Would using a star filter for cinematography be too weird?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but isn't that what you have in my shot? She is walking away with the building in the background?

[Brian Drysdale]

It didn't look like a building more like a tomb or mausoleum.

[Ryan Elder]

Is that bad if the building looks like that?

[Paul R Johnson]

Just a location fail.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but let's say you like the unusual look of the location and you went for that unusual look intentionally... How do you show a character exit an unusual looking building without it being confusing then?

[Brian Drysdale]

A location can be unusual, but it has meet the requirements of the world you're creating for your story. There are some eccentric office buildings around, but they usually still look like there are offices inside. In a film that has to come across instantly.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well the location was the building you see at a wine vineyard, since the story is about a wine company, but don't wine vineyard buildings look like that, or at least the ones I've seen in photographs do.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I agree with Brian the location is strange it neither looks like a corporate office or vineyard there is a disconnect between the inside and out. I initially thought when I saw him walking down the stairs it looks like modern house, but the filing room looks like an office. You also don’t do a wide enough shot establishing the building. There should have been signage inside and out ... xyz vineyards. I would have at least used an exterior of another building.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well there is already an exterior shot of the building right after she first enters the file room. So I thought it would be strange to use two establishing shots, wouldn't it? I could have put that establishing shot before showing the inside building at all, if that would have been better.

Do I need to always show an establishing shot of the building before cutting to an interior though, if I plan on having the actors leave the building and go outside?

For example, the next project I want to do there is a scene that starts out in a police station interrogation room, where a witness is being interviewed and then leaves. I want the witness to be escorted outside by the police into a car after. But since I am choosing to show the outside of the building here, do I have to show the outside of it before the interrogation as well?

[Paul R Johnson]

You're labelling and rule following again. There MUST be an establishing shot, but forgetting to make the link with WHY. If the establishing shot fails, and establishes nothing, or worse - adds confusion. In the time movie we have a person who can alter time with a laptop. For some reason, he does this in a field. We have building where nothing to do with wine appear to happen? If you make wine - then there is an expectation that we will see winemaking, not the HR department, or paper shufflers. The movie was about aging wine, yet how much wine did we see being made, stored, handled, tested? You probably had a shot list, and ticked them as done when shooting, but ticking etablishing shot, close up of X, mid shot of Y, cutaway Z didn't mean they served their purpose, or perhaps even had a purpose apart from being in the list. We've mentioned so many things in the movie that left us confused, yet you still try to rationalise everything in individual terms.

Buying the ingredients for a recipe in a book, don't mean it will be tasty!

[Brian Drysdale]

It's not an establishing shot if you've already established the location.

If you show the building again depends on the next scene. If they're released and go straight to Pauly's pizza place, which has already been established, you don't need to have them walking out of the police station or even the exterior of the pizza place if we've already seen it and the audience knows where they are,

If they're released and they don't know what to do next in the outside or it's a big moment getting out you'll show the building exterior. as the boys turn up in a hearse with a good time girl in a coffin.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay, well there is already an exterior shot of the building right after she first enters the file room. So I thought it would be strange to use two establishing shots, wouldn't it? I could have put that establishing shot before showing the inside building at all, if that would have been better.

Do I need to always show an establishing shot of the building before cutting ...

You filmed a close shot of a building that neither looks like an office or a vineyard. You haven’t established anything! This movie is about wine but where are the vineyards, the oak barrels, the grapes... This is so obvious and basic but you don’t get it. This is what I would consider an appropriate establishing shot https://marylandwine.com/wp-content/...s-Building.jpg

We are just giving you an honest evaluation but you deflect or defend every point of criticism. In every aspect this is what I’d expect from high school student getting his feet wet. You’ve got a long way to go to make anything of commercial quality.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. In my head I did have a lot more shots, but didn't get to have them cause of budget. In my head there was an actual vineyard, with barrels of wine, and these other establishing shots. But I didn't use any of the shots because of budget.

Should I make sure to get more money next time for such establishing shots? Or if I don't have the budget, should I write in dialogue as the person explains the location to another character instead?

[Brian Drysdale]

It's no use having things in your head, the audience doesn't know what's in there, they only know what they see on the screen.

If it's supposed to be a vineyard, the audience has to see it's a vineyard. the old show, don't say thing. You can cheat like crazy to create the impression of a vineyard, that's what art directors do all the time. .

You're making a movie, not a radio play. Expositional dialogue is death to a drama, unless its used carefully.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

This is why it’s a not good to get ideas from movies or write screenplays that you neither have the budget or access to locations you need. You should be looking for things you have around you and build stories around them instead of trying impose a story that you can’t pull off. If you lived in Northern California it would have been a natural fit to this story. I can see a reoccurrence of the same types of problems in your cop thriller.