A Scene for you to See (HVX-M2)

C

carlone

Well-known member
We shot this a couple of Saturdays ago in about 5 hours (very quick day).
I'm trying to get used to focusing without a follow focus so we did this scene as a glorified rehersal for an upcoming shoot.
 
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Nice visuals, good suspenseful plot (I still am not entirely sure who is getting crossed/double-crossed), and good editing.

What was distracting are a few camera operator errors I noticed. When the camera panned down to focus on the "sh*t", the camera hunted (probably because the camera operator couldn't see exactly where it landed beforehand). There were also a few instances of the camera or operator hunting for focus, or not pulling a smooth focus.

Overall, it looks very promising.
 
This was pretty good. The shots, composition, tint, and the sound were all great (that was great sound for a test shoot - what'd you use?). The acting was okay. I say that because I wasn't entirely sure what everybody's motivations were - obviously since I didn't know the plot - so I'm assuming once I know that, just that alone will improve the acting. My only problems were with the geography and music. I wasn't quite sure where everyone was or how they go there. Probably seems obvious to you, but it wasn't your typical indoors-outdoors. There's like that little mini-outdoor place and I wasn't sure what that was all about. The other problem, and I assume it's because it's temp, was with the music. It was awful for the scene. You had this high tension scene and here you have Charlie Parker or whoever whistling away on the trumpet like it's Saturday at the Ice Cream truck. There should be some heart-pounding intense music here to add to the tension.

Oh, I noticed the hunting for focus too. That was an odd cut when we're in the shot where the three guys are arguing ("... talk your el pollo loco sh*t") and the camera kind of went into a rack focus and then cut before it was over. And one little nitpick is I thought the guys said "money" too many times in that one moment. "Do you have the money?" "I don't have the money." "I thought you said he had the money." "He said he did have the money. Do you have the money?" "I told you I don't have the money!" - or something like that. It made me laugh. And I don't think that was your intention.

My favorite shot is the still image when you go to the site, with the CU of the guy with the gun in his neck. Great shot!

Can't wait to see more.

C.G.
 
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Hey Guys,

Thanks for the great feedback. I'll put it to good use.
The general hunting for focus is the true reason that we shot this scene. For me, whenever I put the M2 on I have to remind myself that everything has to slow way down OR you have to shot alot more so you can cover your mistakes. One day I'll get a follow focus.

As for the acting - I guess I should point out that this is a scene in a 1 hour movie. Not a short, so most of the establishing info is not here.

The music, well that was on me. I threw everything into pro tools and mixed the dialog and effecst and pulled up a couple of loops. I'll spend more time on it when we have a series of scenes completed. -
Anymore to add? come on - 83 views and 2 comments :)
 
I think this low pounding beat lingering just underneath the surface giving you this feeling of dread would be a lot more effective with this scene. 83 views and 2 comments isn't that uncommon.

Hey, what's your take on ProTools? I use Premiere for my sound and it's terrible and I want to upgrade but I know nothing about it. Would you consider it invaluable? What do you use it for the most?

And what's your take on the M2? People always talk about its great image but what were your biggest problems with it (if any)?

Thanks Carlone.
 
carlone said:
Hey Guys,

Thanks for the great feedback. I'll put it to good use.
The general hunting for focus is the true reason that we shot this scene. For me, whenever I put the M2 on I have to remind myself that everything has to slow way down OR you have to shot alot more so you can cover your mistakes. One day I'll get a follow focus.

As for the acting - I guess I should point out that this is a scene in a 1 hour movie. Not a short, so most of the establishing info is not here.

The music, well that was on me. I threw everything into pro tools and mixed the dialog and effecst and pulled up a couple of loops. I'll spend more time on it when we have a series of scenes completed. -
Anymore to add? come on - 83 views and 2 comments :)
Click to expand...
hey man i thought it was a cool scene and well done. i agree with the comment above that it seemed like the camera operator was hunting for the shot on some parts. like when the dope dropped on the ground and in one part where the sink is in the frame and the guy is walking from the back to the forefront it seemed as if you were trying to focus the camera and couldnt quite get it right in time.

i thought the acting was decent, the russian guy with the accent was believable and the hispanic guy that looked like ludacris was decent :) the guy had me laughing out loud when he hears the gun shot and put his gun down and hauled ass, lmao!!! must be hard for your lead to to find reliable backup these days, lol.

the music was straight. especially if it was something you created from original loops and not just ripped from a movie soundtrack.

overall pretty good job definately. if you post more please add it to this thread so i dont miss any additional stuff you do. i have a project i'm going to be working on that has this same typ of vibe.

coupla questions: what is a follow thru focus that you mentioned?? and what does it do? also what'd you use for the bullet wound to the head? i'm debating on getting the Breavis or the M2 adaptor but am still researching on both.
 
Carlone, I can not add much more to what THoff and cg eads suggested. Definitely build up the music as the intensity of the scene increases. I would personally like to add an on the shoulder shot/POV roughing up the guy who was shot or some more CU shots on one side of the line, back and forth on those character.

I did not get the geography of the drug drop off guys arriving from a building across the street, seen through the window of one setup. Of course, context probably relative if I saw the 1 hour ep. The victims shot to the head, would there not be a lot of blood oozing out, pooled, heads bleed a lot I thouhgt?

Not meaning to sound negative, just a few points, the production values are there for me. The look is great.
 
c.g._eads said:
Hey, what's your take on ProTools? I use Premiere for my sound and it's terrible and I want to upgrade but I know nothing about it. Would you consider it invaluable? What do you use it for the most?

And what's your take on the M2? People always talk about its great image but what were your biggest problems with it (if any)?

Thanks Carlone.
Click to expand...

Pro Tools is great. I think the sound on this is pretty good even tho it's mostly 1 LAV mic and 1 mic on a stand. I only spent a few hours on the pro tools editing/mix part. I find that pro tools compared to some of the other programs sounds cleaner. It sounds WAY better than how it sounds in AVID. I use it to clean up the dialog, add EFX and backgrounds, Music - pretty much everything except edit the video.

I love the M2 - there are moments when the picture is in focus that everything looks great. Of course you need more light in your scenes (more time) and you really need to slow down and set marks for your actors (more time, less organic) but there's no denying the look and vibe of the final picture.
 
FilmBoy77 said:
coupla questions: what is a follow thru focus that you mentioned?? and what does it do? also what'd you use for the bullet wound to the head? i'm debating on getting the Breavis or the M2 adaptor but am still researching on both.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. It makes me laugh seeing the guy drop the gun and leave too. I always wanted to do a scene where someone does that.

A follow focus system helps you set reliable focus marks. Usually there's some type of gear that is connected to your cameras focus wheel (or in the case of the M2 it connects to the Nikon lens focus ring). Here's a picture that will explain what it does better than I could.

http://www.cavision.com/follow_focusing.htm
 
Ah yes, having used a follow focus, I can say it's well worth the investment. I can never go back.

Yes, the sound on this piece was really excellent. It's one of the things I was the most impressed with. So you didn't have a boom mic operator? Just put it on a stand? What kind of mics did you use? Were they big time or just average? (name? company).
 
Sennheiser G2 wireless Lav and the mic on the stand was an AKG 451b (I always use them for drums but for some reason I like how they sound indoors if you can get the close enough). I have a couple of shotgun mics too but without someone to hold the boom I get better results with the 451 - not that anyone else should try this, I just happen to have a pair because I record live drums from time to time :)
 
Good job.
The inside shots look to me like something interlaced, something like video. I like the pictures outside much more. The architecture is not clear to me.
 
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