Short film posted - "Limb from Limb"

[Eric MacIver]

I posted this as a reply in the Mini35 forum, but I thought this forum might be interested as well.

I've got a completed and edited 10-minute short film shot with the Mini35 and XL2 in 24p/16:9 and with color correction and "Looks Suite" applied. The short is posted to Triggerstreet.com. If you're not already a member, you'll have to join to log-in, but I can assure you, it is well worth it. It's a great site started by Kevin Spacey and some other industry people.

To find it, just go to triggerstreet.com and log-in or join, then in the search box in the upper-right hand corner, type in "Limb from Limb" without the quotes, and click on "Short Films" under the search box to search for short films by that title. The only result should be mine.

I cannot post the full film to a non-member-only location, as some of the festivals we're planning on entering preclude that, however, I may be able to create a password protected website for it sometime soon.

If you can log in to TriggerStreet.com to view it, I'd love to get your reviews for it on TS and/or here (on TS counts towards getting selected for their film festival, which is why I'd like something there as well).

Thanks!

[John Hudson]

Any chance you can post this in another format other than Real Media? :P

[Eric MacIver]

Possibly - what format works for you? Windows Media?

[Peter Sieben]

Eric, I tried to watch it at Triggerstreet, just afer upgrading to the latest version of the Realplayer. I constantly get an error. Is it working from your pc when you try to play it from the TS site?

Most favorite internet format is Quicktime (MOV), at least among digital fillmmakers (part of the group is a Mac user).

Peter

[Jose di Cani]

HI

Thanks for the site. I registered and I like it. I also looked at your video. I still have to add the same review that shows up in here. FIrst of all . COngratS!!!!! YOur movie is hot stuff. The quality is there. Amazing what you can do with a Xl2. I watche dthe video without problems, but check out the other videos and see how they are encoded, cause some let you rewind instantly. Yours I had some problems.

There are things I like and don't like about the movie.

- in the scene when the man runs towards the women with the knife. I think the scene could be a little more longer. It has a strange order of scenes. try to include a scene of the women running which is not only longer, but also with different lighting. BEcause you had 3 scenes of the women with the same lighting, so that destroys the motion of the runnnign women. Also try to add more effevys to cuts and important scenes. Add low cut audio filers and try to add more effects made at home with VST-intruments (absynth, z3ta, atmosphere, reaktor 4 etc).

- hospital scene: you had one scene of the close up of the visitor and suddenly you moved yoru cam to the right without any reason. that seemed ilogical. Try to stabilize your cam more. The overal quality of the pictures are amazing so ..but nevertheless. Just ad advice there.I also noticed that you didn't use 2 cams in some of the scenes or scenes were added later on, because it is a mtter of miliseconds, but when the man on the bed exhales his breath, you add a scene in close up following but the movement of the exhail is not flowing. Details like this makes the movie a bit strange. SO try to do watch the movie frame in frame. The patiens acted far better than the visitor. The visitor is a bad actor. SOmetimes he looks sad and then happy. What is his problem? He should be in bed. NOt the other GUY! :)
Try to make the transition from one scene to antoher one LONGER. Cause the transition from the hospital bed to the wheel chair is TOO WAY SHORT or to put it gently ' weird' and ' cold/digital' .

- and it the shot where he turns on the tv, I saw a flaw. There was like a short millisecond of a transition there.
-the music choise is great
- the night scenes are beautifuylly recorded.
- the black hair guy is a bad actor!!!!! why didn;t you find another? He looks in the cam all the time, is nervous and I don't know. Doesn't look right.
- why did you zoom in the shoe of the women who was on the phone? was that necesarry? no extra information there.
- the movie has maudio nearfield monitors. lol.
- the telehone conversation takes to long and is bad-acted and just too long for a short movie. try to speeden up things
- try to be original in the movie. I seen this a milion times.
- the scene in the corridor was cool but needs MORE action. MOre camera movement. If you had a handstabilator you could do E.R kind of cuts.
- in the scene of the elevator...you came closer with the cam and then I expected the cam to look into the window of the elevator straight into the man with the knife. Nope.
- ending was cool

so it is a movie well recorded with STRANGe cuts. Not original I guess.

What microphone did you use? and how many cams di dyou use per set?

thanks for the site and keep on making videos.

[Cosmin Rotaru]

I'd like to see the movie but not streaming. I registered at Triggerstreet.com only to find out that I cannot download the movie. I might like it and want to keep it or get it home and show it to my wife...
If you find a way to make it downloadable, please reply! :)

[Eric MacIver]

Peter - Triggerstreet was having issues for two days or so that have now been resolved.

Cosmin & John - I'll try to get another format up, but I do have some festival issues to contend with. I'll let you know.

Jose - Thanks for the detailed review. We used one camera and a Senn 416 mic. The woman's shoes were shown so that you'd double-realize she was getting ready to go running to help you figure out the timeline.

[Linda Schodowsky]

Hi Eric...

I reviewed you movie on TriggerStreet on 11/11. I gave you a nice review. I did mention two things. One regarding the lighting... it seemed to sometimes change from scene to scene. I mentioned something regarding white balancing. The other thing I mentioned was about the framing and composition of some of the shots - but that's the photography school in me talking! :)

Trust me, I am SUCH a novice and am learning alot from TriggerStreet. I could be wrong about this things but it is my preference in how I liked to see a movie look.

And besides... I gave you a really good review and I liked your movie. It really stands out in my mind!

By the way, my screen name at TS is SeaMowse.

[Eric MacIver]

Thanks - I did see your review. I did white balance, but you were very correct about a few of the head-shot scenes and their framing. I unfortunately had to write, produce, direct, dp, camera operate and edit this.

On set, that caused me to get a few poorly framed shots that still bug me, but most I've replaced on a newly edited version with fixed/enhanced music and a few small edits - However, triggerstreet has so many reviews of the film that I don't really want to pull it down.

Anyway - that new version is playing at the DV Film Festival in Los Angeles tonight if you want to see it (and if you live here) - info at www.dvexpo.com/filmfest - tickets are apparently available at the door.

[Sameer Puri]

Hi Eric,

I registered on TriggerStreet to view your film hoping it wasn't a disappointment. I plan on shooting my first feature in 2005 using an XL2 and p+s 35mm adapter, as well. Your excellent short film has convinced me that the quality is good enough to engross an audience once you have a good storyline amongst other things of course. So far I've only seen little clips here and there - no plot driven movies unlike yours.

I've left you a review on TriggerStreet (my user name there is sam8477). Excellent stuff.

A few questions: Did you need to de-interlace at all? I would think not as the xl2 films in 24p. Any particular reasons for not using FCP or Avid? and finally, I'd like to know how you lit your outdoor/indoor night scenes.

Appreciate your input, thanks.

[Eric MacIver]

Thanks. No de-interlacing w/ the XL2, as we shot in 24p 3:2:2:3 mode. My timeline in PP1.5 was 24 frames/sec. You could just as easily use FCP or Avid.

As for the lighting - Ext/night I used a 1000w Chimera (Lowel Rifa-88), 4-bank Flou. (Lowel Caselight4) and (2) 650w Fresnel's (Arri).

Indoor night, I used the flou. practicals in the basement, but in the apartment I used just the Caselight, with maybe (1) 150w Fresnel.

Good luck on your feature!

[Gerald Baillgergeau]

Eric,
Which lenses did you use on your mini35 setup?

[Eric MacIver]

I used our Zeiss SuperSpeed Prime's.

[Darrell Essex]

good job.
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