"The Ultimate Betrayal" - Short Film

[DanielRutter]

Hey Guys;

Firstly... The Film.

>>>STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING<<< (Don't watch if you're sensitive to those words)

This was all shot in a day (with one pickup shot done the next day), as part of a collaboration with my friend Bart from Forgotten Walrus Entertainment. You'll probably recognise him from a few videos I've posted here (Namely "Inside The Walrus" which was a doco I did as part of my film studies assignment last year). Bart has moved away from where I live, so when he contacted me about coming down for 4 days to do some filming, I jumped at the chance. I had all of about two days to dream up an idea (as did he), and this is what I came up with. We also shot another, which I'll post when it's done... but that one is his film. This one was under my control.

Things I learned from this shoot? Have a goddamn boom operator. I know my audio is cruddy for the most part, but in the end I was glad to have finally done a short film after all this time. I've been doubting my abilities as a film maker (figured I was destined to rot in videography for the rest of my life) for a few months now, after not coming up with any ideas for films. When Bart offered to travel down for some collaborating... I got my anus into gear and wrote whatever came to mind. My GH1 is becoming a pain in the ass. At least four times I had it crap out on me during a take. I guess the particular hack I'm using doesn't like trees, as every time I tried to film that wide shot of Bart in his car, it would stop 10 seconds into the recording. I love my tripod! Honestly, it's the film-makers best tool... I also love my shoulder mount, but I'm beginning to see just how useful this tripod is for film making (and not just videography).


For those that care for technical stuff:
This was all shot on the Panasonic GH1, kit 14-42mm lens and the Rode Videomic and Zoom H1 for audio. Edited all in Sony Vegas 11, with some audio parts tweaked in Adobe Audition.

All in all, this was a very fun shoot. I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it, but I'm prepared to step up my "game" for the next film.

PS: Yes, this is cut-and-pasted from another forum. I didn't want to write it all out again.

I'd appreciate any feedback! Also, keep an open mind watching it. I'm nowhere near professional!

 

[Observe]

way to damn wierd, didn't enjoy being placed between some dude's legs either.

 

[Chris Adler]

I didn't like the croch shots either. It may have worked onece, for a given effect, but you relied on it as a common setup. You should never shoot locked-off shots with autofocus turned on. You could see it hunting in several of the shots. You might want to think more about how the cinematography can really aid the story and use it to your advantage. You used the same wide static boring shots on both men at the desks. I liked the mirror reflection shot during the driving. While a tripod can be your friend, it can also lead to long boring shots, which I felt like I was watching numerous times.

Glad you got one under your belt! Onward and upward!

Oh, and what hack are you using? I guess you've learn your lesson that before you shoot anything you need to shoot a ton of test footage with whatever hack you plan on using to make sure its going to serve you. I have a GH2 with FlowMotion and I'm happy as a clam.