Awake (dream scene test).

PRe: Awake (dream scene test).

PRe: Awake (dream scene test).

I have some comments about the clip generally. Please note this is just my view, so please don't take it personally. I do a lot if this type of stuff so I can appreciate how much time it takes to get it right. Overall it is very good.

I had to watch the clip a few times to try and work out what was not working for me. I think the background moves too fast and maybe it would work better if it was slowed down a bit.

1. I would start the scene about 2 secs in. The buses in the first 2 secs don't really do much to establish the shot.

2. The shot where the character is really first seen was not that clear. ~2secs. I was at first drawn to the character in the white top. The main character tends to merge into the background and does not stand out.

3. When he bends down to pick up the paper ~11secs. Maybe you could add some motion blur to him to help disguise the fact that you have sped him up.

4. The cut from the above shot to the next shot does not work for me. Maybe if the next shot was about 2 secs later. Whats happening is that he is moving in the previous shot. in the following cut he is not moving.

5. In the shot where he is walking away ~18secs doesn't seem to work, I think that the apect ratio is not quite right. Or maybe some motion blur might help.

Please note this is just my view and comments from my perspective after viewing the clip several times and is not a critism on your fine work.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

wow i really liked that,as im new to the dvx100 and shooting with it, looks far more superior than a Gl2 or Vx2000 ct.. great job.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

The test clip is amazing. Just coming up with the concept is impressive. Then, to execute it perfectly is genius. I kneel before your enormous brain and suckle at your creative breast. ...Or is it the other way around?

Great stuff. No complaints.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

Thanks again you guys, as always this is definatly the forum that I trust most for creative expertise.
readw: thank you so much for your critique. There is definatly some editing to do, these were basically the entire scenes un edited, basically everything that I shot, but you did give me some great advice as to where some of the cuts take place. I completely agree with the part about where he is standing up and then the next scene he is just standing there, the only problem, there is no more footage to work from. I might see if I can add a scene in there, might have to do a little more green screen work. The scene where he is walking away bugs me too, and that was really what I was asking in my question before, I'm glad you mentioned that. I measured the scene exactly when I shot the background and when I shot the green screen, but yes, something is definatly off. The hardest part is telling what is off. Is he too big, to small, does he shrink too fast into the background? I used the same exact focal length (or equivalent at least) as when I shot the backgorund. maybe my math was off, I don't know, but I just wanted to see if anybody else noticed it as well. Thank you so much for your comments, I still have a lot of work to do.
P.K., all I can say is I hope my wife doesn't read your comment, I don't think she would appreciate you suckling my man breast ;). buy hey thanks for the compliments none the less.

By the way, got my cobra crane today. It is rad. I will be using it for a shoot next saturday, more Awake stuff. The only problem, the thing is freaking huge. Even broken down the main part is almost as tall as I am, and all I have is a Chevy Lumina (sedan) to transport all of my equipment, plus 1 actor and an assistant (small crew for the next shoot). ???
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

Thanks Scharky for the quicktime file. It looked really cool and reminded me of this short I saw a while back that was done by Alex Proyas, the director of "Dark City" and the "Crow". It had a very similar look to it because he kind of used the same idea you had. I'm going to check out the trailer in a minute.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

soundman, I have a scene and trailer posted on the first page of this thread.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

This footage is really great. Is this all shot on the DVX? did you use any adaptors? and what about lighting or color correction?
thanks
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

Thanks Rich, coming from you that is a real compliment, especially after seeing your work in the "just like you" video, although I didn't do any rotoscoping in this one, I did use a very similar process for the keying work. By the way, I loved your short film "precurser" as well.
Crash, about 85% of the film is shot on a DVX, the rest is stop motion captured with a Canon Digital SLR.
I used the anamorphic adatper for a couple of backgrounds that I was mixing with DSLR footge, but other that is all straight DVX. I used an 85b filter on outdoor footage to reduce noise in the shadows, but other than that, there were no other filters used. Oh wait, I used a circular polarizer for one shot as well.
Most of the color corrections were done within vegas, but I did use photoshop for some scenes that required a look that couldn't be achieved with the tools in vegas.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

Looks amazing! The increased saturation of the foreground really sets it apart from the background. Very good color keying. Cant wait to see the film.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

the test scene looks relly good. i really like the stop motion effect on the main character. what did you use to create the occasional motion blurs on things?...(it kind of looked like lord of the rings) nice work.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

The motion blurs were made using the linear blur both in after effects and vegas, depending on the scene. I just keyed it to start out fast, and then slowly fade, while slightly rotating the blur.
Thanks again for the comments.
 
Re: Awake (dream scene test).

Just downloaded it (sorry, 56k haha), and I have to say, it looks amazing. Although i would've Liked some kind of slow motion foley sounds (think the animatrix, "the kid" short). I felt that reverberated steps and street sounds would've heightened the dream feeling. that is of course my opinion, but it's just fine played silently underneath 30 seconds to mars, haha. Good work, amazing work actually.

Josh


www.reluctantproductions.com
 
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