A House Divided - A DVX feature

The actual shot compositions, lighting, etc. or the color correction? Maybe you didn't like any of it. Just curious. Feedback is always good.

My gripes with the footage is that it tends to look flat in a lot of areas. If we had to do it all over again, we would probably focus on that a ittle more. Also, the anamorphic adaptor is a tough beast to get used to. I learned a lot more about it after reading barry's book. Wish I had the book before we shot because i would have passed some info along to DP.

As for color correction, this was an area that was open to debate as well, and I think perhaps we ended up being too conservative. We discussed having the "flashbacks" be a little "off". But you roll with the punches and it is what it is.

I've got tough skin, so don't hold back on comments. There may be some great ideas on how to improve the look of it.

Steve
 
stevesherrick said:
... Wish I had the book before we shot because i would have passed some info along to DP. Steve
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I wonder how the DP would have felt about the A.D /Producer / Editor telling him how to shoot the film. ?


Anyway ... I thought it looked terrific.
 
compositions were fine...it was just the look of the footage itself...maybe the way it was shot...maybe it was the color correction
 
if you could make it so I could just right click and download the files that would be awesome, for some reason the files arent loading on the next page when I click on them.
 
The story looks fascinating and I like the look of most of it....looks like a great achievement, congratulations.

Any reviews yet?
 
It seems like you already know the problems you are facing. The footage is a bit flat in some shots. I didn't know if you were going for creepy or dramatic (or both). From the contents in the trailer (the flashbacks), it seems like the plot has some creepiness in it, but the look of the footage doesn't compliment that element.

I really like the shot (although quick) outside by the cornfield, I personally think it was well-lit. Your camera movements were also nice. I liked the handheld shot of the woman in the stretcher, but you didn't continue the handheld with the shot of the man being held back, and I'm not sure why, the flow would have been better.

Just from the trailer, the locations/settings of the interiors don't stick out, and I think that's one thing that most independents miss. There's nothing unique about them. (Again, this is ONLY from the trailer) Too many white walls for me. For some reason, they remind me of a Lifetime Original movie. (which...i don't watch...ever...i swear)

Again, I know this is a trailer, but the "Oh God, make it stop" just ruined the feeling. The actress had no BELIEVEABLE emotion behind it, and it just stuck out.

This has my interest though, and I don't post much.

BTW, if there's one thing I hate in filmmaking, its conservative thinking. If you're not going to take risks or be different, then what's the point? (I'm sure I'll have many people disagreeing with me on that)

From Wordnet: "In design and analysis, a conservative model or a conservative assumption is one that departs from accuracy in such a way that it reduces the chances of a false-positive assessment of the feasibility of the system in question. Conservative assumptions overestimate problems and underestimate capabilities."

Those flashbacks definantly needed to be more "off" IMO. But what the hell do I know? I have like 10 posts lol.
 
Yes, here is a review.

http://www.microcinemascene.com/artman/publish/review_a_house_divided.php

I think the DP would have been okay with us discussing the technical side of shooting with the DVX and anamorphic because it frustrated him a lot while we were on set. I think mostly because he was unfamiliar with it. If we had a copy of Barry's book, we could have discussed it and possibly used some different techniques for getting some better looking footage.

But, it was still a great experience and the young girl in the film has gone on to do some amazing work, in particular on stage. She just did a very high profile show in London with Andrew Lloyd Webber. A great talent.

Steve
 
I agree on the flat lighting, but the acting actually looks pretty decent, I just wish there was more depth and dramatic lighting. Other than that congrats on finishing a movie.
 
Well, I know it's tough to get a sense for how it looks scene by scene by watching the trailer, but it seems like the consistent take on this is that the look of the film needs to match the dark undertones of the story. Maybe we didn't go far enough with that. If I get a chance, maybe I'll post a scene, and we can discuss what could be done with CC and sound design to improve it.

Really appreciate the feedback. There's always room for improvement, and there's nothing like objective feedback to help get a sense of what works and what doesn't.

Steve
 
Some CC could really help the mood of this piece. It pretty much looked non existant. At this point it still looks very videoish. There is some good looking shots in there, they just need to be brought out. Congrats.
 
If you are loading the broadband version, it could take a little bit, depending on your connection speed. If you have other problems, let me know. Maybe we need to tweak the quicktimes.

Steve
 
The acting seems pretty good. I thought the cinematography was good... not excellent but good enough.

Overall it didn't look amateurish like most stuff we see here and it got me interested.

The shot of the chair behind the bars... didn't like the CC on that. Too colorful and not enough contrast. Blueish or yellowish tones on that would probably make it look better.
 
congrats on actually making a feature... most people on this forum haven't gone to that pedestal yet (myself included!)

some of the footage did look flat, but most of it was well lit and composed.
 
The link loads, it just doesn't stream. You have to be patient. It completely loads the clip before letting you view it.

After watching the trailer, I got the sense that this is a really strong story and overall was decently acted. I think the way it's shot takes away from that though. It feels really flat. It's a very dramatic story with very little drama in the visuals. I read here you used the anamorphic adapter, but the director and/or DP didn't take advantage of the frame to compose anything to punch up dramatic moments in the script. The music was well done but it only highlighted the shortcomings of the way it was shot. A more noir execution in the lighting (ala ridley scott or alex proyas) would have really served this theme well.

I'd like to see the finished film though, because the story seems strong and I'm interested in it.

What was your budget on this and how long was the shoot?
 
STORYTELLER32 said:
The link loads, it just doesn't stream. You have to be patient. It completely loads the clip before letting you view it.
Click to expand...
No problem being patient, I just didn't realize it was non-streaming. Thanks.
 
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