Digital Teenage Film

Many people have been congratulating us for doing something that should have been done years ago: one of the first movies ever to be produced, written, directed and performed strictly by teenagers, outside the Hollywood system -- but to make it look as if it costs millions of dollars, just like a Hollywood movie =). The first digital short to begin this digital movement was 405 the movie, and now we follow (or we hope), also premiering our work at IFILM.COM.

The following is an invitation to review our last digital film’s teaser trailer, "girl(boy) teaser trailer" which premiered Friday 5th April on IFILM.COM.

This one, along with indies such as Radius, is a low-budget production that has taken the creators 3-4 years to work on, from scratch, all teenagers, beginning when they were 16 years old, struggling their way along the production, and finishing now, on 2K2. There’s no Hollywood involvement, and the movie is completely done by a small group of young filmmakers. You can watch Behind the Scenes footage or take a look at our mp3 soundtrack at our website, http://www.schoolis2die4.com. Please do consider reviewing us: the link to our teaser trailer is the following:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2415261,00.html

Thanks for your time. We hope to be the digital Robert Rodriguez of our generation.

[Rob Lohman]

Fernando,

That are some high hopes you are setting there, I hope you reach
them. All-in-all the trailer looked nice. I hope those effects are
used to further the story. As a moderator of this forum I hope you
will stay with us to talk about your experiences and help others
out. There are not much people out there yet who have
completed a large project with the XL1/1S camera... Maybe you
would be interested to write an article for the watchdog?

Good luck with the last bits of your movie and I hope the future
brings you good things.

That would be great, ok. What kind of article would you guys be interested in? I've got a couple of manifestos on the making of the film at my official website.

And yes, the effects do help the story. =)

I know it looks like a Matrix rip-off, but actually, it's not. The trailer wasn't done very well, it isn't precise. Actually, the character in the movie IS inspired by THE MATRIX when she sees it on TV. Then she applies what she saw on television on real life, creating this weird concept of reality that ain't... duh, real.

Hope you like the film (once it's out!)

Thanks again.

[Michael Chen]

Saw the trailer. I must say that its pretty cool. Way much better than the ones produced here.
Hope to see more of your films soon.

You guys used the stock mic rite?

[Rob Lohman]

Fernando, thanks for replying so soon. Articles can be about
a lof of things. I myself have written a two-part article that
descriped pre-productiona and actual shooting of my first little
short. I had planned to write another two parter for editing
and post-production but things are not going to well at the
moment with my short. I would personally be very interested
in reading about what went right, what went wrong how you
guys (and girls) came up with solutions and such. Since you
are about to complete a full project you have been through the
entire process and must have some things to tell of all the
different stages. Our articles are usually a bit longer and more
detailed than what I read in your manifesto's (btw, your equipment
manifesto doesn't seem to work).

If you are interested, check my articles out. If you go to the site
(www.dvinfo.net) they can be found under the Articles button on
the left side. They are the first two under DV Production Notes.
Perhaps they give you an idea as to how the articles are
constructed. Pictures are always good (especially before and
after or set pictures etc.), which I hadn't developed yet when I
wrote those articles myself. Chris (the site and forums owner)
can even host movies (making off's etc.) if I'm not mistaken.

I have one question for you. In a couple of shots in the trailer
you have a pretty shallow DOF. When we see a gun in focus
the person behind it is a bit out of focus. How did you guys
do that with the XL1? I've been trying to do that myself without
much luck at the moment.

Thanks!

[Chris Hurd]

Hosting short trailers... no problem! ;-)

[Kyle "Doc" Mitchell]

Rob:

I was thinking about the same DoF thing as I was trying to go to sleep last night! Here's how I'm thinking of how to do it:

I use Adobe Premiere 6.0 and Photoshop. Maybe this is a way to do it: export a few movie frames from the NLE software to Photohop. The shots will have pretty much everything in focus (like a normal video look). Then, cut out around the object thats more-so in the forground. Next, use the blur tool in photoshop on the background until it has a desired "out-of-focused" look. Then put back in the cut-out of the forground object. Do this for all of the desired frames. Takes time, but I think it might have the psychological effect on your audience that 35mm film DoF has.

This might not work, though. What do you think? I would like to hear how Fernando did it.

Regards,

Kyle "Doc" Mitchell

[Rob Lohman]

Kyle. That is very possible indeed. There are even tools available
that can do that right within your video app or special effects
tools. But, as you've said, that takes time. There are a lot of
frames in a scene. Lets hope those special video tools have
some extra tools for this. I plan on doing some testing with
these in the near future. Time, however--as always-- is not
on my side lately.

What's DoF? Hahaha. Sorry, not familiar with the term.

Still, don't know what shot exactly you are talking about. If you are talking about a simple out of focus... that was 'done' with the lens. But not sure which shot you are asking me about. Post again and let me know

=)

About the articles, I'll check them out soon and see what I can do.

[Chris Hurd]

DoF -- depth of field. Where one element in the frame is in focus but other elements are intentionally out of focus, to drive the audience attention to a specific thing or area on the screen.

[Rob Lohman]

Fernando... chris' explenation is the correct one. Basically, in
your trailer you have a couple of shots where the guy is holding
a gun. The gun is in focus (ie, sharp) but the person behind it
is not (ie, blurry). This is a shallow depth of field (DOF), which
is very difficult to create with video (XL1 etc.). Video has a large
DOF (ie, everything is in focus from close range up to far away).
I can post a screenshot from your trailer if you do not understand
which part I am talking about.

[Patrick Coker]

can I just say I am sooooooo jealous of you guys for a few reasons; one - your trailer is HOT!!!!! I have emailed everyone I know about it. I'm in the middle of shooting an episodic and it is not half as daring as your work. What really makes me jealous is this - you guys have found your passion early on in life.... wow, congrats and keep it coming!

That's the kind of message that gives you strength for more!!!

[Scott Burbank]

Where did the money come from?

The movie, all of it, cost about 2000... and I think I'm exaggerating a little. Of course, not taking into account the equipment. 4 years shooting and editing and such. Preproduction, postproduction and shooting all at the same time... haha