Not So Long Awaited... Film of some sort

[LGM]

Yes, here is a short film I have spent the last couple of weeks producing. The original idea came from Iqu, so props to him.

It was supposed to be serious and scary and stuff originally, but I changed it into a campy, fun silent film thing.

The Silent Movie (56kers Beware!)

If it's not apparent, the boy wakes up deaf and the film shows the crazy circumstances that arise because of this. I apologize for the ending, because, well, production was rushed.

As always, Enjoy!

[Renal Shutdown]

You've butchered the original concept, you talentless philistine..

Er, I'll post more when I can be bothered to watch it.

EDIT:

The movie's 8.7 meg, by the way.

[PsychicHeart]

good one, man. it could be put under almost every genre.
adventure
comedy
mystery ( as the question, Why did he become deaf in the first place arises )
.... and a couple more.
Looking forward to a sequel...
once again, good job.

[Renal Shutdown]

My original post stands.

EDIT:

V wipe? Effing V wipe?

[Phemar]

I enjoyed it. Pleeeaase do me one favour: Change the format to MPG or something!

[monkey0506]

I've really forgotten what it's like to be a 56k-er...   That must really suck.  I get pissed when my download speed drops below 100kb/s (which is most of the time lol, stupid satellite).  Nice video BTW.  The ending was kind of...rushed...

[Oliver]

offtopic: I was a 56er once, It really got on my nerves (sp). But now I got DSL and I freal g-g-g-g-grreat!

About the movie, the choice of music was just fantastic. And the camera work was very good too. I really enjoyd watching the movie, but the ending sucks (lets face it!).
Hope to see more brilliant movies from Snapshot Studios;)

[PsychicHeart]

the dude kissing the teacher... he's gonna have a hard time going back tomorrow.

[Phemar]

Do not insult me. You disgust me by even associating me with the 56k scum that roams our planet.

I am a proud owner of a 64k leased line. (okay, not much difference. Sue me!)

[Renal Shutdown]

Lilly, could you do me a favor and upload the scene structure/treatment for the film, and a copy of the script?

[LGM]

I never wrote a real script, but I can give you the treatment/structure thingy I wrote:

http://www.lilgryphmaster.com/temp/deaf.rtf

Like I said, we were rushed near the end and I had to change a few things. But hey, that's showbiz.

Thanks for the comments so far. And I agree, the ending sucks.

[Renal Shutdown]

Well, that's the same scene structure you sent me a while ago, which I'm sure I told you needed work.
Sure, it's supposed to be simple, but I expected something with a little more content. ie:

Scene 1.
Alarm clock goes off but Boy doesn't wake up.  After a short while, he wakes up naturally and notices the time.  He thinks that the alarm must be broken, but doesn't give it much thought as he is running.  He quickly gets up and proceeds to get dressed for school.

You, me and Evenwolf have discussed scene structures and treatments before, so I won't go too far into that.

Next, we look at the reason behind the film.  Most short films have an under lying theme to them, sure some are just made to be funny, but most have a basic "pitch".   If someone asked you to give them a one line pitch of the movie, what would your response be?  This happens in the big movie industry, too.  Alien was pitched as "Jaws in Space".  The original concept I gave you was based on my fear of deafness.  You have turned it into something, that's, er..  well, I'm not too sure what message or emotion it's trying to convey.  It's also certainly not humorous enough to be labelled a comedy.

Star Wipes..  Sure, you didn't get this hokey, but you pulled off every other standard transition choice in your editing program's arsenal.  George Lucas uses wipes and stuff like that, sure, but that was Star Wars, and it's one of it's trade marks.  I wouldn't suggest you uses things like that, unless it's absolutely necessary.

I'm not even going to go into the music, since that was something I wasn't expecting.  As for the voice-over, it was kind of iffy.  Firstly, the "What the heck?" line seemed really out of place, and the rest of it didn't seem to have much emotion in.  Also, you'll need to practice on getting things in sync.  I'll let this slide, tho, since you did say the end was rushed.  One tip, buy or make a clapper board.  They're there to help get the video and audio in time when it comes to editing and dubbing.

Right, now that that's out of the way, on to the bitchiness.
I gave you a concept that could've made a decent short film, one you could have kept in your portfolio.  It was s'posed to be about a guy that wakes up with one of his worst fears becoming reality, but spending the whole film realising his situation.  He wasn't s'posed to realise immediately.  He wasn't s'posed to get talked to, he was s'posed to feel more and more alone and isolated as the film proceeded.  The wasn't s'posed to be gay music over the top, there was s'posed to be overly muffled sound effects, there was s'posed to be his voice, but with a completely lack of reverb (try talking with your fingers in your ears), there was s'posed to be a odd sound and feel to the film.  It was s'posed to make people feel something.  Something other than disappointment.

[LGM]

Dude, whoa... It was just a school project. I understand everything you say, but whoa there...

I know what I wanted it to be, but shit happens you know. I've got the rest of my life to make something better (I do want to make a career out of this.)

I'll revisit the deaf idea with the solemn, scary approach some time...  But just take this one for what it is: a silly little film.

Damn, Iqu... Were you impressed at ALL? I personally am satisfied with the camera work and atmosphere I created near the beginning.

I don't know what you mean by audio syncing , though, except for that voiceover bit (which was crap.) The music I just found on http://www.opsound.org and it fit rather well (IMO)

You have to admit, this is leaps and bounds better than Stuffed!

(Maybe you're just upset because the logo you made is put in front of such a silly film) :-p

Edit: And as far as the transitions go, so flippin what? I wanted the film to look like an old, cheest film. That's why I made it black and white. I'm well aware of the trivalty of transitions, and I put them in there on purpose. I'm not like Homer Simpson, in that episode where every transition he put in this video he was making was a "STAR WIPE!"

Oh and for a clapboard, I have one. But their not necessarily traditional when shooting DV. The only real use the "clap" has is for when you are filming with actual film. Sound is usually recorded in a different, seperate machine and the clap helps sync the audio. But I DO have a clapboard, usually called "slates," and I agree they help for editing the video.

[Renal Shutdown]

Sure, some of the camera work was pretty good.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not just slating you for no reason.Ã,  I'm telling you all this because I want you to improve.Ã,  If everyone came in and said "Great Work", "Awesome" or "I can't wait for a sequel", you'd never learn where you were going wrong.

As for the "silly little film" thing.Ã,  That's not the way you should think about movies if you seriously want a career in them.Ã,  Studios have hired people for their work on short films, and they've been given serious funding to make features.Ã,  Sure, I didn't think the deafness idea i gave you would do that, but you could have used it too convince local businessmen to give you some financial backing on your next short film project.Ã,  As it stands, you've used up an opportunity and are still at square one with zero budget.
(I'm guessing you were using some of the school's equipment, too?Ã,  Will you have the same access to it later?).

I've also noticed you're trying to do too much work on your own.Ã,  You wrote, directed, produced, edited and acting in this film, right?Ã,  Too much.Ã,  You're spreading your time and effort over way too many sections, and they'll all suffer because of it.

Directors are there to get the best performance from the actors.
Director of Photography is there to make it look as good as possible, following simple guidelines set by the director.
Writers are there to tell a story.
Editors are there to make something coherent out of reels and reels of film.
Producers are there to organise everything, with little or no creative input.

You need to sit down and think what role you want a career in, and concentrate on that section.Ã,  Get others to help you with the rest, but stick to the one thing.Ã,  Remember: Jack of all trades, master of none.

Also, on the technical side.Ã,  Lighting.Ã,  I'm not sure how much you know about it, but it's worth researching briefly.

Stuffed:Ã,  I can't say that this is leaps and bounds better.Ã,  Mainly due to the fact that I've not seen Stuffed.

EDIT:
Making it black and white is a very good plan for low budget films.  Making something in color look good with no cash is awfully hard and often not worth the effort.  Also, you saw that Simpson's episode, too?

[Helm]

LGM: when you recieve criticism, do not reply point by point. In fact, don't rebut at all. Say thank you, and go back to the drawing board.

[LGM]

Aye, I got a little emotional because he didn't say anything nice and I'm an ass. But hey, THANKS IQU I APPRECIATE IT. Truly I do:)

As for Jack of All Trades, I agree. Again, I must bring up that this was a small, tight little project and I didn't have the resources to get many crew.

Rest assured, I have a DoP and we often see eye-to-eye. And I would like to be a director. Acting and producing not so much, just something I had to do. Editing I enjoy thoroughly. IIRC, Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez both edit their films.

Meh, anyways, thanks for the crit as I do need it and I do take it into consideration.

This summer I hope to work with a fella I know who owns his own production company thing.

And yes, I was borrowing his equipment. We used a GL2 for the first half, and were forced into using a crap Canon Zr80 for the rest. I own my own glidecam, and my camera is a JVC consumer... It has nice color but crap sound and no mic inputs (If you have a solution for that, I'd be grateful)

Anyway, you'll see more serious attempts from me in the near future (I hope) so don't be discouraged. TIME is the large factor for me that ruins my chances at getting anywhere in film right now. But I plan to go to college and take production courses and get some REAL films done.. Possibly even in 16mm.

[Renal Shutdown]

Small, tight, little project..Ã,  I gave you the deaf idea a year ago.Ã,  If you're going to take it seriously, you need to put more effort in, regardless of time constraints.Ã,  You should have several scripts or scene structures ready to go at any time.

When I was more committed to the band, I was playing bass for six hours everyday.Ã,  The first CD we did was a nightmare.Ã,  I had blisters on my fingers and spent a few hours doing drop ins and over dubs.Ã,  Every song took about ten-twenty original takes to get the drums right.Ã,  Second CD, we put effort in.Ã,  Every song was done within three takes, and for the whole of my bass playing, I made two mistakes.Ã,  One of those was because we heard it back and thought "That doesn't work quite right" and altered the bassline accordingly.

My point is, I don't even think the band is more than a hobby at the moment, but I'm still willing to put the effort in because it's something I really care about.Ã,  Nothing you care about should be a Silly, Little Thing.Ã,  If Sam Raimi considered Within The Woods to be a silly, little film do you really think he'd have gone onto make Spiderman?

That's why in one of my earlier posts I mentioned "Disappointment".Ã,  It's not based on my opinion of the film itself, it's directed at you.Ã,  I know that you're much better than that, but you just seem to be a director when it suits you.Ã,  If you want a career in film, you'll have to put much, much more effort in than you're currently doing.Ã,  All your spare time should be devoted to it.Ã,  It sounds hard, sure, but if you're too lazy then you might as well just give up now.Ã,  If you have a passion, take it as far as you can.Ã,  Don't sit back and let it fall in your lap.

Summer.Ã,  Working for this dude.Ã,  Good plan.Ã,  The guy who made Lock, Stock..Ã,  Snatch and some other stuff.Ã,  Mrs. Madonna, Guy Ritchie, whatever.Ã,  He started work as a runner for a studio, getting paid crap but he made friends and connections and he had a passion for film.Ã,  This work could be your big break, don't squander it like the last opportunity.

Crap sound and no mic input.Ã,  You're probly best of getting a seperate audio recorder.Ã,  Don't faff around researching on site devoted to video equipment tho, go for something that specialises in music.Ã,  They often have better quality stuff, for a cheaper price. Hell, that's all they have.

[m0ds]

Iqu, it's not as easy as you might think when it comes to finding people to handle every different job like directing, editing and what not. You know as well as I do that friends are often hard to find and some internet people just aren't reliable enough... Kudos to LGM for doing so much himself. I haven't seen this piece yet though, it wouldn't download.

You need to sit down and think what role you want a career in, and concentrate on that section.

What about those of us that want to be film-makers? At first I wanted to be some great director, then DoP - but then I came to realise I want to be good at all parts of it. I want to be able to die with a DVD collection of my own films, and those films only need to satisfy me! I agree with you about spending as many waking moments as possible working on your passion, but when it comes to film - that again is a FAR harder process than having a band!

[LGM]

Thank you m0ds, I needn't say anything further.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I'd just like to drop in my two cents. I'm applying for the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema, that's a school for theatre and cinema for after you complete 12th grade (I don't know who it's called in English). In theatre they include stage directing, acting, cenography, and production. In cinema I have no idea what they include, but I think they include everything related to cinema. And there's a LOT to learn.

My point is twofold. First, and let me say I haven't seen the film, unless you've really got huge god-given talent, you have to know the ropes, and there are a LOT of ropes and techniques and rules to learn. Even if you plan to break them, you gotta know them for what they are.

Second, me, I know that if I ever need to I can try to go to that school, talk to people who are just finishing their course, and suggest a project. I have a play I'd really like to do, for instance - I've even translated the thing to Portuguese, and I swear I ain't gonna die before I do that play. I'm not ready to do it yet, but when I AM, I know I can go there, pick some newly-graduated producer and stage manager I feel I could work with (after having tried to see some of their work, of course), and an acting partner also, and then I can go. If there is some similar place over there, why not do the same? Even if you know nothing as regards those rules and techinques, they probably do, and you might learn a lot. You'd come in with the vision and the acting, they'd do the rest and teach you about it in the bargain. If they have the patience, I understand some people don't.

Well, these are my 2 cents, anyway.