Shot in two days without a budget, tell me how it is. I've been complimented on the writing, I know I should have added some camera movement but I feel it is not bad. Any thoughts? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWpi07i7Wjc At a length of 8 minutes it is so far, my longest short film.
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watch My newest short film! 17 year old nobudget film, opinion?
- Thread starter DarinLaminack
- Start date
There's a lot you can tighten up on. A lot of the shots have a large amount of excess head and tail in my opinion. You could also probably trim about 3:30 out of the first four minutes as you're likely to lose a decent bit of audience as they wait for your hook. Technically you have a decent amount to learn about cinematography and sound. Your acting could probably use some tuning up as well.
Afterwards, the concept was actually pretty intriguing. It didn't really have a conclusion of sorts, and the climax (which I guess would be the video game competition) felt sort of out of place. What's really important to note, though, is that you went out there and did it. That's more than a lot of people can say. And if you trimmed around 4 minutes off of this, and tweaked in a bit more of an ending, you could have a nice little psychological piece.
Focus a bit more on the technical basics of Lighting, Sound, Camera Work, and Story Structure as you move on to your next project. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you.
Afterwards, the concept was actually pretty intriguing. It didn't really have a conclusion of sorts, and the climax (which I guess would be the video game competition) felt sort of out of place. What's really important to note, though, is that you went out there and did it. That's more than a lot of people can say. And if you trimmed around 4 minutes off of this, and tweaked in a bit more of an ending, you could have a nice little psychological piece.
Focus a bit more on the technical basics of Lighting, Sound, Camera Work, and Story Structure as you move on to your next project. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you.
Thanks!
First, thanks for watching the video. Second, thanks for the "I'm looking forward to seeing more from you." comment, it made me feel good inside :$ anyway onto video, I was really just following the script as I've never had anyone else write for me before, and to be honest the beginning had potential but I have no clue how to add suspense, as that was the beginning, building suspense (The glass, the missing controller, person in the bathroom). On the first day of filming I wasn't clear on what I was doing really and felt it was going to come out bad, my final product I didn't think was half bad. As for the conclusion, I missed in the script the part about the clones disappearing right after the final speech. I would really like to fix it but it is really too late now. As for cinematography and sound, as long as I'm behind the camera I'm not bad, as for the audio I tried to use the denoiser on Adobe Premiere but I've no clue how to kill the background noise. Anyway thanks for taking your time! If I ever do a feature length project I plan to get people in those fields to be involved. Also notable, during the last shot my T2i sensor was overheating, any solutions?
First, thanks for watching the video. Second, thanks for the "I'm looking forward to seeing more from you." comment, it made me feel good inside :$ anyway onto video, I was really just following the script as I've never had anyone else write for me before, and to be honest the beginning had potential but I have no clue how to add suspense, as that was the beginning, building suspense (The glass, the missing controller, person in the bathroom). On the first day of filming I wasn't clear on what I was doing really and felt it was going to come out bad, my final product I didn't think was half bad. As for the conclusion, I missed in the script the part about the clones disappearing right after the final speech. I would really like to fix it but it is really too late now. As for cinematography and sound, as long as I'm behind the camera I'm not bad, as for the audio I tried to use the denoiser on Adobe Premiere but I've no clue how to kill the background noise. Anyway thanks for taking your time! If I ever do a feature length project I plan to get people in those fields to be involved. Also notable, during the last shot my T2i sensor was overheating, any solutions?
yea the camera shots look like the actor played the camera man and the talent in front of the camera…all the shots were static and if he moved to much he just went out of frame like it was an unmanned cam…I use to do that stuff when I had no one to help me but the framing of ur shots suffer as well as giving ur camera movement character when theres no movement at all…I agree the beginning felt very long and that should be shaved down a bit…just keep on pushing forward though and you will definitely get better…the more you do things with ur camera and edit the more you learn from your mistakes
Yeah
Yeah dude, I did everything except write the script, should also check out the Lamp which is pretty similar in production to this except I wrote it.
Yeah dude, I did everything except write the script, should also check out the Lamp which is pretty similar in production to this except I wrote it.
You're thinking about this the wrong way. There's not much to build suspense on as of yet as there are no stakes raised as of yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=E8AXd1ayxrg
Take the very opening shot of Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil". If they simply skipped the first moment, the bomb being set and planted, the scene would have been just two characters wandering through the street near a car until an explosion happened. But instead, with the stakes raised in the first few moments, the rest of the scene is spent holding on to the edge of your seat.
That having been said, I really don't think you need much suspense in this particular short so much as you need to jump into the meat itself. Let the fact that the clones themselves exist be suspense enough from the driving question of why they exist.
Why's that? Productions do re-shoots all the time. I'd recommend giving it a shot.
Yeah, the setups weren't bad, but I would challenge you to put more thought and control into your lighting. You can actually get a lot done with just some aluminum foil, some wax paper/freezer paper (for diffusion, a few work lights/house lamps, and some foamcore boards for bounces and flags (you can also put some aluminum foil on one of these for a decent shine-board, as well.
Well thought-out lighting can really amp up production value.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=watch?v=sMih25gEu8A
Not the best example (considering the production value still looks to be around $0), but here's a short that I did for a competition that sprint was doing several years ago. I had zero access to decent equipment at the time, and lit everything with two house lamps, the light of the fan, and the common household stuff I listed before, and shot on a crappy little mini-DV handicam. For the closer shots I slapped some of the diffusion on my key to soften the light as much as I could manage, and set up a bounce to try to give some more flattering light from underneath.
Certainly not anywhere close to theater quality, but it worked well enough that you might not have been able to tell that half of those shots were filmed in the middle of the day...
I'm assuming you got T2I onboard sound? Pretty much any of the audio guys in the forum will tell you, that's not going to turn out well no matter what you do. Barring having a better option, though, you might want to consider adding noise. Record a couple minutes of relative silence in the middle of the room, and put what you get in the gaps where there's no sound. Once it becomes the norm, the ear will adjust a bit, and focus more on the dialogue than the hiss.
In this instance? You might just need to give it a break as necessary. Make sure that the room has decent circulation, etc.
This happens on my T3i from time to time, but it's barely noticeable. It happens a lot when we film ourselves, like you were doing - keeping a DSLR stationary and shooting on a tripod for an extended period of time. It's important to keep in mind that DSLR's are still primarily designed for photography - so they'll overheat a bit if you run them for a long time. But, I wouldn't worry about it.
Caidh is right on this - and it's only a matter of time before one of our audiophiles has a field day with explaining the determinant of onboard camera mics
(Which is good!) He offers a good solution, if you must keep using your onboard mic. Keep in mind that the hiss and noise comes from AGC - automatic gain control. Essentially, the DSLR doesn't have manual audio settings, so it automatically 'adapts' itself to whatever you're filming. AGC is a stupid feature, because it thinks that whenever there isn't any audio - there must be. So, it kicks up the gain to try to seek what it isn't hearing - hence the hiss in silent areas.
I believe the T3i was the first model to have the manual features, but you can download the Magic Lantern firmware on your T2i to gain that ability - it may prove beneficial to manually set your audio levels. (Again, though, it's not going to be great regardless)
Invest in a low level boom or shotgun - or even a handheld recorder. Something like the Zoom H1 going into a Rode VideoMic. Or even just the H1 by itself - still better than your onboard.
You can hide hot pixels in post with this:
http://www.playtool.com/pages/pixelpatcher/pixelpatcher.html
http://www.playtool.com/pages/pixelpatcher/pixelpatcher.html
I don't get it. Am I Darin?
I agree you could have cut it down just a tad. Good job on completing it though.
I agree you could have cut it down just a tad. Good job on completing it though.
Yes
I used a Sennheiser ME66 to capture sound but I guess I had it on the wrong setting maybe as it picked up background sound more than the actual dialogue, as for the video I filmed yesterday it has fine audio but that could be because it took place outside with no background noise.
As for the hot pixels, thanks bud I was kind of worrying my camera had dead pixels or something.
For the overheating, a few days ago I was filming the finale to a series of mine (mentioned in the first paragraph) and the camera started overheating a lot, I've inferred it could be also because the SD card is close to full. Is that logical even though it has nothing to do with the temperature of the DSLR?
As for reshooting, I guess I could go back and refilm the ending in the next few days.
Since you mentioned lights in a previous post, I actually looked into lights and I'm thinking of buying one in the future. Any recommendations on one (a set, not just one light) in the price range of $50-$200?
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I really wasn't expecting that many people to post on this thread.
I used a Sennheiser ME66 to capture sound but I guess I had it on the wrong setting maybe as it picked up background sound more than the actual dialogue, as for the video I filmed yesterday it has fine audio but that could be because it took place outside with no background noise.
As for the hot pixels, thanks bud I was kind of worrying my camera had dead pixels or something.
For the overheating, a few days ago I was filming the finale to a series of mine (mentioned in the first paragraph) and the camera started overheating a lot, I've inferred it could be also because the SD card is close to full. Is that logical even though it has nothing to do with the temperature of the DSLR?
As for reshooting, I guess I could go back and refilm the ending in the next few days.
Since you mentioned lights in a previous post, I actually looked into lights and I'm thinking of buying one in the future. Any recommendations on one (a set, not just one light) in the price range of $50-$200?
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I really wasn't expecting that many people to post on this thread.
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There's a few things. One thing I'd suggest is working on your narrative efficiency. If you don't need it, leave it out.
For instance, you're playing a video game. On the screen it goes "KO" then you cheer and say, "Yay, I won". The I Won part was unneeded. The game already told us that you had won.
There's a general rule in editing. It you don't need it for the story, remove it. A scene either needs to more the story forward or you leave it out. Everything needs to have a purpose. If you remember that when writing, directing and/or editing, you'll make better stories that can hold the attention of the audience.
I'm sure you can tell that you needed lights, though I assume you didn't have any.
As for sound. You used a ME66 though I'll assume it was connected to the camera. You just need to get it in closer. If you're doing another story like this again, get a stand so the microphone can be set a lot closer to the subject (I'm talking 6 to 12 inches here) and you will see a huge improvement in your sound. That's about the cheapest (though not the best option) that I could suggest with your setup.
On the credits, you're best saying, "Written by Matthew Traynor" and "Cast and Crew: Darin Laminack" It looks really odd when you have everything except one role as the same person.
Not bad for your first project. Keep plugging away at it and it'll all become second nature.
For instance, you're playing a video game. On the screen it goes "KO" then you cheer and say, "Yay, I won". The I Won part was unneeded. The game already told us that you had won.
There's a general rule in editing. It you don't need it for the story, remove it. A scene either needs to more the story forward or you leave it out. Everything needs to have a purpose. If you remember that when writing, directing and/or editing, you'll make better stories that can hold the attention of the audience.
I'm sure you can tell that you needed lights, though I assume you didn't have any.
As for sound. You used a ME66 though I'll assume it was connected to the camera. You just need to get it in closer. If you're doing another story like this again, get a stand so the microphone can be set a lot closer to the subject (I'm talking 6 to 12 inches here) and you will see a huge improvement in your sound. That's about the cheapest (though not the best option) that I could suggest with your setup.
On the credits, you're best saying, "Written by Matthew Traynor" and "Cast and Crew: Darin Laminack" It looks really odd when you have everything except one role as the same person.
Not bad for your first project. Keep plugging away at it and it'll all become second nature.
At this stage, and at that price point? DIY and/or china balls, too many kits at that price point are just junk compared to either just making it yourself or going with the ultimate in low-budget soft light solutions.
Actually...
It's not my first project, I have done many others and I have over 143 youtube videos although only maybe 20-30 are actually short films, but thanks for all the information, I have always wondered what to do with the credits and for sound, I guess that means I have to buy a second tripod? I have a monopod but no person to hold it so bleh. As for the part of editing, I understand
It's not my first project, I have done many others and I have over 143 youtube videos although only maybe 20-30 are actually short films, but thanks for all the information, I have always wondered what to do with the credits and for sound, I guess that means I have to buy a second tripod? I have a monopod but no person to hold it so bleh. As for the part of editing, I understand
Thanks!
Thanks for the suggestion, I never knew they actually had a stand besides a boom pole or a stage but those never seemed tall enough.
Thanks for the suggestion, I never knew they actually had a stand besides a boom pole or a stage but those never seemed tall enough.
A stand most probably will not solve the problem. The issue is how the mic is aimed. The mic should be above the talent/you, aimed at the notch at the base of the throat. If the mic is 12 inches away and is the mic is 15 degree off aim you are capturing sound from over the talents/your shoulder.
So, if you are doing everything by yourself you may want to consider getting a lav. Lavs present their own issues, but may be more appropriate for the solo shoot situation.
Wow
That's so smart. I can't believe I didn't think of that! I'll check out some lavs on amazon soon.
That's so smart. I can't believe I didn't think of that! I'll check out some lavs on amazon soon.