SHORT: RAW Hacked 550d Short "The Silent Guest 2"

It lacks conceptual and artistic clarity. Here's what I'd ask - what is this supposed to evoke for the viewer? How do I achieve that? Also, suicides as the end of the short/film - a very "I'm a young inexperienced filmmaker" vibe - do you really want to go for that vibe, and shooting yourself in the head - yawn... it's like how young/new filmmakers find feet/shoe shots very fascinating - it just marks you as a beginner, and not in the right way... what viewers like is originality, even if it's not polished, at least it should feel fresh. My biggest objection though is that it's shot in a very sloppy way. You blow things out, and say "but I meant to - that's part of the effect!" - yeah, but it's not in a good way, instead it has the feel of someone doing a skate trick and taking a spill and saying "but I meant to do that", a not very original idea of making virtue out of necessity, except it's not a virtue in this case. You lose focus - irritating and distracting, and then suddenly a random object in the foreground is in super sharp focus (the tree stump). The editing lurches back and forth cut to cut and feels random - it never feels as if one scene or cut flows naturally from the preceding one. And either start with a stronger concept, or, make your concept's strengths, if it has them, stand out more clearly, because as it is now, it feels muddy - hence "lacks conceptual and artistic clarity". Also, the music is out of place - it's intrusive and in your face as if that's the point like in a music video... except this is not a music video, in which case it's way overpowering. B&W - "just because I can"... not good enough of a justification. All meant to be helpful, as in my suggestion for what questions to ask. The good - you are doing something, you are shooting, you are learning. Best of luck!
 
Yes it was made up in one day as an experiment so most of what you say is totally valid we had this in mind. Who said I meant to burn out the shots? I didnt it was a mistake partly due to using a hacked camera in which we could not replay any shots.
In the shot you say we loose focus, it was not lost focus the tree stump is in focus and he walks into focus with the tree stump? Loosing focus is an awesome effect used in many films and especially artistic ones so not sure what your point is here more just a random knee jerk.
We didn't choose black and white just because we could it was to over come a lot of technical issues such as the burnt out shots, and also the gun at the end was in fact bright orange so not very convincing haha I am sure if you saw it in colour you would agree our decision to go black and white was a good one.
Yes the edit is a choppy quick edit and its supposed to be like that again its a style that is rather "in" right now, I don't know if you noticed?
I agree with the fact that the edit is not that good. TBH I was using light works and I ****ING HATED IT!!! hahaha Yes it drove me nuts! And making tiny tweaks to the edit proved too frustrating!
Yes we are shooting and learning, we are both quite experienced and worked professionally for many years so I think you might be assuming quite a lot about why we made the choices we did. Honestly I agree the concept is non existent, the edit is sketchy, there are horrifically over exposed shots at the start (we didnt do that on purpose dont know why you think we would say that?).. But I think it marries quite well with the music in that it is half way between a music video and an artist experimental short. With the total lack of script I felt it needed this element to keep the viewer wathing and keep some pace. I wrote and mixed all the sound and the video. Also shot and processed it all so I will always be pretty happy with the way it came out I love the random twitchy style and some of the shots are very nicely exposed and framed with nice bokeh. But I do agree with nearly everything you say, a part from the fact you feel we made decisions on lack of experience, I propose we made them based on our quite substantial experience.
Much respect for your honesty! I really appreciate it. And just to let you know I am not making anymore films without a screenplay :-) Much love, D.
 
I guess I should have been clear about the reasons for the video.
An experiment to try out processing in raw and also use the canon 550d with Magic Lantern.
With MAgic Lantern on the 550d there are many limitations the biggest is not being able to play back your rushes in camera! random crashes!
I didnt know if it had zebra's and totally over exposed the early shots, but I kind of feel that canon sensor burns out easily as I have experienced this on a few canons.
We made up the concept over a cup of coffee armed with only a gun as a prop and some paper.
We shot it all in one evening as the light was falling so not much time.
Just processing the DNG and TIFF files from the RAW data took 18 hours of continuous work.
 
Well, it's a relief that you at least take a critique the right way - as helpful instead of as an attack as too many doofuses unfortunately do on these boards. OK, I thought you meant to blow out stuff, because I couldn't imagine it was just an honest mistake, plus there was supposed to be a kind of hallucinatory atmosphere, so I thought you were kinda illustrating that to get into the mood. Out of focus - just random example minute 1:13, 1:17 etc. - there is no reason whatsoever that these have to be out of focus... the "coming into focus" thing might be OK when the guy is approaching or moving, but when he's standing (1:13) or sitting (1:17) what's the excuse there, except irritating sloppy? OK, I understand now why you picked B&W - but that's an artistic failure, driven by practical considerations. It's like when I asked a guy the other day - why is everything constantly in such shallow depth of field, it's extremely tiring - his answer "well, because we had no money to decorate the house and it was a way to keep the ugly surroundings out of focus"... OK, but then it becomes irritating. Or when you put a piece of music somewhere not because it's needed, but because otherwise the action is boring... not really an artistic triumph, even if driven by necessity. Anyhow. Also I disagree with you about the music - it's simply too strong here, and I don't think "half way between a music video and an artist experimental short" works - it actually falls between two stools... you're better off clearly going with either one, or the other (as I said: artistic clarity, not muddy half ways). Regarding novice tropes - sure you may have worked on films for years, but so what? Actually doing your own is different, you're responsible for the whole thing, and you can still make rookie mistakes - I call 'em like I see 'em, point being that suicides and shooting your brains out is a student filmmaking concept for ending a film - hoping to add drama by showing a gun, but you can't, you do drama with writing not showing a gun.

Regardless, I totally get you wanting to work on something - beats sitting around, and you always learned something. And thanks for being a good sport and not taking my honest feedback the wrong way.
 
I guess I should have been clear about the reasons for the video.
An experiment to try out processing in raw and also use the canon 550d with Magic Lantern.

Cool, but in that case you should have put that in the Canon section of technical stuff. Instead you put it where folks stick their artistic work and look for feedback. If this is just a test, I wouldn't have commented. Good luck anyway!
 
Hey yeah basically it was a mistake originally, and I thought I made that mistake (hard to tell with no playback), but when we thought about it; it did sort of fit in with the mood and also to just show how god damn sunny it was before going "further into the rabbit hole" ;-)

I cannot argue with anything else you are saying, its opinion but its true, or at least its hard to define as being "right or wrong" as its subjective but I take on board critiscim and will consider it when I shoot more.(Aren't opinions ever changing anyway? Or should be as we learn?).
All I can say is thanks a lot for the reply, I can understand that how we have presented this video wraps things into a nice parcel that looks pretty noob. But honestly it was just made on the spot with little thought except "lets test out my new camera" ( imagine a puppy drooling and wagging its tail).. So putting in the music and black and white is all just part of the fun and experiment, to try and make something out of a few wonky shots with cool quality...
 
OldCorpse said:
I guess I should have been clear about the reasons for the video.
An experiment to try out processing in raw and also use the canon 550d with Magic Lantern.

Cool, but in that case you should have put that in the Canon section of technical stuff. Instead you put it where folks stick their artistic work and look for feedback. If this is just a test, I wouldn't have commented. Good luck anyway!
Click to expand...

Again we are not very specific, it is kind of half way between a test and a short film. But I guess if it was a proper short film I would insist on there being a script.

So I probably should have put in the canon technical section, then I would have had this great conversation!?
 
Some really good points, I like that when you work on your own films you can make super noob mistakes hahah so true... doh!
 
Re: having a conversation - true, but very hard on these boards because people are so touchy. I used to respond with feedback - because people freakin' asked for feedback, and then they'd get offended because I only liked 95% of it and I had 5% criticism. So I mostly gave up commenting on people's work. Glad to see you are willing to at least listen (you don't have to agree!) - you can't learn without honest feedback. What happens mostly people say nothing, or meaningless "it was great!". Regardless, every time I pick up a camera I make mistakes - usually so bad I don't even post my stuff. When I feel I have something worthy of posting, I'll do so and hope you rip it to pieces. So good on you for having the cojones to put up your work, nothing ventured, nothing gained :)
 
Hey dude I totally agree with you and i have a saying on youtube: " why are all camera guys such douche's?" ... I was a sound engineer and musician (sound engineers are introverted neurotic nutcases but not a douche).. But with a lot of camera guys or not even that "aspiring" camera guys. They have their heads so far up their own arse they literally do not realise they are completely incompetent. Its quite scary actually. I have had to put up with a LOT of criticism from people with NO experience or knowledge, that is why I am mostly self taught in everything I do because of people ego's. What I have learn over the years is to stick with good people when you find them, dont stick with douche bags for the sake of it and ALWAYS LISTEN TO CRITICISM. Then you learn a lot more ;-) I agree that you will always make mistakes but most films have mistakes and its how they mix and edit it into the finished piece and still have a good film that is genius. Some of the best things come from mistakes :-)
I have learnt from just this thread so I am very grateful you were honest even if it did hurt a little (BOOOHOOOO).. I am very happy with what we got considering the total lack of planning and for me its great to see how my next film can be elevated way beyond this. Which it will because it will have a script hahahah..
 
Yeah, when you find good people, hang onto them - it's rare, unfortunately. Anyhow, best of luck, hope to see you around!
 
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