"Corrado" - A production blog

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taormina said:
Loki - just screwin' with ya. You know that, right?

OK, here it is

Before you watch:
1. Youtube has butchered the quality. Do I need to say more?
2. No color correction.
3. No post audio work.
4. It's a work in progress.
5. I did tone down the song so you could hear the dialog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-CsycGi6n4

All I really want to know is would you watch this movie?
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At the moment I wouldn't. The first part of the trailer is very weak, it does pick up at the end from when Corrado shoots the shotgun.

I'm sure when you do a final trailer it will be very different. I wanna see more shots like the boy standing against the wall looking scared, gives it some tension and not mid shots of Sizemore standing in front of bleached out windows. Also the titles are very cheap looking.

I did like the actor playing Corrado.

Looking forward to the next cut.
 
taormina said:
All I really want to know is would you watch this movie?
Click to expand...

Only because you asked, but based on that trailer, no. I think a lot of that is because

A) like you said, you're not a trailer guy, and I know it's an art unto itself,
B) the audio was terrible and I could barely understand any of the dialogue (I know it's probably because of Youtube, but I'm just sayin') and
C) if I'm not mistaken you haven't gotten a lot of your wides/establishing shots that will give the trailer a lot more scope and a sense of "place." So I am assuming a lot of the reasons it seemed amateurish to me will naturally resolve themselves as time goes on. (i.e., You'll have all of your 2nd unit stuff to choose from, you'll probably have a trailer guy cut something snazzy together, and your potential distro people won't be watching it on Youtube :))

I'd say there's a dearth of close-ups and camera movement as well. Right now it seems like almost every single shot is a locked off medium shot of two or three people in profile. Needs a little more variety IMO.

But of course based on this thread I'm very much looking forward to watching it. And I'm sure the trailer is going to get a heck of a lot better in the weeks ahead....
 
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kinda reminded me of an Italian Boondock Saints. I'm interested to see how the story progresses. The titling was kind of distracting and i agree (with whoever said) that you don't need to list the actors names in the trailer.
 
Leaving aside thoughts in respect to editing and feel of the trailer as a whole, I'd say Color Correction and Audio (two things you've clearly stated are not done yet), will make this a lot better and less "amateur". From what is shown on this upload outside of those elements, I would say it does look professional. I think some other users are having trouble looking past the song/titles/color etc.
 
Thanks for the honest critique, gents!

I took the link down as I said I would tonight since it is still a work in progress.

You'll all see more very soon.
 
Jared Meyer said:
C) if I'm not mistaken you haven't gotten a lot of your wides/establishing shots that will give the trailer a lot more scope and a sense of "place." So I am assuming a lot of the reasons it seemed amateurish to me will naturally resolve themselves as time goes on. (i.e., You'll have all of your 2nd unit stuff to choose from, you'll probably have a trailer guy cut something snazzy together, and your potential distro people won't be watching it on Youtube :))

I'd say there's a dearth of close-ups and camera movement as well. Right now it seems like almost every single shot is a locked off medium shot of two or three people in profile. Needs a little more variety IMO.
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Really agree here. To my untrained eye it felt a little cramped with not much 'space' to breath. But as Jared said, the pickups will probably take care of that.

Really like Johnny Messner as Corrado.
Big fan of Tom Sizemore but not so sure about him yet in Corrado.

Would I want to see Corrado?
Based purely on the current trailer, warts and all, hmmm... yes but I wouldn't be lining up at the theatre/DVD shop just yet.
Based on the thread absolutely!

Still, a big fat congrats for achieving all you have and I can't wait to see your film in its final glory!!

Sam.
 
Thanks Sonics - I've got coverage up the wazoo wides / close / steadicam you name it.

I think the real lesson for me here is that a trailer is unlike a film - every frame must be the best in the movie - preferably better than the actual movie. I chose my shots based on what I wanted to see, and failed to anticipate the effect of unfinished color and audio.

I can see past those things, most people can't. And I suppose I don't blame them.

I disagree with the "filmed by a bunch of amateurs" comment, as a matter of fact, I resent it. But that teaches me a lesson for putting rough stuff online.
 
I wish I'd seen it. Usually a good film gets more criticism, especially when viewed in rough cut or when the first trailer or clip are shown.

Nobody commented on my trailers when I posted the links here. They must be real bad :-)
 
Ha! Filmman, that was funny. Corrado is pretty high profile, so no surprise that it got so much feedback - negative or not. I'm just shocked at how a trailer can polarize people so. Live and learn.
 
Star Wars looked like crap a short time before release. Many people thought it'd be a dud. Speilberg thought Jaws was basically a dud until the Duh DUh music score by John Williams was added. It's best to keep the rough stuff close until you're ready. I think this project has promise. I would also target a theatrical release. Yes, that's right, think big! Foreign markets re$pect US theatrical releases.

Another thing to consider about trailers is trying to arouse curiosity. Most trailers tell the whole story (a common practice) and many of us (the public) don't want to know the end before we see the show, we just want to feel the assurance that we'll like it because it's the type of movie we enjoy. A trailer is a promise. I want a trailer to grab me and say, look at this, this is what you're promised to experience. So for this movie (according to what little I know about it) I want to see those over the top gun flashes and hear someone gurlging blood as they die. Pretty sick, but that's Corrado. :-Love(DBG):
 
Amazing point about me wanting to tell the whole story in the trailer. Never thought of that!

The gun flashes are all real, by the way. They look better in slomo!


10s said:
Star Wars looked like crap a short time before release. Many people thought it'd be a dud. Speilberg thought Jaws was basically a dud until the Duh DUh music score by John Williams was added. It's best to keep the rough stuff close until you're ready. I think this project has promise. I would also target a theatrical release. Yes, that's right, think big! Foreign markets re$pect US theatrical releases.

Another thing to consider about trailers is trying to arouse curiosity. Most trailers tell the whole story (a common practice) and many of us (the public) don't want to know the end before we see the show, we just want to feel the assurance that we'll like it because it's the type of movie we enjoy. A trailer is a promise. I want a trailer to grab me and say, look at this, this is what you're promised to experience. So for this movie (according to what little I know about it) I want to see those over the top gun flashes and hear someone gurlging blood as they die. Pretty sick, but that's Corrado. :-Love(DBG):
Click to expand...
 
You're a storyteller, it's what you do. But there's a better place for the story than a trailer, your movie. Now the distributors might feel differently, but I know from research reports, most people don't want the trailer to give it away. We want it to be a surprise. Just give us a promise.
 
10s said:
Star Wars looked like crap a short time before release. Many people thought it'd be a dud. Speilberg thought Jaws was basically a dud until the Duh DUh music score by John Williams was added. It's best to keep the rough stuff close until you're ready. I think this project has promise. I would also target a theatrical release. Yes, that's right, think big! Foreign markets re$pect US theatrical releases.

Another thing to consider about trailers is trying to arouse curiosity. Most trailers tell the whole story (a common practice) and many of us (the public) don't want to know the end before we see the show, we just want to feel the assurance that we'll like it because it's the type of movie we enjoy. A trailer is a promise. I want a trailer to grab me and say, look at this, this is what you're promised to experience. So for this movie (according to what little I know about it) I want to see those over the top gun flashes and hear someone gurlging blood as they die. Pretty sick, but that's Corrado. :-Love(DBG):
Click to expand...


I never heard this about JAWS and STAR WARS; can we substantiate this ?
 
Andrew, I'd love to, and believe me, if anyone needs to see it it's you - you are filming a feature on this camera after all. But right now Ive got my work cut out for me and the discussion seems to be revolving around things that are already guaranteed to be fixed, like post audio and color, or things that will never make it into the move in their current form, like titles and how many cuts are in the trailer.

So for me it's counterproductive. It's like arguing over a paint sample vs. looking at my house and telling me if you like the paint job.

Maybe I'll recut the trailer - maybe not.
 
I never heard this about JAWS and STAR WARS; can we substantiate this ?
Click to expand...
It's certainly true that the studio thought Star Wars was going to be a disaster and that the wall street firms were issuing 'sell' recommendations on Fox right before it came out. I never heard anything about it 'looking' bad, but the studio was highly concerned that they'd run way overbudget and spent $11,000,000 on a movie in an essentially unmarketable genre (sci-fi) so yes, "conventional wisdom" thought they had a disaster on their hands. But as to if anyone thought the film "looked" bad, I've never heard that.
 
I didn't see it so I can't comment on Adam's trailer itself, but on trailers in general, well, the point of a trailer is to make us intrigued enough to want to see the movie. It's a commercial. And the art of cutting effective trailers is, indeed, an entirely separate art form from the discipline of cutting a movie. The trailer doesn't have to tell the whole story, nor should it even try. It should be its own story, a two-minute tease that makes us want to see more. It shouldn't be something where you try to throw in anything and everything you've got into it, instead it has to be crafted as its own story. It doesn't matter if a shot "looks cool" or whatever, if it doesn't help to serve the underlying purpose (piquing the viewer's interest and getting them to commit to buy a ticket) then it doesn't belong in the trailer.
 
Unless someone saw it before all of the lightsaber / blaster / miniature / puppet effects were put in, in which case it would look sub par at least.
 
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