My directorial debut... "Nice Car"

V

Voodoo Monkey

Member
I've been lurking in the darkness watching everyones amazing efforts
at producing their own movies.
I thought it was about time for me to post my humble first attempt.
Some history.
I've been working in the film industry since I was 13.
Mostly in Special Make-up effects in 1999 I graduated from Sheridan College,"Computer Animation".
Went down a different path...
What does this have to do with the movie?
Nothing... you might recognize some of the players... that kind of explains how I got them to be in it,"Friends".
Any how, we shot in August of 2004.
Why haven't I posted it before.... I'm not happy with how it tuned out.
I can only see the flaws.

Shoot history.
Camera DVX-100... not the A

Not 24p...

First shot of the day 6am.
Got to the set started to set up and sure enough we had a crazy on location.
Called the cops, took 2 hours to get the situation under control.
They drove him away, first shot of the day 8am... losing magic hour.
The script... 14 pages.
We shot the entire thing in 1 day. I know crazy... but I planned the **** out of it.
The location,"gas station" was open the entire time for business.
Headache begins.
The sound guy didn't show which meant I had to use the camera Mic for everthing and it shows.
Ouch...
Tried to ADR as much as I could in post, unfortunately some of the players were not available.... so what I had on the day is what stayed.
Finally I discovered that I'm a horrible editor.
I felt an obligation to everyone... since no one was getting paid and all.
Nothing worse then devoting your time only to see you were cut.
But hey I learned a ton... what not to do and how to be a little ruthless.
Next time I'm cutting...^_^
Most of all I learned how much I love doing this... working on my next ^_^
So... I dusted the damn thing off and here it is.
A couple of download options here:
If you have the ability and the patience I highly recommend the 97.9 meg one.
The image quality is so much better.

97.9 megs right click and save as.
http://www.cesar-dacol-jr.com/nicecar/NICE_CAR640_100.mp4

or here's a compressed to **** one that's 28.9 megs.

28.9 megs right click and save as.
http://www.cesar-dacol-jr.com/nicecar/NICE_CAR320_30.mp4

My website if anyone cares to see it.
http://www.cesar-dacol-jr.com

Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, Voodoo Monkey
 
I appreciate what you are saying.
The short is 14 1/2 Min's... I tried making it smaller.
Unfortunately the quality was unbearable.
To me anyways ^_^
Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, Voodoo Monkey
 
Still downloading. Once it's finished, I may host it for you, because it was going at a steady 9kbps, and it took a really long time to get.
 
Sweet!
I'm kind of new to this whole compression thing.
Maybe I'm doing it wrong... I just tried again and can't seem to get anything even
remotely watchable.
Cesar Dacol Jr
Aka, Voodoo Monkey
 
so do you know Todd? I found it a little tedious in some scenes but I did watch it all the way through. Interesting undertones. Him checking out the cop? Was there actually any water in the sponges?
 
I struggled watching this; couldnt get through it as it just did not hold my attention; the dialogue I found more absurd than clever or funny and overall was bored.

Nice location and some nice camera work and the girls were nice to look at FWIW
 
Hey Future.
Friends, introduced him to me.
As for water, yup it just doesn't read...

John Hudson
Hmmm.. ok. thanks for the criticism... I think ^_^
Seriously though... I appreciate it.

Like I said, it's not perfect and I learned allot doing it.
Primarily though, I think it's in the edit and shooting 14 pages in a day.
I failed at my most important duty as a director... the performances.
Spent way too much time worrying about compostions and all the other
technical crap.

Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, Voodoo Monkey
 
I think it was the Script more than anything. Sorry for blase criticism. I really just didn't get it; it was too much of the same thing for me. ON the contrary I thin kthe shining points were the editing and comps/framing. It wasn't the actors so much as the material I think.

It just left me with that 'What the hell was that about?' question when it was done.

:/ Sorry ?
 
I actually enjoyed this. Mostly for the look of the film, the shots, etc. The actors looked like "actors". I was moderately impressed. Sure the story and dialogue could have been funnier, but it was slightly humorous to me anyhow. For what it was, good job on the story elements.

Also, the production values seemed really high. There were a lot of actors, locations, camera/light setups etc. The compositions and lighting were great. I was surprised this was the DVX. You mentioned that its not 24p. Mind sharing your camera settings? What lights did you use, etc. Was there any color correcting done. This doesn't look like video to me. Maybe I should watch it again. TV quality stuff.


Not a bad job. Take care.
 
I'd have to say it was the script and the editing that turned me off. The script in terms of the dialogue just was not my cup of tea when it comes to humor and way too stretched. I think some of this could be fixed with a new cut, just make it shorter.

I like the camera work and the color.

My fav was the blonde in the driver seat, whew!
 
John Hudson.
I understand your point of view.
I believe however that if I had spent more time with the actors that I could have gotten the timing better. Comedy is so much about timing... which I learned painfully.
Thanks for the kind words on the composition...
I guess that's kind of what I'm after here.
I already know all the things I didn't like and wasn't able to accomplish with this endeavor... for me anyways.
I guess I'm trying to get a feel for what worked.
That way I'll do more of that ^_^
I shot it last year in august... I just bought the 100A ^_^ so hopefully this winter I'll be shooting my next one.

mentaDuke
As for the camera settings, honestly I can't remember. Most of the look came from our color balancing toward the warm. I wanted to get the warmness of 16.
I did run a filter in post to add some noise... nothing special.
Then at the end we shot almost native, just a little toward blue.
As for lighting I had one HMI to flood and a couple of red heads with scrims and bounce.
It was pretty chaotic... we ended up with over 100 setups that day.
That store is tiny, it was amazing that we got as much coverage as we did.
The scene with the police officer,"Wide" was done from the outside of the store shooting thought the window. We just cleaned the window up pressed the camera against it and away we went. That sort of stuff was allot of fun.


Rasquachemedia
I agree with the cut... this was my first time in the editing room. I found it very hard to separate my feelings.. Or be it I didn't want to hurt anyones feelings. Something I've got to work on.
The blond, yup... great girl.
 
I think for a first time film you have the technical aspects down pretty well. As you said, your concentration in one area made the other area (acting) suffer a bit. Same thing happened to me on my first film....looked pretty, but the acting was not good. It's a fine balance to work with as a director. Maybe next time just plan to shoot with a more flexible schedule? I would've died to get 14 pages in 1 day. Yikes!!!

At least you have one under your belt and have learned from it. It means your next one can only be better from here on out.

There were some funny moments in your short, but I agree with others that a little more tightening on the cutting can really pick up the comedic pace. A lot of your shots seem to linger around and overstay their welcome.

This is just my 2 cents as I know you'll get a million of em. Stick to your guns and ultimately make the film that you're happy with....and any awards and critical acclaim are icing on the cake. I've got to learn this as well. I'm constantly battling trying to stick to my original vision and also "please" others without having the final film become a watered down version of a film that lacks any voice (which would make it into a studio film). ;)

Keep on truckin!!
 
ktfilms
Thanks a million for the kind words and constructive criticism.
I agree on the schedule... next time I will do much better.
I could make all kinds of excuses, but realistically the blame must reside squarely on my
shoulders. I underestimated the difficulty in getting the comedic timing.
I will do better next time ^_^
I guess in the end that's the point.
It's all a learning processes.
I must say I have a new appreciation for how difficult it is to create a good film.
BTW, I love the composition and look of,"Favors".
Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
 
-biggest laugh = when the chicks pull up and he's just peed himself
-another good laugh, when we see the cops full outfit.
-I thought the pee guy as an actor had a lot of potential, but hard to sell mocking grandma in two takes that are redundant.
-Can't sell the cricket SFX joke without a second shot, a POV of where the line was thats a little skewed, i.e. fish eye or a lense that makes it look really long and empty, othrwise cricket gag is like "why the hell did a SFX of crickets just turn on" if you stay in the two shot, though I get the gag you were going for.
-If you have any mula left invest $800 in two sennhizer wireless units. They work great and if your sound guy doesn't show up, put on your head phones, set a level be fore the take, and then when your are done you might rewind and listem once before changing setups.
-the only AWFUL sound was the girl that says something to him about peeing his pants. No excuse for not overdubbing that. It's two lines and if the actor is not available so what. Get someone else to do it. Loyaltyt is in short supply in this world, but I've been overdubbed for a one liner in a film because the sound sucked and there was no way they were bringing a featured extra to tinsel town to dub himself. Was I like F those guys? No I was like ... oh well I wouldn't wan them to ruin there film so I could show my mom and Dad that I had a line in a film.
- as for the script -- I think you were being intentionally cliched. "Such a good boy"... etc, but without a little more time with the actors you couldn't pull it off.
- Do think the script / editing was redundant at times. You could have gotten us there, said what you had to say, and made your point quicker. Like seeing the Grandma at the end and realizing she's a Nag and that's why she showed up in the dream. That story point could take 1 shot, maybe two to get his reaction, but you have 3 or 4 and 3 different setups that repeat the same joke.

Good first short.
You've got a good basic concept.
Live and learn, brotha, and keep on shooting.
 
jdanstan
Thanks for the input.
I see what you mean about the cricket shot... that entire store is no more than 11 feet by 8 deep. It's amazing we got it to look as big as we did.
I appreciate the thought and depth of your comments it really helps me allot.
I will definitely not baby my scripts anymore. get to the point faster and move on.
Cheers
Cesar Dacol Jr.
Aka, Voodoo Monkey
 
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