Envision & RebeccaD Present "Where Silence Falls"

Glad to see you're at least semi-up & kicking, Rebecca. :thumbsup: Sorry you've not been feeling well. The flu blows ... litterally.
 
Looking for a bit of a survey here ...

I'll be meeting with Forrest (the editor) on Tuesday morning for final tweaks to the film, fixing the interlaced to progressive/24P issue, as well as color correcting the master.

Along with that, I'll also be looking to insert what I call the 'Michael Bay' shot into Rebecca's montage, but wanted to see what those who have seen it thought of it.

If you've not seen it, it's in the first post, under the SPECIAL THANKS section ... would love your input if you like the shot or not. If so, we'll be ending her montage with this, pushing the van/neighbor scene a little earlier in the series (probably right before this shot), then fading from this to where she's sitting on the stairs waiting for the phone to ring.
 
Norm, I just watched it like 9 times. You should definitely put that in. And yes I will be copying that shot in the future....
 
Thanks guys, glad it's unanimous so far! Brandon, there is no cut ... within Vegas I go from about 1,200% to 40% speed over the course of one - two frames.

Yes, Jazz Dog, I'd expect you to copy it now, since I'm lovin' your sig in my MySpace. :beer:
 
I've enjoyed the last few pages of thread hijacking here (though "tengential side trip off the main road" seems a better description). When smart people go a bit off topic, it's often the most enlightening part of the discussion.

I haven't re-read every post since I jumped in here, but in my recall of Norm's review-response postings, overall (to me) it's been a great reminder of the compromises one makes in a complex process with limited resources. He's stood out to me as being remarkably enthusiastic and grateful.

That said, fantastic side-subject and plenty of food for thought. The drama fest forums have been an interesting read, and I find myself trying to figure out what films really pushed people out of the analytical-peer mode and into an "audience" that was moved or affected, even for a moment. People have found their flaws with this short, but a good number got sucked into the performance... I haven't seen every fest short yet, but for all the technical accomplishments (and the amount of tech prowess in this fest is truly amazing -- not all of these submissions were done by folks who run a video studio by day) of the fest, there have been very few of those "I stopped analyzing and just started experiencing" moments for me.

There have been a lot of comments about Norm's growth, and I haven't seen previous work... but what I've seen reinforced with the fest is that pulling a "real" performance and dialogue out of your team is the one hurdle that all the gear in the world can't supply. I agree with those who suggest that Norm did just that, whether for the whole film or for a few good moments being the diff for some.

Yet nobody in the threads I've read (a few dozen pages of 70-something to be honest) has asked for advice on pulling that off, not a lot of thoughts on what it took, other than, essentially "Rebecca Rocks". There are five gazillion posts on this site about home depot lights, the best boom mic, and home-made cranes. (And to be fair, some great stuff in the directing and writing areas). But if you want to stand out around here, an engaging & affecting performance will trump an HVXredrock1024psteadicamGreenscreenedkesslerPVCdollymotiontracking3Drenderedexplosion with great audio lifelike prosthetic zombieguts with aftereffectlayers and a fabulous craft table any day. (Well, for me).

People often bring up "The Blair Witch Project" so support that idea, but that film seems remembered now for "shaky camera". What I remember most was the lead, saying goodbye and apologizing into her camcorder. I'd never seen that in a horoor flick, and it stuck with me -- it was just real as hell, video scan lines or not.

Thanks all--MC
 
Good post, and yep, that's the one thing no fancy camera can do, get amazing performances from an actor, or actress. Good call.
 
Norm, Your film was easily in my top 5.

I thought the look was fantastic and the performances were excellent. I really liked the story, although at times the dialogue felt a little unnecessary. Your powerful images were telling us all we needed to know.

Great film.
 
Michael Carter, thanks for that in-depth post! As far as BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, I'd have to agree that that is also one of the most memorable parts of the film, where she's talking into the camera saying good-bye.

Though no-one is technically asking how we got our performances, since you bring up the topic I'll share kind of how I do things: I consider myself a pretty community minded director in that I may not have a DEAD LOCKED specific idea for each & every shot, but I know the general tone & idea that I want pulled from the film. So I encourage everyone on set (yep, everyone) that if they have ideas to voice them & share them with me. There are lots of instances where something will be mentioned (by talent or crew with regards to dialogue/delivery, lighting, camera angle, etc.) that I simply didn't think of, but once I hear it I think it's a fabulous idea and we'll move forward. There are also plenty of times that I'll hear something, but it just doesn't gel with what I was thinking of (or doesn't grab me for some reason), and I'll thank them for the input but explain why I feel it wouldn't work or why I'd prefer to go in a different direction, etc.

With regards to the talent, I let them bend the dialogue to what is comfortable for them, or in Rebecca's & my case, we wrote the dialogue to what we believed was natural & knew we would be comfortable saying. After a take, if I'm not positive on how I felt about it, I have no problem asking those around me as well as the talent how they felt. If it needs to be re-shot, we do another take.

Bottom line, my goal is that everyone feels a sense of true ownership for the project, and that they're not simply there to carry out the vision/direction of the Director (i.e. just making someone else's film), but can have a sense of contribution.

I have a habit of comparing myself to others, and often times find me doubting myself ... wondering if I should have every single shot storyboarded, every nuance of the film written down to my exact specification of what I want, etc. ... but that's simply not me, and so far my other approach has been working & improving with each film. And it also just makes for a much more fun/family filmmaking experience, so we all enjoy each other while on set.

Oh, and Michael, if you're curious to see the 'previous' works, just click on any of the links in my signature, lol.


Chris Messineo, thanks for watching & glad you enjoyed the performances!
 
Michael Carter said:
Yet nobody in the threads I've read (a few dozen pages of 70-something to be honest) has asked for advice on pulling that off, not a lot of thoughts on what it took, other than, essentially "Rebecca Rocks". There are five gazillion posts on this site about home depot lights, the best boom mic, and home-made cranes. (And to be fair, some great stuff in the directing and writing areas). But if you want to stand out around here, an engaging & affecting performance will trump an HVXredrock1024psteadicamGreenscreenedkesslerPVCdollymotiontracking3Drenderedexplosion with great audio lifelike prosthetic zombieguts with aftereffectlayers and a fabulous craft table any day. (Well, for me).

Thanks all--MC
Click to expand...

Thank you for the nice comments on our performances, Michael. I agree with you, that if the performances are not up to par, the other elements to the film can be overlooked. I appreciate all of your feedback on our thread! :beer:
 
Now, just to be clear, I do hope to perfect my HVXredrock1024psteadicamGreenscreenedkesslerPVCdollymotiontracking3Drenderedexplosion shots someday... there will, however, be the most heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, life-affirming, depression-inducing dialog performance you've ever SEEN (green screened in front of it all). Then the zombies come and eat everyone. Fade to black.
 
haha great, I am the first to say CONGRATS to me friend Norm.

Excellent! You really climbed the charts with this one! :beer:

OK I see preston edited his to say congrats, but that's cheating.
 
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