Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

good production value, only question is in the bathroom you have a visual of the bald gentleman drawing his gun than he proceeds to fight hand to hand, this did not flow to me. Also agree that the young friends are alittle two over the top you had some great shots and edits but they kinda of worked against a really nice production piece.

just an opinion not fact.
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

CJ that was awesome! I liked everything you did especially the transition from night to daybreak revealing the ending! It all worked very well.
Excellent job!
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Just wanted to say,

AWESOME JOB GUYS.

Seriously great work.

Am I the only one to think the serial killer looked like the bad guy from "The Mummy"?

good job

A
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

I agree that the production was excellent. It looked really good.

Some constructive criticism:
1. The editing was a little loose, there are shots that could have been made shorter (this has already been discussed) and I think you could have shaved about 4 minutes off the total length.

2. The score for me was a little disappointing. It had a "Tales from the Crypt" type style that kept the movie very small to me. A more lush soundtrack would have elevated the movie in my opinion. Having said that, the actual songs (not the incidental music) were very enjoyable.

I wish you luck, you are obviously very talented.
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Disjecta- Thank you for your criticisms. I'll keep them in mind on the next one.
1) I agree that some things could have been trimmed, but as far as shorts go, I personally think this is an entertaining one. Cutting 4 minutes out of the film would sacrafice much of the storyline, in my opinion. If it feels long, then it could be a problem with the pacing of the film. Something which isn't completely up to editing. We have to show characters get from A to B, and a lot of that depends on the way it was blocked, choreographed and shot. As being an editor who cut 13 films last year, including a feature and many music videos, there's only so much an editor can do, to fix the film before they start cutting out the story and great moments of it. It's not necessarily the case here, but I do like hanging on certain moments in the film editing & directing-wise. I feel the film does move quickly, but doesn't need to move at a Michael Bay/Tony Scott breakneck pace.
2) Film scores usually seem to be of big debate, with just about every film. I think the budget really plays a factor in that. This film, before festival submission fees came out to $7000. It's an incredibly limiting budget for 14minutes of film + 1 minute of credits. It'd be great if we had the funds to hire Danny Elfman, but he wouldn't even fart in our general direction for $7000.

This isn't to discount your critiques, but I think it is important to keep in mind a few of the limitations a film has. Like Elvis' film, they only had a week. But imagine if they had a year and a 20mil budget. In my opinion, they did a very decent job.

My .02 cents.

-CJ
www.arkhamfilms.com
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Great job!

What did you use to edit the video?
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

CJ,

I absolutely agree with you on the limitations thing. Usually when someone throws in their 2 cents (like me) they are largely ignorant of the specific restraints a filmmaker was under. Unfortunately, one doesn't get a chance to explain that to the average movie-goer that may see your work. So, for what it was worth, those were just my raw gut reactions to the piece as a whole. My 4 minute suggestion was a little random, I'll admit but what I meant was that it could have been tightened up somewhat, maybe that would only save a minute but you get the point.

And yes, I am well aware of the problems getting a decent score and can fully understand why you did what you did  :)

Anyway, I really did enjoy it and liked the unpredictable ending, something hard to do these days. If there's a consolation to my comments then it is that I have already watched your film 4 times.

There's a good reason for that  :)
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Well, I really liked it. Haven't any of you ever felt like you wanted to do something like that to jerks like those?

Nighttime scenes are tough to light properly; hats off to the DP.

The two Mullets were over the top, but that's how irritating people are! No problem there as far as I was concerned.

Nice work with the dolly shots.
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Could you give some info on how you recorded the sound? What mic you used, etc? It was very solid.

Thanks

A
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

very nice.. loved magic hour at the end. Lighting was a little to hard in some places unless that was you goal, and his bald head really burned some scenes.. a little powder woulda solved that.

the little dolly follow of the truck was awesome.. if you dont mind i might steal that in the future :)
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

very proffesional. arguably the best so far i've seen in shot composition, imho, although some others are right up there with it. must have some great storyboarding. as far as sharpness, it still looked film like to me. 35mm films are sharp.

edit:
btw... was "Human " also shot with dvx?
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Very nice. Long download, but well worth it. I also felt that the music could have been a little better matched, but it was very good. The composition was good, although a few of the shots seemed a little 'cramped'. A few shots that were a little wider in the diner would've been nice. All in all, very professional. Good luck with the festivals. How long did it take to shoot, and how many cameras did you have?

Ryan Waggoner
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Arcburn - The sound was probably the worst aspect of our production. We used an older Sennheiser shotgun mic that was almost too directional. It was very easy for it to slip off axis. We just plugged it straight into the XLR on the DVX. Our sound designer was able to fix most things in post, after giving me in a huge lesson in what to use next time. We just didn't have a budget for a mixer or decent lav mics. If anything sounds good, it's because of what the sound designer did in post. It sounded pretty poor, just off of the raw footage.
Jarred - Yeah, the shine off of his head got a bit bothersome. That and my growing distaste for cinegamma. We actually had 3 make-up artists on set, powdering the actor down, but there wasn't much we could do besides turning off lights, or removing the roof of the Diner itself. (low ceilings suck)
DarkAvenger- Human was shot on an XL1 back in 2001. That was my camera of choice before the DVX. I still miss the length of the lenses though.
Ryan - Funny you mention "cramped" for the diner scene. You're the first to mention it, but I was going for a subtle uncomfort level in the compositions, during that scene. We used 2 cameras for the whole shoot and it took us 4.5 days to shoot with one pick up day. We had a half night to get the "inside the car/trunk scenes", then we had 1 night to get the gravesite scene, plus the morning. So the whole ending took us about 15 hours. We shot the diner in one night and all its exteriors... then we changed locations again for the restroom & backlot scenes. Every location was pretty different but I think it seamed together well. We had a good A.D. who really kept us on schedule.

Thanks.
-CJ

www.arkhamfilms.com
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

CJ,
Overall I liked this a lot. Nice dolly shot when the mullet's pickup pulls up to the diner.

I do agree with disjecta though about the editing. Felt it dragged a bit overall and I saw places where the editing could have tightened up the overall flow and made the story that much more enjoyable. I think as director/editors, we tend to fall in love with certain scenes and not want to lose those little magic moments. But as an editor alone, it's our job to do things to service the story over keeping the cool scenes (oh the pain of cutting your own work!). But all in all, like I said, I do like it. You consistantly create fun, professional looking material.

Gotta ask you about your workflo for outputting the quicktime movie in that frame ratio. I shot my film using the 16:9 lens and cropped in camera for the 2:35:1 frame. But when I output my cut to a quicktime movie, I don't get the same frame I get when I view my anamorphic raw footage from the daily tapes on my TV in 16:9 mode. Can you post how to you went about it? I'm also using fcp4.

Again, great stuff.
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

CJ,
Your work is truly inspiring! At this point I'm sure Roadside is in the can, it is what it is and none of the critiques from the DVXians will alter it. As far as the music, go with your gut instinct, if it works for you then that's most important. Yes the mullet boys were over the top, but they needed to be to set the stage for revenge of the freak. Perhaps you could've shown an empty bottle of Jim Beam scittering across the parking lot when they pulled up. This would've indicated they weren't just idiots, they were drunken idiots and justifiably more obnoxious. The transition from dark to daybreak was brilliant, and the snowglobe payoff was pure genius! I've watched a lot of shorts here on the screen grab page and I think your stuff is the closest to breaking through! Keep refining and perfecting, you're on the right track!
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Though as a writer I have mixed feelings about your subject matter, the visuals were outstanding and the acting was very good indeed.
As far as your musical needs, I would be happy to provide a soundtrack for any project at your budget. I am a semipro music producer/singer/songwriter with a growing interest in film, at least until I discovered this website, which is making me forget my ptsd over my deformed XL 1 projects. I think I may be ready to embrace digital video...
As to what some people will or will not put into their bodies, one time in Sioux Lookout ON I watched a guy eat a beer glass and then snort the tiny shards left on the table. Later he said he was scared of me because he thought I looked crazy. People are strange. Keep rolling.
P.S. Just watched it again, liked it more. Inspirational sunrise, Thanks for sharing.
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

Good job,

I was reading the post but I can't remember if you told us your settings? If you didn't can you please tell us.

thanks
 
Re: Roadside Attractions (Short Film)

CJ, that was really good. I thought the comedic element of the fight scene was totally out of place. Should have kept it serious.

Your films deserve a better opening then the lame shine on text thing you've got goin'. Surely you know someone that could wip something cool together cause trapcode shine on straight text is done and gone forever. It's totally lame looking! I'm a mograph designer, and that's one of my pet peeves.

That's my opinion!

Ted
 
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