SHORT: The package

M

mr.sofa

New member
Hello!

HeadBite studios and Sofa films presents:
The Package
Genre: Action/Comedy

Plot:
An important usb drive was stolen from the Russian mafia by Americans and now they want to sell the usb to a customer, the exchange point will be in a deserted quarry far away from civilization. To get the key to the quarry the Americans hire a middle man to transport the usb to the location. But while transporting it the russians also hire men to get their hands back on the usb...

About the film:
This film was filmed with home equipment, and by amateurs.
There are some fails in the film.
The film took us 5 full days to film.
 
I think the answer would be both :)
We are planning to film another film, which with experience should be better than this one...And to have fun :)
 
Ok, some advice:

- RULE NR1: everything that's not in screen/shot...is not in the shot...so it is not in the shot so it means it's not in the shot....
ok.... so not in the shot...so nobody sees it...so weather the car in the first shot the engine is on or off... nobody gives a "poopoo" (I typed that one myself :-p)
So... turn it off... turn every sound that's not needed off...every sound...yes every sound... and yes that sound too (the car, ref, heater, airco, tv, radio, moawer,....kill the noisy neighbour)

00:10... sound is missing for half a second.... find the same sound somewhere else put it there, do small crossfades and...tadaaaaa

the gunshots are found on the internet ? they're ok... But some other ambient sound is missing (some wind, maybe traffic in the back....) and the gunshots have to be tweaked a little, but that's only possible in soundpost software...it can also be done with standard plugins in adobe/finalcut/avid maybe...But it's hard to explain how exactly to do it... It's EQ, adding little reverb with post-fade going to the aux on which the plugin is set...

00:18 the car engine... don't do that anymore... If in your next films I hear a car the engine turning and the driver giving gas... I come personaly to you to throw tomatoes on your head....
If you like to have that, do it in post...take a seperate sound of that... so you have 100% control of it... But it's not cool...it's just....naah... It's to much cliché...to much "1960 movie" :-p

The car goes from left to right in both shots...that's good. (as in, it's logic)

The 2 guys shooting: don't put them nicely in the middle... it's better that DOP people give comments on frame and light. But I'm more attracked by that pole with red head...

No comments about the acting.... You know that it's bad ? :-p

The "we don't know what's going on" is good.... I see a guy running, 2 guys shooting. So I want to know more.

00:58, cut the first 2 frames of that shot... and see if it's better.

01:01: let him pass here without moving the camera and cut directly to 01:08

RULE NR2: left left right left right left right left left right... If you thought that "left and right" are easy things....you're wrong...
and you noticed that... He looks left, the other guy looks left...so they don't look eachother... Flip the frame of the guy sitting vertically....

delete between 01:14 and 01:17

Take car of "headroom" (the space above the heads)...01:19, here he looks like a little kid trying to reach the pancakes on the table... Yes he looks stupid :-p

01:22 to much pc.... (portable, laptop...)


01:32 position him more to the right.... don't put people nicely in the middle...you're not your uncle John with his videocamera to film weddings....

I'm not going to go in detail for every single thing. But in general it's:

- don't position people nicely in the middle
- don't have to much space above the heads
- take care what you see in the frame... scan the frame with your eyes...take your time
- turn off all annoying sounds that you can
- cut it smoother, give it more speed. Now a lot is "nicely waiting" stuff...don't let us "nicely wait", do faster cuts$
faster not as in "speed it up" but as in "remove parts so that a guy goes from his car directly to "sitting down" and not the
walking parts in between.

Exagerate more with the russian accent...
 
- RULE NR1: everything that's not in screen/shot...is not in the shot...so it is not in the shot so it means it's not in the shot....
ok.... so not in the shot...so nobody sees it...so weather the car in the first shot the engine is on or off... nobody gives a "poopoo" (I typed that one myself :-p)
So... turn it off... turn every sound that's not needed off...every sound...yes every sound... and yes that sound too (the car, ref, heater, airco, tv, radio, moawer,....kill the noisy neighbour)
Click to expand...

I don't agree in all cases, There's times when you need to start audio before the scene, and there's times when the audio needs to fade into the next scene. In this case, I agree it's over the top, the car reving the engine, skidding off without a skid mark, does not work. I agree with your other points though:)
 
maranfilms said:
I don't agree in all cases, There's times when you need to start audio before the scene, and there's times when the audio needs to fade into the next scene. In this case, I agree it's over the top, the car reving the engine, skidding off without a skid mark, does not work. I agree with your other points though:)
Click to expand...

I forgot to say: "And record it seperatly so you can still add it afterwards..."

So now it makes sense ? :-p
 
Hey dre83 thanks for your time :D
well se what we can do...
Yea its hard to film something when everyone wants to take part in everything and the some people have dumb ideas :S
I can tell you the next one will be far more better...
For this film we had to make it in 2 weeks with the editing because we made it for a competition so it was all RUSH RUSH RUSH -.-... we came in top 10 :D

We are planing on making a new one in july, so stay tuned :D
 
ok... so there's worse...

If you have a short time it's very important to give everyone a task:

Like "you do sound, and sound only and you don't interfere with the frame, acting, directing, wardrobe, props...
You do make up and you don't interfere with the framing, directing....

As you noticed, as everyone is interfering with eachother....things that could be done in one hour take..... 7 hours (I don't think I exagerate....)
 
YEa I agree :D
We are allready planing out for the next one...we Are going to give acting to people who know how to act and filming to people who know how to film, and editing to people who know how to edit! :D
And then its gonna be big! :D
 
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