The Master - A S16mm short film

Andrew Brinkhaus said:
I'm simply displaying the trailer for my work, the cinematography. If the director and editor wish to use those shots, who am I to disagree.
Click to expand...

Well, if you don't want your flick to be laughable, it'll help. Sad as it may bem a film tends to be judged on its overall merits; as we know, a film with crappy sound will seem to look worse; editing can change how one sees the cinematography; continuity problems can overwhelm good imagery... terrible acting will often overwhelm the impact of a well-shot film. So, I think a cinematographer has a stake in the final product. That's why we're so careful to choose who we work with. I'm not saying they'll listen to you... but it's good for you to care a bit more than you seem to...

Anyway, if you're being paid for this, you'll have a chance to pick up some more $$ doing a few insert shots.

Finally, when it comes to top-level work, indeed, a cinematographer can emphasize or de-emphasize the impact of the actors' skill (or lack thereof) in performing actions such as playing instruments. This is a skill that is certainly one that can make your work as a cinematographer stand out, and one that is in demand for certain projects.

Anyway, do what you want, care as you want! Just some friendly advice.
 
Thanks for your "friendly advice" but I'm really doubting your knowledge of the situation, or much to do with the job and duties of a Cinematographer. Though what you said makes perfect sense, generally this industry does not. To me it makes perfect sense to go in, talk with the director and suggest using a different sequence of shots, or retime the music, etc. but that does not fall within my job to make those comments. I am there from pre-production, to post production, but commenting on the directors choice of cuts and composition is somewhat...looked down upon.

Don't take this the wrong way, because what your saying makes sense, and I agree with you, but as a DP, I wouldn't try to resolve those issues myself. I am a part of the production, working to make the directors vision come to life. If those are the results he so chooses, I won't try to change it.

Besides, I'm sure he'll get the same response from a test audience, and that will probably change his mind. :beer:
 
I don't disagree with what you say in general... but in the student world, and the low-budget indie world (which I assume is your situation - sorry if I'm mistaken) there's a lot more interaction between "departments" than on major productions. Especially when the financial level of the project is such that everyone's in it for reel-building rather than home-buying, people tend to be much more involved in many more facets of a production.

I see you're at Full Sail - which I'm not very familiar with, but perhaps its one of the "industry feeder" programs that emphasizes major-industry practices and separations from the get-go...?

Anyway, good luck, keep us posted!
 
Hi Andrew, awesome work!

I'm not sure exacly how a cinematographer does his work, I mean I know what he does but not how it all fits together.

Could you perhaps give a short description of what you did in pre production, and perhaps a typical shooting day on set, when, how, what you do on set, and how it involves eg. directors, producers, camera men (which I understand sometimes do the cinematography)

does my question make sense?

thanks for your time,
Derrick
 
cheers andrew,

don't listen to anybody- ur FUDGING doing a great job. I am ur fan! I just have to look at the Setup and the professionality.

really really nice!

you should have gone to the dffb im applying for!

greetings,
Garry
 
cheers

cheers

Cheers Andrew,

the dffb stands for "Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin" It's Germany's "Harvard" of Filmmaking.

:-) Hope you got it!

Garry
 
Great work, but one thing that really bothers me: In the scene where the boy talks to the girl on the steps, wind fades in and out with each of their lines and there's silence in between. The editors should really fill that empty space with wind so it sounds natural. The ambient noise created for that scene works well though otherwise.
 
I think it looked great, except perhaps the blown-out window in the funeral scene. Sometimes things seemed oversoftened, but I think it was the compression - mainly on the panning hand shots.

You can ignore the rest of this, Andrew, if you want, as it doesn't reflect on your work...
but almost all the sound sucked. The cheesy synthesized piano. The cheesier synthesized chamber piece (magically performed by one person) at the end. The really nasty noise cutting in and out as HBlack points out. Birds as the background for a snow scene? Peaks on the screams? Sound effects appearing and disappearing glaringly (like, say, the car passing in the first scene with the teacher). Almost everything seeming to be hard-panned left, right, or center, except for the WIDE piano sound which was out of character with an upright in a small room...

As for the story - I suppose if it was a first piano lesson, I could possibly swallow the uber-cliche "touch the heart and say 'comes from here'". Less so but vaguely plausible if it's an early intermediate piano lesson. But c'mon, music that the kid's written, but which he somehow has no feeling for? (Piano teacher or composition teacher?) And "modern piece"? in what way (besides the cheesy synthesized sound)? C'mon, they were having a lesson with the radio on in the first place? God speaking to him through the music needed a little more justification. OK, a lot. Nothing really demonstrated any passion for the music except the conversation with the girl... which was still pretty tepid. And Oh, I know it's an issue of timing and probably not knowable when this was being made, but August Rush! August Rush!

All in all, a very "LA" sorta film! Nice cinematography, very little else to it...
 
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Ullanta, I share a lot of views with you about the audio, and sound in general. I appreciate your comments about the cinematography, it means a lot to me.
 
I'm going to watch the film now....Oh a tip, the video will look darker on a white background. If you make the background of the site black then the video will appear brighter.

DaZ
 
Ok i've just watch the whole film, Very impressive sets and cinematography. However I feel that a film based around music should have had a better score...not so much in composition but in quality and production. Also the fingers on the piano were not playing the notes which as a musician was getting to me :D

Good film, failed by the sound department. Keep up the good work.

DaZ
 
UPDATE:

Just wanted to announce that The Master has won 2nd Place in the "Best Student Short" category at the Palm Beach International Film Festival. Thanks to everyone for the comments. Check out my latest film blog, On The Front, also in the User Films section.
 
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