235 Studios Presents: SEMELE

Lucky lucky... my first full review if for Semele :) It was at the top of my list to watch... Here goes...

Story & Acting
The story was cool. I am a sucker for spy action movies, and I dug it. The one thing that hurt the story and performances the most was the ADR’d dialogue. I have never been a fan of ADR, and feel it lacks the emotion and realism of on set sound, and I feel that really ruined some of the performances here.


Technical
Technically this film is TOP NOTCH amazing! The cinematography, editing, and sound mix (aside from the ADR) are excellent! It felt like a polished Hollywood film. Nice work Ryan!​
 
ADR was a total necessity. Bad levels, interference, etc. Things sorta slipped through the cracks in that area, as our sound guy bailed a few short days before the shoot. And that fake reverb never sounds quite like the real thing. I'll probably go back and worldize it properly for the DVD.

Can you guys pick out the bit that WASN'T ADR'd?
 
Hey Ryan, congrats! The look is top notch, blows me away. The shots are gorgeous, the pacing is great. Great direction. Unfortunately the ADR is, well, not so much. I think Jerry did a great job on the mixing, etc. but the ADR lacks room tone and reverb, all the dialogue sounds like it was recorded from 3" away in a radio sound booth. I'd track down the sound guy who bailed on you the night before and kick his ass...
 
Hey Jerry, I didn't see your post before I posted. You really needed some room tone and it sounded like the mics were too close to their mouths, especially Norm, but you did a great job on the mixing.
 
There is some room tone, it's just mixed way down. I'll make a note of that when I revisit the mix. Low frequency rolloff will fix the proximity effect. Keep it coming, guys! The more critique, the better!
 
I'm back in the States- Thanks for the reviews!

I'm back in the States- Thanks for the reviews!

Well I returned to the states yesterday afternoon (From Japan), and I am still feeling some jet lag- the time difference, and the traveling for 24+hrs really takes it out of you. I'm glad to see that the films can be viewed now- I know what I'm going to do this weekend as I recover. :)

Anyway, thanks everyone for your comments, and I look forward to more input - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Something that I appreciate about the forum is the ability to refine my skills through others input. So thanks! With that, on to specific comments:

Zak Forsman said:
My impressions of SEMELE:
well shot, often beautiful composed frames. the steadicammed frame had a wonderful “floating/handheld” quality at times. the editing was competently executed. only occasionally, was I distracted by mis-matched rhythms between shots. unfortunately, the ADR was a big distraction. I’d be eager to know if this was planned from the beginning or out of necessity. makes it almost impossible for me to critique the performances. the story was very well executed. plot points and turns were revealed in interesting ways. but on the whole everything felt a little too familiar. like this was territory that other films had covered many times over. nonetheless, great work. you should be proud.
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Thanks. Patrick (The Steadicam OP) did a good job with what he had. The Glidecam V8 was way over weighted with the HVX, M2, and Marshal Monitor it could not handle all that, so he did a good job with the shots given that we needed a steadicam capable of more weight.

Sorry about the ADR- no that was not planned. Unfortunately my audio guy, who does do good work bailed on me a couple of days before the shoot- which left me stuck- very frustrating, but it is what it is...

TimurCivan said:
I will comment as two people.

1 (as a dp) The camera movemnt, and framing were SPOT on. there was a definite "eye" behind all the compositions. they melded together and you dont notice edits. it was thought out and well edited. Great flow. The acting was good, the set was nice. Over all great. BUT,..... The whole movie was out of focus. Especially out doors.

2: Movie goer. Looked like holly wood to me. I have no complaints. But the russian had a funny accent, so that kinda killed it a little. but whatever. :)

Great work. i liek it.
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Thanks Tim! Much appreciated. The out side shots- especially the WS were using a 28mm lens that I had to pick up at a local store about a week or two prior to filming. I had bought a decent 28mm lens via ebay, but I got hosed by the seller - grrrr and so I was left with a cheap vivitar 28mm lens. I was not happy with it preformance at all, and it felt soft all over.... and it was trickey for Jerry (1st AC) to pull focus while the camera was on the steadicam. While I agree that there are times when the footage is out of focus - esp. the out doors, I'd dissagree that the entire film is out of focus.

Michael_Petro said:
Alright I watched your beautifully shot flick... review coming soon.
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Thanks - I look forward to the review!

Brandon Rice said:
Lucky lucky... my first full review if for Semele :) It was at the top of my list to watch... Here goes...

Story & Acting
The story was cool. I am a sucker for spy action movies, and I dug it. The one thing that hurt the story and performances the most was the ADR’d dialogue. I have never been a fan of ADR, and feel it lacks the emotion and realism of on set sound, and I feel that really ruined some of the performances here.


Technical
Technically this film is TOP NOTCH amazing! The cinematography, editing, and sound mix (aside from the ADR) are excellent! It felt like a polished Hollywood film. Nice work Ryan!​
Click to expand...

Thanks Brandon! Yep, the ADR was not something that I liked- but it had to be done. I was really impressed with the sounds design that Jerry did- I think it adds a whole new demention to the film. And the 5.1 mix will be even better!

shawneous said:
Hey Ryan, congrats! The look is top notch, blows me away. The shots are gorgeous, the pacing is great. Great direction. Unfortunately the ADR is, well, not so much. I think Jerry did a great job on the mixing, etc. but the ADR lacks room tone and reverb, all the dialogue sounds like it was recorded from 3" away in a radio sound booth. I'd track down the sound guy who bailed on you the night before and kick his ass...
Click to expand...

Thanks again, I'm glad that you like it. Yep it would be nice to track down the sound guy .........:furious3: :evil:

Well, now it is time to download the films and watch them, I'm looking forward to it!
 
I really liked your cinematography! Very pro and polished. As some others have said, the ADR threw me off a bit but only because I'm a fellow filmmaker and we notice those kinds of things. The VFX & SFX w/ the guns were sweet along with that chase scene through the forest....makes me really want to have 'action fest' next.
 
REVIEW: SEMELE

And we're off! First review of the day, about thirty plus to follow. SEMELE was a visually interesting piece, Ryan. I would have to say that the visuals outshined the content here

I'm sure that I could go on about how nice the image was here. Starting the fest with this sets a bit of an image bar for me, because I hope to see this kind of clarity in everyone's short. I have to wonder where the motivation for the lighting in the bedroom scene came from, because the odd shapes on the wall strike me as... well... odd. Not incorrect, but odd. That's on a second watch for technicals.

I'm going to address the content itself, though. In Semele, the conflict seems poised around "secret identities", two people that've been shacked up together, one with a hidden agenda. I get it, they're falling in love, our double-agent is strung between her job and her love. I think the reason why I am not engaged by any of this is because I don't care who Semele is and I can't see what kind of story you wanted to tell me.

I just don't get it. On a superficial level, I do. Double-agents, CIA agents, a gritty assassin. Choosing between love and work and all that stuff. S'all well and good. But, what was the point? I'm having such a hard time reviewing this because I didn't see a point to the story at all. There was no pay-off, your protagonist didn't have a conflict I could truly get interested in, and at that I didn't understand anything about him. It makes me ask the question: Why was this about SEMELE and not the woman with the REAL conflict?

The Dialogue was completely two-dimensional, here. "Honey, you're up early!" was probably the worst line here.

Which leads me to ADR. Another problem that I had, which totally takes me out of it all, was the ADR. It's very "plastic", if that makes any sense. And, having to ADR already on-the-nose and quite flat dialogue just kind of fans the flames.

Visually nice, but I think that the writing stage destroyed this. It almost feels like the writer didn't take the time to explore his or her options with the characters and content provided.

A simple shift in focus from Semele to the woman would've been an entirely different story, one that I would've been more interested in. In the entire short, I felt like SHE was the one with the conflicts that audience wants to know about, not Semele and a USB2.0 drive.

I know there were actors here, but I can't really say too much about it. I think that's because of the story itself. I mean, you can't really deliver great lines of the lines weren't decent to begin with.

Anyway, don't have to take my word for much! What have I done!?!?!?

Great effort, Ryan. Thanks for exhibiting! Your footage looks nice, dude.
 
My review is basically the same as Kholi's.

Kholi said:
I get it, they're falling in love, our double-agent is strung between her job and her love. I think the reason why I am not engaged by any of this is because I don't care who Semele is and I can't see what kind of story you wanted to tell me.

I just don't get it. On a superficial level, I do. Double-agents, CIA agents, a gritty assassin. Choosing between love and work and all that stuff. S'all well and good. But, what was the point? I'm having such a hard time reviewing this because I didn't see a point to the story at all.
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We've seen this all before. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, several Bond films, etc.

The footage looks FANTASTIC, really. I just wish the quality of the script matched the quality of the cinematography. I'd like to see a stronger POV on the theme of the duplicitous relationship. What are you trying to say about it? This film just felt like beat beat beat.

Again, the pacing was good. The footage looked great. But, like others have said, there wasn't anything to care about. Not a ton of food for thought.
 
Okay, it's REALLY hard for me to comment on this film, as it's a film that I was involved in from a performance POV, and not to mention the fact that Ryan has become a good friend of mine, whom I've grown to really respect as a cinematographer. That said, I also know he wants me to be honest as a fellow filmmaker, so here goes....

Visually, SEMELE is in the top films. Period. Ryan, you have a solid command of what you want visually, and you make it happen. Tung also works extremely well with you in that he enjoys pulling out moods with his lighting, helping the scenes & talent to 'pop', etc.

This was your first venture out onto your own, but I feel you tried to perhaps wear too many hats for your first time out. Producer, Director, DP, Writer, Editor, etc. Too much to try & focus on at once ... I know this to be true because I recall once or twice where I'd ask how my performance was in a particular take, and you weren't sure because you were focusing on the framing/focus of the shot. As a DP, what you were doing was critical, but as a Director, you couldn't do both ... and I know I can't either. The moment I try to focus on the screen for composition, framing, focus, etc. ... I completely tune out all of the dialogue & perforance. I simply can't do both.

Writing could have been stronger with both the story & the dialogue. For me, since I know that writing is not my greatest strength (at least not on my own), I prefer to sub this one out to someone else who can give the story a different voice than I might. For your next outing, I'd suggest sourcing this one out.

Myself, like many others, was probably most pulled out of the story by the ADR. It DID sound like my mouth (and at times, Rebecca's) was right on the microphone. There are PLENTY of filters that can help to make it more real (reverbs, etc. to give more of a room tone feel), but unless the live audio was completely unusable, I bet a better job could have been done to simply clean that up, than to have gone 100% ADR (other than Reid's scene). Also, while I've read a few raves about the sound mix (other than ADR), I have to disagree there as well. I think some of the gun blasts could have had a LOT more pop/explosive sound to them (especially in that small & confined room), and the footsteps in the room were really getting at me (when SEMELE walks away from the bed towards the door, they never really get softer ... as if the person is just stepping in place).

Otherwise, Ryan, it was truly a valiant effort, and a good outing for your first time out. You should continue to direct, DP, edit, write, etc. ... however I'd maybe consider not trying to do them all at the same time until you've gotten really comfortable with each & every craft. DP is your absolute strength (without a doubt), followed by editing. A few more films with you at the helm as Director and/or writer, and those should quickly catch up as well.
 
My review, nothing else but my own opinion.

I thought the cinematography was beautiful. The starting sequence was stunning! Great pacing with editing for that first opening sequence. However, like many have said, the acting wasn't the best. His performance and his mannerisms just didn't work and wasn't believable. The ADR also didn't help. It'd tough to pull of ADR with a low budget and you as the director/writer/editor etc...

I think the inherent troubles come from the script as well, which didn't make it easier on the acting. I don't want to say it was cheesy, but it didn't feel natural. But I don't know the spy genre very well (only from the mainstream stuff), so I can't really comment on that.

There are some editing blips in terms of pacing. The scene where he first walks off from the woman as she is lying down, it cuts really fast back to him as he leaves. The cut felt awkward and rushed. But overall, it was well paced. Again, I loved the pacing of the opening sequence.

Great first time effort! It's tough to pull off a full-fledged arcing story in 6 min, so kudos to that, man. Keep shooting because those images look sweeeet and you'll only get better with the writing and directing as you make more films.

-Lloyd
 
First off the rank... new the name, checked it out. And boring as it is to repeat others, the sound killed it. A lot of great composition and I picked up a few things watching this which is always great (and a great part of these fests). For me was a bit dark in places and the black and white didnt seem to serve any purpose.

Dialogue was so so, story was so so and I was left wondering why two russians speaking russian would switch to English. I also wasnt convinced this was a complete dramatic piece.
 
i have to agree with some of the others that the story didn't do much for me. but it looked quite good. framing/lighting in some shots was really fantastic.

overall you guys have done a good job, i'm shooting a short which i'm doing all by myself and i know its very hard to direct and dp at the same time :D
 
I wasn't taken much with this film, sorry, and I thought the acting was a bit crud.
Although I did think some of the shots were good.
Thank you.
 
I had a lot of problems with this film. The story didn't do anything for me. It seemed very "routine" and extremely thin. The performances did little for me and the ADR made it even worse.

I will say that the scenes look great. The framing, the lighting, the camera work all look good, however, I am confused as to the use of the B&W scenes.

Sorry I can't post a better review. (I hope that I didn't blow my rib dinner! :) )
 
Really good effort. However; sound, story, some of the acting.... needed more work. Hard to believe the story. Congratulations though on finishing an obviously intense undertaking. Keep it up.
 
Reviewing "Semele"

I absolutely enjoyed the camera work. I thought the framing and movement was very well chosen. The opening was just what I would expect to see at movies when I go to enjoy a film with popcorn on hand.

As hard and crude as the situation was supposed to be, I think it was dramatically well orchestrated, from composition of camera to arrangement of actors and set atmosphere... I felt it. However, like some have pointed out the delivery of performance wasn't the best in the competition. The third guy who fires the shots was believable to me. Costume was good, I think the actors could have gone an extra mile to portray their characters. The guns and the shooting was really cool! I enjoyed the chase. :)

Good story with weak dialogue... Overall I enjoyed your movie. I would like to see more work from you. Specially your entry for the "Action Fest".

Best regars,
 
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