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watch Robot-7 :: My first serious attempt at a short film.

T

threeplusnine

Hey guys!
Just joined here to try to get some constructive feedback (good or bad or both -- just please don't tell me "YOU SUCK" and leave it at that) on this short film I did earlier today. It took me about two and a half hours in concept, film and editing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UueapzvbAc
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UueapzvbAc )

I am shooting with a Canon Rebel T1I (500D outside the states) that I just got about a week and a half ago. I'm really enjoying it; I've been making and editing videos for school and youtube for years and decided to get a decent HD camera to fuel one of my many hobbies :)

Let me know what you think about my humble picture. Best viewed in 720p HD of course!
 
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Like it!!! Fun & playful short. Good focus and lighting. Mebbe a little less pulling focus for my tastes would have worked. I see a lot of good work. Now get creative with it.

OHH you just put the final gook 2UueapzvbAc

at the end of the Youtue link inside the YT thingie to make video show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UueapzvbAc
 
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IndieBudget said:
Like it!!! Fun & playful short. Good focus and lighting. Mebbe a little less pulling focus for my tastes would have worked. I see a lot of good work. Now get creative with it.
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Thank you! Sorry about the pull-focus-happy camerawork. I've always used point-and-shoots and webcam types of media for my filming, so having a camera with a lens that has a focus ring and all that stuff is too exciting for me to pass up, but I'll definitely keep that in mind.
As for creativity, I know this is a *SUPER* obvious and straight-forward film. I promise I have two written (just need to coordinate with actors when we can get filming done) that are a little more about exploring the human mind with small twists and things to infer and figure out. This doesn't have it, I know... Thanks though! I appreciate the feedback a lot.
 
nice short. were you using the kit lens? i have the same camera and these are some seriously nice results. did you do any colour correction? if so, how? :D
 
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Just kidding! That's a fun little movie you made. I like it. I'd like to see what terrific things you can do when you put more time into it. Nice work, and I hope we see more.
 
Smurfy8797 said:
nice short. were you using the kit lens? i have the same camer and they are some seriously nice results. did you do any colour correction? i so, how? :D
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I was using the 50mm f1.8 Canon lens. :) I dodged the kit lens altogether and just got the nifty fifty.

I used color correction in the first two cuts after the intro of the Robot-7 logo, in iMovie i changed to "hard light" because the shots were saturated with light due to the sun positioned behind the robot
Thanks for the feedback!
 
I like it! But I'm a sucker for anthropomorphic toys. A little too much focusing, maybe a little long in the beginning, some shots lasted a little long, but overall not bad for 3 hours of work.:)
 
That made me smile. The first shot of Robot going down the slide was just silly, in a good way.

I wanted to see some close-ups of his eyes, when he was looking at the human kids playing together. This might have helped sell his longing for companionship, as we don't really get that, or at least I didn't. I know the music certainly was "blue" and that did set the tone. Just a thought.

Are there more Robot exploits in the future?
 
I liked it. The feeling especially. A little shaky on the pan shots but not bad aside from that. Nice job... and quick as well. I should also add I thought the scoring was great.
 
Thanks for the input!

I will definitely remember to ease up on the pull focusing.

Flicker, a really good eye close-up will be better when I have more lens options, I literally don't operate on any budget except my own & I'm just a 17-year-old without a job to my name because of school so I don't have 2000 to splurge on accessories (I wish!). I totally understand what you mean though, I wasn't too sure how to really give the viewer that feeling of loneliness. A close-up of the eyes would have done great there, thanks for the input!

I actually was thinking I might do another Robot-7 short sometime. I have no ideas for it and I'd like it to be a little more complex and thought-out, but right when I finished this one I felt like I could eventually do a sort of a sequel :) Glad you guys enjoyed it! I really appreciate the input.
 
BigBadBilly said:
I liked it. The feeling especially. A little shaky on the pan shots but not bad aside from that. Nice job... and quick as well. I should also add I thought the scoring was great.
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I'm working off just a tripod and definitely have not developed a steady hand yet! I'm just hoping that experience will cure the panning steadiness :) Thank you very much though. & I'm glad you enjoyed the scoring! Music is my longest-running hobby, I've been playing instruments for about 7 years now, so the score matters almost as much to me as the filming itself (probably both a good and bad thing :P). I actually went through a few changes of mind when deciding which sad instrumental song and which happy togetherness songs to use.
 
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Oh, & jrsmithson which shots did you feel were too long? I absolutely agree that the beginning moves a little slow.. Which shots would you have preferred a little shortened? :)
 
Ahhh...he found a friend.

I think there are some nicely framed shots...and the music is nice and atmospheric to start.

It isn't long, however, until the rack-focusing becomes a gimmick. Also two of your pan shots (@ 1:05 and 1:50) are messy and could use some smoothing-up.

I'm also not sure I dig the style switching to stop motion at the end. It's a style switch that didn't seem to suit the beginning of the short.

I also think you could have color corrected this a bit.

Nice work overall. Keep it up.
 
I thought that was good fun and impressive given how long it took you.

DSLRs give you gorgeous DOF but you need to be careful with the focus because in some of those shots it was a little off...

But all in all that was pretty sweet :)
 
Michael: I will definitely be easing up on the focusing in and out.

I know the pan shots are shaky, any advice on how to smooth them up? Im working off a kind of old tripod.

The stop-motion was the only way I could introduce the robot finding the friend. I wasn't sure how else they would unite.

Thanks for the insightful input!

Clapper, thank you! & yeah, I'm only working with the 50 mm with has awesome DOF and sort of awkward framing and obviously no zoom. I'm considering a wide angle lens or a telephoto kind of thing in the future. I'm hoping things like focus issues will correct themselves as time goes on and I get more experience with the camera :)
 
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