SHORT: En Route (7 min) - a vfx-heavy student production shot on RED

E

effstops

New member
Hey there! My name is Colin Levy, good to meet ya! I've been a member for a while but I've posted like once, hah. I should come here more often!

I'm proud to finally be able to post my short film "En Route" online. It's about 7 minutes long (8 including credits), yet it's taken nearly two years to complete. (!!) This film was made, beginning to end (well, except music) by a team of students at the Savannah College of Art and Design.


Check out the Official Site.
And our page on IMDB.


There's a lot I'd change, but I'm definitely curious in criticism and feedback.

Give it a watch, and let me know what you think! I'd be happy to answer any questions too.

--Colin
 
Some excellent VFX work but one of the things that I really liked was the use of the pivot move on the dolly shot which starts at 6:07 and finishs at 6:24.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys!

@FilmBoy77: Yeah, the main reason it took forever is the visual effects. There's a lot of VFX shots that hopefully you don't even notice, but that stuff takes so much time! We all had high standards for ourselves so getting everything done meant taking our time with it. We shot and edited the film in the first 6 or so months. Then the VFX took about a year on top of that. But we didn't have deadlines and nobody was working full-time!
 
This film was really awe-inspiring. Every shot was really pro and looked fantastic. Excellent work all around and a good story. I've got a couple of questions, but I'll PM you. Again, nice work!
 
Hey guys! Ah! Thanks so much. :D

James Thayer said:
Phenomenal! Really beautiful shots. I must ask: How on Earth did you film in an airport? Were all those scenes VFX too?
Click to expand...

Haha, actually yes. :P We weren't able to get in an airport (though we tried!), so we ended up being able to get in a train station instead. For one of the shots in the VFX Breakdown, we built a little wall in real life and found a payphone to give it the look of an airport, but we had to do a lot of effects to really pull it off. :D

For some of the quicker shots we actually went into an airport guerilla-stealth-style just to knock a few out in a half an hour. :)

Xerxes_Sangco said:
Very good job! I'm curious to know what your budget was?
Click to expand...

We tried to keep the budget as low as possible. This was definitely the kind of project where it could spiral out of control, so we basically decided not to spend money. Hah. We were only going to pull favors, not pay anyone. Except for music, that is.

Ultimately it cost around 3K. The biggest cost was food!

But we figured out that if we had actually paid people union wages, rented equipment, paid for emergency vehicles, paid for the VFX work... this would've easily cost over 100K to produce! :P I feel pretty lucky that we were able to pull it off. :)

Thanks for the great feedback, guys!

--Colin

 
Really enjoyed this film. Perfect blend of story and effects, and effects as a means of telling a story, not just a story to showcase effects.

After thinking about it, I've decided to feature it on my blog as the Short Film of the Week.

You join some talented ranks from indie world legends to the man himself Martin Scorcese as those who have been featured here.

Feel free to jot any comments, notes etc.. about the making of your project.

You can view where it is being featured here.

jone5films.wordpress.com/​

Congratulations!

jon
 
I didn't comment on this earlier when I watched it, but it wasn't because I didn't like it. I was rushed for time.

This is pretty amazing, eff. ESPECIALLY once I saw what the footage was like before (the ambulance driving to basically nothing, the cockpit, etc). Very VERY nice.
 
I like vfx on its own but to be honest this short needed lighting and there wasnt any on many shots which is disappointing cause many shots looked flat and camcorderlike.Technically there were some attempts with lights but it wasnt convincing enough for me.
 
Hmmm.
I think that criticism for the sake of criticism, when it's clearly not accurate or warranted, is, well, silly.

As to the film: Wow. Looks like a film to me! Great story, excellent work (I didn't see the vfx as effects, just as part of the story), and the sound
and underscore were very good too.

Go for some festivals; this is a great piece.

GJ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top