New Short Film with HD-100/ Mini35

[Brian Duke]

Here is a short film we shot back in February and just completed. Its 29MB and low quality, but still viewable.

http://hd-motionpictures.com/TwistofFate.html

I added a better quality Quicktime 110 MB. Dial ups, don't bother with the bigger file unless you have a week to download =)

Any questions or comments welcome inclduing constructive critisism and suggestions for improvement. PLEASE NOTE that some of the audio may lag due to streaming. I noticed that from playing back myself compared to the original file.

Thanks guys

[Giuseppe Pugliese]

Ill tell you this much, boy do I love this camera!

I think this film looks great! Now for all the questions im sure everyone else will ask ...

did you use the stock lens for the whole shoot?

what car mount system did you use?

did you capture to tape or did you 10bit component out?

What camera settings did you use (the built in cine gama settings in hd100 or did you make your own?)?

How long did it take you to film the whole shoot?

how much (if any) color correction did you use in post?

was there any unexpected problems that happened while using this camera? or editing its footage?

and last but not least...what program/system did you edit with? Avid/Premiere/fcp?

[EDIT] I did go to your website and see that some of the things ive asked are explained on there, but I want to leave these questions up just in case that equipment wasnt used for this shoot. [EDIT]

Sorry for all the questions but hey, IM sure others wanted to know anyway so I figured I would ask them all in one shot haha. Thanks in advance! I know when I post my work Ill be telling everyone all the details too haha.

[Matthew McKane]

Amazing picture! But picture aside, not that its not worth talking about, what did you record sound too? It's clean and rich. I would like to know what eqipment you recorded with.

[Brian Duke]

Questions and answers:

did you use the stock lens for the whole shoot?

I used Nikon Lenses w/ Mini35 24mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm for some long shots. I think we did also use the 35mm.

what car mount system did you use?

We rented it, but I didn't like it. I am getting my own.

did you capture to tape or did you 10bit component out?

I went Firewire from camera to G5 and FCP via Luminere.

What camera settings did you use (the built in cine gama settings in hd100 or did you make your own?)?

The DP set it for me. But it was based partially on Tim's Reverse Stock (Three Kings)

How long did it take you to film the whole shoot?

2 1/2 days. Wayyyyy too short and I missed so many takes and coverage. Well, you learn from your mistakes.

how much (if any) color correction did you use in post?

None. We set the camera the way I wanted it and I left it as is. HOWEVER, I may do some corrections later.

was there any unexpected problems that happened while using this camera? or editing its footage?

Not enough time. Stuff out of focussed, underlite, problems with sound etc. Again, you learn from your mistakes.

and last but not least...what program/system did you edit with? Avid/Premiere/fcp?

I used FCP 5, Soundtrack and LiveType.


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

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Matthew McKane

Amazing picture! But picture aside, not that its not worth talking about, what did you record sound too? It's clean and rich. I would like to know what eqipment you recorded with.

We used MKH-60 Sennheiser Boom, TR-50 Tram Wireless, HOWEVER, I ended up experimenting and completed all sound in POST. I.e. The ONLY scene that was original location sound was the last scene. Everything else was done by me in post, including sound design, ADR, music etc. Since my background is audio, music and sound I wanted to test myself, so all the dialogue was done via voice over in Post, again, except the last scene, which was difficult to capture due to the emotion of that scene. All sound was done in Sountrack Pro.

Also, what did you think of overall movie? Story, acting etc?

[Matthew McKane]

Wow no wonder it sounded so clean. You mixed it down very well. The overall film was great. Acting was far better then most indy films I've seen. Very filmic picture too. You could pass that off as 16mm. How did you avoid blowouts in the highlights? Your setup really brought the HD100's great dynamic range into full effect. What kind of lighting did you use?

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Matthew McKane

Wow no wonder it sounded so clean. You mixed it down very well. The overall film was great. Acting was far better then most indy films I've seen. Very filmic picture too. You could pass that off as 16mm. How did you avoid blowouts in the highlights? Your setup really brought the HD100's great dynamic range into full effect. What kind of lighting did you use?

The mix was done using proobably 8-10 different tracks, I did foley, ADR, sound design with effetcs to get as authentic sound as possible. At the end I think it worked, as no one so far was able to tell until I told them. THANK GOD =) wink!

We used a Lowell Lighting kit I own, and rented a HMI for some of the Diner scenes etc (bigger light). Blowouts were fixed with turning down the f stops =) and adding extra interior light. I personally don't mind the blowout look, but I was happy the way the camera worked under the conditions and time pressure we were in. Also, this was a real small crew trying to set up, carry, break down, sets from one location to another in a very short period, from Los Angeles to Yucca Vally desert. Considering we ddid pretty damn good, but I would need more time next time to work with actors and get more coverage.

[Giuseppe Pugliese]

To me personally the extreme amounts of ADR (overdubbing "Automated Dialogue Replacement" for you guys that doesn’t know what that is) kind of got to me, I owned a recording studio for 4 years, and I am an audio engineer as well. So that stuck out a lot for me, but the sync wasn’t that bad, sounded like you guys put lots of work into getting it to match right, but it was to much for my taste.

The story left me wanting to know what was going to happen with her husband. I was actually almost wanting to hear a gunshot sound at the very end of the film, indicating that he actually did go through with it... (I am a dark and twisted person in my films, I like extreme irony haha) but I thought the story idea was kind of cool...

as far as the acting i thought the acting was done well on the part of all the roles except the lead female... she would throw me off emotionally with what’s going on... I think what really happened was that when the ADR work was going on she didn’t really match up her emotion with the emotion she had on take so maybe I’m wrong and it was fine it was just that ADR getting to me a bit.

all in all i think its a nice little film, and I love the way it was shot. I hope to see it in HD format at some point in time, or at least at a higher resolution... Good job guys... oh and where are you guys located? IM in the NYC area and we are always looking to collaborate with other filmmakers.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Giuseppe Pugliese

To me personally the extreme amounts of ADR (overdubbing "Automated Dialogue Replacement" for you guys that doesn’t know what that is) kind of got to me, I owned a recording studio for 4 years, and I am an audio engineer as well. So that stuck out a lot for me, but the sync wasn’t that bad, sounded like you guys put lots of work into getting it to match right, but it was to much for my taste.

The story left me wanting to know what was going to happen with her husband. I was actually almost wanting to hear a gunshot sound at the very end of the film, indicating that he actually did go through with it... (I am a dark and twisted person in my films, I like extreme irony haha) but I thought the story idea was kind of cool...

as far as the acting i thought the acting was done well on the part of all the roles except the lead female... she would throw me off emotionally with what’s going on... I think what really happened was that when the ADR work was going on she didn’t really match up her emotion with the emotion she had on take so maybe I’m wrong and it was fine it was just that ADR getting to me a bit.

all in all i think its a nice little film, and I love the way it was shot. I hope to see it in HD format at some point in time, or at least at a higher resolution... Good job guys... oh and where are you guys located? IM in the NYC area and we are always looking to collaborate with other filmmakers.

We are in Los Angeles. Actually the ADR wasn't done until the last scene, which was the most emotional. I really didn't want to tell people I did ADR, since thus far no one was able to tell until I of course reveal it. I did it mostly to experiment with my capabilities as a sound designer. I will post a 90MB Quicktime file which is much better quality and a little bigger image.

[Giuseppe Pugliese]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Actually the ADR wasn't done until the last scene, which was the most emotional.

correct me if im wrong but i think you meant to say... the ADR wasn’t done on the last scene, which was the most emotional...

and don’t worry about the ADR work, I did the exact same thing on my first 30min short years ago. I had to remove EVERYTHING sound wise and start from the ground up... its not easy at allllllll. your ADR was fine, no one will notice it unless they are really picky, or someone like an audio engineer like me. Its good to see how much you can do, usually just takes a long time to do it.

have you decided what film festivals you want to go to yet? I know this film will kill at all local film festivals, you will probably win best of something for all of them.

[Mike Marriage]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

HOWEVER, I ended up experimenting and completed all sound in POST. I.e. The ONLY scene that was original location sound was the last scene.

Hi Brian,

I did actually notice the ADR when I watched the film, however I doubt if a normal audience would.

Visually I thought it was great. I think you used the camera very nicely with some nice subtle movement.

My only critism is that the pacing was a little slow for my tastes. For example, there are 40 seconds of titles to start and then a few of the shots just hold for a little too long. That is just my taste though.

I thought that the acting was pretty strong across the board, although the ADR slightly harmed it in a few places.

Great job, I'd love to see a full rez version!

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Mike Marriage

Hi Brian,

I did actually notice the ADR when I watched the film, however I doubt if a normal audience would.

Visually I thought it was great. I think you used the camera very nicely with some nice subtle movement.

My only critism is that the pacing was a little slow for my tastes. For example, there are 40 seconds of titles to start and then a few of the shots just hold for a little too long. That is just my taste though.

I thought that the acting was pretty strong across the board, although the ADR slightly harmed it in a few places.

Great job, I'd love to see a full rez version!

What I think you guys may be noticing is not really the ADR, but the audio lag from the pictute, which is normal watching streams, sinc eI do not get that on my DVD or wathing the original movie on my big screen. HOWEVER Please tell me specific points of dialogue, in case it needs to be fixed. I rather fix that now before submitting to festivals.

Just added High Rez.! =)

[Brian Duke]

Giuseppe Pugliese wrote: "correct me if im wrong but i think you meant to say... the ADR wasn’t done on the last scene, which was the most emotional...

I stand corrected =) Its late here.

"Its good to see how much you can do, usually just takes a long time to do it."

Tell me about it. Mad proprs to sound guys out there doing Foley, Sound Design, ADR etc. Its a lot of work and goes underappreciated many times.

"have you decided what film festivals you want to go to yet? I know this film will kill at all local film festivals, you will probably win best of something for all of them."

WOW. You really think so? Thanks man. I needed to hear that.

Tomorrow I am sending to Montreal Film Festival. Then Sundance later on. There are like 160 festivals coming up in the next few months and picking the right ones isn't easy. Don't want to spend $10K in submission fees to do all of them, but rather be more selective. Any suggestions?

[Stephan Ahonen]

Where is this high quality quicktime file? I don't see it.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Stephan Ahonen

Where is this high quality quicktime file? I don't see it.

Uploading. 10 more minutes. Its slow, as my hosting server only does 50 KBs. Sucks, but nothing I can do about.