DVC 5 Feedback

Bruce Broussard · April 15th, 2006, 04:51 PM

I will be the second to jump (following Sean's lead) the gun and put my feedback thread up. I don't know when mine will hit, but if these are being posted in the order they were received, mine will be one of the very last.

Equipment -
Sony Z1 - you gotta love it!
Recorded in HD
Amvona AT 6907 - Tripod
Post Production - Sony Vegas

My excuses are first: I was unable to spend the time on the film that I wanted to. We shot it and edited it on the Saturday that it was due. I had to leave a couple of scenes out because we got started too late. We would have liked to have done more editing, and re-shoot a few of the scenes that I made mistakes on, but, once again, not enough time. There, excuses have been made.

The film was rendered according to the recommondations on this forum and I was pretty unhappy with the quality, so I have posted two higher resolution images on the web. I will post the links here once my film has been announced. The highest resolution really demonstrates the quality of the HD.

I have pretty thick skin and am always looking to improve so feel free to comment at will.

Meryem Ersoz · April 18th, 2006, 09:52 AM

that was pretty intense. great exploration of identity using the theme. the end with the various selves walking away from the mirror was very effective and closed the gap of separation between the soldier and "enemy" boy. very advaita. i always value any effort at making something really profound with this medium--you did an excellent job.

seemed like a lot of wind noise in the driving sequence. maybe shooting it once for image and separately for sound would have mitigated the noise issue, assuming you had all the time in the world at your fingertips! did you use a fuzzy windscreen at all?

Bruce Broussard · April 18th, 2006, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce Broussard

The film was rendered according to the recommondations on this forum and I was pretty unhappy with the quality, so I have posted two higher resolution images on the web. I will post the links here once my film has been announced. The highest resolution really demonstrates the quality of the HD.

A high resolution link is:
http://www.broussardvideoproductions...WhoAmI_med.mov

and a full HD resolution render is
http://www.broussardvideoproductions...hoAmI_high.wmv

William Gardner · April 18th, 2006, 10:10 AM

Very interesting piece, particularly impressive that this was shot and edited in one day! Cool concept and good shooting.

I also struggled a little bit with the wind noise in the car, and some of the intercutting in the car scene took me a moment to regain my bearings with where I was. Also not sure of the significance of the slow-motion in the sommersault in the jungle scene, unless you're showing off your sommersaulting ability. :)

Neat concept, and neat cutting and effects in the "mirror flashing" stuff.

I had a little trouble making out who was whom with the quality of the compressed video during the car stuff: I'm sure that this is much clearer in your HD version! Hopefully by DVC#82 we'll all have the bandwidth and storage to download HD quality stuff...

Cheers!
Bill

Chris Barcellos · April 18th, 2006, 10:18 AM

Ambitious project to shoot in a day. Viewing it for the first time, I wasn't clear what and why it was happening. I am assuming the main character has an identity crisis, perhaps occasioned by prior military service. Left me with a few things to try to sort out-- and perhaps those missing scenes were the answer. The scene with the two cars on the road was difficult to interpret with the loss of definition in for internet distribution, but was there an exchange that would indicate a "road rage" incident ? And the other question, I assume by credits you and another family member were the main drivers, and the close resemblence added some confusion, at least. At one point I was thinking that both drivers were the same person.

Robert Martens · April 18th, 2006, 11:24 AM

I'm with Chris, the car scene was a bit tough to make out, and both drivers looked alike (or at least their heads were too small on screen to be distinct, especially after factoring the compression). Two red cars didn't help, but it was easier what with one being a convertible. But doing this whole thing in a DAY? Good lord, that's unbelievable! I'm giving you a golf clap right now. You can't see it, but I'm doing it.

Love the road rage angle; I usually say the only people who complain about road rage are the ones causing it, and it made me smile, as I dream about giving people what-for (on a far less extreme level, of course) on a daily basis for things like this.

Not sure I get who the first boy is. Is it the same one we see walking away at the end? And am I therefore to assume the man in question is fighting with himself, so to speak?

Bruce Broussard · April 18th, 2006, 12:41 PM

Meryem, I appreciate your kind comments. Agreed on the wind noise. It was an oversite in post production (to remove the noise). We did not use a "fuzzy" on the car shots. Obviously we should have (it was in the camera bag!). Sometimes I am really guilty of putting things off until the last second... But because this was so much fun I will do my best next time, assuming there is one, to plan it a little better. One problem we had was trying to come up with some sort of story to go with the reflections theme. We finally had an inspiration and me and my brother collaborated on this story.

Bill, yup, bad wind noise. I think that the car scene makes better sense at a higher resolution, but I understand the issue. This scene was edited several times. You are right about the slo mo in the jungle scene. My brother thought it would look cool. No other significance there :)

We are definitely going to expirement with some of the rendering settings others have used to try to get the quality up, obviously if you can't tell who is who it is a little difficult to follow the scene!

Chris, Now I am thinking the resolution thing did hurt us a bit, and the hazards of the all the actors being from the same family are now obvious :) And you are correct about the road rage "exchange", it is more apparent in the higher res renderings.

Robert, Thanks for the clap. It was a bit high pressure to knock it out. Working with the HD in that short of time frame was a challenge. We have a re-edited version that we will release when this contest is all said and done with(a few more refinements).

And yes, we were trying to depict a struggle within himself, between being a child, a soldier, or just himself. It sounds as if some of the meaning came across.

Bradley L Marlow · April 18th, 2006, 12:47 PM

Hi Bruce!

Holy schmolly! Another filmmaker who does it all in one day? You guys are brave souls for sure. You are to be complimented by such a feat!

I like this concept because for me, it wrestles with our various selves. Are we what we think we are? Are we what others perceive us to be? Will the real me please stand up?

The end mirror sequence was terrific.

I would echo the others here with the comments on the wind noise and somewhat confusing driving sequence. But hey, I'm impressed with what you did in such a short period of time.

Best wishes~
Bradley

Bruce Broussard · April 18th, 2006, 01:38 PM

Bradley, I am not sure that "Brave" is the correct word. I think we were a little silly to wait so long, but what the heck, everyone needs a challenge (a dvc to be precise). Anyway, thanks for the comments. And yes I know, the wind was TOO LOUD!!! :)

By the way, I actually screwed up the mirror sequence a little bit, this was meant to be totally seamless, but I modifed the zoom and tilt on the *&**!** camera between cuts, I wanted a much smoother transition. But I am glad that it came out good. Every time I see it I have to laugh at the final shot (the smallest person).

Bradley L Marlow · April 18th, 2006, 01:54 PM

lol Bruce! "Brave" "Silly" "Crazy" - I suppose they all work. Yes- we all need a challenge!

By the way, who is that "smallest person"?

Best Wishes~
Bradley

Bruce Broussard · April 18th, 2006, 02:33 PM

Bradley,

Crazy guy (in the movie and real life) - My Brother (Greg)
Victim in the jungle - My son (Alexander)
Smallest person - My Son (Jordan)
Other victim - Me

The four of us have done quit a few "shorts". Most of them are pretty funny. My boys like making the movies with us. Maybe ?? I will post some of them.

Thanks!

Philip Gioja · April 18th, 2006, 06:49 PM

The mirror tilting was pretty awesome, I really liked that. I felt like you were trying to say something deep in this film, but I struggled with it a lot. Here's my interpretation, tell me if I'm way off base.

The guy is a veteran with some bad memories of the war. He's living in normal present day with a normal life but has a lot of internal struggles with himself over things he did in combat. The mirror symbolizes him remembering his past. The man chasing him is either his own guilty conscience haunting him or a projection of who he was in the war (basically he was killing innocent people in the war, and this person was going to kill him the same way he killed during the war). At the end the mirror showing the different people is equating each person with each other person, they are all killers, and yet also innocent victims at the same time.

Maybe I'm looking too deeply?

Bruce Broussard · April 18th, 2006, 09:08 PM

Philip, you are right on base. The idea is simply about his inner struggle to identify if he is the killer or is he the "child". But there is no answer as he is all of them. There is also meant to be an underlying meaning of him "killing" himself, both as a child (in combat the child dies), and as an adult, killing himself (hence, the road rage scene), in the end, he really is just a child.

That was the intent, it looks like it came off just a little. Thanks for the comments.

Michael Fossenkemper · April 18th, 2006, 10:51 PM

Pretty intense story. I would have got more into it if I weren't scrambling for the volume knob :-)
Like some others, I couldn't keep track of the car scene. but it made sense later.

pretty big story to tell but I thought it came through well. The mirror flipping was pretty cool.

Nice job.

Lorinda Norton · April 18th, 2006, 11:16 PM

Intense is a good word. This one was a little hard on me, Bruce, because I have a real soft spot for soldiers of war who have come home and dealt with mental and emotional anguish (and identity issues). Because it got to me that way, I'd say you told your story very well.

I agree that your use of the mirror was not only quite cool, but really effective. Nice job!!!

April 15th, 2006, 04:51 PM	#1
Bruce Broussard Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 132	DVC 5 Feedback - Who am I I will be the second to jump (following Sean's lead) the gun and put my feedback thread up. I don't know when mine will hit, but if these are being posted in the order they were received, mine will be one of the very last. Equipment - Sony Z1 - you gotta love it! Recorded in HD Amvona AT 6907 - Tripod Post Production - Sony Vegas My excuses are first: I was unable to spend the time on the film that I wanted to. We shot it and edited it on the Saturday that it was due. I had to leave a couple of scenes out because we got started too late. We would have liked to have done more editing, and re-shoot a few of the scenes that I made mistakes on, but, once again, not enough time. There, excuses have been made. The film was rendered according to the recommondations on this forum and I was pretty unhappy with the quality, so I have posted two higher resolution images on the web. I will post the links here once my film has been announced. The highest resolution really demonstrates the quality of the HD. I have pretty thick skin and am always looking to improve so feel free to comment at will.

April 18th, 2006, 10:18 AM	#5
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Ambitious project to shoot in a day. Viewing it for the first time, I wasn't clear what and why it was happening. I am assuming the main character has an identity crisis, perhaps occasioned by prior military service. Left me with a few things to try to sort out-- and perhaps those missing scenes were the answer. The scene with the two cars on the road was difficult to interpret with the loss of definition in for internet distribution, but was there an exchange that would indicate a "road rage" incident ? And the other question, I assume by credits you and another family member were the main drivers, and the close resemblence added some confusion, at least. At one point I was thinking that both drivers were the same person. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

April 18th, 2006, 11:16 PM	#15
Lorinda Norton Wrangler Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Southwest Idaho, USA Posts: 3,066	Intense is a good word. This one was a little hard on me, Bruce, because I have a real soft spot for soldiers of war who have come home and dealt with mental and emotional anguish (and identity issues). Because it got to me that way, I'd say you told your story very well. I agree that your use of the mirror was not only quite cool, but really effective. Nice job!!! __________________ Lorinda

April 18th, 2006, 09:52 AM	#2
Meryem Ersoz Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 3,015	that was pretty intense. great exploration of identity using the theme. the end with the various selves walking away from the mirror was very effective and closed the gap of separation between the soldier and "enemy" boy. very advaita. i always value any effort at making something really profound with this medium--you did an excellent job. seemed like a lot of wind noise in the driving sequence. maybe shooting it once for image and separately for sound would have mitigated the noise issue, assuming you had all the time in the world at your fingertips! did you use a fuzzy windscreen at all?

April 18th, 2006, 10:10 AM	#4
William Gardner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 216	Very interesting piece, particularly impressive that this was shot and edited in one day! Cool concept and good shooting. I also struggled a little bit with the wind noise in the car, and some of the intercutting in the car scene took me a moment to regain my bearings with where I was. Also not sure of the significance of the slow-motion in the sommersault in the jungle scene, unless you're showing off your sommersaulting ability. :) Neat concept, and neat cutting and effects in the "mirror flashing" stuff. I had a little trouble making out who was whom with the quality of the compressed video during the car stuff: I'm sure that this is much clearer in your HD version! Hopefully by DVC#82 we'll all have the bandwidth and storage to download HD quality stuff... Cheers! Bill

April 18th, 2006, 11:24 AM	#6
Robert Martens Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Miller Place, NY Posts: 820	I'm with Chris, the car scene was a bit tough to make out, and both drivers looked alike (or at least their heads were too small on screen to be distinct, especially after factoring the compression). Two red cars didn't help, but it was easier what with one being a convertible. But doing this whole thing in a DAY? Good lord, that's unbelievable! I'm giving you a golf clap right now. You can't see it, but I'm doing it. Love the road rage angle; I usually say the only people who complain about road rage are the ones causing it, and it made me smile, as I dream about giving people what-for (on a far less extreme level, of course) on a daily basis for things like this. Not sure I get who the first boy is. Is it the same one we see walking away at the end? And am I therefore to assume the man in question is fighting with himself, so to speak?

April 18th, 2006, 12:41 PM	#7
Bruce Broussard Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 132	Meryem, I appreciate your kind comments. Agreed on the wind noise. It was an oversite in post production (to remove the noise). We did not use a "fuzzy" on the car shots. Obviously we should have (it was in the camera bag!). Sometimes I am really guilty of putting things off until the last second... But because this was so much fun I will do my best next time, assuming there is one, to plan it a little better. One problem we had was trying to come up with some sort of story to go with the reflections theme. We finally had an inspiration and me and my brother collaborated on this story. Bill, yup, bad wind noise. I think that the car scene makes better sense at a higher resolution, but I understand the issue. This scene was edited several times. You are right about the slo mo in the jungle scene. My brother thought it would look cool. No other significance there :) We are definitely going to expirement with some of the rendering settings others have used to try to get the quality up, obviously if you can't tell who is who it is a little difficult to follow the scene! Chris, Now I am thinking the resolution thing did hurt us a bit, and the hazards of the all the actors being from the same family are now obvious :) And you are correct about the road rage "exchange", it is more apparent in the higher res renderings. Robert, Thanks for the clap. It was a bit high pressure to knock it out. Working with the HD in that short of time frame was a challenge. We have a re-edited version that we will release when this contest is all said and done with(a few more refinements). And yes, we were trying to depict a struggle within himself, between being a child, a soldier, or just himself. It sounds as if some of the meaning came across.

April 18th, 2006, 12:47 PM	#8
Bradley L Marlow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Central Wyoming Posts: 484	Hi Bruce! Holy schmolly! Another filmmaker who does it all in one day? You guys are brave souls for sure. You are to be complimented by such a feat! I like this concept because for me, it wrestles with our various selves. Are we what we think we are? Are we what others perceive us to be? Will the real me please stand up? The end mirror sequence was terrific. I would echo the others here with the comments on the wind noise and somewhat confusing driving sequence. But hey, I'm impressed with what you did in such a short period of time. Best wishes~ Bradley

April 18th, 2006, 01:38 PM	#9
Bruce Broussard Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 132	Bradley, I am not sure that "Brave" is the correct word. I think we were a little silly to wait so long, but what the heck, everyone needs a challenge (a dvc to be precise). Anyway, thanks for the comments. And yes I know, the wind was TOO LOUD!!! :) By the way, I actually screwed up the mirror sequence a little bit, this was meant to be totally seamless, but I modifed the zoom and tilt on the &!* camera between cuts, I wanted a much smoother transition. But I am glad that it came out good. Every time I see it I have to laugh at the final shot (the smallest person).

April 18th, 2006, 01:54 PM	#10
Bradley L Marlow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Central Wyoming Posts: 484	lol Bruce! "Brave" "Silly" "Crazy" - I suppose they all work. Yes- we all need a challenge! By the way, who is that "smallest person"? Best Wishes~ Bradley

April 18th, 2006, 02:33 PM	#11
Bruce Broussard Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 132	Bradley, Crazy guy (in the movie and real life) - My Brother (Greg) Victim in the jungle - My son (Alexander) Smallest person - My Son (Jordan) Other victim - Me The four of us have done quit a few "shorts". Most of them are pretty funny. My boys like making the movies with us. Maybe ?? I will post some of them. Thanks!

April 18th, 2006, 06:49 PM	#12
Philip Gioja Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Piper City, IL Posts: 350	The mirror tilting was pretty awesome, I really liked that. I felt like you were trying to say something deep in this film, but I struggled with it a lot. Here's my interpretation, tell me if I'm way off base. The guy is a veteran with some bad memories of the war. He's living in normal present day with a normal life but has a lot of internal struggles with himself over things he did in combat. The mirror symbolizes him remembering his past. The man chasing him is either his own guilty conscience haunting him or a projection of who he was in the war (basically he was killing innocent people in the war, and this person was going to kill him the same way he killed during the war). At the end the mirror showing the different people is equating each person with each other person, they are all killers, and yet also innocent victims at the same time. Maybe I'm looking too deeply?

April 18th, 2006, 09:08 PM	#13
Bruce Broussard Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 132	Philip, you are right on base. The idea is simply about his inner struggle to identify if he is the killer or is he the "child". But there is no answer as he is all of them. There is also meant to be an underlying meaning of him "killing" himself, both as a child (in combat the child dies), and as an adult, killing himself (hence, the road rage scene), in the end, he really is just a child. That was the intent, it looks like it came off just a little. Thanks for the comments.

April 18th, 2006, 10:51 PM	#14
Michael Fossenkemper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: NYC, weeee. Posts: 417	Pretty intense story. I would have got more into it if I weren't scrambling for the volume knob :-) Like some others, I couldn't keep track of the car scene. but it made sense later. pretty big story to tell but I thought it came through well. The mirror flipping was pretty cool. Nice job.