"Episcopaliens - The Musical"

evil_edison

evil_edison

Active member
Hi Folks

Here is a link to "Episcopaliens - the Musical", the first "official" project shot on my DVX100A. It was done as part of the Atlanta 48 Hour Film Project. We had 48 hours to write, film, edit and deliver an 8 minute film. We were also given the following conditions 1) Genre - Musical, 2) Character - N.B. Hunsecker, College Professor, 3) Prop - pair of gloves and 4) Line of dialogue - "All we got is parts".

I won't lie to you, the version I'm showing you has a few effects that I added after the fact (48 hours isn't nearly as much time as you think it is :)) but all music, shooting and editing was done during the 48 hour span. We ended up making the "Best Of Atlanta" finals and won "Best Audio" overall.

Anyhow, here's the link. I apologize for the size of the file (70 megs).

www.eviledison.com/movies/episcopaliens.wmv

Sean
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

48 hours? Wow. That's quite a feat, considering you had to write and record several whole songs!

Looked good. Lighting was great; cast was solid.

A little shaky on the camera, but it's not exactly a controlled environment. Did you use more than one?
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

Hey David

We just used one camera to shoot with. The two musical segments were shot in about an hour because we were quickly running out of light and a storm was rolling in :(. Pretty much just did three takes on each actor and lucked out for the most part as far as continuity goes.

Sean
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

wow sean - impressive all the way & from every aspect! I loved every minute of it . . . did you place?
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

We made the top ten. The team that one was incredible! There was actually a lot of tough competition in Atlanta this year. It was a pretty awesome screening overall!
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

Oops. I meant to say "won" not "one". Sean's dyslexia kicks into overdrive :)
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

48hrs? that was freakin awsome. Even if you had spent 2 months I would still say the same. There were so many things going on that just made this film work. First, like it was mentioned before, the lighting was superb, colors were vibrant but not overly saturated. The actors were actualy, well, dang good. IT was a little over the top, but that fit exactly what the feel of the movie was. Great cinematography, nice variety of shots, great angles and creative framing all added to this film. I really do think this is one of the better shorts that I have seen in a while. The little things really set it apart, like the audio, well I guess that is really a big thing. The audio was awsome, who wrote the songs? I appreaciated the begging congregation singing, with camera picking up indiviual voices from the crowd. Did you dub the individual voices over the original music after you had filmed it? That was also a great effect, where the people dissapear in the end. Definatly top notch. Blue screen, or did you just lock the camera down?
Overall, I really can't find any fault with the film, there were a few scenes during the two musical numbers that seem to play some tricks on the eyes, not really jerky, but it seems like there is some strange frame blending going on. Did you use the cinematrix or enriched setting or was it normal. Also, do you remember what your chroma level was for your indoor shots, pretty impressive stuff.
See everybody what good lighting knowhow can do.
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

So, you had to write, record, and get your actors to memorize and lip-sync, and you shot both songs in an hour with multiple angles?

Wow.
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

[quote author=David Jimerson link=board=Clips;num=1087858561;start=0#7 date=06/24/04 at 05:58:09]So, you had to write, record, and get your actors to memorize and lip-sync, and you shot both songs in an hour with multiple angles?

Wow.[/quote]

Yikes! No, it wasn't quite that bad :). We wrote and recorded the songs the night before and had them on a CD for lip sync the next day. I meant we had to shoot the two songs in an hour or so. The actors came up with a "routine" on their own while the rest of us were shooting the interior church stuff.
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

[quote author=scharky link=board=Clips;num=1087858561;start=0#6 date=06/24/04 at 01:00:23]The audio was awsome, who wrote the songs?  I appreaciated the begging congregation singing, with camera picking up indiviual voices from the crowd.  Did you dub the individual voices over the original music after you had filmed it? [/quote]

Thanks for the comments Scharky. Brent, our sound designer really is top notch. IMO he is the best in Atlanta! Really creative and DAMN FAST! He did all the sound effects, scoring and instrumental tracks for every song in the show. The "congregation" was recorded the night before and we had the people in the church "lip sync" while we filmed. We did record isolated tracks to use for close ups of the singers. 

That was also a great effect, where the people dissapear in the end.  Definatly top notch.  Blue screen, or did you just lock the camera down?
Click to expand...

It was just a lockdown. I created a B&W version of the shot with people and used the highlights to create the rays.

Overall, I really can't find any fault with the film, there were a few scenes during the two musical numbers that seem to play some tricks on the eyes, not really jerky, but it seems like there is some strange frame blending going on.
Click to expand...

I think that happened when I deinterlaced the footage and blew it up in order to get rid of some lens hood on the edge of the shot. I added a "fake" sky and reinterlaced. I think that created the jerkiness that you're referring to. Maybe we're talking about something different :)

Did you use the cinematrix or enriched setting or was it normal.  Also, do you remember what your chroma level was for your indoor shots.
Click to expand...

It was set to "cinelike" matrix and chroma was just at 0. We experimented with some lower chroma settings ahead of time but me and the DP agreed we didn't like the desaturated look for this.
 
Re: "Episcopaliens - The Musical"

Sean,

For a first time project and under severe time constraints, I think you did an excellent job.

Congrats on the success.
 
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