My First Short Film

[Larry Rutledge]

I had to post this here because unlike the rest of your lucky jerks (jerk being used in the most affectionate sense, of course ) I don't have a DVX. So I am resigned to practice the art/craft of film making with my trusty 3-CCD Panasonic PV-GS65 consumer camera.

Anyway, I just started my first film ever. It is called "Invitation" and is being produced for a contest. Here are some screen grabs, tell me what you think:

This is a close-up after the invitees have not shown up.

This is wide-shot of the girl, still waiting for the guests to arrive.

This was just a test shot to see how it would look. I like the look of the angle, but I don't think it fits the feel of this film.

This is a shot from the beginning of the film, when the young girl is drawing the invitations. If you look REAL close, you might see where I messed up and got the crew in the shot.

This is a close-up of the invitation being drawn.

Another wide shot, this is of the girl drawing the invitation - just trying to get different angles.

This is a shot of the "tree-lined path" (it's actually the middle of an orchard).

This is the young girl walking along the "tree-lined path".

This is just a clip of the young girl walking by the camera, and then the same shot with a test color correction and cropped for widescreen.

One more CC test with the same filter applied.

 

[Kirk Gillock]

Those look real good. the CC looks great too. The only strange thing is having a shadow on the table (#4 - 5), since there's nothing that would cast a shadow near the table. It's in an open field. Good luck on your first video. Looks like it will be a nice story.

 

[HorseFilms]

Coming along nicely! A couple of the shots appear just a little bit soft, so that might be something to work on for your next project. Critical focus can really help the appearance of your stuff. Give us more when you get the chance!

 

[Larry Rutledge]

Thanks for the comments, they are greatly appreciated.

Pk - the "shadow" in those shots is a result of my not knowing how to properly use the sun diffusers. I created a frame and put rip-stop nylon on it to help diffuse the harsh mid-day sun. But I forgot to make check the shadow in the shot. Thanks for pointing that out so I can remember to fix that in pick-ups.

Horse - thanks for the comments, I agree on the focus. Unfortunately, manual focus is hard on this silly camera, but I will definitely try and be more diligent in the future.

Hopefully in a couple weeks I should have the film completed, it will only be 3 minutes long (a requirement of the contest), so I will post it when its done.

Thanks again,
Larry

 

[Isaac_Brody]

Looks good. The shots and girl remind me of Europe. I know that sounds general, but just the feeling I got from seeing those stills.

 

[BLUESPIDER]

hmm, looks like a sad film. I don't know exactally what your movie is about but this reminded me of a friend who had a birthday party and no one showed up. That was jacked up! Larry, you could maybe crush the blacks abit IMO. Other than that, some of your compositions looks pretty good.

Word!

I just played with levels. I don't know what look you were going for but I figure I give it a try.

 

[TC]

The hazy look seems like it was intentional... to me anyway.

 

[HansK]

crush the blacks abit IMO.

I agree with bluespider's suggestion. It removes the "over exposed daylight look" and adds richness to the image.

 

[Larry Rutledge]

Isaac - I don't know either why they made you think of Europe, but thanks for posting anyway....it is helpful to know what impressions come across.

Bluespider - Thanks for posting your "playing around" it's cool to see other ways of looking at the same image.

TC - No, sorry, the haze was unintentional... I think it was simply a matter of my inexperience. That is how the images came out of the camera...there is no modification to them whatsoever. However, I do want a dreamy/glowy affect in the final render, like you see in the CC examples I included...so they haze may be beneficial in that matter.

HansK - I agree, the image does look richer and I intende to try that on my next pass through the footage and see how the resulting dream/glow affect looks when applied to the crushed black version.


Thanks again to everyone for their input, it is very much appreciated.

Larry