Trailer shot on XHA1 by total amatuers, feedback wanted

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daviddax20

New member
Hello,

I'm currently co-producing/co directing a feature length documentary in the Middle East about the Iraqi refugee crisis. We are first time filmmakers. Total amatuers. We really only know how to press record and put it on auto. We are fairly smart and tech savvy individuals, so I think we can pick up the basics within a matter of weeks, I hope.

I'm a composer by trade. My partner is a lawyer. We would love some feedback and tips on our filming techniques. Lighting/Gain/Shutter/Tripod. I've got the sound covered as of now. Just finally got real sound equipment. The trailer sound was from the crap mic on the XH A1. It did the job for that.

We are on a small budget. Check out our trailer.
Go to <http://www.iraqrefugeedoc.com/>
click on <Trailer & News>
click on <Trailer>

Thanks!!!! Be gentle on us, but your frankness is valuable.

-David
 
This is really really cool. I have an A1 and do alot of freelance stuff, in including alot of graphic work. Please let me know if you want any help with this. It's a very cool project that I would love to help with! Email me if you want. mturner@bigred.unl.edu
 
looks great. it's my dream to do something like this someday. only thing i'd have to say is watch your framing on the sit-down interviews, rule of thirds and all that, etc. also, try to keep the camera steadier if you can, it was a little distracting in the car. but overall, good work! i look forward to seeing it.
 
I was wondering (sorry, off topic)..
What did you use to create your homepage 'slideshow'?.. I love it.
The pictures that roll by in the frame.. looks great!

Ed in NJ
 
For a couple people who have no experience at all, this is fantastic work. Some things you might want to check into is three point lighting for interviews. I loved the shot of the man holding the dust in his hand, then the cut away shot, then back to the hand... beautiful.
 
I read this again and saw that you asked for tips regarding shutter speed and gain. My advice would be to put your gain on -3, this ensures absolutly no grainyness at all. If you are dealing with a low light situation than you might need to up the gain a bit. Secondly, regarding the shutter speed, the standard shutter speed is 1/60. If you are shooting an action high speed scene then you may want to switch it to 1/100 or faster. When you do so you will lose light though.
 
Very nice work so far, I'm sure the more practice you get with all the different elements involved the better it will become. One thing I particularly liked was the incredible colour in the flash trailer. The quality here was top notch and really gives it all a feel of legitimacy and professionalism. Unfortunately when I viewed the same trailer in the Michigan University screening file, the great colour was gone and for me personally it lost much of it's impact. Maybe it's just the compression codec you used for the screening clip. Not sure if it's something you were already aware of but I thought you should know. Great work though, good luck with it!

Ed
 
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Firstly David, I want to say that I encourage you to push on with this project so it gets done. Secondly I am pretty darned impressed with you guys after reading your bios etc. Thirdly, who designed your website? Its great! Visually appealing, clever yet simple.

For reference I watched this entirely without sound.

Please take my first sentence as a basis for the following.

daviddax20 said:
We are first time filmmakers. Total amatuers. We really only know how to press record and put it on auto. We are fairly smart and tech savvy individuals, so I think we can pick up the basics within a matter of weeks, I hope.
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Watched the trailer and believe me it really shows. Couple of interesting shots because of location - but pretty much 100% of your subject shots I didnt like at all.

David, I am 100% sure you are aware as a professional in your own field that the statement I quoted above is simply not going to happen in any field.

If I can give 1 piece of advice its, as the producer, get someone who knows what they are doing. Maybe an Iraqi? You really will do your production a disservice if this how the final product is going to look or close to.

You may ask though then what in the shots you could change - my answer is everything.

I am being brutally honest, and I think you need to hear it because it is an important project and needs to be done properly by itelligent people who have the passion for it (thats you guys).

I wish you great success with it.
 
looks great david. Really enjoyed that.

The opening shot of the woman, do you recall what shutter speed you used?
 
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epocson said:
I loved the shot of the man holding the dust in his hand, then the cut away shot, then back to the hand... beautiful.
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Agreed.

I'm not as harsh a critic as Noel, I thought there were some really nice shots. But there were some bad ones as well. I do echo the sentiment that you can't pick everything up in "a couple of weeks". I would see if you could allign yourself with a local videographer or camera crew that would give this project the extra push it needs.

Keep up the good work, and keep us posted.
 
Noel Evans said:
TBH I dont think I am being harsh at all. I think I would be doing them a disservice by saying anything else. There is a huge difference between this and professionally shot footage.
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"Harsh critic" was obviously the wrong choice of words. Apologies. My standards are admittedly not as high as yours.
 
Guess the real question here is if the content is more important than the presentation. Obviously we all want our footage to look great, but at what point will production value get in the way of what is really trying to be said. In my opinion, presenting a message in such a raw manner allows aspects of the stories to be seen in ways not possible with a so called "sterile" production environment. I've watched plenty of documentaries in my day, and some of the best ones have been made by people like these guys, little experience, but desperate to share their cause. We live in a world that is accepting of any type of video, be it webcam or 35mm film, and I think that making something look pretty to attract an audience isn't as important as it has been in the past. Again, we all need improvement in our skills, and some consulting with other professionals would be a big help to this film, but to completely disregard what these two have already done would be a most unfair judgement. Keep at it you guys, people are listening.
 
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