Cinematography analysis for a scene I shot

I like the camera movement quite a bit.
But the large amount of space above the man's head felt weird and was distracting. Mainly because nothing was happening up there that was part of the scene or that we were supposed to take note of.

I did not like the blanketed blue hue over everything. It looked like an 'effect' and was very noticeable and distracting.
Not because it was cold - but because it was clearly applied over everything including the people. Looks too unrealistic.

I think a better way to get that nice cold feeling for a dark drama or horror scene is to do as much of it as you can with your set design colors and lighting. That way the cold feeling comes across but the people still look more natural.

I thought the man's acting in this scene was very good. He held my attention and gave a feeling of knowing something we don't.
The girl...not so much.
 
Pointless camera moves at 35s, 55s, 1:10.
Then pointless shots of people walking to the door and the back (!).
As was said before the guy is decent acting vise but nothing tow rite home about.
Starting at 1:10 extreme response of the frame shoudl suggest some spiritual mumbo-jumbo (as the guy is talking about what happens after we die) but it doesn't translate to anything concrete.

Unlike DPSteward above , i don't mind awkward amount of head room in the opening shot.
 
The headroom is not an issue - at ALL. In fact, always trying to keep everything to 1/3 top, middle, bottom is formulaic and lame. It's OK to vary that, with purpose. There was too much camera movement, period. Move the camera when you need to, otherwise you dilute the impact terribly, and it starts feeling very artificial, you start feeling the presence of the camera and it takes you out of the movie. And regarding camera movement, there was a moment that to me was 100% disqualifying - if I was judging it on technical merits, I would give it an F at that moment and stop watching: the camera anticipates the character's movement in an extremely obnoxious manner at the beat after 1:38 and into 1:39 and on - FAIL. Several crimes here, of course - not only are you taking out any tension whatsoever from the scene by telegraphing where the actor is going to go and with it the action; now we know he's simply going back - you've taken out the possibilities of a knock on the door, someone coming down the stairs, the guy simply standing there, some other unexpected event... the tension of possibilities drops drastically, which you never ever ever want to do, especially in a horror - why not allow the actor to take the lead and have the cam follow a beat later? Second, you had the camera on high, which exaggerates the anticipated movement and makes us acutely aware of the presence of the camera - throwing us out of the movie to a degree. A capital crime. It is the "small" things that separate a well shot sequence and an amateur boondoggle, and this sadly was a total FAIL.

My advice would be to forget about what the camera can or can not do technically, and start thinking "what do I want to see?" Too many filmmakers react to the tool instead of the actual artistic outcome - I've personally witnessed this on sets... the director has a jib, and boy, he's gonna use it, whether the scene demands it or not, or he's got a steadicam, or whatever tool, they just HAVE to use it. Terrible way to work. Just because you CAN move the camera, you don't have to. Why are you moving it? Is the scene boring otherwise? Rewrite it, or get a different actor, or different performance out of the actor, or a different set, or different light, or a million other things. If you move the camera, make sure there is a point to it, not just because you can, or to fix a flat scene devoid of dramatic impact (same with music used to fix a dead scene/sequence and make it bearable). At least you didn't use slo-mo.

Concentrate on "what do I want to see" and keep that in mind at all times, fanatically, relentlessly, and without a break.

On the positive, the actor had a good face. The lighting was heavy handed, but somehow you pulled it off - usually such blowouts and all-blue and other super heavy handed effects just break down the whole thing, but you made it work OK.
 
Thank you guys for your opinions. It's nice to have some real criticism for once. If it looks like crap, tell me. That's the only way I'll get better.

I agree there was a little too much camera movement. I just find a still camera on sticks kind of boring. And well, since many people might not see this film anyway, I'll go ahead and tell you a little about this scene. Half of the film takes place in purgatory, which is of course unknown to the audience until about the end. I really liked the blown out look and color for the scenes we've shot. I wanted to go for a strange, surreal look. Make the audience feel that something is a little off, but still feel like a movie, almost dream like.

I agree that just because we have this tool doesn't mean we should use it. I have a ronin I almost never use.

I honestly didn't like the girl actor's performance, but I'm kinda stuck with her since we've shot so much. I ended up writing her off mid movie lol.

I'm 22 so I've still got a lot to learn. Thanks for the input fellas.
 
Already I like you. You're not thin-skinned, and you can take criticism without acting like it's a personal attack. That bodes well. It means you are a willing learner - you will go far, if you keep at it. Yes, the girl was a let-down, but by far not the worst out there. "Cam on sticks boring" - heck no, make that HELL NO. C'mon, give it 5 seconds of thought... even just 2 seconds of thought. There are whole movies shot with cam on sticks and they are riveting-edge-of-your-seat-bladder-about-to-burst. Camera movement as substitute for dramatic tension in a scene is a lame crutch - if the scene is boring on sticks, it's because... the scene is boring! Re-read my previous post, since you did not extract that vital lesson. When the scene calls for it, absolutely move the camera. But the scene just being boring does not call for a camera movement to help the boredom, because it merely calls attention to itself. When I see a boring scene with unmotivated camera movement, I get angry and filled with disapproval for the filmmaker, same as when I'm watching what is supposed to be a tense action sequence and the sequence is super lame without the music - watch that scene with the sound off and it looks ultra lame, that means it was badly shot and badly motivated... watch this scene from Rififi a film made in 1955 - it is a heist committed by several people over 20 minutes long, with no music and virtually no dialogue, not to mention camera movement: Rififi Robbery Scene

Do you see how you don't need music or camera movement or talk or anything else to create the drama and tension? That's because the tension is inherent in the scene - it is well written, well acted, well shot. Never forget that - dramatic tension can only be enhanced by music, camera movement, light etc., but it cannot be created by those means if it is absent from the scene otherwise. So a statement like "a camera on sticks is boring" is a fundamental misunderstanding of what dramatic tension is, and the tools one can use it to create and enhance it. Please think through this - you will benefit by understanding the underlying concepts. Best of luck, you have talent and a willingness to learn... now you have to add a bit of hard work and you're headed in the right direction!
 
The headroom did bug me. But who cares. Do it.

I don't care for the color. The blue thing is just way overdone these days. I find the extreme color grading distracting. I'd prefer that it just be flat colors and dark. But I'm old, so what do I know. I did like the blown out windows and doors.

I listened to it on my PC and the audio had a lot of clipping type distortion on the music. The audio was awful. Maybe it was just my PC.

I'd rather see dolly moves than zooms. I'm mostly a broadcast guy and we zoom all day long, but films should dolly. It so much nicer than a zoom.

Music fit.

I thought the door shot panned up too high to see the whole door for some reason (picky)

Overall, nice.
 
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