"WELLSDAY" -The Abuse of Time

[chstick]

Well, well, well.....WELLSDAY.

Yea, I'm a little late to the party. I haven't chimed in much at all, however, I did read that it's polite to start a thread about your film.....so here's the WELLSDAY thread.

It took a few weeks to have it (the idea for the story to) come together.
After that it took me a day to pen it.
We shot it in ONE afternoon (2pm-6pm).
3 days in post.

Any other questions (about the WELLSDAY short), please feel free to ask.

Thanks

Chris

[kurtmo]

Welcome to the party!

[Mark Johnson]

Any other questions, please feel free to ask.


It's nice to have someone offer to answer questions around here. I'll start: Why does Frank Glencairn often appear in a fez???

[chstick]

It's nice to have someone offer to answer questions around here. I'll start: Why does Frank Glencairn often appear in a fez???

Who is buried in Grant's tomb?

I guess I should've been a tad more specific for those who like to play the LITERAL card. lol

[Matt Sconce]

Welcome! I am glad you are in the fest and look forward to seeing your film. Have fun, as this is a great ride!

[Dustin R. Rogan]

welcome to the fun, any grabs?
Good Luck
Rogan

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Grabs! We want grabs! :)

[chstick]

I'm not to savvy when it comes to the DVXuser site uploads.....I hope the screengrab uploaded properly. If so, I'll add more.

Unfortunately we did not take any "behind the scenes" production shots....although that would've been nice, looking at other Timefest teams grabs. I (the royal we) didn't have any time to do anything other than set up our shots (lights/boom/frame etc...) since we only had a few hours at our location. Next time, for sure.
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/22934/1213894524.jpg

[hawaiiirish]

"chstick", I watched your movie and I thought it was pretty good. That was a darn good visual effect with the "time portal" light. Impressive stuff.

[chstick]

"chstick", I watched your movie and I thought it was pretty good. That was a darn good visual effect with the "time portal" light. Impressive stuff.

Thank you Hawaiiirish. Yea man, my friend Jon Hall did that effect. He also helped me develop the story, helped out as an "office extra" and designed the 'Film Banner".

Yea, I was more than pleased with the effect.

Pretty cool effect for a dry office comedy based in time.

[kurtmo]

Fun film. I liked the ending. I enjoyed the reveal with all the timewarp sounds at the end. The time effect was OK. I liked it best seeing from outside the office.

Stuff to work on: I didn’t go for the humorous asides inserted throughout (like the bosses meeting). They detracted, in my opinion. The audio levels were up and down and the background buzz was annoying.

Thanks for showing!

[chstick]

Yea man, I know the audio turned out poor. Plus I only spent a day on it in post (trying to fix & even out levels) when I could've spent 3-4 days or a week (if I had the time).

Anyway, I wouldn't have had to fix the audio (as much) if we had properly captured the sound in production (booming appropriately ect...) There were big central air ducts every 10 feet, which were automated by the building....so we couldn't shut them off. And to make matters worse (in an attempt to save time) I put the mic on-camera about 1/3 of the time, which turned out to be the biggest problem. The ambient buzz was/is annoying, I agree. Something my team & I must address in the future.

[kurtmo]

I've become a die hard boomer after several productions where I spent way to long fixing stuff that wouldn't have been bad if I'd boomed. I still don't get perfect audio every time, but it's way better than on camera. Next time!

[pauly_the_hitman]

That was funny and entertaining. Good job guys.

[Dustin R. Rogan]

Where can I get one of those things! It was a fun piece! Gratz on the fest!

Rogan

[chstick]

Thanks guys. Yea, we tried to keep it lite & fun. I told the cast I was shooting for kind of "the office" meets "Groundhog's Day".....albeit more dry. Well, of course it didn't turn out that way.....but that was the aim.

I read this in an editing book (or....somewhere...)
There are 3 films that you make.....
1) The one you write
2) The one you shoot
3) The one you edit

and we all know which one the audience sees.

What I'm trying to say is that my short didn't quite turn out how I envisioned. However, I am very pleased with it (given our 4-hour, time-pressed, shoot).

Thanks again for the kind words as I'm sure the odd humor will be lost on most.

[Mark Johnson]

I haven't seen your film yet, but wanted to just chime in that I appreciate reading your comments. You simply cannot overestimate the importance of shooting shooting shooting. Every time out you learn so much and it's really great to hear you describe your experience with your audio and how much it has taught you. I'm really looking forward to catching your film (I'm on a slow connection and am having to slog through long downloads to catch up on all of the entries).

[Matt Sconce]

This began a little slow for me and some of the things he rewound felt strange and insignificant. Especially the toilet paper and every single person noticing and then changing their attitude to the polar opposite when he comes out without it. The boss always watching got a little old after a while for me as well and didn't really impact the story for the amount of time he was shown. That said though. The ending was great! I did not see that coming and laughed as he asked the other guy if he also had a timewarping thingy. The ending sounds were great and left me with a sense of something about to go seriously wrong. I didn't notice a horrible audio so kudos to you! Good stuff!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Loved the ending. I didn't think that the music suited this at times though. Loved his name as well.

Some of the shots were quite nice. Especially considering the time restraint that you were under. Keep at it!

Mike

[chstick]

This began a little slow for me and some of the things he rewound felt strange and insignificant. Especially the toilet paper and every single person noticing and then changing their attitude to the polar opposite when he comes out without it. The boss always watching got a little old after a while for me as well and didn't really impact the story for the amount of time he was shown. That said though. The ending was great! I did not see that coming and laughed as he asked the other guy if he also had a timewarping thingy. The ending sounds were great and left me with a sense of something about to go seriously wrong. I didn't notice a horrible audio so kudos to you! Good stuff!

Geez, lighten up. ha ha
We made a silly, and very DRY comedy. Believe me, I knew well in advance that our brand of humor would miss more than it would hit. I have only seen about 1/3 of the (Timefest) films and have yet to see another comedy......i hope there are some more (as I slowly make my way through the rest).

-The significance of the 'rewind' was simply there to show (visually) that he's going back. I felt that the casual viewer might not get the "5 Min Time Portal" just being implied.

-The toiletpaper gag was just plain silly, absurd and/or ridiculous. I mean c'mon, who gives a crap (no pun intended) if somebody has TP on their shoe. Poking fun at cliche'.

-The boss always watching. Funny to some annoying to others. However, I did violate the comic "rule of 3's" here. So yes, I agree how this bit could certainly get old.

-the story could've easily been tightened (for the story's sake). But we are a bunch of goofballs over here, so the humorous (or humorless) asides stayed.

BTW, "PUSH" was outstanding. Great job! I saw a few of your 'production grabs' at the beginning of your thread, and thought, "MAN, that would be great....a full crew". We had a camera, mic, boompole and a few lights. If we had a sound person I would've felt like I was in Hollywood.

[chstick]

I didn't think that the music suited this at times though.

Mike

I agree that some of the music didn't go at all. I really didn't have enough time (in production OR post). That was something I really wanted to devote more time to.
I had spent the majority of my time in post just getting the content to match up.
I first cut it exactly to the script....but the timing/pacing felt really off. So I tinkered with it for a day or two....to get it to where it felt a little more right. Definitely not perfect, but something that could play (in our dry, comedic sense).

[Susanne G.]

This story amused me and I felt really sympathetic with the main character. I could perfectly understand that he needed this 5 minute time portal. Very funny story. I loved also the saxophone music. Compliments.

Susanne

[Duff]

This actually made me laugh out loud several times -- rare these days, even for full-budget Hollywood comedies. I love the whole leitmotif with the boss -- "I'm watching you." However as a whole, the pacing seemed off, and I wasn't really drawn into the story -- it was just a montage of independently funny jokes. The audio levels also took away from the humor a bit, as I almost missed some of the jokes.

I think you have some funny ideas, and look forward to seeing what you produce in the future as your skills improve.

[ZazaCast]

Funny flick! I really enjoyed it... keep up the good work.

[totitefilms]

I like the story. It made me laugh. The flow is a little off sometimes but overall the movie is nicely made. You did a great job!

[chstick]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad our piece is getting laughs, that was the main goal.

I actually wasn't even going to submit this (due to our inherent production problems, everyone's time constraints and the fact that this was the first thing we shot with the HVX-200....fresh out of the box). But I thought, what the hell, at least some people will find it funny.

Thanks again, and I hope there's a cure for those with bionic ears.

[Geoff_R]

Hey, I thought your film was funny. It got a few laughs out of me. I agree that it was a little off-beat as some others have said but it's exactly the off-beat nature of it that I found funny at times. So maybe that's a good thing..

My favorite part was when the boss is talking about doubling their salaries and then mentions he needs it done by 5pm... and the guy with the glasses says "that's going to be really really hard..." I was rolling :)

[Maximus]

Very funny! Amazing what you did in one afternoon! Looked great. Loved the time portal design and fx. Didn't get the title "Wellsday"? ... too generic and blah IMHO.

"Milky Discharge", now that's a keeper! :thumbsup:

[chstick]

Very funny! Amazing what you did in one afternoon! Looked great. Loved the time portal design and fx. Didn't get the title "Wellsday"? ... too generic and blah IMHO.

"Milky Discharge", now that's a keeper! :thumbsup:

The title was merely a bit of wordplay, a double entendre, a pun. Take a typical 'day in the office'....say a Wednesday (or any 'day' really). I combined that with H.G. WELLS, the man who probably romanticized time travel the best......since our story was about a guy abusing his time travel device in a modern setting (the office).

Once again, I'm glad you guys can see past our technical misgivings and laugh a little.

[alex whitmer]

Funny piece for the most part. Some of the humor felt a little on the adolescent side, but it somehow worked to your advantage with the characters you developed.

The 'I'm watching you' got a little old. I think you could mix that up a bit next time around.

A few really good laughs, nice shots, pace was good.

alex

[Blaine]

I really enjoyed this. Definitely one of the funnier pieces in TimeFest. It dragged a bit in the middle and some of the scoring didn't work for me, but all in all I had fun watching this. :thumbup:

[Edgen]

This film had a few fun moments. I wanted to punch that boss in the face and hit the mute button at the same time. There were so many clichés in this film and they started to get old after a while. The actors were decent. (some of them at least)

I think you could have done so much more with this film. But alas, it looks like you guys had fun making it.

Congrats on entering the fest.

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

I enjoy office comedy so thanks for making this!

'Milky Discharge' lol, did you make that up or is that a real band? I could believe either.

[jasonthewho]

Liked the light tone of this and that you guys did a comedy. Not too many in this fest. I guess though for the most part this didn't really gell with my sense of humor. It felt like it was trying too hard.

I thought the "C.O.C.K." chalkboard joke would have been funnier if each of the letters had said something normal, like "Concentrate. Organize. Calculate. Kelvin." The joke was just a little too "in your face" for me.

I really liked the POV shots of the guy walking down the hall with the reactions of the office folk in the toilet paper scene.

I also really liked the shots through the window blinds.

Good work!

[chstick]

Thanks to all for your comments & critiques.

I just finished watching (at random) all of the Timefest entries. I didn't go alphabetically like a lot do. The last ten or so really do drag (whether they actually drag or not).....you just keep watching that QT playhead......

I won't title my next DVXfest entry with a "W", that's for sure.......maybe "AAA something". lol


I am very glad that our piece has been getting laughs. We really just slapped this together quickly, and, in doing so, sacrificed quality. I can't wait for the next 'fest' to actually use more of the allotted 3-4 months.

our group has been making short films for over a year now. Ironically, this one was not one of our better efforts (my fault entirely....as I tried to wear too many hats). One of the axioms (usually) followed here is, "you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't go out and make them". Events like DVXfests are a perfect example. KEEP SHOOTING.


For anyone interested, here's one of our better entries (same cast/crew). 2nd place in a "1-week" film challenge, here in Hawaii, this past January (shot with DVX-100B).

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2084793136

[iSTy]

nice comedy, liked the twist, although not sure of the band name, was it made up??
thank you

[chstick]

nice comedy, liked the twist, although not sure of the band name, was it made up??
thank you

What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don't have any "Milky Discharge" on your iPod???

yes, it was made up (on the spot actually).

[Danielleus]

Hey,

I just caught the flick and totally dug the idea. I enjoyed the effects and thought the sound worked for the most part. You actors did a fine job and thought it worked as a comedy.

However, I think you brought out the strongest point at the end, when we discover that both guys have a time machine. I think if you subtly worked that aspect into the rest of the film (every time the lead uses it it seems like it's not working cause the other guy is STILL getting the better of him, etc.) and then revealed that aspect at the end it would have been great.

Overall I enjoyed the piece and think it has potential to be even better. Good work and good luck in the next fest.

[hawaiiirish]

What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don't have any "Milky Discharge" on your iPod???

Only on my video iPod. Hardee har har.

[chstick]

However, I think you brought out the strongest point at the end, when we discover that both guys have a time machine. I think if you subtly worked that aspect into the rest of the film (every time the lead uses it it seems like it's not working cause the other guy is STILL getting the better of him, etc.) and then revealed that aspect at the end it would have been great.

When we (Jon Hall & I) were developing the story it really played more like a skit than anything. I went back and tried to give it more narrative (although, in hindsight, it probably would've worked better as a skit). We also tried to work in some inherent 'consequences' of the character abusing the time device as well as give the other character more weight (such as exactly what you pointed out).

We did shoot a bit (2nd plot point) that would've shed more light on the denouement..... but, unfortunately, that bit hit the floor......well, the original cut was around 9 min.

Again, in hindsight, the story could've most certainly been tightened. We didn't even think we were going to make a Timefest entry since we kept coming up with stories where time was an element but not a THEME (well.....like most of the Timefest entries lol).

Late May rolls around and we come up with this story and decide to just go for it. I ask a friend if we can shoot in his office, he agrees, but we can only shoot on this ONE particular day. So, I pen it in a day, email to the cast (the night before we shoot)....no time to rehearse and/or tweak the story. We only have from noon-6pm to get this shot as some of the actors are coming from their work and others have to go to work after. We literally take the HVX-200 out of the box and shoot and I find out immediately how hard it is to pull focus (ok....so no rack-focus shots today). People arrive late, it takes longer to set up lights and we end up shooting from around 2:30p-6p.
Due to all of the somewhat organized chaos, I/we make a butt-load of mistakes. Mostly though, the culprit was me trying to wear too many hats.

1) Story could've (should've!) been tightened/tweaked before shooting.
2) Should've boomed everything (to try and save time, I put the mic back on the camera 1/3 of the time.....rookie mistake)
3) Even a short rehearsal would've been nice (but then again....see #1)
4) I should've shot it with my trusty DVX-100b....until I had more face time with the HVX.
5) POST. Due to all the story/shooting problems, post was a nightmare....but I brought it on myself. However, I still think I could've cleaned it up (if I had a spare week to work on it!?!)
6) Way more problems to speak of.....but if you've made it this far into this post, thank you and sorry to bore you.

All that said, our short didn't turn out that bad. It had some funny moments and people seem to enjoy the reveal. Could've been better, sure. Next fest for sure!

Thanks for listening

Chris

[chstick]

Only on my video iPod. Hardee har har.

I guess I should've said "in" the iPod....not "on" the iPod.

[ConspiracyPenguin]

:grin: That had quite a few funny parts. Good job and good luck!