archived-videos I, Creator -- A 4 Minute Preview
- Thread starter Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC
- Start date
If you knew more about the movie, you'd know the original used very little action because it is really a drama. A good 80 to 90% of the action in the movie was put in the 4 minute preview.
You do NOT need money to tell a good sci-fi story. What you need is a good sci-fi story. Besides, the "look" you've acheived does not require any money. In all honesty, I think you could re-assess your spending habits. The same movie can be made on a MUCH smaller budget.
Heck, here's my honest opinion -- your sequel should be a comedy. Give it a "Laser Cats" treatment. Make it on a nothing budget, and have fun with it. Tell the same story, but don't take it so seriously (because your audience isn't).
"I, Creator 2", made in the style of "Laser Cats" -- that's a movie I would want to watch.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/laser-cats/2925/
I think (From an artistic (Sci Fi) and financial stand point) you could team up with fellow New Yorker (And Indietalk member) The Opus Fuller, and together make a powerhouse film for a fraction of the Very Special Agents budget.
-Thanks-
-Thanks-
Sorry,
But that was crap. The first I, Creator had a story with social value. And, the sequel will also have social value with a stronger story. The first one also had interesting characters. Some will return in the sequel along with interesting new characters.
Thanks for the suggestion. What has The Opus Fuller done?
Well that is a good question, but for one thing he's spun $600 into award collecting short film gold.
Maybe he will see this and chime in.
-Thanks-
Maybe he will see this and chime in.
-Thanks-
I agree I think you spent too much on this film. The lighting needs some work. I have seen some much lower budget stuff on here that looks way better. Maybe get a better crew next time. Not sure if it was just lighting and sound. What camera did you use? I think better lighting would help a lot. Let others chime in here.
If you can get a more experienced/talented crew next time that probably would help a lot. Otherwise learn about 3 point lighting and get better sound equipment and that should help. I messed up the light on my film too and probably worse than yours. So don't fell alone here. Some cameras are more forgiving than others as far as poor lighting. The larger the sensor the camera has the better is my understanding. What camera did your DP use?
If you can get a more experienced/talented crew next time that probably would help a lot. Otherwise learn about 3 point lighting and get better sound equipment and that should help. I messed up the light on my film too and probably worse than yours. So don't fell alone here. Some cameras are more forgiving than others as far as poor lighting. The larger the sensor the camera has the better is my understanding. What camera did your DP use?
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That is a first. No one has had problems understanding the dialogue in the 4 Minute preview before.
The feature had audio problems. And, it got fixed up. I have several people giving me feedback on the remix version right now.
So, I can understand problems with the FX/dialogue/music mix. That was made prior to the remix. Essentially, the dialogue volume went up and converted from stereo to mono. And the FX and music went down in volume. Sony Vegas recorded the dialogue from the tapes in stereo.
Yeah I was going to say that fixing the audio would be the best thing you could do to improve this film. Overall I think it is not that bad if you could really make the audio more professional sounding. Mixing and mastering of the audio the right way should make a huge difference. Good luck. Hope improving audio helps you sell this dvd. Yeah part of the problem with the clips sound is that the voice is coming out of just the right hand speaker. Glad you fixed that.
It is all right to do things like that now for a short few seconds for some effect but overall I would think you want vocals to be in the center not paned far left or right. One thing you may want to do once you get a good mix figured out is to mixdown (render) the audio out as wav files. Then send them to a recording studio and have them professionally mastered. Then import them back in. I think that would help you out a lot. Maybe even go to a recording studio and have them do your mixing and mastering if you don't feel you have the abilities to make it sound right with the plugins and knowledge you have. If you are trying to make money on this film then anything that can help it be top notch should be worth it. Of course that mean more money if you do both mixing and mastering at a studio other wise try to do the mixing at home and send it to a mastering studio. Get the right reverb for each scene and eqing your vocals would help a lot would be my guess.
It is all right to do things like that now for a short few seconds for some effect but overall I would think you want vocals to be in the center not paned far left or right. One thing you may want to do once you get a good mix figured out is to mixdown (render) the audio out as wav files. Then send them to a recording studio and have them professionally mastered. Then import them back in. I think that would help you out a lot. Maybe even go to a recording studio and have them do your mixing and mastering if you don't feel you have the abilities to make it sound right with the plugins and knowledge you have. If you are trying to make money on this film then anything that can help it be top notch should be worth it. Of course that mean more money if you do both mixing and mastering at a studio other wise try to do the mixing at home and send it to a mastering studio. Get the right reverb for each scene and eqing your vocals would help a lot would be my guess.
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We used a Canon HV30.
The lighting could be better, no doubt. The crew was lacking with lighting experience. It was a small crew to begin with. But, it could have been worse if I hired a so-called "DP" from the lot who look for work on Mandy.com. They want to charge a good $2,000 to $3,000 a day to pay off their loans for buying RED Ones and Scarlets and when you look at their demo reels of blurry shots and bad lighting, you keep looking and discover how slim the pickings are.
Listening to the audio it sounds like you are clipping out in some areas where the audio is above 0 db and then distorts. Not sure if it is that or if it was poor recording of the mic. Check you mix and make sure they are no too hot and distorting in places.
Yeah finding the right crew is the hard part. I agree finding a good dp and lighting crew is difficult. But if you network with other indie film makers and check out there films before hiring them that helps. Learning how to light yourself would help too. There is some cheap methods on this forum that sound promising for DIY lighting.
Yeah finding the right crew is the hard part. I agree finding a good dp and lighting crew is difficult. But if you network with other indie film makers and check out there films before hiring them that helps. Learning how to light yourself would help too. There is some cheap methods on this forum that sound promising for DIY lighting.
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Did the budget come out of pocket or did you round up some investors?
Also, Nobody can really argue with you. I mean you did finish a feature film in the end off it all... Grats
to you on that.
Also, Nobody can really argue with you. I mean you did finish a feature film in the end off it all... Grats
to you on that.
The mics were horrible. That's why getting a new cable shotgun with a zoom recorder is on my wish list.
100% out of pocket as I took what was left of my rapidly evaporating 401K plan back in 2008.
And, thanks. Finishing a feature is much harder than it looks.
I agree congrats on doing your feature film it is all a learning experience and hopefully leads to better and better films. Don't get discouraged. We are just tyring to help you make better films and to improve this one.
The ideas of the film reminds me of BSG. Which I am a fan of Sci Fi. It also reminds me of Terminator in some ways. So I can see kinda where this film may be heading. I also see that she was made. So maybe Weird Science was an inspiration too.
Have you considered re-doing some of the worst audio in post via dubing (looping they call it). Not sure your actors are available to do that.
Thanks!
Audio recording studios in NY charge BIG bucks by the hour. So, editors and filmmakers in NY use dialogue from every take and scene to splice words and sentences together from different takes to avoid ADR. That was done as part of the remix.
I, Creator is a cross between Frankenstein, Terminator, Star Man, and a little bit of Weird Science.
Is this the same OpusFuller who wrote a lengthy post telling me the ways he thought I was screwing up production of my feature?
Modern Day Myth, OpusFuller is correct, however, to offer congrats -- finishing a feature is a tremendous accomplishment. Cheers to you for that.
I think myself and a few others believe that your money could be better spent, next time you make a feature. For example, in an earlier post, I mentioned that if you're spending next to nothing on your crew, you shouldn't look to them to make creative decisions, and you kind of just confirmed my logic. You just mentioned that for the amount of money you're spending, the pickings are slim. Yeah, that's my point. If you want to make a good movie, and you don't have the money to hire a truly professional crew, you need to step up and make all the big decisions yourself. You need to be your own DP, an just hire gaffers and grips. So, in between now and your next major production, I recommend you make a bunch of no-budget shorts, in which you learn how to be an effective low-budget DP.
Right now, I'm in the midst of production. I've caught a lot of flack from some people on this board who don't think I'm spending enough time or energy on lighting. But what I'm doing is a concious decision to save drastic amounts of time, because my production really has no budget. Your productions do have a budget, and that gives you greater freedom of time and equipment. You should use that time to better light your set, and you need to be doing it yourself, not relying on a non-professional crew.
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This is going to be difficult for me to say, without sounding like an A-hole. Please know that I'm not trying to chop you down or discourage any future work.
In my opinion, a movie has to acheive a certain aesthetic to be taken seriously by most audiences. The cinematography needs to be professional-quality; the acting, audio, everything needs to be professional quality. Without acheiving that, I believe most audiences just won't take a movie seriously. They might watch it, but they watch it knowing that they are watching something ameatureish and I think they kind of giggle inside at the comparatively poor production values. It is for this reason that I believe a low-budget production will be most effective if it keeps things light and fun.
Speaking of your movie in particular, you might think my idea of giving it a "Laser Cats" treatment is crap, but actually I mentioned that because you kind of already have done that. "I, Creator" does not have the aesthetic of "Terminator". It has the aesthetic of "Laser Cats". I'm not just talking about cinematography, but props, costumes, locations, everything. Instead of letting that be a detractor, you could use it as a strength, have some fun with it, ramp up the tongue-in-cheek humor to level 10.
For "I, Creator 2", you're talking about having it take place in a spaceship and then on a distant planet populated by Amazon women. You can't really think that any audience is going to take that seriously, do you? I'm not saying don't make it. I'd love to see it. But me, personally, I only want to watch it if you make it fun, take advantage of the inherent humor that already exists in a low-budget futuristic sci-fi.
I see no reason why you can't tell the same story, with the same interesting characters that you've created, while making us laugh at the fun of it all.
That is correct, I am the same Opus Fuller.
At least we agree on one thing though.