DVC5 Feedback

Andrew Khalil · April 17th, 2006, 10:21 PM

Hey everyone,
thought I'd start my thread a bit early just in case I'm asleep when the link's posted. I put my name in the title because I guess my title wasn't as original as I thought it would be and there's another video with the same title, so make sure you're referring to the right video here.

Anyways, onto the technical: the "film" was shot with a Canon XL2 (I can share settings later if anyone's interested) and edited/compressed using Final Cut Pro 5. Other gear used included a Manfrotto M525/501 tripod and a few other minor things.

We shot most of it over one long day with about 2 more hours of shooting over a couple of days the following week. It was then edited in a few hours over a couple of days, mostly because it's exam season and we couldn't get together very often to get it done all at once.

It was shot in two locations, with the main backdrop being York University just north of Toronto and the second being in Mississauga.

All in all, we enjoyed this a lot and learned a huge amount by participating in the challenge and since it was my first one, I look forward to future ones and hope everyone enjoys the film.

I look forward to reading and responding to your questions/comments/criticism.

Andrew Khalil

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 11:45 AM

well, I guess something strange is going on since the link to my film wasn't posted, hopefully Dylan can help me out since I just sent an email.

Bradley L Marlow · April 19th, 2006, 11:48 AM

Hi Andrew,

I was just wondering where your film was as well. I remember you posting this thread. Will keep an eye out for it.

Best wishes~
Bradley

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 01:31 PM

would it be a bad idea to just post the link myself here? I know it's not allowed, but I don't know why it hasn't been posted and I really hope nothing is wrong. Could some confusion have happened because my title was the same as someone else's?

Bradley L Marlow · April 19th, 2006, 01:39 PM

Andrew,

I personally have no objection to you posting your link however, I am NOT the Rule Maker.

I see that you sent an e-mail to Dylan and would guess that when he receives it, he will contact you. May be best to hang on a little while longer.

Best wishes~
Bradley

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 01:54 PM

yeah, that's what I'm thinkin too. I guess I'll wait to see what Dylan says.

Chris Barcellos · April 19th, 2006, 03:56 PM

Nice film Andrew, sorry we didn't see it.

You know what's funny too is that I thought I remember Dylan saying in a post somewhere there were 26 entries. By my count, we had 6 days of 4 posts, and todays had 5, so that makes 29, and we haven't seen yours yet. Go figure.

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 04:14 PM

so could it be there are more tomorrow? He said that was it though, so I'm hoping mine still gets posted today or tomorrow morining.

Chris Barcellos · April 19th, 2006, 04:20 PM

I won't vote till we see some resolution....

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 05:23 PM

it's finally up everyone - thanks Dylan.
Hope everyone enjoys it

Robert Martens · April 19th, 2006, 07:35 PM

Not bad, Andrew, not bad at all. I thought the voiceover was a bit unusual, I think some plain old "intimate, disembodied voice" would have worked better. The reverb here seemed to mix in with the music at certain points, made the dialogue somewhat difficult to make out, and beside that made it seem like she was trapped in a box somewhere. Not sure why that image sprang to mind, but the reflecty, small room sound to the voice implied confinement (of the narrator) to my ears. Maybe that's just me.

The color saturation in this really stood out, I like the look you've achieved. Lighting was good too, and I thought the shot of the rear view mirror in her car was outstanding. The light was maybe a bit orange to seem completely natural, but the half-lit, half-shadowed face made up for that. Nice job!

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 07:41 PM

In all honesty, I was wondering how everyone would respond to the voiceover having the reverb to it - I originally tried it without it and it just felt too "dry." I do see your point however, I just hope it isn't too difficult to make out - I guess I've heard it so many times I'd never really have that problem, but I'm interested to hear other people give their opinion about the voiceover.

Glad you liked the lighting and colour - I'd have to say that cinematography is the part of filmmaking I enjoy the most, so good to hear that it looks nice.

thanks for the comments

William Gardner · April 19th, 2006, 08:04 PM

I fully agree with all of Robert's assessments: the image quality of the shots was outstanding, and I also found the reverby voiceover a little distracting and occasionally hard to make out.

Very nice cinemetography! Did you do anything special to get the small depth of field in some shots (e.g., hands on the keyboard)?

Bill

Andrew Khalil · April 19th, 2006, 08:10 PM

I acheived the shallow depth of field by keeping the iris fully open and zooming in which pretty much accomplished what I wanted without much effort - the long lens on the XL2 is awesome for that, but there were a few shots which I didn't use where the depth of field was actually too shallow and distracted from the shot, so I try not to use it a huge amount. In the outdoor shots, I dialed the gain all the way down to -3 and was using both ND filters at certain points to keep the iris as wide open as I could.

I guess next time I'll get someone to help me out with the audio - if there is anything she says that you want me to clarify, let me know, but I hope is doesn't detract too much from it overall.

Chris Barcellos · April 19th, 2006, 11:17 PM

Andrew:

Images were great, but the voice over was just hard to follow. I had it up on my surround stereo system, and still had trouble discerning what was being said.

April 17th, 2006, 10:21 PM	#1
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	DVC5 Feedback - Who Am I (Andrew Khalil's) Hey everyone, thought I'd start my thread a bit early just in case I'm asleep when the link's posted. I put my name in the title because I guess my title wasn't as original as I thought it would be and there's another video with the same title, so make sure you're referring to the right video here. Anyways, onto the technical: the "film" was shot with a Canon XL2 (I can share settings later if anyone's interested) and edited/compressed using Final Cut Pro 5. Other gear used included a Manfrotto M525/501 tripod and a few other minor things. We shot most of it over one long day with about 2 more hours of shooting over a couple of days the following week. It was then edited in a few hours over a couple of days, mostly because it's exam season and we couldn't get together very often to get it done all at once. It was shot in two locations, with the main backdrop being York University just north of Toronto and the second being in Mississauga. All in all, we enjoyed this a lot and learned a huge amount by participating in the challenge and since it was my first one, I look forward to future ones and hope everyone enjoys the film. I look forward to reading and responding to your questions/comments/criticism. Andrew Khalil

April 19th, 2006, 03:56 PM	#7
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Nice film Andrew, sorry we didn't see it. You know what's funny too is that I thought I remember Dylan saying in a post somewhere there were 26 entries. By my count, we had 6 days of 4 posts, and todays had 5, so that makes 29, and we haven't seen yours yet. Go figure. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

April 19th, 2006, 04:20 PM	#9
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	I won't vote till we see some resolution.... __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

April 19th, 2006, 11:17 PM	#15
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Andrew: Images were great, but the voice over was just hard to follow. I had it up on my surround stereo system, and still had trouble discerning what was being said. __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

April 19th, 2006, 11:45 AM	#2
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	well, I guess something strange is going on since the link to my film wasn't posted, hopefully Dylan can help me out since I just sent an email.

April 19th, 2006, 11:48 AM	#3
Bradley L Marlow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Central Wyoming Posts: 484	Hi Andrew, I was just wondering where your film was as well. I remember you posting this thread. Will keep an eye out for it. Best wishes~ Bradley

April 19th, 2006, 01:31 PM	#4
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	would it be a bad idea to just post the link myself here? I know it's not allowed, but I don't know why it hasn't been posted and I really hope nothing is wrong. Could some confusion have happened because my title was the same as someone else's?

April 19th, 2006, 01:39 PM	#5
Bradley L Marlow Major Player Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Central Wyoming Posts: 484	Andrew, I personally have no objection to you posting your link however, I am NOT the Rule Maker. I see that you sent an e-mail to Dylan and would guess that when he receives it, he will contact you. May be best to hang on a little while longer. Best wishes~ Bradley

April 19th, 2006, 01:54 PM	#6
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	yeah, that's what I'm thinkin too. I guess I'll wait to see what Dylan says.

April 19th, 2006, 04:14 PM	#8
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	so could it be there are more tomorrow? He said that was it though, so I'm hoping mine still gets posted today or tomorrow morining.

April 19th, 2006, 05:23 PM	#10
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	it's finally up everyone - thanks Dylan. Hope everyone enjoys it

April 19th, 2006, 07:35 PM	#11
Robert Martens Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Miller Place, NY Posts: 820	Not bad, Andrew, not bad at all. I thought the voiceover was a bit unusual, I think some plain old "intimate, disembodied voice" would have worked better. The reverb here seemed to mix in with the music at certain points, made the dialogue somewhat difficult to make out, and beside that made it seem like she was trapped in a box somewhere. Not sure why that image sprang to mind, but the reflecty, small room sound to the voice implied confinement (of the narrator) to my ears. Maybe that's just me. The color saturation in this really stood out, I like the look you've achieved. Lighting was good too, and I thought the shot of the rear view mirror in her car was outstanding. The light was maybe a bit orange to seem completely natural, but the half-lit, half-shadowed face made up for that. Nice job!

April 19th, 2006, 07:41 PM	#12
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	In all honesty, I was wondering how everyone would respond to the voiceover having the reverb to it - I originally tried it without it and it just felt too "dry." I do see your point however, I just hope it isn't too difficult to make out - I guess I've heard it so many times I'd never really have that problem, but I'm interested to hear other people give their opinion about the voiceover. Glad you liked the lighting and colour - I'd have to say that cinematography is the part of filmmaking I enjoy the most, so good to hear that it looks nice. thanks for the comments

April 19th, 2006, 08:04 PM	#13
William Gardner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 216	I fully agree with all of Robert's assessments: the image quality of the shots was outstanding, and I also found the reverby voiceover a little distracting and occasionally hard to make out. Very nice cinemetography! Did you do anything special to get the small depth of field in some shots (e.g., hands on the keyboard)? Bill

April 19th, 2006, 08:10 PM	#14
Andrew Khalil Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 424	I acheived the shallow depth of field by keeping the iris fully open and zooming in which pretty much accomplished what I wanted without much effort - the long lens on the XL2 is awesome for that, but there were a few shots which I didn't use where the depth of field was actually too shallow and distracted from the shot, so I try not to use it a huge amount. In the outdoor shots, I dialed the gain all the way down to -3 and was using both ND filters at certain points to keep the iris as wide open as I could. I guess next time I'll get someone to help me out with the audio - if there is anything she says that you want me to clarify, let me know, but I hope is doesn't detract too much from it overall.