Slick Action Flick ~ Check it out!

B

BLT

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

After a significant hiatus, I am proud to present my latest short film, Slick. A short film shot by UCLA and UCR students, Slick is essentially a big-budget action flick shot for less than $2,000 yet featuring police helicopters, SWAT teams, and a cast and crew of over 60 people. We even had a shootout downtown and a street closure! Check out the trailer (Only a minute or so long):

Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBK3z3CdW6k (Sorry I've tried embedding but it would not work)

<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3064206&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3064206&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/3064206">Slick Trailer #1</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user376120">BLT</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>



We shot this with 1 HVX, 3 JVC HD110Us, with a Glidecam Smooth Shooter, homemade dolly, and Cobra II Crane. Costs were kept down thanks to the helicopters flying for us for free, all cast/crew made up of volunteers, and us teaming up with other production companies in the area with cameras in order to make this film a reality. Most of the budget went to food and sustaining such a huge cast/crew. FPS Productions at UCLA is premiering Slick and other assorted work on Wednesday, Feb 18th @ 8 PM at Ackerman Grand Ballroom at UCLA. If you'd like to attend PM and I can send you a VIP ticket. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments!

02.18.2009 | WEDNESDAY | 8 - 930 PM | ACKERMAN GRAND BALLROOM, UCLA | FREE ADMISSION | ADMIN@FPS-PRODUCTIONS.COM
















 
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Upload to Vimeo.com might work better - all the stuff seems non-existant on my version of the message board.

oops- my Internet was going out. I can see them now. :-)
 
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Not completely horrible especially if your budget was really under $2K

I would be very interested in seeing the entire short! :thumbsup:
 
I was impressed. I think some of the cuts could've been tighter but other than that it was pretty sweet. I like the title at the end too. Where'd you get your Airsofts?

-Nate
 
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BLT said:
Tried upload to Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/3064206 but it still wouldn't embed. Someone help me? I'm really bad at HTML! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it is impossible to embed Vimeo videos to DVXuser just yet. What you can do however, is something like this:



...which is a more user-friendly way to show that there's a Vimeo video waiting to be watched on the other side of the link!

Although I posted the image on my own FTP account, feel free to use it however you want. You may paste it into the thread's first page for instance, to draw more clicks.

And as for my feedback! you did an admirable work for your budget, my friend. You had quite a set, some impressive actors and an overall feel that cannot be connected in any way to its real budget. That's passion!

Having said that, I still see a lot of room for improvement in the editing and the music. Then comes the color grading - which was vitally needed, really vitally needed, it felt to me as if I was watching rough footage.

What's great however, is that with a little final push, all three can still be fixed before Feb 18!

What cannot be fixed now - only next time - is the cinematography, which was from my point of view, the video's weakest link. Good editing and careful color grading will be able to serve as excellent make up in this case, and will elevate this great trailer (as well as the actual movie) by over a hundred percent. I guarantee that.

So there's a lesson!

Besides, again, excellent work, and I'd love to see the final movie!
 
Hey Erez, thanks for the compliments and for the nice 'embedding' for us. We'll take another look at color grading. We're actually working on that right now. Would you recommend a more 'natural' tint, or something more overpowering? in terms of cinematography, what do you think could be improved? I personally thought it was pretty decent, but I would love to get better - Feel free to be totally critical and honest =P

I was impressed. I think some of the cuts could've been tighter but other than that it was pretty sweet. I like the title at the end too. Where'd you get your Airsofts?
Click to expand...

Hi Nate - Most of the airsoft guns were re-used from my previous films, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTx0gfSIb5E, at no-cost, while we had some additional things from a props company we rented from; they even provided us a police car and all that jazz!
 
BLT said:
Hey Erez, thanks for the compliments and for the nice 'embedding' for us. We'll take another look at color grading. We're actually working on that right now. Would you recommend a more 'natural' tint, or something more overpowering? in terms of cinematography, what do you think could be improved? I personally thought it was pretty decent, but I would love to get better - Feel free to be totally critical and honest =P
Click to expand...

What an attitude! I admire that.

Unfortunately, I am currently short in time for a more throughout breakdown of the cinematography - at least from my point of view - but I would recommend watching the video from a critic cinematographer's point of view. While many shots are purely excellent, few others (e.g. 0:15, 0:53) focus on an object/person a little too closely, making them literally "in your face". I would appreciate a little more space, a frame, I believe this also helps the audience's eyes to focus on it, once it's surrounded by "empty zone". For that reason, some shots naturally came with the main object overly cropped in my opinion.

Color grading! lovely! In a way color grading has three main goals, so it's very important to know what we're trying to achieve with it before loading the program. Firstly, as with any film, we probably talk about fixing the footage (e.g. too much exposure, as in 0:49, 0:53, shots that were too lit, shots that were too dark, turn day into night, etc). I think it'd be easier to go scene by scene and see what needs to be fixed (without applying any artistic coloring yet) and then go on with the other two steps, which would be balancing all shots (currently the trailer looks like a combination of many shots, which is what we try to "hide" in filmmaking really, some have too much red value in them - especially the indoor shots, others - mostly the outdoor ones - have too much blue, some are not saturated enough, others are overly saturated, etc... by balancing them all, we create a trailer, and movie, that looks and feels much more unified visually) and in the end - artistic grading! the one that really helps to convey a mood.

The third depends solely on your vision as the director. If you ask for my own personal taste on this particular video, I'd love to see indeed something a little more overpowering (yet not too heavy) - to go in harmony with the great "bigger than reality" mood suggested by many of the shots. I believe that this will raise the production value further by over a hundred percent!

But most importantly, keep it fun, cool and take it easy!
 
Wow, what a great film trailer.

When did you say the premiere was? Feb. 18th from 8-9:30 PM at the Ackerman Grand Ballroom on the UCLA campus? And it is open to the public too? Free?




Okay, I admit it, I worked a little on this project, and I got to say, what BLT did with what funds he had was nothing short of amazing!

See everyone at the premiere!
 
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