archived-videos Home Again :: My second short film...input? :)

T

threeplusnine

Hey all!
I recently posted up Robot-7, my other film, and got a lot of good feedback. I applied it here, I hope!
Check out the film I just did, again it was pretty quick. Writing, recording, editing took about 4 and a half hours on this one.

Please please please watch it in 720p HD as it looks nicer that way :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUj2xJUmT-A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUj2xJUmT-A


ANY comments are appreciated! Please make criticism constructive :) I hope to keep improving my hobby.

Everything was shot with a Canon Rebel T1I (500D) with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens.


SPOILER // Explanation of the film:
The film follows a girl who believes she is home again after she was held in a mental institute for a while. She is very excited to be home and engages in her favorite activities. At the end, it is revealed that she is still unstable and still in the mental institute; she only believes she is back home. The entire time, everything she does, takes place with her sitting in front of a wall (or mirror, this is left ambiguous) talking to herself).
 
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Cracker, I truly meant I was hoping for input! haha. I will in the future work on writing more.

Alcove, very informative post. But without money, how would I get access to something like a straight jacket? For what it's worth I totally get what you mean, that would've been awesome.

That1guyy, I was thinking the same :P Everything I do I have to do on like a .99 cent iTunes budget :P

hunteq, I'm very pleased that you see such potential in this! glad you liked it
 
threeplusnine said:
Cracker, I truly meant I was hoping for input! haha. I will in the future work on writing more.
Click to expand...

Cool, man. I didn't think you were being sarcastic. I hope you didn't think I was.

As far as budget is concerned, there is the question of writing what you can shoot. Writing an engaging story is difficult enough; it's even more difficult to write an engaging story that can be effectively shot on nothing. If you can't think of a way to effectively show that your protagonist is in a mental health facility, then I wouldn't write that. I would LOVE to make an intergalactic space-battle movie, but you won't find me writing one anytime soon, because I can't effectively shoot that.
 
Cracker Funk said:
Cool, man. I didn't think you were being sarcastic. I hope you didn't think I was.

As far as budget is concerned, there is the question of writing what you can shoot. Writing an engaging story is difficult enough; it's even more difficult to write an engaging story that can be effectively shot on nothing. If you can't think of a way to effectively show that your protagonist is in a mental health facility, then I wouldn't write that. I would LOVE to make an intergalactic space-battle movie, but you won't find me writing one anytime soon, because I can't effectively shoot that.
Click to expand...

Totally feel you dude.
I definitely wrote everything based on what I could do on a budget

for example this one, it won't make much sense out of context but the whole story is no dialogue, and i wrote it based on a song so without the song it wont make much sense but here's an example of a story I thought of with the no budget:


CAST
Man 1 Matt Gillooley
Girl 1 Breanna P
Bad guy 1 Dan Gillooley

Starts off
flashes with bass drum hits
as guy wakes up from bed
guitar start, sun comes in through window he wakes up
checks time, gets dressed
going for walk outside, checks text
"Meet me at the park in 10 mins <3"
walk to park
examining weather on way
laying around, checking phone
sitting on bench, making calls
no response
weird pwaching noise (1:26) he sees a paper taped to the wall
"If you want her back
come find me"
Put note in pocket

GUITARS BREAK IN
RUNNING FRANTICALLY

Find guy,
pull out gun
FIRE

(fade)
Wake up from dream as guitars quiet
reach into pocket
"fear materializes
as love awakens"
pan out, girl is next to him waking up
look into each other eyes and smile

end
 
but without money how would I get access to something like a straight jacket?
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Look on ebay, look in charity shops, make one yourself, look for a guide on 'how to make a straight jacket'- make a fake that looks O.K in certain angles or in low light, ask your local mental hospital, use leather restraints instead of a full straight jacket, bind the character across the mouth, have them tied by wire to a fence, use sound to show the character being strapped in.... All you really need is an old shirt, 6 leather straps and two hours.

Aha.... look:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Deluxe-PU-Leath...603?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb4a59293

There ya go. 24.99 USD the cheapest. Leather Deluxe, according to the item description. Nice.

For the discerning inmate.
 
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hahah very nice :P But 25 dollars spent on a straight jacket for a just-for-fun short is 25 dollars poorly spent. Gas, dinner with my girlfriend, and cell phone bills get priority!

But even Briana (the girl in the short) said "Damn, just thinking of this now -- we coulda asked Psycho Donuts!"

We have a local donut shop that has a "crazy" theme
 
threeplusnine said:
Alcove, very informative post. But without money, how would I get access to something like a straight jacket? For what it's worth I totally get what you mean, that would've been awesome.
Click to expand...

The main point was that you could have come up with a solution during preproduction, either the suggestions that Positive made or something completely different. That's what indie filmmaking is all about - finding low (or zero) budget solutions for your problems. You will be amazed by what you can accomplish if you apply yourself. There are lots of people out there with "Hollywood Fever" who would love to be involved with even a small indie project; that's how you get great locations and cool props.

To sum up... You have to be a storyteller and provide your audience with a payoff. You have to thoroughly prep your project with a script (and many rewrites thereof) and copious preproduction. In fact, the smaller your budget the more preparation you should do; you expend time instead of money. Be way out of the box creative!
 
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