archived-videos Carnevil

Filmmaker516

Filmmaker516

SK Films Presents
A Steve Keider Film
Ryan Kmet, Zak Keider, Jesse Malone

cnevtitle.bmp

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CARNEVIL

:D Enjoy!

[wm]http://www.skfilms.net/films/Carnevil.wmv[/wm]

If ^That^ doesn't work, go HERE to watch.
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Please rate and comment, I need the criticism. Check out my blog (Indietalk one) for more info on the film, including comments on the errors and mistakes, as well as several other interesting facts.

Be sure to check our website, SKFilms.net for all the latest info.

ThankYou,
Steve. :cool:
All of SK Films. ;)
 
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Upvote 0
Happy Birthday, Steve!

Okay, I just finished watching Carnevil. I want to leave some feedback, but now I must go to work -- I will try to add some comments later today.

For now, I will say -- Good Job!
 
Okay -- I'm back.

The video looked nice and sharp -- good quality on the images, exposure, etc. A movie like this could have used some more creative lighting, with more pronounced brighter/darker areas, but that is just a personal preference. I also thought the audio was done well -- up to a point. I liked the music and the sound effects, but the mixing was not even. The biggest issue for me was the volume and effects of "Carny". When Carny first starts speaking, I could not hear what he was saying very well over the music. Later, when Carny speaks again without the music, it was still difficult to make out what was being said due to the whispered delivery and the distorting effects on the voice. Another (less critical) issue was the room reverb on the main actors. It is the price you pay when you tape audio in an enclosed room with a concrete floor, but the main dialog had a bit too much natural room echo on it. I was able to make it out, but it was a bit distracting at times.

The visual FX shots were done very well. I especially liked the "hand" shot.

Overall, I thought it was a very well done short movie. I'm ready for the next one!
 
Sweet!

Wow. Thanks for the comments! It's so uplifting to hear that on my first real short film. I can't wait to finish this next script!

FYI, I was on really low budget so the audio was all with the on camera mic.

Thanks,
Steve :cool:
 
No doubt inspired by the Saw films. There were some inconsistencies right from the start.
They can see clearly enough to ask about the lights, yet they can't see the door or the doorknob? I see you're using a cut to black to simulate lights out, yet there is a window with what appears to be natural sunlight spilling into the room.

The actors don't appear to be very panicked.
"I read about that stuff. It enters through the skin." and he's smiling?
If the actors aren't genuinely frightened, how can you build tension in the audience? A good actor can pull it out of themselves, but a good director can theoretically pull it out of an inexperienced actor. If you can't get a genuine response from the talent, take them someplace that really scares them, either in their mind or to a real location. Get into their heads and draw out that sense of fear and panic.

Overall, though, it's an interesting short. For the next one, watch out for inconsistencies with what is said versus what is seen. For instance,
I'd cut that ambient light from the window and use home-made flags on those construction lights to put the door in shadow so as to make it believable that they did not see it at first.
And an actor's facial expressions tell more than the dialogue about what he or she is thinking.

I'm looking forward to the next one.

Here's a good exercise. Mute the audio and only watch the visuals. Can you tell what the story is about? Does it seem scary?

I love horror, so I'm constantly studying how to get into someone's psyche. Lighting is very important to set the mood. And you can tell a good horror story even with a deaf mute. You don't have to say much.
 
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Yeah, I knew about some of those problems, but the whole movie was shot so quickly and on such a tight budget and such we didn't even have time to re-shoot or I would have certainly made changes.

Yes, it was inspired by SAW, only because thats my favorite movie of all time. I am also a huge horror fan.

Thanks for the review- all criticism helps!
-Steve :cool:
 
I still remember sitting in the theater, watching one of the Elm Street movies, and a door appeared floating in the middle of the room. Nancy said, "It's a door." And everyone in the audience, including me, said, "Duh!" So the door thing brought back memories. :)
 
Yeah the whole thing about the "I Feel a doorknob" was not supposed to be in there, but I think we left it in there for both laughs and not having anything else to cut there. :)
 
I guess it was a good effort, but it was like 99% like SAW, rendering it not creative and forced "hype" (for lack of a better word) basically, since SAW was a pretty good movie, you'd have a lot story-wise to at least mimic or represent, so that was a strange pick on something to do for your first short film.

But let's take out the comparison to saw. The shots were pretty good, acting wasn't, idea for an indie film was pretty good, and the effort put in was good too, considering you did a nice job with the guy in the T.V., but there really wasn't much emotion. Look to focus in on your actors a bit more, they did a bad job at acting disoriented ;p
 
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