Post-Apocalyptic Mindpoo poo - DSLR shortfilm

if you're worried about the audience understanding what's going on: yes, I got it, cool idea

apart from that, very nice look in general, and the music fits in pretty well

if you want some negatives too: just a bit too shaky for my taste (I'm mainly complaining about the wide shot in the middle and the chase at the end, for the rest the shakycam felt kind of natural)

you'll like this, it's a similar concept (but not exactly the same):
http://www.vimeo.com/9178331
 
good stuff. I wanted a little more effort in the wardrobe at least though, his clothes looked pretty new for post apocalypse.
 
wgzn said:
that was really groovy. how did you create the explosion / debris ?
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action essentials for Video Copilot probably


Good stuff though :). Really enjoyed it apart from the rolling shutter. Good handheld can be done with these cameras...just need a counter weighted shouldermount and your good.
 
recordingwhiz said:
That was pretty nice. good look , but have to agree on "newness" of the clothes.
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jambredz said:
action essentials for Video Copilot probably


Good stuff though :). Really enjoyed it apart from the rolling shutter. Good handheld can be done with these cameras...just need a counter weighted shouldermount and your good.
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Yea, ofcourse, for us amateur filmmakers action essentials is gold in these situations Im sure you've all tested it out, and know with a little effort you can get great results!

Yea, some of the shots where not meant to be that shaky, we had forgotten the tripod at home :P
Although, the running part, at the end, was suppose to be that shaky. I didn't want to blow the ending that fast, so that made an effect so you wouldnt be sure until he shot :)

About the clothes: This was actually an impro project which was made while we shot, absolutely no pre-production at all. So we brought what he had home o the "set" and made something out of it, to test our skills a lil bit :)

Thanks for your comments! Means a lot:)
 
chon said:
I like the alien ships in the previous video.
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Thank you :) Much appreciated!
That last shot there actually gave us a bucnh of problems. First of all, the ships wouldnt line up with the footage, was all shaky and stuff. Then the footage got all scammed with some weird color-lines all over. haha.

glad you liked it , though :)
 
Yeah, very cool.

I agree with the others though - if you had your actor roll around in the dirt a bit it would have felt really authentic!
Needs 'rust'.

Your blocking is great though! Well done.
 
Wilbur Eddings said:
Yeah, very cool.

I agree with the others though - if you had your actor roll around in the dirt a bit it would have felt really authentic!
Needs 'rust'.

Your blocking is great though! Well done.
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Thank you! :)
Ofcourse, this was all an impro project. The whole movie was made during the shoot. So we kinda grabbed what we had home, and hit the road ^^
But, we somehow liked the anti-Clichè result we got. But, you got a point, maybe a little more dirt should have been added ;)


Now that we now you guys like the concept of these Paradox films, we'll be sure to pump it up a few levels next time ;)
 
Some things to make it more of a "mindfuck" and less of a playing around with After Effects video...

The music was good as music, but overpowering and basically telling the audience what to feel. When he experiences an explosion, he should be deaf from the concussion. It would be more powerful if the sound was vacuumed out rather than amped up like a music video.

More suspense and clue as to why he's there, and perhaps why he's wearing a gas mask would be in order -- more meat to the story.

The talking to himself stuff didn't work for me at all. If he could just be doing some meaningful tasks without the voice over it would be more intriguing. Or else give him someone to be talking to (his alter ego on a radio?)

The particles flying around looked digital. They should go away faster instead of lingering for us to see them too clearly.
 
polfilmblog said:
Some things to make it more of a "mindpoo poo" and less of a playing around with After Effects video...

The music was good as music, but overpowering and basically telling the audience what to feel. When he experiences an explosion, he should be deaf from the concussion. It would be more powerful if the sound was vacuumed out rather than amped up like a music video.

More suspense and clue as to why he's there, and perhaps why he's wearing a gas mask would be in order -- more meat to the story.

The talking to himself stuff didn't work for me at all. If he could just be doing some meaningful tasks without the voice over it would be more intriguing. Or else give him someone to be talking to (his alter ego on a radio?)

The particles flying around looked digital. They should go away faster instead of lingering for us to see them too clearly.
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Thank you for your time and effort =)

The reason to why everything is so fast, and actionfilled, is because this is the Internet. You need to approach something exciting within seconds, or else they're going to get bored, and hit the big red "X" button. And this is what my audience expect from my videos, which I intend to deliver.*

Of course, music differs from people to people, which is just the way humans are =)
The voice-over stuff was my personal choice, you CAN do this other ways, but of course then the whole movie would have changed. My "vision" was to create something simple, clean, fast, and short. But this CAN of course be recreated in different ways.

But I react on the After Effects thingy. In what way did you mean that this video was an after Effects video? I didn't get that.
I think you missed the point. The explosion is just a turningpoint, the muzzleflash as well. But there's no need for it be an explosion, for example, it's just a way to keep it more thrilling.

(Oh, btw, edited the comment... Feel like a douche, sorry about that. Wrote it like 4AM, NOT A GOOD IDEA.)

Cheers,
Jarand
 
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Jarand,

I agree with polmfilmblog, and I didn't think he was being rude or trying to tell you how to make a movie. He was just telling you what he thought, because, quite frankly, you asked. You didn't seem to mind the comments about extra dirt and so forth from the other commentors above. Your reply above just seems a bit of an over reaction, that's all.

Anyways, I agreed mostly with the talking - it didn't work for me either, and it definitely wasn't a hook to me; mostly because you had to read what was being said which really seemed to make it much less effective. Another reason is the mask - it makes it much harder for audiences to relate because you can't see the actor's face. I don't normally walk around with a gas mask on, so the only thing I have in common with your protagonist is stickynotes. For all I know, this was no paradox, this was just two different people wearing similar masks. The fact that you have to state the paradox in your title suggest it's not a strong paradox.

Another reason is because of the shakey video towards the end as was mentioned before - it was just difficult to know for sure that the first and second person shot were the same because you don't get a very good view of the face the second time. It might have actually been more helpful if you just plugged in the exact same footage as before when getting shot the 2nd time. Also, the sticky notes didn't seem to tell a good enough story to hook me right away (see Polaroid video below which does a very good job of this, though I don't like their ending after the 1 minute mark).


Here's an example that is coincidentally quite similar in concept and posted just a few days earlier than your video and uses no dialogue. Check out at the 36 second mark where they add the whimper of the dog to draw you in even more. I was also wondering if you had paralleled some elements on the sticky notes from what I've seen in the Slender Man mythos videos. Either way, the overall concept of doing paradoxes is great and I'd love to see more. I thought the cinematography was very well done. I plan to check out more of what you have on your channel.


The Polaroid


Here is another example that really draws you in:
 
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jwmemmer said:
Jarand,

I agree with polmfilmblog, and I didn't think he was being rude or trying to tell you how to make a movie. He was just telling you what he thought, because, quite frankly, you asked. You didn't seem to mind the comments about extra dirt and so forth from the other commentors above. Your reply above just seems a bit of an over reaction, that's all.

Anyways, I agreed mostly with the talking - it didn't work for me either, and it definitely wasn't a hook to me; mostly because you had to read what was being said which really seemed to make it much less effective. Another reason is the mask - it makes it much harder for audiences to relate because you can't see the actor's face. I don't normally walk around with a gas mask on, so the only thing I have in common with your protagonist is stickynotes. For all I know, this was no paradox, this was just two different people wearing similar masks. The fact that you have to state the paradox in your title suggest it's not a strong paradox.

Another reason is because of the shakey video towards the end as was mentioned before - it was just difficult to know for sure that the first and second person shot were the same because you don't get a very good view of the face the second time. It might have actually been more helpful if you just plugged in the exact same footage as before when getting shot the 2nd time. Also, the sticky notes didn't seem to tell a good enough story to hook me right away (see Polaroid video below which does a very good job of this, though I don't like their ending after the 1 minute mark).


Here's an example that is coincidentally quite similar in concept and posted just a few days earlier than your video and uses no dialogue. Check out at the 36 second mark where they add the whimper of the dog to draw you in even more. I was also wondering if you had paralleled some elements on the sticky notes from what I've seen in the Slender Man mythos videos. Either way, the overall concept of doing paradoxes is great and I'd love to see more. I thought the cinematography was very well done. I plan to check out more of what you have on your channel.
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Yea, Im reeaaaalllyy sorry about that. Think I wrote it 4Am this evening/night, which was NOT a good idea. All my apologies, really.

The reason the gasmask was there, was like I've said earlier I think, we kinda brought what he what home and hit the road. And, if he didn't wear a gasmask, then the whole movie would have been messed up, or completely different :P Of course, some people like gasmasks, other don't.
The shakycam was done on purpose. I didn't want you to be a 100% sure if it really was the same guy. I wanted to constantly hide a little bit. (although, the shot before he gets hit by the explosion wasn't suppose to be shaky, had forgotten the tripod at home)

Oh, btw, it is a paradox: "A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition." - Wikipedia. You watch a guy shooting someone, being part of an explosion, it all is kinda "normal" for an action film. But then it turns again, and all you thought was normal is part of a timeloop. And, the best part, I didn't actually know what a paradox was when I made this movie, some guy on Indiefilms.com said it was one :P Kind of got me hooked to paradox's.

Don't know who Slender Man is, who is it ?
Thank you for kind words aswell :)

Cheers,
Jarand
 
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