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.
The mics were horrible. That's why getting a new cable shotgun with a zoom recorder is on my wish list.
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 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.
If you heard the raw original audio with all the distortion, you'd agree it is MUCH better even in the 4 minute preview.
The audio continues to get better. It won't be great audio. But, it will be MUCH better than before.
Ok I do not want to sound like a jerk, but that was way to corny for me to watch. I mean I really am wondering what you spend 20k on? The robotic type eye thing at the beginning looked awful. I'm sorry to say it so bluntly, but if I was watching your movie as a viewer I probably would have turned it off after that.
Maybe you should try being a one or two man crew and working with actors you don't have to as much because I'm awed that you spent so much money. I've made many shorts with my friends with $0 and 0 cents so I know how to shoot no budget, for me 20k is like a kid in a candy store money. I could make 20 awesome shorts with 20k. I'm sorry to be so harsh man, I'm glad you like your work, but sometimes you need someone to bring you back to reality because when you love a project it's hard to take a look from the outside perspective.
I can hear the over-done noise suppression that the "mixer" chose to put on the overly hissy radio lapels you used, and it tore up the intelligibility of the dialogue.
It sounds like the "mixer" (I put in quotes because I think you got jipped) overused Izotope RX and I can hear the digital artifacts left by it. Ask him, I bet this is exactly what happened.
The dialogue in the 4 minute sample sounded dull, lifeless and thin and I could barely understand it.
Secondly, why would dialogue ever be recorded in stereo?
That's like saying "My camera-man used 2 cameras to shoot this with and we just superimposed the 2 pictures on top of eachother in Sony Vegas and turned the brightness up."
It sounds like you got swindled, man...
lol.
The audience only hears what's in the theaters. They never hear the original tracks. No matter how much "better" it is from the original tracks, I still think whoever boom oped for you should pay you back the money you payed for his "services".
In the final version I added more animation to those effects.
When you graduate from home videos to bigger productions, you'll see where the money is spent. Sorry to be so blunt. But, those are the facts.
The new shotgun mic, cables, and zoom recorder alone will cost a good $5,000. I already said 1/2 of the $20K went into buying new equipment to upgrade from mini DV to HD.
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.
Myth, I am not sure what you are going for here - feedback or a debate?
You made a feature, which to repeat what TheOpusFuller said is no small feat. I am in agreement with him on that and salute you for your efforts and achievement. I disagree with him on the point that just because one has not made a feature they have no say in this one way or the other.
I don't want to judge without seeing the whole movie but from what I've seen you could have gotten way more production value out of the final output with a $20 K budget. I guess that's where Craker is coming from and I happen to agree with him on that. It was an observation, one that I thought you asked for when you posetd on here.
You appear to be defending your movie way too much with all these counter-posts to the observations of others. I get asking for input from your peers but it's coming off as if you are looking for more and I am not sure why. If you keep posting and defending your work like this it could discourage others to give you the feedback you seek and could most certainly use. Let your work speak for itself. Some will like it and some won't. Not much you can do about that with a limited budget.
In the end you made a feature...a feature and that in itself is something to be way proud of. I hope you take our feedback in the good faith that it is being offered and use some of that info in future features (man I love saying that).
Good luck.
I agree with the production values I see in the film it reminds me of more of a spoof comedy of a sci fi film versus a serious film. I think you are correct thinking that is where this film should be headed. It is lacking the production values to be taken seriously as a sci fi film.
As the budget goes up, so will the production values.
Ha! Really graduate from home movies to bigger productions? And here I was thinking i'd be nice and give you some perspective because thats what you do in a forum when someone posts their work. You give critiques...If I post something and you'd like to critique it I'd be glad to hear it, but don't come at me like your better than me.
My "Home movies" are in fact better than your feature, so what does that say about you? Oh yea, and I spend $0 dollars on mine while your out 20 grand. Sorry to be blunt, but those are the facts.