archived-videos Up in Smoke

That's odd.

I have DivX on this particular computer... on others without, I should be able to see a black screen but hear the audio play. This video just kills Media Player. I can't even pull up information on the clip, in Properties.

(While a great CoDec, many don't have DivX installed. It's an optional download and they still have that whole spyware-cloud hanging over them. It's hard to regain trust.)
 
Corrupt AVI header for me. There is a sweet (free) little progie called GSpot that will diagnose AVI's, just google it.

This avi plays the first minute and twenty seconds for me. Codec is "DivX 3 Fast-Motion". This error could be my download but I doubt it since I tried it three times and it dies at the same point every time. I would try to re-upload it or find a better place to host your files.
 
Oops, almost forgot, what little bit I saw I can crit for you.

The opening titles are a little rough but the smoke line when you give the title of the movie is terrific! The puffs of smoke that appear against the multicolored light need some help or just keep using that really cool smoke line. The titles themselves take to long. They should be snappier, faster. To me they linger too long, I'd cut their time in half. I'd also fade the whole title in rather than one word at a time.

You have an ambient sound problem, I can hear the floor squeek for your actor and the camera guy walking behind him, LOL. My guess is you're using an omni-directional mic, probably the one attatched to your camera. Either shoot this on a floor that doesn't squeek or get a shot gun mic.

The young man in the chair by the window gets washed out by the sunlight. Close the curtains or go outside and throw up something to difuse it. Say an opaque shower curtain, $5.95 at K-mart (that's what I use).

You could zip the dialog up a little...

"Mike I'm going to go to the bathroom."
"Okay."

Could be...

"I gotta piss."
"TMI."
"TMI?"
"Too much information."
"Yeah, well I'm also going beat off. How's that for TMI?."
"Ewwwwwww! You are just wrong."

You know how you walk away from some conversations thinking, "Gosh I could have said blah blah blah and that would have been really cool." When you makes films, you get to go back and do just that. :D

But then again I saw only a small bit of your movie.

That's all I have to say with what little I saw of it. I hope this helps some. ;) Keep shooting!
 
Thanks for the crit, Boz. I've learned much since then and appreicate you taking time for watching at least a couple minutes of it :D

I agree about the roughness of the opening credits, but I disagree about the length of the credits. I actually like long credits in the beginning (if they supply visuals). I think it is just a personal preference though. Although, the credits have absolutely nothing to do the film itself, except for the smoke.

The camera couldn't have a more omnidirectional mic on it You work with what you have or so I'm incessantly told :P

The wash out or, as I call it, "the overwhelming radiance" was done on purpose. It starts off (after the credits) with a semi-bright and cheerly mood. As it the film goes on the light changes into darkness and thus changes the mood. Darkness can be very decieving. But it could have been controlled better and I failed to do so. :(


"You know how you walk away from some conversations thinking, "Gosh I could have said blah blah blah and that would have been really cool." When you makes films, you get to go back and do just that."

Yeah, I wanted to do that with most of this film, but my friend doesn't like to 'invest' time into making films. :grumpy: Ha, I need to find a fun, but solemn film group. He isn't that agreeable and really isn't interested in this type of thing. He just wanted to 'go with the flow' and just adlib everything :hmm: As a friend, I made sacrifices and as did he, I guess. Otherwise, there would have been more dialogue.

I fixed the compression, but I can't find a good upload site. I don't have my own website to upload files to and I can't find any "free" uploading sites. Any ideas for this? Thanks again, Boz.
 
You work with what you have or so I'm incessantly told :P
Click to expand...

It's always nice to have the next step up... but ultimately this is sound advice. :cool:

Too many people remain eternally on the verge of creating something, while holding out for a better camera... or a better sound-recorder... or a better <insert next excuse here>

If one has to work with what they have, then do it. :)

I can't find any "free" uploading sites. Any ideas for this?
Click to expand...

www.PicaPic.net - videos in QT & WMV up to 40mb in size.
 
Zensteve said:
It's always nice to have the next step up... but ultimately this is sound advice. :cool:
Click to expand...

I heartily agree. I love movies that create something really novel with so little. Namely, one of my personal favorites, Night of the Living Dead. But that is just my opinion.



Zensteve said:
www.PicaPic.net - videos in QT & WMV up to 40mb in size.
Click to expand...

Ewh, I need something that can go up to at least 1 GB, such as www.yousendit.com, but it takes too long to upload and hardly ever works for me :(
 
I need something that can go up to at least 1 GB
Click to expand...

A gig? :eek:

How long is this? (The original DL wasn't a gig... just 25mb)

Regardless, keeping in mind the target audience ('net-based) you should be getting anywhere from 1mb to 5mb per minute for acceptable quality. That's 300mb (per hour of viewing time) maximum... down to 60mb if you crunch it just right.

Do you need help with compression?
 
Hmm...only 25 MB... Maybe that's why you're only getting part of it. Without compression the quality is excellent at 2.5 Gb. With Divx Compression it is around 500 MB and that's the size I uploaded. Maybe it didn't fully upload. I wanted good quality at a low size. I guess I should try again?
 
You can set up your own web site at home (totally free) if you have an 'always on' type of Internet connection. You can also set up an FTP site for free as well, problem with FTP is most people have no idea how to use an FTP client.
 
Oh, ya. I've made my own free websites, but they were limiting. I never knew you could set up a FTP site for free :cool: I have every idea how to use an FTP client:D
 
I'm not talking about making a web site and having someone host it for you, for free. I'm talking about turning your computer into an Internet web site host itself. Apache and Abyss web server software are free, so is a dynamic DNS service (dyndns dot com or no-ip dot com). Host it yourself totally free, but beware, some ISP's tell you if they find you using a server with their bandwidth (mind you the bandwidth you pay for) they can cancel your account. Read your TOS to be sure or simply shut it down if they catch you.

As for the FTP server, check out Serv-U or BulletProof FTP Servers. I've used both of those and they work as advertised. You'll have to pay for them but it's a good investment since the free FTP server software sucks. But I haven't tested them all. ;)

The biggest problem with FTP isn't if you know how to use an FTP client, it's whether or not everyone you want to show your movie to does. You don't have that problem with a web server.

I wrote a tutorial on how to set up your own web host server. Care to have a gander?
 
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Yes, I would love to gander :) Except, I don't have any extra money right now to pay for a FTP client. :( Major boo. Maybe I should stick to small video files and free upload sites. :grumpy:
 
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