• READ BEFORE POSTING!
    • If posting a video, please post HERE, unless it is a video as part of an advertisement and then post it in this section.
    • If replying to threads please remember this is the Promotion area and the person posting may not be open to feedback.

watch The Agent - Action/Effects Short

PaulGriffith

PaulGriffith

Hey guys, here's our latest video! It's the result of what feels like a month's worth of free time. I guess we did shoot it exactly one month ago haha. But It's finally finished, and as usual any criticism is appreciated! There were a couple of effects we were going for from the get go, the "Iron Man" drop in and the Star Trek skydiving scene and a bullet time sequence. There's also a bit of behind the scenes footage at the end.

Shot on Canon 7D's with 28 mm f/1.8 and a 50mm f/1.8 lenses.
Behind the Scenes video and main audio recorded on JVC HM100

Watch in HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cVXX6Vd7ro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cVXX6Vd7ro
 
Wow. I like it. Very nice.

Here's a few notes on the soundtrack if you don't mind me writing them:

Last footstep of the kid in the white shirt should be a scuffle. Right now it's a regular footstep and sounds odd.

When he says "danny" I hear a ton of small-room reverb on it. Was this ADR done in a small room? Try moving the mic a bit tighter or going outside in your backyard to record it.

You have a wrong sound for the mercedes door. What is in the mix sounds too metallic and too much like a old 60's car. Newer mercedes have more of a "thump" when they close. Make it sound expensive.

Add a bit more foley for the box. Make the latches more crisp and expensive-sounding. It's a main character of the story, the box.

Make the drop down on the cement landing bigger. Add some rubble afterwards.

If I were supervising and mixing the sound, I'd ask for the score to fade to nothing after he lands to add tension. I'm talking 0 volume and nothing playing - dead silence until the first gunshot he fires. Then pop a reverse reverb on the first gunshot he fires.

Add a nice outdoor slap echo on the guns. The scene takes place next to the outdoor wall of a big warehouse. Do yourself a favor and walk up to a big building like that and yell at it. Make loud noises, clap like a gunshot and see how it sounds. There is a very distinct slap-back to the sound which I would like to hear there. More realistic and will make the guns fit more in the scene.

I'd like to hear more foley from the guys running and such.

The gun bullet and bazooka when they are in slow-mow, time shift the effect of the rocket or jet that you have in there so they are also pitched down and also add in a really low rumble. This is a great opportunity for that. Your reference is the first bomb in The Hurt Locker, there is an awesome low frequency effect that gets added when it is very slow-mow and it works great for those matrix-y type shots.

There was no body fall for the guy who gets torched.

Add in a nice little whimper/grunt for the guy hiding behind the box. Make him more wimpy and pitiful.

Again, there is a great opportunity for the score to go sparse when he's waiting to be shot in the forehead and then the gun turns to his handcuff. Right now the score is too much like a track from an album. It starts and it goes and goes. I'd like to hear it ebb and flow. Watch the Matrix - even the tracks in the fighting scenes stop for big dramatic events like what I am talking about here.

If I were shooting, I'd zoom in on his eyeball behind his glasses so you don't see anything except his eye behind the shades when the gun goes off and therefore the flash reflection of the gunshot is bigger in the frame and more dramatic and there is more feeling of "what happened? Did he get shot in the face or...?"

Otherwise it looked great and I like the sound - very professional. That is just the extra detail I'd put on it if I were doing the job. It's what I do for a living here in Hollywood.

I loved the plastic-band casio the bad guy is wearing, too. lol.
 
Last edited:
That's really great! The "Star Trek" and "Iron Man" nods were impeccably done. The bullet-time didn't quite convince me. I think you need like 50 cameras to pull that effect off, but if you prove me wrong, it wouldn't be the first time somebody's done that.

Definitely some very good SFX! Kudos.
 
ROC said:
Here's a few notes on the soundtrack if you don't mind me writing them
Click to expand...

I absolutely don't mind, that's some really solid advice thanks! I've been editing for years but have never done much sound or foley before. I have a great sound effects library but it is all stock stuff. I'll definitely capture more of the sounds from actual props for the next project. I appreciate the input for sure!

Thanks to you too Cracker Funk!
 
I reminds me of the Matrix. Great job. I think if you follow the sound effect advise in ROC post it may even be better. Any tips on how you did your effects. It looks like green screen for the guy doing the fall. How did you get the footage to make it look real maybe some sky diving footage. How about the landing how was that pulled off. It looked real good. Reminds me of Neo from the Matrix and how he flew and landed. Then attacked mr. Smith. Was the bullets flying done with Adobe After effect? Also the landing reminded me of Hancock.
 
Last edited:
Let me know when you have done my fixes and resubmit, please.

:)

I wonder if I had time if I did the sound for this short real quick. Would you mind?
 
Last edited:
Oh and @rockerrockstar-

Yep, all of the skydive stuff was chroma key with a leaf blower in his face to generate the wind haha. You can see a small clip during the credits with all of the behind the scenes bits. When he landed was actually just him jumping in place, and I rotoscoped him starting at the peak of his jump, drug him to the top of the frame and then back down. Had to play with the shadow and add motion blur to get it to look right.

The bullet animation was done in Cinema 4D, then brought into After Effects with the camera data to make the AE camera match the animation of the camera footage and smoke/muzzle flash etc..
 
@ROC Haha, I thought that question might be coming :) Budget is definitely spent for that project, but there are many more on the horizon if you want to keep in touch. I could, however, mail you a beer :D
 
We're thinking about it. The original aim of this was really just "practice". We had some ideas we wanted to try and we're gearing up and working out kinnks in our production workflow getting ready for a feature. The response has been pretty well received though, so if we found the right festivals for a 2 minute short we just might

It'll take some research though to find the right ones. Haha, it was only first considered this morning.
 
How did you get that shot that shows the ground coming at him when he is flying. Was that stock footage? Where did you find sound for when he is diving or the missles? Pretty cool stuff. I know sounddogs.com has a lot of cool sound effects.
 
Last edited:
Going pro as in hiring it out? For sure, on the right project though. The feature and series that we're doing will have the full crew from start to finish. The random shorts in between though are done minimally.

The last free fall shot was a stock aerial still with the actor keyed on top and some clouds rushing past the camera. The sound effects came from (I believe) a stock library from Sony. Just random wind noises layered on top of an "eerie breath" clip. The missile/slow gun shot sound was a mix of a canon, explosion, some wooshes and a bit of a "crackling fire" haha.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top