BONE HAND by Jack Daniel Stanley

Nice post there... I am always worried about too many CU's... I like using medium shots... so it feels wider than CU but still maintains good detail for things... CU's are getting overused (not saying they are in Jack's, in fact I'd disagree with John and say I liked Jack's use of CU) but for example in MI:3, and in Bourne Supremecy... the movie's are almost entirely in CU and I totally don't find it necessary.
 
This was awesome. The story was my favorite part. It reminded me of something I might see on The Twilight Zone. Weird and very interesting. I love stories like that. Great job.
 
Sorry if this is repetitive - can't begin to read all your posts.

Very good job. This is one of the few that effortlessly kept my attention throughout, which is no small feat because I have ADHD.

So pros -
The one above was a major pro.
overall, i liked your choice of muted colors throughout
loved the city shots
loved how you broke up the cemetery scene with some dark in the left frame
loved the 2 shot of bonehand and girl on top of the building at the beginning
so in short, lots of neat shots.
very high quality overall

cons -
a lot of the framing was too tight, cutting off the chin.
title shots - the shot of the hand, with musical accompaniment, totally felt like that old show that was on nickelodeon when i was a kid - "are you afraid of the dark". It took me out of the story too much.
overall, i'd like to see slicker photography - not so many unconventional angles, jump cuts, etc. i understand you're going for a style here, but it becomes a little off-putting. a simple shot-reverse shot to make me forget I'm watching a movie someone made would be nice.
hallway scene with mom and bone hand - whoah. that confused me. again, shot-reverse shot would be nice.

that said - good work! i genuinely think you did a great job. you've definitely got a style going that works for you.
 
conrad_johnson said:
...a lot of the framing was too tight, cutting off the chin.
....
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I appreciate the positive comments and criticisms and you know how to give both diiplomatically and approriately ...

but since the thread is now a classroom for framing 2:35.1 ...

I feel it necessary point out that there are total of just two shots, not "alot" which where the chin is somehwat cropped. One is entirely intentional and looks great and would be commonly known as Extreme Closeups, the other was the only coverage we had.
quiecu.gif

perfect for that moment and a choice


joelecu.gif

not a choice but the only coverage we had

if you find any others please post the grabs or the counter numbers, thanks.
 
John_Hudson said:
With you using so many C.U. shot's I think they lose their impact when a C.U should really say something and be motivated.

IMO
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And wide shots should be motivated even more so ... when you have a Scuplture of a giant god in the background a la lord of teh rings there's a reason to include it in your shot.

Otherwise there's not.

Establishing 2 shot and or wide cu, cu, cu, with a reminder 2 shot or wide shot someehere in there is pretty standard.

And the roof is a classic example of 2 shot Cu, Cu, Cu, 2 shot, Cu with PAN UP TO THE FRICKING NYC tiimeline.

And my closeups and the head room are framed EXACTLY like many of teh exanples on the page you put up with the top of teh head slightly cropped ... the CLASSIC "WARNER BROS." CLOSE UP.

John every scene in my movie has a wide and a two shot in some form except for the apartment interrior. (and the unconventional mom scene)

Tomorrow If I have time I'll go through and post identically framed examples from my movie and the site you put up, but here's a few in the interum
neverending_8l.jpg


rotk_07l.jpg


hands.gif



rotk_19l.jpg


joel2.gif


jessie.gif


crusade_6l.jpg


two-shot-roof-2.gif

want some more world in the shot? here ya go
two-roof1.gif
 
I kind of meant that as two different ideas: the framing is a little tight for my taste and some of the chins were cut, I didn't mean alot-my fault
the one that really bothered me was at 3.42 when he says "I'm sorry"
The shot of the asian guy at the beginning seemed to me to be inbetween a cu and an ecu but thats total picky opinion.
Sorry to be misleading, i'ts easy to throw around "alot" and "always" and "never":)
 
conrad_johnson said:
I kind of meant that as two different ideas: the framing is a little tight for my taste and some of the chins were cut, I didn't mean alot-my fault
the one that really bothered me was at 3.42 when he says "I'm sorry"
The shot of the asian guy at the beginning seemed to me to be inbetween a cu and an ecu but thats total picky opinion.
Sorry to be misleading, i'ts easy to throw around "alot" and "always" and "never":)
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no worries at all :) ...

The film feels claustrophobic ...
 
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msconce said:
awesome examples!! Rock on!:nads:
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John and Edgen have a point the film does feel claustrohpobic ... but it doesn't come from me not having a clue how to frame 4:3.

And John is clearly wrong about their being too little headroom in my shots as a rule. Some times a closeup is framed with a sliver of headroom at the top, and sometimes it crops the top of the actors head.

The claustrophobia comes from thinking it was cool to cover the mom scene with one angle (his lines are so few and it looked cool) I wanted to do it without any cuts but I had her improve some of teh dialogue and there were some nitpicky problems like starting two sentences in a row with "not that ..."
And then in the apartmenet scene we couldn't get anymore coverage because the shoot ended unexpectedly do to child actor issues.

So that scene with the mom scene cause the clausytrophobia, but everything else is framed and covered pretty standardly ...

And John I would argue you need just as much if not even more motivation for going wide than going to the CU ... because where's your story more likely to be ... in your actors eyes or in the building behind them ... sometimes the building but more often than not ...

I will say that after having this come up I think I could make better use of mediums more than anything else so that we get in close enough to see things play and then YES the CU becomes more motivated when we pop into it on that pivitol line.

And for the billionth time I acknowledge that there could be/should be more wide coverage in the flick.
 
Ok... Here are two AMAZING shots in the first minute of the film... I've got to say this was a very well shot film.

bonehand1.jpg


bonehand2.jpg
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
And for the billionth time I acknowledge that there could be/should be more wide coverage in the flick.
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I don't know if I agree... I think you did a darn good job of coverage except for the mom scene... that's the only one I could see you didn't have coverage of... everything else worked for me.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
John and Edgen have a point the film does feel claustrohpobic ... but it doesn't come from me not having a clue how to frame 4:3.
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yes... And, I totally think it makes you feel that way, but at the grave.. man, that final opening up it gave me the chills and I could finally breath. So, to me the film was one big cliffhanger that got my heart racing and i didn't know what to think or do to escape and then KABlamo!!

I'm even thinking about doing something like that for my next film. It really fraks with your head and draws the energy out of you. I think its a great little 'extra' element to add to a film. I'm sure the music had something to do with it too. I just can't pin point it at the moment. Perhaps it was even the films dark nature that i'm not really used to and it takes place in the hustle bustle of a grungy surround that makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm from Kentucky and grew up in trees and open fields with ponds and lakes and frolic'd in the lush green grass.

errrr.. ya. :)

/j
 
briceman said:
Ok... Here are two AMAZING shots in the first minute of the film... I've got to say this was a very well shot film.

bonehand1.jpg


bonehand2.jpg
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Cough cough.. thank you.... haha.

You know the funny thing is we forgot to do multiples of a few shots, like the bike ride, which is why jack had to chop it up in post and add a pan.

Also the the shot of Easter climbing over the fence in the cemetary before she morphs to SHEbonehand. ( is that her name? EasterBone? anyway....) After the fact we looked over the footage to find that it was the only take we did. and even then i think it was an accident cause i was still adjusting exposure and framing. we were calling her over to get her out of frame for the other actress into position. lucky we were rolling cause some mean jewish cemetary securty guards were chasing us out of the joint. This should all be in the BTS.

Also the mom scene, was difficlut cause of how dam narrow the hallway was and the letus was losing so much light we couldn't use the 28mm lens to get a wider shot even with 1000W of light.
 
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My God, is this what we've come to? Cropping the chin in two shot.s? It;'s a gojod thing I came backl toi ths thread druink.
 
John_Hudson said:
John is simply stating his opinion Jack. :lipsrseal



There's no argument. In the end, it is your film and therefore your decision.

Clearly.

-

Signing out. :undecided
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It's ALL subjective :):Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
briceman said:
Ok... Here are two AMAZING shots in the first minute of the film... I've got to say this was a very well shot film.

...

bonehand2.jpg
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but I screwed this one up with the whole crazy edit thing ... I dropped a closeup of qui in that's just rediculously too quick over the front half of it in my last minute insecurity and boredoem with an edit that had been around forever - so now this shot is so quick it, and all its mise en scene, is really on screen too quick to register.

Oh well ... there's always the DVD.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
but I screwed this one up with the whole crazy edit thing ... I dropped a closeup of qui in that's just rediculously too quick over the front half of it in my last minute insceuroty and boredoem with an edit that had been around forever - so now this shot is so quick it, and all its mise en scene, is really on screen too quick to register.

Oh well ... there's always the DVD.
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I see what you're saying... Yeah, maybe hold on the shot a bit longer... But, I still think your movie looks good! :)
 
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