DVC3 "Last Words" Feedback

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Lorinda Norton

I felt pretty dumb after seeing the other movies to this point.

No need for that. Although it has no bearing on the outcome of the contest, your's was the only film that I watched 4 times. I kept laughing my ass off at "HEP" each time. I wish it was longer. Save those characters for DVC4.

[Sean McHenry]

I was just showing the ones I liked best to my wife and actress/daughter. We all liked yours. Dylan is right, I like it a lot.

The cliche thing to do would to have shot them with a fake record light and so on and have that shot blink out when the battery goes. However, I like not having done that.

Sean

[Jonathan Jones]

Hi Lorinda,
Great job...this is one I know I will come back to again and again, it is an absolute pleasure to watch. Very funny, and I think you have a couple of keepers for characters (assuming they get saved) I can imagine them finding themselves in all sorts of precarious dilemmas and the little shorts that could be produced to illustrate that. It was hilarious.

"Who you gonna write to out here?" great line.

Also, the opening pan shot - very nice.

Well done!
-Jon

[Lorinda Norton]

Funny thing about words. Early this morning I had decided to tell the guys that I wasn't doing anymore challenges because I didn't want to keep clogging up the field with sub-par entries. When I went online I was mortified to find this movie posted today--I didn't expect it until tomorrow!

All through the day I've felt better, thanks to the kind feedback. Now, tonight, I find one of my favorite comedians (yeah, that's you, D.C.) telling me to keep Jeff & Mason around for DVC4, and I read these other very encouraging words, as well. Kind of gave me that "Sally Field" feeling! ;)

Guess entertainment comes in all forms--for some it can even come from the hands and gear of a perennial amateur who happens to have gifted friends. I love it!

What a cool community we have here. Thank you.......so much.

And I will talk to the guys about another performance. Somehow I don't feel like I'll have to do a lot of arm-twisting. :)

[Richard Zlamany]

Great job. I liked the characters chemistry. They are good together. It was funny. Hep :-)

[Robert Mann Z.]

it was great, i really enjoyed watching those two interact, i like the fact that you didn't put in footage from the handy cam by accident or not it worked for me...music was perfect as well...

don't stop making these...

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Lorinda Norton

Funny thing about words. Early this morning I had decided to tell the guys that I wasn't doing anymore challenges because I didn't want to keep clogging up the field with sub-par entries.

Last Words is definitely not sub-par!
You'd better enter DVC4 or I won't run it and then everyone will blame you and then you'll feel really bad. So you have to enter. :)

[Sean McHenry]

Sub par, sheesh. Not a chance.

I have noticed a few minor things watching it again the other night with the wife and kiddie. The audio seems to pan full left when the one guy is rooting around in the truck for paper. I haven't really listened to it all that well but there is something up with the audio for a few seconds there. Not too big an issue but if you were doing a final version as a keeper you might want to look at that.

Sean

[Lorinda Norton]

LOL, Dylan! Gosh, we can't let that happen, now can we? Wiseguy... ;)
But thank you so much for validating this work. It'll make me try harder.

Sean, yeah, that darned audio really ate my lunch. I'm still scratching my head wondering how that panning thing happened. And when I tried to work with the waveforms (in Vegas) I couldn't get good results, so I gave up. Besides, I had more pressing troubles with wind noise there at the last main sequence. Had to EQ the dickens out of it in order to get the roar out.

I may mess with it again--thanks.

To Robert Mann Z.: Always a pleasure reading your comments, and affirmation coming from you means a lot. Thank you.

Richard, I wish you'd fill in the blank on your location. I'm telling the guys what everyone said, and they're having a blast seeing the "reaches of their appeal." LOL!!!

[Jeff Sayre]

Lorinda, I loved the line "Never go squirrel hunting with one gallon of gas." That cracked me up. :) Living in Indiana, I see those two characters almost every day!

The way you set the scene drew me in from the start--the truck with the hood up, the gas cap door open, and the guys roasting in the hot sun. It was clear what was going on in 10 seconds. It is hard to convey so much in so little time. Well done!

I also loved the fact that they had this wonderful piece of technology to record their last words yet the battery was almost dead. Isn't that the way it would probably be. Your ending was also classic. When the camera stopped in mid sentence, I cracked up loud. It reminds me of many a wildlife shoot when I'm about o get some great animal behavior and then the battery dies.

Great job overall!

[Sean McHenry]

Lorinda,
I read what you had said about the wind noise issue in another thread. Take a look at Markertek (or our sponsors sites) and see if you can find a wind sock to match your mic type(s). Some makers are quite expensive, like Sennheisers "blimps". I found mine, a Mic Muff, here: http://www.markertek.com/SearchProdu...f=15&sort=prod

$40 is pretty cheap and yet it works wonders.

Sean McHenry

[Lorinda Norton]

Hey Jeff,
Knowing this little movie made you laugh just makes my day! Thank you for the nice comments!! -- Lorinda

Sean, I tried a "muff" once and thought it did just that--muffled the audio I did want even though the wind noise was filtered out. Is this wrong? Anyway, because of that one incident I scrapped that idea. I didn't take enough helpers for this movie (the wind wasn't blowing when we struck off for the middle of nowhere!) to block it. You've not had the other problem with your muff?

[Sean McHenry]

If they are made right, they are supposed to be transparent to sound. The fibers on the fuzzy thing are there to keep air from hitting the diaphram of the mic. I suppose off axis air blowing accross a mic is the real problem. I don't think they will help much on a handheld omni or lav type mic. The windscreens there are mostly to keep the talent from popping when they speak.

Mine has been pretty good for me. I leave it on all the time now. Besides, it's too hard to take off and on.

Sean