My first short: Bathroom Elegy

[Keith Loh]

After a couple months using the XL1S I've finally shot and edited my first short which is something of a music video (using one of the tracks from Board of Canada's Geogaddi). It was part of a 'bathroom film' challenge proposed on a DV moviemaker's forum I moderate on Delphi (DVDA: http://forums.delphiforums.com/dvda/). The challenge was to make a 5 minute or less DV movie taking place entirely in a bathroom using only existing lighting.

"Bathroom Elegy"

http://www.klutzoplex.com/bath_elegy_240X160.mov (Right click to download - 55mbs!)

Unfortunately, I haven't really optimized it for web delivery yet so I'm offering this up only to people with fast connections and some time on their hands.

Problems:
- In some shots I had a lot of the stair-stepping issue.
- Unfortunately I didn't save any presets so I had shot difference problems
- I will NEVER direct myself again

More details on the shoot on my site:
http://www.keithloh.com/main.html

and on DVDA

http://forums.delphiforums.com/dvda/messages?msg=133.1

[Dylan Couper]

My internet computer sucks and crashes whenever I try to play any kind of video. I guess it's time for a format. ;)
I'm sure I'll see it eventually anyway.

[Jay Gladwell]

Keith,

I watched your video and found it compelling. Very good example and use of (varied) available light! I thought your use of color was well-planned, too.

Are the other videos available at the project web site?

[Barry Goyette]

Nice job keith. I think there are a number of shots that are just great...loved the writing on the mirror (both with finger and pen). I think you did a great job directing yourself (although I perfectly understand why you'd never want to do it again, what a chore!)

On the compression, I checked your settings because I couldn't figure out why the file was so big...you might want to compress your sound, as it is taking up most of the file size. In the past I've had good luck with q-design (comes with quicktime pro) with a data rate of about 40 kbps. You also might want to up the frame rate to 29.97. The Sorensen 3 codec seems to be more concerned with data rate, and lowering the framerate does little or nothing to make the file smaller. I think your video, having relatively little movement, would do well at the standard framerate.

Barry

[Jeff Donald]

Very nice Keith. I down loaded it when you first posted, but didn't get to watch it until this morning. I like the mirror scenes and the scene with you in silhoutte. Very emotional, draws the viewer in. Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

[Rob Lohman]

Was a very nice piece. Well done. And indeed thanks for sharing
it with us! I hope your camera survived all that moist and warmth.

Well, not as to steal any ideas or anything, but it might be
interesting to start such "competitions" here too?

[Jay Gladwell]

Not a bad idea, Rob.

[Keith Loh]

<<<-- Originally posted by Good Dog : Keith,

I watched your video and found it compelling. Very good example and use of (varied) available light! I thought your use of color was well-planned, too. -->>>

Not really 'well-planned'. More like experimentation and jotting down settings whenever I stumbled across something I thought was 'cool'. I ended up shooting over 80 minutes of raw footage so I had a lot of material to crunch through.

Are the other videos available at the project web site? -->>>

My site is down right now as I'm changing hosts (dns xfer taking a long time in the uptake it seems) but I have a http://www.keithloh.com/video/ section that has my XL1S 'learning log' that has some screencaps and the odd clip from my experimentation.

In my first post in this thread I have a link to the Delphi thread discussing my video. That also has a link to the main thread where the "Bathroom Challenge" video was first proposed. In the next week I believe there will be another one posted from a regular.

[Keith Loh]

<<<-- Originally posted by barrygoyette : Nice job keith. I think there are a number of shots that are just great...loved the writing on the mirror (both with finger and pen). I think you did a great job directing yourself (although I perfectly understand why you'd never want to do it again, what a chore!) -->>>

I think I would have got a better result by filming someone who wasn't trying to suck in his gut while 'acting'.

<<<-- On the compression, I checked your settings because I couldn't figure out why the file was so big...you might want to compress your sound, as it is taking up most of the file size. In the past I've had good luck with q-design (comes with quicktime pro) with a data rate of about 40 kbps. You also might want to up the frame rate to 29.97. The Sorensen 3 codec seems to be more concerned with data rate, and lowering the framerate does little or nothing to make the file smaller. I think your video, having relatively little movement, would do well at the standard framerate.
Barry -->>>

Interesting tips on the frame rate. I got access to Media Cleaner and have been playing with that as well as encoding in my company's Clipstream Video format so when I have proper comparisons I will upload and post a new link. With Media Cleaner I dropped the audio to 16 bit 22khz and reencoded it. I got it down to 27 mbs.

[Keith Loh]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : Was a very nice piece. Well done. And indeed thanks for sharing
it with us! I hope your camera survived all that moist and warmth. -->>

It was dripped on once. I positioned it below the faucet and just when I was the farthest away from the camera (while remaining in the bathroom), something welled up in the apartment's water and a big fat drop burbled from the faucet and landed on the top. Fortunately, it seemed to land on a part that immediately deflected it away from the electronics.

<<<--
Well, not as to steal any ideas or anything, but it might be
interesting to start such "competitions" here too? -->>>

It's all good.

[Keith Loh]

I reencoded new versions available here:

- Clipstream Video (java)
- progressive QuickTime
- download QuickTime (27mbs)

http://clipstream.com/demo/video/k/keith/

[Paul Sedillo]

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : Was a very nice piece. Well done. And indeed thanks for sharing
it with us! I hope your camera survived all that moist and warmth.

Well, not as to steal any ideas or anything, but it might be
interesting to start such "competitions" here too? -->>>

Rob,

Keith has a really cool thing going on over at:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/DVDA/

He and several other people have put quite a bit of work into this place. The discussions tend to fall along the lines of DV film making. There is a discussion area dedicated to the creation of short movies.

If you have not been to this site, you should give it a look.

[Rob Lohman]

Paul... thanks for pointing it out. I've been there shortly, but
currently I don't have time to be on two major boards... But I
have added it to my favorites and will keep an eye on it. Who's
board is it?

[Paul Sedillo]

Rob,

I think Keith is the one who started it. It is one of only 4 forums that I have time to follow. Their heavy slant towards DV production is what I really like. One of the active members had his short film selected by Res magazine for ResFest.

[Keith Loh]

Thanks for the plugs, Paul. Among our small group of active participants we have a good blend of professionals and amateurs (myself), all of whom do some work using DV. You alluded to Matt Fraction and his company's work in Res. His company is also going to be doing interstitials with the Adult Swim programming on the Cartoon Network. Another regular, Jeremy Love has had a property optioned in Hollywood.

And I make movies about my bathroom.