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watch Everyday Is Like Sunday - indie TV pilot (shot with two T2is)

Looks like it could be a fun show! Congrats on putting the pilot together. I feel like you've got all your ducks lined up in a row, except for one thing -- wow, that is really poorly lit.

And I'm the guy on Indietalk who is usually defending my stuff when people say it is poorly lit. So take that into context. It shouldn't be so dark. We should be able to see the actor's eyes to truly read their expressions.

Get that little issue squared away, and you might have something to work with. Best of luck!
 
It's a problem I see more and more with the rise in
popularity of the DSLR cameras. Filmmakers are
happy to be shooting with larger sensors and shallow
DOF and with no effort at all you can get an image.

Lighting is still essential. Good lighting (and audio)
would really set this pilot apart from your typical
"indie" or amateur project. You seem to have good
actors, the dialogue and situations work for me but
it looks like you just set up a camera and hit record.

Maybe for the first episode you can do some lighting.
I think this projects deserves it.
 
hey guys, thanks for taking the time to watch it, appreciate it.

And I'm the guy on Indietalk who is usually defending my stuff when people say it is poorly lit. So take that into context. It shouldn't be so dark. We should be able to see the actor's eyes to truly read their expressions.
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Can you do me a favour and tell me the timecode where you think the worst offence of this is? I'm starting to think my monitor may not be properly calibrated or something, I just want to look into it a bit further.

Lighting is still essential. Good lighting (and audio)
would really set this pilot apart from your typical
"indie" or amateur project. You seem to have good
actors, the dialogue and situations work for me but
it looks like you just set up a camera and hit record.
Click to expand...

For sure. But realistically, when I was planning the project, lighting was a sacrifice I had to make. I've directed a project with 'proper' lighting before and the increase in production time that results would just not have been feasible. So for me it was a choice between doing largely practical lighting or not doing it at all (considering we had one day to shoot 25 pages, which as far as I know is unheard of, and we had a budget that's so low I'm embarrassed to even say it).

Maybe for the first episode you can do some lighting.
I think this projects deserves it.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the idea. I'm not trying to take this project and say "Hey, Canadian TV stations, give me a little money and I'll give you 6 episodes just like this". I'm just trying to generate enough interest from this pilot based on the strength of the writing and the characters, that I can hopefully re-shoot it with a proper budget and crew. In that regard it's en vogue with the pilot for say, "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" which was shot on a handicam for $50 and picked up by F/X as a result (and never aired).

That said, I really think my monitor might be poorly set up, because a lot of the images clearly look like they're the result of practical lighting to me, but they honestly do not seem unacceptably dark to me. I will ask around and look further into this. Though it's also possible that my perception is off from you guys who probably have a greater technical background than I do, and I spent the month leading up to shooting this watching mostly films that used practical lighting, so maybe I've just gotten used to dark images. Either way it's something I plan to work on for when the actual pilot is released.
 
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The audio could use a little help as well. It is on a par with most decent indie projects, thin and definitely "roomy". It also needs some real sound design and mix work.

I'm just trying to generate enough interest from this pilot based on the strength of the writing and the characters, that I can hopefully re-shoot it with a proper budget and crew
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I can understand that, but for the most part studio and TV executives are overly concerned with presentation; they don't have the ability to see beyond your low budget limitations. They'll see poor image and hear indie sound and immediately think "why should I pour money into that?" I mean "Poor image and indie sound" when compared to big budget network fare. I'm not saying that this is right, it's the way things are; they're bureaucrats with all they imagination of a garden slug whose first job is to cover their ass, which means not taking chances.
 
I can understand that, but for the most part studio and TV executives are overly concerned with presentation; they don't have the ability to see beyond your low budget limitations. They'll see poor image and hear indie sound and immediately think "why should I pour money into that?" I mean "Poor image and indie sound" when compared to big budget network fare. I'm not saying that this is right, it's the way things are; they're bureaucrats with all they imagination of a garden slug whose first job is to cover their ass, which means not taking chances.
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I'm not sure I agree with that. Not from my experiences anyway. It might be a little different in Canada, but the industry here is really hard up for new talent due to US competition so they're more receptive, sometimes even asking specifically, for demos illustrating how exactly something will work. Decent production is nice, but that's not really what they're concerned about at that stage. The network or production company can hire people to give you proper lighting, or broadcast quality sound, so if it's a choice between two demos, both well-written, one with noticeably better production value, I truly believe that production value at that stage is disregarded and they'll try to hash out which one would work better as a series based on creative content and appeal. In other words, production value can be bought later, the rest can't.
 
That could be possible, for sure. But that's a risk I have to accept, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get the people together to make this at all.

The series is intended to have a very lo-fi, intimate feel as it is, and the number one focus when I writing was authenticity. I feel comfortable carrying that over to the production end of things. If I had more time and money to re-shoot the pilot down the road, it would definitely be lit a bit better, but it would by no means be a slick production like everything else on TV, and that would be a deliberate choice.
 
There are some very good elements as far as the acting and the script go, but as noted, every one of the interiors just looks terrible. For what you are using it for, as you noted, it may not matter, but they still look awful.

I'd echo what Rik said. Somehow DSLRs have given people this crazy idea you don't have to properly light a scene. Well, unless you want it to look like crap, you do.
 
marsonmars said:
Can you do me a favour and tell me the timecode where you think the worst offence of this is? I'm starting to think my monitor may not be properly calibrated or something, I just want to look into it a bit further.
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to me, first 30 seconds (especially first 14 seconds) are darker than it should be.. liek Cracker Funk said, we should be able to see actor's eyes..
 
marsonmars said:
For sure. But realistically, when I was planning the project, lighting was a sacrifice I had to make. I've directed a project with 'proper' lighting before and the increase in production time that results would just not have been feasible. So for me it was a choice between doing largely practical lighting or not doing it at all
Click to expand...
I understand. We all make sacrifices. You chose not to take the
time to light. Unfortunately very few viewers will see the final
product and immediately take your shooting schedule into
consideration. I’m not speaking from a technical background but
from the perspective of a movie watcher - granted someone who
watches a lot of movies.

My feeling is when trying to generate enough interest all aspects
should be at the very top of your capabilities. Anyone can make a
project look good with a proper budget and crew - it’s MUCH harder
to make one look good with little money, time and crew. For every
“It’s Always Sunny” story their are 200 stories you haven’t heard.
You may very well be the next exception. Please don’t take my
comments to mean I think you have failed. You may very well get
that deal based on the characters and writing.



marsonmars said:
(considering we had one day to shoot 25 pages, which as far as I know is unheard of, and we had a budget that's so low I'm embarrassed to even say it).
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My best days were three 22 page days in a row. Shooting film. With
a small crew of 10. So I know it can be done. and I know exactly
what you were facing. It’s not easy.

I wish you the best. I hope this opens the doors! Fingers crossed
for you.
 
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Your latest color-correction looks a great deal better.

By the way, what editing system are you working with? You could probably fix it even further, with Magic Bullet Colorista.

I understand completely where you're coming from, in deciding to either shoot it as you did, or not shoot it at all. I'm with you on that one. I made the exact same decision.

Cheers!
 
That Jason character was a terrible actor! I was cringing everytime he opened his mouth.

I also thought the Mark character was very bad too. The whole performance felt amateurish but it wasn't as bad as Jason's acting.

I felt the dialogue was very badly written too, I didn't feel like some of the stuff they were saying were stuff that they'd say in real life either.

You know the amazing thing was that the supporting actors in the film actually seemed like they were better actors than the main actors, which is disappointing.

I thought Flora was the better one of them all.

Sorry, it seems like it was all bad but good work on making a pilot. Everyone knows how hard it is to get a production off the ground. Good work.
 
So I was able to get funding for this. We just wrapped the entire season (10 episodes at 10 minutes each) and are in post-production now.

There's more info at http://www.everydayislikesunday.tv and I'll be posting info/blogs etc. over the coming months. A trailer should be out soon, keep an eye on the website or Facebook for more info if you're interested!
 
IS the trailor still online... Just realised how old this thread is, but big fan of the bands mentioned on the site so keen to give a look!!!
 
hey man,

I took down the old trailer/pilot that this thread was initially about. It had the same title as the series does now, so I figured it would cause too much confusion. There will be a new trailer for the actual series released very soon, probably within a week or so. It will likely be on our Facebook first, so I'd recommend liking the page or just keeping an eye on it:
http://www.facebook.com/everydayislikesunday.tv
 
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