Hi JUST produced a film with absolutely no money, no permits, and no permission. It's a controversial film that takes an honest look at Race, Politics, Music, and Religion... all hot button issues...We straight guerrilla styled it... Our motto: As long as we got a camera, there's always ACTION!! http://vimeo.com/18610571
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watch New Controversial independent film
- Thread starter steveharriscorp
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Congrats on finishing the movie! I shoot guerrila, myself, so I know full-well how difficult that can be.
If you don't mind a little honest criticism about the trailer -- it feels like I'm being preached to. It feels like a message-movie. I don't know if that's what it is, but that's what the trailer makes it feel like, and it's kind of a turn-off.
Is there any way you can re-edit the trailer to emphasize the story, instead of the message? That might be more appealing.
Best of luck!
If you don't mind a little honest criticism about the trailer -- it feels like I'm being preached to. It feels like a message-movie. I don't know if that's what it is, but that's what the trailer makes it feel like, and it's kind of a turn-off.
Is there any way you can re-edit the trailer to emphasize the story, instead of the message? That might be more appealing.
Best of luck!
I'm sure we could re-edit, but I asked a few other people as well, and we can't find where the preaching is. We just posed a few questions, and that is really what the story is about. We were also searching for the message you got from this trailer. LOL... lol...We appreciate it Cracker, and we're gonna roll with posing the questions. Hey good luck to you too!!!
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My 'little' two cents. I thought the trailer visuals were pretty good. Edit was flowing for a trailer. Dialogue within cast came off as believable. But I can also see where Cracker Funk is coming from. The "preachy feel" came from using such key words as 'angels' and then the demonic closing. Add to that, the strong, deep voiced, 'preacher' like quality to the background narration, presented as authoritarian. Try removing the narrative. I think the best trailers have little to no background narrative. Too much information can be a turnoff -- if you are trying to turn on as many to your trailer as possible. Leave your viewers wanting more unless you are going after those that want to be preached to.
Cool, man! Couple of tech issues...you might want to re-render your trailer to Vimeo standards (square pixels, 872x480) so its not compressed.
My only concern with the trailer is that it feels as if it gives the mystery of the film away. If I were to guess, I'd see these folks are given everything they always thought wanted but it doesn't turn out well for them. That's a fine story to tell and it usually works. Faust, It's a Wonderful Life, Antigone, etc. I have no beef with the story. But I'm not sure I'd be interested in watching the movie knowing (or guessing) that that's the story already. If you could make the trailer more mysterious, catch our interest without giving away your story completely, I'd be more interested.
My only concern with the trailer is that it feels as if it gives the mystery of the film away. If I were to guess, I'd see these folks are given everything they always thought wanted but it doesn't turn out well for them. That's a fine story to tell and it usually works. Faust, It's a Wonderful Life, Antigone, etc. I have no beef with the story. But I'm not sure I'd be interested in watching the movie knowing (or guessing) that that's the story already. If you could make the trailer more mysterious, catch our interest without giving away your story completely, I'd be more interested.
Nice work! Congratulations!
I would agree with the above posts and add that there's imagery which also suggests this sectarian leaning...most evident being that of the Last Supper riff at 1:43. The Supper parody or satire has been done many times before, in many different contexts. I think it's use sends both a subliminal *message* as well as a polar effect of contrivance.
Well done, though.
I would agree with the above posts and add that there's imagery which also suggests this sectarian leaning...most evident being that of the Last Supper riff at 1:43. The Supper parody or satire has been done many times before, in many different contexts. I think it's use sends both a subliminal *message* as well as a polar effect of contrivance.
Well done, though.
It looks like the film could be worth a watch, but the trailer is a bit heavy handed for my tastes; there's too much of the brooding voice over and too much is spelled out. As folks mention above, less can be so much more with trailers. And, maybe I'm missing something but... I don't understand how this is all controversial?
Solid production value for a guerilla style shoot.
Definitely go back and upload with the right aspect ratio.
All the best of success to you!
Solid production value for a guerilla style shoot.
Definitely go back and upload with the right aspect ratio.
All the best of success to you!
The sound didn't seem right. At points it sounded like you were using the camera mic. I hope you didn't. If you got clean sound, you need to enhance the dialogue so it sounds more full. Maybe ADR.
I hear ya. Really, what I mean to say is that the trailer makes me think the movie is going to be preachy.
There's the guy who asks for fortune. The guy who asks for fame. The guy who asks for pleasure.
Greed. Vanity. Lust. Are we going to go through all of the seven deadly sins?
I'm not saying it is preachy, I'm just giving you my honest reaction that if I had to predict what this movie is like, I would predict that it's going to be preachy. And that's what people do when they watch previews. They make predictions.
Anyway, that's just my personal reaction. And obviously, it's up to you to decide which outside opinions you listen to, and which ones you take with a grain of salt. Cheers!
We appreciate everybody's input... thanks guys... We had two other trailers prior to this one. Neither one of the trailers had voice overs, and the biggest concern was that you couldn't tell what the film was about. Consumers actually said it was too much of a mystery (two critical points made above). Being it's very low budget, no name actors, and shot in video; we decided to go with our gut. That is, make sure the story is super clear... even if it's preachy, even if it gives the mystery away, even if it goes through all the 7 deadly sins...lol or whatever...lol all the points you all made. Although it might not have worked for many of you, thank God there's 90 million people online. The website has been up only three weeks, and we're selling pretty darn good. So a film made with no money, we're ecstatic!!! Good luck to everybody in your endeavors as well; keep the indie game alive... we're out.
Hmm, ah, okie dok. I guess I'm curious as to why you wanted any of our opinions, then, to begin with? Good Luck, at any rate.
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I agree, the opening VO is a bit preachy. I think that's because it's too wordy. See if you can pare it down.
Okay, here comes the audio critique...
VO voice sounds like it's been pitched down and sounds artificial. It also sounds similar to the "visitor" to the party. Just a suggestion, but a female VO could be very effective - sultry & seductive but not overly sexy.
The dialog is very hard to understand at times. There could have a much more effective use of Foley and sound FX. The music has too much continuous low end and needs a little more in the way of peaks and valleys.
Okay, here comes the audio critique...
VO voice sounds like it's been pitched down and sounds artificial. It also sounds similar to the "visitor" to the party. Just a suggestion, but a female VO could be very effective - sultry & seductive but not overly sexy.
The dialog is very hard to understand at times. There could have a much more effective use of Foley and sound FX. The music has too much continuous low end and needs a little more in the way of peaks and valleys.
At Bird, ha ha ha In response to your reply, Although we value everybody's opinion, I need to correct you, we didn't ask for any. We posted our video as many places as we can, it's called internet marketing. Some will like, some won't ... we understand that. We also understand the need to post and show up as many places as possible. Again there's millions of people online we're trying to reach. We will accept your good luck, thanks... and same to you, cheers.
Alcove, thank you for your critique. As we continue to make money, we will improve on the trailer's sound.
Alcove, thank you for your critique. As we continue to make money, we will improve on the trailer's sound.
Then you put in the wrong place. We have a "promotion" section. Generally speaking, this section is for critiques (not always, but if you only wanted to promote, that's what "promotion" is for). I don't think you would've gotten these critiques, if it had been properly categorized.
By the way, have you noticed a lot of people are saying the same thing? Are you really gonna lol at everybody?
At Cracker... understood about the promotion page...
To answer your question about LOL... I never said anybody was wrong about their opinion, what I did say was that it's working for us, so why on God's green earth would we change it? We would only be doing that to satisfy the general census in one forum. And again, like I stated above, we tried that suggestion, early on, and it didn't work for us. We tried something else, and it appears to be giving us much better results. So with all due respect, LOL was all I could put to make sure everybody in here knew I was not being mad and it was all good. LOL was my way of saying my feelings weren't hurt. We shot a film with no money, we know it's far from perfect. LOL wasn't meant to blow anybody off. I guess I could've put ha ha ha... but i think it would've had the same results. Anyways... I thank everybody... this will probably be my last post. I gots to keep it moving... LOL... one for the road... LOL... good luck everybody with your projects!! PEACE.
To answer your question about LOL... I never said anybody was wrong about their opinion, what I did say was that it's working for us, so why on God's green earth would we change it? We would only be doing that to satisfy the general census in one forum. And again, like I stated above, we tried that suggestion, early on, and it didn't work for us. We tried something else, and it appears to be giving us much better results. So with all due respect, LOL was all I could put to make sure everybody in here knew I was not being mad and it was all good. LOL was my way of saying my feelings weren't hurt. We shot a film with no money, we know it's far from perfect. LOL wasn't meant to blow anybody off. I guess I could've put ha ha ha... but i think it would've had the same results. Anyways... I thank everybody... this will probably be my last post. I gots to keep it moving... LOL... one for the road... LOL... good luck everybody with your projects!! PEACE.
Lol. Cheers, mate!
Is it just me or does the video look like it is being stretched out. It looks kinda weird to me. I think you need to re-render this to fit the format and not stretch the picture. That was the first thing that jumped out at me when I watched the trailer it was rather distracting.
Why would this be your last post? Man, I'd love to engage in a dialogue about my projects no matter what stage they were in.
I can see why some had the ideas they had about the film and I can also see why you wanted to include the narration. I wonder if the Titles though wouldn't be sufficient as many of them just copied exactly what the narration was saying.
Good luck with the project. Hope you can come back and check out others' threads as well.
Martin