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watch Trailer for "Coup de Théâtre" — feature-length dramatic heist comedy shot on a 5D/7D

seanparkerfilms

seanparkerfilms

Trailer for "Coup de Théâtre" — feature-length dramatic heist comedy shot on a 5D/7D

http://vimeo.com/12247176

Coup de Théâtre is a feature-length comedy about a disillusioned film crew that hijacks their company’s latest production, improving it behind the director’s back.

This project has been a labor of love and 4 months of shooting (and counting! — although principal photography has wrapped).

Feel free to ask any questions! Thanks for watching.
 
I really like the concept and from what I see here it was well executed :) The beginning scene looked pretty dark and it was a bit hard to see, but maybe that's because it's on a computer monitor.

I also really liked the over-dramatic pacing/music/vibe of the trailer. Does the whole film have that feel or is it gonna be more light-hearted?

How are you going to be releasing/marketing the film? Is it your first feature? If so what made filming a feature different than a short (if anything) and did you learn anything valuable along the way which you could share with us?

Thanks for sharing :)
 
I'm at work, so I can't get audio...but the photography is nice, as is the editing. Nice use of the 5 and 7 Ds.
 
This trailer is a lot more overly-dramatic than the film itself, which is more leaning toward comedy but has some serious dramatic elements. So yeah, it will be a fair bit more lighthearted (somewhere down the line when post is a lot further along, I'll probably do a second trailer that's more indicative of the comedy side).

We've got a few more months of work to do on it and don't have much of a release plan aside from festival submission, and we'll see what happens from there.

Dreadylocks said:
Is it your first feature?
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Well... it's the first feature I've directed that I'd feel comfortable showing to the public! I made a couple high-school features that were pretty ridiculous, so with this film I decided to make something that didn't look like a teenager threw together (no offense to teenagers, but I was one myself quite recently!).

It's hard to compare the process of filming this versus a short because I haven't made any shorts that are on the same level. I imagine that if a short were a character-driven piece, the on-set process wouldn't be terribly different from this feature — the main differences are that a feature can be a really long haul. I'm not an experienced filmmaker though so I can't say too much more than that on the subject.

Dreadylocks said:
did you learn anything valuable along the way which you could share with us?
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Where to begin? Well, I highly recommend anyone to experience making a low-budget feature (from the ground up, starting with an original screenplay) if they haven't already. It's a grueling, humbling, frightening, amazing process that will change you and make you a better person/filmmaker if you make it through. I really can't think of any experience in my life that's taught me more. Sorry for not fully answering your question but please feel free to ask about specific areas and I'm sure I can help.
 
seanparkerfilms said:
Where to begin? Well, I highly recommend anyone to experience making a low-budget feature (from the ground up, starting with an original screenplay) if they haven't already. It's a grueling, humbling, frightening, amazing process that will change you and make you a better person/filmmaker if you make it through. I really can't think of any experience in my life that's taught me more. Sorry for not fully answering your question but please feel free to ask about specific areas and I'm sure I can help.
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Haha! No, I gotcha. That works. I'm inspired. :)
 
I'm at work, so I can't get audio...but the photography is nice, as is the editing. Nice use of the 5 and 7 Ds.
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Yeup nice photography. I'm checking out those cams myself.

I want to see this film. A couple of points:

- I thought the opening scene was weak. The actors are fine but it was too slow and the sets were boring as hell. I would reshoot in a more interesting location. Also, I need to know where the tension is. There wasn't enough. I would have clicked off by then if I wasn't checking out the 5D. 20 seconds is a lifetime in Youtube land.

- The well shot, exciting looking scenes from the rest of the movie looked GREAT and sold me on the film. But I need to see more dialogue to know what was really going on. As a trailer viewer, I'm left thinking. "Why did he only show me a bit of dialogue, was that really his best scene?"

Lots of cool looking characters had me intrigued.

*

Where to begin? Well, I highly recommend anyone to experience making a low-budget feature (from the ground up, starting with an original screenplay) if they haven't already. It's a grueling, humbling, frightening, amazing process that will change you and make you a better person/filmmaker if you make it through. I really can't think of any experience in my life that's taught me more. Sorry for not fully answering your question but please feel free to ask about specific areas and I'm sure I can help.
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Awesome. I've never made a feature before, so respect for getting it together.
 
Thanks for the critique, very good to hear. You know, I probably shoulda followed that age-old advice about "never let your feature editor be the trailer cutter!" I just don't quite have the mindset needed to edit a scene for trailers.

I'll keep your suggestions in mind down the line when we get ready to release a second trailer. We won't be able to reshoot anything, but there will be a heavier dialogue focus. Thanks again!
 
PositiveFuture said:
The actors are fine but it was too slow and the sets were boring as hell. I would reshoot in a more interesting location. Also, I need to know where the tension is. There wasn't enough. I would have clicked off by then if I wasn't checking out the 5D. 20 seconds is a lifetime in Youtube land.
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This was my feeling, I was also trying to figure out what lenses you shot with. Yet, I can accept you're not an editor, so i won't dig too much about not feeling the comedic element initially, but i did eventually. I'll only echo what previous posts have said, more dialogue in the next trailer, show us it's a comedy.

Overall, kudos to you, it's an achievement that we can only applaud.

Congrats my man, let us know when we can see the final cut! :D
 
Yeah, I'd do away with all the dramatic musical montage trailer stuff. It drags on, and it doesn't tell us anything about the story. I guess I'm the voice of dissent, in that I actually liked that first scene -- it told me what's going on. I'll agree with the others though, in saying that I think the trailer would benefit from showing us that it is a comedy. And, cut the length in half. And, nevermind with the names of all the actors -- we don't know them; that only works when you've got Brad Pitt in big letters.

I gotta say, it looks gorgeous. Nice work with the cameras.
 
Thanks for the tips. When I get around to the second trailer, I'll make it more concise and have less pointless name-dropping. Oh, and the next one will be funny, promise!

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, exactly what I was hoping to get from this forum -- honest, objective critique. And I'm really glad to hear that the footage looks good -- much of that can be attributed to the cameras themselves (they're phenomenal gadgets), but I'm very happy with what the gaffers pulled off too.
 
This looks good,really good...fun idea which seems to have been executed well...will watch when its out...if its accessible...goodluck
 
I just watched it again. I think the first minute of this trailer is really good. It gets me interested in what is to come. My opinion -- keep that bit, but instead of following it with 2 minutes of random stuff that we don't really know what is going on with, follow it with 20-30 seconds of super-rapid-fire sound-bites that tell us more of the story and maybe a hint of the comedy.
 
much of that can be attributed to the cameras themselves (they're phenomenal gadgets),
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OK, but I've been scouting for 5D footage these past few days and there's plenty of mediocre stuff shot with it. So don't undersell your photography. The colours were great, on the trailer at least. I agree with CF's advice on recutting the trailer. I would keep some of the actor's names in though, but quicker. It doesn't matter if they're not Brad Pitt, they're you star actors, so get their names up there, just don't make a meal of it.

I would enhance the comedy in the trailer with a bit of tense or tragic music.

Out of interest: Why can't you reshoot? Money? availability?

Whatever happens, you're in territory that few of us have explored, so good luck and keep us posted.
 
Depending on which scenes, reshooting a little might be possible, but I haven't seen a reason to do so yet — though I might find a problem area or two in the editing stage. We are extremely low budget though, and we've been in production since January and are ready for a rest (as much as you can call post a rest, that is!). So if nothing demands a reshoot, I think we'd all be willing to let it slide unless something truly is compromising the quality of the movie that's within our power to fix. Also, I'm sure many of the actors have made commitments to other projects now and might not be available.
 
I understand about burnout. I'm slowly cutting a feature length doc together myself and it's exhausting at times. Taking a week or two off is a good idea sometimes.
 
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