"The Light Once Captured"

Visually this was just kick-ass! Can't say enough about the camerawork, the moves, the look. Just great. The acting was good and the story a great Twilight Zone take-off that worked pretty well. The only thing that bothered me was the explosion - it seemed a little slow and that made it possible to see the comp work. Maybe a sudden, fast blast might have worked better. And I wasn't sure how someone ungulfed in flames managed to wash up on the beach with no burns.

This was such a visual treat that these minor gripes pale in significance. Wonderful job.
 
This had some killer camera movement...has to be the best of the fest in that catagory IMHO. That sub location is just (and I steal from another thread) MegaCool! I really wanted to see more of the film take place in there. All in all the story was good and very TZ'ish, but I love that stuff. I have to agree with the explosion and lack of burns on the character...and yes, the audio could use a tweaking.

Fun film and I'd say it's a contender!:beer:
 
Loved the opening shots in the car and the floating shot. The set was awesome.

I would have liked to have seen more of Masterson freaked out on the sub, or maybe put in a situation that upped the personal tension for him, for example, when he comes into the sub, he's actually at the controls of some important function. But I nitpick, overall it was a fun, great looking film. I liked the ending line, thought it worked well. Good work!
 
Wow! I am floored by all the great comments. I spent so much time on this just trying to improve on all aspects from our first short (from villianfest). It's a big deal to get so much positive feedback.

Eric told me I would catch crap for the lack of burn marks on him but I decided it against it....whatcha gonna do.

It's funny with the twilight zone comments...I really see it now. Wasnt thinking of it at all throughout the process, but when I was grading it I thought about doing a black and white version...might have to go back and do it now.

We knew audio was going to be tough on this and we did have our fair share of problems...especially on the sub. It was a nightmare for sound. We also only had 3 hours on that bad boy. If i was able to get a whole day I would have witten a story to shoot the whole thing on there...maybe the sequel :)

somone asked about the camera move for the opening. The attached picture shows the set up. Was a motorized kessler cineslider set up vertically with suction mounts. I was in the back seat driving the slider and pulling focus.
kevcine1.jpgcine3.jpg
 
Russell Moore said:
Loved the opening shots in the car and the floating shot. The set was awesome.

I would have liked to have seen more of Masterson freaked out on the sub, or maybe put in a situation that upped the personal tension for him, for example, when he comes into the sub, he's actually at the controls of some important function. But I nitpick, overall it was a fun, great looking film. I liked the ending line, thought it worked well. Good work!
Click to expand...

thanks Russell!
I really wanted to have Masterson do just that but was not able to write it in a manner that would allow me to take the story all the way through in 6 minutes. So i scraped that and just tried to make it a journey, hoping to keep the storyline together enough to get everyone through it.

Thank you for the comments. One thing I really liked form Villianfest is that there are a lot of writers on here to help and critique us.
 
Great job Ryan. A really enjoyable entry with some brilliant shots. I loved the opening car shots, really pro looking stuff. The location (sub) was fantastic. I did find the cinematography a bit bland in the sub, in comparison to the exteriors (reading that you only had 3 hours inside the sub - I can understand that you had to push). A nice little story that definitely had a TZ feel. I won't echo the other nitpicks. Overall nicely done.
 
I echo what everyone else says about the opening car shot. I actually turned to my wife and said "how did they do that?" She said they must have one of those slider things. I said "Mounted to a car? No way." Guess she was right. :)

The sub location was terrific. The only thing that pulled me out was the audio. I've never shot in a sub before, and I'm sure I dom't appreciate the difficulty of good audio in such confines, but the sound is really the only place the film fell down a little bit for me.

I love the last line of the film. It does make you wonder why everyone would be drawn to war and conflict when presented with so many other choices. Sneaking in a bit of philosophy on us. Well done.
 
Matthew B said:
Great job Ryan. A really enjoyable entry with some brilliant shots. I loved the opening car shots, really pro looking stuff. The location (sub) was fantastic. I did find the cinematography a bit bland in the sub, in comparison to the exteriors (reading that you only had 3 hours inside the sub - I can understand that you had to push). A nice little story that definitely had a TZ feel. I won't echo the other nitpicks. Overall nicely done.
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt! I had that opening car shot in my head from the start and once I figured it out I drained the piggy bank to get the slider. I was fortunate to get a great deal from Chris Beller at Kessler on a demo unit while at Cinegear. I was so hesitant but it seems that everyone loves that shot so Im glad I did. For the sub I had so many shots laid out...but once we got in there for a test.with only 2 of us i knew that there was no way to do it...way to small and not enough time. So we scrapped it and went handheld for the whole thing...and still barely got all of our shots.

krestofre said:
I echo what everyone else says about the opening car shot. I actually turned to my wife and said "how did they do that?" She said they must have one of those slider things. I said "Mounted to a car? No way." Guess she was right. :)

The sub location was terrific. The only thing that pulled me out was the audio. I've never shot in a sub before, and I'm sure I dom't appreciate the difficulty of good audio in such confines, but the sound is really the only place the film fell down a little bit for me.

I love the last line of the film. It does make you wonder why everyone would be drawn to war and conflict when presented with so many other choices. Sneaking in a bit of philosophy on us. Well done.
Click to expand...

Thanks Krestofre,

Audio was really tough in there. Even though the sub was not "on" per se, there were still a lot of noises in there...plus the echo...and the hardest part which was shooting wide and keeping the mic out of frame with all the movement. Our audio kit isnt the best either...but this is the best tasting lemondae we could make :)
Thanks for the review....and for the record I wouldve chosen the love camera ....but who wants to see that :)
 
I love the BTS shots. Really fantastic cinematic opening. It demonstrated the polish and professionalism that your short had throughout.
 
Great, fun film!! Opening shot was cool, sets and costumes were great. My only quirk is an artistic one: what was Masterson's stance on his being transported (so to speak) to the war?? At first he seems confused, dazed, befuddled... tells me that he did not expect nor does he understand his surroundings; makes sense! But then he kind of jumps into the role of some-sort-of-data-reader, barking orders and listening to them as if he is a firm part of the war... tells me the dazed/confusedness was just him getting his bearings, that the camera literally put him in someone's shoes who is really IN this; makes sense, if a change from before! The problem for me came when he THEN tried to run away, reverting back to my original interpretation, that he was just this unlucky guy and not really a part of this war at all. They yell at him "get back here, you" but he's adamant to run away... really seems to push that first interpretation, which made me wonder, in this war experience: who is he?? Some guy, a lieutenant (or something along those lines), some guy actively living the experience of a lieutenant (or something along those lines), or some guy unwillingly living the experience of a lieutenant (or something along those lines)??

Again, the only real thing that confused me artistically about your film, so that's pretty awesome! Great job!
 
Hi Blueman,

Thanks for the comments. Actually Masterson is left out between when we see him and when he tries to go through the LT just before the explosion. The other guy is the helmsman....they do look alike :) I wanted him to just be confused and it was quite hard to get it to flow correctly. Thanks for the critque...much appriciated :)
 
I knew it... there isn't much you can't do with a slider! I still say it's one of the best tools in the bag. Thanks for the BTS look.
:beer:
 
Wow, taking a second look, I feel like a total dope; sorry for the misinterpretation! Seeing that now I guess raises another/related idea: it seems like quite a while between "what/whereami/aaah etc." and them noticing he's leaving, and a relatively small room. Of course, I'm mostly saying that to try to make up for giving feedback thats based on a mistake I made :P but then again maybe it could still have helped!!
 
Hey all,

Thanks for all the comments. This was a big learning experience and very challenging given the locations, time contraints, lost props, and equipment going up in smoke.

As for the audio - if you have specific things you would like to comment on or suggestions on improvement please PM me. There were a couple of known issues so the comments are not totally out of the blue but I would always like as much specific feedback from the community as possible to apply to future projects.

As for additional BTS - we also have a nice time lapse of the water shoot (which was an adventure in itself) so we can put that up as well.

Take care -E
 
bluemanrocks said:
Wow, taking a second look, I feel like a total dope; sorry for the misinterpretation! Seeing that now I guess raises another/related idea: it seems like quite a while between "what/whereami/aaah etc." and them noticing he's leaving, and a relatively small room. Of course, I'm mostly saying that to try to make up for giving feedback thats based on a mistake I made :P but then again maybe it could still have helped!!
Click to expand...


yeah you were still right in feeling that something was a bit off and i know it :) Had to choose between weaving him in there and getting the "Submarine feeling" in there. Wanted to get the sonar shot in there so we had a little depth to the sub...not just the one room. Had planned a whole pump room flooding scene but didnt have the time in the end.
Thanks
 
I like to think that it the space we don't see Masterson that he is taking a moment to reflect on how he should have just bought the large M&M figurine at the garage sale and called it a day.:)

bluemanrocks said:
Wow, taking a second look, I feel like a total dope; sorry for the misinterpretation! Seeing that now I guess raises another/related idea: it seems like quite a while between "what/whereami/aaah etc." and them noticing he's leaving, and a relatively small room. Of course, I'm mostly saying that to try to make up for giving feedback thats based on a mistake I made :P but then again maybe it could still have helped!!
Click to expand...
 
Good work. I like the concept.

As is my rant on several other entries, I think you could cut this down significantly and have a stronger finished product.

Congrats on the entry!
 
AJ Brooks said:
Good work. I like the concept.

As is my rant on several other entries, I think you could cut this down significantly and have a stronger finished product.

Congrats on the entry!
Click to expand...

Thanks AJ,

I know we could have trimmed the front half a bit...felt a tad long to me as well.
As with the other fest we did..I got hung up on "having" to get to keep it under 6 minutes that the became the target somehow. My next one will be targeted at 4 minutes i think and see how that goes. Appreciate the feedback
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top