"Tiny Dancer" - a film by Jon Coy

i didn't see that she dropped it until my second viewing. but for me, knowing or not knowing made no difference... i wasn't enjoying the film because it was about a girl looking for her keycard. i enjoyed it because of HOW it was about it.
 
Well... this was cute. Loved the Steadicam? work. The audio wasn't good :( kind of drew me out of it. So, what was up with her keycard?
 
Hm. didn't get that... :( weird.

I thought she was looking for change or money for the vending machine... weird :D

Either way, cute short... good effort.
 
Heh this is not good if we have to keep saying "she loses her keycard" on every page. I hope this isn't hindering us too much :(
 
I'm just trying to figure out where these assumptions are coming from. She loses the key in the dorm, goes to class, comes back, realizes her key is missing (hence the reason she says "oh no" in an "oh crap" manner and dashes back out of the building), then goes running around looking for it. Now, originally, that sequence was going to be longer (we shot a lot more), but time constraints made me have to trim it down. Did I lose a lot in the cutting? I really think it's all still there, and I'm not sure how it's getting lost in translation so badly. She slides in, looks at the card (which was actually my YMCA membership card), scoffs at it, stands, throws the key down (I'm sure if I had had the money to shoot in HD seeing her actually force it from her own hand would have been easier) and runs back out. I figured people would just put the pieces together. :huh:
 
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Zak Forsman said:
i didn't see that she dropped it until my second viewing. but for me, knowing or not knowing made no difference... i wasn't enjoying the film because it was about a girl looking for her keycard. i enjoyed it because of HOW it was about it.
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Right. There's a lot about isolation presented here. That was one of the main selling points of the story. And yes, it's about a girl who gets locked out of her dorm; her only area of true comfort. BUT, it's also about a girl seeking companionship, hence all of the empty spaces (isolation), segregation in dance class, and texts from her friends who are out of state. She's alone, as is the boy. They converge and help fill that emptiness.

Perhaps the film ended up too interpretive? :huh: I have been making use of the term "visual poetry" in a lot of my work in the past four or five months, and this film certainly was an experiment in such technique. I tried to make the film feel empty/deserted (hence the reason we shot on campus during christmas break), and then balance the film out once the boy REALLY enters the picture. Does all of that make sense? And if so, to any who actually read this, do you see that in the film?

I guess I'm just pleading for people to give it a second look before they tell me that it was confusing and unwatchable (which nobody has really said, but I'm getting that drift). All of the pieces really are there. My apologies if it's too subtle.
 
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Lawsuit_Boy said:
I'm just trying to figure out where these assumptions are coming from. She loses the key in the dorm, goes to class, comes back, realizes her key is missing (hence the reason she says "oh no" in an "oh crap" manner and dashes back out of the building), then goes running around looking for it. Now, originally, that sequence was going to be longer (we shot a lot more), but time constraints made me have to trim it down. Did I lose a lot in the cutting? I really think it's all still there, and I'm not sure how it's getting lost in translation so badly. I figured people would just put the pieces together. :huh:
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I think what you have to remember here is that it was subtle to begin with. Also take into account that many people watch these as small compressed videos.

People are also watching them from home or work where there can be other distractions at play.

I know when I first watched it I was focused and saw the card drop immediately. Now, if someone is looking at the guy walking by they may miss that, but if they are listening without distraction the audible noise that the card makes when hitting the floor should get their attention. It's quite noticeable.

That's why I watch every entry with headphones.

I'm not saying that people are not paying attention, but it's not like watching it on the big screen with 100% focus.

Personally, I wouldn't change a thing but that's just me.
Many more people may come in and say that they missed it too. I wouldn't base a change on that.

My advice. Have it shown in high quality at a small theatre to people who know nothing about it. If they miss it then you have a problem. One or two can miss it, but the majority should catch it. If they don't, fix it.

I know that some people are blowing these up on quality monitors but the fact of the matter is that these videos are low res and compressed. Garbage in = garbage out. Blowing them up only makes it worse, regardless of what monitor is used.

MAH
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
I think what you have to remember here is that it was subtle to begin with. Also take into account that many people watch these as small compressed videos.

People are also watching them from home or work where there can be other distractions at play.

I know when I first watched it I was focused and saw the card drop immediately. Now, if someone is looking at the guy walking by they may miss that, but if they are listening without distraction the audible noise that the card makes when hitting the floor should get their attention. It's quite noticeable.

That's why I watch every entry with headphones.

I'm not saying that people are not paying attention, but it's not like watching it on the big screen with 100% focus.

Personally, I wouldn't change a thing but that's just me.
Many more people may come in and say that they missed it too. I wouldn't base a change on that.

My advice. Have it shown in high quality at a small theatre to people who know nothing about it. If they miss it then you have a problem. One or two can miss it, but the majority should catch it. If they don't, fix it.

I know that some people are blowing these up on quality monitors but the fact of the matter is that these videos are low res and compressed. Garbage in = garbage out. Blowing them up only makes it worse, regardless of what monitor is used.

MAH
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Right. And I understand that. I mentioned that if it were shot and presented in HD, people would have noticed a lot more. I guess that's the limitation of having very little money of your own. I've been shooting on the dvx since 2004 and haven't upgraded to a new camera since. It's my fault for assuming that people would just say, "hey, she dropped that card...I guess it isn't her key."

And just so everyone knows, I'm not really worried about this per se, because I'm NOT going to change it. I feel that yes, it's subtle, and yes, it's highly compressed so it's not as easy a viewing, but all of the information is there in the shot, so there's no reason to change it. Just like you said, some people see/hear it, and some don't. And that's okay. I'm just trying to get more feedback about it for my own sort of research/survey in order to figure out how each person responded to it. It's just for my curiosity, really. :)
 
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Had to watch this a couple of times. Couldn't tell if she found her key and lost it again or what, so I'll really have to look at it again. Anyway, I thought the guy was a little sinister and i was kinda expecting something gruesome to happen in the elevator! Was i the only one who thought that? Just wanted to say, tho, that this is film kept me interested and watchng from beginning to end. Now i gotta go watch it again.
 
filmingfan said:
Had to watch this a couple of times. Couldn't tell if she found her key and lost it again or what, so I'll really have to look at it again. Anyway, I thought the guy was a little sinister and i was kinda expecting something gruesome to happen in the elevator! Was i the only one who thought that? Just wanted to say, tho, that this is film kept me interested and watchng from beginning to end. Now i gotta go watch it again.
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Thanks filmingfan! Appreciate it. Heh, yeah, his character was very nervous about meeting the girl and since he's so much bigger, he's like this big, awkward lug trying to find love.

Yeah, the key thing has tripped a lot of people up. She finds a card that is NOT her key, hence her dropping it and running out. If you watch again, you'll see (and hear) her key drop out of her pocket when she walks past the boy for the first time inside the dorm.

And remember, it's also a study of isolation and isolationism on the college campus. Isolationism is actually a pretty big problem in America as well as the rest of the world. It always intrigues me and I was hoping for more responses about that aspect.
 
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I’d just like to add one more thing to the whole keycard debacle (although I’m not sure how many people are coming in here, reading our explanations, and giving our film another chance if they’re confused. If you’ve done so then thank you so much!).

Basically, even if you don’t see or hear the keycard fall out of her pocket when she passes the boy, the clues to where her key has been is in the dialogue when they’re standing in front of the elevator. She says “How did you find this?” and he says “You dropped it earlier.” How did he know she dropped it earlier? Because she dropped it right next to him. It makes no logical sense for the card she finds after sliding on her knees to be hers. How did the boy come to have it in his possession then? Did he follow her around while she was looking for her key and then he picked it up after that moment because she “dropped her key again”? No, because that’s stupid and silly. There is only one scene the boy appears in previous to their conversation, and that is where she drops her key. That is how he knew she dropped it and how he happened to have it in his possession when he finally speaks to her. Honestly, if you miss the part where he says “You dropped it earlier” along with the part where she drops her keycard, I’m asking you to please, please watch it again.

Anyway, thanks everyone for watching our little film!
 
Hmm...Not sure where the story was on this. A bit confused.

Anyway, nice steadicam work, and I like the chosie of the long shots you chose.

Cinematography/directing was intruiging and it kept me into the film.

Most probably talked about the lack of audio, so I won't go there.

I liked the acting, they did a good job on that.

The color grade seemed fitting and It was my taste for sure.

Thanks for sharing,

Robbie
 
Caroline (is that right?),

Thanks for your explanation! I understand what you are saying and your logic makes sense! :smile:

Although, I think what others might be perceiving (and kind of my reaction as well) was because we don't see the card fall, and then we hear him say "You dropped it earlier" we assume maybe he was following her (and it just wasn't shown). I think that is part of what leads people to think something creepy is about to happen on the elevator.

I know that is not at all what you guys intended with the film (and I know it can be quite frustrating when people miss the point). I just wanted to give you my impression and why others might be perceiving it the same way.

Hope that helps! :beer:

Daniel


lilcaro said:
I’d just like to add one more thing to the whole keycard debacle (although I’m not sure how many people are coming in here, reading our explanations, and giving our film another chance if they’re confused. If you’ve done so then thank you so much!).

Basically, even if you don’t see or hear the keycard fall out of her pocket when she passes the boy, the clues to where her key has been is in the dialogue when they’re standing in front of the elevator. She says “How did you find this?” and he says “You dropped it earlier.” How did he know she dropped it earlier? Because she dropped it right next to him. It makes no logical sense for the card she finds after sliding on her knees to be hers. How did the boy come to have it in his possession then? Did he follow her around while she was looking for her key and then he picked it up after that moment because she “dropped her key again”? No, because that’s stupid and silly. There is only one scene the boy appears in previous to their conversation, and that is where she drops her key. That is how he knew she dropped it and how he happened to have it in his possession when he finally speaks to her. Honestly, if you miss the part where he says “You dropped it earlier” along with the part where she drops her keycard, I’m asking you to please, please watch it again.

Anyway, thanks everyone for watching our little film!
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pia12254 said:
Caroline (is that right?),

Thanks for your explanation! I understand what you are saying and your logic makes sense! :smile:

Although, I think what others might be perceiving (and kind of my reaction as well) was because we don't see the card fall, and then we hear him say "You dropped it earlier" we assume maybe he was following her (and it just wasn't shown). I think that is part of what leads people to think something creepy is about to happen on the elevator.

I know that is not at all what you guys intended with the film (and I know it can be quite frustrating when people miss the point). I just wanted to give you my impression and why others might be perceiving it the same way.

Hope that helps! :beer:

Daniel
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Yes, it's Caroline haha. Thank you for clarifying! I know it never occurred to Jon or myself that people would assume that the boy was following her while she was looking for her key. We made the shot of her key dropping subtle on purpose because we thought it would seem more natural, and well...we didn't want to beat people over the head like "OMG DID YOU SEE THE KEY DROP! LOOK IT'S ON THE GROUND! RIGHT THERE!" Buuut I think we may have to reach a happy medium in the future if we keep running into this same problem. I know Jon doesn't want to change it and neither do I, but we also don't want people to be confused.
 
Thanks, Robbie! Much appreciated. Glad ya liked the film.

Heh, we're definitely considering find a "happy medium" so people won't be as confused by the missing key. We genuinely did not intend to confuse people.

But it was also a time constraint, and I think that if we could have had just ten or fifteen more seconds, we might have been able to clear it up a little more.
 
Nick_Lee said:
whoa...glidecam 2000's rule. haha.
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They're VERY finicky and tricky to use, especially if you have no prior experience with a steadicam. I've had very minor experience with one before I got my glidecam and I understood the principles (mostly, anyway) of static balance, dynamic balance/equilibrium and such, but learning how to balance the unit and THEN learning how to use it properly was quite a journey.

It has gotten pretty good, but I know I would benefit IMMENSELY from an arm and vest. Too expensive for me, though. I'm pushing through college, FINALLY got a newer car that get me from point A to point B, and I just cannot afford anything else. Kind of a bummer. :(
 
pia12254 said:
Although, I think what others might be perceiving (and kind of my reaction as well) was because we don't see the card fall, and then we hear him say "You dropped it earlier" we assume maybe he was following her (and it just wasn't shown). I think that is part of what leads people to think something creepy is about to happen on the elevator.

Daniel
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Wow...I almost didn't even realize that everyone thought he was creepy because of the key debacle. I just assumed that everyone thought his performance was creepy. It could be that as well (I personally thought he did a great job conveying an awkward admiration of Josie, especially for a guy who's naturally very suave and graceful), but the key problem makes sense with the interpretation of bad things to come.

Argh, I'm sorry everyone! I never thought about that angle. *face palm*
 
Jon nice camera work. Some of the best steadicam shots in the fest. I really enjoyed following the dancer around. She was living a routine day, until she discovered her key was missing. Many of the shots are quite good and memorable, such as entering the ballet practice room, the wide shot of the auditorium, the 'symmetrical' composition of two staircase going up either side of the frame as she runs up one of them...

I liked quite a lot, but the dreaded close up of the key falling is missing. I did see it fall, but I assume it was something you caught on camera and didn't notice until you had to use the take. Also, an tool equally as important as the camera... sound. You need better sound. I like what was going on between the two actors, but I couldn't appreciate it with the bad sound. Otherwise, keep up the good work and challenge yourself to go further.
 
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