A Short Feature's Trailer, Shot with XL2

[davidjan]

Hello, everyone
It's my first short feature, it was shot with XL2 & film lens.
Please go to my web-site to see the trailer: http://www.davidchanfilms.com
or download it here:
Trailer_Small: http://www.davidchanfilms.com/Trailer_Unreal_Small.wmv
Trailer_Large: http://www.davidchanfilms.com/Trailer_Unreal_Large.wmv


It's the first cut Trailer, may revised later.

Any feedback is welcome.
Thanks!!

David


http://www.davidchanfilms.com/001.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/002.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/003.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/004.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/005.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/007.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/008.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/009.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/010.jpg
http://www.davidchanfilms.com/011.jpg

[FindingMattch]

Well...that shot of him scribbling on the sketchbook is basically right outta the ring, and then you have a giant ring on a staticy television, so...is it supposed to be a copy or what?

[davidjan]

Thank you for reply, pal
I'll update some details (synopsis, photos ... etc,.) in a week.
The whole story needs few paragraphs to explain.
I'll put a "updated" word on title when I finished that later.

David

[See tukka]

Looks cool...very nice. What adapter did you use?? mini35??

[davidjan]

Well, unfortunatly
We don't have that much budget to buy or rent mini-35 adapter (I believe it will looks better if we used mini-35.), we used another cheaper film lens adapter, it costs us total $400-500 for both 16mm & 35mm adapters.

David

[See tukka]

How did you do the scene where the wall is breaking up??

[davidjan]

That wall breaking scene is a total CG generated scene (except the actor.)

David

[See tukka]

Cool. That looked really cool, and so did the whole trailer. I really want to see the rest of the movie...

Really good work.

[STORYTELLER32]

Hi David,
I wouldn't call this a trailer so much as a teaser since it's so short and we really don't get a sense of any of the story.
That being said, what you did so far looks pretty pro so I have a few questions for ya.
You said you used another cheaper film lense adapter. Which one was it? And did you have to deal with the whole inverted image in camera issue? What was your budget for the project and how long is the film? How long was your shoot?

[davidjan]

hi, Jordan
I just checked your site, pretty nice
& thanks for reminding me about teaser & trailer.

here are answers for you:

1. I can't remember what adapter we used, because my D.P. bought them, not me. But I think you can find some cheap adapters on eBay, that's how the D.P. found them. (The adapter we used looks like a simple red metal ring.)
2. The image won't be inverted when using that adapter.
3. My budget is around USD$20,000
4. The whole film is 30 minutes long
5. The shooting took 40-45 days, post-production took 3 months

David

[STORYTELLER32]

hi, Jordan
I just checked your site, pretty nice
& thanks for reminding me about teaser & trailer.

Thanks! :cheesy:
Wasn't a reminder so much as a clarification suggestion. This way when you post a final trailer, you can say, hey, here's the trailer. Instead of calling it trailer #2, 3, 4, etc. (heh heh)


here are answers for you:

1. I can't remember what adapter we used, because my D.P. bought them, not me. But I think you can find some cheap adapters on eBay, that's how the D.P. found them. (The adapter we used looks like a simple red metal ring.)
2. The image won't be inverted when using that adapter.

Really? I thought all the adapters that didn't have spinning ground glass (or a CD) had their images inverted from the lens or something? So you're saying the adapter your DP used didn't have this issue? Could you find out more info from him about this? I'm curious.


3. My budget is around USD$20,000
4. The whole film is 30 minutes long
5. The shooting took 40-45 days, post-production took 3 months

WHOA! 40-45 days for a 30 minute flik? Wow. Were they consecutive days? Or was this a weekend shoot?
And damn, 20g's? Did you get financial backing?

Project looks good so far from what I've seen. What are your plans for it?

[davidjan]

1. Well, I need to ask my DP about that adapter, probably post the answer few days later. But I'm not sure does he keep the factory web-site.

2. It took 45 days to shoot because we have only 3 crews doing all productions, there is no producer handle details for us, we wasted lots of time to cover that part.
There are many different locations to shoot, we need 1-2 days for each scene, & 2-4 days for each location. Besides, we do all lighting with film industry standard.

3. This film is my personal thesis project, compared to the others who shoot with 16mm, this is not expensive, then we can save some money for CG. This short film will go to many different film festival in U.S. And we'll see what'll happen later.

David

[artistiam]

Tight trailer I'll post the one for my feature coming soon!

[FilmMagic]

Nice looking trailer. 35mm adapter or not, has a good look to it.

[davidjan]

Nice looking trailer. 35mm adapter or not, has a good look to it.

Hi, Bryan:
We used cheaper 16mm adapter instead of expensive mini-35 adapter, it was good enough for us though, and we also spent lots of time to do excellent lighting, that certainly help.

David

[Landon D. Parks]

I think the adapter you used was not like the Mini35, or even the Redrock. It was probly just an adapter to allow you to use Cine lenses on a camera not made to accespt them. Unlike the Mini35, you WILL NOT get 35mm DOF, and unlike the Redrock, the image will not be inverted.

It simply allows you to use cine lenses on the camera.... Same deal as 28 Days Later used.

If, as you say, It's a small, red ring, I have seen a similare one on E-bay made for the XL1/2... If this is the same one, then it is just a lenses converter, not a Mini35 or anything like it.

[MrG]

Looking really good but i kinna got the impression it's 50i or 60i, I don't have the time to check right now :undecided
As for the adapter...was it this one (http://www.xl1solutions.com/ADAPTERS.htm)

[J.R. Hudson]

I always felt a good Trailer (or Teaser) should give one a glimpse of the story and make you wan't to see it. This does neither for me. I have no idea what this is about and why would I wan't to see something that I have zero clue of?

I suggest a recut of this trailer to give us a reason to be interested.

and

$20,000 ?!?! On what?

[gabriel]

I really like the shots - the composition and the lightning especially the lightning!!
so that's why I don't understand your heavy usage of magic bullet. I think they should forbid magic bullet! :-)

seriously in some screengrabs you can really see the gradiant filter and it's artificial colors. It makes the really nice picture feel awkward.... at my opinion...

I'm not against CC I think it can really enhance the style of a picture but you shouldn't do too much of it...

[davidjan]

I think the adapter you used was not like the Mini35, or even the Redrock. It was probly just an adapter to allow you to use Cine lenses on a camera not made to accespt them. Unlike the Mini35, you WILL NOT get 35mm DOF, and unlike the Redrock, the image will not be inverted.

It simply allows you to use cine lenses on the camera.... Same deal as 28 Days Later used.

If, as you say, It's a small, red ring, I have seen a similare one on E-bay made for the XL1/2... If this is the same one, then it is just a lenses converter, not a Mini35 or anything like it.

Hi, Landon D. Parks
Yes, you're right about it, it should be called a lens convertor, not adapter, thank you for point that out.
: )

David

[davidjan]

Looking really good but i kinna got the impression it's 50i or 60i, I don't have the time to check right now :undecided
As for the adapter...was it this one (http://www.xl1solutions.com/ADAPTERS.htm)

Yes, MrG
You find it !!
That is the convertor we used for shooting.

David

[davidjan]

I always felt a good Trailer (or Teaser) should give one a glimpse of the story and make you wan't to see it. This does neither for me. I have no idea what this is about and why would I wan't to see something that I have zero clue of?

I suggest a recut of this trailer to give us a reason to be interested.

and

$20,000 ?!?! On what?

hello, John
Your opinion is highly appreciated !!
I'm revising the trailer now, next version will be more completed, & use different music, too, I think.

David

[davidjan]

I really like the shots - the composition and the lightning especially the lightning!!
so that's why I don't understand your heavy usage of magic bullet. I think they should forbid magic bullet! :-)

seriously in some screengrabs you can really see the gradiant filter and it's artificial colors. It makes the really nice picture feel awkward.... at my opinion...

I'm not against CC I think it can really enhance the style of a picture but you shouldn't do too much of it...


Hello, gabriel
Yeh, I really hope that I didn't have to do lots of Magic Bullet things to the image.
But the truth is, if I don't, it will looks very video, both on color & contrast, etc.
So, next time, I really wish that I can use mini-35, that'll looks a lot better than this.

David

[MrG]

Can we see some grabs without cc?

[sodotoguwangus]

whole thing was kind of, well, I don't know, NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE... Actually It really sucked. Totally amatuer. Don't know why you even wasted your time.


Just kidding.

Actually, I was very impressed. All the production values seemed high. Great work.

One question:

In the trailer, there is a shot of a lady sitting at a desk in what appears to be an office. How did you do that shot , and what effect did you use to make the camera push-in real fast, then slow-down, then push-in again. It looked great.

[twocik23]

Very nice!!!!! Where did you get the sound effects????

[davidjan]

Can we see some grabs without cc?

OK, I'll post them for you in few days.

David

[davidjan]

whole thing was kind of, well, I don't know, NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE... Actually It really sucked. Totally amatuer. Don't know why you even wasted your time.


Just kidding.

Actually, I was very impressed. All the production values seemed high. Great work.

One question:

In the trailer, there is a shot of a lady sitting at a desk in what appears to be an office. How did you do that shot , and what effect did you use to make the camera push-in real fast, then slow-down, then push-in again. It looked great.

Hello, sodotoguwangus
1. We put the tripod on dolly, then do tilt down while we push-in the camera.
2. The Fast-Slow effect can be easily done in any editing software, we used SONY Vegas.

David

[davidjan]

Very nice!!!!! Where did you get the sound effects????

Hi, twocik23
My personal habit is to collect sound effects when I surfing the internet, besides, you can also get some cool sounds from tons of Hollywood movie trailers.

David

[action junkie]

I think the teaser works. Teasers aren't supposed to give much away, and rarely give away story details...it's supposed to TEASE you, and I felt this did. Remember those "Godzilla" teasers? All they told you that it's a movie about a big green monster named Godzilla and this Godzilla is coming to destroy New York City, blah blah blah. This teaser is saying that something creepy, disturbing, and UNREAL is going on in this story and it invites/teases the audience to see what it's all about. Nicely edited.

Curious though, where the 20 grand went to for a 30 minute piece.

[davidjan]

I think the teaser works. Teasers aren't supposed to give much away, and rarely give away story details...it's supposed to TEASE you, and I felt this did. Remember those "Godzilla" teasers? All they told you that it's a movie about a big green monster named Godzilla and this Godzilla is coming to destroy New York City, blah blah blah. This teaser is saying that something creepy, disturbing, and UNREAL is going on in this story and it invites/teases the audience to see what it's all about. Nicely edited.

Curious though, where the 20 grand went to for a 30 minute piece.

Hi, action junkie:
I think there are lots of people curious about the budget like you.

Here is the list:
1. Buying Equipment = $ 6187.46
2. Film Production (Shooting, Rentals, Gas, etc.) = $ 2074.5
3. Car & Truck Rentals, Gas = $ 1890
4. Actors = $ 1650
5. Sound Design = $ 1050
6. VFX = $ 2200
7. Food = $ 5500

Total = $ 20551.46

PS.
I have to say that we wasted lots of money to rent cars & trucks, because we don't have car. But lucky part is, we didn't pay anything for locations, thanks to Treasure Island in San Francisco !!