SHORT: Little man, Big debt

L

LoEdge

New member
This is my first short film ever made, first time "directing", filming and editing, made 100% for fun, just to mess around, but i do have a passion for it. Please tell me what you guys think any advise or comments, please keep in mind i have absolutely no experience nor do the actors, thanks for your time.
-Fred

Filmed with a Canon T2i (built in mic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16BdHhCn0Gg
 
Mk, so there's obviously a lot of "issues" with it, but I will say that for a first time ever short, i've seen much worse.

I'll start with the good. The highlight of the piece for me was the Jerome character. He's incredibly stereotypical of an italian mobster, but hey, he does it well. I would recommend you use the actor in whatever you do next, he has an ease about him that is important.


The biggest issues I would say you need to work on for next time are:

-Cinematography: First of all, don't zoom in or out with a camera unless you are specifically going for the documentary feel. Unless you have a very nice camera, zooming almost always looks bad. Also invest in either a tripod or build a cheap shoulder mount (you can build them easily out of pvc pipe for probably $20. Look up tutorials on youtube). Stable footage will make a world of difference (but also need to make sure it doesn't get too static)

-Editing: A lot of your cuts are awkward, often from cutting too early. For instance in the shot at :27 you cut before he walks out of the frame, to another shot where his body is at a different orientation. It looks jarring to the audience and immediately brings you out of the picture. Always remember, the key to great editing is that it should appear invisible, effortless. If you had simply waited an extra second for him to walk out of frame and then cut, I think it would have helped dramatically. There are other examples of similar problems throughout the film. Go back and watch it in a very relaxed, non-judgmental way. Anytime you watch something like this and "notice" a cut, it's probably a bad thing.

-Sound: This will be a problem for you since mic's are expensive. However you should start saving money for a good mic b/c good sound is honestly half the battle.

Keep it up! Always remember the most important thing is to shoot shoot shoot. Make films as often as you can, and you'll be shocked at how quickly you grow.
 
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