archived-videos Short Film: The Walk - Teaser Trailer

cheetah78

cheetah78

Hi all,

I shot my first short film last summer. It is a 15-minute indie thriller titled "The Walk".

Many lessons learned and first-timer mistakes such as:
- too short pre-production, preparation and production planning (about 250 hrs including screenplay)
- trying to take care of too many things myself (crew of around 12 non-professionals, mostly my friends/family)
- tight shooting schedule (3+1 days, total 50 hrs)
- technical mistakes not noticed before post (continuity, line of action, framing, focus, missing shots etc).

Teaser trailer can be found from here:
http://vimeo.com/cheetahfilms/short-film-the-walk-teaser-trailer

I suggest to watch it in low light and full screen / couch mode (without white borders of Vimeo). Otherwise the picture might be very dark since this is the "theatrical version".

Trailer will be out by the end of the year and premiere is scheduled in May 2012.

Comments, thoughts and feedback welcome!
 
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The camerawork itself seems pretty tight, if not Hollywood, at least way better than anything I could ever hope to pull off. However, the whole "non-professional" thing seems pretty evident in the acting... this, no offense, came off more like a cheesy B-movie to me than anything truly intriguing. I could be wrong, of course... best of luck with everything!
 
Thanks for the comment.
I've got this similar comments earlier from quite a few people including some professional producers. I was stubborn enough to script&shoot the film in English although neither me nor any of the actors is a native English speaker. I believe it adds a lot to the "non-professional" impression you mention. Or would you say non-professional impression is about language? To me just the genre (mainstream thriller) would be not credible at all in Finnish. Of course, I will take also some blame for B-level directing, which I think (=hope) is due to lack of experience. ;-)

Any other comments? Would be highly appreciated.
 
I don't know a thing about Finnish (the language or culture), so I couldn't give you any feedback on that, but in the past, writing/directing/acting in a film in a language you aren't fluent or native in hasn't quite worked out:
Troll 2
I'm big into things like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and RiffTrax, so I've developed a bit of an eye for things they'd jump on...
 
It looked pretty good from the trailer teaser. The part where the girl say he is sick sounds like he is seek. Maybe you could fix that. I can tell that they are not native speakers of english. But still I would watch because it looks pretty good and the ladies are attractive. Good job on soundtrack. Did you pick black and white because it is a horror film or something?
 
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Thanks for the feedback.

I realize that the language is less than perfect and especially missing some nuances and imperfect clarity / pronunciation. As said, I think I need to reconsider for the next film. Question: Would you rather watch a subtitled film if it would give some more credibility? I believe that from distribution point of view (even if it is just internet / viral distribution) language is important.

Soundtrack is original, composed by my friends (with some direction from me of course) just for this purpose (after the final cut). I am also very happy with the music. Although it is quite simple, it is a good match to the feel I was looking for.

Regarding the color, it is not actually black&white... The colors are quite de-saturated and there is quite a lot of blue to set the mood. Of course I am not at all experienced with color correction so feedback also welcome. Please note that the opening picture (with girls talking) was actually shot in daylight.
 
That was daylight? Pretty impressive. Regarding subtitled films, of course, that's fine-it would definitely give it "more credibility", as you put it. I think the people who are too lazy to read subtitles aren't the kinds of people you want watching and critiquing your movie... at least, I wouldn't. I didn't notice anything about the music, it's great as is.
 
Trailer looks good! Great camera movement.

FormerDominator said:
I think the people who are too lazy to read subtitles aren't the kinds of people you want watching and critiquing your movie..
Click to expand...


What about individuals that are big fans of watching movies but have reading difficulties and learning deficits?

They can watch my film any day :)
 
Well that's different. I was talking about the people who *can* read but prefer their plots handed to them on a silver platter with no thinking required and lots of explosions and sex.
 
Thanks guys for the encouraging comments and advise.

Btw, the tracking camera movement (ext shot) was achieved by placing a tripod on a track dolly.
 
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