My Short Film

rightfrog

rightfrog

Well-known member
Hi everybody...

So it's been a while, but I thought I'd finally get around to posting up my short film.

EDIT: People have been having issues with the download so I re-uploaded the file and put it in a new folder...here's the new link:

http://www.thewinebarmovie.com/web_movie/wb.mov

The film is 12 minutes long and so I had to compress the hell out of it to get it down to a decent size (220MB)...please don't stream it, download only. It was shot with the HVX and a Mini35 adapter with CinePrime lenses. It was all shot over one long night at a bar in the East Village in NYC.

Also, my server isn't that fast, so if you all download it at once, the speed will suffer. If it's taking a long time to DL, try again later...sorry about the slow speed, but it's all I've got...

Feel free to hit me up with questions or comments.
 
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Wow, this was really quite amazing. I guess the best compliment is that I forgot about watching for lights, camera, etc. and just got drawn into the story. That mute-writing thing is a brilliant little action to keep you wondering what will happen next.

The writing and acting were great, very specific and to the point. The editing also helped a great deal, giving you little reactions from the guy, and getting little laughs out of it. There was also a nice balance with that guy. You didn't quite know if he was a creep, a Guido, what. Then he turns into a good guy.

It's encouraging to see something well written and acted just about people.

What kind of lighting kit did you have?
 
Nice story, I typically get bored with shorts a couple minutes in but this was really cool, kept me interested. Very good.
 
Really nice work; a well shot, well acted nice little story. What bar in the east village was it shot at and how did you get the bar to agree to let you shoot there? Good luck with it.
 
That was very well done. I as well forgot about the camera angles, editing, lighting etc. because the acting and dialogue was so good.
 
Ike615 said:
That was very well done. I as well forgot about the camera angles, editing, lighting etc. because the acting and dialogue was so good.
Click to expand...

ditto. this was very good man. keep up the good work. the actors were spot on too!
 
Well, done! GREAT JOB! Everything about it was great.. and it left a smile on my face for a few minutes after watching.. It's great to have one feeling for a character in the begining, and have it totally change by the end..

Great storytelling, and the look was great as well..

Got any technical specs for us?
Adapter? Lenses? budget? light package? time to shoot? time in post?
 
Wow, thanks everyone for the great feedback...glad you all liked it. I'll see if I can answer your questions.

The bar is called Il Posto Accanto and it's on 2nd Street between Ave. A & B, right next to Il Bogatto in the East Village. The bar is right next to my apartment building and so I was there a lot and got to know the bartender really well. He introduced me to the owner and I asked him if we could shoot something there sometime. He said yes and so we wrote the short around the location as it's a beautiful place. We worked out payment for the location and for one of his staff to be there all night making sure we didn't bail with his cases of expensive wine. We also signed a contract stating that we would replace anything that was broken. I really think the location added a ton of production value to the short...we were really lucky to be able to shoot there.

Seth, the star and co-writer, came up with the character and I came up with the idea of having him talking to a mute girl. I outlined the script and he and I wrote it in about 3 days.

The production was just one night (we loaded in at 5pm and left at 6am the next morning) and post took about 2 1/2 months for everything. Our budget was a little under $5,000.

We used the P+S Techniks Mini35 adapter (rented from Du All in NYC) with 6 CinePrime lenses (18mm to 135mm).

I actually can't answer the questions about the lighting...my DP (Mike LaVoie...amazing work) handled all of that. I was busy working with the actors. I did storyoard the shoot as well as put together a diagram of the bar so that the DP and I could plan out all the shots. I also rehearsed with the actors a lot before the shoot as it was 8 pages of dialogue to get through in one night...but they did an amazing job and we only ever had to do 3-4 takes of any one shot.

Right now it's being sent out to a bunch of festivals, so hopefully it'll get some play.

This was my first narrative directing attempt and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I had done a lot of commercials, a few music videos and some corporate stuff, but this was totally different. The minute we were finished with post, I wanted to do another one...I can see how it could become an addiction...like meth without the dental damage...

We're already starting to think about ideas for the next one...
 
hey rightfrog, i got a question for you. with your $5k budget i'm curious as to what it was spent on? looking from the outside in i couldnt tell. does that include paying for the bar, actors, DP and lighting rental?

i ask because i am writing a short that i plan on shooting next month and would like to know what type of expenses i can expect.

anyway, i'm sure you'll get some positive results from the festivals man. :thumbup:
 
Hey FilmBoy,

The money was spent on:

Production: Renting the lens adapter, lenses, HD monitor, location, props, actors, food, crew (we had 8 people on set including DP, AC, Gaffer, Grip, Make-Up, 2 PA's, sound & still photographer), lights & sound equipment.

Post-Production: Dual-Layer DVD's to backup the P2 cards, post-production sound mixer, music, laying off to HDCAM, DigiBeta and BetaSP and dubs. We also had 300 DVD's made with printed covers and printing on the DVD itself to give to the cast/crew, send out to festivals, etc.

While the bar was a great location, the refrigeration unit gave us nothing but grief when it came to the audio. We brought in an amazing post-production sound mixer to smooth everything out and mix in the sound fx and music.

Hope that helps...
 
Well, it was spent over the course of almost 3 months actually...it's a matter of how much you have to spend and how good you want it to look. I am fortunate that my day job allows me the luxury of being able to fund projects like this...it would be different if the short didn't look good, but I really think the money is on the screen and that's what really matters...

I would have been just as happy spending more as long as the project warranted it and came out looking good.
 
WOW!
That was very coooooooooooooooooooool
At first I saw William Sadler, and that was it for me....
BUT the story was VERY compelling and from the heart... I honestly have to say that it is one of the best shorts I have seen, and I have seen plenty...
Mute girl is cute, and that Manu Ginnobli guy was cool too, but the beer guy was excellent, and of course Bill, well, he's always a pleasure....
Very good job... not overdone... I like the fact that you focused more on the story than anything else...
Thanks for posting!
And good luck at the fests...
-rik
 
I'd also like to thank you for posting this short, I loved it, I'm going to show it to a lot of people because I know they'll all like it too. It's great, I can't point out even one little flaw, you're money was well spent. They always say never put your own money, especially thousands, into your work, but this is well worth it. I wanna see more.
 
I'd also like to commend you on an EXCELLENT Short. 12 minutes of enjoyment... and all pro without the usual distractions and clock watching associated with most shorts. Nothing contrived... natural reactions.... and overall a great sweet sentimental piece. I think you'll be invited to some festivals for sure. I'd aim at the big ones as you have something that they love.. and it won't offend anyone and if anything... it's a feel good piece.


My question would be.... did you have to deal with SAG to get this done? What type of agreements and such.... especially with William Sadler... He was in Hostel right? Or atleast his double might have been.....


I've dealt with SAG on a similar short and it was a lot of work and efforts without the stunning results you got. This was a Joy to watch and I wish you the best with this... Impressive indeed!
 
Thanks again for all the kind words...I really didn't expect everyone to be so complimentary. :)

William Sadler was amazing to work with, a total pro who worked all through the night and didn't complain once. Kept everyone up and going with these great stories from all the amazing movies he's done...

We didn't work with SAG for the short. This isn't meant to be shown on TV or anything, it was really just to get experience writing/directing narrative stories so that I'll be better able to tackle a feature sometime next fall ('07)...Seth Fisher (the lead and co-writer) and I have written a feature that we're in the process of putting together the financing for.

Seth did Julius Cesar on Broadway with Denzel Washington, Colm Feore and William Sadler last summer and got to know Bill reallly well, so he did it as a favor. We're hoping to get him back for the feature (in a bigger role) along with Colm...they're both reading it right now.
 
Wow... that's super cool indeed. With those names attached then you should be able to leapfrog all of the struggling low-budget woes that I have had to face in making no-budget features.... Still a lot of fun and better than a day job... Just hope I can find more of it so I don't have to get a day job... Yikes!

Good luck...
 
Very nice little flik. Cute story, nicely acted, had me chuckling in many places. Only tenegative I can think of is I really noticed the light loss from the adapter. The piece felt darker than was intended. (or did compression have an affect there?)

Really well done though. Bravo.
 
Storyteller,

Some of it is the compression, the original file is brighter, but we did lose a lot of light with the adapter. My DP and I agreed that we would get more lights next time...although, because it's set in a bar, I didn't feel like it was too much of a stretch that it would be darker...

Justyn,

Even if we get those two in the movie, we'll still have a lot of work to do before we can get finanacing (I doubt it will feel like leapfrogging). But yes, having them will be a big help...and you're right, it's totally better than a day job and as long as it's fun, you know you're doing something right :)
 
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