How's my look?

D

dstevens

Well-known member
Nope, not the style network show. I put some part of a short film I did with the DVX Scene file 6. I was hoping it would turn out more 'film like'.

I throw it out there for all you who like to watch these and pick 'em apart. Any thoughts on set design, composition, just whatever you think.

Another subject I need schoolin' on is compressing... I apologize (and warn) the file is 288MB zipped. Unzipped, it's 300MB and 1 min 30 seconds long.

Here's the link:

http://www.catzillaproductions.com/sample

right click on 'sample.zip' and do the save target...

I'm not overly thin skinned, so any feedback at all is fine. You can say it just stinks and I'll thank you for taking the time to look.
 
You're going to have to post some Screen Grabs there before I download 300 Megs.................................
 
nobody, including myself, is going to download this at 300MB...

a minute and a half can be compressed down to 10MB and still have good quality.. what the heck is the format your using? native DV?
 
Well, I downloaded it, and I can safely say. it isn't worth the download.

I don't want to be harsh, but I have a lot of problems with it, and lighting (or lack thereof is not one of them). It wasn't even the sound that killed me.

You have your character talking behind the back of another character THAT IS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO HER! It's poor placement. (However, I think this is supposed to be a joke and if it is, I would try to show it off more.) It's supposed to be a party I assume, and I realize that but you only have three people, so I'd suggest using tighter shots.

Your characters are just standing around - they have no motive in the scene (this could be a contextual issue.). I don't really understand it, their actions don't fit their dialouge, she says she's going to get shots and she doesn't go anywhere, and the last bit threw me for a loop. So one would assume this is a comedy.

Other than all of that, it's drab. it's dull, there is no focus.

So before you shoot anything else... I suggest you ask yourself... why are you shooing it?
Unless this peice is supposed to be purposely bad, than I apologize.

- *Sighs* You'll get there though, we all have to start somewhere. I feel I should be nicer, and I don't want to leave you on a bad note. Reguarding compression, search for Windows WMV codec. WMVEncoder 9 I believe? it's free, and I think you can buy Sorenson 3 for quicktime? I don't know to much about compressing (yet)
 
Sorry, it's an excerpt of a longer piece, at least I knew not to post the whole thing. That is why they start in mid conversation. I thought I would just look critique of the image and cinemtography.

I'll post some screen grabs.

I used Adobe Premiere Pro and tried exporting to different formats, all were huge or the image quality was terrible (not just the film being terrible). So far I've just burned my stuff to DVD, the compression issue is just another thing I'm tackling.

I definitely thank you all, those who said get real and post some screen shots, and definitely the person who went to the trouble and thought it was terrible! You took the time to respond honestly.

I'll do the screen grabs for your convenience.
 
Only one chance to make a first impression, lol.

I fixed the problem on the page, try it now if you want.
 
Well, you want comments? The lighting is not nice at all. Shadows can be a *****, but in your stills I don't see any. meaning, the images look very flat. So did you choose to do it that way, or did you just ignore the concept of it?
 
No, I didn't try for the flat look. I tried a very simple approach, which was just turn it to 24P Advanced, and tried to have enough light, and make it look pretty bright. In doing that, I think I just flooded it with too much diffused light, so now it's too even. I had the regular light fixtures in the room and some halogen lights from a hardware store. I got huge shadows pointing them at the actors, so I pointed them at the ceiling to diffuse the light.

So, I agree the end product is first of all flat. The colors seemed muddy to me, too, which is why I played with color correction, but nothing really seemed to satisfy me.

If I did the same shot again, perhaps try more with DOF? I've thought about getting a 35mm adapter, but first I'd like to see what I can do with the DVX itself.

Also, what do you guys think of the colors used? I've got a lot of different colors, bright and dark. This whole thing was thrown together with whatever clothes/posters, etc people had at the time. Do you see any big color combo no-nos?

I appreciate everyone's time, so let's say we wanted to make this scene more 3-dimensional and 'filmic' (filmish? filmetic?)

Care to toss out ideas for different clothes the characters would wear? Opportunities for DOF? Camera settings to account for the colors?

I struggle to post relevant information for you all to make an analysis... Ask whatever info is useful... Plus, you've all got better stuff to do, so any thoughts/suggestions/questions, just fire away!
 
Wow, as people have said, that is really grainy and flat.

Here are some suggestions for the future:

- Don't light so evenly, shadows can be your friend.

- Get the camera as far away from the action as possible and zoom in.

- Try to get some more interesting shot compositions with objects in the foreground and background.

- Less headroom for the actors.

- Mix up your shot styles (not all 2 shots).

Good luck and keep shooting (that's the best way to get better),

Chris
 
my suggestions: what everyone else said.

and get rid of the empty space above their heads. gl

emptyspace.jpg

emtpyspace2.jpg
 
and to help get more of what the actor thinks, show their facial expressions! make use of different angles!
 
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