archived-videos Take a look at my short, "Get Creative"

[scottspears]

Hey Folks,

Here's a little short I did a while back when I was teaching a video class. I needed something simple that I could shoot in a classroom or close by and could be shot in around 3 hours, so I came up with this little ditty. It was edited by one of my students. Later, I went back and tightened it up a bit. I created the music using ACID. It was shot with a Sony VX2000 before I bought a DVX100. Run time is around 5 min.

Check it out and let me know what you think?

Get Creative

Thanks,

Scott

 

[SPaulovich]

Check it out and let me know what you think?

QUOTE]

Scott,

Well done! Get Creative is a fine example of what you'd get by filming a short story. A complete beginning-middle-end fitted in a compact timeframe without being rushed or drawn out.

Acting was good. The only thing that seemed a bit off was the students exiting the classroom - too casual. Given the circumstances, I'd probably have fainted or slithered across the room as far away from the action as possible. (I'm being vague so I don't include spoilers.)

The ACID loops were good, maybe a bit too short? The loops sounded... um... lop-sided. Music built up and then abruptly changed. A smoother transition maybe?

Anyway, for a three-hour shoot and one day edit it's a remarkable piece. Congratulations to all involved.

 

[scottspears]

Thanks for the input. I know there are somethings I could have done better, but I was also explaining why I was doing each shot while actually lining it up. The students did help, but they were beginners, so mainly they held the mic and acted. I agree if I had to do again, I'd have the students run out.

It was a fun little project. I did two more like this over the next two quarters I was teaching, but neither were as successful.

Again, thanks for the comments.

Scott

 

[Zensteve]

Pretty good overall.

The music did sound a bit... lackluster, for such a situation. The acting could have been a bit better, too.

But all the technical aspects were bang-on. Good little story, lots of interesting cuts and angles, kept moving at a solid pace, excellent editing.

_______

Why did you choose to have no ambient sound in the first part, before his arrival in the classroom?

 

[scottspears]

Why did you choose to have no ambient sound in the first part, before his arrival in the classroom?

There were two reasons. One was I wanted to build tension through cutting and music and the other was the original sound was stinky with me talking through shots and in general non-controled environment, so it would have required lot of post sound work. It was shot on a Tuesday and had to be done by Thursday's class with the student editor's and my schedule we decided to drop the ambient sound. The score was produced in about an hour.

I would have liked to done some more creative lighting in the piece, but there was no time to wrangle lights, camera, sound and explain the shot selection to the students. I think the natural light works to make it more real.

Thanks for the input.

Scott