SHORT: Diana - GH2 / 5Dmk2 7min

A

analog_addict

Well-known member
I recently took part in a filmmaking challenge where we had to devise and create a short film in a long weekend. We had a little bit extra for the editing. The challenge required us to create a film in response to a play which was about the birth of silent cinema and a struggling artist.

I realise some of the shots don't look as good as they could have done but due to the time limit we really had to run and gun. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the story, pacing and comedy of the piece.

This is the first thing I have ever shot with the GH2 and used EOSHD 88mbit hack. I also used my 5Dmk2 for some of the low light scenes.


Gear used:

- GH2 with 14-42 kit lens, Takumar 50mm 1.4 and Vivitar 28mm 2.8
- 5Dmk2 with Takumar 50mm 1.4
- DIY IGUS slider
- 312 Bi-Colour LED panel
- Rode Videmic
- Rode NTG2
- Zoom H4N
 
Funny stuff. It kept me interested throughout. My only quibble was with the ending. The story was about this man trying to find his artistic passion, and we endured his struggles. He feels like he finds it and paints a picture that's supposed to define him. Then it turns out it's an awful painting... great so far... but then something weird happens and then we're just left with the painting. The story of this man trying to find his passion never gets resolved. Funny, yes, but missing that conclusion we're all looking for at the end of the film. It's more like a film without an ending.

The shooting was okay. I'm assuming this was all practicals? The lighting wasn't very good and could have used some set ups, but nothing too bad.
 
It was nice to watch.

But I would have like to have some more sounds...Like whit the wine 03:36 (slurping, drinking, throwing out...)
and the sound of the pencil....etc....
 
Jon Starr said:
Funny stuff. It kept me interested throughout. My only quibble was with the ending. The story was about this man trying to find his artistic passion, and we endured his struggles. He feels like he finds it and paints a picture that's supposed to define him. Then it turns out it's an awful painting... great so far... but then something weird happens and then we're just left with the painting. The story of this man trying to find his passion never gets resolved. Funny, yes, but missing that conclusion we're all looking for at the end of the film. It's more like a film without an ending.

The shooting was okay. I'm assuming this was all practicals? The lighting wasn't very good and could have used some set ups, but nothing too bad.
Click to expand...

Thanks for watching.

We showed a few people the script before shooting and asked them what they expected to happen in the end. They either said Jose falls in love or one of the girls makes money from Jose's painting. After hearing this we decided to make the film about the life of the painting rather than Jose. The audience thinks Jose is the main character when really we are hearing the history of the painting from it's creation to ending up with the one person that actually appreciates it. Jose is a flaky, fantasist who next week will probably believe he was destined to be a sculptor and fall in love with another random girl from a coffee shop.

Lighting and set-ups were difficult due to the nature of the challenge. No locations were pre-planned and we had to buy/make the props that weekend as well. The coffee shops scenes really needed more attention but it was very busy and they were doing us a favour.

dre83 said:
It was nice to watch.

But I would have like to have some more sounds...Like whit the wine 03:36 (slurping, drinking, throwing out...)
and the sound of the pencil....etc....
Click to expand...

I wasn't sure what to do with sound for the slow motion sequences. I tried with the original sound and with the slowed sound and neither sounded right, so I left it silent and hoped the music would do the talking :)

Thanks for watching.
 
Yes, the original wont work....and slowed sound also not.....

you have to Foley it....and then it could work....
 
analog_addict said:
Thanks for watching.

We showed a few people the script before shooting and asked them what they expected to happen in the end. They either said Jose falls in love or one of the girls makes money from Jose's painting. After hearing this we decided to make the film about the life of the painting rather than Jose. The audience thinks Jose is the main character when really we are hearing the history of the painting from it's creation to ending up with the one person that actually appreciates it. Jose is a flaky, fantasist who next week will probably believe he was destined to be a sculptor and fall in love with another random girl from a coffee shop.
Click to expand...

No offense, but why are you explaining the movie to me? I see what you're getting at, and I understand what you've explained. However if you have to explain your work, then something was lost in translation. Yes, I get it was really about the painting, but to be honest you made me care about Jose. You did a good job in that regard. However at the end you throw him out of the story just to give us a 'twist' that no one sees coming. I didn't care about the painting. I felt like if the twist was about the painting, then it should have been approached in a different manner. Maybe make us care about the painting somehow, give it more of a spotlight, like the lamp in this ad:

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

Anyways, good job nonetheless.
 
I liked it and thanks for sharing. I usually click through stuff people put up to see if it is interesting. No offense a lot of stuff is bad so if I don't get interested in the first 30 secs I start bouncing around. I was really impressed by the sound. Granted most of it is VO. But the other few spoken lines sounded good. I was curious when I saw the zoom/rode combo. Did you have to do a lot of work on the sound?

Thanks for sharing.
 
prexdealer said:
I liked it and thanks for sharing. I usually click through stuff people put up to see if it is interesting. No offense a lot of stuff is bad so if I don't get interested in the first 30 secs I start bouncing around. I was really impressed by the sound. Granted most of it is VO. But the other few spoken lines sounded good. I was curious when I saw the zoom/rode combo. Did you have to do a lot of work on the sound?

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Hi thanks for watching. The spoken lines were from the NTG2 going into the Zoom H4N. No real work was done on the sound except I used Premiere Pro's DeNoiser tool on it all because the Zoom pre-amps are very noisy!

Also the coffee shop scenes were dubbed later since there was copyright music playing in the background when we were filming.

Some bits of dialogue are from a Rode Videmic, usually when the actors were improvising and we didn't have the H4N rolling. Again just adjusted the gain and used the DeNoiser tool.

Thanks again for checking it out. :thumbup:
 
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