Death Letters - Screen grabs and link to short film

Justin_Kirch

Justin_Kirch

Runner Up.
*UPDATED WITH SMALLER FILE*

Here are some grabs of a short I DP'ed for TCU a few months ago. This is a very very very rough cut of the film. Sound, editing, a little CCing still needs to be done. It's much smaller now, 50mbs (super compressed). I hope you will still find time to watch it. It's 20 minutes long.

Death Letters link:

http://www.stickypod.com/stickypod_upload/uploads/death letters.wmv

Comments and questions are welcome. I think this is some of the better work I've done regarding lighting and such, but any constructive criticism would be nice.

houseblue5pz.jpg

kitchenwife8dp.jpg

lotterydolly0es.jpg

money12rl.jpg

lotterywatch5lo.jpg

doorwayletter5bv.jpg

mappin1xq.jpg

newspapertable9wn.jpg

phonekitchen0cd.jpg

hallwaygreen7ge.jpg

dreambedroom7td.jpg

car13hh.jpg

car28vi.jpg

aptblinds8eq.jpg

cantedclub3sj.jpg

housewarm3dw.jpg
 
Justin_Kirch said:
109 views and no responses. come on guys, i would like feedback.
Click to expand...

doogie, a trailer, c'mon didn't you see my very first post/recommendation/warning? ..we're just trying to help you. ;-)
 
I enjoyed the film a lot! I loved the scene where he was dreaming! The spooky green effects worked out nicely there. The plot was also well done. A couple of the scenes were shot a little farther away then I would have done them...like when he almost hits the person in the dream, but overall, I liked it a lot!
 
shawn, i saw your post and i couldn't act on it because i don't have any editing software. but i did compress the hell out of the movie to 50mbs. just bare down and download it man. it's only 20 minutes of your life. ;)

msconce, thanks for the comments. i'm glad you watched it and liked it too. maybe you watching it will motivate others to do the same! the green hallway shot is also my favorite shot. once again, thanks!

-Justin
 
Hey Justin...

I actually downloaded and watched your original 100+ mb file... I liked the flick... I thought the shots were really good. Great story... I was very involved... You had some very filmic shots. I thought the main actor did very well, but the lady unfortunately was too oblivious and unbelievable to me... What women in her right mind is going to give her man an envelope like that and not be curious as to what's inside... especially when he pulls out that money right next to her when they are sitting at the table. My wife can smell money...

and one time when he pulls out his stack of 100's from the envelope is that a one dollar bill underneath the first 100?

Anyway... I really liked the movie. Good job.
 
Justin_Kirch said:
just bare down and download it man. it's only 20 minutes of your life. ;)

-Justin
Click to expand...


ok, 50megs and 20 minutes of my life later ;-)

So, all in all that was pretty good, I agree with smithhhouse, some good shots, sometimes the handheld stuff didn't seem right, but this is all opinion. I also agree that the money and the wife stuff seemed a little hard to swallow.

other comments:

-the music kept a nice dramatic (mysterious) tension.

-the color in the hallway at the 10:30 mark seemed a bit drastic, especially given that it went from extreme yellow/green (on my screen) to very washed out blue when he enters the room (perhaps this is all motivated, but it seemed off, mostly the blue room).

-Not sure why the decision to shoot the kitchen scene with the couple but to only show the back of the chair when the woman is talking?

Anyhow, without knowing your background, experience, how long you been at it, etc, I can say that this is much more effort and progress than anything I've done yet! Good job.


p.s. That was one hella dirty stick shift, hope that ain't your car! ;-)
 
Shawn Murphy said:
ok, 50megs and 20 minutes of my life later ;-)

So, all in all that was pretty good, I agree with smithhhouse, some good shots, sometimes the handheld stuff didn't seem right, but this is all opinion. I also agree that the money and the wife stuff seemed a little hard to swallow.

other comments:

-the music kept a nice dramatic (mysterious) tension.

-the color in the hallway at the 10:30 mark seemed a bit drastic, especially given that it went from extreme yellow/green (on my screen) to very washed out blue when he enters the room (perhaps this is all motivated, but it seemed off, mostly the blue room).

-Not sure why the decision to shoot the kitchen scene with the couple but to only show the back of the chair when the woman is talking?

Anyhow, without knowing your background, experience, how long you been at it, etc, I can say that this is much more effort and progress than anything I've done yet! Good job.


p.s. That was one hella dirty stick shift, hope that ain't your car! ;-)
Click to expand...


Shawn, thanks for watching it! (lol)...i'm happy you did and i'm also thankful for your comments. i've DP'ed a crap load of shorts and a feature actually and after all of that stuff i finally learned how to properly use my camera (with restricted shots from my director, although i added my own style to all the shots)


in regards to the wife and money:

the director and I decided to keep the wife out of the story as much as possible. this is why you NEVER see her face. not only did we do it to add an artistic edge, but also to maybe make the story have another twist to it. was the wife doing these letters?...etc..... she didn't really have a purpose in the story except to show that this man was married. i won't go into detail about how her acting was and how the director decided to block the scenes. i agree all of it seemed a little to ridiculous, especially considering he was holding so much money and she didn't even notice while sitting at the table with him! these were not my choices. all i did was DP, so maybe the director will learn next time after i tell her all this.....(lol, i wouldn't really though).

for the money, since this is the rough cut the editor didn't catch a lot of the mistakes made with all the cash. so the 1's that some of you caught underneath the 100 were mistakes that have been already edited out. good eye though (it's not hard to miss).

for the dream sequence i told the director we need to make it as surreal as possible. the green i got in the hallway was actually much better than what i think you saw on your screen. it's not as drastic as you explained it is, and by drastic i mean washed out. the blue in the bedroom isn't washed out either...i think it may be your monitor.

once again, i'm glad you watched the movie. oh, and the car definitely isn't mine. i drive an impreza.
 
I figured that you were somewhat limited given that there was a dedicated Director, so many of the projects I see here are Directed and shot by the same person that I forget about the compromises and concessions we have to make as DPs (sometimes for the better and sometimes not). ;-)
 
yah Shawn, it's definitely a great learning experience just being the DP though. I think i'm working it the right way, meaning I will know how to light correctly and other such things when it comes time i do my own project. the thing that is holding me back right now from doing my own stuff is an editing system! argh, i want one bad. i just have to wait another 7 months and i'll get one.

IMHO, i've always believed that 99% of the people that say they want to be a director CAN'T actually direct. there are only a few people that can, and those people have actual communication skills.
 
Bummer... I just tried to post a nice (relatively long) response, and the system hung and I lost it! :-(


Anyhow, I'll try again, this time with some 'copy to clipboard' action just in case! ;-)

So, what I was trying to post before was that I personally still romanticize the notion of being writer/director/cinematographer/editor/music-sound designer, but I know that as time goes on I'll need to:

a) Recognize my strengths and weaknesses (or pay the price if I don't!), and at this point I don't see writing a script in my near future! (at least not a good one, and I personally believe that a good script is up there with acting as the most important factors in the success of the type of films I want to do: primarily dialogue/character driven).

b) If I do have the good fortune to work on larger projects, I'll not only want to outsource a lot of the work, but I'll need to! (or pay the price if I don't!)

Well, I'm currently reading "The Film Director", we'll see if it sheds any light on the qualities and qualifications for being a "good" film Director!
 
i hear you on writing a script. i have so many ideas but i can't seem to get them on paper. i need to take a writing class bad.

as far as directing, i know i have the vision and i work with people pretty well, so that seems to be a big strength of mine. i wanted to work on DP stuff first so i can go at it from a different angle. mostly i did this so i can understand what the DP needs or if he's got a problem i can suggest to him what to do.
 
Watched the movie last night before the server shut down for the night. Overall I liked it. Better than stuff I've done.


I also didn't quite get why the scene changed from green to blue, though I liked the look of both shots.

Keep up the good work!
 
wow man, that was defiantely worth the download. Really interesting stuff. Kept me on the edge. Who did the music, it fit perfectly. The framing and shots were incredible, very film like feel to it. I dont find that you really need to CC it alot, but there are some scenes, one of him at the table, starts as a LS and goes to a CU and the contrast is totally gone. Some of the quick shots outside go from dark blue to more yellow, maybe that was done intentionally but.. hehe

other than that though, the film was a pleasure to watch. Investing in some lights any time soon?
 
hey guys, thanks for the responses. i appreciate them more than you think.

Joe, in regards to why the color changed from green to blue, i told the director that we should have different colors for different segments of the dream, to make it more surreal. that's why you'll see a color shift. i'm glad you liked the shots! the green was done in camera by white balancing to an orange street light, and the blue scene was lit by two 650s with blue gels on them.

PaPa - thanks for taking the time to download. i'm happy you did. the music was actually a variation of stuff i found off the internet with the editor. i heard about some film festival that had some great soundtracks that you could download and use in your movie, so we did just that. the outside scenes did get more yellow because we had a total color shift from the beginning of the movie. we started with cooler colors to have a more depressed feel, and as more money kept coming to him, the warmer the colors got.

lights i REALLY want to get are some kinoflo's, for some good soft lighting. other large lights i'd rather rent because it's a ***** to carry them around.

thanks for watching guys.
 
good stuff. Some of the shots felt a little out of place, and some of the lighting in the first half was a little too harsh and bright for my taste. Story was really cool; a really good idea. The acting was ok. Nothing to rave about, but the lead seemed to be able to handle himself. Music was pretty well done and fit the story.

very nice job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top