3 Minute Film Contest - Seattle Intl Film Festivel

A

Arcwave

Well-known member
I'm enrolling in a 3 minute film contest for the Seattle Times that will be sponsered by the Seattle International Film Festivel.

I have completed my work and am pretty optimistic about it. However, there is one draw back, my film is actually a spin-off of a larger production that we will be persuing after the contest is over with. So in other words, my film is a scene of a more final movie that will be shot later.

My question is, do you think they will grade mine equally even if it doesnt really have a beginning, middle, and an end?

Here is the site to all the details of the contest:

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2501

And here is my film:

http://www.raptorhideout.com/vip/Tr...nt/Gettysburg/3 Minute Film/3 Minute Film.mpg

NOTE: Was shot entirely on a FX1.

Jesse
 
And I also noticed right after the actor get's off the horse and says "Hey Lawrence" - but before he says "Any news?" that you cut to a scene of the two actors standing together where one takes off his hat - the only problem is that the blonde actor is clearly talking, but we don't here any dialog. It's just a bad fill.
 
The hat part I had a problem with because I only had one scene of him removing his hat. I'll most likey re-shoot that.

But as for the 'cheesy acting' part, you're the first to actually say that out of another film/forum group I showed and thought the acting was great considering their age. Yes, it's a little exaggerrated but that's all I could get from a bunch of 16/17 year olds, so bare with me.

I will correct the aspect ratio. This wasnt made to be shown online so I dont really care about it. Just the camera work info I'm looking for.

Thanks,

Jesse
 
I'd have to say it's better than anything i've done (or could do at this point). Don't think I'm near that stage of having that many people in my film, as well as wardrobe/uniforms, etc...

The audio was pretty good in my mind, especially the horse galloping by.

As far as grading your film goes? sorry, I have no clue, I've never been to one of those things before... what usually scores higher: Technical execution, acting or story? I guess all three would be most desireable :)
 
James Gerber said:
Technical execution, acting or story? I guess all three would be most desireable :)
Click to expand...

This is the only part I am worried about. The film is a spin-off of a larger film that will be shot in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to go back and re-shoot the hat scene since it caused some comotion, and now I see why. What I like about the idea I'm using is that it is different. You don't see many smaller film contests that include Civil War submissions. So maybe we'll recieve something for the creative idea? Hehe.

Thanks for the compliment, James.

Jesse
 
Not judging the the aspect ratio I'd say it was ok. The main actor(the blonde one) I felt wasn't as good as the other two actors. I think you need to vary your shots a bit more, the final conversation had only 1 ots(which hasn't very over his shoulder anyways), other than that we watched the whole thing with both of them in the frame with no close ups or anything.

Once thing that pulled me out of it was when the guy gets off the horse and it follows his feet - it looks like he's wearing air force 1's! I wouldn't show their feet if they're not wearing appropriate boots.

But other than that it was ok, good job for a bunch of 16/17 year olds, I'm not sure how old you are though.
 
I agree. My last shot with the 2 conversing was a little too long for one shot. I should have cut to more close-ups. Thanks on that tip. And yes, those are Air Force 1's. The thing we really lack in our wardrobe dept. is authentic boots. I dont really think the judge will care but thanks anyways!

I'm 17, by the way.

Jesse
 
Hey man,

If nothing else, I admire your vision and the fact that you went out and got it done.

I think you're okay with using this part of a complete piece as your entry.

I'd try to do something in post to soften up the footage and give it more of a filmic look just due to the subject matter alone.
 
Overall very impressive,

I'm sorry, but I can't comment on the judging of the festival.

However, I see a focused commitment toward making a great product here and hope you'll be willing to endure some observations.

It might be the aforementioned, distorted aspect ratio but I was distracted by the ultra wide angle camera movement in Colonel Chamberlain's Quarters. The technology (camera) is drawing too much attention to itself destroying the illusion that I'm really in the past. (This is why you should never zoom in or out on this project) I almost felt that maybe I was watching a science fiction entry again... Like hey, maybe I'm in THE FUTURE and their gonna psych me out with some modern gadget in this Civil War setting.

The Colonel's line, "We started off with a thousand this summer, when is this war going to end." I dunno, I think you need a pause in between 'summer' and 'when.' This is a heavy question, the Colonel is exhausted, he's reflecting on the situation. I guess I wound have shot this scene longer, with a close-up at that moment of quiet despair. Yea, I guess in some ways this scene feels a little rushed.

The lighting in this scene could have been a bit more dramatic also... A little smoke machine haze and darkened corners of the room could hide its fairly modern construction.

There where several moments when I wish you'd shot long and then intercut with some closeups. You need some more cut-aways too. You could patch up some of the acting with this, inserting pauses, or eliminating false starts and stutters. You need more camera angles. And they all need to be acted consistently with the same blocking.

Would have loved to have seen the initial meeting of the Captain and Colonel in a longshot on an open field, then a medium shot of their conversation with the barn in the distance intercut with some closeups. You've got to work at creating a feeling of depth in the frame and use this to cover up the fact that you're shooting in the present day. The barn in the distance, could hide the fact that its got aluminum siding sheathing along the top of the roof. Of course, powerlines could be a problem but you should research ways to erase these things in post. If you used the present blocking you could at least iris up to try and get a shallower depth of field to blur out and hide modern background elements drawing our focus to the actors.

Maybe you need to tour the locations, review the script and then storyboard these shots before you go at it, so when you get to the location, you know how to set up immediatley.

I agree with the previous posts, soften this thing up to make it look like film, or even more, desaturate a bit and give it a gritty sepia look.

These guys don't look exhausted by war, make them go without sleep for a day before shooting so they feel slightly out of their minds when you shoot.

Oh yeah, stay off those shoes, they don't look real man. I'd try and find the most beaten up pair of boots I could find and clean them up a bit as if the guy is trying to make a decent appearance, but still stepped in mud.

Speaking of which, all these guys look like they just came from the dry cleaners. They need to look a little dirtier. Look at the characters in Deadwood. Now that's grit.

I've complained about this before, some of the actor's are too young, though at this point in the war, its not entirely unbelievable that both sides are down to only their youngest men. Still, the audience wants to see an older Colonel. If you had older actors you might even find yourself with a little extra funding or support (hey, I've got a van!) that only older folks can supply.

OK, so I'm wondering as I'm watching, "What is that sound? Ohhhh, cannon shots, right!" The battle is distant. Lower those cannon effects and apply a great deal of reverb, so the canon sounds sound like the they are rolling across the valley, like thunder in the distance. I was incredibly impressed by the application of this effect in Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War Epic "The Patriot." Watch this film to get what I'm talkin' about. Check your audio mix on different speakers. Subtle cannon sounds with tons of reverb might sound good on large speakers, but be barely audible on tiny TV speakers. You've got to strike a balance.

Its a shame you couldn't smokemachine the area to get that effect after 4th of July when the streets are hazy from all the fire works. I'd assume a nearby battle field would create the same effect in the air.

The music is cool but ride your music levels, its a little too loud during the dialogue moments.

You're soooo close to a really amazing product. But like the saying goes, close only counts when playing horse shoes or throwing handgrenades. That last 10 percent hurts a really valliant effort.

Study the lighting, costumes, blocking, etc. of your favourite civil war period films. Watch them over and over till you know and see every detail and then, emulate. When you get that down well enough, only then, can you begin to innovate.

Erik
 
Last edited:
I found the image quality very good...but I have to say it looks surprisingly DVXish! Did you use any filters? Did you deinterlace on post? How about CC and audio? The main problem here is that the kids' ages make the entire thing loose credibility. Somebody else here wrote that you should have used a wider variety of angles and shots and I totaly agree. Wider angles could have helped achieving a more epic feeling. Nevertheless, overall I liked it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top