Shed Thread (the)

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Just wanted to acnkowledge all and say thank you Callaghan, PK, Rasquache, and NBC. I have to get some time soon to thank you guys properly and respond to a couple of things you've said, but for now let me just say WOW!

Jack...

I downloaded the movie for a friend... and it was a different VERSION.

1) The Shed title was grey instead of red
2) No loud sound FX when hammer strikes Father's finger

I can't remember what else. Seemed like an earlier version... I like the one on my computer better. You might want to contact Jared and stop it's circulation

Peace

Panther
The grey title version is the current NEW version red title was only up for a day as a mistake.

The sound for the finger should be identical -- possible explanation = that sound is right channel only on both versions, so if right channel was down or something that could be it.

The differences in the Old Red Title version and teh New Grey title version are as follows. In the new version:
1) Title grey instead of red
2)music mixed louder in first half of short
3) opening credits inlcude makeup artists
4)CC added in one short clip that was accidentally left raw in the Red Title version -- when it cuts back to Father's reaction after the cuttaway of the finger, compare that shot to the shot of the father before the cuttaway of the finger and you will see that the shot after the finger is crazy red and a different CC from the same closeup right before, this is because the later clip is raw with no CC. So thats actually a straight up error on the Red title version.
5) gamma is brightened a bit on new version to so it wont play too dark on PC monitors.

Other than that they are identical and most people don't notice the differences except for the title color. Surprised no one with the original version commented on the mismatched CC in that like second and a half clip.

So rest assured its the same Shed only with slightly brighter gamma for PC's and corrected CC. The DVD version will have a different gamma adjustment ofcourse.

Thanks for being such a supporter. I know I have som other questions of yours to answer which I hope to get to soon. I will also give you a heads up for the small changes I plan for the DVD.

Thanks again all,

Jack

 

[Slimothy]

Great job man! I finally got to watch it after a week of drinking my ass off in the middle of the ocean. Def. in the top 3 or 4 that I've seen, and I've seen most of them. The editing was really top notch. Also, the ccing was excellent. Story was great too. One thing I noticed was the guys bone sticking out looked a tad fake. Other than that the makeup and gore was awesome. The Radio dj guy announcing the outbreak also sounded a bit dull. To me if zombies were coming the dj would be a bit riled up. Other than that it's pretty top notch. great job.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

In my little clip here there are two blind wipes which move at varying rates. Each wipe changes speed 3 times. In your NLE you can configure the speed of your wipe with a graph and line on it (at least you can in Canopus)... so it makes it much easier to get the frames in perfect sync. Sounds pretty simple, no? Now if you want to get a couple of your same actor in the same shot you'll need to use a matte... just enough to allow any overlap... the only thing that was kind of an issue for me was the shadow... but I still spaced it just at the razor's edge of needing a matte...

PK commented on a slight bump in mine, that’s cuz I was speeding up the footage to try to make the actors reappearance more instantaneous. FCP also has graph lines but I can’t really figure out how to use them well. Especially the speed one. That’s why there’s a bump, because the speed changes in bumps instead of along a curve on mine.

What can you say about Shed? It's good and it's inspiring... simple as that. If this isn't in the top 2 I'll have a hard time accepting whoever is.

Thanks again man!

You've helped a bunch. Your breakdowns in your responses are helping me (and possibly many others) become a better filmmaker... for that I am truly grateful for you taking the time out to do so.

I wasn't going to attempt "moneyshot" for the short I'm shooting this weekend (sorry... it's easier to refer to it as this). Figured I'd experiment first. But after seeing footage, I have the confidence to try a take or two prepped for freeze frame and whip edits.

I'll be getting Barry's book, getting the EVS overlays, and will begin to look seriously at the fig rig... how that for helping me.

BTW: Wow.. someone who actually owns a fig rig! You can't FIND an independent review for those things! Seems too good to be true!

I love it. I’ve never tried other stabilizer systems. The fig rig is not magic, it takes some skill because the basic stabilization system is your arms. What’s great about it is that you can turn it at any angle, hold both arms straight out to the side of your torso, grab it at the top of the wheel and do a low shot but pull it up in front of your face while you walk etc.

1)Ever try one of those West Wing walking backwards to catch dialog moves?

Yes, works great.

2)How long before your arms fatigue?

first time I used it after 45 min straight chasing my GF around the French Quarter I was like – ok this does get heavy. But how many takes are 45 minutes long. Two weeks later used it for a 15 hour shoot and never thought twice about it. You lock your elbows to your side when stationary, and just rest your arms between takes and setups.

3)Better than a glidecam

I’ve only used fig rig. One big advantage I see is that you can crane and jib with it by crouching and holding arms out to sides. The biggest advantage however is that you can be a one man crew (for sound at least) because the fig rig easily mounts my two wireless mic receivers, my boom mic, and a small mixer.

I PROMISE these will be my last questions... til you make your next awesome movie that is!
Derek

No worries keep em comin’

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Disclaimer: I have not read the other comments in this thread mainly due to lack of time so forgive me if I'm being repetitive and/or redundant.

First, let me say that the opening sequence is very well edited. Lots of quick cuts suggest preparation for something ominous. The strained look on the lead’s face as the film title bounces around erratically adds to the overall flavor of tension and sets the tone of the movie within seconds.

Your choice for the lead in this film is perfect. He could be a used car sales man or an executive…ultimately, he is a family man and I instantly cared about him.

I love working with Bob for that reason. Mentioned elsewhere in this thread that he is a sort of local celeb in NOLA, in large part due to campy drag queen shows, which I realized on day three with 3 hour of makeup each day and no complaining that that was actually sort of a perfect zombie boot camp for him – hours of makeup in a restrictive uncomfortable outfit for an amazing transformation.

The only nit picky thing I would say about the shot with the film title is I would not have overlapped it on his shoulder, it takes away from the space it could occupy happily on the wooden door.

Totally. That was a last minute snafu. Hope to do a totally different font for DVD and get the placement right.

It would not have been my choice to portray the wife and daughter anonymously. It contrasts too heavily with the already established intimacy we have towards the man. Why could we not see the strain of it all in the daughter’s eyes and maybe the pained but comforting eyes of the mother? I could only relate to them through the man’s eyes…not a huge thing but it left me unhinged a little.

I hear you. It’s a big play that may or may not work for some people. At least no one has criticized me for bad framing and cropping their heads off LOL. I wonder if this unhinging effect you mention was actually the desired effect – my GF hated the exorcist ‘because it was too scary”, well you are having a somewhat similar experience to the main character in that you are desiring a greater intimacy with those characters that I chose to withhold from you as the short is told from his perspective. But if it pushes you out, then it doesn’t work, period.

I loved the blurring as mother and daughter returned to the house and the jump cuts and music gave it a vintage movie feel…almost theatrical angst. Was the flying bug a happy accident? It really added to the flavor of where this story takes place….I notice these small things.

Yes. Happy accident. Then I slowed it down for viewing pleasure and added sound.
That shot is the one squeeze shot, the rest is anamorphic adaptor. That one was squeeze because I was trying to use a polarizer to get the sky a little better and I kept that take because of the bug. You’ll have to let me know how the squeeze looks vs. the anamorphic adaptor on your widescreen when the DVD comes out.

Some old tried and true techniques to show the passing of time are effective. I like your combination of hard cuts and cross dissolves. The latter, when combined with the former serve to make time feel stretched to its limit. By confining what is in your frame and fitting the lead inside this box, the feeling of claustrophobia was heightened. The implied flies buzzing around enhanced the feeling of loneliness and something that was bordering on pathetic. Again, I felt, through images and sound alone, I was penetrating into the psyche of this individual, I could feel his pain long before we get a glimpse of the massive wound on his arm.

I’m a big fan of long dissolves and again we are getting a sense of time passing that made me fidget, I wanted to get out of this space myself…tension slowly builds…what’s going to happen to this man?

As the wound infects, so does the sound….the buzzing, diseased audio gives us bad news. You avoided making the sound of the bandage being unraveled too hokey…it’s just enough to be disgusting but not call attention to itself. The message is conveyed subtly. The visible bone is suitably gross…thanks Jack. Nice use of selective focus for this sequence.

The 360 degree technique worked well for the hammering sequence. It would have been more realistic to me if he had recovered his arm. With the bone hanging out and he, looking like he’s just bustling about his business in a determined fashion, brought me back into reality and unpaused my disbelief. Not a huge problem, but it distracted me nonetheless.

I can totally see that. That struck me at the time of shooting, but the idea was that the bandage was unusable at that point and also I had trouble tracking the growth of the infection, when it was / wasn’t bandaged in our rushed shoot.

Nice touch on the finger breaking off….that really conveyed the slow decay and stark realization that this was not getting any better.

I loved the little girl’s laughter as he looked at the imprint of her feet and I also liked the suggestion of looking at photos rather than succumbing to the temptation to show photos of happier times…bonus points for avoiding that cliché.

The timelapse and transitions from the shed to the model shed to the radio to the wife is a nice sequence…very well paced. The practical is a little blown out there but not a big deal.

I’ll have a look at that practical situation for the DVD, thanks. I was going for that late career Spielberg backlit thing that’s all over A.I. for example (no where near that I know). The model shed amuses me because there’s a little tiny man looking out that I think of as the zombie dad trapped in his shed – I’m easily entertained, lol.

Cutting to the abstract visual of the man at this point is very effective. He looks almost monstrous and the music sells this idea even more. I sense the metamorphosis, the time is near. Something is going to happen soon. The reveal is very well done…nice decay. The camera work is spot on in this sequence, enhancing his struggle to support his own body. It’s almost comedic but in a sinister way.

Thanks. Yeah I wanted to prolong the reveal with the blurry shot, so its nice to hear you react to that. And I wanted the slight clownishness or buffoonery to play as a little pathetic.

I found myself wondering how this nail and wire/string setup would work in real life and I was convinced it couldn’t…not without some kind of smooth pullies instead of nails….maybe it’s just me but, again, it distracted me because it didn’t seem like a believable setup. Having said that, it was very easy to see what you were conveying. The rifle barrel was well placed in the frame. The time it took to actually pull the trigger was appropriate.

Actually it did work. The string was high gauge fishing wire so it was very slick and slid through the eyehooks well, so we could and did accidentally pull the trigger a couple of times. From an imaginative standpoint I wanted the wire setup to be more of a Rube Goldberg contraption, a ridiculous mousetrap that someone on the verge of dementia would construct. But again – if it doesn’t play, it doesn’t play. More pulleys would have been good. The short does come off as pretty put together but it was soooo seat of the pants.

The ending was disappointing to me because it was totally predictable. Maybe it’s just because I saw 10 other movies that had a similar ending. I liked the camera move and the music into the wound on the daughter’s leg but I still felt a little cheated, given how much I had bought into the originality of the rest of the film.

I hear ya brother. My GF had the same reaction, feeling I had created something so beyond the genre with the rest of the film and that ending kind of cheapened it. I totally see that but to me it’s a fun genre nod.

The cinematography suited the story very well. I liked the overall look you got and the color palette you chose. Nice contrast in the colors between the interior of the shed and the exterior/interior of the house. I never felt anything for the mother and daughter because they were literally faceless. Again, I think it would have benefited the film if you had portrayed them a little less abstractly.
Overall, I felt like this was a very good film. Aside from the things I mentioned above, I didn’t feel like anything was out of place and it flowed quite well. When it was all over, I felt like I knew the man and I felt sorry for him.
Jack, you did a fine job and I hope you take this talent of yours seriously and continue to make films.

Thanks so much man. High praise indeed from a pro, artist, and gentleman such as yourself.

Jack

 

[MattinSTL]

Wow... that was a really good analysis of the film... and makes me appreciate it even more.

Hey Jack since we're such good friends now... and I know you don't need TWO anamorphic adapters... how much do you want for the extra one?

 

[Ought2bCommitted]

I really liked the visual style of Shed overall. Some nice camera work, the 360 shot just one of many nicely executed shots. I think where I fall in the minority is that I didn't find the story all that engaging or original. It felt and reminded me a lot of the scene in the new Dawn of the Dead where Ving Rhames waits for the dad to turn to kill him. Of course in Shed the man rigs the guy to kill himself, but for me the tone and pacing were very similar.

I especially liked the shot with the finger nailed to the wall. Cute.

This may have been discussed above, but not sure why you didn't show the other character's faces at all. Made me feel a little distant to them.

Really nice work. I liked it alot.

Robert

 

[MattinSTL]

I'm surprised at how many people think that the faces should have been shown... I completely understand the artistic choice to not show them. This story is about this ONE guy the entire time... right up to the ending.

You don't need to see the mother and daughter's faces because the body language conveys the emotion... plus I have a problem of analyzing couples. I can't watch a show like "King of Queens" for even a second because there 'aint no way in hell those two would be together. I found Jerry McGuire (spelling?) just as painful to watch for the same reason.

This spares us the awkward moment of analysis with how believable this complete family is... especially since it isn't important to the story. It's pretty hard to get a group of people together who can all act and LOOK related.

I also find the lack of seeing the spouse and daughter's faces to encourage the feeling of lonliness and abandonment right from the start. I think the fact that so many people are aware of this proves it was a good artistic choice... the only reason it's being brought up is because people are curious about what they missed... and I think this is one more way that this flick showed some originality in denying you the sense of closure that you would have had in the very opening scene.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Wow... that was a really good analysis of the film... and makes me appreciate it even more.

Hey Jack since we're such good friends now... and I know you don't need TWO anamorphic adapters... how much do you want for the extra one?

er... I'm not as confident as you, which is probably a good think because I think I'd be disapointed. I'm pretty happy with my film, but its just not as much Zomberific fun as some other equally well or better executed films.

Thanks though :beer:

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Great job man! I finally got to watch it after a week of drinking my ass off in the middle of the ocean. Def. in the top 3 or 4 that I've seen, and I've seen most of them. The editing was really top notch. Also, the ccing was excellent. Story was great too. One thing I noticed was the guys bone sticking out looked a tad fake. Other than that the makeup and gore was awesome. The Radio dj guy announcing the outbreak also sounded a bit dull. To me if zombies were coming the dj would be a bit riled up. Other than that it's pretty top notch. great job.

Thanks man. The idea with the Dj was that this had been going on for a while. Also as a hurricane refugee -- and there are many paralleles with the short, News casters spoke about the disaster - for the most part - in calm news tones. I'll look at this for teh DVD but for the most part I wanted to convey that this had been going on for a couple of weeks -- maybe I should just work that explicit detail into the VO. thanks again.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I really liked the visual style of Shed overall. Some nice camera work, the 360 shot just one of many nicely executed shots. I think where I fall in the minority is that I didn't find the story all that engaging or original. It felt and reminded me a lot of the scene in the new Dawn of the Dead where Ving Rhames waits for the dad to turn to kill him. Of course in Shed the man rigs the guy to kill himself, but for me the tone and pacing were very similar.

I'll have to see it sometime. Interesting that you say you didn't find the story original and then cite an example that's completley different, however, lol.

I especially liked the shot with the finger nailed to the wall. Cute.

This may have been discussed above, but not sure why you didn't show the other character's faces at all. Made me feel a little distant to them.

Great. Exactly as intended ... kind of like the Dad might feel?

Really nice work. I liked it alot.

Robert

Thanks for stopping by to say so. :thumbsup:

 

[Ought2bCommitted]

Yeah, but as the viewer I think I wanted to feel more for the other characters.

I suppose I should have hit return after my story comment because the two thoughts were related but not entirely. Yes, I didn't find the story 100% original in terms of zombie mythos. I've seen scenes LIKE "Shed" a lot LIKE in the scene I mentioned. I didn't say exact, jsut similar. I thought "Shed" was executed better than most, though.

By the way, is that Karloff as your avatar? Very cool if it is.

Robert

 

[Slimothy]

Hey Jdanstan, I watched it again and can now give it a better review: I'm sure you have heard all the great stuff a million times, so my whole review goes without saying that I think you desserve first or second place in the fest. Everything was top notch: Music, acting, sound fx, makeup etc.

A couple things I noticed:
The scenes of the guy in the shed in the beginning look excellent as they are exposed perfectly etc. Then the scene that happens right at the :30 second mark looks a bit darker and underexposed; seeming a bit inconsistent with the perfection of the shots before it.

At the 3:20 mark I get confused: Is the white shed w/ the box thing blocking the door the shed that the mother and daughter are in, or the shed that the man is in. Either one would seem inconsistent as in the beginning at the :40 second mark it shows the mom and daughter walking towards the dark green house right after they chained the man up in the tin shed. If the mom and daughter are in fact, in the white shed, why and how did they put the box thing in front of the door.

At the 3:18 mark it shows the shed and it looks brilliant. Then when you zoom closer for a tighter Est. shot (right at 3:20) it looses some of it's contrast, or color correction and seems to stay that way until it goes back to the shot of the zombie.

Lastly, at the 4:31 mark, the shotgun trigger goes out of focus when you zoom in on it. Don't know if that was on purpose.

There you have it. Hope it helps.

 

[MattinSTL]

Mother and daughter aren't in a shed... that's just a way to link the shots... like showing somebody going through a kitchen door with the little round window and then cutting to what looks the same from the other side but then pan away and it's a ship's porthole.

Ya' can't bust on the guy 'cause the sheds weren't identical! Man you're harsh!:grin:

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Yeah, but as the viewer I think I wanted to feel more for the other characters.

I suppose I should have hit return after my story comment because the two thoughts were related but not entirely. Yes, I didn't find the story 100% original in terms of zombie mythos. I've seen scenes LIKE "Shed" a lot LIKE in the scene I mentioned. I didn't say exact, jsut similar. I thought "Shed" was executed better than most, though.

By the way, is that Karloff as your avatar? Very cool if it is.

Robert

Its all good, LOL. There are lots of parts in Zombie movies about the sad human sacrifice, the noble suicide. Then again there are grieving mothers in every war too. Since I haven’t seen the new Dawn of the Dead, been meaning to, it reminds me more of the Mother Father double suicide in 28 Days Later.

I've always held the theory that a film, like any story, is told from a single perspective and the choice not to show the mom and daughter serve the isolation and loneliness that the dad feels.

maybe this isn't working for a few people because it sort of straddles 1rst person and omniscient 3rd person?


Yeah thats Boris.
:happy:

 

[taubkin]

Haha. Thanks for dropping by again. Yeah, the goop sounds are a little hot there, as is the finger crunch when he hits it with the hammer. I think I mixed them that hot because I wanted them to play well on even lame laptop speakers, I think I'll keep all of them but bring the mix down abit for the DVD. Q: There are three arm sounds when he unwraps: 1) the goop slithering as he unwraps, 2) the meat hitting the ground (x's 2) and 3) the soaked bandage hitting the floor -- which particularly of the three do you object to so I can consider it again? Also I think the score sort of dies folr a beat after the arm when it cuts to Mom and Daughter crying, Im thinking of adding a pedal tone (low piano note) there to button that sequence -- thoughts?

Yeah let me be more precise. When he is unrapping the bandages, there was a very strong goop sound that seemed there was a lot of motion/poking of the goo under the badages, but the images really seemed that it was still, so that ONE foley had me for a second thinking what sound is that? Anyway, it is a pretty hard foley to pull off, and is only a very really minor detail that struck me. The ONLY ONE. So really, no biggie...

BTW, as you comment about the "cliché" ending, well I kinda forgave it too, because this film was not about a punchline, but about executiona and mood. And it was much more character driven than plot driven for me, so I just thought, well here it is, in case anybody misses it... But it was so unimportant to the history you told, that I also felt it much more like a genre homage than a not-accomplished punchline...

 

[Ought2bCommitted]

maybe this isn't working for a few people because it sort of straddles 1rst person and omniscient 3rd person?


For me, yes, definitely because I really liked everything else. Felt dead on in so many places, forgive the pun again.

And you get major points for Karloff. Love him!!! His daughter is a speaker at the Chiller Convention on Halloween. Curious to see what she has to say about such a horror legend.

Robert

 

[Slimothy]

Mother and daughter aren't in a shed... that's just a way to link the shots... like showing somebody going through a kitchen door with the little round window and then cutting to what looks the same from the other side but then pan away and it's a ship's porthole.

Ya' can't bust on the guy 'cause the sheds weren't identical! Man you're harsh!:grin:

I seriously still don't get it. I'm not trying to be difficult. Maybe I'm just stupid,lol. Could someone please explain. Tim.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I seriously still don't get it. I'm not trying to be difficult. Maybe I'm just stupid,lol. Could someone please explain. Tim.

Hahaha...

I can totally see where you are coming from.

He is in the tin shed, they are in the green house.

I just saw the toy shed lying around and it matched the wood shed which is near the tin shed and I wanted to cross fade them because I thought it would be cool ... not the most defensible reason from a dramaturgical standpoint.

I agree it would be clearer if it cross faded from the house to the toy shed and I can see how introducing a second shed could be altogether confusing.

It's something that most people didn't seem to have a problem with because it dissolves over the top of the toy shed, which is inside the green house.

I did have the thought while filming that perhaps I should try to do the dissolve with the green house into the toy shed for that very reason though. So its certainly understandable how you got confused on it, lol.

Will respond to the rest of your very detailed post which I appreciate very very much BTW - later as my GF is pushing me out the door to go do stuff in the real world now.

Cheers,
:beer:
Jack

 

[Slimothy]

no, no....The toy shed (the red one right?) is not what I'm talking about at all. The White cabin/shed thing that has the box w/ some kind of wood pole blocking the door. Whos is in that?

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

no, no....The toy shed (the red one right?) is not what I'm talking about at all. The White cabin/shed thing that has the box w/ some kind of wood pole blocking the door. Whos is in that?

HAHAHAHAHAHAH :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

I didn't think you thought the mother and daughter were living in the toy shed LMFAO!!!!!!!!heeheeheeheee

I was just saying that most people didn't think I was suggesting that anyone lived in the wooden shed BECAUSE it dissolves ovet the top of the toy shed which is part of an interior, rather than dissolving from the wooden shed to the mother and daughter packing which would clearly suggest that they are in the wooden shed, ha ha ha ha.

The wooden shed is a shed that just happened to be on the property where I could shoot next to the tin shed.

Now this may really start to cook your noodle, but remember that the interior of the tin shed, where the dad is, is reality actually another shed altogther which is in New Orleans. I would have used the wooden shed for the exterior of the interior shed i shot in NOLA except that the exterior wooden shed has windows.

to sum up...
1)dad is in tin shed
2)mom and daughter are in green house
3)wooden shed is empty
4)wooden shed is only featured because it matches the toy shed for the cross dissolve that I thought would be cool, but can totally see why it would be confusing
5) no one lives in the toy shed except the little farmer painted in the window there, LOL.

I hope you don't think I'm making fun of you -- its totally understandalbe -- just that this thread is playing like an Abbot and Costello scketch now:

"WHo's in the tin shed?"
"What's in the toy shed?"
"Why is there a green house?"
And
"I don't know who's in the wooden shed." LOL :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

If any confusion don't hesitate to aske, but I really gotta go now. But ask if still confused cause I want to respond to your thoughtful points in your 1st post today anyway.

Thanks

Jack