Thanks for watching, Oliver! (Sometimes responses are scarce in the world of dvinfo.) I've finally aquired my own Magic Bullet Editors software for Final cut Pro. It does wonders and it is totally worth the cash! You can customize their looks or even make your own. I used slight vignette in each shot and I combined a sepia filter (in FCP effects) with a 3-way-color corrector. (I turned up my whites..) If you want anymore detailed info or have any questions, just let me know! Thanks again! Do you have any projects or demos up online? perhaps a portfolio that I can check out?

Mikee

Hey Jon,

First, congrats for doing this. That's a neat little kid you're helping out.

The first lady (family friend) was really good. Articulate and comfortable in front of cam. Nice lighting and mostly good audio (thought I heard a thump).

A few critiques (since you asked). I would have liked to have seen more of Levi and less of the parents (the mom was a little too far off-screen - shots didn't quite match). I think it would be neat to do the start of the talking headshot, then voiceover shot of Levi playing. The bearded volunteer was pretty photogenic.

I just wondered if you could have told the story in less time, or bring in more visuals to keep the audience eye busy.

All in all, congrats a great little show for a great cause!

Very professional. A simple message and a few nice clips to back it up. I like the way it looks, but he dialog distracted me when she said, "are you calling me fat?" I started to think the message was about spousal abuse or divorce or something like that instead of clean energy. I understand the point of the conversation now that I went through it twice, but the loud "fat?" from the woman's voice was alarming. Perhaps a more casual conversation about how people are forgetful about the environment in their daily choices would be more effective.

I like the "we'll just drive separately" message, but the particulars of the dialog were a bit confusing at first.

I noticed a lot of white specks in a few of the clips. Were those on the adapter or is that just some compression artifact?

Ken,

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and provide some feedback.

I think all of your comments are right on the money. Filming was done in my garage and the thump you hear is one of my cats coming in through the cat door to oversee production. Obvious lesson learned there.

I really wrestled with cutting it down. My initial edit left it at 40 minutes. Got that whittled down to 20 or so, but then decided -- as you say -- it desperately needed images of Levi so I weaved in those splashes in between each segment, which brought it back up to 25 minutes.

My background is in print journalism and have always appreciated a good editor helping me cut long form peices down to size. I've been finding the same is true now that I'm working in video. I wanted it to be 15 minutes, 20 at the absolute most. To get there, though, it seemed like I would have had to cut one of the segments out in toto. Or do you thing I could have just kept trimming around the edges? (It was starting to worry that it was becoming too patchwork already).

I didn't do any make-up. Probably hard to tell in the internet version, but do you think anyone, particulary either of the two men, needed any?

Again, thanks so much for taking the time. The feedback really is appreciated.

Nice footage,looks very professional

Jon,

IMHO, for good or bad, the reality is, we live in the Youtube generation. People need their information in either short bursts, or it must be very captivating. I would only suggest; voiceover of Levi playing/interacting - more than looking at the talking head. If a picture is worth a thousand words - what does 30 pictures-a-second tell you.

I'm guilty of the opposite, I produced a 9-minute enviro doc with no narration - only pictures and music and a few text frames to explain the background. Obviously your story needs narration, but sometimes the ambient sounds of a child playing and a caregiver interacting are very powerful when combined with the images.

As far as make-up goes, I didn't miss it (maybe on the bearded guy) but you kind of got caught in between. Had this been filmed in their house with a natural backdrop, I wouldn't expect make-up. But because your dark grey backdrop gave it a studio/set look; one might expect 'made up' speakers.

For me, we are all story-tellers, and we can tell them our way. For that, it's a beautiful media. Just think, how you were able to tell Levi's story in a way that far more people can hear it than through written word.

Keep shooting.

yeah, I wanted an original/film-look. The specs were generated though FCP. I really wanted a true...urban look. At least I know people notice it! Hopefully it doesn't just look trashy with the "dust simulation". Thanks for watching + commenting!

I get, "click here to download plugin". Of course, that never seems to work and I already have lots of codecs installed. Perhaps others are having this same issue?

Great locations and sets. How did you create the ambulance/medical equipment set?

Life is a bit like a cartoon sometimes. This movie reminded me of a time when I was a kid and had to get up early and get ready to go to school on a cold morning. I hated that school and dreaded getting up and going there. Suddenly, I woke up and had to go through the whole process a second time.

Looks really good man! Love the lighting and of course your DOF. SGPro eh? I'm having problems with my m2 and getting really good depth in a wide and medium shots. (Maybe it's my lens...) Any suggestions? Great work!

That was an important film. I was on call IT 24/7 for the last 15 years...it will drive you insane. At one point, I could even tell the speed and point in the conversation of a fax machine/modem by the screech! I still feel uncomfortable if I leave my cell phone at home ever.

Thanks for the replies!

Michael -
These are the lenses that I'm using for the medium / wide shots :
Sigma 28mm f/1.8 http://www.abesofmaine.com/item.do?item=SG28AFP
and
Pentax SMC 50mm AF f/1.4 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search

The Sigma leaves a little to be desired, I've gotten a bit of CA and distortion at the edges.

I've gotten that short DOF because I've had to keep my lens so wide open (usually between 1.4-2) due to lighting restrictions, which helps with the shallow DOF but sometimes hurts the sharpness of the images (which I've tried to tweak in post).

In terms of the DOF (the fact that it is a 35mm DOF, not in the quality of the blur), there shouldn't be a difference between the SGPro and the M2, so it could possibly be in the lens, or how close your positioning your subjects to the background.

What lenses are you using?


Marcus - The playback requires the DIVX Web Player, which is a nice free download from the site (no spyware/adware or anything). It allows for DVD-like playback of videos that can stream and go fullscreen, so that's why I posted it there. I also have the trailer here http://www.negativezerofilms.com/ga/ in Flash video if you prefer, but the quality is not as high.

Really nice work! Loved the shots and the lighting... very well done!
The music was a tad loud, other than that... great trailer!

Loved the DOF!

Mike

Hmmm, maybe switch the color of the specks to black? I don't know much about FCP, but I'm sure that filter has some sort of adjustments. I think on film small specks are usually dark and bright spots are probably longer scratches. I know that getting realistic old film aging can be tricky but I'm sure there's a way.

Your vignette that you added in post totally fooled me. I thought it and the flicker was done by the adapter.