"Medal of Merit" A Ramsaur Film

[ramsaur]

Download Film - HERE (http://www.dvxfest.com/mirror/quest2009/entries/Medal_of_Merit-ramsaur.mov)


MEDAL OF MERIT
Tagline: When Duty Calls A Boy Scout Must Answer

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/TeaserPoster-1.jpg

Thanks to Puckthemad for the Teaser Poster
Final Poster: Coming Soon!


This film will be a lot newer for me and more fun. I did not write this one, thought of the idea though. Will also have a larger crew than the other films I have done.

Pre Production: March - April
Production: May - Early June
Post Production: June - Deadline

Production Progress
3.28.09
Script Complete

3.30.09
Casting and Scouting Locations

4.23.09
Been narrowing down locations. Might have found the one. Going to go check it out this weekend.

4.27.09
If it does not rain tomorrow I am going scouting!

4.28.09
No Rain, went location scouting and was great! Check out the 3rd page for pictures.

5.14.09
Well the Mount Driskill location might get knocked out of the way. Going to be impossible to find the owner of the place.
Don't want to get us in trouble, but the good news is there is a few location similar to that location I just thought of.
And they are less distance away so we get to save some money. -- Also Casting should be starting VERY SOON!!!

5.15.09
Shooting in a Park. All locations will be in the park. Makes us cast and crew much easier to get around so all locations locked down and crewing and casting should begin tomorrow!!

5.16.09
Crewing has begun! Hoping to start casting by next week.
Have a shot of shooting on the RED ONE!
Shooting May 31 and June 1!

5.18.09
Casting has begun and so far so good!

5.20.09
Crewing began yesterday and is following up today looking great!

5.29.09
Crew, Cast, Locations, and just about everything else is complete!
We're shooting this sunday and monday! Wish us luck!
EDIT: ahh crew fail! Contacting crew to get crewed back up. Going to be hard with a short notice.

5.30.09
WOW! Talk about staying up all night trying to get your crew replaced. But hey it happened.
Was hard because it's a no pay film but got them all back! Except lighting. So it's just me and the DP for now.

5.31.09
No lighting guy. Thank goodness someone on the crew does, so it's me and the DP lighting.
Today and tomorrow (June 1) we are shooting! Wish us luck!!

6.01.09
Wrapped this morning! Everything turned out great!
Check BTS still below. Grabs coming soon!

6.04.09
Grabs are here! Check 3rd post.

6.10.09
Check out More Grabs on 3rd post! These are the last of the grabs I will show!
Also, looks like we're going to need to do one reshoot. One scene is just too dark and we lost our light.
Will shoot that next week and do some ADR this friday! It's all coming together very nicely!

7.02.09
Took a break from the touch ups of editing back on the 10th of June and pulled a 2nd entry / musical together.
Now I'm done editing. Uploaded. Awaiting Approval.

[ramsaur]

Cast

Adam Scott as Brig
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1083

Chance Briant as Jim
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1043

Tommy Sparks as Mr. Ceryl
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1044

Gray Taylor as Todd
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=708


Crew
Director: Matthew Ramsaur
Writer: Chris Keaton
Producer: Matthew Ramsaur
Director of Photography: Brian Garcia
Editor: Matthew Ramsaur
Music: Ben Hase
Casting Director: Dawn Landrum
Assistant Director: Jennifer Williamson
Boom Operator: Ken Wactor
Visual Effects: Brian Garcia and Matthew Ramsaur
Special Makeup Effects Artist: George Landrum
Property Master/Costumer: Dusty Wilson
Production Assistants: Philip Neaville and Walter Woods
Medic: Dolly Weir

[ramsaur]

Grabs
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/005-1.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/006.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/003.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/001-1.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/014.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/008.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/011.jpg

[ramsaur]

Behind The Scenes:
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4829.jpg http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4832.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4844.jpg http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4863.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4874.jpg http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/GEDC4881.jpg

[Sid Barnhoorn]

Good luck man!

[Rodney V. Smith]

good luck to you dude.

[ZazaCast]

Welcome to the fest!

[MrKilloran]

Welcome and luck.

[stinkpot]

Best of luck and welcome to the fest!

:beer:

[Ryan E. Walters]

Welcome. Congrats on stepping it up a level on this one. Sounds like it will be a good opportunity for you. Good luck!

[Richard J. Johnson]

Welcome to the jungle my friend. You already know.

I'm really drunk right now.

[SMarston]

good luck good luck

[Robert Eldon]

Traveling out of state? Where will you be shooting this? This could be good. Looking forward to it!:)

[ramsaur]

Arkansas

[Chris_Keaton]

Have you found the locations yet?

[ramsaur]

Yea, narrowing a few down, checking out prices, the trails, etc.

Devil's Den (http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/DevilsDen)
Mount Magazine (http://www.mountmagazinestatepark.com)
Mount Nebo (http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/MtNebo)
Queen Wilhelmina (http://www.queenwilhelmina.com)
Petit Jean (http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com)

[Chad_from_Chad]

Hahahaha, love the tag line. And Puck is awesome, he should change it to PucktheMan.

[ramsaur]

Just got done with a short, now getting to work more on this film.

Locations Narrowed down to:

Mount Nebo (http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/MtNebo)
Petit Jean (http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com)

Casting will begin soon!

[sschedra]

This is not the usual fare. I think this has the potential to be a very unique and compelling hero story. Would love to hear more. Let me know if you want music.

Regards and bon voyage,
Stephen

http://macjams.com/artist/studio_e

[Ki-Ki]

Hey mate,
Best of luck on the project.
The credit crunch ate my broadband, so at the library right now.
Hope thing's shape up well for you!
Kieran S.

[Chris_Keaton]

How come I can't see the temp poster? Or is it an invisible poster, hence the temp part.

[ramsaur]

I don't know why you're not seeing it. It is there.

---UPDATE---
Might not be using Petit Jean or Mount Nebo. Forgot the highest point in Louisiana is about 30 minutes from here. I've been to it a few times and it could work out and a good advantage of using it is we don't have to pay a penny for anything with it :)

[RanRanBobandyMan]

judging by the tagline, im assuming this is a comedy?

good luck!

[ramsaur]

Nope - A Drama

[ramsaur]

Went Location Scouting Today at new site and found some interesting and useful locations. I believe this will be our location.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=921http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=922

If Boy Scouts were apart of this, than this should be a good Boy Scout Film
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=923

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=924http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=925

The peek.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=926

This looks like a good spot for a great fall...
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=927

[Ki-Ki]

Look's like a great crew, keep it up mate. :)

[ramsaur]

Thanks man!
---
Never got to update this but the pictures above of location is X'd out. Not using. Here's our final locked down location.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1068
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1067
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/picture.php?albumid=104&pictureid=1066

[ramsaur]

Wow, so our shoot is tomorrow and monday. Yesterday night I lost 4 crew and had to try and replace those crew guys with other guys who are willing to work for free, but it all paid off after staying up all night. Got all the crew back! .. well except for lighting but as of now it's just me and the DP doing that. Going to try and find a gaffer with extreme short notice.. if not at least some of us know about lighting.

Wish us luck on our shoot!!

[sschedra]

Matt,
Can't wait to see the roughs. Way to persevere! Hope the shoot goes well.

Regards,
Stephen

[Chris_Keaton]

Cool! Nice shots. Ooh the bone's sticking out and everything.

[fixitinpost]

Your grabs look good. Stoked to see this one. Looks like an interesting story.

[ramsaur]

Here are 3 more grabs and the last grabs I will show! There might be a little more from the new poster but as far as I know that's it till the film is out! Check them out below and on the 3rd post (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1596789&postcount=3)

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/014.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/008.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/ramsaur/011.jpg

[Edgen]

Hey man! Great grabs! Lookin' forward to seeing your film. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun shooting it.

good luck!
/j

[lawriejaffa]

This looks like a fun film - the characters and setting lends itself to an impression of black /dark comedy - which if you pull of can work wonders!

I like the zany vibe from this and the cast are looking amusing (I was in the Boys Brigade though in the UK not the scouts, so all we did was goose march in circles around churches... great...) But our boots were shiny - soooo shiny!

[Brandon Rice]

Nice grabs! Looking forward to this one :)

Wondering what the feel is? Comedy, Drama? Adventure?

[ramsaur]

Drama and Adventure

[Brandon Rice]

awesome

[Girgej]

Some Beautiful Shots ... Good Luck

[MrFluffy]

Nice little story. Shame about the people in the BG at 3:19. The only other this that struck me was thet he lit a fire and then it seemed that there was no fire?

[ramsaur]

The only other this that struck me was thet he lit a fire and then it seemed that there was no fire?
What are you talking about? There was not a point in the movie where someone lit a fire and there was no fire.

[bhase724]

He lit a flare to signal for help.

[MrFluffy]

What are you talking about? There was not a point in the movie where someone lit a fire and there was no fire.
Sorry on second viewing it was the other scouts who had the fire.

[Noel Evans]

Some of the forest shots where really good and I liked the grading you used.

I like how you tried to build a relationship with the boys that one was always looking out for the other and when the accident took place that you already knew this guy had a reason to do everything he could to help.

TBH, I didnt think the opening scene added much to the overall story. I think this could have worked better without it. Just going straight in to that scene with the leader talking to them. I think your work is getting better every time you go out.

[Solomon Chase]

Some of the forest shots where really good and I liked the grading you used.

I like how you tried to build a relationship with the boys that one was always looking out for the other and when the accident took place that you already knew this guy had a reason to do everything he could to help.

TBH, I didnt think the opening scene added much to the overall story. I think this could have worked better without it. Just going straight in to that scene with the leader talking to them.

Yep... could of cut the opening scene and developed the relationship more. I liked a lot of the shots that happened around 2:37 onward. What camera did you use? I noticed some auto-exposure jumps in some places. The final scene could of used some more close-ups and been paced longer. The acting was rigid, but I know it can be hard to get good performances with friends/family. :)

Not really that relevant.. but I like the font you used for the "Medal of Merit" title

[ramsaur]

What camera did you use? I noticed some auto-exposure jumps in some places.

Not really that relevant.. but I like the font you used for the "Medal of Merit" title

Jumps? Like when they were singing "I don't know what I've been told" and it swung to the left? We actually used 2 cameras. The first half before the fall is the Canon HV20 and the 2nd half after the fall is the Canon EOS Rebel T1i

The font - Puckthemad picked that out when he created the temp poster.

[Solomon Chase]

Jumps? Like when they were singing "I don't know what I've been told" and it swung to the left? We actually used 2 cameras. The first half before the fall is the Canon HV20 and the 2nd half after the fall is the Canon EOS Rebel T1i

The font - Puckthemad picked that out when he created the temp poster.

Yeah, at that spot, and around 2:01. The Rebel T1i shots look great :). Some of the HV20 shots look good as well, but the compression seems to be kinder to the Rebel.

[mustardseed]

Yea we intended to shoot the whole thing with the T1i, but my charger died during the shoot and we were only able to finish some of the latter scenes before the battery lost all charge so we had to use the HV20.

[sschedra]

Matt,

Congratulations! Great job with the edits, especially on the fall scene, as I know you could not do a re-shoot. The final cleaned up really well. I see Ben Hase did the score. His stuff is first rate. Nice job.
Stephen

[ramsaur]

Thanks Stephen, sorry you couldn't help on this one. Maybe next time :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I liked the scout leader that instructed the kids at the beginning, he came off really well.

Some more variety in your shot selection would really help. I also see that you tackled two entries, I believe you have done this before. I wonder if you put all your time and effort into one entry if you can achieve more? Either way you are working your craft and that's always a good thing.

A little more character development early on might have helped. Acting with friends and family is tough though, I feel your pain.

Keep at it.

MAH

[ramsaur]

I don't know which one I put more effort into the most but I know both had a lot me in there. Medal of merit I put more effort into with the Production and Post Production. Carpe Diem had more of me in the pre production. I had no help there, I did the entire pre production by myself (besides the music and lyrics), was tough but all went well. The production and post I think I had a lot in there so over all I had a lot with both films.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I understand but just think what you might accomplish if you put all that effort into one production. I would be excited to see that.

Cheers,

MAH

[ramsaur]

Yea I know and I've been thinking about it. We'll se next fest ;)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Yea I know and I've been thinking about it. We'll se next fest ;)I may hold you to that. :thumbsup:

[Rodney V. Smith]

I understand but just think what you might accomplish if you put all that effort into one production. I would be excited to see that.

Cheers,

MAH

AS one who has been there and pulled off 2 entries (but with bad sound as a result of not being fully prepared) I'll have to agree with Mike completely on this one.

One of the things about entering the DVXFests multiple times is that your work will always be compared to what you did last. If you haven't showed a marked improvement we're actually all quite disappointed, especially if you've shown promise to do some good work.

You;ve got promise and so much potential but my first impression of this movie was that it felt lazy and you were just phoning it in. Now please bare in mind that I;ve seen your past work, so I was expeciting something really cool from you this time around. I know how much work you;ve put into this and I guess my reaction is one more of disppointment that all of that work really wasn't showing on screen. This came off immediately as an after-school special becasue of tone.

Let me try to focus on the positive here, just throwing away all prior knowledge of your work: You set up the story of the boy scouts fairly early. Chose a good location and I like that you were able to get real scouts out there with the gear and everything. Decent walking footage and (doh! dude just looked right at the camera), you kept advancing the story. Nice broken bone. Gruesome. The scout leader was actually decent. He seems like he's for real and not an actor.

You did well using the camera to move through the scenes. The glidecam can be a great addition to your arsenal especially when you know how to use it well. Blocking is a huge part of this and that's one thing you need to work on. Most of how everyone is set up in the walking sequence is more to reflect reality than to be cinematic. But remember this: you're not shooting a documentary! You can shape reality to be what you want it to be. Stagger your actors, or shoot from the side so you have depth to the scene. Putting the boys side by side only serves to flatten the imagery.

THe first establishing scene was not necessary. Spend some more time with your script and your dialog especially. Dialog needs to flow and yet tell a story and add character at the same time. We have our own personal rules as to what dialog to keep and what to throw out, but you can show caring and that somebody looks out for the other without saying it outloud. Show us. Don't tell us.

The music started. And then it never stopped. Ever. There are some GREAT composers who offer their services for free in these fests. Please take advantage of them. A good composer can add so much to a movie.

Your lead never showed any real urgency even in his running and his yelling... you gotta work with your actors more. Push them and push them until they give you an honest response. They may hate you for a bit, but that's fine. You'll get the shot and they'll feel great about the performance. Each actor is different though, but each one wants to excel. Its up to you to drag that out of them kicking and screaming.

Work on your shot compositions, get a more solid script and then rewrite the hell out of it until it screams brilliance. Until it scremas that this is a movie you REALLY MUST make., Then rehearse the actors especially when you;re going on location, and choose your shots carefully. Know when to use your tripod and when to use your glidecam. It doesn;t have to be used for every shot. Just the ones that are moving. And turn off the auto focus.

You put this whole thing together and you had so much people helping you out. Push yourself to be better and it doesnt matter what camera you have, with the right amoutn of time spent on the correct things in pre-production you'll have a much better looking film.

Remember, not all of us have budgets or fancy equipment. A lot of my own stuff is DIYed (dolly, jib) but they're what I need for the job and I use the hell out of them to get the best shots. But first i think of the shot and then how the actors will move through the scene. Each movement is deliberate and guides the next shot. It is all designed to go together. Granted you had some good shots in there, but those were spread out through the movie and needed to be more consistent.

I look forward to seeing your next film. It will kick some serious ass.

[Rodney V. Smith]

Sorry for such a long winded review.

[ramsaur]

Thanks puck! Good review I needed to hear! I got a few ideas for the next fest depending on what the theme will be.

[Rodney V. Smith]

Just remember that 80% of production is pre-production and that involves shot set-ups, rehearsal, the whole bit. It's about designing the movie. Take a few notes from Armisiano and how he put together "Diner for Two". His prep work was meticulous and allowed him to get a good idea of what he woudl be shooting, so he wasted no time and got exactly those shots.

Ryan Walters on Tarts Fools and G-Men has a good blog that you should read as well. Remmeber we're are your resources and most of us will help whereever we can even if its only offering advice or feedback on a script. And the script is the best place to start. If you haven't done at least 6 rewrites (personal experience) you haven't picked it apart enough.

Focus on one film next fest and make it as perfect as you can.

[ramsaur]

Thanks man. After doing more thinking about what you just said I more than likely will do that one film and spend enough time prepping it then when production comes still spend lots of time but will be good. We'll just wait and see, I know it'll be good. I've started to make lot more contacts after doing some shorts this year.

[bhase724]

The music started. And then it never stopped. Ever. There are some GREAT composers who offer their services for free in these fests. Please take advantage of them. A good composer can add so much to a movie.

Can you please clarify what you meant by this statement. I can't tell if you just complimented or criticized my work. I was told by Matt to score basically through the whole video. This was actually my first short film score and I really need to know what I did wrong.

Thanks,
Ben

[Rodney V. Smith]

Can you please clarify what you meant by this statement. I can't tell if you just complimented or criticized my work. I was told by Matt to score basically through the whole video. This was actually my first short film score and I really need to know what I did wrong.

Thanks,
Ben

The music was consistent all of the way through. It never dipped or slowed to match what was happening on screen even to add an undertone of dread. There was just no tonal change and felt like the music had been looped. Stuck on instead of scored for the film. When the first kid fell, that was a huge cue for the music to change, to go darker or even just to stop completely. The music continued at the same adventurous pace and that lessened the impact of the scene.

Check out the work of Justin Durban, Herman Witkam, Damian Sanchez, Francesco de Leonardis and Sid Barnhoorn. They've all worked on films for Questfest and while they have different styles, they produce music fitted for the film.

What you may have done here is take the director too literally. A lot of us directors have no clue about the music until we hear it and we can tell you what works for us. So you have to trust your instincts first and then take notes and feedback, but dont do so blindly.

If any of the composers want to chime in, now would a GREAT time.

Good luck to you.

[dsto]

Very nice. Good locations! The night scenes were very cool. Seemed like it might be a bit tricky to pull off in the middle of the woods! This reminded me of my nephews. That is what good filmaking can do. When we can pull something out that we can relate to, I think you have done your job.

[~jai~]

Good solid, easy to follow story. There were some sound issues during the pow wow at the beginning, and I didn't really get the point of the first scene, but all in all I was able to follow this fairly easy. Good job on the compound fracture, that thing looked real! However, being around football players in high school who actually had one of those made me feel that kid was a bit too calm. I mean to see your bone sticking out, not an easy thing for a kid to handle at all. The acting was also lacking in the film and I felt like I needed more urgency/desperation/concern from both Brig and Mr. Ceryl especially. The score was good, but seemed a bit over done, especially in the end where it made me feel like I was about to watch the ending of a Jerry Bruckheimer action movie. Just didn't seem to fit, in my opinion. I did like a number of your shots and felt like the edit came together nicely. I hope to see more of your films in the future!

Thanks for sharing!

[JonB]

Its a shame you couldn't use the Rebel the whole time. It was a little jaring going back and forth between it and the HV20. One thing that could help with that is match the color/saturation between both in Post.

I agree that the score could use a little help, as well as some of the acting. But it certainly wasn't a bad film in any respect.

[ZazaCast]

Good Job on this film. I don't want to repeat the same comments over & over again, could it use some work? ...sure, but by no means was this a poor film. You are showing improvement with each of your productions. Keep up the good work. The only advice I would give is cut back on the number of films you enter and work on (I swear I saw you name on just about every film in this fest!) and give one your complete attention.

Congrats to cast & crew!

[DarkElastic]

Hi Ramsaur,

Nice concept. Good ending. Acting was fine.

I agree with other comments that the opening scene was a bit redundant. We were just thrown in and pulled out before knowing what was going on.
You could do with establishing shots to set the scene. Also, a wider veriety of shots, a bit more than the shakey cam shots.
The music, as stated before, never changed to match the scenes.
It went from light to dark in seconds as he fires the flare... The falre sound FX needs to be better.

Not a bad try, you will learn a lot from this Fest. Well done.

[kurtmo]

I liked the topic you chose. The story was good, but the acting was a bit stiff and that held the piece back somewhat. I would have liked you to have shot all the night work at dusk and corrected; it got too dark for me.

Thanks for sharing!

[Girgej]

Hey man.... Good effort ... had great colours in the shots ... the story is a bit empty in the first half ... but compensates in the second ... Good Job ...

[bhase724]

Hey puck,

Thanks for the tip on sticking with my instincts. Initially I had the music stop after the fall and also there was a break when the scouts were walking through the woods. I just assumed the director knew what would fit the best so I stuck with his suggestions.

On the other hand you need to know what tonality is before you accuse someone of not changing it. The chord progression that I used in the beginning was based on chromatic mediants (movement by thirds - A tequnique that developed in the progression out of tonal music) I used a pedal point to hold the progression together. I also used similar rhythms to tie differing sections to one another. When the boys split up I completely changed the "tonality" by switching to a minor progression with a major V. I continued in the minor mode after the fall but changed the rhythmic element of the music using thirds instead of a pedal point. The progression I used during the night scenes was major and had nothing to do rhythmically or harmonically with anything prior. In the final scene I used a track that I had previously used that was in an entirely diffent key. As I said don't try to talk music unless you know what you are talking about. The music I composed was diverse harmonically shown by the examples above but I used tequniques to blend each section into the next. -Unless that is undesireable

I understand what you are saying about the ups and downs. On my next project I will spend more time on the mix. I do however feel that I captured the emotion and feel of each scene. I encourage you to view the film again and listen for the changes that I mentioned. Perhaps my "blending aproach" was to musical and didn't offer the abrupt changes that may have been necesarry in this film.

[ramsaur]

Hey Ben, also what puck said in his 2nd paragraph about us directors having no clue about the music until we hear it and us telling you what works for us, is what I did. This is my 4th project working with a composer and I'm not that skilled yet but I had no clue this was also your first project for film. I give lots of credit to you for your first. Cause that was pretty good IMO. But I know myself I need to use my direction more. So if we do another one together let's put both brains in and jump back and forth and we'll both learn more and have a nice/better score running through :)

But this is good for a start for you and for me. Had fun working with you on both projects, hopefully we can work on the next ones.

[Rodney V. Smith]

I meant mood, not actual notes. I can only go by what i hear and what it makes me feel.. what it tells me about the scene.

[Chris_Keaton]

... The chord progression that I used in the beginning was based on chromatic mediants (movement by thirds - A tequnique that developed in the progression out of tonal music) I used a pedal point to hold the progression together. I also used similar rhythms to tie differing sections to one another. When the boys split up I completely changed the "tonality" by switching to a minor progression with a major V. I continued in the minor mode after the fall but changed the rhythmic element of the music using thirds instead of a pedal point. The progression I used during the night scenes was major and had nothing to do rhythmically or harmonically with anything prior. In the final scene I used a track that I had previously used that was in an entirely diffent key. As I said don't try to talk music unless you know what you are talking about. The music I composed was diverse harmonically shown by the examples above but I used tequniques to blend each section into the next. .....

Was this in English?

Seriously good job. Every attempt is a learning opportunity. Take advantage of it and apply what you learned to the next project.

[bhase724]

That is written in musician... :) Mood and Tonality are completely different. I guess for the mood of the score it was all happy. I tried to add some tension by switching to minor and using some tight string harmonies after the fall but I should have incorporated more elements to achieve the proper feel. I will definitely play around with tempo a lot more on my next project, didn't really think about it to much on this one.

[Brian Parker]

Hey Ramsaur. Pretty good film. It took a little while to engage me but I feel that your second half definately was stronger. The acting was ok but I did feel like it could have been ramped up a bit during the injury sequence. Awesome injury FX. One other thing to be careful about is letting the musical overpower the dialogue with volume. Thanks for sharing!