Actress narrative DATE JUNKIES, gh1 and zoom h4 dialog

[J Davis]

I've been jamming on ideas with this actress and we put together a little 1 minute piece. Shot it in Central Park the other day.

Date Junkies

Actress SARAH SEEDS
Concept JHOE DAVIS, SARAH SEEDS
Director, Cinematographer JHOE DAVIS

Vimeo
http://vimeo.com/6545478

Youtube Regular
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVstdQNDsxs

Youtube 720p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVstdQNDsxs&fmt=22

(it may still be processing, quality is a little reduced till its done)
Thanks for watching and leave a comment !

 

[10s]

She has some potential worth developing further.

me being picky: Her hair strands are in super focus but her face in comparison seems soft, do you see this also?

One other thing, to open you could use an establishing shot, i.e., like the full body shot you ended with. This would help set the place, etc... especially with a few shots of the park... you know what I mean. The camera seems to do the job.

It would be a good challenge if you do this again to shoot it with 3 angles and just have her pause every once in a while & look off. You could then cut away with cutaways and return with another angle. Just a thought...

 

[Huy Vu]

The hair light on her is way too strong, it's distracting. And that's a really close up shot which gives it an uncomfortable vibe like she's getting in my face.

 

[J Davis]

She has some potential worth developing further.

me being picky: Her hair strands are in super focus but her face in comparison seems soft, do you see this also?

Yes, my mistake there. I thought I had picked a high enough aperture to allow head movement, we even did a test before hand where
she leaned back and forward a few inches and I checked focus. Strange, oh well.
There's no room for reshoot so I have to live with it.
Would be nice to have someone run camera while I was directing but It was just me and her.
A hoodman would have helped too.

One other thing, to open you could use an establishing shot, i.e., like the full body shot you ended with. This would help set the place, etc... especially with a few shots of the park... you know what I mean.

I hear what u saying and I have done plenty of pieces in the traditional way.
Starting with a tight CU was a very deliberate choice on my part. (Tip of the hat to Mr Nolan).

The hair light on her is way too strong, it's distracting. And that's a really close up shot which gives it an uncomfortable vibe like she's getting in my face.

I'm sorry if it was uncomfortable for you, I'm experimenting a little with my shot choices. BTW – no hair lights bro, no lights at all !
Nor screens or bounce boards. Just me, her, the morning sun, camera, tripod and audio gear.

Thanks for watching guys and a bigger thanks for your comments.

 

[Joe Shaw]

Kudos for actually shooting something - and something narrative too.

You got a nice performance there. Good job.

 

[J Davis]

Kudos for actually shooting something - and something narrative too.

You got a nice performance there. Good job.

Thanks jshaw, actually I did another dialog/narrative piece (He's up he's gone, see link in my signature) but I must admit that in this GH1 gallery, I haven't
seen many examples with audio, especially dialog. Most are a montage of images to music.

 

[Joe Shaw]

Completely. And I say that as a guilty party on the montage front.

 

[Martti Ekstrand]

Indeed, a good performance. Starting close up and personal, uncomfortably in my face and then cutting back to wide at the end matches the monologue content, would have done just the same. Would have held the hand shot with the ring and let her talk off screen a sentence or half longer, that cut feels a little quick and jumpy. Nice use of available light but as you obviously are aware a reflector would have helped to balance the backlight a bit better. Or even better a screen to knock off the sunlight a step or so. Keeping a actor sharp on a improv like this is tricky even for a dedicated focus puller, doing it while directing and recording sound is very hard. Think you did well with both image and sound - and great with the directing. But why did Godzilla show up out of nowhere?

In short, a nice little piece - keep'em coming. And if you are building a group of actors to work with, she's a keeper!

 

[J Davis]

Indeed, a good performance. Starting close up and personal, uncomfortably in my face and then cutting back to wide at the end matches the monologue content

Aye - that was my intent. Starting close while she is laughing and ending wide and alone was meant to mirror her emotional descent.

In short, a nice little piece - keep'em coming. And if you are building a group of actors to work with, she's a keeper!

Thanks Martti. Yep she's got a truck load of talent. You'd never guess where I found her ... craigslist of all places.