For Glory & Honour: Take 2

[Chris Barcellos]

Thanks all for your input and comments. Again, it is necessary for us all to hear what others think of a project.

There is always an issue about how much time to put into one of these projects. I always start out with a plan to make the best film possible, then, things start deteriorating from there. Actors don't coopearate, equipment fails.

In this case, my main character didn't make an appearance, so I worked around it... a little tough.... But it was still fun to work with grand kids again.

Specific comments:

Length: This was an issue for me too after watching 20 to 30 times in various edits and incarnations, I wasn't sure whether it was because of my familiarity or because its seemed to move a bit slow. Ultimately, however, the film was about waiting, so I did not cut it more. In retrospect, and since the film did not have to be 4 minutes, I think that is a fair criticism, and I should have considered cutting it more.

Soundtrack music: Again, we are all burdoned by copyright issues, and have to rely on certain "canned music". Certainly, it would be nice to have variations of the theme in that chosen track. Alas, that was not available in my version of the program. Perhaps a second track should have been chosen to supplement.

Use of Selective Focus: As I have indicated earlier in this thread, I used this production to experiment with my "evolving" self built 35mm adapter. I think my own criticism is that I tried to do touch much focus change (rack focusing ?) during the shots. It make a good effect in a movie, but can be over used.

Military/Patriotic Theme: As background, I was never in the military, and never had to go through this directly. I was lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. Our son in law (the actor wearing the fatigues) is a fireman, and is in Coast Guard reserve. He is trying to obtain and inter service transfer out to the National Guard, because he feels its his duty to serve in Iraq. This film was developed out my imagination about a return from that service....

[Lorinda Norton]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

How did you get all 5 of them to get up on the couch the way they did?

Ah, Bruce…always an articulate gentleman with a positive outlook about everyone and everything. Now that, I truly love. :)

My dogs are not trained, although, the three bigger ones do mind fairly well. All I did is pretty much capture what they do every time I go somewhere without them. It was a bit surprising that all five of them did the couch scene in the same order several times; I guess each dog has its spot. Riley has bad hips so he established his post in the corner.

Just so everyone knows, I didn’t set out to have all those canines. All but one was abandoned with a “date” set at the county shelter. This volunteer just couldn’t bear it with these particular inmates and sprung them, thinking I’d find them homes. That was five years ago. Each one has an interesting story, but then, don’t they all! Having so many can be frustrating at times (Foster is a daycare dog—adopted by my sister when I couldn’t find him a home.), but I love them. Sally, who is deaf and responds to hand signals, is queen; the rest occasionally argue about who is beta dog…

Mike, if everyone else wants to vote on a winner I guess I’m game, but really…because it’s just for fun as your first post suggests, I’d be happy if we just let it go. (?)

p.s. LOL about the ratings! I did wonder if the clips of Riley’s dripping saliva would gross out anyone besides me.

[Mike Teutsch]

Hi all,

Sorry to be so late in chiming in but I have been extremely busy and just didn't have much time. I still am by the way.

I'll start by saying that I enjoyed them all and you all did fine work. I hope we will all be back for the next one. Plus, a few more entries too!

I will keep my comments short as I am just not that good at critiquing others works.




“The Last Goose” ----I enjoyed it much and could feel the frustration and anticipation. I’ll have to try one of those beers!


“The Mark” --Like Lorinda I did not really get it, at least until the end somewhat. Looked very nice though. Remember that you know the plot and what happens and we need to know it so that we can understand what is happening. I enjoyed it a lot though when I caught on.


“Homecoming” I also kept waiting to see his face and I am curious as to why we did not see it. Very nice looking video. I am a big supporter of our troops so that made it even more enjoyable.


“Man sans Muse” Jay on the toilet, yup I needed that!? Fun though and I enjoyed it. Looked more like frustration than anticipation to me. What was on his head????


“Dog Days” What can I say, yours are always great and I can relate to the dogs. I have enough trouble taking care of my one dog though. Looks like the dogs are on the cholesterol free diet huh?!?!?!? :) The dogs were great actors and always on cue.


Good job all and keep entering!!!

Mike

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Lorinda Norton

Mike, if everyone else wants to vote on a winner I guess I’m game, but really…because it’s just for fun as your first post suggests, I’d be happy if we just let it go. (?)

Well... I did post this way back at post 29. ;)

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....4&postcount=29

The only reason why I suggested having a winner is so that we have something on my site to look back on as time goes by. I really can't afford to have all the videos posted there permanently.

That way as we head into Take 3, and 4... people can look back at what video won the last round.

It is still about having fun though, I'm hoping that nobody is taking this too seriously as far as being competitive. We're just here to share a common hobby and have some fun.

Mike

[Bob Thieda]

I think your idea to have the "winning" video on your site is important.
It gives future participants a chance to see what its all about. And, as you say, maybe get someone to sponsor a prize.
It a shame we don't have an independent judge or judges....I don't mind the voting idea and I sure don't care if I win or lose, but I'm just not sure which one I would vote for. :)

Bob

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Daniel Gast

A Cold Beer: At the 17 second mark, he's clearly heading out the door. When she tells him "I don't think so" he's right back where he started in front of the refrigerator. You have to watch continuity like this, it gets away from you so easily. You forget what happened in the last take, etc. Having a dog, your montage made me smile :) The "walk through the camera" shot could've been cut a little quicker. It looks like he stops in front of the camera, then starts walking again...you want a smooth transition without that jar of stop and start. Cool shot, though. You enjoy your "Fast Foward" feature a BIT too much. Maybe if you'd cut back on it and just use it for emphasis where it's really needed. The montage was good for fast forward, even some of the driving...but it's just slightly too much. Ever so slightly. Cut back the FF a bit. :) For some reason, the ending just wasn't a "climactic funny" to top it off, it felt a little underdone. Maybe if you'd cut it into separate angles instead of one single shot as she trips, it would've worked out. Anyway, nice short overall, it made me chuckle, always good :)

Well, I was just tossing the bottol cap into the trash can, more leaning over than walking over and I retured to the same spot. I guess I could have stayed with it longer for you to see it, but you can see my can in the second wife scene.

Perhaps I use too much FF, but I like my stories to be faster paced to keep the audiences attention.

Would have loved to have more angles on the trip etc. but had very little time to get it shot and doing it all by myself doesn't help much. We had to shoot quick and then I had to clean up the mess before they opened the bar. Sheri was working also so could not take too much of her time.

I'll try to do better next time. :)

Mike

[Bob Thieda]

Originally Posted by Mike Teutsch

We had to shoot quick and then I had to clean up the mess before they opened the bar. Sheri was working also so could not take too much of her time.

Mike

Ah....I thougth the bar wasn't open, since no one else was there. I was going to ask how you got permission to shoot in the bar...Obviously you know the bartender.

I was thinking, while you were driving, "Man, how far is this place?"
I've never had to go more than a couple a miles for a beer. :)

Bob

[Chris Barcellos]

Oh, both Mike and Lorinda commented on missing face. This is an example of how things change in these challenges. My original script called for diaglogue between kids, and focusing on youngest anticipation of the father she couldn't remember coming home. As I indicated, that "star" didn't cooperate, so I shot mostly reaction stuff with the rest of the kids hoping to pull something together out of that. Because it was from kids point of view, at that time, I was shooting like a Charlie Brown where grown ups aren't really revealed.

After first edit, it was clear that more was needed, so I decided to add the point of view of dad coming home in the narrative...which provided a double anticipation theme....

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Bob Thieda

I think your idea to have the "winning" video on your site is important.
It gives future participants a chance to see what its all about. And, as you say, maybe get someone to sponsor a prize.
It a shame we don't have an independent judge or judges....I don't mind the voting idea and I sure don't care if I win or lose, but I'm just not sure which one I would vote for. :)

Bob

It's going to be tough!

I've sent everyone involved an email. Please respond to it with your top 2 picks in the competition. (When you have time.)
PS- You can't vote for yourself!

If we run into a tie I'll look into getting Chris Hurd and/or the moderators here to judge the final 2. If they are willing... and not too busy. :)

I just want to say thanks to everyone involved. You all did a great job in my opinion. This is going to be very hard for me to choose my favourite two videos.

Good luck to all!

Mike

[Bob Thieda]

My picks are in and it wasn't easy. I watched them all many times and still had a hard time.

I could have easily picked any two and still been comfortable with my decision.

You all have impressed me....some of you even made me laugh...

Bob T.

[Mike Horrigan]

Originally Posted by Bob Thieda

My picks are in and it wasn't easy. I watched them all many times and still had a hard time.

I could have easily picked any two and still been comfortable with my decision.

You all have impressed me....some of you even made me laugh...

Bob T.

It was tough... all the picks are in, save one.

[Bob Thieda]

La Dee Da, Dee Da.....La La Dee Da....

[Mike Horrigan]

Well... I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone who entered. You should all be happy to know that it was a very tight race across the board.

The final results are.....


*Drum roll*


It's a TIE! Yup... a tie.

The tie for first place goes to...

Mike Teutsch: A Cold Beer
and
Michael Horrigan: The Mark

Each received the exact same number amount of votes.

I emailed Chris Hurd this morning, if he doesn't get back to me soon (or if he isn't interested) we can leave it as a tie for first.

Once again, thanks to everyone who entered!

Mike, have a nice cold one on me. ;)

Cheers gang,

Mike

[Dennis Khaye]

Congrats you two! Nicely done both of you.

I've withheld my comments on other films because I've been bitten before when it comes to on-line contests. Please forgive my tardiness but once bitten twice shy.

"Last Goose"
Two things jumped out at me on this one Bob, the fantasy flash backs to the beer should have been set apart more. Rays of sunshine behind the bottle, angels singing, a low angle shot so the beer towers over the viewer and maybe some kind of transition between the now and the fantasy. The other one is a huge one for me too, I think you need to move the camera more. I'm just as guilty of this. I loved the wife's reaction at the end, that was wonderful.

"Dog Days of Winter"
I love dogs too so this was a lot of fun to watch for me. I think you could have lost the exterior shot looking back at the dogs in the picture window. Everything else is interior and as short as it is, it looks like an editing mistake. The dog food bowl feeding frenzy was awesome, the music was wonderful for that.

"Homecoming"
Well Chris you've already stated this was a practice session for your pull and rack focuses so in a sense you couldn't really lose this competition. Everything looked okay to me, a bit slow to pull at times and you ended up having a bit of a roving eye that made me feel I was looking through a sniper scope at times. I'm really amazed at how thin you managed to get the focal length.

"A Cold Beer"
Very fun entry Mike. Lots of energy and light hearted, nicely shot too. The beer spill at the end could have used a better take. Did you do just one?

"The Mark"
Very nicely shot, wonderful use of blue and kudos for production values all around.

Congrats on the co-title you guys. This was fun and fun is good.

[Bob Thieda]

First, hearty congradulations to the winners...I like them both.

Second, thanks to everyone...I learned something from every video and thanks to Mike for doing this.

Third, thanks Dennis for both your points. I believe you are correct.

Finally....Ya'll watch out for the next one, I'm gonna step it up a notch.... :)

(Actually, I think I will be entering the upcoming DVC)

Bob T.