New Short Film with HD-100/ Mini35

[Giuseppe Pugliese]

i say save your money on sundance, they are a pain to deal with... there is a 30min film called "Lift" shot on 35mm. it was AMAZING. and they didn’t make it into the festival... i mean this was THE best short film ive ever seen in my life, and they didn’t make it!... so i say save the money and stick with local stuff, the local stuff is what gets you the official selections and wins. Although in cali you might have more competition than here in nyc. The reality is that you will never really make money or a name for yourself in sundance with a short... its really for the features that get something out of it.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Giuseppe Pugliese

i say save your money on sundance, they are a pain to deal with... there is a 30min film called "Lift" shot on 35mm. it was AMAZING. and they didn’t make it into the festival... i mean this was THE best short film ive ever seen in my life, and they didn’t make it!... so i say save the money and stick with local stuff, the local stuff is what gets you the official selections and wins. Although in cali you might have more competition than here in nyc. The reality is that you will never really make money or a name for yourself in sundance with a short... its really for the features that get something out of it.

I hear ya. However, you can't win if you don't play, and the $25 it cost to submit to Sundance is worth just to try to get in, even if they don;t accept. As you say, its difficult to know why they pick certain films. Mine may be complete something they are NOT looking for, but then again, it may be exactly what they are looking for. Being selcted is worth the $25, IF you are selected. I will submit to maybe 15-25 festivals and see what happens.

Just added a high rez version. Should play better. Still the audio may be lagging due to the Stream video, which always has audio lagging, at least on my computers.

[Jaadgy Akanni]

Brian that's excellent work. Makes me feel proud of my HD100u. One little thing I would've worked on a little bit more is the scene at the diner when her friend brings up the fact that the weirdo looks like her dad. She should've been more casual about it and the lead girl should've been a little less credulous at first-and perhaps some little joke in between would've helped. The transition from her friend suggesting that he looked like her father and her walking up to him to verify it was much too quick. Sorry it's just me being a backseat director here :-) So Brian, everything from the dialogue inside the car, the squish of the car seats, the door slam...all that was sound design done in post?

[Manny Rodriguez]

Wow Mr Duke, truly one of the best films shot on the HD100 yet. Story wise it is good the way it is. I am sure there is alot more you can do with the characters, and story to make it a a bit longer, overall Mr. Duke, "You the Man" I am From Long Beach Area, you ever need help on a film shoot just let me know...


Manny

[Paolo Ciccone]

Hey Brian.
Congratulations! The short looks really great. Good lighting, excellent work. I liked the look a lot and the story is nice. I would have liked seeing something ahppening to the husband though :)
This is the perfect example of what we've been talking about for so long. With what is available today, with the HD100 and other indie-reachable tools, you can tell a story that looks every bit as professional as anything else.

Again, congratulations and good luck.

[Paolo Ciccone]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

What did you think of the movie as whole? Story, acting etc?

To me this part is always the toughest, way harder to handle than the technical stuff.
I liked the two male characters, the killer/dad was an interesting combination of face and voice. The daughter had some good moments, I think that the last dialogue where she says something along the lines of "let's not talk about the past, we will work it out..." was emotionally good, but the lines came out a bit like... acting. It can be just a matter of reharsing that a little more and trying diffent things. This was also the case with some of the dialogues with the other woman . Don't get me wrong, the performances were good and pleasant, there were just a couple of spots where the acting could sound a little more realistic.

Storywise I liked the twist but it didn't lead to a real conclusion. It's nice that father and daughter meat again but we want to know what happens to the couple. The hitman goes back and kills the husband? Does he tell his daughther about it? Why it was so important that the killer didn't miss the shot? What is the husband covering? Is there something happening while the killer talks with his daughter? And so, is it something incriminating the husband?

:)

Take care.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Jaadgy Akanni

Brian that's excellent work. Makes me feel proud of my HD100u. One little thing I would've worked on a little bit more is the scene at the diner when her friend brings up the fact that the weirdo looks like her dad. She should've been more casual about it and the lead girl should've been a little less credulous at first-and perhaps some little joke in between would've helped. The transition from her friend suggesting that he looked like her father and her walking up to him to verify it was much too quick. Sorry it's just me being a backseat director here :-)

Thanks for your kind comments. Again, it was shot in 2 1/2 days so you can imagine we didn't have much time. The diner scene was even worse because we only had 3 hours to shoot it, AND it was open during those hours, which made it difficult. Loud noise in background. People interrupting etc, and yes I would have LOVED to have more time. Like I mentioned earlier I needed more TIME TIME TIME. I learned a lot from this little shoot, which to me was more of an experiment to test the equipment than anything. If I had another day or so, I would have spent more time with the actors, and covered more. I would say about 40% ended up being unusable, so I was limited in what I could use for editing.

Originally Posted by Jaadgy Akanni

So Brian, everything from the dialogue inside the car, the squish of the car seats, the door slam...all that was sound design done in post?

Yep, that's just me doing the tetious work, which I happen to like =) Really the only original sound you hear is a little from the bathroom, and the hotel room when "Danial" is alone with the rifle and then the last dialogue scene. Other than that, I did the sound design, foley etc.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Manny Rodriguez

Wow Mr Duke, truly one of the best films shot on the HD100 yet. Story wise it is good the way it is. I am sure there is alot more you can do with the characters, and story to make it a a bit longer, overall Mr. Duke, "You the Man" I am From Long Beach Area, you ever need help on a film shoot just let me know...


Manny

THANKS MAN !

Actually I wrote this to be a SPEC for a feature, but thought I needed some sort of ending to work it as a short too. But essentianlly this was made to be done as a SPEC since there is so much more to the story, bacground, and things to come after the meeting with the Daughter and Dad, which will be the core of the movie.

Your offer to help is good to know cause I WILL be doing several projects (different ones) coming up inn the next few months.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Paolo Ciccone

Storywise I liked the twist but it didn't lead to a real conclusion. It's nice that father and daughter meat again but we want to know what happens to the couple. The hitman goes back and kills the husband? Does he tell his daughther about it? Why it was so important that the killer didn't miss the shot? What is the husband covering? Is there something happening while the killer talks with his daughter? And so, is it something incriminating the husband?

Like I told Manny just now, the story was written as a Spec for a feature, so there's a LOT of stuff missing. It’s more of a character driven story, i.e. an actor's tool, rather than a plot driven one. Obviously the Dad goes through a lot when he meet his next kill who happened to be his daughter, and without giving away what he does, due to be ashamed of himself he has to chose between starting a relationship, or finishing what he was paid to do. In the beginning you hear him say, "I never failed once, and I don't see any reason why I should start now." Really to give the audience an indication that he is serious about work, and not the kind to fail, but then comes the dilemma with his daughter, and all the years of him abandoning her etc. She thinks he is being distant because he's cold, but he's thinking about all the stuff about whether ort not to tell her etc. There's more to come obviously, and hopefully it can spark some interest to be completed.

[Joel Aaron]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

What did you think of the movie as whole? Story, acting etc?

Overall, I like the effort. Personally I liked parts of the diner scene best so don't sweat that too much. :-)

The things that hit me as potential issues would be:

- The overall length is a little long for the story and for festivals. Around 10 minutes gets you the best chance of being played. I think you could lose 3 minutes easy and probably more. Some of the scenes seemed really long to me. You could start the show at 1:20 and do titles for 30 seconds (max) and the story would work the same. I know it's painful to cut stuff you worked so hard to get, but that's what happens. Save the credits for the end, it's a short.

- The ADR was noticeable to me as well as some foley. I'm not a sound guy, but my gut feeling when listening was that the location background levels could probably be bumped up a bit. Perhaps room reverb on the voices need some tweaking. I'd be curious what the other sound guy thinks he's hearing and his prescription for working on it.

- The outside noise that the Dad reacts to in the hotel room didn't sound like it was coming through a door/wall. Muffle that somehow.

- makeup seemed overdone or wrong colors chosen on the actresses. A little late now, but a quick test ahead of time may have revealed it.

- On a story/plot level I think it's pretty weak. That may be because you say you couldn't use 40% of what you shot so I won't get into it. It just seems like a story that wants to be a thriller but ended up as a drama.

- I think the Opera music might have worked better for me if was introduced with the killer working on the gun and then his "stalk w/music" was intercut with the girl's day... so he's gradually getting closer and closer... once he's in their proximity I don't think I'd cut to their conversation though. It's pretty jarring for that music to come and go right there. If his music enters their world you'd know they were in big trouble. It doesn't even matter if we know which girl is the target - that's why you could drop the opening scene if you wanted to.

Overall I think you did a great job and it's better than 90% of the stuff out there.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

The ADR was noticeable to me as well as some foley.

Any specific points so I cange improve them?

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

The outside noise that the Dad reacts to in the hotel room didn't sound like it was coming through a door/wall. Muffle that somehow.

You're the first one that said it, but good point. Will work on that.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

It just seems like a story that wants to be a thriller but ended up as a drama.

Actually it was always intended to be a drama. The story was never about a hitman, but about rekinddling a lost relationship. Yeah, I know, drama and those types of stories are not for everyone, but it was never intedned to be a thriller. The shots that were unusuable were more just better takes, different angles etc, not different story clips.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

Overall I think you did a great job and it's better than 90% of the stuff out there.

Thanks man. It’s always interesting to hear people's comments. Usually if everyone’s points out the exact same issue there probably should be some changes made, but thus far I have heard people say some different, which I guess could be a good thing. The ADR only seems to come up when I tell people that it was ADR, which is why I didn't want to, but for technical reasons did. I am very meticulous about stuff like that and I do think there are a few places I need to redo some of it.

[Joel Aaron]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Any specific points so I cange improve them?

I think the ones that popped out at me were the opening scene - the very first dialog... maybe just add an imaginary car driving by off in the background when she does her line.

The girl's car driving conversation seemed too clean too. A little more wind noise perhaps and maybe and the stereo down a little.

I didn't personally notice any sync issues... it was more of a "this is so clean, it's too clean" feeling. I'm going through the same issues myself. I'm going to try to testing a sampling (convolving) reverb. Have you tried that?

I generally like the photography which is why I didn't mention it. You've got some good looks in there. Oh - the Star Wars wipes don't really match drama to my mind.

I read after I posted that this was intended to be a feature. If you're going to try to do a drama without stars it will be very tough to sell to distributors. If the script is really good approach better actors via their managers. If they aren't working they might make a deal with you.

One distributor advised me to "call distributors who distribute similar movies before you shoot a frame, they'll let you know what it would take for them to be interested."

The cool thing for you is you can direct them to your website and say - 90 minutes of "this" and see what they say. Their feedback will be better than most of what we can schlep at you. But as long as I'm schlepping...

I still think your shot at 1:20 is cool... I'm going to re-recommend at least do a test cut with that as the opening and nix a bunch of title credits. Ask some of your friends what they think, but to me it gets the show off to a start that might hook screeners more quickly. Then it cuts right to the girls... car to car, killer to victim... I'm tellingya it works. ;-)

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

I think the ones that popped out at me were the opening scene - the very first dialog... maybe just add an imaginary car driving by off in the background when she does her line.

Yeah, it does look a little off, BUT, when I play it with the original sound it flanges, which means it is so on. I think I learned a lot form this. One thing is that sound travels faster than our lips move, so when I look at other movies, the lips generally don't match the dialogue, but that's only when you look for it.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

The girl's car driving conversation seemed too clean too. A little more wind noise perhaps and maybe and the stereo down a little.

I love all your comments, and believe it or not, I tried many different ways. My first feature I did had sound problems, because I tried to "even" out the background with the dialogue. Then you end up with a muffled sound. I played this back on my TV when I had more "even" (your suggestions) and you could hardly hear what they said. If you listen to most major features you will hear a very clean sound, i.e "in your face dialogue sound." I come from a mixing producing background and doing movie sound is very different. Dialogue should generally be a lot louder to stand out and be understood. I even took sound clips from movies I love and match it with what I have and it is VERY close, if not the same.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

I didn't personally notice any sync issues... it was more of a "this is so clean, it's too clean" feeling. I'm going through the same issues myself. I'm going to try to testing a sampling (convolving) reverb. Have you tried that?

Yep, tried that too, and it didn't sound real. I did add eq and some minor reverb, but you have to be careful with that too, since it can make it sound relaly strange.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

Oh - the Star Wars wipes don't really match drama to my mind.

Its so funny. Some people love that. You can't please everyone =)

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

I read after I posted that this was intended to be a feature. If you're going to try to do a drama without stars it will be very tough to sell to distributors. If the script is really good approach better actors via their managers. If they aren't working they might make a deal with you.

Another coincidence, I just told my friend the other day. Horror, Comedies can be sucessful without big name actors, but with drama you neeed names attached. I actually have another drama that I would ONLY do if a bigger name was attached. So you are right. Let me clear that up. Yes, it was made as a Spec Feature, BUT the main purpose was to test my camera and equipment, and just to have SOMETHING to show people. The idea of turning this into a feature sounds great in theory, but in practice probably not somehting I am pushing for.

[Joel Aaron]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

I played this back on my TV when I had more "even" (your suggestions) and you could hardly hear what they said. If you listen to most major features you will hear a very clean sound, i.e "in your face dialogue sound."

Good idea, I'm going to pay a lot more attention. Also, different speakers systems sound way different and I'm not exactly on reference monitors here. I plead guilty to not being a sound designer. I'm trying to learn as much as I can right now. I'm pretty convinced I'll be doing ADR a lot so I want to get a workflow nailed down.

Ultimately, you're right. It's way better to have understandable dialog. I'd agree with the others who said your average viewer isn't going to notice.

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Star Wars wipes ... Its so funny. Some people love that. You can't please everyone =)

Hehe - take a few more votes on that one. :-)

Anyway - there should be no doubt you can pull off a feature with this gear and have it look good. How does it look in HD?

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

... different speakers systems sound way different and I'm not exactly on reference monitors here. I plead guilty to not being a sound designer.

Yeah, I played the movie on what I mix on, i.e. flat Yahma Speakers and the dialogue is REALLY in your face, and my friend said to me, "hey you need to fix the audio, its really "bad." However, he changed his mind quickly listening to the DVD on a tv set, in addition to a regular surround system. Yeah, speakers can make a huge difference. It sounds great on my TV with and without my surround sound. I even compared to movies playing on cable and the sound was identical, which was a good sound.

Originally Posted by Joel Aaron

Anyway - there should be no doubt you can pull off a feature with this gear and have it look good. How does it look in HD?

Looks amazing. Well, with the exception of the few complaints I had originally. Such as; some stuff not lid right to me. I think it was a timing issue. I only shot the first scene myself. Everything was done by a DP at my direction with time constraints.