Screen Grabs from a Short

Ol23456789

Ol23456789

Active member
Hey all,

This weekend I shot a 3 minute short for a class at school. We had to take terrible script (not me complaining, it was terrible on purpose for the sake of the exercise) and make it into something 3-5 minutes and coherent.

I had a really great time filming this with 2 friends and just wanted to share a few screens with you guys to enjoy/critique.

I'm always learning from the users on this site. All feedback is welcome.

nicktable.jpg


nickbus.jpg


friends2.jpg


*****UPDATED*****

Here's a better link to the video:
http://www.stage6.com/user/Ol23456789/video/1929752/
 
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Ditto the rest - looks very nice. I, too, am curious about your scene file settings.

Keep up the great work....
 
I, like the rest, also wish to know your settings! I'm very fond of the second grab for some reason. Which camera was this done on? 100A?100B?
 
Shot at a large complex of abandoned buildings near where I live. We had a fun time avoiding security and possibly white supremacists... Standard urban exploration concerns.

You're right about Magic Bullet (Blockbuster setting used for most stuff). Shot on the 100b. Scene file settings are:

Detail = -7
V. Detail = -7
Detail Coring = -7
Chroma Level = 0
Chroma Phase = 0
Color Temp = 0
Master Ped = -7
A. Iris Level = -3
Gamma = Cinelike
Knee = Auto
Matrix = Cinelike
Skin Tone Dtl = Off
V Detail Freq = Thin
Progressive = 24P(ADV)



And here's the wonderful script we were given to work with:

FADE IN:
INT./EXT/ LOCATION – SOMETIME
Descriptive lines…
CHARACTER A
What was that?
CHARACTER B
I think it came from over there.
CHARACTER A
Come on.
CHARACTER B
Check it out.
CHARACTER A
What the…?
CHARACTER B
Do something.
CHARACTER A
I don’t know…
CHARACTER B
Uh, oh…
CHARACTER A
(INSERT ONE LINE OF DIALOGUE HERE)
FADE OUT​
 
I'll most likely upload the thing tomorrow evening at some point.

I could use suggestions on best compression methods out of CS3 if there's anyone out there with more experience than me. I've been lurking around for a while to figure out the best ways to export from Premiere (in the appropriate forum sections) but I never get anything satisfactory.

(this is the best I've been able to do with .flv files for YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWLwyhD1xso , it's still not the best)

As for .avi or h.264 files they always look washed-out once exported.

I'd give my left nut for a day of training with MacGregor.
 
Just straight DVX100b.

I've uploaded the project to Vimeo, but something they do during the encoding process makes the footage look interlaced. If anyone has suggestions for better places to upload please let me know.


http://www.vimeo.com/422593


The project is being turned in on Tuesday, so any and all feedback from you guys is extremely welcome.
 
That. Was.

That. Was.

Awesome.

Seriously, Doug, is it?

The atmosphere was suitably creepy and I liked the composition of most of your shots.

Your short was just plain disturbing and I liked it a lot.

Shame about the interlacing from the site you posted. It was quite distracting but not your fault.

Well done.

ian
 
Man, that was sooo good. I didn't get the story though, didn't make sense to me at all. I didn't know what was going on through any of it.

Nice work on the lighting, the acting, the shots, the sound, the ambient room tone.

Good job, but again, can you explain the story?

Thanks,

r
 
i absolutely love this. everything about it.
id love to watch a higher res no flickering version.
awesome. congratulations.
 
Haha, Nice.

My interpretation of the story.
*SPOILERS*
The two guys died in whatever cataclysmic event when it occurred or from the fallout thereafter. The guy with the gas mask has them wired to something that can replay the last few neural synapses or charges or something before they died. So he keeps replaying them because its the only human contact he has (all you need is love). Something weird happens this one time though and the guy that keeps saying "I'm still here" is maybe trying to tell him that he's still in there somewhere. Maybe that was his last words also, but something different is going on when he says them this time.

Heheh, maybe I am 180º off, but while I liked the look and feel very much, I really got excited about the story or conceit of it, which is obv. open to interpretation.

But yeah it looked great. Liked the CC and the glow on the fluoros. The comps were nice and the mood and feel were quite nice. Coulda done without the holocaust stock footage. In a perfect world you'd have him walk to the edge of a tall building and your CG or matte painting team could have him look out over the devastation. Even without that I think we would have gotten the given circumstances for the most part, maybe even had a little more mystery without using that footage, which IMHO should be handled with care for the most part.

Ol23456789 said:
...
I'd give my left nut for a day of training with MacGregor.
Click to expand...

How much would you give for 6 days edited down to just the good parts? :)
 
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LostInSound said:
Me likey, how did you power the lights and get them to flicker?
Click to expand...

I bought some 4 ft. fluorescents from Home Depot (the ones from Lowes will not work for this trick) and wired them up to extension cords with dimmer switches spliced in. When most fluorescents start to get less power they will flicker and you can control the flicker and light intensity with the switch.


Jack, thank you very much for the feedback! I'm a huge admirer of your work on this site (both directing and acting) and would give my other nut for a day of training with you (Smettli and Disjecta would have to settle for regular old cash).

I've been a bit uneasy with the holocaust stock as well, and I may change it to something less recognizable but still chilling.

As for the story, you absolutely nailed it. I didn't wanna take the easy way out on this one and leave it entirely up to interpretation, so I'm glad my idea got through. I had thought up a few other devices to make the story clearer but then the whole thing started to get clumsy and I left what's there.

And yes, matte painting would be unbelievably sweet. Have you seen Ruairi Robinson's "Silent City"? Apparently this short is what got him the director's seat for the live-action version of Akira. I'm very jealous. http://www.ruairirobinson.com/short_films.htm

I just saw "Unawakening" the other day before class and enjoyed the f out of it. You're one of a group of people on this site who's films always make my day and have me mulling them over for a while thereafter.

Oh, and the lights were powered with this: http://www.marine-electronics-unlimited.com/Xantrex+1500+XPower+Powerpack.html
I bought it over the summer. It can't power a studio light but it can power a few small things and it's silent.

Long live DV.
 
This was really fantastic from to to bottom. Great work. And thanks for sharing the tip about the Flouros.

I agree about the stock footage. It does feel out of place not a thing I would use in a fiction.

But just fantastic work.

You mention "Silent City." Even though that film had ooodles of EFX in it, it felt like little more than an EFX demo reel.

Your film had a vastly greater emotional impact.

So whatever you do EFX-wise, please don't lose that.
 
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