Gintaras - NatureShooter, not reviewed?

Shawn Murphy

Shawn Murphy

Well-known member
ok, I've looked several times now and can't find any mention of this one, and I actually thought it was the scariest of the whole lot!

Great music and some freaky images and sequences. The opening was a little dry? (not sure what it was that didn't work that well for me, but it definitely had that twilight zone feel). The old guy was great and the monster was great. Not sure why the scene in the forest changed colors so dramatically, but overall this was one of the top 10 for sure.
 
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Good job starting a thread for this one, Shawn. This was an interesting story tapping into our fear of the big drug companies. I think he successfully pointed out that we definitely have to know what's in the drugs we're taking. Science fiction has always been a field that speaks to our social issues in a way that is usually acceptable to a wider audience because it's seen as entertainment. This one definitely had a Twilight Zone vibe going on.
 
Yeah, I dug the Rod Serling thing and the outdoor shots were gorgeous. I can see why he calls himself "Natureshooter".
 
This rated VERY high for me with regards to cinematography, but only for parts of it. Basically the outdoor stuff was simply AMAZING. Wow, gorgeous stuff ... but then the indoor shots completely paled in comparison, most likely due to lack of good lighting. The framing, again however, was exceptional for the majority of the film.

Where this film fell for me with regards to a weakness was the sound design, or more specifically the balancing. The dialogue was difficult to hear in spots near the beginning, especially in comparison to the SFX, but then later the SFX nearly blew my ears out ... really could have used a compressor, and worked on balancing more.

As far as Sci-Fi, Twilight Zone comparison is the only thing that might put it in the sci-fi category ... otherwise, I didn't see much science fiction as it was just drug induced hallucinations ... something that's actually quite real for some poor folks today ... meaning, there's nothing sci-fi about it.
 
Interesting, I quite agree with Norm. The story wss pretty good. Sound design was the biggest flaw, and that is soooo hard to do well.(Some stuff was way too soft) I did like the look of it for the most part...(mainly the outdoor stuff) but was wondering what was sci-fi about it...
 
Seemed very Twilight Zone-esque. I liked that nod.

Science fiction on the heels of today’s relevant social issues. Such terrible, terrible medicine. I loved the message behind it. Prescriptions aren’t the cure for everything. I definitely get it.

Very creepy, I liked the lighting and cinematography.

Keep it up man.
 
Thank you everyone for all your comments on Gintaras, whether positive or negative they are all appreciated.

In regards to our sound design, I agree it needs work. It was our first venture into Soundtrack Pro and was a tremendous learning experience. Any further criticism or suggestions on sound design would be greatly appreciated.

Envision--You mentioned the use of a compressor, I'm not very familiar with audio...could you elaborate more on what that is?

Blaine--- Wow...You really summed up our theme very well. We really didn't go with the classic sci-fi approach, we kind of skated along the outer limits ;) of the sci-fi genre, dealing with the trust we place in drug companies and other people so willingly. Freely placing our lives in their hands without question.

Shawn---Thanks for starting this thread, I've been out of town the past week so I wasn't able to get online until today. As far as the change in lighting, I added a little more color to all the shots once the object crashed into his dream (outdoor sequence). Unless your referring to the 2 shots that are orange in tone? These shots are supposed to be from the creatures POV.

Any other questions and critiques are certainly welcome, encouraged and appreciated so please, keep them coming.

Brendan
 
Feedback

Feedback

Come on, there have to be some more comments out there.

Good, Bad...Whatever. I need some kind of feedback here:(
 
Hey Brendan,

Think of a compressor as that feature on your TV or Stereo that keeps the louds from getting too loud. You can still tell things are supposed to be loud, by the intensity of it, but it's not CRANKING out the speakers during some spots, not so on others, etc.

So an audio compressor kind of caps the high points at going beyond a certain level ... if I'm not wrong (I'm not an audio guy either), it may also bring the quieter points up some, helping to just overall smooth/even things out a bit.
 
Yeah, it's also called an automatic gain control, or AGC. I know they're used in sound systems for speakers and stuff. I don't think it's recommended to use an AGC for video audio, but compressor's and limiters are used.
 
JTyner and I both liked Gintaras quite a bit... it was very "twilight zone" and very cool.

Criticisms would be that the lighting during the beginning and end (with the narrator) was a bit washed out.

Music/Sound: I picked up on the use of SoundTrack/Apple Loops... and that's a tough one for me... it takes me out of YOUR story when I hear the loops I'm familiar with... someone else in this fest used a couple of the same loops, and I myself have used them for home-movie type stuff... and it immediately removed me from your story and puts my mind somewhere else.

I can give you a mainstream example of this... The first movie trailers that were hitting commercial TV for "Munich" had some music in them that was the same music used in "The Life of David Gale". Everytime the commercial came on it drove me nuts because it immediately made me think of a different movie! And don't call me crazy... I actually TiVo'ed it and checked it against my "Gale" DVD... I was right.

The average viewer probably wouldn't pick up on things like this... but I say, go original when you can.

The cinematography was very good... I liked your use of shadows. The framing really matched the feel and the pacing/editing seemed "right". The acting was very good.

Overall I enjoyed your film very much! Thanks for sharing it!
 
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Production was great overall - lighting and sound was not as bad as has been indicated by other posts. Really liked lighting in first shot of the older man in the chair, when it turns to color. GREAT art direction - best I've seen in the fest. Very, very nice, especially outside, and in the shot with the older man with golden light on his face contrasting the dark, green wall behind him. I didn't really dig the narrator, but everything else was great. Good job! I hope you get more posts - this is a good one.
 
I gotta say, I think my biggest problem with this film was just that the indoor shots didn't come close to how great those outdoor shots looked. I have to admit, I thought the opening monologue could've been performed better, and the story itself didn't immediately grip me (though it's a good idea), but the second we enter that dream I was involved and ready and wanting more. I did like the look of the hobgoblin and the lead did pretty well, but I think I would've liked to see a more obvious plot progression carrying us through. Overall, some thing sI really enjoyed and some bits I didn't really buy into, but pretty nice work.
 
EditPhish said:
Music/Sound: I picked up on the use of SoundTrack/Apple Loops... and that's a tough one for me... it takes me out of YOUR story when I hear the loops I'm familiar with... someone else in this fest used a couple of the same loops, and I myself have used them for home-movie type stuff... and it immediately removed me from your story and puts my mind somewhere else.
Click to expand...

After having thousands of loops embedded into my head, I completely agree with you. I now hear recognizable loops all over, including within other contest films.
This was my first project on Soundtrack, but next contest I'll either try to find more obscure loops or most likely I'll just get it scored by someone.
 
Z B Brox said:
I think my biggest problem with this film was just that the indoor shots didn't come close to how great those outdoor shots looked.
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Looking back now, the biggest problem I had with lighting was in terms of intensity.
We were going for a very dark look, with strong highlights at specific moments. However during those setups, using CTO gels, I really had trouble preserving detail in the highlights while getting enough of the color I was going for. I think I ended up going too dim on a lot of shots to try and preserve that dark look. The one professional light I was using, a 450W lowel omni, just seemed too intense most of the time, but perhaps it would've been better to overlight the scene and just underexpose it??

I also feel that there could have been more fill light in certain shots now that I am reviewing them, however it just didn't seem to fit the mood properly when I was lighting the scene.

Oh well...you live and you learn---and I've obviously got a lot to learn when it comes to the finesse of lighting, but I look forward to giving it a much better shot next contest.

BTW...Our lighting kit consisted of 3 china balls, a lowel omni, a small home depot accent light, foamcore boards, some gels, and a reflector.
 
Envision and Briceman:

Thanks for the tips on the compressor/limiter. I'll definitely check into those for next time. Does FCP or Avid Xpress have either of these features built in, or are they strictly found in audio editing apps?
 
I think it's more on protools where you'll find these things. Also, I know you can have one on the set while shooting to process the sound.
 
Nature Shooter said:
Come on, there have to be some more comments out there.

Good, Bad...Whatever. I need some kind of feedback here:(
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I can't believe I didn't comment on this one, or how I missed it, unless my eyes are going. I know this is far too late too, but wtf.......... ;o) Bearing in mind I wrote a few lines to each film after I had watched them.

My comments are as follows:

good beginning, had the sound up loud (as the previous ones I had watched, I couldn't hear very well.) I found this a bit 'scary' to the degree that I thought it rather good, although once again the pic was a bit jerky.

Ok, all complete now :) AND I don't need to up my posts ;o)
 
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