New member... new movie... please have a look!

I thought the "over the top" (for that scene) action music was funny. At least it was in my head... :)

The radio station is a british station... I thought it fit the Doctor's snobby attitude. Not saying that the British are snobs, just that the doctor thinks it will culture him...

;)

I'm still working on the telephone voice but it sounds clear as day on my end. Maybe I'll try it on another PC. I know that "I" know what is being said but a few of my friends seem to be able to hear it clearly as well on my setup. I'm just worried about making it "too" loud.

Thanks again,

Mike
 
the audience can forgive bad picture, bad sound is unforgivable. if you have the ability to export onto a DVD or tape, watch it on a television instead of on the PC. I know alot of guys here who are edirtors probably have pretty good sound systems, sometimes with production monitors, so we can get an accurate sound while editing. PC speakers arenotoriously bad at gettign accurate sound, and what you hear on the television is goign to be pretty accurate. it's a good control method, so it will be worth it to try out.
 
I'll give that a shot... just remember there was no sound equipment used for this, just the camera mic of an old camcorder. There was also a high pitched squealing sound that I had to take out of all the office footage. It was coming from the vents... that might explain the slightly muted sound.

I'll definitely work on it though...

Thanks,

Mike
 
yeah, noise like that is usually a very good reason to do ADR (looping) but you need some relatively decent equipment to do that (good mic, sound board, quiet padded room, and a talented actor, and lots of time) to pull it off.
 
This newer version is a BIG improvement. I like how you cut to times rather than fading out to black then fading back in.

The music still needs to be worked on. I got that you were trying to make it overly dramatic, but just didn't work for the scene. Music sets a tone. Right from the begining we should hear some nice quirky fun music in the background. Especially for that scene.

Like Puck mentioned, silence, using room tone, is all mainly for dramatic effect. People hold onto their seats, wondering what's going to happen. I like to say, silence is a powerful tool, in both sound and music, and it's usually meant to be dramatic. It helps build tension and leave people guessing to what's going to happen.

In this case it's not that it leaves people tense, but it makes it also seem a bit unproffesional. Nothing is building up, so they know they're not supposed to be feeling suspenseful, and the tone of the doctors and such seems a bit comedic, yet they have no music to set the mood.

So find something nice and fun to go over most of the peice, and something really fun and quirky for the part where the doctor avoids the patient. Nothing too over the top though, like the song there that's used often to represent british humor of people being chased... dunno the name of the song, but it's too cheesy. However the song I mentioned is more in the right direction.

As for the phone, well I heard it just fine, but it seems like the level of the actor is higher than the level of the phone. That shouldn't be the case. Be sure to check you're levels. Also remember, the actors voice is very bassy and the phone voice is not, it's softer. So you can probably put it up higher so we can hear it fine. If the voice was bassy then putting it above the actors voice would be too much. Try it and see. The reason why it's more difficult to hear the voice over the phone is just because he's a softer voice. But the levels are pretty good here, just need to work with it to make sure everyone hears it the first time.

Also, good job on the "SHI*" line at the begining, and I liked the glowing tumor. :) Made the scene a bit less dramatic and made it funny. That's dark humor. The "****" line was well timed too. You cut to the patient and just hear a loud "SHI*". It's a lot beter than the doctor coming in and saying the line right away. Just I knew what was said and I knew what he said, but I realized that it was hard to hear the "SHI*". Did you do something to the audio? It should be clear as day, just slightly mufled. Because the doctor should be yelling it and you can hear it down the hall. The audience needs to hear it properly as well.

I found some of the phone convo to be funny too. Good job.

Good work so far, get that music issue fixed, the phone voices a bit up and fix that "SHI*" line to make it more audible.

For audio just remember, if it's bad asudio to begin with, when you mess with it, make it sound like it's coming out of a phone, or make it muffled, when you compress that baby it'll make the sound even worse, and depending on peopel's speakers, and how loud it is, they may not hear it. I have pretty good speakers so I can hear it just fine, but I can justJUST hear the muffled "SHI*" and the phone voices.

So maybe the trick is adding less effects to those voices.
 
Wow! Thanks for all of that...

The SHI* line was muffled to show that it was down the hall and behind closed doors, I obviously overdid it. I'll work on that as well and make it a little clearer.

I'm also working on cleaning up the image as well. In fact, I may try a completely new edit from scratch. My only issue is that I'm having a really hard time finding the music to suit the scene. Can you suggest any royalty free sites or something? I know they "type" of music I should now use (thanks to you guys..), I just can't find any.

You guys have been more than helpful, I really appreciate the fact that you are willing to help out a beginner like myself.

Thanks,

Mike
 
No problem. I love helping people out. I still have a lot to learn, but I love passing on what I've learnt. As long as it seems like it's a person that's really willing to learn and improve. You seem like one of those individuals. Plus you're taking our advice to heart.

Hmm, Royalty free... well considering the udget of the film I would have suggested taking and actual score or music peice. Unless you're planning to do something with the film, like submit it to a festival? If it's just to show your friends and online then I don't see anything wrong with using a normal music peice.

Here's something I found to work good. Look at music peices from the 50's or even earlier, like the 20's and 30's. A lot of the feel good music from those eras seem to work well to give a nice light, even comedic feel to everything. I couldn't find anything in specific. I had some Johnny Cash music. Didn't work for your film, but was a lot closer to what should be put on there.

I don't know the song, but if you've ever seen "dead like me" the TV series, and if you've seen the first episode, there's a song that they use for the series of events leading to a death in the bank. It's an oldies peice too and worked really well to make it a comedy.

Try some oldies. The ones that really get your hips moving. They really help. Listen to diff songs and see what works with your piece. I'm not too sure about royalty free music. I have a friend compose my stuff. So you'll have to look around.
 
I just wasn't sure what I was allowed to post on the forum. I didn't want to use any music that might get me into trouble due to copyright issues or something...

I'll look at some old music and come up with something fun.

Thanks again,

Mike
 
Here's a suggestion. I found a mixed song that I have. It's all of different jives, and works really well for the scene when the doctor is jumping from one side to another. It's not too much. One of them is "rock around the clock tonight" (I think is the name). There were also other peices that seemed to work really well. Look for some "Jives" I think they're called from the era I told you. The ones with lots of trumpets and horns. Instrumental versions usually work beter also.

For your film try and avoid the ones that are guitar heavy.

EDIT: Hmm, never thought about how they would react if you posted it on the forums. Would have to look into that.
 
having friends who are composers is essential to the budding filmmaker and maintianing those relationships is especially important. The music, most notably the SCORE for a movie is tricky, but you're actually lucky that you're doing comedy. Fun quirky music from actual songs do better in htis genre, especially music like swing or light hearted jazz from the late 1930's (i think i have my era right). Just think music like from the movie "Chicago" and the whole feel of it. You might be able to find some royalty free stuff or even a composer/struggling musician who would help you out. Just get the feel of it and have fun fun fun!

you'll also find that the right music really changes the pace of your editing and if you hit the right beats you have instant comedy magic without trying too hard.

Cut down on those silences and the stuffy "british thing" and go for the fun.
 
I have to agree with "puckthemad". Music really does change the pace of editing. Go for it!
 
It think it needs to be faster paced (talking about the over 40mb version). If you can do any re-filming, the peoples' actions need to be over-the-top, and I think it would make it funnier if the doctor were peaking around the corner looking at the patient when he is talking about the x-ray on the phone - effectively collapsing the beginning minutes of the film into one scene. It will also make it seem more silly.
 
I really don't want it to be completely over the top... just a little.... :)

Thanks for the advice though. Re-shoots are not possible at this time. It was just a one night shoot for fun kind of deal.

Mike
 
Good job on the re-edit. You took a lot of our advice and applied it correctly. The music worked a lot beter. Seemed to fit the peice.

I really liked when in one of the edits the tumor was pulsing, I wish you had left that in. But oh well.

If you ever had a chance to re-do it, I would have liked to have seen more about the doctor trying to avoid the patient, rather than talking on the phone, even though the conversations were kinda funny.

All in all I enjoyed it.
 
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