Forever War (Short Film)

My God!

Can you please make something that doesnt make the rest of us look bad. Simply beautiful.
I would drop my rates to zero to get on your crew.
 
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Nice shots, but at the end of the credits, it's Starring NOT Staring.

I liked it but I guessed the ending way before it happened. But man that hvx is shining.
 
another guy obsessed with firearms. is what i thought at first.
but i liked the shot when they're right in front of one another.
think it would be more effective without that music.
looks nice. some good compositions. keep up the good work.
 
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Choptop, I don't think you need to worry that much. Everytime we fired we made sure that it was into a hillside or something like that. Also every round fired was live ammo.

SurJones, its funny that you would say that about dropping your rates because zero is what I pay people. But I do take them out to lunch or dinner afterwards. If it was a feature or something I would pay people. But not for a short film.

Yas, I'll make a note of that spelling.
 
Live Ammo? :huh:

I guess nobody learned the lesson from Brandon Lee's death.

Even HOLLYWOOD doesn't use live freaking ammo in its films.

That was pretty stupid.

The firefight was pretty unbelievable as well.
 
Mcgeedigital, calm down. Everytime we shot we made sure everyone was behind the line of fire. So it was just the same as us going out shooting. Also Brandon Lee died because they were firing guns at him. Why would I ever fire a gun at a person when I could just digitally put them infront of the gun.
 
Drew...

Your stuff looked good. The acting was eh. The soundtrack was WAY overdone. The live gun fire was just stupid. Not a big fan but appreciate the hard work you put into it.

Hasta La Pasta....CHE
 
My wife and I shoot guns, and there is nothing wrong with shooting live rounds. If the section is clear in all sectors, than you are fine. Personally I LIVE to shoot my Springfield XD. I altough I have not gotten out to shoot a watermelon, like drew. I did not wnat to copy. But It is fine. Most of the time I would think that a 2nd unit would be the on to do live fire. So that way is not more than a handful of people and an easily controllable environment.

As for Brandon Lee, That was a stupid call on the DP and Director. Even firing black without a cemented barrel are going to throw shrapnel. Just a mistake and accident.
 
Drew,

Why would you make the choice to use live rounds though? On camera there is absolutely no benefit over say blanks, and you are limited quite a bit in what you can do.

So, as a filmmaking choice, why do this?
 
Drew, that was cool!
I liked the color and the message, and especially the music... it was cool...
Very cool short... keep up the good work, and hope this gets to festivals...
-Rik
 
cost is one issue for using live rounds. usually, live rounds cost less than blanks.

availability is another. Not all calibers are easy to find in blanks.

cycling the gun. Not all blanks have enough charge to reliably cycle semi auto weapons.

sound. Blanks sound different than live rounds. a good portion of what makes up the sound of gunfire is the bullet breaking the sound barrier.


also throw in the fact that if basic firearm safety is followed, filming live rounds being fired is no more dangerous than just firing live rounds, which is not dangerous... again, following basic firearm safety.
 
Why

Why

Desperatecomfort, Choptop summed it up in his last post. But the point is that I'm going to use real guns for most of my shorts and some airsofts when needed. But I would film the same shots even with blanks because they are still very dangerous. Also the kick back on the guns look different using blanks instead of live rounds.

Soarprod, sorry you didn't like it. I'll admit that the story isn't one of my strongest. But I wrote it in a day and filmed the short two days. It was more something to past the time between projects and to use my HVX for something other than screwing around. By the way, the knife and the bullets didn't harm them because both of these guys are dead. Looks like some people got that. But I guess it wasn't very clear, which is the way I like to have it.

Dwstudio, thanks for the kind words man. BTW the white balance on this was shot in the 56K setting. I like using the 32K and the 56K because I know how they'll look every time outside. For the next short I'm going to do I'm going to have to WB because of the mercury vapor lights that I'm going to be shooting around.

Choptop, I'm glad to see that someone on here knows that guns can be handled safely.
 
I liked the camerawork. Nature looks good in HD.

Generally, films work better using original music to go with the visuals. The John Williams "Saving Private Ryan" intro music set the tone well, but the change to the generic "action" music was way too abrupt. It probably would be more effective to not use music at all during the shooting/fighting section, and rely on sound and sound effects for the tense moments, then bring in the moody french horns of the beginning for the last few shots.

Also, the written message at the end feels too much like a "public service announcement". It might help to have a voiceover, or perhaps the main character narrating his thoughts throughout the film, and that way it would blend in more with the story.

Just my 2 cents. Looks good.
 
Jrv3034, I do agree with you that the action music is a little jaring. I wish I could have kept using tracks from "Saving Private Ryan". I would have if the tone of it called for something like that. But I felt it needed to get moving. Also there isn't that much in the way of sound captured in half of those shots because they were at 60fps. The reason I had the text instead of someone speaking the text is that I feel that it sinks in a little more as text. But that's just how it felt to me when I read something on screen.
 
yes choptop and drew are right in that live rounds sound more "real" and the recoil is more "real" ...... because its "real" ammo ..... one must be exra careful when dealing with it for sure but its do-able and IMO adds that extra boost of intensity.... a little danger is good in moderation

drew, as for the film itself..... props to going out and making a short.... some of it worked, some of it didnt (for me) but kudos for getting an idea and following through on it
 
When it comes to live or blanks, I hardly think 99% of people will know or notice the difference, not to mention most viewers would be more use to seeing blanks then seeing live shots.

I also think using live rounds is a "stupid" idea, even with all the safety precautions, over a long run the chances increase for an accident and to think something would never happen is just silly. I know I would refuse to work on a set if they were using live rounds.

I am not trying to bash you Drew and I love your work, looks stunning.
 
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