Finished Film: Infatuation

[HeliumCowFilms]

Hey all. I mentioned in my previous post (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=197557) that I was currently making my third film under the Helium Cow Films name, titled "Infatuation". Well, I finally finished it! Infatuation is the third film in a loose trilogy I have made, based around love (the other two films, Rebound and Empty Love, are linked to on my previous post. I say they're worth watching before Infatuation, because they loosely connect, although they are not as good and it isn't necessary).

"Infatuation is the story of a girl, Charity, who seems down on her luck when it comes to boyfriends. She never seems to be able to hold one down, and they all inevitably dump her. However, she soon meets high-school heart-throb Bobby Stills - has Charity's luck finally changed?"

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cREshH89EU
Part Two:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reejsiC64X8&feature=channel
Part Three:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LgWgCMXRLY&feature=channel

I really don't want to make excuses, but please don't be too harsh on the films. I'm only 14, working with limited resources and these are very much my films - that is to say, I do everything but play all of the characters. Oh, and write the music, obviously. There were a lot of complications going into Infatuation, too, but I think the end result is pretty okay. I'd love some feedback!

And can I pimp my Facebook group?
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#/pages/Helium-Cow-Films/138633889252

And the Helium Cow Films blog?
http://www.heliumcowfilms.blogspot.com/

Okay, thanks

 

[jonE5]

Wow, where do i start? Your only 14? That is simply amazing.

This film was really something special.

The writing, was simply amazing, one of the best written things ive seen around on this site. THe acting was pretty darn good to, some of the monologues, you could tell the actors were reading, but other than that very solid. The timing, delivery, everything just clicked and it was believable and funny.

The cinematography was actually very good, your shot selection is something that some people who have been making films for years and have budgets probably 100x what you have never get. And your music selection and editing really helped to move the story along and create whatever mood you were going for at the time.

Now for the bad.

The camera you were shooting on, was pretty bad, what was it? Maybe its just the compression you used, but im guessing if your only 14, you probably cant afford better yet.

What was unfortunately worse than the camera, was the sound. That sound where the girls are first in a coffeeshop or something is really unusable its so bad, you have wind in someof the outside parts, echos, fuzz etc... really needs improvement.

Another thing you could do better with would be lighting, but the first two issues need to be addressed first.

Honestly, if you went back and re-shot this with the same actors, music etc... with say a Canon 7D, or maybe an HV series with lens adapter, and even something as simple as a zoom H4n for sound and a decent mic, you could probably enter and win at a few festivals.

I say, beg borrow, or dowhatever you have to do (even rent), to get your hands on some better equipment and making another one of these. Youhave some real talent.

jon

 

[dre83]

Some general sound advice:

- at the playground... let everyone be silent, just "pretend" talking, without real speaking. So just moving lips.

- EVERY sound like people talking in backgrounds, music playing in background, TV playing in background, cars passing, neighbours doing construction works, in short: EVERY sound that seems to be as it was there at that moment, is ALWAYS added in sound post.

- Turn off refrigerators, all kind of machines, let people be quiet, whatch out for things likes cars passing by, trucks passing by, airplanes, trains...

- If someone weres high heels, and there not in shot... let's take them off. It only produces unwanted sound. Adding footsteps afterwards is more easy then trying to cut them out when recorder at the moment.

- Use a boom (sometimes even 2 booms are needed and more sometimes, 2 booms, wirelles mices, hidden mices,....) and even more better use a portable mixer (like the SQN4 or Sounddevices 442 or 332 could do the job already. And even more more better is to record sound separately on a 4 track recorder so you have all the mices on separate tracks which makes them more controllable.

- don't be afraid to do then 1 more take if you have doughts about sound.

- watch out fore mirrors, glass, windows and everything that reflects.

- editing wise...you don't have to show everything... sometimes it's better to just show someone coming in directly, rather then showing the door... wait a few seconds, the door is opening...

 

[HeliumCowFilms]

Thanks for the feedback! The scene that was filmed at a school was actually filmed during a lunch break at my school - all of the people in the background were actual students. I couldn't really go and tell all of them to be quiet - and even if I had, they wouldn't have been. It's hard enough getting my own actors to be quiet while we're filming scenes, let alone other people!

Where I can, I do add the background noise in post production. When watching Dirty Dancing, Bridget Jones and Gears of War, I recorded an amount of the actual thing and then added it in later to make it sound consistent. However, I had little control over other noises.

I know the quality of both the video and the audio is more particularly great, but it's the best I can do with the resources available to me. I really can't afford a new camera and a boom mic at the moment - the first thing I need to get is a laptop, seeing as my one is on its way out and my computer I use for editing is incredibly slow, making the process more painful that it should be.

But yeah, thanks for your comments!

 

[dre83]

Thanks for the feedback! The scene that was filmed at a school was actually filmed during a lunch break at my school - all of the people in the background were actual students. I couldn't really go and tell all of them to be quiet - and even if I had, they wouldn't have been. It's hard enough getting my own actors to be quiet while we're filming scenes, let alone other people!

Where I can, I do add the background noise in post production. When watching Dirty Dancing, Bridget Jones and Gears of War, I recorded an amount of the actual thing and then added it in later to make it sound consistent. However, I had little control over other noises.

I know the quality of both the video and the audio is more particularly great, but it's the best I can do with the resources available to me. I really can't afford a new camera and a boom mic at the moment - the first thing I need to get is a laptop, seeing as my one is on its way out and my computer I use for editing is incredibly slow, making the process more painful that it should be.

But yeah, thanks for your comments!

There are 3 things what makes making movies very hard:
children
animals
and boats (there had to be a 3th one...but boats don't stand still and so on...)

In a budget movie with people having a little more money, using a boom with a directional mice would have done a lot... When you don't have a boom, go as close as possible with the camera, so the actors are closer to the camera mice.

Record ambiance sound of ALL environments. Like at the playground 5minutes of only "children at playground". During production