NEED critique

OK, the audio in the beginning was well done. Dialogue sounded good. In the fight scene, audio sounded unnatural. At some parts, it was out of sync and just did not sound good.
 
I didn't notice any out of sync DLG so it might have been your connection? The fight I'm assuming you wanted it to sound like a bad Hong Kong action film dub. If it was supposed to be "realistic" your way off. The hits are mostly not the right sounds, sync is soft to way off. It sounds like you had two hits and just recycled them over and over, which is exactly what the HKA films did and their sync was soft to say the least. So if it was supposed to be a parody of HKA films your pretty close.

Dialog in the kitchen was recorded too far from the actors, lots of room. If you really want to parody HKA films you should dub everything. That loose sync close miced sound is a part of that sound.

Picture wise when we are looking at the "boss man" it looks like he was filmed against a wall somewhere other than where the other guy was filmed. I think you needed something in the BG so we would know they were in the same place. I also had the feeling that you broke the 180 rule but I might be wrong? It felt like the camera fliped sides at one point.
 
Hi KF,

The levels, music selection/editing, etc started off fine through the first segment. I really liked the whimsical music on the opening scene - great way to set the stage for something interesting to come soon.

Yes, Noiz picked up where you break the line (1:36, etc). And as Noiz pointed out, the slugs beginning at 1:45 were way off (sync problem and unrealistic). On the slug scene at 2:45, cut just before the hit to another angle so the punch looks realistic. Otherwise, use a better angle like the head slam on the wall at 2:23.

I'm afraid your audience will loose interest in the fight scene far short of the ending 1 minute segment - it could really use some plot development, interesting dialog, and creative camera work as POVs, dutch angles, reflection shot, cutaway, flashback, etc - anything would help. For instance, at 1:57 the CU of the teapot was helpful yet the pace immediately transitioned to action/action/action (5 refrigerator door whacks, 5 hits with teapot, 4 hits with foot, 4 hits with removed shoe, etc). Back to the dialog development, consider details that will make the story more believable. For instance, what happened to the victim's glasses? Consider showing a sequence where his glasses get knocked off or, better yet, carefully removed by the bad guy - use the loss of vision to help explain his helplessness. Then to draw in the audience, use victim POV shots that are somewhat out of focus. See how this can help? Do a creative brainstorming session throwing in all sorts of ideas from various perspectives (bad guy, victim, audience, third parties, etc). Oh yeah, adding some irony and a bit of comedy will certainly help your story.

FYI - I wasn't clear on the purpose of the extreme color difference between the two indoor scenes. And it seemed to me while the dominant camera angle (looing up) of Mr Fatuse was okay, the angle for Agar should have instead been submissive (looking down).

The music transition at 2:45 was nice. In fact, the music at 3:05-3:15 would work well to add drama/suspence earlier in the film to add tension.

Good luck, Michael
 
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Not sure if you were after any critique besides audio but... you broke the 180 rule very badly with that first two shot and then later again. I assume you might have had a particular reason to do it?
 
I thought it was pretty funny. The Hong Kong style fight scene as Noiz put it was funny, though the sync was off on some which was sort of distracting. I guess it all depends on what type of film you're going for. If it's a comedy, then good job. If it's supposed to be more of a drama ... don't tell that to anyone.
 
Brad, I'm glad you chimmed in with Noiz. Indeed, it reminded me of Curly and Moe back in the good ol' days with the Three Stooges!
 
Good Job.

There is always room for improvement.

Start with updating your sound effects during the fight scene. They were canned and your work deserves better.

It might be alot of fun recording these sounds yourself!

Good work all in all!

Keep up your filming!
 
thanks for your responses guys. here it goes:

-it supposed to be quirky, funny, and cheesy........mafia wants a falafel!

-it was scripted in five minutes, no storyboard

-this was a crash course for the sound guys (they're new filmmakers)

-the SD 302 and 702T recorder were used, recording at 24bit, senn 416 on a boom, very close to actor

-the 180 degree rule broken?how?, we have two neutral angles then a two shot, please explain

-i agree with the glasses, should have shown them, but this project was more of a crash course in sound, not picture

-i would build up the scene more if it was for real

-Sound FX are supposed to be non realistic, corny, old style kong movies

- i colored the scene B/W to cover for lighting continuity (its an audio crash course), the lighting mismatches were extreme, so i converted to B/W to soften the effect, actually if you look closely at the window even in the B/W clip you can see a Major difference

-whats even more funny is that no one notices the 302 and 702t on the right hand bottom side of the last shot.LOL
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Rehi KF,

Thanks for the useful info; I guess you deliberately held back the movie's intent. Perhaps next time you can provide relevant info up front - you'll get better feedback based on what you're trying to accomplish.

Regarding crossing the line, the first 30 seconds you're using POVs with the camera slighty to the right of Azar and left of Mr Fatuse. At 0:33, you cross the line with a right angle shot on the opposite side with Azar on the left and Fatuse on the right.

Regarding your delight that we "didn't notice" (comment) on sound gear in scenes, based on your limited efforts hopefully you weren't really serious about us missing this level of detail. For instance, the film has serious continuity errors, etc. but our main focus was based on your scope to provide feedback on "levels and dialogue."

Again, thanks for sharing the enjoyable video.

Regards, Michael
 
thanks for your reply moonlite, i figured by posting the thread in audio, i'd automatically get comments about the audio only. I just mentioned the recorders being in the shot just because even the crew myself included didnt notice them until we watched it 5 times later. The point of this project was to practice booming/recording. In fact, i had to delete a few takes due to the boom/or boom operators shadows and furry being in the shot. thanks for the comments though,
i was looking for more comments about the dialogue/mixing?
 
Well using the shotgun in the kitchen was probably not a good choice. Shotguns indoors tend to get that reverby hollow low budget sound.
If your going for HKA film esthetic you need to cut so that you don't actually see the hit.

Why a 302 and a 702 for one boom mic?
 
KF,

That's helpful. Indeed, the dialog/mixing on the first 50 seconds was great. At about 0:53 where Azar says "Oh, falafel" the audio begins to suffer (I'd swear it was an on camera mic or the boom was misdirected). Generally, the outside scenes had good dialog/mixing - as previously mentioned, continue to work on your indoor dialog (script, plot development, etc) and foley effects.

Have fun, Michael
 
Why a 302 and a 702 for one boom mic?
Click to expand...

hi, sorry i didnt understand this, i thought the 302 mixer and 702 recorder are a nice combo for maximizing headroom and low noise recording. Comments about this?
 
killfilm said:
hi, sorry i didnt understand this, i thought the 302 mixer and 702 recorder are a nice combo for maximizing headroom and low noise recording. Comments about this?
Click to expand...
Well yes but you could go straight into the 702 and not use the 302 on a one mic shoot and make your life simpler. But I don't primarily do production audio so maybe I'm missing something significant. The folks that I know doing that kind of shoot are not using a separate pre for any of the SD recorders unless they need extra channels.
 
Good points Noiz. I guess i've always been brain washed by my film teacher that the mixer will amplify the mic level and maximize the dynamic range before going into the recorder even with one channel. The results with the too are amazing, although i havent tried going into the recorder alone. It doesnt take extra hands to add the 302 as its auto limiters are nothing short of amazing.
 
Basically SD7xx recorders and SD302 mixer have the same front end, or at least of same quality. For this reason you get no quality advantage using SD302->SD7xx combo.

What you DO get is better ergonomics (bigget pot knobs), visually better meters and better limiters. And bigger mixer bag; bad.

So it is no totally crazy...

by the way, SD302 limiters are not auto, you either use factory dafault or set your own. Then it is on or off.

I have mine at +17 dBVU.
 
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