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watch My Vampire Drama Short Film - Is it festival material?

ajedproduction

ajedproduction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMr0kAjS0M8

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Hi, here is a vampire short film I recently completed. It's my second short film I've done with sync sound dialogue. It's set to unlisted as I wish to keep it private until I've given it a run at film festivals.

Let me know what you guys think and what standard of film festivals I should be aiming at. I know it's not perfect and I would have liked to have more time to develop the script. Keep in mind I had a small budget as well and was self funded. I pretty much Produced, directed, wrote, edited, catered, sound edited and production designed for the film and even have a small cameo appearance.

I'm not expecting it to win awards, but if I can at least get the film short listed at some film festivals that will already be an achievement for me and I'll be really happy with that. In terms of festivals I'm thinking of Encounters and Frightfest. I dunno if it's worth me entering it into Raindance film festival? I dont wanna waste my money if the standard is too high.

Thanks in advance :)
 
Ermm... It's your second short film so... BUT You had few people working on it so... I don't know...

A - it was bit too long - bit boring (sorry my personal opinion, the first few seconds made me stop it.)

B - the camera angles were... very... amateur - I know it was an amateur film but still you could have find better angles... A good eye is VERY important and it's a gift, I think sometimes DoP is more important than Director (I am not pro but the angles weren't too good / not all of them but most) but having two camera guys and still having not so good shots...- me personally Hate tripod shots... It makes the film very poor...

C - bit too dark - tho I understand as my films were dark at the beginning

D - VAMPIRES!!! PLEASE! NO MORE!

E - at the beginning it was very shaky

F - the acting... :(

I know I sound like I am killing the film... I am not, I am just saying my opinion... I am not a judgmental bitch lol the film doesnt have camera movements or good sound or lightning... Or acting... But you can still go and try for festivals, I am just one person! I used to have people telling how bad my films were and I LOVED the bad comments guess they're the most important and you learn from them! Take it as a learning process

Sorry.. You asked for an opinion... :P
 
You hate tripod shots? Wait what? Well if your style is more fluid/always moving camera style then fair enough that's your taste. But personally I'm more a fan of still shots combined with some moving ones every now and then. That's just my style. Films like Hunger(steve mcqueen), Lady Vengeance and Thirst(Park chan wook) are the kind of aesthetic I like. I'm not a fan of Lars Von Trier style films where the camera is never on a tripod,I can appreciate it but it's just not my type.

Some of the shots are too shaky for my liking(I will never use a monopod for video again) but I'm gonna have to disagree with your comment on the camera angles. My biggest problem is the messed up eye-lines in the 2nd scene, gotta learn from that mistake, but apart from that I'm quite happy with the angles.

By the way I didn't have 2 DOP's at the same time, the crew was divided between the different shoot dates. I had 3 crew members per shoot day(including my self)

First scene is quite shaky yep, dont wanna make excuses but I had to make a last minute complete scene change and didn't have a steadicam at the time so had to make do with a shoulder rig.

Bit harsh on the acting IMO.
 
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It is a decent short film, but the blacks are washed out, the music is not very effective, pacing is off, and the camera movement is shaky. I liked it, and thought it had an interesting style and mood, but because of the numerous flaws, I would hold off on film festivals.
Great job anyway :)
 
hey man, it was a good short, i liked it, and i am not a proffesional short film maker, but i see what they ment with it being to dark and color grading, cause i too still have that problem, i recon you still should enter and that would give you some confidence and appreciation to every one who has helped you make that film. even if you film doesn't get in, you have nothing to lose.
 
ajedproduction said:
You hate tripod shots? Wait what? Well if your style is more fluid/always moving camera style then fair enough that's your taste. But personally I'm more a fan of still shots combined with some moving ones every now and then. That's just my style. Films like Hunger(steve mcqueen), Lady Vengeance and Thirst(Park chan wook) are the kind of aesthetic I like. I'm not a fan of Lars Von Trier style films where the camera is never on a tripod,I can appreciate it but it's just not my type.

Some of the shots are too shaky for my liking(I will never use a monopod for video again) but I'm gonna have to disagree with your comment on the camera angles. My biggest problem is the messed up eye-lines in the 2nd scene, gotta learn from that mistake, but apart from that I'm quite happy with the angles.

By the way I didn't have 2 DOP's at the same time, the crew was divided between the different shoot dates. I had 3 crew members per shoot day(including my self)

First scene is quite shaky yep, dont wanna make excuses but I had to make a last minute complete scene change and didn't have a steadicam at the time so had to make do with a shoulder rig.

Bit harsh on the acting IMO.
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yeah I get it... I have couple of people on my projects as well... if you want a good short, a good camera man is needed...


"Bit harsh on the acting IMO." - sorry but it's true, you dont have to be Steven Spielberg to know if the acting is good...

Well... Im not gonna say anything else or watch anything else from you cuz you don't accept people's opinion... Guess what you wanted to hear was... it's good... it's nice etc... Me personally as mentioned above likes fulfilling criticism :cool::D
 
I'd like it if you didnt bother watching any of my work if those are the types of replies I'm going to get from you brother. I happily take on criticism as long as it's constructive and not biased by your own taste. I justified all my points and explained how we have different taste, so if anyone doesn't accept others opinion it's you. If your sick of vampire films don't click on the link. Simples.

Anyways enough about you, I'm here to get constructive criticism so that I can learn and improve my craft.

@chimpphobiafilms, dlmade
Cheers guys, I'm gonna have to re colour grade the whole thing, didnt really pay attention to the blacks washing out. I know the film is flawed but thats all part of learning isn't it. I'm still gonna try out for some smaller low end festivals, no harm in trying aye :P
 
I watched to :30.

Your film is not festival material.

Here are the three major 3 issues with the first 30 seconds:

At the beginning, there is not enough contrast -- When you do dark scenes, there has to be at least some parts of the frame that are well lit -- think film noir.

Many festivals' venues are not exactly entirely dark and no one is going to see what is happening. Your daytime shot was also washed out - maybe you were going for the look, but again, in a venue that isn't very dark, it won't look good.

But here's the killer -- a handheld walk and talk. It is at this point your film gets tossed into the reject bin.

Scrap festival plans for this one. Put your money towards your next film.

Good luck.
 
GuerrillaAngel said:
I watched to :30.

Your film is not festival material.

Here are the three major 3 issues with the first 30 seconds:

At the beginning, there is not enough contrast -- When you do dark scenes, there has to be at least some parts of the frame that are well lit -- think film noir.

Many festivals' venues are not exactly entirely dark and no one is going to see what is happening. Your daytime shot was also washed out - maybe you were going for the look, but again, in a venue that isn't very dark, it won't look good.

But here's the killer -- a handheld walk and talk. It is at this point your film gets tossed into the reject bin.

Scrap festival plans for this one. Put your money towards your next film.

Good luck.
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For the opening shots, do you think a light coming from the left(the window) would have worked? Maybe try and recreate moon light? Not that moon light would ever be that strong but do you think that would work? Bit annoyed at my lighting people now.

Are handheld walk and talk shots a total no-go, end of story? Or is it just that the shot I had was way too shaky? That;s the scene I was the most worried about when we filmed it :/ . For those kind of shots is it a must to have a steadicam? I have one now but didn't at the time.

Cheers
 
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ajedproduction said:
I'd like it if you didnt bother watching any of my work if those are the types of replies I'm going to get from you brother.(...) I justified all my points and explained how we have different taste, so if anyone doesn't accept others opinion it's you. If your sick of vampire films don't click on the link. Simples.
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Heh. I won't bother with my opinions, either. Good luck.
 
No worries, It's not like I'm forcing you to give your opinion. I just got annoyed at how the guy seemed to take offence to me just explaining the style of film I was going for with the static shots and the fact that I disagreed with a few of his points. It's not like I said "no your wrong, screw you", I just gave my opinion and explained why. He's the one who decided to throw a strop just because I didn't instantly agree with everything he said. Maybe my opinion is wrong but surely that's the whole point of having a forum, to have an opinion and discuss it.
 
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ajedproduction said:
For the opening shots, do you think a light coming from the left(the window) would have worked? Maybe try and recreate moon light? Not that moon light would ever be that strong but do you think that would work? Bit annoyed at my lighting people now.

Are handheld walk and talk shots a total no-go, end of story? Or is it just that the shot I had was way too shaky? That;s the scene I was the most worried about when we filmed it :/ . For those kind of shots is it a must to have a steadicam? I have one now but didn't at the time.

Cheers
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Watch this short trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcnuPLqfadc

Most of the shots were at night. We either took advantage of existing lighting or lit up the subject(s) or background. A night shot doesn't have to be mostly dark -- the audience gets it.

You could have used a wheelchair for the walk and talk (or the back of a truck).

You can practice your handheld techniques. With practice you can string together a decent walk and talk using good shots of multiple takes and use cutaways to join them together.

Since you're new at this, you ought to at least shoot a safety take on a tripod -- this way you won't be stuck with something that didn't quite work.

Good luck.
 
The contrast of the picture for the night shot is a but annoying.
Also the locations are not nice, especially that living room.
Also during the dialogue there are some long pause between characters, bad editing I suppose.

The plot isnt great either. A man will do anything for the woman he loves... but still.
 
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