THE BEAR - AF100 Short Film.

Loganm187

Loganm187

Well-known member
Many of you know what I was going through to finish this short and if not here is the story of what happened during production. http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...ussions-wrestlers-pokemon-and-half-of-a-film. This thing really shouldn't exist and when I got a new location and actor to replace my other one we only had one day to prepare and shoot...My whole vision for this was just constantly taken away from me at every turn. Well here is "The Bear" I don't think I'm partaking on any more no budget short films or features without a team (Although the 6 months i spent on my feature last year wasn't nearly as bad as the two days shooting this. Almost every shot you see in this is the first and only take as I was constantly being harassed to no end so I adapted a handycam style because of the tension on set. I would love any and all feedback on this.

 
I dont usually comment on shorts outside our regular fests but wanted to here. I watched those bts videos before watching this. WOW. Thats horrendous and after reading the small blurb - the fact you finished this is quite an effort.

I see what youre talking about when we get to those "handycam style" shots. But in this instance its still cut with some clean camera moves which softens the whole thing and as those shots all seems to occur in action components they dont seem to come quite so bad as you're probably feeling them. Watching shorts is usually a time watcher for me, and if I dont look at the time left its usually got something thats got my attention, this had that element. Really enjoyed the mood and emotion to something I thought would deliver a bunch of fighting and miss that altogether.

There were a couple of small light issues I had in the rushed components - nothing terrible.

Wanted to add one suggestion on the manager / wrestler sides in the locker room. When we are seeing part of the other actor in the OTS it still has kick on it - either knock it right down or kill it completely so when we look at the manager talking for example we arent distracted by the big white shoulder in the bottom / mid left hand side of frame.

Well done and thanks for posting. I think its important for the uninitiated to see how far you need to go sometimes in low / no budget to get it done and you went a very long way.
 
I've done two short films on three-day shoot schedules and, even with six months of planning, it is a horrible grind. Anything and everything can go wrong. I think it needs a bit more work in post, particularly the "locker room" scene. The opening shots are distractingly "contrasty" -- way too harsh, even for the bleak story you're telling. My only other major problem is that in that very same scene you "crossed the line of action" -- moved from one side of the camera axis to the other -- to pick up the old man's exit. Keeping to the same side of the line, in a two-shot especially, is a cardinal rule. I've seen it done, but only when cutting from a CU to a WS, but it's very distracting when it occurs within a series of closeups, as it did here. Otherwise, I think you did a heckuva good job given the circumstances. Don't beat yourself up too hard on this one. I'll bet you learned a lot.
 
Thanks for the input guys I'm just glad it exists and I'm not dead! The "contrasty" opening shots you speak of I'm not sure what you are saying as the whole thing uses the same mood and tone in colors as the opening. I do enjoy really very contrasty images, but don't see any difference between the opening and the rest of the film. As for the exit shot are you referring to when the old man gets up and I switch sides on the angle mid dialogue? It is kind distracting but it's because he held a really long gap in between the two line on both takes so cutting it like that really kept his momentum going...but yea I understand totally. Film making can be hell guys, but I don't think I'll ever stop. Just got a DP job on a pretty good sized budget film shooting in Atlanta this summer. It will be nice to just be in charge of shooting and not directing, writing, editing, monitoring sound etc. all at the same time and a nice paycheck. Thank again!
 
As a viewer, I felt the cutting well masked the mild 180 deg rule violation. Loved the textures in this piece with all of its sweat and dirt: I really got that feeling of backwoods low budget wrestling. The "coach's" delivery was a little heavy handed though, but otherwise well done considering the BTS drama.

If I understand the story correctly- how did you pitch this idea to that nut-job ring owner that hassled your crew?

nutjob.jpg



















Somehow asking this dude "can we make a short film about a gay wrestler here" dosen't sound like it would go over well.
 
Funny thing about the story is that none of the wrestlers or the "Nutjob" thought anything wrong about the story and all read the script which surprised me due to them being so backwards and such. The whole problem was that we didn't use REAL BLOoD and was showing people staged wrestling and not real fighting so they went insane when they felt threatened...So damn redneck.
 
"I'm gonna eat your soul!". .. I'm not sure when I'm going to use that line .. but I'm going to .. on file...

jeff
 
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