"Escape the Matrix" - Our first action film shot on the FS700

[NextWaveG]

"Escape the Matrix" is an action, drama about a man who is trapped in a world with no purpose or substance. He begins to discover what the "Matrix" truly is and how he must make a choice to break free and start living real life.
This film is based upon the theme of "The Matrix", though it was our vision to allow "Escape" to take on its own story. It was commissioned for "The Manly Man Conference", produced by the team at Creative Edge Productions and made possible by the volunteers at Celebration Church.

This film was shot on a very small budget with volunteer actors but thanks to the FS700, we were able to produce something that looked great within the limitations of the production. Gotta say the FS700 provided me a lot more flexibility in lighting than I was used to with my 5D MkII. Of course slow-mo was great for a few shots and something I wouldn't have been able to do without the FS700.

Shot with the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 and Tokina 11-16 f/2.8.

 

[MisterCat]

Wow, I thought this was an impressive production. Nice camera work and I liked the overall look a lot. How long did it take to shoot and edit this? And wondering how much lighting equipment you had to work with? That looked a lot like Videocopilot effects at the end there! :>)

Steven

 

[NextWaveG]

Wow, I thought this was an impressive production. Nice camera work and I liked the overall look a lot. How long did it take to shoot and edit this? And wondering how much lighting equipment you had to work with? That looked a lot like Videocopilot effects at the end there! :>)

Steven

Thanks. We shot over 4 days and edited over 3 weeks. My lighting consisted of my Arri kit (2x 650w & 2x 1kw), Next Lites Ceres 900 & 508 LEDs, Cool Lights 220w mogul based fluorescent bulb w/ china ball and a few 200w Briteks...pretty basic. VideoCopilot gave us a good starting place to get the VFX done in a short time. We used Element 3D for all the 3D animation right in After Effects.

 

[Chad Nikolaus]

How do you like Element 3D? I'm very interested in doing 3D animations right in After Effects. I know After Effects fairly well, but not very familiar with 3D programs. Almost bought Element 3D the other day, but couldn't pull the trigger because i wondered if it would be a bit complicated. Is it somewhat easy to drop a model in there and animate it around in your scene to make something half way decent for the You Tube (not too serious) crowd?

 

[maranfilms]

Not trying to be harsh here, but I figure an honest review is in order.

Here's a list of things I noticed when watching. I will start with the negative comments. Then the positive

It seemed sort of a conglomerate of cliche concepts from start to finish. (talking computer, phone calls) Even being a matrix knock off, I thought it could have been original film with some fresh ideas.

The plastic baby doll in the beginning was not the best choice considering it didn't convince me as being real. Maybe if the actor did a better job holding in a different way it could have worked. But for your opening scene it really hits the production value hard.

I thought the camera work in the first phone call scene was lagging behind the actor a bit to much, better blocking and a few rehearsal takes would have made a world of difference.

I thought I saw the crew in the reflection of the guys glasses several different times.

I didn't connect to well with some of the locations. There were not many wide shots which makes it feel somewhat claustrophobic and is if you used your cut aways and b-roll as your master shots. Of course time plays an important role and if you don't have enough, it's gonna show through in one way or another.

I guess it seems like a good portion of the camera moves just weren't motivated, I felt some of the closeups were used for no real purpose, When used too frequent and for no real reason their not as meaningful as they can be. These are what give the viewer that sense of urgency, that "world is closing in feel, and the "lean in moments" we sometimes get as viewers.

The wardrobe didn't really work for the content to well, looked sort of like they borrowed it from "Jersey Shore" if you know what I mean.

The acting was pretty inconsistent in some scenes, some were decent while others were flat with deliveries. But you did mention they were volunteer.

I liked the action scene, that was done well, most of the camera moves were really nice, the lighting was good in most of the scenes. I would have liked to see some atmosphere in the warehouse though. Overall it was good. I mean it's not easy to produce a no budget short on any subject. Although the porn message was a little corny. I guess thats because i dig porn.