archived-videos Short "The Date"

Locust Tree, Thanks for the compliment.

(The Music) I looked up the producers and e-mailed them explaining that I was in school and that I wasn't going to sale the short and on and on, it was like a two page letter. They wrote me back explaining what I could and couldn't do, which was basically nothing, can't mass produce it, can't sale it and the list goes on and on. At the end of the letter it explained how I had to place the names in the credits and they gave me a reference number. That was it. I was surprised myself. I was like uhhhh is the secretary handling there copyright stuff or what? But I didn't complain. ha ha ha I simply kept the reference number and all the letters that they sent me and called it a day.

I made the short for fun. I don't plan on doing anything with the short. I probly didn't even have to go as far as I did but I wanted to see what they would say.

Peace,
toxzy
 
Christopher,

I really enjoyed your short! Fantastic! And I, too, am jealous, you've got something truly original and interesting here (and very well made).

Can you tell us a bit about your production? How long did it take, what stock did you use, etc?

Headed over to your site to take a look. Hope we see more of your work!
 
Cyan,thanks for the nice compliment,

(Production) I made the short in about 2 months, I shot it on a mini dv Sony pd150. I edit with Sony Vegas video. I used green fabric from the local fabric store to chroma key the crow singing at the end. I used after effects to pull the chroma key but Digital Fusion works better. The thrift store for all the clothes and props (super cheap) got to keep it cheap.

(The pig) Cost me $15 from the local butcher, man that pig stunk! ha ha ha We bought the whole pig but had to cut its head off for the dinner scene. Man, that was bad, to cut a pigs head off you have to use an axe and hacksaw. Picture this, it's late at night were in the back yard, me and my sound guy hacking away at the pig, the neighbors could see us, they were like what the hell are they doing! To our amazement they never called the police! ha ha ha The worms I got at the local lizard shop. I actually returned the worms and they were like what are you doing? I think that most people in this area think I'm crazy. Ha ha ha

(Crow masks) I ordered some cheap crow masks as a foundation. I then added foam so that the mouths would attach to the actors mouth for mobility. Then pasted feather all over the mask. The tricky part was that I had to make one look like a boy and the other like a girl, this took me forever because every feather on the mask had to be hand glued on the masks, I looked at a ton of crow pictures to see how feathers lay down on a bird (major help). I sowed black fabric in the masks were I had cut the mouths so they could breath and move the mouth better. Then I bought some black fabric and glued feathers for the neck area of the male crow. Sowed that to mask. Then for both male and female I mixed black paint and glue and glued black feathers to the eye, neck and ear areas of the actors. Next add wigs (Elvis of course). Lastly I have a friend in the contact business so I got some white eye contacts lens for each actor.

(Lighting) I used shop lights not the big ones, the small silver ones that take a regular bulb (Home depot or as I like to call it my local film supply store) ha ha ha.

I have some picture that show production shots on the website but here is a direct link to them: http://www.dreamorphans.com/images/photo_gallery/thedate.htm

I hope this answers everything, If you want to know anything else just post.

Thanks,
Toxzy
 
Christopher,

Thanks for all the info, I think you did an incredible job with the lighting you describe. It really looked rich and moody which I don't always associate with miniDV. Great job!
 
Wow, you shot that with a Pd150!?!?!?!? That's amazing! I was commenting to Goat last night that it had to be 35mm, it looked so good.

Well done.

Poke
 
Excellent art direction. Good luck in the midnight madness with your other short.
 
(Shaw)I used Sony Vegas Video to do the color correction, In Vegas I applied brightness and contrast , HSL(Hue, Saturation, Luminence) and Color Balance . Then tweek them. I also blast the set with a ton of light when I'm shooting and then bring the shadows out in post, but of course each set is different.

Poke and admin, thanks
 
Christopher,

Your dedication on the details of pre-production, especially with the crow masks, really impresses me. I've found from hard experience that laziness in this department reverberates throughout the film.

That kung fu link you sent me was tres awesome. The fighting was standard, but the editing really brought it to life! I'd like to experiment more with fancy editing like that.
 
(xuetang) Yeah, I thought the editing was nice , I really like the look and feel of clip, all the fast graphics, but I think after awhile it would only distract from the actual fighting. The way it started was nice with the zoom into the city. (smoke always helps).

I think the small details are what sale the viewer on any effect or prop but usally the small things are tedious, so people tend to by pass them.

Peace,
Chris
 
just saw the film and i quite liked it. Had a great look for something whcih was probably made very affordably. Mad me laugh quite a bit. yeah it was good.
 
I couldn't watch it 'til now because I moved and I now have DSL...

...Wow. Few to...NO films are ever COMPLETELY original. All movies (and art for that matter) is somehow derived from other pieces; and it's usually obvious too.

This is TRULY original story wise. I have great respect for you based solely on that movie and I will venture to say that you are a genius when it comes to creativity. Wow.

So few people are willing to think outside the box like that...and YOU seem to have just destroyed the box. Congradulations on a job well done.

I would also like to say that I really respect that you won't sell this piece because doing so would change the great soundtrack. Vision before money. Awesome.
 
Thanks for the kind words,You sure now how to make a person feel good, I think that the creativity is in everyone just some people choose to explore it and others don't. It's nice to see that there are people that enjoy my work.

Toxzy
 
LOGAN L Productions said:
This is TRULY original story wise.
Click to expand...

Too bad the music wasn't original...

It was a decent movie, but the use of stolen, copyrighted music then limits how far it can go and even risks the future of this movie if it gets more popular.

Go the extra mile & get soem original music too.
 
(sonnyboo) Thanks for the honest comments, I create my movies because I like to make art. The shorts I create are to help me learn and are the same as when I draw in my sketch book. I'm in no rush to win any festival or get paid for my work. I just want to learn right now. When you start trying to make money or win festivals it can change your creativity and you begin to cater. I've worked on team projects that its end goal was exactly that to win something. It was fun, but it definitely changed how I approached the project creatively. I know that's probly more than you asked for but it leads me to the next answer. (Music) I do create original music for my movies all the time. I chose not to this time. That doesn't mean I didn't go the extra mile or that I couldn't. Just different choices you make when going through the process of making art.

Speaking on copyright, stealing music and art. These movies bring up some very interesting questions: http://www.illegal-art.org/video/index.html


Thanks,
Toxzy
 
sonnyboo said:
It was a decent movie, but the use of stolen, copyrighted music then limits how far it can go and even risks the future of this movie if it gets more popular.
Click to expand...

Kind of a harsh statement when you consider ...

Christopher said:
I looked up the producers and e-mailed them explaining that I was in school and that I wasn't going to sale the short and on and on, it was like a two page letter. They wrote me back explaining what I could and couldn't do, which was basically nothing, can't mass produce it, can't sale it and the list goes on and on. At the end of the letter it explained how I had to place the names in the credits and they gave me a reference number. That was it. I was surprised myself. I was like uhhhh is the secretary handling there copyright stuff or what? But I didn't complain. ha ha ha I simply kept the reference number and all the letters that they sent me and called it a day.

I made the short for fun. I don't plan on doing anything with the short. I probly didn't even have to go as far as I did but I wanted to see what they would say.
Click to expand...

It wasn't stolen, Chris had the permission to use it.

Poke
 
For the record, I thought it was brilliant. When you make it big, you (or your distributor) will have enough money to secure the rights to the music and you can include it as a bonus film on your feature release! :-)
 
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