archived-videos Watch my short film 'The Dark Night'

[Leao]

I've just finished a short film using Final Cut based on a poem by 16th century Spanish mystic St John of the Cross called 'The Dark Night of the Soul'. There is no music in the film that I hope accentuates its stark moodiness.

Watch 'THE DARK NIGHT' here

I would be very grateful if you would watch the film online and post me some constructive criticism. It's only 2 minutes long.

 

[cinematography]

Hello Leo,

I just finished watching The Dark Night. I thought it was a very fascinating piece. I’m a big fan of visual poetry, and by having the poem read over the visuals made the viewing experience even more effective for me. I had a slight problem understanding your voice over artist, and the QuickTime compression compromised the quality of your video. Aside from that, I thought the piece was very subtle and moving. Very nice work.

 

[John@Bophe]

Hi,

I liked the movie. The stark visuals go well with the poetic voice over. I will agree with cinematography that the voiceover was not a clear as I would have liked, but overall I found if fascinating!

 

[Leao]

Thanks for your kind words.
I'm going to redo The Dark Night movie - making it stagger, blur in/out as if it’s from the perspective of someone struggling in pain and therefore more reflective of the poem's feel.

Snowleopard sent me this message that encouraged me to rethink things...

My chief criticism is that while some of the shots were good, and the mood they created was fine, they didn't seem to match the poem that closely, nor tell much of a story on their own. As a test, try watching it with no sound, and see if you can tell what I mean. Does it tell a visual story we can follow? I didn't think so.

peace - Leao

 

[bird]

Leao,

Just watched your piece, 'The Dark Night'. I think you've, successfully, established a sombre mood with the b/w, vignetted images accompanied by a single narrator. The compression made it hard for me to tell if these were photographs you panned, dissolved, and zoomed in on. All in all, I very much liked your work. You must have quite the repertoire, from the poetic to the commercial (phone film-which I also enjoyed).