watch "Mutation" Sci-Fi short film.

[Evil Iggy]

This was my final project this semester for Digital Cinematography. Earned me an A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UXGl0KEGj0

 

[jrsmithson]

The pan at :26 could be smoother, it draws a lot of attention to itself.
The dialogue at 1:31 is inaudible.
Acting @ 2:13 needs some help. Were they acting students?
@ 4:22 the voice isn't synced to the mouth. Actually this applies to most of the film.
@ 6:45 the image jumps.
The background music is louder than the dialogue at some points.
Another jump @ 7:04.
@ 8:32 the montage seems a little long and doesn't really add much to the story.
The baby twist is interesting, it might have injected a little excitement if there was a conception scene, because the film overall seems anti-climatic in general. It doesn't seem like these mutants have a very interesting life, and if they do it's not indicated in the film. I like the idea of the ending, it was entertaining and made me chuckle, reminded me of a certain other birthing scene in a movie by Roman Polanski, you may have heard of it. I think some more camera movement might have pulled the audience in a little bit more emotionally. Congrats on the A.

 

[Evil Iggy]

The pan at :26 could be smoother, it draws a lot of attention to itself.
The dialogue at 1:31 is inaudible.
Acting @ 2:13 needs some help. Were they acting students?
@ 4:22 the voice isn't synced to the mouth. Actually this applies to most of the film.
@ 6:45 the image jumps.
The background music is louder than the dialogue at some points.
Another jump @ 7:04.
@ 8:32 the montage seems a little long and doesn't really add much to the story.
The baby twist is interesting, it might have injected a little excitement if there was a conception scene, because the film overall seems anti-climatic in general. It doesn't seem like these mutants have a very interesting life, and if they do it's not indicated in the film. I like the idea of the ending, it was entertaining and made me chuckle, reminded me of a certain other birthing scene in a movie by Roman Polanski, you may have heard of it. I think some more camera movement might have pulled the audience in a little bit more emotionally. Congrats on the A.

Fair criticisms for the most part, though most problems are the result of having, no experience, no crew, no budget, and only volunteers for the acting, thou IMO my actress was pretty good with virtually no rehearsal.

@ 0:26 The pan was not done by me. I only had 2 actors, so the hunter in black at the opening is actually me and the camera was being operated by my actress.

@ 1:31 The limitations of shooting outdoors in early December. There are actually two mics hidden near my actors and the audio was cranked up to it's max. Wind was a bitch.

@ 2:13 Over all, I think my actress did very well. In that scene, she's performing in 34° F weather shot with a windchill putting it down another 10 degrees probably, so she was a trooper. If the criticism is of my actor... Originally, we had a volunteer, then he just wouldn't call me or get his number to me. Then my actress offered to bring her husband along to play the part. Then the night before we were to start shooting, he injured his foot. Then we went and grabbed a third actor on the day of the shoot who had never seen the script before. I'd have preferred Denzel Washington or Robert Downy Jr. for my lead, but in student films you take what you can get. Most of the other students drafted their stoner friends or family to be in their movies.

@ 4:22 I don't know what to say about the sync. It seems to be an issue with the editing / rendering software and didn't show up until after it had spent nearly an hour rendering the video. I will have to ask my instructor about dealing with that issue.

@ 6:45 & 7:04 The image jumps are due to editing on my part. In order to get all of the dialogue into the film I had to graft two takes from the same angle together. My actors just didn't have enough time to memorize everything. There are actually about six other jumps you missed that I was able to sneak past the eye.

@ 8:32 I just really needed a way to express the passage of about a years time. Otherwise there is confusion over whether time has passed or if Jenni's gestation period is on par with a cat and she is about to drop a litter.

Glad you liked the twist at the end. I don't think I can get away with a conception scene... at least not in class. As for the anti-climactic feel, if I'd had more time I would have filmed a scene in which the hunters find them and they must run and find a new place to hide. Also, the film was only supposed to be 5 minutes and I went to nearly 14 with this. I'm just lucky my teacher likes me. When it comes to camera movement we are actually discouraged from using a moving camera in our first semester. Much emphasis is placed on using a tripod and we have no access to steady cam equipment.

I'm actually working on building my own steady cam system to use next semester since I found that the necessary effect can be achieved by attaching the camera to the top of a short vertical pole with a weight at the bottom. This acts as a stabilizer preventing the camera from wobbling.