"Sweetheart" by StrataTek Studios

[Charlie Anderson]

A documentary of two highschool sweethearts who lost contact after school and then found each other 50 years later. After spending countless days together talking about friends, families, and lost loved ones, these 2 people found that they still had the love they once shared as teenagers burning deep within them.

A true story of Bernie who got remarried to his highschool sweetheart, Kitty, after 50 years.

[Charlie Anderson]

I don't know why this didn't come to me earlier, it's such an amazing story!

Inspired by my Grandpa and my new Grandma. They've been married for over a year now and each side of the family has really come together and formed a new special bond.

PRODUCTION NOTES:

Shooting with the HVX200, M2, and Zeiss Primes. Shooting the interviews with my Grandparents on Sunday (I'll be hungover as hell as it's my birthday this Monday but I'm celebrating on Saturday), and also getting additional interviews on Sunday as well, possibly later on in the week.

UPDATE 1/28

Shot the interviews with my Grandparents and I definitely learned a lot about my family. I had some issues with my firestore AGAIN with importing clips longer than 8 minutes which is annoying as hell. I'll be posting some screen grabs as soon as I get home. I'm not making a "poster", at least I'm not in the mindset to do one yet but I have a sig already made up which I'm definitely liking.

UPDATE 1/29

Screen grabs so far...nothing "amazing" but I think they looks pretty cool. These are untouched, straight out of the camera.

http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH2.png
http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH1.png
http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH3.png
http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH4.png
http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH6.png
http://images.stratatekstudios.com/Sweetheart/SH7.png

Hooray for macro lens!

[Robbie Comeau]

Nice, good luck!

[Jeff Anderson]

That's an awesome story Charlie! Sounds like me and my wife, but only like 5 years passed since high school and us getting back together. Kinda lacks the impact that 50 years has I guess :) Good luck with it all!

[Nathan.Buxton]

WOW! sounds really good.

[Marlon Ladd]

That does sound like a great story. I think people underestimate the bonds that we establish early in life. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Sounds like the best story so far. Good luck.

[Charlie Anderson]

update 1/29

[Mark Harris]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you do not completely botch this, it has winner written all over it. I love this idea. So simple and real and different that anything else anyone is doing.

Can't wait to see it.

[Ted Arabian]

There goes Mark again with the "don't take this the wrong way" line! :grin:

Charlie, this story DOES sound amazing. How wonderful for you to learn, experience and shoot this. I hope that your film comes out as you envision it.

Your grabs really look nice. I love the simple and apropos setting you have. And that macro lens has a great effect!

Good luck! Can't wait to see this.

-Ted

[Mark Harris]

Yeah, cinematography and camera tricks don't sell this. The content does.

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks! I was thinking to myself that no one has submitted an idea for a documentary and I had this great story of my grandparents that I just had to tell, so why not for Love Fest?

Got 2 more interviews to do this week and next, have a meeting with Brandon Walker to do a simple soundtrack composed of piano music (we did a music video for him, Chinese Food on Christmas). I was planning to edit this but I realized that I could get someone a lot better to edit it, so I'm getting in contact with a friend at school who's kick ass at editing docs.

[Charlie Anderson]

Yeah, cinematography and camera tricks don't sell this. The content does.
I was thinking the same thing and I was originally going to scan in some pics to do some AE work to make things a bit interesting, but I decided to just use a macro lens instead. I think that really makes things a LOT interesting. I'll probably do a bit of AE work, but I like the way the macro lens really makes the pictures pop out, especially when you can actually see the dots in the images.

[Mark Harris]

Exactly, besides, if you do not really capture the PEOPLE on screen, all the AE in the world will not save you in something like this.

Good luck!

[smashedburrito]

Hey Charlie I'm from Howard County. It's good to see another Marylander enter the fest. I have a bunch of friends at Towson too and I read about "chinese food" in the local paper. I'm looking forward to your film.

[Charlie Anderson]

Hey Charlie I'm from Howard County. It's good to see another Marylander enter the fest. I have a bunch of friends at Towson too and I read about "chinese food" in the local paper. I'm looking forward to your film.
Awesome! I live in Towson, I just graduated too. Who do you know there? Any in the film program? It'd be kickass if we knew some of the same people haha

I'm DPing 2 shorts out of Ellicott City in March, you should try to make it out!

[smashedburrito]

Ill PM you the names I know. Too bad I go to school in Ohio, otherwise I'd love to help.

[Chris Messineo]

Wonderful idea for a film. I love docs and I'm psyched to see this. BTW, the stills look great.

[Luis Caffesse]

Awesome!
Glad to see a doc make it into the mix.
:thumbsup:

Best of luck with this - I can't wait to see it.

[Charlie Anderson]

Got a kickass editor for this, we're starting on a rough cut this Sunday

[Luis Caffesse]

Got a kickass editor for this, we're starting on a rough cut this Sunday

Huh?
I don't remember making plans for this Sunday....
:)

Glad to hear you got a good post crew going.
Good luck with the edit!

[Charlie Anderson]

Huh?
I don't remember making plans for this Sunday....
:)
You can have the final edit if you want ;)

[mentatDUKE]

This is an AMAZING idea. Can't wait to see it. Good luck.

[Charlie Anderson]

Rough cut is about 75% done. Finishing it up tonight/tomorrow. Passing it off to get scored.

It's a heck of a lot better than I imagined! It's going to be great :D

[Zak Forsman]

glad things are going well, cant wait to see it.

[Charlie Anderson]

Oooooh man Sh*t just hit the fan for me yesterday. Pretty much have to re-edit EVERYTHING now due to technical issues...great...

[Robert Eldon]

Pick up the pieces Charlie! I want to see this. I especially love the idea that it's based on a true story. It looks very touching.

[Charlie Anderson]

and WE'RE IN!!!!!

Oh man what a debocle this one was haha

glad it's finished :)

[Ted Arabian]

Woo Hoo!!!!!!

I was hoping that you wouldn't be a no-show. I love the foundation of your doc. I really am looking forward to this.

Best,

Ted

[Jeff Anderson]

sweet I'm looking forward to seeing this - actually am embarking on a similiar project for grandparents 60th wedding anniversary soon. There's no cool story like yours though... Anyways, good luck in the fest, glad it got uploaded and approved!

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks! The music fits perfectly! everything fell in place for this despite the horrors involved with this crazy crazy weekend :)

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=124918

[Matt Harris]

This looks great, honest and sincere. cant wait.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Very nice work!

Nice change of pace. The story was very well told and touching at times. Suits the theme of the Fest better than most I've seen so far.
Nice camera work as well.

Cheers,

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks a lot! I hope everyone else thinks the same as well :D

[Ted Arabian]

Hey Charlie, Just watched!

What an amazing story these to have to share. I am so glad that you got to capture it in this documentary.

I thought that you did a fine job shooting this and putting it together. My one and only one complaint was that the photos moved by too quickly in the beginning for me. I thought that this should have been slower and more thoughtful.

The music was precious and apropos.

Overall, a well executed film. Nicely done! Great message, too!

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Congrats,
Ted

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks for the props :) yeha the intro was the only part I didn't like as I had literally 20 minutes to put it together while on a break between setups this sunday night as I was on set for a music video, but it is what it is and I'm glad I was able to share this with everyone

[Gohanto]

Nice job. It was very well executed and interesting to watch. You cut through the conversation so smoothly that i barely noticed it.

Can't even think of anything to improve.

[Chris Messineo]

I loved this.

It was beautiful. All my grandparents are dead and this made me very sad - in a good way.

This was very well done, but more importantly it was quite touching.

Very well done.

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks again, I'm really glad that everyone liked this doc :) I'm always one for trying new things and a doc for a film fest on short notice is extremely hard to pull off when pressed for time and having multiple projects going on :)

So thanks for the feedback and remember to vote for us!!!! :D

[Jeff Anderson]

This was awesome charlie! There's really nothing bad to say about it for me. The editing was spot on - as previously mentioned you did a great job of keeping it flowing. I honestly felt like this was a multi camera shoot and you were cutting between an A and B cam. Music was nice too. It was nice and subtle but fit the mood and made it feel very complete to me. Maybe my only gripe would be is that I wanted to see more. The time limit made it feel like I was missing out on some good stories.

Now I've got a few questions as I'm about to embark on something similiar. What did you do for audio? Sounded good but I didnt see lavs or at least I didnt notice any. What was your lighting setup like? It looked nice and natural. How comfortable were you with the moving camera? I usually do interviews like this locked off and sometimes change positions between obvious breaks. I've always been slightly afraid of moving the camera too much for something like this. Your cam-op pulled it off well. Any specific method you followed for this? Nice work Charlie, I hope your family really appreciates you doing this as well - should be a nice keepsake for many years in addition to a great short film.

[Charlie Anderson]

We used 2 Senheiser wireless lav kits. I've had some experience with shooting live audio and performances so what I ended up doing was using a bit of medical tape to hide the lavs underneath the collar of their shirts so that there wasn't any rustling and the audio would come out clear (i've found that medical tape sticks better than gaffers tape and also allows for audio to pass through cleaner).

For the lighting I used 3 point lighting with a 1k tota light with a softbox, a 500 lowel for a fill, and a 350 baby light for highlights.

We shot the interviews twice, the first time wide then we went in close for the second time. I told them I was going to ask them the same questions twice and that they had some play to go off on tangents if they wanted so it worked out great.

I have over an hour of footage, I would love to put together a longer version for my family. Seems like a great Christmas present idea :)

[Chris Messineo]

I have over an hour of footage, I would love to put together a longer version for my family. Seems like a great Christmas present idea :)

That is a brilliant idea. I can't imagine anyone not loving that gift.

[Jeff Anderson]

Ahh two run throughs - you know thats not a bad idea. multiple camera angles and gives you a shot at some extra tangents or little bits. I'll give that a shot. Just am not sure how people will respond to answering quetions twice. Guess I'll find out :) THanks for sharing the info.

[Matt Harris]

Really nice work! Its great to see something so honest and real.
Youre quite a documentarian, i like some of the close up shots with nice depth of field
and the sound was spot on. i used wireless lavs also, they help quite a bit.

[kurtmo]

Nice documentary. I enjoyed having a real story where you could tell the couple was really in love. I liked the shots of the scrapbooks.
Thanks for posting.

[Blaine]

Charlie, a really wonderful and touching look at love. It's amazing how life comes full circle sometimes.:thumbsup:

[Brian Parker]

Great film and the best thing is that it's real. You did the documentary thing and it stil felt very filmic and artistic. Good job.

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks! I tried my best with what I was given and I'm really enjoying all the feedback I'm getting from everyone. Some how the last minute projects end up being the most surprising in terms of quality :)

[smashedburrito]

Great job on this one Charlie. I found it really charming and your grandparents are really photogenic. I thought they would be boring, but they had energy to them.

Great work.

[mentatDUKE]

Great film Charlie. I knew this would be a good one. A documentary. What a great idea for LoveFest. Your subjects had great charisma and were able to connect with the audience quite well. Their words conveyed quite a lot about their character. Their destinies came off as really intertwined.

The discussion at the end was classic.
"You were the prettiest girl in school."
"Nope."
"You were."
"No, there were lots of girls prettier than me."
"No there weren't."

Pure gold. :)

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks :) I though of ending with a touch of cuteness/humor and what have you. I'm really surprised at the response I've bene getting and so have a lot of people. I honestly threw this together and I'm really amazed at how well it came out :D

[Bryce A]

Hey, I like the fact that you stuck a doc in the fest. Need to be more of that if you ask me! heh. Anyway, I wasn't too sure about it all until the "twist." Being that they hadn't been together since High School, as I expected from the moment I pressed play.

I'm sure it was comfortable for them to be shot on the couch, but I found the having the wall so close to their backs was distracting and a tad boring. It would have been nice to get some more depth/meaning in the background during the interview shots. Also, it might have given you an op to backlight them or somethin'. Just my thoughts. Keep it up!

[Slimothy]

I love documentaries so this was a total treat for me. I really, really enjoyed this. One of the few times I every think....hmmm maybe marriage might be good in the future.

Great job man.

[jmc]

I hadn't read this thread before I watched it and I thought, "Wow! These actors are really believable!" Then I realized they were too good. :D

I really like this one. I didn't even notice the editing the first time through, except for the cut at 0:48, and that was an audio issue. One shot I kept wanting to see the 2nd time through, was a shot from the side where the shallow dof could rack between the two of them.

Great work on this. A nice departure from the norm, and your subjects were very charismatic and engaging. Now you've got me wanting to do this with my grandma...

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks for the constructive criticism, I'll definitely keep those in mind for future docs...in fact I might make it a norm to challenge myself to do a doc/moc for EVERY fest (and then submit something else as well) just to see if I can actually pull it off well or not

[Luis Caffesse]

Wow Charlie - what a hell of a story.
First off, I LOVE that you put a doc into this fest.

Well contructed, well shot, I love the wide shot of them on the couch.
I'm not sure what else to tell you other than I really enjoyed this.

Yes, there are some slight camera/audio issues I could mentioned, etc etc - but honestly the story overshadows all those little things.

The only thing I would say storywise is that I would have liked to have heard a bit more factual details on what happened between the time they were children and now - just a couple of 'milestones' would have done. As it is I feel like I got a good sense of their story, but I feel like I couldn't turn around and tell it to someone else - does that make sense? Also I would have loved to have seen a stonger closing clip... the way she says "we laugh a lot" feels like she's going to keep talking - then suddenly credits rolled. I've done a bit of doc work myself, so I know you've got to work with what you get - but it woudl have been nice to have a punchier ending, and maybe hang on them for a second before going to the credits.

But that's a pretty nit picky thing.
Overall - wonderful little portrait of true love in real life amongst so many films attempting to show us fictionalized versions.

I'm looking forward to your future work in the fests to come.

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks Luis. I can't wait until I actually have a chance to plan and not do something last minute :)

[iSTy]

Awwww, bless, how lovely :smile: :thumbsup::Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)