Tiger Cage - comments welcome~

Did you do this one too? What exactly are you trying to do with it? I would say the trailer is too long. I do like that chick with the gun. I wouldn't mind seeing that main guy do more martial arts. You could saturate the colors a little maybe, but I'm no whiz at color correction. You could make the same changes you made to "Butterflies" here.

-Nate
 
This is an old feature film I did and sold a few territories in the last century.LOL Now the rights have reverted back to me and I'm going to revamp it and do a new poster, promo, trailer, teaser and a new version of the whole movie eventually. Right now I'm just testing the waters with it.

The movie stars William Smith, veteran actor who did the Laredo TV series, starred with Clint East Wood in Whichever Way But Loose (I think it was the sequel); he played the boxer... He's done over a hundred movies. I'm sure you've seen him.

I produced the movie and directed some of the action scenes just to complete it and get it sold. It never came together as a viable feature film, so I shelved it ... UNTIL NOW, the new age of the NLE! The digital age and Final Cut Pro! LOL

It's going to be fun revamping it. I actually have a couple of other films I'm going to telecine and revamp. But I don't want to slow down too much the new projects I'm developing, because filmmaking has changed and I don't want to end up working on old movies only.

I appreciate your continued interest and suggestions.
 
For a second i thought you made this recently to look like an "oldie". That would have been awesome.

What year was it made

Im gonna guess 1983
 
Thank you, HiG. That is what I want to do after the fact. LOL You're right, it was first shot twenty years ago. Digital recreation of old movies to look like 21st Century 35mm productions is my specialty -- a new genre. Here, I'm going to coin a new term like Noir: it's COULEUR ... FILM COULEUR!

But thanks for stoping by and commenting, buddy. I appreciate the feedback. I have a bunch of films that I'd like to revamp. This is why I think we should always make movies, because the years go by and it's important to have a body of work....

I'm happy to have 35mm films, because as I've said many times, when you have 35mm, you can always re-telecine it and end up with the best quality digital.

The reason I'm using the footage from my 3/4 inch copies of my films is that I can't afford to telecine everything and I'm trying to figure out which movies will draw most attention and sell DVDs.

However, one way to work with older movies is to preserve the old look of pre-vision-1 stocks. It' interesting what you came up with.
 
Can you cut this the same way you cut the "BWPH" trailer? I'd show more martial arts. You have a lot of gun action. But again I don't get the story. I have an idea but I really don't know what's going on here. Right now the chick with the gun is the most interesting person. I don't know enough about him and his abilities to really care - but the chick's cute, carries a rifle and talks tough. Add some music that will give it a hard feel. This is one of the best action trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lln6-a8lEqg

KOD is another good one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6AWMNMTAkc


Is there any way you can cut it like this? We get an idea of the story then the action is cut to great music. While DMX is probably awesome for almost any action film I don't know what you would be able to afford musically. Something hard would with the action scenes cut to it. The cutting would change the whole feel of the movie.

When cutting a trailer keep in mind how much information is being given at one time. Images are constantly flashing over words and sounds to tell the story. Your trailer has that to a certain point but it stays on certain scenes way too long. You only want to see enough for the viewer to get what's going on and their mind will put the rest together. If you slow any of these trailers down you'll see there's a formula to it.

Even Angels and Demons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVeN-58HKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcE8QaKiTGk&NR=1

The story first then you're dazzled by the action. My trailer is even slow compared to the pros who really know how to cut these.

-Nate
 
You make your points very well, Nate :-) You're challenging me beyond my wildest expectations.LOL

I don't have the material, but I could sure as hell try! Why not? :-) Thanks for the inspiration.
 
I watch my favorite trailers over and over again and try to cut that way. I slow down anything I think I missed. Good luck with this.

-Nate
 
I shot some of it -- the scenes with William Smith. I directed the action scenes you see in most of the trailer. I was the producer. There were five directors involved with the project. Three cinematographers beside myself. There were a couple of editors besides me. I'm the filmmaker and all the production and post production equipment was mine or it was the equipment I rented. I hired all the crews. I also own the copyright of the film.
 
Oh, good, then I'm going to keep that aspect of it going. I'm cutting it down this morning. A couple of people have remarked that it's too long for a trailer. Also, I'm going to look for a better storyline, because apparently it's not clear what the story is about.

Thanks for your help.
 
I'm watching the trailer now and here few things I think can help bring it into 2009:

It's a 2:45 trailer and I don't know what this film is about until near the end. I do know there's a lot of shooting, several breast shots and a badass broad with a big gun. I'm sure someone will buy this but I think the trailer could have more of an exciting look. I'm an action junkie and I'm not excited by this.

Way too much time is spent on him in the car. You should only show what's needed like only a little bit of the scene where she's telling him "If I wasn't a compassionate woman, I would just kill you." I think that's a great line infact it's the only thing we need to see, him being held back and her saying it.

I'm assuming you're going to sale this as an action film. If so put all the character and story development near the front with small bits of action. We can even see him in the car just being driven and the scene where he's being held back by the guys and beat up (an we only need to see him being held and hit once at this point). In this part we see the scene where the woman comes out of the shower and he hits her (obviously your "He's a loose canon" scene) and then we see his crisis of being an ex vet and trying to turn that off in normal society.

The last 55 seconds should be all action shots starting with the brother saying "The tiger is out of the cage". Now we see him unleash. Cut back to him popping that dude in the car, then cut (not dissolve) immediately to him pulling that gun on the guy drive (we don't need to hear what he says, it's not important right now), cut immediately to him falling out of the tree, then cut to him breaking that hold and punching the guys, then immediately cut to someone shooting then that guy who spins and shoots back but all these cuts should be instantaneous after all the action you can end it with a shot moving in on his face (if you have one) and voice over of him saying "You create a super partriot - a souless bastard. But when it's all over, what do you do with him." Then do a rapid fire cut of about three quick action scenes (him kicking the guy, him attacking the guy in the water and him another scene) then the title over his grim face.

:) And here's a trailer that's actually longer than yours. The other one is the shorter more concise trailer. I believe "Tiger Cage" should look like one of these, preferably the second one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFtQ2TjfKo0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pP4EPAzMdw&feature=related

Try this and see how it comes out. And you may want to get some better music. You're onlining in FCP right, so strip away the music track. The music makes the film sound old. You may want to invest in these:

http://www.videocopilot.net/products/proscores/
http://www.videocopilot.net/products/fmp/

-Nate
 
Great points, Nate! I can do most of them. The music I can't strip, because I'm working from a 3/4 of the movie, not the 35mm elements. It would be too expensive for me to go to my original elements and separate them out. But the advice is great. You're right, the 2000s style of editing is much faster than the 90s stuff we did before the Internet took off.

Will keep on plugging on this. This is the way to get all my movies revamped and released in 2010. Thanks again....
 
What about simply turning the music down (or cut it out) in some areas and adding new music and sound effects in FCP. If there's no dialogue, there's no need to worry about it. If you're doing this in an NLE you can rearrange anything you have on tape. I assume you're running your telecined tape through through a VCR and copying to digital tape via your DV camera. (Using a DV camera as a VCR is common practice. LOL).

-Nate
 
Where there is no dialogue, I can of course drop the audio altogether and substitute new sound or music. I'm using Final Cut Pro 5.04 Studio, so I have a lot of possibilities.

As for rearranging also, yes, I can do all the rearranging you suggested. I like the re-editing points you suggested.

Also, I watched the Stallone trailers for JOHN RAMBO. You're right, they're so much more powerful because of the way they juxtapose scenes of Stallone and the rest of the characters, Stallone's being totally predictable (LOL) and the rest of the cast's offering something unpredictable and touching.

Seriously, the trailers are well done, altogether. I really appreciate your finding them for me. I'll work on the trailer for TIGER CAGE tomorrow. I'm going to print out your suggestions here and do my best to re-edit the whole trailer. You helped me with the last trailer of BUTTERFLIES IN THE WIND and now I really have a good one, one that might even end up selling my movie in the international market place.

Thanks again, Nate.
 
Awesome and if possible you may want to use Live Type for a new title. Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

-Nate
 
I spent all day on the new trailer. I didn't realize it was essentially cutting a brand new trailer. I'm going to work on it tomorrow as well.

I'm going to give Live Type a shot. It's just been sitting there. I saw someone demonstrate a couple of years ago at the local Apple store. It looked like a perfect program for kids doing primary school A/V projects and wedding videos -- it was just the approach he took. It completely alienated me. But when I think about it, probably it can be used for an opening logo or something. I just hope it's not too complicated to learn.
 
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