"Tiny Dancer" - a film by Jon Coy

Jon beautiful film here. Great use of steadicam and so subtle. For a while I thought there wasn't going to be any dialog and I was interested to see how you would pull that off, but then the dialog came in... and it felt so natural and so right. Right on the beat. Very nice.

I have zero complaints about this one (except for the sound levels, but who am I to talk about sound, right?) and I absolutely loved it.
 
I enjoyed this film too - which I think probably hits a nerve with us (of the male gender) in filmmaking. Perhaps this is also a freudian slip on the part of the filmmaker (and not unique to him either...)

That we like the graphic design character are mostly comprised of nerdy type guys, who would juuuust love to get it on with a cute, sensitive, attractive and artistic young woman - who seems to be as 'shy' as ourselves.

Obviously it works as I find the tale delightful, and is executed in an almost documentary manner - and a kind of lonely voyeurism during the first half, that really gets us intimate with your lead. Attractive and realistic cinematography lends to the credibility of the tale - and of course the guy tripping is always a classic - well done.
 
It felt natural and real, even though the audio was too low, it felt like we as an audience were just spying on these characters and how they interacted. The camera work was smooth and effective, very efficient cutting, I like the coloring you chose too. It felt genuine, its definitely a favorite of mine so far. :beer:
 
were those motion shots handheld o_o. how is that possible? haha.

good job! steadicam or w/e that stuff was, was great. is that the famous kent state university that you spoke of in the thread i made?
 
That was great, Jon. It was playful and touching and left me with a smile on my face. I really liked your lead and the camera work was fantastic. Makes me miss my DVX100a.

Next time, I hope you can get a good dedicated sound guy. It will only make your work that much better. I'll bet this one ends up in the second round.
 
We very well could be, Zak. Though, philosophers and theorists might argue otherwise. ;)

Again, thank you for the fantastic feedback, everyone. Can't tell you how much it means to me.

Nick - Yes sir, that is Kent State. :)
 
Hello, this is Caroline, the lead in Tiny Dancer. I just wanted to come on here and personally thank everyone for the complements and feedback you've given Jon, and I'm so glad that people are enjoying the film. We had a blast making this, and I can't wait til another one is in the works!
 
caroline, jon did a great job providing a framework for you to do your very best. your performance carried us gently through the film in an amazing way. you deserve a lot of credit for its ability to resonate with an audience. i hope you're all proud of it and will let the great feedback you've gotten validate the choices your making as you continue to evolve as artists.
 
Which shots are you referring to, Nick?

nice campus dude.

I believe the first shot into is dolly? I was referring to the end when they get out of the elevator and I think the camera goes from the doorway to the elevator and the guy walks out answering the girls question.

But in general...I just mean all the shots with motion. Did you use a dolly at all? For example the shots of them walking down the hallway together don't seem like dolly shots but way too smooth to be hand held. I'm so confused. haha.

Also...I thought it was interesting and nice that you didn't take the "loss" as an over dramatic thing and you kept it lighthearted.
 
I like how you captured that bit of awkwardness but kept control of it. Loved in the end when he tripped in the hallway... I can definitely relate to that. Nice work
 
I have to agree that this was good. I also thought in the elevator that maybe something bad was going to happen. But only for a second. Then when the guy trip! Very well done. But the best part was the girl looking back from around the wall.
Nice work.
 
Good film Jon. This was a nice story with good acting all around. I really liked the steadicam work, smooth & fluid!

As mentioned above, I think you could have worked on the audio a bit. The dialog was hollow and I feel the film could have benefited with some music in the opening scene. Perhaps we could have been listening to the music your lead was listening to on her iPod....then, it's gone when she takes out the ear buds?

Another thing I really liked was the way you made me think there might not be any dialog...but then, there was...and later, I thought something bad might happen with the guy in the elevator...and the final squeak of excitement as the girl peeks back around the corner....priceless. You pulled me in & took me back to days gone by. Really nice job!
 
nice campus dude.

I believe the first shot into is dolly? I was referring to the end when they get out of the elevator and I think the camera goes from the doorway to the elevator and the guy walks out answering the girls question.

But in general...I just mean all the shots with motion. Did you use a dolly at all? For example the shots of them walking down the hallway together don't seem like dolly shots but way too smooth to be hand held. I'm so confused. haha.

Also...I thought it was interesting and nice that you didn't take the "loss" as an over dramatic thing and you kept it lighthearted.

Thanks man. I really appreciate the nice words. But no, I didn't use a dolly at all. They were all steadicam shots. I used a glidecam 2000 pro.
 
As mentioned above, I think you could have worked on the audio a bit. The dialog was hollow and I feel the film could have benefited with some music in the opening scene. Perhaps we could have been listening to the music your lead was listening to on her iPod....then, it's gone when she takes out the ear buds?

Yeah, I was disappointed with the audio. It got a little dense because of the noise reduction I had to treat the entire piece to. We ended up having to mix audio from the dvx's on-board mic with a secondary source, and it was a pain. Next time I'll definitely have someone working sound. But the no music from the ipod was intentional. I was certainly going for a voyeuristic feel and didn't want to hear the song, but see her bobbing and humming to it.

ZaZaCast said:
Another thing I really liked was the way you made me think there might not be any dialog...but then, there was...and later, I thought something bad might happen with the guy in the elevator...and the final squeak of excitement as the girl peeks back around the corner....priceless. You pulled me in & took me back to days gone by. Really nice job!

Thank you! I really appreciate your great feedback, ZaZa. Glad you enjoyed the film! :)
 
I really liked this one. Your lead pulled a great performance, and I really liked the cinematography. The steadicam shots in the gym were amazing! Perhaps the ending could have felt a little more conclusive? It just felt slightly anticlimactic after the build up with the elevator scene, but maybe it's just me.

Great work anyhow!
 
Thank you, kyrre. I appreciate the feedback. I'm extremely proud of Caroline's work as Josie. She and Nate were such a deliciously awkward pair and I feel like it worked very well. Caroline and I are outlining a new project that takes the topic of "gender bending" and gender stereotypes as its main subject. Should be interesting.

Thanks again, everyone. :)
 
Very nice work. Love the way the camera moves throughout the film. Both leads handle themselves admirably.

Cute story that also has dramatic weight to it. Nice to see a happy ending.

Agree that sound wasn't the strongest point here.

I was a bit confused by the scene where she slides on her knees. My understanding is that she finds her card, then immediately loses it again. If that's true, then I would have done two things to clarify the scene. One have a close up where we can see it is indeed her card. Two, when the card hits the floor, cut in for another close up of it hitting the floor so we don't miss the fact that she lost it again. The wide shot was beautiful, but I think staying on it the whole time made the story hard to follow.

Are you a PT Anderson fan? I definitely felt some of his influence here.

This is definitely a film I'll be watching again. Good work.
 
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