April DVXFest Entries
- Thread starter Barry_S
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Sirius_Doggy
Veteran
Staven
Well-known member
Watched them all. Thanks everyone who did them for some fun films.
My vote went to the one I found had the best story and was the best overall production.
Sure, having a friggin Porche(i think that's what it was) really helps up the old production value but nonetheless House Detective got my vote.
It was well put together structurewise and ended with a neat punchline. I'm guessing you or your friends are fairly well off which you used nicely for the story. You did some very nice car shots, car mount owner?
Only bad thing, and almost ruined the show for me was the crossed axis both characters looking screen left when they talked to each other. Keep your axis during dialogue scenes!! Remember if one person is talking screen left the person they are talking to should be looking screen right!!
Dug the "sexy" outfit. Good work.
Second place(if there was one) would go to Waffles. Mostly because babies make me laugh. Plus you added a dog and a puppet dragon. Those ingredients alone got you second place.
Third goes to Zombie Waffle. Funny premise, but having a thirty second wide shot of your living room with nothing happening followed by a twenty second shot of a garbage can ruined any chance of me getting into this film. I gather you shot this by yourself while starring in it? That would make these shots make some sense. I kept waiting for some spfx on the wide shot while you were on the phone,like the waffle comes to life, but nothing happened.
I did like the coloring of the waffle and the noise it made while it hunted. Neat concept, could have been tighter.
Finally Back Stab. All I can surmise is that this film was already made prior to the festival and just happened to have a guy eating waffles, so they recut it to fit in the festivals timelimit thus cutting out acts 2 and 3. Anyone got a better explaination?
My vote went to the one I found had the best story and was the best overall production.
Sure, having a friggin Porche(i think that's what it was) really helps up the old production value but nonetheless House Detective got my vote.
It was well put together structurewise and ended with a neat punchline. I'm guessing you or your friends are fairly well off which you used nicely for the story. You did some very nice car shots, car mount owner?
Only bad thing, and almost ruined the show for me was the crossed axis both characters looking screen left when they talked to each other. Keep your axis during dialogue scenes!! Remember if one person is talking screen left the person they are talking to should be looking screen right!!
Dug the "sexy" outfit. Good work.
Second place(if there was one) would go to Waffles. Mostly because babies make me laugh. Plus you added a dog and a puppet dragon. Those ingredients alone got you second place.
Third goes to Zombie Waffle. Funny premise, but having a thirty second wide shot of your living room with nothing happening followed by a twenty second shot of a garbage can ruined any chance of me getting into this film. I gather you shot this by yourself while starring in it? That would make these shots make some sense. I kept waiting for some spfx on the wide shot while you were on the phone,like the waffle comes to life, but nothing happened.
I did like the coloring of the waffle and the noise it made while it hunted. Neat concept, could have been tighter.
Finally Back Stab. All I can surmise is that this film was already made prior to the festival and just happened to have a guy eating waffles, so they recut it to fit in the festivals timelimit thus cutting out acts 2 and 3. Anyone got a better explaination?
Sean Michael
Well-known member
Thanks for your comments. This was a great learning exercise.
I will revisit the axis issue--solid advice!
The camera mount was the Gripper from filmtools. It works well (supporting 70 pounds of weight) but I still felt a little nervous for my DVX at times. I would beef up the support for a high speed driving scene.
I will revisit the axis issue--solid advice!
The camera mount was the Gripper from filmtools. It works well (supporting 70 pounds of weight) but I still felt a little nervous for my DVX at times. I would beef up the support for a high speed driving scene.
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Let's all kepp in mind that John know's he's a hack and these opinions are merely subjective. I always just try and be honest no matter if it's Spielberg or a DVX Member.
Bizarre; in order; Stabb Films said exactly what I was thinking; but I wll try and add something new to those thoughts.
My Vote goes to House Detective; and my vote ultimately came down to which one entertained me which is always a criteria. This short also had some scope and production value with use of the car mount. The narrative prose had me laughing out loud at times and the voice over worked well for me in a satirical private eye vibe. The most impressive shots were the car mount however the INT shots were blase in my opinion and as Stabb mentioines; the jumping back and forth across the Axis really detracted my attention. We need to learn the rules before we break them and I think this filmmaker needs to learn this rule. Still; the most entertaining and most thought out short IMO.
Like Stabb; Waffles was my second choice. The baby was hilarious and the story cute; although using stuffed animals grates on me somewhat. This particular short seemed to have the tighest editing; simple insert shots of the dogs reaction really brought color to this piece. A cute story; with the use of a stuffed animal would my 5 year old like it? Yes. Am I 5? No. This particular short to me used lighting and exposure the best I thought; it just looked properly shot.
Zombie Waffles had the most semblance of feeling like a film with the compositions and framing to me. I sensed the filmlmaker made the most of the small confines of an apartment (flat?) and enhanced it with creative reveres and shots. Still; I was lost completely with the off-screen disapearance and the garbage can moments, one of which I couldnt even see what was going on. I know the filmmaker literally through this together in a short time so my respect goes out to him for entering and completing a project. Shooting by yourself or not; gotta find a way to get some light in the shots as most of this was really dark and flat. I felt this one had the best use of Sound Design.
Back Stabb was just a plain ole let-down. I second Stabb's thoughts; was it already completed? Did you run out of time? Inserting title cards to cover up act's one and two really was a kind of jip. Incidentally; the young men as 'Detectives' immediately took me away from the picture. It is ironic however; as this was the one I was most interested in storywise; but with the title card appearance at the end I was like "Huh?" And with the Sorenson Watermark and the decreased frame size I felt isolated from the picture.
I speak for myself whan I say this:
I'd like to see the bar raised on these monthly shorts. I see almost no use of Sound Design but simply a score thrown down as the main sound track. I think what would enhance all of our shorts is the use of Foley, FX and Score tracks. Without sound design; even the best of shorts comes up a short.
I'd also like to see more emphasis woth the use of the camera; it seems we either get hand-held or locked-down and no steadicam or dolly or no other real use of 'Cinematography Techniques'. A Car Mount shot is always impressive, but admittedly this motnhs house Detective almost seemed to be showing off excessively with the mount. At one point I was waiting for CROCKETS THEME to chime in.
So, congratulations to all who entered; we will never become masters without constant attention to detail and getting out and making films; but let's raise the bar my DVX'ers. I have always said "My goal is make a short that has every feeling and semblance of a motion picture as if it was a scene plucked from a hollywood film." This should be our goal and we'll know it when we nail it.
I speak for myself as I preach this.
Bizarre; in order; Stabb Films said exactly what I was thinking; but I wll try and add something new to those thoughts.
My Vote goes to House Detective; and my vote ultimately came down to which one entertained me which is always a criteria. This short also had some scope and production value with use of the car mount. The narrative prose had me laughing out loud at times and the voice over worked well for me in a satirical private eye vibe. The most impressive shots were the car mount however the INT shots were blase in my opinion and as Stabb mentioines; the jumping back and forth across the Axis really detracted my attention. We need to learn the rules before we break them and I think this filmmaker needs to learn this rule. Still; the most entertaining and most thought out short IMO.
Like Stabb; Waffles was my second choice. The baby was hilarious and the story cute; although using stuffed animals grates on me somewhat. This particular short seemed to have the tighest editing; simple insert shots of the dogs reaction really brought color to this piece. A cute story; with the use of a stuffed animal would my 5 year old like it? Yes. Am I 5? No. This particular short to me used lighting and exposure the best I thought; it just looked properly shot.
Zombie Waffles had the most semblance of feeling like a film with the compositions and framing to me. I sensed the filmlmaker made the most of the small confines of an apartment (flat?) and enhanced it with creative reveres and shots. Still; I was lost completely with the off-screen disapearance and the garbage can moments, one of which I couldnt even see what was going on. I know the filmmaker literally through this together in a short time so my respect goes out to him for entering and completing a project. Shooting by yourself or not; gotta find a way to get some light in the shots as most of this was really dark and flat. I felt this one had the best use of Sound Design.
Back Stabb was just a plain ole let-down. I second Stabb's thoughts; was it already completed? Did you run out of time? Inserting title cards to cover up act's one and two really was a kind of jip. Incidentally; the young men as 'Detectives' immediately took me away from the picture. It is ironic however; as this was the one I was most interested in storywise; but with the title card appearance at the end I was like "Huh?" And with the Sorenson Watermark and the decreased frame size I felt isolated from the picture.
I speak for myself whan I say this:
I'd like to see the bar raised on these monthly shorts. I see almost no use of Sound Design but simply a score thrown down as the main sound track. I think what would enhance all of our shorts is the use of Foley, FX and Score tracks. Without sound design; even the best of shorts comes up a short.
I'd also like to see more emphasis woth the use of the camera; it seems we either get hand-held or locked-down and no steadicam or dolly or no other real use of 'Cinematography Techniques'. A Car Mount shot is always impressive, but admittedly this motnhs house Detective almost seemed to be showing off excessively with the mount. At one point I was waiting for CROCKETS THEME to chime in.
So, congratulations to all who entered; we will never become masters without constant attention to detail and getting out and making films; but let's raise the bar my DVX'ers. I have always said "My goal is make a short that has every feeling and semblance of a motion picture as if it was a scene plucked from a hollywood film." This should be our goal and we'll know it when we nail it.
I speak for myself as I preach this.
Sean Michael
Well-known member
Regarding the axis error, you are of course correct. I will go back and reshoot/reedit this scene if necessary to fix the problem.
However, upon revisiting the issue this morning, I discovered something about the DVX. I knew the axis rule and we had the shot properly framed in the LCD panel...HOWEVER, I'd flipped the LCD screen to its forward position to do so, and it was in MIRROR mode. I didn't realize that right and left would be swapped along with the vertical axis. So we arranged the shot properly according to the LCD display, yet the display was mirrored. Hence the axis problem. (I wasn't using a monitor at the time.)
I should've caught this when editing, but due to the constraints of time, etc. did not. Lesson learned.
However, upon revisiting the issue this morning, I discovered something about the DVX. I knew the axis rule and we had the shot properly framed in the LCD panel...HOWEVER, I'd flipped the LCD screen to its forward position to do so, and it was in MIRROR mode. I didn't realize that right and left would be swapped along with the vertical axis. So we arranged the shot properly according to the LCD display, yet the display was mirrored. Hence the axis problem. (I wasn't using a monitor at the time.)
I should've caught this when editing, but due to the constraints of time, etc. did not. Lesson learned.
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
Hi Sean
You shouldnt have to reshoot it; you should be able to flip it in post.
You shouldnt have to reshoot it; you should be able to flip it in post.
Barry_Green
Moderator
Regarding line-crossing (or "axis", as people have been calling it here)...
People seem to get really hung up on the whole looking-screen-left, looking-screen-right issue. It's really so much simpler than that. All you have to do is draw a line between your two subjects, and stay on one side of that line. You don't have to storyboard out frames and keep in mind who was looking what way -- just stay on one side of the line between them, and you'll never run into a line-cross problem.
People seem to get really hung up on the whole looking-screen-left, looking-screen-right issue. It's really so much simpler than that. All you have to do is draw a line between your two subjects, and stay on one side of that line. You don't have to storyboard out frames and keep in mind who was looking what way -- just stay on one side of the line between them, and you'll never run into a line-cross problem.
jpbankesmercer
Director Mod
Thanks for the comments guys..
The bin was a time lapse 1hr 30min, but as I have learnt from this little test, you gotta, just gotta have the action man...The other main wide in the living room...I was going to do some Waffle movement...but I had this opportunity for a great location for the end of Heroes 4 Hire and It came in the middle of the week..So I lost it...Sound design was most pigs/ boars slowed down and messed around with...Also the last half was rushed...Damm Waffles became intolerable to work with, gone soggy through dye. They literally fell apart in my hands...So stunt work ,(originally planned), had to be re-thought out...I used this to test my demo version of DV rack...The col’s in the kitchen look amazing (first shot)...My advice never work with children and Waffles.
I'll knock ya socks off next time.
The bin was a time lapse 1hr 30min, but as I have learnt from this little test, you gotta, just gotta have the action man...The other main wide in the living room...I was going to do some Waffle movement...but I had this opportunity for a great location for the end of Heroes 4 Hire and It came in the middle of the week..So I lost it...Sound design was most pigs/ boars slowed down and messed around with...Also the last half was rushed...Damm Waffles became intolerable to work with, gone soggy through dye. They literally fell apart in my hands...So stunt work ,(originally planned), had to be re-thought out...I used this to test my demo version of DV rack...The col’s in the kitchen look amazing (first shot)...My advice never work with children and Waffles.
I'll knock ya socks off next time.
Sean Michael
Well-known member
'Twas corrected! I didn't want to be known as a low down dirty line-crosser.
Bischofftep
Well-known member
Sound Off!
Sound Off!
Hey all!
First, thanks John for the compliment! I've been focusing on lighting, exposure, and editing lately, and those happened to be areas you found attractive so I guess I'm doing something right!
I agree, but I gotta speak up for my sound editor here. Take a good look at "Waffles" and you'll find that we took great pains to get the sound dead on. Not just the score, but the foley in particular. It's subtle, but it's not only there but it blends in so well that you might not have noticed it.
In general I think you're right on: the goal is to bring every short up to the full potential of the camera, and showcase the use of the tool, not just the fact that we own one and know what the big red button does. :grin:
I just had to speak up because my audio guy worked hard on this one and I think it deserved some mention. *defensive mode off*
Looking forward to Undead Fest!!! :thumbsup:
Sound Off!
Hey all!
First, thanks John for the compliment! I've been focusing on lighting, exposure, and editing lately, and those happened to be areas you found attractive so I guess I'm doing something right!
John_Hudson said:
I agree, but I gotta speak up for my sound editor here. Take a good look at "Waffles" and you'll find that we took great pains to get the sound dead on. Not just the score, but the foley in particular. It's subtle, but it's not only there but it blends in so well that you might not have noticed it.
In general I think you're right on: the goal is to bring every short up to the full potential of the camera, and showcase the use of the tool, not just the fact that we own one and know what the big red button does. :grin:
I just had to speak up because my audio guy worked hard on this one and I think it deserved some mention. *defensive mode off*
Looking forward to Undead Fest!!! :thumbsup: