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watch VIPER (A Hitchcockian Thriller)

The Viper is coming...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBeJMbXW-x0
A lone criminal, hiding in a safe house, is terrorized by a mysterious caller.

This short film draws inspiration from the cinematic stylings of Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and 'The Twilight Zone.' This short was shot in 2 days on the Canon 5D mark ii, and cost only $200 to make.

The film stars Bruce Spielbauer (Sargosi), Marco Garcia (Viper), and Mike Tracy (Sullivan).

The Director of Photography was Dillon Schneider of "Reel Big Films." The Original Score was composed by myself, George Streicher; and the short was cut by Austin Harvey Stock and Diandra Kendall Luzon.

We all hope you enjoy our little film and ask you to please SUBSCRIBE in support of our current and future filmmaking efforts!



Check out some of the BEHIND THE SCENES videos below!
To see more, go to GWSFilms on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZaWLQb6bh0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WuUvmjRpP8​
 
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Wow.

Just,

Wow.

I have some ideas I'd like to throw at you on sound but otherwise, great job!

Let me know if you want to hear them.
 
Very well shot, very well acted.

I'm not sure I am completely sold on the ending.
Maybe if you made a purpose for "Sully" to do what he did. Like he was tired of the main character's crap and wanted him to suffer. So he set up the whole scenario so that would happen before he was killed.

That's about the only issues I had with the film. Loved the score, it really set the tone. The direction was phenomenal and it sucked me in from the beginning.

Great film!
 
I am THRILLED that you all liked it so much!

Just so you all know - this is not the final sound. We are still fine tuning the ADR and working on the mix. I'm hoping to have the final sound mix up on Vimeo in the next few weeks.

PLEASE feel free to give us any notes/qualms about sound that you think we should adjust. Thank you all!
 
It's the fist time I see a video made with a DSLR that looks "cinematic" to me. I have to revise my judgment about DSLRs.

Did you do a lot of post-processing, color grading?
 
It's the fist time I see a video made with a DSLR that looks "cinematic" to me. I have to revise my judgment about DSLRs.

Did you do a lot of post-processing, color grading?

I'm glad to hear that! We didn't really do much color correction, just balancing some shots. Most of the look was achieved on set/in camera. The 5D truly is an impressive little camera.

I just added some Behind the Scenes videos at the top post of the thread. We documented the entire "making of."
 
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Your DP sure knows what he's doing.

But $200, that's hard to believe. Everybody must have worked for free, including your DP and actors. From your "making of" you had all that fancy equipment: dolly+rails, big lamps, etc.

We're all film students. My DP and his crew all go to the same school and have acquired this equipment over the years. The actors worked for free and we got a ton of PA help from our local high school's A/V Club.

Called in a lot of favors, but then again, we're all just trying to make as many movies as we can!
 
Ok cool! You asked for it!

:33 wind is too big for the lack of air flow that you see and a bit too loud. I'd make it a little more whistly and soft.

1:10 The airplane ticket sounds a bit too much like a large newspaper. Any way to get a smaller piece of paper to re-record that foley? That would be cool.

Hitchcock films are renowned for loud and seemingly out-of-place sound effects while still staying in the story. If you want to add a couple more details, I'd make the clock sound harsher - especially for the close-up at 2:20. Make it more "in your face" and annoying to set the audience on edge.

2:37 ADR noticeably out of sync.

2:49 add a click for the disconnection on the other line. You can make it more violent to add to the suspense.

I like the pill bottle foley.

Heartbeat way too cliche. I'd put in a low-end throbbing maybe.

3:50 fade to 0, nothing, I want to hear nothing but silence. Take out the high ring before the telephone, and turn that telephone ring up about 10 dB in your DAW to really jolt the audience. I'd also put a reverb tail on the music and FX before the fade-out to really transition into nothing and lull the audience into the jolt. The reference here is Inception when Leo and the girl are in the car on the first level of the guy's dream - they are inside the car when it's raining and all sound cleverly drops to nothing and all you hear is the rain on the windshield and then BAM, the train hits the car. This is using your dynamics to help you make the audience want to feel what you want them to feel. Also, to make the telephone more harsh, boost up around 2K - 6K, high mids, to really make it rip and jolt the audience.

4:05 the FX sequence of him crawling over to the phone is too dry. Add some small room verb on it. For a project like this one which takes place in one small wooden room, I would have brought my mics to the set (same room if possibly) after the edit of the picture was done and re-recorded all the movement and foley and even the telephone foley inside the room so you get the natural acoustics of the sound. I would have also done the ADR like this as well. Since you already know the location and it's probably still available to you, I would have done this. But, now since it's so close, go ahead and add some verb on pretty much every movement so it sounds more realistic. This was done to great effect on "The King's Speech", and I know the sound designers who did 127 Hours, and for that movie, they actually built a small sandstone chasm inside a studio to record their foley in to make it true to the acoustics - it was something they wanted to get from the recordings and not have to add later with digital plug-ins and reverb units - it just sounds way more natural. This is all under the heading: "Worldizing".

4:30 I'm not so sure the bongos on the right in the mix contribute to the suspense.

Add more delays and flanging on the voices you've edited nicely. They're a bit too dry.

Now that you're in this guy's world now, make those telephone rings more "in your face" like the last ones were. You can do a lot with sound to make it just rack on the audience's nerves.

6:05 make that desk move more grating and screeching to add to the suspense and louder.

6:28 same point on the phone.

Sullivan sounds a little like a higher-pitched voice trying to sound deeper. IMHO I think it sounds a bit corny. Any way to re-record his voice on the phone call?

7:25 a bit sparse at he climax. The volume here should be at 11. Add more dynamics into it.

One idea I just had for the climax, though, is out of No Country for Old Men. The scene where he's inside the hotel room and the bad guy is walking up to the door with the beep of the tracking device, remember this scene? You could possibly re-edit the picture with more time on the door and allow foley to create scary footsteps and fade all other sound to nothing - even music - so you just hear the footsteps, and then BAM - dynamics up to 11 after you lulled the audience with only playing footsteps at a very low level and adding suspense that way, and then blowing them away with a loud music cue and door opening etc. etc. etc. like you have there. I think the climax is just a bit too predictable right now. That's what I'd do.

Great drop-off at 7:50.

8:00 his ADR laughing a bit too dry. Add some verb.

8:33 love the gun-shot sound and tonality and verb.

8:40 the conversation is a bit too dull and hard to understand and low in volume. For the whole conversation I'd add a bit of top around 10K back to the voices. Lapel mics, right?


I want this short film to sound good. I used to tell this same story (without the backstab in the end) as a kid - classic campfire horror story.
 
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Ok cool! You asked for it!

:33 wind is too big for the lack of air flow that you see and a bit too loud. I'd make it a little more whistly and soft.

1:10 The airplane ticket sounds a bit too much like a large newspaper. Any way to get a smaller piece of paper to re-record that foley? That would be cool.

Hitchcock films are renowned for loud and seemingly out-of-place sound effects while still staying in the story. If you want to add a couple more details, I'd make the clock sound harsher - especially for the close-up at 2:20. Make it more "in your face" and annoying to set the audience on edge.

2:37 ADR noticeably out of sync.

2:49 add a click for the disconnection on the other line. You can make it more violent to add to the suspense.

I like the pill bottle foley.

Heartbeat way too cliche. I'd put in a low-end throbbing maybe.

3:50 fade to 0, nothing, I want to hear nothing but silence. Take out the high ring before the telephone, and turn that telephone ring up about 10 dB in your DAW to really jolt the audience. I'd also put a reverb tail on the music and FX before the fade-out to really transition into nothing and lull the audience into the jolt. The reference here is Inception when Leo and the girl are in the car on the first level of the guy's dream - they are inside the car when it's raining and all sound cleverly drops to nothing and all you hear is the rain on the windshield and then BAM, the train hits the car. This is using your dynamics to help you make the audience want to feel what you want them to feel. Also, to make the telephone more harsh, boost up around 2K - 6K, high mids, to really make it rip and jolt the audience.

4:05 the FX sequence of him crawling over to the phone is too dry. Add some small room verb on it. For a project like this one which takes place in one small wooden room, I would have brought my mics to the set (same room if possibly) after the edit of the picture was done and re-recorded all the movement and foley and even the telephone foley inside the room so you get the natural acoustics of the sound. I would have also done the ADR like this as well. Since you already know the location and it's probably still available to you, I would have done this. But, now since it's so close, go ahead and add some verb on pretty much every movement so it sounds more realistic. This was done to great effect on "The King's Speech", and I know the sound designers who did 127 Hours, and for that movie, they actually built a small sandstone chasm inside a studio to record their foley in to make it true to the acoustics - it was something they wanted to get from the recordings and not have to add later with digital plug-ins and reverb units - it just sounds way more natural. This is all under the heading: "Worldizing".

4:30 I'm not so sure the bongos on the right in the mix contribute to the suspense.

Add more delays and flanging on the voices you've edited nicely. They're a bit too dry.

Now that you're in this guy's world now, make those telephone rings more "in your face" like the last ones were. You can do a lot with sound to make it just rack on the audience's nerves.

6:05 make that desk move more grating and screeching to add to the suspense and louder.

6:28 same point on the phone.

Sullivan sounds a little like a higher-pitched voice trying to sound deeper. IMHO I think it sounds a bit corny. Any way to re-record his voice on the phone call?

7:25 a bit sparse at he climax. The volume here should be at 11. Add more dynamics into it.

Great drop-off at 7:50.

8:00 his ADR laughing a bit too dry. Add some verb.

8:33 love the gun-shot sound and tonality and verb.

8:40 the conversation is a bit too dull and hard to understand and low in volume. For the whole conversation I'd add a bit of top around 10K back to the voices. Lapel mics, right?

Thanks, man! I'll send this to my sound guy. Are you a pro audio tech?
 
Thanks, man! I'll send this to my sound guy. Are you a pro audio tech?

Yes. ADR Mixer, Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer. Nice to meet you.

Re-read my suggestions - I've added a lot to my post above since you quoted it.
 
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Let me know how it goes and I can listen to the next version and give you more notes if you want.

I want this sounding perfect.

I think it can go far. It's got potential.
 
Let me know how it goes and I can listen to the next version and give you more notes if you want.

I want this sounding perfect.

I think it can go far. It's got potential.

Sounds like a plan! I'll definitely post it on Vimeo for more notes in a few weeks. I'm glad you think it has potential - it's awesome that you all enjoy it. :D

Thanks again for the notes!
 
You're very welcome. I like helping.

A few weeks??

I could get those notes done in a few hours. C'mon now!

Filmmaking is fast! No time to waste!

Who is doing your sound editing and mixing? A team or just one guy?
 
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