24/7 - A ZazaCast Film

Thanks John-
You got it... that's the idea, that our lives and the events in them are directly tied to the trees! There was a line in there, the old man says, " what if I told you that tree out there has more to do with your fate then you do?" He had to care for that tree because it WAS the younger man's life and ultimately his chance to trade places and hand-over the caretaker job.

The original script was 12 pages... now that I've created my first film and have had a chance to view all the other films...I can better know how & what to cut to make better flicks!

Really... thanks again for taking the time to watch & comment!

...and I'm really looking forward to the newsletter.

Cheers!
 
This was a good idea for a story. I also like the close ups of the faces, but I found that the old man spoke his dialog a little bit as though he was reading.
Above all I like that you worked with elderly actors. Compliments.

Susanne
 
Thanks Susanne... but that elderly 'actor' was my Father and it took me a week to get him to agree to step in and help out after my real 'actor' backed-out on me. I did everything I could to try to beat some life into it. (I couldn't leave any marks, after all...he IS my Father! LOL!!)

9 days to the shoot - $0.00
8 days to the shoot and your actors back-out on you - $0.00
1 week to talk your Father into playing a part - $0.00
Getting to work with your Father on your first film - PRICELESS!
 
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I really dug your edit from the first look out the blinds to pov running through the grass in the orchard. After that I wanted a payoff but you used that as an introduction piece. The story isn't terribly exciting, and the acting is pretty good for what you had to work with, but it just kills it when you repeat the same shots that got me excited in the beginning.

Your true strength in this piece is that small section. I'd love see what you do with a action/comedy with that sense of style.
 
not too keen on the acting, and had an idea what was going to happen at the end, liked some of the shots though :)
 
Writing as I watch….
I really enjoyed the opening music, but it felt like I was watching the trailer first and then the movie. Not too much of a fan of the zoom and pan camera work. The acting was hard to watch. It felt like they had just learned their lines a few minutes before the shoot. On watching their performances.. .. eh. Never mind.

I liked the music. And it felt like a music video.

Congrats on entering the fest.
 
There was something interesting about this movie. I liked some of your quirky edits. The film was a bit preachy, but I like that you had a motif. It went well the poster. I think there was too much jibber jabbering going on instead of showing what you were talking about (with the trees).

Good job.
 
Chuklz, Edgen, iSTy & Aaron....
Thanks for the comments, you have no idea how helpful these are to a new 'filmmaker' (I think it takes awhile to become a real filmmaker, so I'll keep the quotes around it for me!). I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and respond. I agree with all the points mentioned and plan on trying to create good solid shorts in the future using this information.

Justin, it means the world to me that you liked the music...YOU create some of the best scores I've heard in this fest.

Chuklz, I was trying to go for that "story begins with the end, but without the reveal" kind of thing...guess it fell short for you.

Again...Thanks to ALL... please keep them coming!
Cheers.
 
First off, great job on finishing and entering! That's more than I did, and I appreciate being able to watch your film.

That said, my favorite parts were the fun loop music in the beginning & end, with the well timed editing cuts. Also, the switch/twist at the end with the young guy being where the old guy was and looking at us ... cool.

Other than that, however, I would have liked a more gripping story, and better performances. Also, some of the camera angles (i.e. the ECU of the old man's eye, then his mouth, etc.) were interrupting to me, making me wonder what the motive was behind it and losing track of what the message was (which what I DID get had a biblical feel to it).

Thanks again!
 
In the past few days, DVXusers Ben Sliker and Justin Kuhn sat down and chatted over AIM while simultaneously watching the same TIMEFEST films. We call them, "The AIM sessions". Here's their thoughts on "24/7"

This is a 'special edition' of the AIM sessions, Assistant Director Brad Mate has tagged in for Justin from the crew of JAM. Please excuse the stupid out of order time stamps by iChat.


spesliker (12:38:32 PM): do you have 24/7?
TheBrad84 (12:38:25 PM): yes
spesliker (12:39:47 PM): 24/7 the 320x240 adventure
TheBrad84 (12:39:39 PM): is 24/7 supposed to be this small..
spesliker (12:39:57 PM): yes.
spesliker (12:40:10 PM): ready?
TheBrad84 (12:40:01 PM): i suppose
spesliker (12:40:17 PM): 3
spesliker (12:40:17 PM): 2
spesliker (12:40:18 PM): 1
spesliker (12:40:21 PM): go
spesliker (12:40:36 PM): POST ZOOM!!!
TheBrad84 (12:40:31 PM): lots o post zoom
TheBrad84 (12:40:55 PM): running!
TheBrad84 (12:41:05 PM): more running!
spesliker (12:41:18 PM): ROCK AND ROLL RUNNING (huge difference, brad)
TheBrad84 (12:41:15 PM): shaky cam make brad a sick panda
spesliker (12:41:33 PM): lol
spesliker (12:41:48 PM): *posts sad panda pic
1215646456.jpg

spesliker (12:42:05 PM): for serial, i just threw up a little
TheBrad84 (12:42:08 PM): i am a little naceous
spesliker (12:42:41 PM): this dialogue needs a little better pacing
TheBrad84 (12:42:38 PM): reading lines! I SEEN HIM!
spesliker (12:42:55 PM): and what is with the smear filter on the edges?
spesliker (12:43:43 PM): if i was a 7000 year old tree, 100 years would still feel like forever.
TheBrad84 (12:44:10 PM): CAT CLOSEUP
spesliker (12:44:34 PM): MUST BE IMPORTANT
spesliker (12:44:41 PM): repeating shots?
spesliker (12:45:14 PM): what in the holy hell is going on here?
TheBrad84 (12:45:06 PM): i dunno
spesliker (12:45:32 PM): for some reason i want to run in a field though
TheBrad84 (12:45:46 PM): and apparently someone slipped me acid
spesliker (12:46:04 PM): seriously ... put down the crazy filters and walk away from the non-linear editing system ... we have you surrounded.
TheBrad84 (12:46:01 PM): ....
spesliker (12:46:28 PM): HE'S THE KEEPER OF THE TREES
spesliker (12:46:40 PM): but apparently just that one little tree in front of his house.
TheBrad84 (12:46:37 PM): so confused
spesliker (12:48:14 PM): if from what i inferred is that the old guy is looking for a young guy to be the new tree keeper, that's a neat concept
TheBrad84 (12:49:03 PM): with a dialogue driven film you gotta have actors that can really deliver the lines and the pacing needs to be spot-on.

ZaZaCast, I haven't really read anything into the circumstances in which you shot this film, so I'm going to give you my gut reaction to what I saw.

First, is compression and frame size! 320x240 for DVX footage is almost unbearably small (which makes it a little hard to critique technical aspects as well), and although 4x3 still has it place somewhere, 16x9 is the place to be! That's the start to give your movie a more "filmic look" to it.

I think there's an exercise i did once that will help you a bunch. One of the first exercises that we did in college was to take a scene from a really well shot movie and have to emulate it, shot by shot, frame by frame. There was absolutely no creativity in it, but it taught us some great things about lighting, framing and dialogue pacing right off the bat. I suggest you try this out, take a dialogue scene from your favorite movie and try and copy it.

Even though I fought it and tried to be an everyman for a while, the best thing that I ever did was to find people who were really talented at what they do, and bring them into my productions. The best thing you can do is to have a little team that is always excited to work on the next project. It can also help you refine EXACTLY what part of the filmmaking process that you like the most. For me, it's editing and directing. Every once and a while, I get the itch to operate a camera, but I sold my DVX a long while ago to jack up my editing system, and I'm happy that i did. And if you choose direction, It allows you to concentrate on the acting, which you may not be able to do if you are camera op, or boom op, or any other op.

I have a few last notes on editing that may help you out. First, unless it's extremely motivated, try not to double up on shots. And as a rule, post zooming and panning is ALWAYS a bad idea. If you didn't get it when you shot, do a reshoot! Speaking exclusively to short films, I've only ever used a post zoom/pan as a last resort fix, I've never planned them in. And as far as filters go, the ones you used seemed very unmotivated, so unless planning a specific effect, go ahead and stay away from that tab too. I would focus my time on practicing color grading, see what kind of looks you can get with that, and ignore the special filters.

Hope some of this helps, looking forward to seeing the improvements in your next film! :thumbsup:
 
Excellent advice! Thank you for taking the time to do this...I'll be applying your suggestions to my next 'production'.

...and if you post your address, I'll be glad to send along a few vomit bags for the Panda!
 
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