New Short

[Staven]

http://www.stabbfilms.com/reel.htm

click on the WHAT IS FEAR? pic and it'll open up a pop up of the movie. You can watch online or click the right click to download if you like. Movies about 6minutes & 23mbs.

This was just a fun shoot. Something to do when I can't afford to get anything else off the ground. Cost $0(i even used old tapes). No script(which isn't a good idea), no crew, one actor, me and my camera.

Played around with Magic Bullet. Used all practicals, except for the "night" scenes where I used a couple work lights.

Not an award winner by any means, but by far the least stressful film I've ever made. Rodriguez says everyone has at least 10 bad films in them before they start to get good, so here is #6.

[Pais]

Cool! Some good shots in the dream sequence -- my favorite is the one where the main character slides along with the camera.

I liked the lighting in the night bedroom, but thought the shots in the rest of the house might have ben stronger with some more dramatic lighting. I know you mentioned that this was just off-the-cuff, but maybe a room lit by the TV's glow would be a little spookier for our paranoid insomniac guy. ;)

Nice work. Only four more to go ...

[alpi69]

great stuff.
especially the editing was superb IMO. no gaps at all. now we know what the mirror effect was needed for..

[dvpixl]

motivated and edited very well. how did you do the mirror effect? I'm curious now. I thought you pulled a raimi from evil dead two but i know your budget was $0 so I figured it's a split screen trick.
anyway, the movie kept me flinching because I thought something was going to jump out.

[CaptainMench]

Way cool -- Thanks for posting it. Had me hooked... Though never having to shoot a shower scene... and knowing it was you behind the camera... kind of brought me out of the film for a minute.

No script, ok -- no story boards either? Kept that one all in your head?

LOL

Anyway -- so the shot where the guy comes out of the closet is split too?

CaptM

[Staven]

Though never having to shoot a shower scene... and knowing it was you behind the camera... kind of brought me out of the film for a minute.

He was wearing a bathing suit... if that was what you were insinuating...

Yes the closet scene is the actor playing a dual role.

As for the mirror. It's really simple and this can apply for any basic plate shot you wish to do. Lock down the camera, then get your actor to do whatever it is you want them to. As long as they don't cross over onto the other side of the frame, you are fine. for the mirror. The actor stood still with his head lowered for a minute, then acted out the dialogue and action. Then you just overlap the two, cropping each side till it looks right and you are on your way. For the closet scene, the guy on the couch is cropped just around him, the rest of the shot is from the other plate.

[CaptainMench]

;D ;D

Yes -- that's what I was insinuating!! Sorry. The child in me came out.

I can never get FCP to do a nice split like that -- always see a bit of a line.

CaptM

[Chris Messineo]

Excellent stuff.

I really enoyed it and most of the shots were awesome, tons of great images, lighting, and good compositions. I loved the mirror shot.

The story, "What is Fear" was interesting, but in the end all of the elements didn't pay off in the end for me. I wanted something more than the slasher ending.

I'm looking forward to your next film,

Chris

[T-1000]

Fantastic. I'm always searching for short films on forums, like dvinfo and others, and this was one of the best shorts I've seen recently. Great shots, and nice, intense editing. You had a good actor as well. I like the message at the end, too. Pretty freaky! :o

T-1000

[cyberagedave]

WOW, that is awesome. Good job.

[cyberagedave]

Stupid question, I have a mac and a PC, when I upload as a .mov file, I can't view it from my PC, but your movie I can see fine. How do you upload it and save it as a letter box .mov style like what you have?

[Staven]

Took me a moment to understand what you were asking. I use to constantly have the exact same question. You most probably export directly through your editing software. Which is what I used to do until I got a compression program.

I use CLEANER. There's also Sorenson Squeeze, and several others. There's a Output/Compression forum section on this site that may be of assistance to you.

In Cleaner, you import your movie then set it's compression parameters. You are able to crop your movies top,bottom, and sides if you wish. You can then chose the exact dimensions you cropped to for the movie size. These programs also speed up time it takes to download show.

glad you guys are enjoying the show, thanks for the feedback!

[Raptor3400]

Scott, I just watched 'Stolen' nice job. I thought the acting was good and the emotional impact in the end was pretty amazing for such as short film. Keep up the good work.

[angrymexican]

ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you the New Steven King.
I loved it, it had me goin gthere for a minute, but in my own opoinion i would have cut the movie when the slasher is full speed towards his back with the knife... (i dont like blood).( i do like killing, but no blodd, sorry)

Great job, 4 to go.

[araujofh]

Great stuff man!!!!
The mirror shot was really nice. I mean everything.
I kind of had the same thought when I saw the shower scene. But then I figured it couldn't be :D : He must be wearing something.

Anyway, keep posting more films.

I like your site too.

All the best

Fidel.

[Danielxm]

Hey great short man. You've got the talent!

Of course there are some flows, but the overall outcome is great.

Did you all noticed that the feature film on tv was stolen?? haha nice touch!

Ok, loved all lights in room, mirror dream and tc, but disliked the room light. It seams home made and more like video.

About stolen, another great short! The camera movements and sudden strokes were perfect for the tension and enviroment. Great stuff.

Congrats. Looking forward to your 10th!! :)

Daniel M.

[gcaus]

Hey, great job!

I thought the camera work was real good. For all practicals, great lighting. I, too, loved the dream sequence where he is moving towards the door. Good lighting in the bedroom.

You'd think from some of the comments, people haven't seen shower scenes. I guess butt shots are out of the question here LOL!

-Jerry

[rockwiler]

Hey Great short.

How do shoot so dark without noise or grain? I just finished my short and all of the dark areas are noisey and grainy. I need to take it in AE and remove the noise. Am I missing something?

[disjecta]

Scott,

That was some strange stuff but I enjoyed it. It just danced on the cusp of being cliche but I think you stayed on the right side of the fence.

I don't know if you are experiencing flickering in the credit roll at the end on an actual TV but if you are, make sure the font lines are at least 2 pixels wide and try scrolling slightly slower. I had this issue previously but those two fixes made it right.

Keep up the good work.

[solproductions]

That was very cool.

pete

[STORYTELLER32]

Nicely done Scott. Funny thing is a friend of mine was telling me about a short horror thing he wanted to do for his reel and it follows very similarly to yours, lol...

Loved the magic bullet work. To me the best stuff was in the dream sequence. Didn't you post some stills of a crow as part of this project? Did that end up on the cutting room floor?