Ash Wedenesday Movie Trailer

dwstudio

dwstudio

Active member
Hello,
We've been in production of the feature ASH WEDNESDAY: Capitulo Unus for 1 month now, and we are releasing the trailer this Wednesday on our website...
Any comments or suggestions will be deeply appreciated!
Thanks for watching!

http://www.digitalworkstudios.com/ash/mm.htm

Info:
We used the HVX at 720PN, AVID for editing, After effects for compositing and adobe audition for sound.

Thanks again!
-Ricardo Mendoza
 
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Well done, I like the compositions of the shots you have shown. I am curious as to some of the settings used? (ie. detail, chroma levels)
 
Thanks!
ALSO, the music was made from an Edirol R-09 dig. audio recorder from banging on a desk, a doubleshot espresso can, a chair and a door... and a song from my last movie in reverse...

These are the settings as extracted from the SD chip:
Ver 1.00-00
AG-HVX200P
TITLE:DWS FILM
<F1>
SCENE NAME :24 FRM
00005000: 4 ; DETAIL LEVEL: -4
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 9 ; DETAIL CORING : 1
00005003: 10 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 2
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 13 ; MASTER PED: -3
00005007: 5 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: -3
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 5 ; GAMMA : CINELIKE D
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 3 ; MATRIX: CINE-LIKE
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN
0000500E: 1 ; OPERATION TYPE: FILM CAM
0000500F: 14 ; FRAME RATE: 24 FRAME
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :
<F2>
SCENE NAME :60 FRM
00005000: 4 ; DETAIL LEVEL: -4
00005001: 8 ; V DETAIL LEVEL: 0
00005002: 9 ; DETAIL CORING : 1
00005003: 10 ; CHROMA LEVEL: 2
00005004: 8 ; CHROMA PHASE: 0
00005005: 8 ; COLOR TEMP: 0
00005006: 13 ; MASTER PED: -3
00005007: 5 ; A.IRIS LEVEL: -3
00005008: 1 ; NEWS GAMMA: OFF
00005009: 5 ; GAMMA : CINELIKE D
0000500A: 0 ; KNEE: AUTO
0000500B: 3 ; MATRIX: CINE-LIKE
0000500C: 1 ; SKIN TONE DTL : OFF
0000500D: 0 ; V DETAIL FREQ : THIN
0000500E: 1 ; OPERATION TYPE: FILM CAM
0000500F: 34 ; FRAME RATE: 60 FRAME
00005010: BE026801 ; SYNCRO SCAN :
 
I like the story but the whole point of using the HVX is to make it look more like film. Maybe you chose to go that look but I just don't see why using the hvx for a "video look". I would crash those blacks a bit more and give it some film grain, oversaturate those colors. I don't know. Congrats on you other film, I watched on cable tv few months ago.

my 2 cents.

g.
 
Abalex: I see your point, actually I kept looking at it, and one thing that we didn't like is that it looked too crystal clear...
But I never thought of crushing the blacks... ALSO I don't know why the compressor I'm using makes the blacks look grayish when I make it a WMV file...
I will definetely look into that, thanks for your input!
OH, and thanks for your support!
 
Hey Ricardo,
I bouth your first movie and also in this one i noticed you use an orangish hue on it. I think this story would look really good as a bleach bypass look. a bit grain-ier. with more of a real white color (hope you know what I am trying to say here) kinda like the 21 grams look. It would definatley make the action stand out more. Remember this is only one man's opinion . Cant wait to see this one.

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Oh, before I forget, the acting seems much much better than the first one.

Angrymexican
 
Looks like quite a powerful movie. I really like the Black and White shots at the ending with the title effect. I think that having something very bright and "videoish" isn't a bad thing.. especially if there is some real contrast to other visual looks and such. It's nice to keep it changing.

I would say too though that the HVX does look quite good with the blacks crushed and the color brought up a bit... and I personally like to push the whites as well.


Thanks for showing. The trailer for your first film looked awesome as well....
 
AngryMX: Yes, I understand completely... a bleach bypass would make it look really cool... and thanks for your comments about the acting... JAJAJA. I guess you just have to live, learn and move on....

Justyn: I'll toy around with the whites... I've actually never tried that before... but crap, there's so many roads to take...
 
Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions... I've bleached some shots and they look a LOT more gritty and less dull...
The final versions can be found at: www.someonewillfall.com
Thanks again!
-rik

Justyn: BTW your video looks awesome!!! I couldn't figure it out at first... but WOW!
 
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Thanks bro. Didn't mean to take your spotlight but figured it would show what I am talking about.. especially in the B and W footage. I think it's so awesome and your footage looks so sweet. What's your plans for this one? Distribution or festival route?
Look forward to finding out more and watching your progress..

Thanks for showing!
 
I was VERY dissapointed by the festival route with my other film EL ESCAPE DE LOS SANTOS... of which I admit, it has its faults, but still VERY VERY dissapointing...
HOWEVER... I sent a media kit, along with a DVD copy of the movie to several distributors, agents, sales companies, etc....
luckily one distributor called Venevision Intl. called that they wanted to distribute the film nationwide, PPV, VOD, DVD, and I was like COOOOOOOOL!!!

So I was very lucky to have it distributed... without having a festival appearance... ultimately, we did get accepted into the hollywood dv fest, but this was after the fact that we had a distribution deal in motion...

SO, I guess I'll try the fest route 1 more time, but Venevision is very interested in this one, so at least the worst that can happen to it is the same distribution for Escape, which isn't half bad...
but we'll see.... wish me luck...
 
Don't worry about it Rick. Everyone always start out small, you will get there. You have gotten more thean alot of us. I still cant get mine off the ground. I cant even find people to work with out here in California. I have been trying to mkae my movie but there isn't much interest with ths spanish speaking folks. But let me tell you, they hear about a spanish flick and everyone runs to the theater to see it just becuase it is in spanish. So, it's pretty cool you have on under your belt. You might try univision in california or telemundo, for promotion about your films and projects. they usually do some kind of special about latino artists and projects. The English market is so sturated we have an advantage, there aren't many movies in spanish they make it so kepp trying and you will make.

So, i was watching you trailer and I did notice it was a nicer after your modifications to it. Hey Rick I would like to make one suggestion: on your last movie I noticed you could have used more Foley. Make sure you double check this onand try to get all details. It makes everything feel like you are there when you capture all sounds. For instance putting down a cup and hitting the table or door closing, this was missing a many of the shots on your other film. If you need a mexican's un-biased opinion I'm you man.

Anyways, I gotta go back to work so, good luck and hurry up and edit your new film so I can see it.

Later dude!
 
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I hope you don't mind if I critique your trailer?

The only shot I didn't like was at the very begining of the house raid... One of the kidnappers crosses to a room on the left and punches a guy in the head... That shot was too clear looking, like a home video. The rest of that scene was grittier and much better. That was the only shot in the entire trailer that looked 'amateur' to me.

I would remove the subtitles all together (in the trailer). They are not only too small to read online, but they distract from the story.

Here is some repetitive Information in Scenes/Footage I'd delete from the trailer all together, located between 01:08-01:20.
The "Would you like to be a member?" scene. "They told me I can find fresh meat." This is subtitle distracting from the story and the action in the scene is not really worthy of a movie trailer (other than the very hot chick in the background). You have a scene after this one that describes in plain english that the boy was kidnapped for his organs. Where the guy says, "It is also believed that they kidnap people for their organs to sell on the black market." THAT scene is powerful with the guy smelling the knife blade (that is very scary footage!). I would use that scene to tell the audience about the reason the boy was kidnaped and remove the one with "WOuld you like to be a member" and "they told me I can find fresh meat" because it is repetitive and not as powerful as the following scene with the english narration and the guy smelling the knife blade. I am willing to bet this one small change will increase your box office sales.

Also. The guy with the long hair screaming over the body. He appeared out of no where after I was starting to get to know the main characters. It took my mind off of the boy who was kidnapped and left me wondering who that was? Keep us thinking about the boy and about the greef the mother is going through.

Things I liked. I like your choice of camera movement and angles. I also liked the de-saturated look, the music and the acting. You have skills and you're going somewhere. Don't let anyone tell you different. I'll see you out there.
 
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Shamrock,
thanks a lot for your comments...
actually, I have adjusted all of the colors to get that de-saturated look... but I haven't updated the trailer... so hopefully you'll like the color corrected scenes a lot better...
ALSO, we never mentioned that the boy was kidnapped for his organs... it is insinuated.
There's a lot of things that are not explained for the reason of not revealing too much of the story, but hopefully people will be hooked and will have curiosity as to why the hell was that guy crying for the girl...
AND thanks for your inspirational comments, it is really easy to get discouraged... so some words from the wise always helps...
Thanks again shamrock, and the best of luck with your projects!
-Ricardo M.
 
dw this is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! man i would KILL to have some of those shots!!! this could be a mainstream movie trailer man!!
 
Thanks Kyleman!
There's so much more story to the movie, than the stuff revealed in the trailer...
I'm planning to finish the whole thing by November/december, but there's a lot of post to deal with...
Thanks again!
-Rik
 
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