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watch JOHN WILHELM- funny action short

Z

ZackandJoshvideos

It's hilarious. I'm sure some of you know what the "wilhelm scream" is. For those that don't, just watch the video. You should be able to recognize it...we made sure you'd be able to hear it.
Anyway, this is an over the top action movie cliche. Just a whole lot of badass awesomeness, incorporating the scream.
Enjoy! Feedback is welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNAuYX4oA4
 
I liked the parody of the Wilhelm scream. I felt like I was playing a ten year old shooter arcade game where every attacker screams the same way. I do think though, that the parody was a little too subtle. It could've easily been confused for just lazy sound effects. Adding some slow motion jumps and summersaults and overly dramatic dying scenes would make this a hilarious sketch. Like in the beginning of Tropic Thunder, when Ben Stiller gets shot like 10 times over the course of 20 seconds and keeps walking while slowly collapsing.

Just my 2 cents. It's really well made none the less.

What camera are you using?
 
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drc said:
I liked the parody of the Wilhelm scream. I felt like I was playing a ten year old shooter arcade game where every attacker screams the same way. I do think though, that the parody was a little too subtle. It could've easily been confused for just lazy sound effects. Adding some slow motion jumps and summersaults and overly dramatic dying scenes would make this a hilarious sketch. Like in the beginning of Tropic Thunder, when Ben Stiller gets shot like 10 times over the course of 20 seconds and keeps walking while slowly collapsing.

Just my 2 cents. It's really well made none the less.

What camera are you using?
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Haha that would have been a good thing to do. And we actually have had people ask, "Why are all the screams the same?" So you're right about that. And thanks for your input. We use a Canon XH A1.
 
It looked real good. The only thing I noticed was it seemed the footage was stretched. Like you had a full screen video stretched to widescreen or something like that. The short was filmed real well the action looked good. I noticed the guns moved when the bullets were flying so that made it look more real. I like the location you chose to film at I think that made it look more high budget and good for that type of shoot out.
 
It always bothers me when people label their own films as "hilarious." I found the use of the wilhelm scream humorous, and I even chuckled at the guy screaming at the end. However, I would not call this "hilarious" at all. Obviously, comedy is subjective...but I feel like this could have been done a lot better.

The lead actor was unbelievable even for a farce. However, the biggest problem is that it just drags on and on. The camerawork wasn't bad, but it couldn't make watching a guy without a shirt running around and fake shooting a gun for 4:42 interesting. There's just nothing happening here. I feel like the concept of doing a spoof on cheesy action films is great, but it's just not executed very well at all.

Also, the incredibly blatant direct use of a Video Copilot tutorial for your logo detracts a lot from your credibility and professionalism. As soon as I see that I think "these guys don't have much originality or skill because all they can do is copy Andrew Kramer's tutorials." I'm not saying that is the case, but that's the impression you give off. It's very much like plagiarizing papers in school. Even if you CAN write a Pulitzer prize winning paper, no one will ever know it.

All in all, keep making movies, there's no place to go but up :) Just one thing: please, for the love of God, don't advertise your own films as "hilarious." As someone who does a lot of comedy I know that for something to be truly "hilarious" you have to be really darn good. That's really, really darn good. I aspire to that goal, I don't feel like I've made it and I probably never will look at my own stuff and think "that's hilarious." And even if I do get to the point of making a comedy that's considered to be "hilarious," there's still going to be people who don't find it hilarious. Just my two cents :)
 
I agree it was not really that funny. But I liked it because it was sorta a throw back to 80s action flicks. Like a young skiny rambo or something. Sure that action is not totally realistic but it is pretty darn good considering that most of it is cgi. I thought compare to some I have seen this one was well done. The location it self really helped sell this. I think the one thing that would make this cooler is if it had a story and some dialog to let us know why they are fighting. Maybe an into that shows us why he is fighting. Lets us figure out how bad these terrorists really are. Did they do anything really bad to deserve the the young rambo guy killing them. Maybe a kidnapped girl to rescue could be good too. Maybe some kids they were kidnaping that he rescues. Who knows but you get my point. It would be nice to have some kind of hero thing going besides the just shooting part. Maybe add in a car chase shoot out too.
 
tommygdawg said:
Also, the incredibly blatant direct use of a Video Copilot. Just my two cents :)
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On my bucket list is being able to use an AE Copilot tutorial. I never seem to get very far.

And I agree, no one, not even the most A List Hollywood filmmaker should promote his movie as "Hilarious".
 
That reminds me when they promoted Hot Tub Time Machine as funnier than Hangover. It was funny but not sure it was funnier then hang over.

A lot of films that are claimed to be funny on the box are not funny. I know some directors will say their film is a comedy then I see it and think this is not funny it is more of a drama love film then a romantic comedy. Here are a few I thought were not funny that maybe others did. How about Burn After Reading or Very Bad Things.

I also know that make a comedy short film is hard because what you think is funny may not be funny to others. Also, you may have funny ideas but if they are not filmed right and acted in the right way they will not be funny.
 
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rockerrockstar said:
I agree it was not really that funny. But I liked it because it was sorta a throw back to 80s action flicks. Like a young skiny rambo or something. Sure that action is not totally realistic but it is pretty darn good considering that most of it is cgi. I thought compare to some I have seen this one was well done. The location it self really helped sell this. I think the one thing that would make this cooler is if it had a story and some dialog to let us know why they are fighting. Maybe an into that shows us why he is fighting. Lets us figure out how bad these terrorists really are. Did they do anything really bad to deserve the the young rambo guy killing them. Maybe a kidnapped girl to rescue could be good too. Maybe some kids they were kidnaping that he rescues. Who knows but you get my point. It would be nice to have some kind of hero thing going besides the just shooting part. Maybe add in a car chase shoot out too.
Click to expand...

rockerrockstar said:
Also, you may have funny ideas but if they are not filmed right and acted in the right way they will not be funny.
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These are the key right here. First off, come up with a story. The one thing I've learned since I started making films is that the biggest thing you can ever ask people to do is to commit five minutes of their time to your film. The first step is to get them to even open the link. Once they do, if they don't have something to grab them, then they stop watching. I think that's the biggest issue here.

You need some motivation to keep the viewer interested other than five minutes of wilhelm scream. Once you're about a minute into it you start thinking "okay...is this going anywhere? Oh, more wilhelm scream..." Unless you're film is a minute long or less, the idea of spoofing the scream has to be incorporated into a story. AND, this would go a long way towards incorporating spoofs on other cheesy action flicks.

brianluce said:
On my bucket list is being able to use an AE Copilot tutorial. I never seem to get very far. .
Click to expand...

Haha, it's fun once you get the hang of it! Andrew Kramer makes most of them pretty easy to follow as well :)
 
Guys,

I probably should've given a bit more info about this video.
This video was shot in 5 hours flat. Almost no choreography was planned, barely any lines, and there was no story. No story="mindless-action-movie". For those who don't know what that is...well, this video is basically that. Guys running around, looking cool, trying to kill each other for little or no reason, with lots of special effects, and overly cool one liners.

Now rockerrockstar mentioned that the actor looked like a young Rambo or something. Well, we basically looked at our friends and saw that only one had tattoos, thus decided that he would be the best looking "action hero" without a shirt (because obviously you can only be a badass if you run around with tattoos on your back and no shirt on - this is a joke). He isn't supposed to be believable, in fact he's supposed to be unbelievable.

Have you guys ever seen any of FreddieW's videos on youtube? He does almost nothing but mindless action with some cool effects, yet he is one of the most watched and subscribed channels on youtube. This video wasn't intended to be some revolutionary action movie spoof, but just to entertain (even if you didn't find it too entertaining). Honestly, we were bored one Saturday and decided to film this because we really didn't have anything else better to do. Sorry if it seems I was venting on these comments but, to me, they seemed more like a review on a big budget movie than a few opinions on a video a couple of freshmen in college decided to make.

Oh and about the "hilarious" part. I didn't realize it was too big a deal. To me, funny and hilarious can be used in the same sentence and mean the same thing.

If you ever want to see something that we actually spent a lot of time putting together a story, choreography, shots, and putting actors in their place, then watch "The Rebellion" series we're making. The latest 4th episode is by far the best - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S9r6wE68g&
 
ZackandJoshvideos said:
Guys,

I probably should've given a bit more info about this video.
This video was shot in 5 hours flat. Almost no choreography was planned, barely any lines, and there was no story. No story="mindless-action-movie". For those who don't know what that is...well, this video is basically that. Guys running around, looking cool, trying to kill each other for little or no reason, with lots of special effects, and overly cool one liners.

Now rockerrockstar mentioned that the actor looked like a young Rambo or something. Well, we basically looked at our friends and saw that only one had tattoos, thus decided that he would be the best looking "action hero" without a shirt (because obviously you can only be a badass if you run around with tattoos on your back and no shirt on - this is a joke). He isn't supposed to be believable, in fact he's supposed to be unbelievable.

Have you guys ever seen any of FreddieW's videos on youtube? He does almost nothing but mindless action with some cool effects, yet he is one of the most watched and subscribed channels on youtube. This video wasn't intended to be some revolutionary action movie spoof, but just to entertain (even if you didn't find it too entertaining). Honestly, we were bored one Saturday and decided to film this because we really didn't have anything else better to do. Sorry if it seems I was venting on these comments but, to me, they seemed more like a review on a big budget movie than a few opinions on a video a couple of freshmen in college decided to make.

Oh and about the "hilarious" part. I didn't realize it was too big a deal. To me, funny and hilarious can be used in the same sentence and mean the same thing.

If you ever want to see something that we actually spent a lot of time putting together a story, choreography, shots, and putting actors in their place, then watch "The Rebellion" series we're making. The latest 4th episode is by far the best - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S9r6wE68g&
Click to expand...

If you find yourself defending your movie, offering excuses, perhaps you did something wrong. The constant use of the Wilhelm Scream isn't funny, in this video. Sorry, it's not. It's just annoying.

Okay, so fine, based on your belated disclaimer, this is just a brainless action-parody. Fine. Got it. But that being the case, it's rather confusing. The action is mostly disorienting; I never know who's coming from where, or doing what. You need to establish your space, work out your blocking, and at least every now and then, give us something wide. I don't have the slightest idea where your hero is coming from, or going to, and the appearance of baddies is totally random.
 
Cracker Funk said:
If you find yourself defending your movie, offering excuses, perhaps you did something wrong. The constant use of the Wilhelm Scream isn't funny, in this video. Sorry, it's not. It's just annoying.

Okay, so fine, based on your belated disclaimer, this is just a brainless action-parody. Fine. Got it. But that being the case, it's rather confusing. The action is mostly disorienting; I never know who's coming from where, or doing what. You need to establish your space, work out your blocking, and at least every now and then, give us something wide. I don't have the slightest idea where your hero is coming from, or going to, and the appearance of baddies is totally random.
Click to expand...

I did say that we planned barely anything right? Wouldn't that be considered bad on our part? I'm not trying to defend the video or making excuses, I was stating what we did so you guys could understand why it is the way it is. I just felt that some of the comments were a little extensive for a little video we decided to film one afternoon. Yes, we should have planned it out and all that, but we had fun making it.

And the video was, in a way, supposed to resemble a video game/action movie (sorry I'm just now remembering this, it was one of the first things said when we were doing the little planning that we did). So I can understand why it seems baddies seem to come out of no where and the hero is coming from no where. We figured that the very first thing that happens (hero runs in front of a guard, guard takes a few seconds to realize some guy with a gun just walked in, then exclamation point appears above his head) would suggest that the video is spoofing video games (specifically Metal Gear Solid). But, again, I'm not making excuses, just laying down the facts and we can take constructive criticism. In fact, most of the things you guys have said are very informative and I hope we can use them to our advantage in the future, so thank you.
 
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