"Brevis"- A 7D Short Film

[Adman]

Hi all,

I am a long time reader, fleeting poster, and I wasn't really sure what to do for my first topic. I recently completed my first full short on the 7D, so I thought a good introduction could involve feedback from this wonderful community on that project. I locked myself out of the edit last night after many trials and tribulations, but it felt like the right time to unleash this to the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxXsBaYgiRw

It is a simple little artsy film that was produced over a weekend. It is far from perfect, but any more tweaking would have been a torment. It is what it is.

TECH:
It was shot on the Canon 7D using the following lenses;

Tamron 17mm-50mm F2.8
Canon 50mm F1.8

We also used a 10.9" Manhattan LCD field monitor for critical focus.

For stabilisation we used a Velbon fluid head tripod and a DIY dolly running on PVC pipe for the tracking shots.

For sound, we used an Audio Technica shotgun microphone wired straight into the 7D on a boom pole. That is a part of our rig that needs immediate upgrading, as it is far from ideal. The ACG is terrible, but I think I managed to salvage it with post work.

In post production we converted the footage to Apple Pro-Res 422 LT using MPEG Streamclip, edited in FCP and colour corrected it using a mix of the 3-Way Colour Corrector and Magic Bullet Looks.
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I think that is everything covered.

Thanks in advance for your feedback and for maintaining such a great community.

Ciao for now,

Adam

 

[jambredz]

no idea what this was about but it looked really good. nice lighting.

the horizon on the first shots are really off.

 

[Jester2138]

I should preface this by saying artsy films like this don't do it for me, so I'm biased . My only comments would be that the dolly shots seemed more distracting than immersive, I agree that the dialogue doesn't sound good tech-wise, but I thought the mood was well established and well maintained, the acting was good, and the camera angles were interesting. My two cents.

 

[PaPa]

Very cool man. Some nice shots on there. I would say, however, that around 50% of your film was over exposed. Is this due to color grading? If so post your originals.

 

[Adman]

Thanks guys,

@Jester2138: Your comments on the dolly interest me. I wonder if it is a question of taste or perhaps the way I have integrated them. I have always been a fan of long, slow tracking shots in the vein of Andrei Tarkovsky. I will revaluate my dolly use.

@PaPa: The overexposure was down purely to lack of experience with the 7D and no ND filter. That thing is so sensitive to light. I didn't think I would ever say that about a camera. At the same time, the over exposed look works in a strange way, it sort of represents his unstable mind. Nevertheless, it was unintentional and something I will nail on the next project.