Repent, Short Film

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Nobody356

Well-known member
Hey,

I posted some grabs of this before, and now heres the whole thing. I was having some problems exporting a good version, and the colors are off a little in this version as well as there being some lines randomly in the middle of the flash transitions, although neither of those things should take too much away from the final product

This film was done rather quickly unfourtunately so I am somewhat reluctantly posting it. It was done in about 2 days a long time ago for my emerson creative submission, and I guess they didnt hate it, because I was accepted. I sent it in with a different soundtrack because the real one wasnt complete at that point. My music guy took forever in getting me the actual soundtrack, but he did a good job on it....especially because it was his first time scoring a film. Anyways, here it is, finally with its real soundtrack. Let me know what you think.

I do know the story is kind of weak, I didnt write the script but I know that for next time I will try to make sure I have a better story. And the adult actor was my uncle who had never acted before, so that could have been better for sure.

Hopefully I didnt scare anyone away, just saying that I know I'm not perfect by any means. I hope that you enjoy it, and look forward to your comments.

http://www.stickypod.com/stickypod_upload/uploads/Repent Final Compressed.wmv

edit:the fixed the white bars during the flash transitions now :)
 
Hey man, I liked some of the shots a lot. I thought the story was a bit senseless or weak(as you said) and that music drove me nuts! I thought your uncle was pretty convincing in about half of his lines, but not at all in the other half, I think partly because the dialogue took a lot of jumps, and the things they said didn't make much sense. Like I had a hard time believing that after he describes killing her, he just skips over it and asks about the demon. You seem to know what is lacking in it anyways, but those are some things I noticed.
 
I agree that the story was weak, but the lighting and camera movement was nice. I thought the music actually detracted from the entire thing and was much too loud during his talk with the psychiatrist. The bends in pitch were just way over the top for me. I understand it must have been attemoting to reflect his insanity, but it attracted notice to itself, which the music is never supposed to do. Good job and keep up the film making!
 
What did you use for your vertical movements (at the beginning and moving down when he was passed out by the table)?

JC
 
@King Cole, I used a cobracrane.

I'm gald you liked the lighting and visuals msconce, and I guess the genreal concensus is that the music is no good :/. What should I tell my music guy for next time(take into account this was his first try).

keep the comments coming
 
I agree the story was a bit dull but the cinemetography and lighting was well done.

As for the music, honestly, it drove me nuts too. It was cool in the begining but it started getting a little repetitive. It seems like it should be turned down a bit.
 
LIKES
  • I actually liked the lighting, although I thought it should of been lower wattage maybe? Worklights I assume, and... it didn't look White Balanced. However, I don't know anything about lighting so I haven't got much room to talk.
  • Camera work was good. It was tense.

INBETWEEN
  • I liked your crane shots at first, but after the 2nd or 3rd time it was a bit repetive.
  • the music was okay, and it was... really bad at points. I don't know much about music, it was to loud though.
  • The part where he knocks on her door, why did it seem like it was inside? An Apartment? Alot of the locations seemed out of place.
  • I don't think while he was alone in the house, he should of talked at all. I think we should of been guessing at what the hell was going on. Although the story wasn't very clear in the first place his pointless ramblings almost made me turn it off, but I kept going because I wanted to see if it got better.

DISLIKES
  • The acting was horrid! Well, moreso of the psychiactrist; he ran his words together. Like, "HI PETEROHMYGODYOURARM."
  • The story itself, I know you didn't write it. Maybe you should have rewrote it?
  • The cutting was off a lot, I didn't like how it would go black for a second and than go to another cut, I think it should have been more simultaneous.

TIE-IT-UP
  • I see TONS of potential. There is this quote, " You have to make a few bad films before you can make a good one". Anyhow, I think you direct well. The story however left me with a headache, and I thought the acting could have been a lot better with a little finesse.
  • It felt like I was watching 4 different films, One that was great, one that was in need of a lot of work, one that didn't know what it wanted to be, and one that fell well beneath "the bar" so to speak.
 
Yeah, the story was a bit awkward, and the music was horrible, monotonous. I did like the lighting, and some of the shots were really good.
 
Good Work

Good Work

Good work but watch your compositions. For example, if your subject is moving around in a close-up frame, move with him or her. Also if you crush your blacks so much you have to have more light, otherwise you start to lose depth within your frame. Keep makin' movies.:thumbsup:
 
Nobody356 said:
@King Cole, I used a cobracrane.

I'm gald you liked the lighting and visuals msconce, and I guess the genreal concensus is that the music is no good :/. What should I tell my music guy for next time(take into account this was his first try).

keep the comments coming
Click to expand...
The problem with the music was it drew way too much attention to itself. The moments of silence were FAR more tense than those of music. Further, one technique that some directors try is to choose a soundtrack that does not exactly match what they're shooting. It's an awful way to put it, but here's what I mean: George Lucas said he did not want a techno soundtrack for his sci-fi film, he chose classical, to sort of attain a balance (and look how far that soundtrack's gone...). You've got all this synthy stuff that screams "low-budget horror movie." If you choose something else, either a more original sound like a specific band or a different genre like classical, the music may seem to fit better with what is happening on the screen.

I'd also agree with the comment that the lighting was a bit over done. The point of lighting is to enhance the scene, not necessarily indicate that you lit the scene. I think the place for the most improvement is where he is home alone. Why not throw a blue filter over that white light that would make it fit in with a dark, shadowy home/apartment?

Last thing: You'd switch from using the crane to hand-held to tripod to... Choose when it makes sense for a shot to be handheld (i.e. tense moment, or something reflected in the soundtrack), choose when it makes sense for a shot to be steady (flashback, or calm moment?). I can't really give specifics, because that's your choice, I just noticed some inconsistancy.

I hope this is all constructive; I mean for it to help, not degrade.

As others have said, there is a lot of potential here, and I was genuinely nervous when there was silence and he found the knives on the kitchen table. Some of the angles were excellent. Keep up the good work,

JC
 
Need a good mic. Shots were fine. I agree the job crane shots were too much. Good for establishing and such, but way too many here. Great CC'ing to me.... Lighting could use a little work. If you can get a light with some nice white diffusion; that comes off real nice. Just some thoughts.
 
Thanks for all the feedback and comments, I will try to use all this information to better my next films. Next time I guess I'll use less crane shots and try different things musically(although I didnt do the music). And I'll take the fact that the lighting was overdone to heart and try to think about that in my next works

Thanksa again for all the replies, if anyone else has watched this I'd love to hear what you think
 
Hey man I like your style and you've got a good eye for shots and angles ext. I can kinda see what people mean about the music and the lighting but you're good at wat u do for sure, and you'll only get better. I like your Madison Video too, when the beat kicks in and the camera pulls back it's cool (don't mean to change subject). Got the song in my head man! Point is youre good behind the camera and at selecting shots and creativity is the master key.. Music, Lighting and stuff like that wasn't perfect but it will come thru trying and experience. Uve got some pretty cool kit, crane, dolly. ext, did u make the stuff yourself or did u buy it all? I'll be a DVX100 user in couple of weeks myself just gotta sell some stuff first! "I C a n ' t W a i t ! ! ! "

Keep it up lad!

DAk:thumbsup:
 
Nice work. You are a talented director. Soundtrack got in the way during the Psychologist scene, otherwise not bad.

Also, really liked the scene where he opens the door and stabs at blackness (or himself, or the girl). His jumbled non-words were great. Spooky.
 
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