. The video flow was incredible. I loved it

I saw it at the fest Sunday night and I found it very funny. Congratulations to the entire team. I met some of you there. Good job.

Daniel

Very nice - made me want some candy. I guess that's the whole point, now isn't it? :)


A client described the spot as "Pixie Porn".

I'll take that as a compliment!

Daniel,

Congratulations to you on your Best Feature award. I got tied down with real estate catastrophies and didn't get a chance to see The Appearance of a Man, but your trailer is fantastic.

And I'm glad you enjoyed the film. I'm very proud of the work we did. We've had one distribution offer, and I am very hopeful about the future. :)

Hi Michael,

Nice job.

If I was to be constructively critical, I feel like the lighting of the hero shot of the chocolate itself could be improved. As I'm sure you are aware (but I am re-stating here for those who haven't done a lot of product shooting), shiny objects like cars and chocolates are all about reflections, and any given light source will both cast light on the subject and appear as a reflection in the surface. I feel like the individual bounce cards or frames that you were using to light the chocolate should have been larger and more uniformly lit; the hot spot in the higher source reads a little funky on the product.

I would likely have used an overhead softbox to create contour across the top of the chocolate with some additional lower, large sources to give more dimension to the sides, but made sure that the sources were uniform in appearance and not too hot.

Hi Michael,

Nice job.

If I was to be constructively critical, I feel like the lighting of the hero shot of the chocolate itself could be improved. As I'm sure you are aware (but I am re-stating here for those who haven't done a lot of product shooting), shiny objects like cars and chocolates are all about reflections, and any given light source will both cast light on the subject and appear as a reflection in the surface. I feel like the individual bounce cards or frames that you were using to light the chocolate should have been larger and more uniformly lit; the hot spot in the higher source reads a little funky on the product.

I would likely have used an overhead softbox to create contour across the top of the chocolate with some additional lower, large sources to give more dimension to the sides, but made sure that the sources were uniform in appearance and not too hot.

Charles,

I agree with you 100% on the fact that sheen sells chocolate. (I've DPed a LOT of chocolate for Peter Elliott)I had to tone down the light sources in order for the whole spot to cut together. Enough light for a good wide highlight on the chocolate burned out the pecans and the background and I wanted some nice fall-off on the surface.. I felt that sacrificing a wide delicious highlight was the trade off for good rich colors in each part of the story. I tried to compensate with a harder rim light to get some specular hits to liven up the chocolate, which did a fantastic job on the caramel. I dropped a double and single in the rim but I agree that it is still a few stops too hot. I can't trust the onstage monitor and should get out my spot meter for this stuff....

Best regards,

Michael Azzariti
Director Cameraman
Black Bag Films, Inc.

Interesting dilemmas Michael. I'm personally not much of a menu diddler but I wonder if there might have been some tweaking possible that would pull out more detail in the chocolate and/or keep the pecans from blowing out.

Tabletop is so delicate--I hear you about the surface getting hot with an overhead softbox but it seems like you had a fair amount of depth behind the product, could it not have been flagged just above camera, both in front of and behind the chocolate?

The highlights in the caramel and especially the chocolate itself when it is being poured were nice although I myself am not crazy about the hard shadow created by the rim light--wonder if a softer source would have still carried the pour?

So many ways to skin the cat of course. Hate to get too dissect-y about someone else's lighting...congrats on the campaign and continued success!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2904863495_8b574039be.jpg

Dream Lover is about a girl, who dreams. She dreams herself and her lover, and the game is between herself and herself. She lives and is born from her experiences in the dream realm. Alas, it is never just a dream.

Made this short film with some of my friends. Spent 3 days filming and two weeks editing (a few hours each day after work).

Please tell me, what you think! It's my first try, so please be honest.

Watch or download here:
Dream lover (short film) By Andris Krastin? On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/dreamlover)
Dream lover (short film) on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/1861070)

Film web page: Dream Lover - Our Fire Film (http://our-fire.net/index.php?pid=28)

now also in HD lack of Eoins - Children's Society on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/1851041)