archived-videos **Indie Zombie Short**

C

crossmiles8

**Available in 720p**
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW4QDlH2wrg

Please Click link to Youtube for views.

Neo Noir/Thriller/Mild Horror/Zombie Flick

During the aftermath of a viral outbreak in which humans slowly begin to develop feline traits, a young man remains hidden within his basement apartment as he obsessively logs information into a journal.

When an unwanted visitor arrives, the young man (Allen) comes face to face with a choice; Take the visitor (Steve) in and use him for his mysterious study, or leave him outside with the dreaded Frank in order to save everything he's worked for.


Directed by Warren Scherer
Written & Produced by Corey-Ross Miles

Starring
Alex Dubois as Allen
Sam Lamonde as Steve

Featured Song "Strung Out" by Blue Sienna:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Sienna/195784440462487

Motifs:
Selfishness vs. Selflessness
Stress vs. Relaxation
Control vs. Impulse
 
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This was well done in my opinion. The scenes were dark, but it is obvious why although a bit more light in some of the shots would have helped me enjoy it more. I generally enjoyed it.

What tricks and tools did you use to create the lighting in this short? I believe I saw a hint of a blue gel in the mix a time or two.
 
That was very well done. :cool:

The muffled audio at the start got me off to a false start. Was much relieved to discover the whole soundtrack wasn't like that. All made sense at 1:20

There's a lot of noise in the video. Like... lots & lots of noise. Even the 720p version has so much of it, including big blocky bricks in some parts. I'm assuming you had the ISO cranked up to some ungodly level?

Were you using the candles exclusively for much of this? Minimal lighting can look very cool, but it looks like a tradeoff was made in terms of video quality.

Overall, though, it's put together really well. Enjoyed it a lot. :)
 
Heyy thanks guys!
Worked pretty hard on it!
This was actually my Integrative Course project I put together so I could graduate CEGEP last year. The band playing in it is a group of friends I went to school with there, and same goes for the radio announcers (who were the actual radio announcers for CJMQ (Lennoxville, QC). Propositions to the time they actually put aside for me.

@Powerkicker
I agree with you, some of the shots weren't properly lit but the cameraman passed it off as a minor mistake that wasn't worth reshooting, no big deal I guess.
Believe it or not, the only light source in every single shot in this film was the candles, that was the challenge actually! :)

@Zensteve
Haha oh you mean the music that was playing on the other side of the wall?
I agree, the noise is a little unbearable at times but it's MUCH better on the DVD copy we have, when we uploaded onto Youtube we noticed that we were introduced to some new little artifacts popping up here and there. The ISO actually wasn't cranked too high! I think we had it at 400, which is the lowest we could have with just candles lighting our scenes. Used a Canon XHA1, but later regretted not using the XL2.

In the director's perspective, he believed that this short would look best "raw".

Hope that all made sense, it's late :P

Take her easy fellas,

Give me another reply if you got any other questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

I've got one for you guys, you think it's potentially eligible for Toronto International Film Festival?
 
This was really well done. I agree the lighting was a little dark at some points but on other shots the lighting was so perfect that it makes up for it. The acting from the main character was also very impressive
 
looked great! I like the noise (idk if you added that in yourself or if it was due to the low light or a combination of both!).

Anyway, what kind of render settings did you use?
 
@misha:
You're actually the second person to mention that in the past week, I shall send on the comment to Alex (the main actor), I'm sure he will be very pleased to hear it! I'm glad you enjoyed the look as well! Just checked out the original (non-uploaded dvd version) the other night to see if the artifacts were popping up (blotches and chunks), what a difference! we may want to re-upload but would regret losing all those views! :)

@USNFilms:
The noise was actually both as you mentioned! some shots had noise because of low light because we wanted to keep it as natural and raw as possible without ANY artificial lighting whatsoever! so like you said we added it in on the shots that looked way too clean and tried to match it up a little. I asked my filmmaking partner who uploaded it about the render settings but he cannot recall, wish I could help ya. Maybe when he gets home he can see if he can look it over and maybe refresh the memory! ;P

Got a question. If people watch the embedded video here on Indietalk without going to youtube to watch it... do we still get the views? I have an odd feeling that it may not be getting counted.. :S
 
Nice choice of angles and timing. I have to confess i didnt get through it due to maybe my attention span right now, the noise, plus the story is familiar but still, nice, and the lead is good. what i really wanted to comment on was the film Cade on your youtube, I thought that was awesome, artistic, swift and well done for one single rehearsed shot, i found it creative and edgy which is typically my style...it even allowed me to forget the noise :)

ps and great audio on Cade too...
 
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Thanks man. We just added the sequel to Cade, it's called Elliott (2009) - 2012 Redux. It's posted in the Other section.

Take her easy buddy.
 
crossmiles8 said:
Thanks man. We just added the sequel to Cade, it's called Elliott (2009) - 2012 Redux. It's posted in the Other section.

Take her easy buddy.
Click to expand...

as promised here is my review..

let me start by congratulating you, i thought this was good, could have been a lot better but then I'm a harsh critic as you probably know by now :), so il start of with what i liked:

it was dark, it was slightly intense, the audio i have to say was well done however i can't give full credit as not too much went on for audio to be really tested, The main actor was consistent with maybe one or two bits where he fell behind but overall he could be used again, the story was good, i liked being thrown into the suspense, the door knocking made me jump a little bit, him checking himself in the mirror added an element where we could feel and understand what he was doing and understanding his motive, although the checking of the teeth was a bit over the top if you ask me, but i saw what you was getting at.

i actually watched it all the way through it kept me interested this was good, i didn't like the fact that the second actor woke up in the end, he should have stayed dead for reasons il state below..

so now for what i didn't like..

i stated that i liked the dark look, by that i mean the dark colours, that grainy effect i did not enjoy, again i understood what you were trying to do but i felt it made my eyes adjust a bit too much, and some times the grainy bits smoothed over which i didn't enjoy, perhaps if it was slightly toned down and not as grainy, i don't know but for me it slightly spoiled it, and now for me what really made my blood boil, the second actor, apologies if he's your friend or whatever but the guy just felt so fake, he ruined the ambience, the atmosphere the mood the film, it was like dressing up superman in a thong, it was using a multi million pound diamond as a door wedge, he made it cheesy, i was just so disappointed because i liked the story and where it was going but then every time he spoke i felt like i wanted to punch him in the mouth for ruining a good story, (no violence intended) and as i stated the ending particularly because of the guys bad acting so it just made me not want to see him again.

if the second actor is indeed yourself then i apologise for the offence but the acting killed it for me, but otherwise i would have been proud to produce something like that, iv yet to make a film but this gives a good idea about moments of suspense, and to watch my actors carefully..

overall i was happy with it, consider yourself lucky that i enjoyed it, i usually hate everything i see :)

*after reading your comments i see that it was infact iso noise.. unlucky is all i can say, perhaps better lighting then post editing it to look darker would have been a better and more professional choice..
 
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Do you have the braaaiinnnss?

Scream Screen is looking for short film makers to enter their undead films for the 4th annual internations Zombie Themed Short Film Competition.
Based in Newcastle, Australia.

$500 prize money and FREE to enter


www.undeadsociety.org
 
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