message from 'toxin' director chris folkens
message from 'toxin' director chris folkens
Greetings all! (I apologize for the stream of consciousness style but i'm running on about two hours of sleep in three days)
Thank you all for your posts...they have all been very informative and while some have been rather critical, that is to be expected on a forum like this, especially with a lot of directors with their own unique style, etc...
That being said I figured I should address some of the issues that have been brought up repeatedly on this thread, since I...well...directed, produced, shot, and edited the thing. First and foremost the interlacing....ahhh yess....t'was not interlaced my friends. We shot in 24p and if anything it must have been the really shi**y compression that I had to use (which I now thoroughly regret releasing because it is just that bad and totally does the video a disservice) because the G5/FCP4 system i was working on was giving me so many problems that the only thing it would export was a really crappy (and WAY too large) mp4. That being said, I am currently working on getting a much cleaner version which I will post soon.
Thank you very much for the kind words on directing and dp'ing this thing...it was really just me running around with a small student crew (mostly involved in traffic control (or COW control....LONG story....we were filming by a farm...lets just put it that way) and/or driving the cars for the car scene) and the DVX and wide angle and telephoto lens (sometimes hanging out of the back of a jeep instead of running but you get the point). Most of it was using purely natural light -- which just goes to show the importance of working with great locations when working on a micro (or nonexistent) budget. In fact, I almost liked it that way because -- and I wanted to make this clear -- this was really a test of guerrilla filmmaking. It was my first real attempt at producing/directing/editing/shooting a music video. I wanted to give it a rougher feel (hence the grain, shaky camera in parts, and quick edits/movements/zooms). Sometimes that rough feel was entirely natural (as in the car scenes where my car is actually zooming past the camera at 80 mph...and the camera car trying to keep up!)...
So, to make a long story short(er)...this was more or less an experiment in creating a music video and even whether or not I could pull off a car chase scene of sorts. It was more of a learning experience (because I'm at the University of Illinois where there is *NO* film program and I have to teach myself!) that in the long run gave this band a video to work with...allowed me to work on developing, shooting, and editing a music video, unlike the other work I had done to that point! Above all else, I felt that this created a good working relationship with the band and that I will look forward to hopefully filming another video sometime this upcoming semester!
As for editing, I may even head back to the editing room to tool around with some of those edits....especially those *even I* think are too fast....which actually leads me to ask all of you if there is a certain time in the video where the edits (above all else) should really be lengthened...where the story just doesn't make sense....please let me know!!! (like a timestamp from the video). I really look at this site as a sort of test screening of sorts and I really value your input because you are really some of the most critical audiences I've found (which is GREAT!!!)
Do you think I should avoid telling the story out of sequence? That is actually one of the things that appealed to me about this that made the video at least somewhat unique...perhaps the visual style could illustrate the flashback a bit more than the flashes do now (no pun intended)? Perhaps if we flash from color to black/white? What do you all think?
As for the story, I'd like to clarify this....ultimately the song is called the "Toxin Mix" because it is going in the film I also produced/directed called "Toxin." The lyrics in the song really parallel the story of the film and I wanted to create a music video that would *also* parallel the same lyric of "Do we turn to logic or follow love"...hence bringing at least some light to the situation the main actor is facing....after she storms out and leaves him hanging...he could have just walked away but ultimately he follows love, goes to rescue her, and at the end the last shot of the film is her saying (although unfortunately not so clearly) "I'm sorry".....
I'll be sure to post a revised draft soon enough....meanwhile stay tuned to www.dualfilms.com for the updates on this project and my others (including "Toxin" which actually made its way on this board a while back...the trailer at least...there's actually two clips on the site which give at least a partial look at the film!). Also, for those of you who might take interest in this...although this music video had a really rough jagged look to the footage and the final edit, I have a much different approach in store for the next video....of course this time maybe i'll have some money to rent a dolly
Kindest regards,
Chris Folkens
Producer/Director/Composer
www.dualfilms.com
"TOXIN" COMING SOON (www.dualfilms.com)
**Selected for Chamberlain Brothers/Penguin Group International Student Film Festival Compilation DVD** (COMING IN MARCH to TRIBECA and on DVD)
message from 'toxin' director chris folkens
Greetings all! (I apologize for the stream of consciousness style but i'm running on about two hours of sleep in three days)
Thank you all for your posts...they have all been very informative and while some have been rather critical, that is to be expected on a forum like this, especially with a lot of directors with their own unique style, etc...
That being said I figured I should address some of the issues that have been brought up repeatedly on this thread, since I...well...directed, produced, shot, and edited the thing. First and foremost the interlacing....ahhh yess....t'was not interlaced my friends. We shot in 24p and if anything it must have been the really shi**y compression that I had to use (which I now thoroughly regret releasing because it is just that bad and totally does the video a disservice) because the G5/FCP4 system i was working on was giving me so many problems that the only thing it would export was a really crappy (and WAY too large) mp4. That being said, I am currently working on getting a much cleaner version which I will post soon.
Thank you very much for the kind words on directing and dp'ing this thing...it was really just me running around with a small student crew (mostly involved in traffic control (or COW control....LONG story....we were filming by a farm...lets just put it that way) and/or driving the cars for the car scene) and the DVX and wide angle and telephoto lens (sometimes hanging out of the back of a jeep instead of running but you get the point). Most of it was using purely natural light -- which just goes to show the importance of working with great locations when working on a micro (or nonexistent) budget. In fact, I almost liked it that way because -- and I wanted to make this clear -- this was really a test of guerrilla filmmaking. It was my first real attempt at producing/directing/editing/shooting a music video. I wanted to give it a rougher feel (hence the grain, shaky camera in parts, and quick edits/movements/zooms). Sometimes that rough feel was entirely natural (as in the car scenes where my car is actually zooming past the camera at 80 mph...and the camera car trying to keep up!)...
So, to make a long story short(er)...this was more or less an experiment in creating a music video and even whether or not I could pull off a car chase scene of sorts. It was more of a learning experience (because I'm at the University of Illinois where there is *NO* film program and I have to teach myself!) that in the long run gave this band a video to work with...allowed me to work on developing, shooting, and editing a music video, unlike the other work I had done to that point! Above all else, I felt that this created a good working relationship with the band and that I will look forward to hopefully filming another video sometime this upcoming semester!
As for editing, I may even head back to the editing room to tool around with some of those edits....especially those *even I* think are too fast....which actually leads me to ask all of you if there is a certain time in the video where the edits (above all else) should really be lengthened...where the story just doesn't make sense....please let me know!!! (like a timestamp from the video). I really look at this site as a sort of test screening of sorts and I really value your input because you are really some of the most critical audiences I've found (which is GREAT!!!)
Do you think I should avoid telling the story out of sequence? That is actually one of the things that appealed to me about this that made the video at least somewhat unique...perhaps the visual style could illustrate the flashback a bit more than the flashes do now (no pun intended)? Perhaps if we flash from color to black/white? What do you all think?
As for the story, I'd like to clarify this....ultimately the song is called the "Toxin Mix" because it is going in the film I also produced/directed called "Toxin." The lyrics in the song really parallel the story of the film and I wanted to create a music video that would *also* parallel the same lyric of "Do we turn to logic or follow love"...hence bringing at least some light to the situation the main actor is facing....after she storms out and leaves him hanging...he could have just walked away but ultimately he follows love, goes to rescue her, and at the end the last shot of the film is her saying (although unfortunately not so clearly) "I'm sorry".....
I'll be sure to post a revised draft soon enough....meanwhile stay tuned to www.dualfilms.com for the updates on this project and my others (including "Toxin" which actually made its way on this board a while back...the trailer at least...there's actually two clips on the site which give at least a partial look at the film!). Also, for those of you who might take interest in this...although this music video had a really rough jagged look to the footage and the final edit, I have a much different approach in store for the next video....of course this time maybe i'll have some money to rent a dolly
Kindest regards,
Chris Folkens
Producer/Director/Composer
www.dualfilms.com
"TOXIN" COMING SOON (www.dualfilms.com)
**Selected for Chamberlain Brothers/Penguin Group International Student Film Festival Compilation DVD** (COMING IN MARCH to TRIBECA and on DVD)
