THE FARMER - Maximus

[Maximus]

My first dvxuser fest! My first thread! My first movie poster! My first...

You get the idea. This is all new to me, but it sure is exciting! Finished "principal photography" yesterday, so that must mean post production has started already... I better start reading that FCP manual!

Good luck to all!

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/29533/1191376008.jpg

[Maximus]

Reserved for BTS

[marketmd]

BLOOD! Yesssss. Enough of all this spooky stuff. Good ol' slasher.

[DimmuJed]

so you gave us the title and a signature, but the thread is named after your film and you haven't rally gave us any info about that? Care to share? A lil hype never hurt.

[Maximus]

Hi DimmuJed,

Thanks for your interest! Yes, I will be giving more info, all in good time... Raise the curtain slowly... That famous stripper, Gypsy Rose I believe, always kept at least one giant feather covering the goods. Keeps the customers coming back for more! LOL.

Seriously, I just wanted to get my thread started. I announced my film last week on Jack's thread, but noticed it wasn't included on his infamous list. Hopefully I'll now make the "cut"... Mwaahaaahaaa!

I spent all of last evening in Photoshop, making my banner and poster. Have somehow succesfully uploaded my banner, but have so far been unsuccesful in my attempts to get my poster up. I must admit *blush* it looks pretty good for my first ever PS project. Will try again!

Ciao.

[Joops]

Looking forward to it! The banner creeps me out.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Looks good!

Mike

[Glideshot]

Nice Banner...Get that Poster UP!!!

Looking forward to it.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Bring on the gore, good luck on your first ever..... were pulling for ya!

[Weston]

Sounds cool! I made a movie that took place on a farm for my horrorfest entry last year. I dont know if this is actually about farmer or if its just a title...but I'm interested either way.

Good luck!

[Maximus]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I finally got my poster uploaded - my brain hurts, but in a good way:)

Now I can put away my "How to Photoshop" books, and dig into my "How to Edit in Final Cut Pro 3" books. Yeah, FCP3, I bought it back when it came out (circa 2002?), and haven't used it yet. Oh, well, better late than never. Hope I can start editing by the weekend, would be nice to have a rough cut by early next week. The 26th is looming!

Ciao.

[tmnt]

I was hoping someone wood do a good old horror slaher (if that's what it is). Brilliant straight to the point poster. Looking very forward to this.

[Joops]

Good looking poster!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice poster!

Cheers,

Mike

[DimmuJed]

I have a true scary story, buuuuut that has nothing to do with this thread.

[Maximus]

It's been awhile since my last update. I was temporarily derailed by technical difficulties, but am now back on track! The solution to my problem: Lacie d2 quadra Hard Drive. 500GB. No more dropped frames. Ahhh...

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Your new poster rocks! If you have any FCP questions maybe I can help, PM me and i'll see if I can help you if you get stuck.

[Maximus]

Your new poster rocks! If you have any FCP questions maybe I can help, PM me and i'll see if I can help you if you get stuck.

Thanks Movie Stunts. I appreciate the offer and I'll probably take you up on it.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

No problem.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

So how are things going? I'm looking forward to this one...


Mike

[Maximus]

So how are things going? I'm looking forward to this one...


Mike

Hey Mike,

Things are going pretty good. Editing away - trim, trim, trim. I wish we had more than five minutes, gotta cut out a lot of good stuff - ouch! Killing darlings.

Hope your shoot went well. Imagine you are editing away also.

By the way, saw Fear, gave it two thumbs up!

Cheers,
Glenn

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Thanks! I'm hoping to do a much deeper film than FEAR this time. We'll see. :)

Glad that things are going well.

Cheers,

Mike

[deedive]

Hey Mike,

Things are going pretty good. Editing away - trim, trim, trim. I wish we had more than five minutes, gotta cut out a lot of good stuff - ouch! Killing darlings.


hope your not cuttin too much. Hope we can see the directors cut also.

[Maximus]

hope your not cuttin too much. Hope we can see the directors cut also.

I almost have a locked cut. I'm at 5:15, and with a few more snips, should be under the limit. What I've found is I kinda like this new, lean, mean version. It's cut down to the essence, no fat, and it moves very fast! The only problem with that is my film is less suspense (as originally intended) and more action... I was trying for Alien, but ended up with Aliens! LOL. I wish!

I will probably do a director's cut, just for practice and fun, and to see how it all comes together - probably a 20 minute film! I would like my actors to at least see their hard work.

[mentatDUKE]

Haha. I completely feel your pain. I was kicking and screaming about having to cut ours down earlier, but you're suspicions are correct. You'll love the trimmed version. I agree with you regarding allowing for suspense and letting things breathe though.

[MOVIE MASTER]

IS THIS ONE OF THE FILMS WHERE THE FARMER CHOKES HIS CHICKENS? jk best of luck it looks freaky I have always that farmers are wierd missing teeth and all scare the femaldahide out of me!

[Maximus]

I agree with you regarding allowing for suspense and letting things breathe though.

When shortening the length, the first thing to go were the transition shots, like walking from one location to another.

Joe says, "Let's climb Mount Everest." Bob replies, "Sounds good. Let's go." Cut to: Joe and Bob stand atop Mount Everest. Joe gushes, "Boy, what a view!"

That's the style Law and Order uses. But sometimes you need the transitions. In a haunted house movie, it's the walking around that builds suspense. Unfortunately, that kind of suspense takes precious time to build.

Gotta use other techniques...

[Maximus]

IS THIS ONE OF THE FILMS WHERE THE FARMER CHOKES HIS CHICKENS?

No farm animals were harmed during the making of this film. We did enjoy a royal feast after though!

[mentatDUKE]

But sometimes you need the transitions. In a haunted house movie, it's the walking around that builds suspense. Unfortunately, that kind of suspense takes precious time to build.

Gotta use other techniques...


You're right. Conventional editing wisdom says "Get in late and get out early..." but in horror, going against "efficient" editing grammar screws with the viewer's heads in a good way. The "tease" is key. *shrug* Gotta find new techniques indeed.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

How's the editing going?

Mike

[Maximus]

Picture locked, 4:57. On to audio...

[Brandon Rice]

Nice work! The finish line is in sight! :thumbsup:

[Maximus]

Nice work! The finish line is in sight! :thumbsup:

Thanks, dude. The finish line is in sight, if I can keep my eyes open long enough to see it. :) I do most of my film work in the middle of the night, so am way behind on my beauty sleep. I am getting delirious! Must finish film... Must finish film...

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Update...

You going to make it?

[Maximus]

Icandoit, Icandoit, Icandoit,... CHOO CHOO!

Plan is to upload tomorrow morning... if all goes according to plan.

Happy to announce that Chris Hurn is scoring my film! I am blown away by what I've heard so far... Done in less than 24 hours! Ees good stuff mang!

[Maximus]

The Time is Near...

If you are brave enough to watch "The Farmer", I offer this simple warning:

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS!

...and enjoy the ride! :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Looking forward to it...

Mike

[Brandon Rice]

Yep! :thumbsup:

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Possible Spoilers....

The sound could have used some work on this one but I liked some of your shots and editing. I won't give too much away at this point though.

I'll comment more later...

Nice work man!

Mike

[bosindy]

SPOILER

Hey I admire your journey to make a film. It really is a tough thing to do and this is a good start. The criticism is meant to be constructive.

For some reason the playback was jumpy and strobing. I was very distracting. I thought the kids needed a little more direction. They were a little flat and it could have been improved with some coaching. The chase could be tightened up a bit to build tension. I would maybe rethink the pig noise that the killer makes.

The room you set up with the chopping block was genuinely terrifying and I thought it was well thought out. The stuff of the farmer approaching really built nicely.

Overall I admire the effort and look forward to seeing more from you in the future.

[Maximus]

Possible Spoilers....

The sound could have used some work on this one but I liked some of your shots and editing. I won't give too much away at this point though.

I'll comment more later...

Nice work man!

Mike


Yeah, sound... I didn't do a mix, ran outta time. Scheduling will be a priority on the next film, among many other things of course. :)

Thanks for watching!

[Maximus]

SPOILER

Hey I admire your journey to make a film. It really is a tough thing to do and this is a good start. The criticism is meant to be constructive.

For some reason the playback was jumpy and strobing. I was very distracting. I thought the kids needed a little more direction. They were a little flat and it could have been improved with some coaching. The chase could be tightened up a bit to build tension. I would maybe rethink the pig noise that the killer makes.

The room you set up with the chopping block was genuinely terrifying and I thought it was well thought out. The stuff of the farmer approaching really built nicely.

Overall I admire the effort and look forward to seeing more from you in the future.

Yeah, this was a real learning experience, to say the least! Some things I learned better than others.

I couldn't get a good quality compression under 50mg, that's why the jumpy strobe effect. It definetely wasn't intended! At 62mg the film looked pretty good, even at 51mg it was acceptable, but I could not get it below 50mg without going to 5fps, hence the look. I almost didn't send it in at that point, but decided that showing something (anything?) is better than nothing.

My sons were my reluctant "actors", and I'm pretty proud of their work, all things considered.

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

You have some great set pieces that added to the creepy atmosphere. The strobing affect reminded me of what happens when you try to make something look 24p that was recorded in 29.97 If that was the case you should have left it in 29.97 it would look more filmlike with a smart de-interlace and a good colorgrade.

[Maximus]

Thanks Movie Stunts.

I actually purchased Nattress Film Effects with the intend of using G Film: de-interlace, convert to 24p, cc, etc... but again, *sigh*, I ran outta time! I didn't even get a chance to install them - Next film I hope! What we see now is raw 29.97 shot with my reliable, but now obviously obsolete Sony PC115. The only post work I did was the widescreen matte, and blue tint added to the final scene, both in FCP3. I was surprised how easy it was to use those filters! They're kewl!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

That was something that I forgot to mention. The set scene (you know the one) was VERY well done. I could probably never create something that looked that good. Very realistic looking with great attention to detail.

The boys must have loved it! :)

[Marlon Ladd]

I applaud your effort for getting it done and I know what you mean about almost not turning it in, because you ran out of time and couldn't get it exactly how you wanted it.

The gitterness was a problem, but if the story wasn't intriguing, I wouldn't have finished it. I did. Bravo to your sons, but they're acting was a little flat (probably because they were reluctant like you said), but the set was cool and so were many of the shots. Cool poster too, if I haven't already said that.

[Kdawg]

Maximus, this was, aside from the technical problems, one of my favorite. The acting on the part of the kids could improve quite a bit. But that shot where you followed the farmer a little and just showed the axe and legs was great. And the very end was very creepy. Some shots jumped around and got me lost a bit as to who was where, but that is typical with horror style. Good Job altogether. I enjoyed it.

[mentatDUKE]

Maximus, good use of child actors. It had an old school back to basic feel of classic horror films. You really did a good job of keeping me engaged. Your villain freaked me out a bit man. And the last shot. Of course i KNEW he was gonna be in the bed with the kid but I still couldn't help but be disturbed at the end. As the camera slowly panned to reveal it, i was just like "No. Please dont. C'mon. Please..."

haha. Good job.

[Brandon Rice]

Well done short! Good use of natural lighting, and a nice location. The kids did a good job as well, very natural. It didn't scare me all that much, but the elements were there, good work!

[MOVIE MASTER]

Mooo!

[deedive]

cute film dude. Kept my attention. good pacing.

[Maximus]

That was something that I forgot to mention. The set scene (you know the one) was VERY well done. I could probably never create something that looked that good. Very realistic looking with great attention to detail.

The boys must have loved it! :)

Thanks Mike. I just gathered old junk that was lying around to create the "set". The challenge was to make it look like a madman did it, and not some "designer". At one point early on it looked like an antiques dealer display. Had to rough it up a bit.

Yeah, my boys loved it, for about ten minutes! After that it was hard to round them up. They were much more interested in playing Xbox. And they laughed a lot. That was my biggest challenge was trying to get the boys to stop laughing and take this movie seriously! I was beginning to question their commitment. Kids!


Maximus, this was, aside from the technical problems, one of my favorite. The acting on the part of the kids could improve quite a bit. But that shot where you followed the farmer a little and just showed the axe and legs was great. And the very end was very creepy. Some shots jumped around and got me lost a bit as to who was where, but that is typical with horror style. Good Job altogether. I enjoyed it.

Thanks alot, Kdawg, I appreciate it. There are some parts I'm happy with, and many others that need improvement. But for me, this festival was about learning, and I learned a lot. Most importantly, I really enjoyed the whole process. I got big plans!

[Maximus]

I applaud your effort for getting it done and I know what you mean about almost not turning it in, because you ran out of time and couldn't get it exactly how you wanted it.

The gitterness was a problem, but if the story wasn't intriguing, I wouldn't have finished it. I did. Bravo to your sons, but they're acting was a little flat (probably because they were reluctant like you said), but the set was cool and so were many of the shots. Cool poster too, if I haven't already said that.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Will do better next time - I promise!

Maximus, good use of child actors. It had an old school back to basic feel of classic horror films. You really did a good job of keeping me engaged. Your villain freaked me out a bit man. And the last shot. Of course i KNEW he was gonna be in the bed with the kid but I still couldn't help but be disturbed at the end. As the camera slowly panned to reveal it, i was just like "No. Please dont. C'mon. Please..."

haha. Good job.

Thanks alot, mentatDUKE! I'm glad you picked up on that old school vibe. I was trying for that gritty 70's feel, not Grindhouse, but more Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance. Kind of a pseudo documentary, anti-slick feel. Hey, I had a $0.00 budget, and I believe the budget dictates the aesthetic! :laugh: BTW, earlier in the thread we discussed suspense techniques and the time factor. In this case I used intercutting to build suspense, and I think it worked out alright.

Happy to hear that last scare got you - that's what it's all about!

Well done short! Good use of natural lighting, and a nice location. The kids did a good job as well, very natural. It didn't scare me all that much, but the elements were there, good work!

Thanks, Brandon. I'm happy you mentioned the natural lighting. We shot it in an old barn with no electricity, and it was pretty dark, even in the daytime. The hayloft where a lot of the action took place, got nice sunlight late in the afternoon, for about forty minutes. So that was our shooting time frame, 5:00 to 5:40 on Sat. and Sun. The next week is was 4:30 to 5:10, and the third week 4:00 to 4:40. The only artificial light I used was a rechargeable fluorescent worklight I got from Home Depot. It held a charge for over an hour, and had a nice diffuse light.

Yeah, the kids did pretty good. Only a director who has worked with untrained child actors knows what it's like. :grin:

[Maximus]

Mooo!

Mooo?! What kind of comment is that! You couldn't take two minutes to write up some kind of constructive critic!! What kind of Moth...:furious3:

HAHAAHAAHAA... Gotcha! I can joke too. :evil:

cute film dude. Kept my attention. good pacing.

Thanks deedive. It was meant to be fun and entertaining. Glad you like it.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I just watched this again, kept most of these on my PC.
I just wanted to add that I really liked some of the angles that you used. Very interesting perspective...

Nice work,

Mike

[J.R. Hudson]

I wanted to be able to watch this; but the strobing just killed it for me. I had to tune out. Is this an intended technique or is my QT tripping out ?

[davide]

Great job with the villain at the very end. Those types of scenes are tough because the viewer absolutely knows what's going to happen, so you have to surprise them by making the payoff even scarier than they expected. You definitely delivered on that front.

In the scene where the kids discover the farmers 'tools' have you thought about using a series of static shots rather than pans? On the one hand the pans simulate the kids' perspective. But I think the effect might be stronger if instead you gave a series of powerfully composed closeups of the instruments instead.

I like how you used the intercutting to build suspense, but I thought that the build-up was a little too long in the beginning. All in all you really seem to have picked up on the tricks and tropes of slasher films. I can already imagine your next film, with tighter editing and some of the other improvements people have mentioned, will be really scary.

davide

[Maximus]

I just watched this again, kept most of these on my PC.
I just wanted to add that I really liked some of the angles that you used. Very interesting perspective...

Nice work,

Mike

Thanks. :smile:

I wanted to be able to watch this; but the strobing just killed it for me. I had to tune out. Is this an intended technique or is my QT tripping out ?

I believe the strobing was a result of my ineptitude at compression. Wasn't intended, that's for sure.

Great job with the villain at the very end. Those types of scenes are tough because the viewer absolutely knows what's going to happen, so you have to surprise them by making the payoff even scarier than they expected. You definitely delivered on that front.

In the scene where the kids discover the farmers 'tools' have you thought about using a series of static shots rather than pans? On the one hand the pans simulate the kids' perspective. But I think the effect might be stronger if instead you gave a series of powerfully composed closeups of the instruments instead.

I like how you used the intercutting to build suspense, but I thought that the build-up was a little too long in the beginning. All in all you really seem to have picked up on the tricks and tropes of slasher films. I can already imagine your next film, with tighter editing and some of the other improvements people have mentioned, will be really scary.

davide

I'm happy that last scare worked for you.

I agree. Quick cuts would have been more powerful. Wish I'd thought of that! :smile:

I learned alot from this experience, and I will apply much of this to my next film. Although horror was fun, I look forward to a different genre.

Thanks again for your feedback!

[cinealma]

REVIEW:
Ok, so, yeah, problem with the playback. But I stuck it out and I'm glad I did. I wish I could see a clean version.

Anyway, good job. I liked this one a lot. Great location, and reading through a previous post, great job in working the light and really knowing your shooting logisitics. The acting by the kids didn't really distract me, they sounded like, well, a couple of kids. I like how the little brother tells his big bro how scared he is and wants to go home and then in the next shot the big bro, of course, makes his little brother go up the ladder first.

I liked the score, really heightened this little film up.

Felt like I was watching an episode of Goosebumps on TV with my kids or something.

Good job, I look forward to more films from you here.

FILMMAKER-TO-FILMMAKER:
I know you slapped this thing together, ok. But you're going to go back and finish this thing up right? RIGHT?

The only real audio problems I felt were traumatic were the opening exterior... sounded like LOTS of wind noise on an on camera mic. You can chop that out and lay in some nice location track.

I LOVED the pig noise dubbed on top of the maniac. Worked great for me.

I think the pacing was very nice. I like the dream quality of it, you know, pieces of unreality thrown in like you see the farmer's legs in the doorway, clearly dead, but then, POW, no he's not, he's right there in your face. Dreams are really like that, you know.

Anyway, please finish this puppy up and post it. Good job, again.

Cheers!

[Maximus]

Thanks John for the kind comments. I enjoyed reading all of your reviews this fest, so am very happy you liked my film! Your opinion means alot!

In particular, I'm happy you mentioned the music, as Chris Hurn did an amazing job. Even more amazingly he did it in less than 48 hours!

I do hope to finish it, as I shot so much extra footage! Most importantly was the opening, with the boys in bed, and John tells the story of the "crazy old farmer who chopped up little kids with an axe and ate them." This was intended as a bookend for the ending, and also sets up the urban legend, the boy's relationship, etc...

I can't believe how much I overshot! That's one of the main lessons I took away from this fest. Next time I'll make sure the story fits the time limit. :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I can't believe how much I overshot! That's one of the main lessons I took away from this fest. Next time I'll make sure the story fits the time limit. :)One page per minute is the general room of thumb.

Can't wait to see the "Directors Cut".

Cheers,

Mike

[andoguru]

Hey Maximus,

I thought the story was pretty common, but most horror movies are. The film seemed to do what you wanted it too and didn't try to be anything else. THat's good.

The set was awesome and farmer looked pretty good to. You shot this very well. I admit the strobing made this hard to watch, but looking past that, your shots were very well composed.

I've worked with kids before and yeah, it's hard. Your's did pretty well.

This probably could have been a little shorter...at least the intro.

I like the ending a lot. I felt sad when his brother wasn't in the lower bunk bed and I actually got chills when it panned over to the farmer in his bed. Good job with that.

Laters,
Ando

[Maximus]

One page per minute is the general room of thumb.

Can't wait to see the "Directors Cut".

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks, Mike.

Hey Maximus,

I thought the story was pretty common, but most horror movies are. The film seemed to do what you wanted it too and didn't try to be anything else. THat's good.

The set was awesome and farmer looked pretty good to. You shot this very well. I admit the strobing made this hard to watch, but looking past that, your shots were very well composed.

I've worked with kids before and yeah, it's hard. Your's did pretty well.

This probably could have been a little shorter...at least the intro.

I like the ending a lot. I felt sad when his brother wasn't in the lower bunk bed and I actually got chills when it panned over to the farmer in his bed. Good job with that.

Laters,
Ando

Thanks for the review Ando. I'm so happy the ending worked for you. That you felt sad and got chills makes me feel good. :laugh: Of course what I mean is that I'm happy those moments worked as I hoped they would.