archived-videos Semi-Silent Film

VIVIIX

VIVIIX

I've just uploaded a short film onto Youtube that ive been working on for a while now, its called "The Last Man Alive", its supposto be mainly a silent film, using only a few sound effects to try to set the mood of the film.
its filmed on a regular home video camera, and the costume was supplied by the Canadian Armed Forces.
id love for any kind of imput, check it out at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0LLvPUr7B8
 
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- I'd lose the WMM title cards at the beginning.
- I'd play down the heavy breathing, it gets kind of irritating.
- I'd try and adjust it so that it might come across as 'found footage'.

Other than that it wasn't too bad. I'm sure you recognise the limitations but the costume was cool. Would've been nice if it had followed some sort of storyline but I guess it's more of a snapshot of being the last person alive. For that reason I think it might work better if you tried to pass it off as found footage (especially given the B&W and so-so quality).
 
In 90 seconds, and without any dialogue, I'd imagine it's pretty hard to communicate to the viewer what they're watching.

Without context, I saw many panning shots of a forest, a guy look at two cars, then drop to his knees and shoot himself. Because I can't see his face, I have no idea what he's feeling. If he's going to kill himself, why not just take off the mask? Then we'd get to see his distraught, defeated expression before kicking the bucket. Also, and again because there's no face to connect to, there's not really any indication that he's looking for someone, just that he's looking through cars. How do I know he's not looking for that pesky replacement shifter bezel at a Pick N' Pull in the middle of a radiated forest?

That was a smart-ass comment, but you get the idea.

Just some observations... nice atmosphere, nice setting. Make it longer, consider finding a way to show some faces.

Good start!

EDIT - I agree with clapper - found footage! Great idea!
 
A couple of thoughts and this is just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.

I 75% loved this.

With nothing more than a consumer home video camera, a couple of abandoned cars, snow covered woods and an actor wearing a hazmat suit you created an astonishing mood and tone. A mood and tone that I personally loved. It felt very early Romero to me which is a great thing!

I hated where he pulls out the gun and shoots himself. All that shows is the main character cannot take the true nature of what the world really is. He can't handle it so he takes the easy way out and shoots himself. Boring. We've seen this so many times. Cut that out.

In my opinion it doesn't make sense to really have that scene. Here's why.

The main character has a hazmat suit on, right? The destroyed cars that he sees aren't burning so
evidently this nuclear war didn't just happen. So that means this man MUST have been coping with this for a few days, weeks, months in my opinion. Why would walking by a couple of destroyed cars drive him to fall to his knees and kill himself? It doesn't make sense to me.

I think you're on the right track though. It's not bad. I would definitely work with you in the future without a doubt!

Good job!
 
Ahh . . . a suicide -- the lazy writer/filmmaker's option. A suicide automatically reduces your chances of getting into a festival by tenfold.
 
Thankyou everyone for your comments, i Agree totally about the suicide ending. i had originally wanted to make the film 2x as long, with the suicide being an attempted suicide interrupted by some rustling in the trees behind the character, and then a shootout with another person from the otherside of the war, unfortunatly i only had 1x costume hahaha. I was trying to imply the cars and building ruins where the characters home with the breathing becoming more rapid. im going to re-edit the film in the next few days and see if i can get that point across in a different way. and to answer ROC's question: i cant remember the type of camera , it broke a little while after filming. it was just some cheap walmart camera.
 
Didn't like the ending - no context. I barely know what's going on, and he kills himself - so what?

The breathing doesn't work the way that it is currently; again, it has no context. The breathing needs to switch in and out of POV, plus you need all of the visual Foley cues - footsteps, HazMat suit, branches, car parts, etc. Depending upon the mood you want to set perhaps a cold, empty wind.
 
After reading everyones imput last night, i decided to look over all the original footage and see if there was a way to change the films ending. i was able to find a few clips that i had originally thought where junk, that ive been able to put together a new ending with. ive also added in some end credits, and a new title sequence, and a new still clip to try and explain why the debris made the character so upset as to try and kill themself.
Check out the Last Man Alive -2nd Cut at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QE30FvmESk
any feedback is greatly apreciated.
 
I liked the first film. It reminds me of a couple of the films I saw from the Soviet Union during the cold war. I can't remember the name of the one I really liked off the top of my head but it was a post-apocalyptic film with propaganda overtones. Think it was shot in black and white and somehow it got past the censors.

It made it over to the UK and we watched it because there was a real risk of nuclear war and we all wanted to see the Russian, bleak take on a post apocalyptic world. It was bleak, bleak, bleak and touched a nerve.

Your film takes me back to all that.

Or maybe you're just a kid with an NBC suit and a camera. Either way, it's all good.
 
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