Day 1 on my feature film (consumer camera)

L

LuckyProducer

Well-known member
Hey guys, this is a rough cut on my first shooting day. Tell me what you guys think. Be honest. I can't go back and do it, but at least i can be ready for the next time I shoot, which is tomorrow.

Rough Cut
 
just a word of caution here..

actually more like advice...

I personally wouldn't post anymore 'updates' like this until you are finish your principal photography. If someone were to say something bad and it stuck in your head.. could affect your shooting.. but anywho having said that I will give ya something since ya asked.

There is no context for this at all, so really the only thing for me to comment on is the opening shot.. screams amateur.. there is a little zoom happening that totally cheapens the shot. This is what blocking is for; block your shot so you don't have to zoom in and 'reframe' like that..

then again.. if that was an 'intentional' look or something then I dunno.. I guess I would have to see more of the film in context..

I won't comment on anything else, cause really opinions are kinda irrelevant at this stage since you haven't finished shooting the film.

cheers.
 
Right. Thanks for that. The reason why I zoomed in like that, because I was doing everything handheld on top of my dolly. So it was hard for me frame my shot and get ready to ride. It was just because I didn't plan much at all for the shots. The actors ran a little late. My dolly is acting up. I don't know what I'm going to do about it. It's so upsetting. I spend like $150 on it and it is still has some bumps. Grrrr...frustration frustration. Well thanks for the advice man. Peace
 
The opening is rough no doubt but I enjoyed the bit with the guy celebrating. The cut from the van to the guy walking wasn't smooth you could do better. I think you should put a little more planning into the shots, you should have an idea about the edit it while your shooting. It saves a lot of time and tape. Good luck and keep posting the vids!
 
I hope that's not all you shot in one day, because that's not much footage and it's not like you lit it or anything. The way you framed it made it impossible to tell it was a dolly shot, it all looked handheld and if that was actually a dolly that's not good, you need to work on that dolly. the sound sounded ok but that might just be because they were close shots. i dunno man i think it needs quite a bit more work and i don't see why you can't reshoot that, it was pretty simple stuff. i think you need to use more cuts that way you wont need zooms and to place your cut effectively so they go reletively unnoticed. but keep working at it.

btw what camera are u using for this?
 
I'm using a Sony TRV70. It's a consumer. The sound was good because I was using a boom mic. I hate to reshoot this because of time. But I guess I can worry about it at the end. So they won't think they did horrible. Because it was my fault. I will be like, hey guys, we have to reshoot scene 43 cause it was the first day and I am not happy with the camera movements.

Yes, we took one hour to get just that. There was a lot of delays. The actors memorized their line on set. Then they rehearsed where the girl kept laughing because she is still getting used to this whole acting thing (but she got used to it. That guy is her boyfriend's brother, so it is ackward for her, but she's got it). And then we have the entire moving the dolly from one place to another. And then setting up, took us awhile because I have a billion cables that are long 50 ft long. Then we had to spray WD-40 on the PVC and test that out. And blah and blah. It was our first day. I've never done it like this before so I didn't know.

Yes, him walking to the house were dolly shots. My dolly really sucks. I have to figure out what's wrong with it. I was just riding on the dolly holding my camera with a monopod. So it is handheld but I was riding on the dolly. So that's why there was that zoom.

But, I can do better. Hopefully today's shoot I do well. I will see if I can post it up for you guys to see. It's going to be inside so lighting is required. I want to buy thicker walled PVC so my dolly is smoother without any bumps.

But I thank you for all of the advice and critiques. It sure helped. I already learned a whole lot from just the first day. Since this is my first serious feature film, I will have a lot of mistakes. It will take me a couple of shooting days to get used to it. But, if it's God's will, He will make it great.

Peace
 
You're making films and that's what matters. You'll only get better. The sound was good which is half the battle.

Riding on a dolly with a monopod isn't an effective use of a dolly. It's almost pointless. Your holding the monopod and therefore your bodies motions will effect the camera and give mediocre results. Why did you not use a regular tripod? Even a $25 tripod on a dolly will work.

Good luck!
 
I know you will get better with the production quality because you noticed what the others noticed. It's like those kids who audition for American Idol who don't know they can't sing. You understand what it takes to make a scene look good and you are willing to make the necessary changes, so keep going.

As far as the scene, like Loki was saying, without knowing what the film is about or seeing more it's hard to make very many comments, especially on content.

Is this the first shot of the film, in other words, is this how you are beginning you movie?
 
no no, this is scene 43. It's way into the movie. And also, I didn't use a tripod because
my dolly makes it bumb a little so you get these small little jitters. But I made a second cut. A little different. Check it out.

2nd Cut
 
Thanks for the help and compliments and everything else guys. You guys have been awesome! It's going to be cool talking to you guys about the movie during production. I'll keep you guys updated on some stories and post the things I want you guys to see. I can't show you everything because that would just ruin the movie.
 
hey lucky just curious about your sound, what kinda setup did you use and specifically what mic?

good job btw, like others have said the most important thing is to make films, criticizing films is overrated. But it is a good thing to be able to handle criticism and grow, cause believe me u'll get a ton of criticism.
 
Yeh, I already shot my second day. It was awesome. So much better than my first. It was all dialogue and you can really hear the power of the mic I'm using. I'm learning new things everytime. Things like, watch out for this next time, or watch where you place the mic (my boom operator needs some training still. If you don't handle the boom pole right, you can hear the movement.) But seriously, you can get that sound for so cheap. Did you like the sound? My next shot that I will post can show you more of the sound. This will be the last scene I will post. The rest...you guys will have to purchase at the end. Lol! Well, except if I am really stuck on something. Anyway, here is the list of stuff I got for my mic setup.

1. Shure BG4.1- This is a condenser, cardioid, low impedance mic. It's an instrument mic but it will do fine. Any condenser mic will do fine.

2. A96F- This is an 18'' cable that costs about $36. This is going to be one of your greatest purchases ever. This cable will pump up the gain of your mic without distorting it. If you yell, it will bring it down, and if the talent whispers, it will bring it up. You can have this pretty far from the talent and you will be able to hear them. Click here to see details

The rest is easy.

3. I got a 50' long XLR cable (female-male)

4. Two 25' cables to extend the headphone set.

5. $18 Sony headphones.

6. A Y splitter to hook up two headphones if needed.

And you're pretty much ready to go.

My setup was this:

I simply have the XLR hooked up into my camcorder with an adapter to make it miniplug (1/8''). The boom mic is on the left railing pointing up. Not the best spot but we didn't have much time to work. But anyway, that's pretty much it. I hope you guys liked it. People that don't know anything about movies liked it. My bro-in-law, which has his own sound studio (where I will be doing foley and mixing sound) picked out some wrong things on the sound. But it's alright. As long as the story is good and the talent, people won't care about if the camera isn't like real film, or if the camera shakes here and there (unless it's unbearable...lol).

Steven spielberg said, "I rather watch a movie by a kid who has a good story and knows nothing about the camera than one who knows everything about the camera and no story." And that's what makes me keep going. I love this story and I want to tell it. I learn something new everyday. Like today for example, I just figured out a nice way to film a car chase and film outside of the car and still catch the talent's voice:

My bro-in-law has a Jeep wrangler. Get another miniDV camera and put it inside the car with the talent. That miniDV will be there just to capture sound from the boom mic (and behind the scenes footage), as I will be on the Jeep Wrangler, top down (or just the one window), and film, not having to worry about the sound. I can later get the tape from the other camera and match up the audio with the video from the camera in the Jeep Wrangler. (if this confused you guys, let me know).

I will post this other dialogue scene. Rough cut of course. I wish I could work with a monitor so I can see how it will look instead of rendering it and burning it (I only have the consumer version of Vegas). Anyway, yeh, so just check it out and tell me what you think. I used a dolly shot on this one too. You can hardly notice because I am panning as it's moving, and I got metal pipes so it's smoother, but I still have to get some more stuff to make this dolly really good. Anyway...let me know what you guys think. I will try to post it right now.

If you guys have any questions or comments or suggestions or criticising, go ahead. I love talking about this and I can do it all day. Peace!
 
pookie said:
Crooked shots kill.
Click to expand...
You got something against the Dutch pookie? :happy:

Lucky- I couldn't watch it with sound, but today's stuff looks leagues beyond what you did the previous day. :thumbsup:
 
Damn it's like night and day.

The first day is complete **** whereas this is actually pretty good. Are we still dealing with the same filmmaker?

Wow. Nice job on this 2nd day. Im encouraged for you now. The black dude is a pretty good actor and the CC looks nice.
 
Thanks guys. thanks John Hudson. We are going to shoot tomorrow. It's going to be the first scene, so I really have to focus because this is the opening scene. This scene will actually have some action. Some though. lol!

But yeh, we took our time with the shoot on the second day. I'm so glad I got the night shot looking nice. Thanks for the compliments guys. I think I should stop posting because then the entire movie will be ruined. Lol!

Hey John, when you say black dude, did you mean the guy with the bandana? I was just wondering. Just so I can let him know that someone complimented him. His agency wants to see the movie when it's done. They also want to talk to me. So this can be a big boost for him.

I sort of lost a good actor. Well actually I lost two. So, I am trying to cast for others. I got this girl interested but I'm not sure if she's good enough. Hopefully she is. And then we're trying to cast for this guy. Grr...this sucks. I don't want to have to worry about that. We have all of our locations pretty much set. All we need now is these two actors. But just letting you guys know the updated news.

I will be posting different things on this forum. Just updates and stuff that is happening on the sets and some questions as well. So if you guys want, you can check back and read up. I can post some of the smaller scenes, like dialogue scenes, because that doesn't require much post. Shoot outs and stuff does because i have to put CG muzzle flashes and sound fx and a lot of foley and everything. But, I'll let you guys know how tomorrow goes. Peace!
 
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