THREE A.M. Short Film (HVX/Super16)

W

watson

Well-known member
Hey guys, so i wanted to post a link to a new short film i completed. It was shot on the HVX and Super16mm. The super16mm was telecined to DVCPRO and i edited it all together in FCP. I was worried at first about mixing the mediums, but its been working out so far (i haven't done my final HD output yet).

You can check out a preview at:
http://www.threeamfilm.com/preview-frame.html
(i'm still working on the promo, i've been to busy trying to finish the project, so feedback is welcomed)

can you figure out what is s16 and what is HVX? The site also has a bunch of production stills and some info about the workflow and project.

Also, for anyone in philly, Three A.M. is making its premier at the Philadelphia International Film Festival later this month. Thanks for checking it out. let me know if you have any questions!


Andrew
www.andrewdavidwatson.com
www.threeamfilm.com

ps - i'll have the full fine cut online soon, if anyone is interested, PM or email me and as long as you give me some feedback, i'll send you a link.
 
Hey man your short looks great! I have a good eye so I know which is s16 and which is HD but it took me a lot to figure it out, I'm impressed with the quality the HVX delivers. Is there a way I can see the whole thing???pleaseeeee???

great job!
george V.
 
That looks really great man....love the mood/lighting/shot selection....I am also from the Philly area, just shot a short spec the other day in fitler square park and shooting and short film at the end of the month. I also checked out your website......top notch work on there. Keep it up and you'll have a long career ahead of you. Can't wait to see the finished 3am. Might stop by the film festival as well!
 
it looked great. i could tell some of if was video, but it didn't look bad, just different :)
why did you chose to mix film and video?
if you'd done it all on video, do you think it'd be any different? same with film?
the music was great. is it an original score and who is it?
 
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the reason we choose to use s16 and the HVX breaks down to the fact the film is three different stories. we wanted each story to have a different look, so we decided to shot the more narrative story on film (the other two are a bit more out there). the fact i had access to s16 camera, but not enought money to shoot the whole project on film also played a little role, but the main reason was to give each story a look.

i should also add, that the HVX footage has barely been touched color wise. I'm still working on the final grade and trying to figure out how to seperate each of the other stories.

lomotion - hey man try to stop by if you can, i'm also planning on screening it other places

abalex - drop me an email and i'll send you a link when its up andrewdavidwatson@gmail.com
 
Hey Watson, just finished watching the trailer. I love the look, feel, concept (as much as i could gather). Also the colours are beautiful in some shots. I'm a big fan of non-static long shots, as u did with the man standing before the phonebooth, and when he is in it. camera work looks great.

BUT!, hehehe... i really did like it a lot, so I force myself to nit-pick at it, try scrutinize a little further than face-value crit. because on face-value its wonderful.
So here it is: (on an unconscious note) I dont think you should end with the outfocus shot that is very similar if not the same as the intro. its too much of a full-circle impression- as in it feels like you go back to the beggining and that the trailer/story is over... I would rather be left in anticipation with an open anding... if u can get what im saying? just didnt sit in well.. feels liek over used footage.
The last point is that i do get left with the impression that i want to see this movie, right, But if this was before a festival screening with a whole series of movies running simultaneously I would prob reconsider if i saw another more moving one of the same 'quality' as yours. SO i asked myself why? I believe that not enough clips (infact none for me) showed seriously moving drama, or dramatic emotion. Seeing clips like that make me realise the depth of the video. I know that there is going to be some serious climax and crisis in this film, and as a viewer i want to find out what!!?? how and why?!!

so i think it could be great :)
please let me know when u post out the clip

luvvies
Bezakor
 
great points Bezakor, i see what you are saying. When i have time to recut a trailer or promo or whatever you want to call it, i will definitely take those points into consideration. maybe i'll try to include more shots from the climax (which should be more emotional) in the promo thanks for the feedback.
 
yea man, i'm debating about posting the whole film. Unfortunately it seem no one likes to give feedback anymore, or maybe there are just a lot of lurkers out there.

in anycase, i might to mention that the music is by a band called Saxon Shore. They are really really awesome. They did the music for Sundance this past year. Check out their mysapce. www.myspace.com/saxonshore
 
Thought I'd chime in here. I really like the look; it felt very Michael Mann. To be honest I only noticed the 16mm a few times total; im sure there was more in there. Good looking footage to be sure.

Regarding the edit, i definitely agree that the trailer should end with something that leaves the viewer incomplete; at this point it feels like I've almost seen essence of the film. I agree that adding more emotional clips would help alot without giving away too much. Enjoyed watching the trailer and good luck at the festival!
 
The shots at the phone booth are fantastic. I love the bts with the crew holding up the lights also.
Can't wait to see more from this.

edit: Oh man! those production notes are great. Nice to see all the work you put into this.
 
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watson, i agree. there seems to be very little input from "DVXuser's" these days. struggled on my thread in the DVX forums just last week too.

But if you do upload and dont feel like posting a thread, i'd love if you PM'd me a link.

Beza
 
watson said:
yea man, i'm debating about posting the whole film. Unfortunately it seem no one likes to give feedback anymore, or maybe there are just a lot of lurkers out there.
Click to expand...

hey man, thought i'd reply. i liked the look of the trailer and the way it started off. the quality looked great to me. i havent worked with film and by looking at this from a nontechnical standpoint i couldnt tell what shots were super 16. it blended in good to me.

however, i didn't get a clear understanding of what genre or what the short is about just based on the trailer. i'd be interested to see the entire short. if you ever decide to put it up let us know in this thread or send me a PM if you decide you want opinions from select people. i'd be willing to send you a link to my first completed short (8 mins) for feedback as well.

overall good job man. liked the music too. where'd you end up getting it from? how much did it cost?
 
i'm taking a guess...but I would say the shots with the phone booth and the reverse shots of the guy were 16mm.

also the eye shot was 16mm

the rest looked like hvx....am i right?

I would definetly like to see more of this film...i am planning on combining hvx and film like this myself

Ron
 
FilmBoy77 - the music is a band called saxon shore, check them out www.myspace.com/saxonshore, they are from philly and really cool guys. i kinda worked out a deal where they help me, i help them, and its a win win for both of us.

ronster - Actually, you got it wrong. For those of you who cant tell, the shots that are super16mm are of the two asians sisters. Its kinda hard to notice a difference in the .mov file but when you see it bigger, the grain is more noticable. This is the first time i have shot s16mm and brought it into HD. kinda an intersting work flow. Overall, i like the s16 better and wish i could have shot the whole project on film, but my budget didnt allow it. Overall, they did mix well i think.
 
so the shots I said are hvx? the phone booth stuff?

i'm surprised...the blacks are crushed nicely and the exposure is good

can i see the whole short anywhere?

I am debating doiong a feature on the hvx with some stuff film...i found most of the outdoor night stuff didn't hold up on hvx...but on yours it seems like it did?

anything special you did?
 
what i thought what 16mm...

the quick shot of the front of the car near the start, the phone booth stuff looked like a 50/50 and definitely the asian girls.

what where your setting on the phone booth stuff? shutter speed etc?
 
rosterfilm - test test test test! if you are shooting at night. we did two test before shooting, the first stuff looked really bad. Always shot with a monitor. We have two gennys totaling around 5,000 watts, and that still wasnt enought power most of the time.

jenningsp - i'm not sure what our setting were, we shot back in novermber. On the dvx i would also shot f5 and then tweak the colors in post. I think we set the HVX similiar to this, minus the master ped. Watch out where you master ped is when you are shooting at night. you can start to lose details in the shadows really quick.

for the few of you who did PM or email me, sorry i havent gotta back to you, i've been super busy trying to get a better cut in time for the festival this sunday.
 
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