Plague screener

Very good Matt.
Thought is was acted exceptionally well. Loved that the only talking was from the narration. I thought it was shot and edited great, and loved the shakey, distorted feel. Well done to your SFX person. Excellent music as well.
The only thing I can say slightly negatively, is that it is not a new story and this has been done before, quite a lot, but it is a minor niggle, as enjoyed every minute of it.
 
Hey Marshall, thanks so much, very kind words.

I appreciate any feedback, I was always aware that the story wasn't anything too original, I was really going for tight execution,
We did thi on a shoestring and the AE is all me, so thanks for that, it was painfull at times :)
just had a zombie itch that needed scratching.
 
dude, who cares if it's been done before. becasue this was done so well, that it didn't matter. I've never cringed from an indie film, and this just had some bonechilling moments. the first time you show a guy turn, was so brutal, and well done. It was amazing. as for the actual camera work, that too was really good. I loved the way it was shot, even if you were over emphasising the shallow depth of field. sometimes the people who have it on these forums tend to over use it i think, but I dunno, maybe I just don't know becasue my DVX doesnt really have it that much. but yea, everything was just really well done, and like you said "tightly executed" can't wait to see some more.
just a question, how long did this take to shoot?
 
hey linkdafourf, wow thankyou so much, that means alot, the film was alot of fun to shoot and art times not so fun and a lot of stress, i did a bit of a break down for the guys over at hv20.com, as ive been a longtime forum member over there and people have been asking about how long, what kit etc, so youlle have to excuse me pasting, after you took the time to write, thanks again.

Hi Guys,



Hueyandrolf,

Thankyou for your crit, its ok to be pedantic, god knows i am, i only see faults when i look at my work, and by the time i get to the credits, have pretty much no love for my work, I was actually quite depressed after the first time i watched it in a cinema.

I did toy with the idea of doing the whole shot flip thing, but didn't opt to, i just didn't like my compositions as much back to front, so i left it. It was a conscious decision to try to make the film without any dialogue with the main character, and yes I do agree, once Id cut that scene I wish id done a speaking version. In all honesty, there wasn't a sound man at any point, all of the audio, (bar the car sequence) is recorded as foley in post.

Malhuman, I was going for melancholy and claustrophobic, The film was directly inspired by reading WWZ, a great book, which contains accounts of lonely survivors in an undead world, I kind of wanted to translate that diary/ confession thing into moving images, hence no dialogue, If i reshot, i probably would have added some minimal dialogue, but you live and learn,

BMS, Chacey, and Cine,

I started writing the film in winter 07' & was undecided about what i wanted to shoot with, I was going to initially hire a Varicam, as id used it before i thought it gained very good results. then I saw some footage from the hv20 using a twoneal, and thought, thats what i want to use to shoot Plague, I thought the thin depth of field look really lended itself to the type of film I wanted to shoot.

The crew generally consisted of three people,

Me Directed, and Operating,(which i wouldnt do again,) plus doing a fair amount of SFX makeup.

My Girlfriend, the Producer, keeping everything in check and on schedule,

And My Good friend Joe, who was playing the main role, plus Co directing/ dressing sets.

we did have one fairly big shoot day, where I actually had to shoot properly. i.e hire additional sfx artists, ADs, a runner, drivers and catering, and a lot of zombies. Feeding people was the most expensive part.

What i did spend was time, and lots of it, My producer planned a tight schedule that we shot over two weekends, plus a couple of days of pick ups, We used sunlight only for 99% of Plague, so we had to really think about what times to shot what sequences at.

I did use one redhead for one sequence, but other than that.... it was the odd reflector.
As far as the other kit,

1 hv30 with rode video mic. nestled upside down on a shrigg, with a small SD lcd top mounted to flip the image.

3 canon lenses, a 28mm, a 50mm f1.2 (a must) and i think my long lens was a 135mm

Th adaptor is a Worley made by Leo, which at the time was by far the cheapest, but when used right, the rushes looked easily as good as those from a Letus mini.

a fairly standard Velbon Tripod, plus a cheap, pvc pipe dolly.

This film was made with no money, and was above all an excercise to see what we could do with an HV30,

I don't want to think about how long I sat at a mac keying things in AE that most people probably will never notice.

I agree that the music is great, probably thing i like most, im lucky to have some talented friends in the music biz, that worked very hard, to create the atmosphere that I needed.
 
I am literally in awe of you that this was a "no budget film". This is easily one of the best things i have ever seen in the indie realm and i could easily see paying money to see this in a theater at full length.

Do you have any setup pics? Did you use anything but practical and natural lighting? Your actor was superb, i mean really amazing. How long did this take to shoot?

The music was amazing, and sound and visual effects first rate.

I cannot believe this was done with an HV camera, wow. I will comment more tommorow, but i think im going to go cry myself to sleep now at how poorly my own recent short that is going to be released next week compares.

Thanks for sharing, and please please keep more comming.
 
hey Jon, I dont have setup pics, people were taking snapsonset, and i think they might be on the facebook group if you have a search, but i will collate all of the stills on the site, when i get around to it.

But yeah, no lighting really, just kept my eye on the sun really, and got lucky with the weather,
The response to plague has been really good, hopefully might help me secure funding for our forthcoming feature.

The HV is a weapon, hard to believe really, a few tweaks to a consumer cam and your good to go and shoot serious pictures, makes film making accessible to anybody with an idea.

thanks again, and mail me your short id love to take a look.
 
I meant to come back to this sooner so let me elaborate on my comments before.

I truly, enjoyed this more than anything i have seen on dvx-user to date for a couple of reasons. 1 because of how good it is, and 2 because you spent nothing (much like me we have no budgets for these). Sure ive seen other things out here that are better but these are people who do have small - medium budgets, or who are working in the biz already and have accesss to thousands and thousands of dollars worth of equipment and valuable people. I showed this to my gf, some of my crew members, and to another message board i frequent that has nothing to do with film.

What strikes me about your film is that you didn't have access to much of that (aside from maybe the sound) and still pulled off a professional looking film that i could easily see being shown in theatres.

The writing is good, and its technically good (two things that are often very difficult to find in the indie realm together). I really have to give great credit to your writing. I have been writing for years and have only picked up a camera to try and make a short film in the past 5 or 6 months, and one thing ive learned is trying to write something that translates well to the screen is a whole different type of writing. Yours showed through quite well. The delivery of your narrator, and the shots you selected (the shaky hands by the beach), the far off worried looks on your actors face, etc... really all came together with the sound, to build a sense of tension and piqued our interests.

I know it probably irks you about the no dialogue, and normally i would agree, BUT for this story it actually works well because it adds a sense of lonliness to the character. A sense that everyone in the world is gone for him to talk to, so we only hear his thoughts, personally i liked it better that way in this particular case. Also im guessing that your actor probably didnt have the great accent that the narrator delivered.

Good job shooting out doors and selecting locations. I have found on my film that i just wrapped that shooting indoors at night in a small apartment is pretty bad at times :( (the outside footage i did get, does look ok though).

I always try to throw in some constructive criticism on all these because thats how we learn, but honestly i found myself trying and trying to think of something i could criticize here. I watch a ton of movies, i mean everythign in every genre from the 30's to today, and have a pretty good sense for what makes a film work, you really had all those elements IMO.

The only things i will comment on, are the genre as someone else posted. Yes, the genre is popular right now, but i dont see that as a problem at all. I think few films of this genre have really captured that feeling of lonliness and desperation. The only one that comes close to this IMO is Danny Boyles 28 days later, but i feel that you covered some different ground with your piece. The great thing about the end of hte world whatever the cause (zombies, nuclear winter etc...) is that every survivors story would be different, and so its interesting to see their story unfold in different ways. The struggling immigrant/ gun runner was a nice touch.

2ndly, is the only other thing that would have been nice would be to add a second character and have them meet. Maybe a woman, etc... but once you go down that road its even more like many other works out there and it might be difficult to come up with something original like you have done thus far.

Where did you screen this? (Im screening mine tonight in class for hte first time, ill post it up later in the week here if you wanna check it).

How long have you been doing this kinda stuff? Do you have a link to the break down thread you made about this on the hv boards?

jon
 
Hey Jon, wow you like this film alot more than I do, im very flattered.

although i cant take all the credit, the hardest thing i think in making a good short with micro budget, is gathering people that are equally passionate about the project, not many people will go out and work long hard days, all weekend for free, then go to work on monday.

I was very lucky to have to equally artistic and hard working friends, that i could call upon at any hour, the main actor, has little acting experience, hes actually a close friend of mine, who is a painter, his eyes are amazingly expressive, as it turned out, he seemed very natural. better than alot of trained actors I have worked with.

My Girlfriend is a casting assistant, and has produced a few shorts in her time, and without her organisational skills we would have been lost, she accounted for everything and set out the shoot schedule, as a result we were able to very efficient, when running and gunning with the kit,

We'd shoot what we needed and move on, always watching the sun.

so like i said the three of us pretty much did the lot, we all chipped in on make up, set dressing, very tiring stuff, im not sure i would work that way again, certainly not on a film that required so much fx work.

Ive got some pretty broad experience, i didnt study film, i was set to be a graphic designer, but i graduated realising that i didnt really like graphics, and starting making music videos, pretty much for no name bands, for cost price. i made a showreel, and somehow managed to get myself a job on Harry Potter 4, working in the cfx dept, i didnt do much prothetic stuff, i was primarily the videographer for all the the mech, make up effects stuff, eventually I ended up on set as a video tech.

I leared so much being part of a pro crew, and i was often standing with the directors monitor, so i learned quickly how tight a Warner Bros set operated.
that was about 6 years ago,
Made a new reel, and got picked up as a Director for a company called Acceber, was a pretty crazy ride, As i didn't know what I was doing, at age 23 i was directing a 50,000 pound music video, for the saudi arabian pop idol winner, Shooting with a HD varicam, i didnt even know what a gaffer did, but we had one.

I started to direct less, and edit more, i love directing but its hard to make i living from it, so i got into editing more, doing net stuff, tv shows, and now commercials,

I migrated to australia as soon as we wrapped shooting on plague, and cut it in perth, thats why it took 18 months to finish, my girls an aussie and was keen to go back, so we did, i was getting sick of working so much in london, late nights and commuting were sucking the life out of me.

So now im concentrating more of my own film making, plague's my first serious effort, id done a few film contests, nothing serious.
But ive got a few short scripts, all of which id like to make, but they just cant be done without money, im part way through writing my first feature, im going to go for funding, which is a bit easier over here i think, and see how i go.

Its a haunting/ghost type script, based on true events.

So yeah in brief that it, im 28, and feel like im only just starting.
I see people like neil bomkamp , and think **** i suck.
but im working on it.

Plague has screened at a bunch of festivals
the most notable being
Official selection- Revenantfilm fest.
Judges Selection - 28hours later film fest.
Official Selection - international Night of Horror-Perth.
Official Selection - Science plus Fiction Fesival Trieste Italy
Official Selection - NYCHorrorfestival 2009

ill check out your short for sure, just let me know.
 
I think it's very well done. The territory for me is a little worn...but hey, I directed two zombie shorts in an upcoming anthology feature so I can't really complain about that.

Good tech work, good acting/casting. Overall very nice job.

Good luck on your future efforts.

-M
 
Hey Martay, thanks for taking a look, i know what you mean about worn territory, we started the project almost two years ago, before zombies were officially "dead".
I migrated half wat through he project and life got in the way. so yeah im done with the genre, having said that, the short has gotten a fair amount of interest and spread far and wide, pretty quick. the net is such a good tool for getting your work seen these days,
I like to think my next project is alot more original, im just realising the pains of pre producing a feature. Im actually seriously considering doing a mock up, maybe five mins, of scenes that i think capure the spirit of what id like to do, not a short at all, more of a marketing tool to help with financial investment. anybody done something similar, id be intersted to know.
 
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Dont have a lot of tips for you since your a bit ahead of where I am at this point, but just FYI: i featured your film on my blog in the
Short Film of the Week:

section last week.

It really is something special, keep us tuned in for your next project.
 
Matt_asimspon said:
Hey Martay, thanks for taking a look, i know what you mean about work territory, we started the project almost two years ago, before zombies were officially "dead".
I migrated half wat through he project and life got in the way. so yeah im done with the genre, having said that, the short has gotten a fair amount of interest and spread far and wide, pretty quick. the net is such a good tool for getting your work seen these days,
I like to think my next project is alot more original, im just realising the pains or pre producing a feature. Im actually seriously considering doing a mock up, maybe five mins, of scenes that i think capure the spirit of what id like to do, not a short at all, more of a marketing tool to help with financial investment. anybody done something similar, id be intersted to know.
Click to expand...

Hey, I definitely hope Zombies don't "die" just yet as we've still got to roll the feature out but yeah, we started the project way back as well.

Keep us in the loop on that project. Just finished production on a feature that I wrote and produced called "Battle" and we've got miles to go in post but it'll be worth it to complete it. We're all pretty excited with what we've got in the can. (www.battle-movie.com)

You show that you really know how to put a good looking project together so I am looking forward to whatever it is you've got cooking for your feature.

Good luck with that and continued success with this short.

-Martin
 
Hey Jon, thats very cool of you, thanks for your compliments, let me know if you need a set of eyes to look over anything, Im always keen to pass on what i have learned so far.

Martay, had no idea your zombie thing was still in the works, thought you meant it was done and dusted, one thing i can tell you is, there is a massive scene for the genre, even though there has been countless soulless hollywood rubbish pumped out, the fans remain, i had alot of people contact me about plague, asking for copies, and 20,000 or so hits in a couple of weeks, so fear not.

There is an audience, even if its been over done by the mainstream. now vampires, thats a different story. death to twilight!

I checked out Battle, looks great, the production value is very high, im curious, if you dont mind saying, did you obtain any funding? Im assuming you have distro, by the in theatres soon end tag.

Im all new to features, and i must say a bit nervous, ive had a producer asking for the script, but I know a guy who got a script stolen, copyrighting ideas seems a difficult task.

great work,
 
Matt_asimspon said:
I checked out Battle, looks great, the production value is very high, im curious, if you dont mind saying, did you obtain any funding? Im assuming you have distro, by the in theatres soon end tag.

Im all new to features, and i must say a bit nervous, ive had a producer asking for the script, but I know a guy who got a script stolen, copyrighting ideas seems a difficult task.

great work,
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking it out. We self-financed from a lot of work-for-hire writing gigs we got last year (my screenwriting partner and I) and as for distribution, that's still up in the air. We have a self-distribution plan that includes theaters but we're in early discussion with several (and hoping to expand the pool) distributors as we're in post-production now.

I appreciate the compliment.

Wow, that's crazy, I actually hadn't heard of a script being stolen first hand. My writing partner had an incident where a company "perhaps" appropriated some of his script for a different film they eventually made (he'd submitted a script a couple years before they produced a different movie that had several very similar sequences in it) but not full on script theft.

The bad thing is that you can not copywrite ideas. Just scripts.

Good to hear that zombies are still hot, and I actually have a vampire script too but won't hold my breath because it's not teenage high-school vampires...in fact its the opposite spectrum...old nearly done vampires.

-M
 
yeah, well it wasnt a direct theft, character/location name changes and some chopping about of events, enough to make the original script near on useless, and the writer cut out of the deal, it happens.

so yes, im always wary, it may be negative, but there are people out there with more connections that skills, and are looking to poach ideas.

yeah vampires are pretty much for teenage girlsthesedays, having said that, im a big fan of near dark, an old late 80's vampire flick about tired filthy violent vampires in a dusty desert setting, and think something like that could fly for sure.
 
Matt Plague is one of the best things I have seen on the HV series of cameras. I'm glad someone else is out there making serious stuff with it.

We are just a month away from beginning principal photography for my feature film, so I'm kinda jumping in on the deep in.. so to speak. Luckily I am working with people who already know how to swim on that end of the pool.

I'm shooting with a Canon HV40 and like you have "tricked" it out fairly heavily, so that its no longer a consumer camera anymore.

We are doing screentests all this month. If our film looks as half as good as what you were able to achieve, I'll be ecstatic.

My film isn't a "zombie" movie per say.. but it has zombie tendencies.
 
As everyone else has said, impressive work here, I'd be more than willing to sit down to a feature version. Very enjoyable short.

My one criticism: I think the shallow depth of field was overused. It got a little distracting to me, especially when some moments that I assume were meant to be in focus were not. That may have been intentional, but I see a lot of people overusing the shallow DOF on here, when real Hollywood movies are usually much more subtle with it. But still a very enjoyable short, I totally believed the zombie world you set up, which is a very difficult feat. Good luck on your feature!
 
Az, glad you liked it, the hv is a great tool, i know what you mean though everybody on th hv forum posts pictures of how much they have spent on their rig, but there a very few actual projects to show for it, plenty of footage of cats and grass. good luck with you project, a feature is a serious amount of work, dont rush your prep, imho its the most important part of film making.

Kent,
thankyou, I would have liked to make it a feature, the story was cut down alot, there was a lot of backstory that we had to bin, and the escape sequence was originally a long drawn out struggle, we just couldnt afford the costs and time. zombi films done properly are not cheap to make.

I appreciate your crit, when I actually shot Plague back in 2008, the 35mm adaptor thing wasnt so widespread, I wanted to shoot that way, because i thought it would suit the subject matter, it found the look made it feel more claustrophobic, but thats just me. If i were shooting a straight drama, I dont think id go for the same look, its very popular now to shoot that way... and I must admit im getting a bit tired of it myself.

as far a hollywood goes, im probably more influenced by european cinema.

thanks again for taking the time to comment.
 
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