Trailer for DVX feature "Afterlife"

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David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Hi folks!

The trailer for our romantic ghost story "Afterlife" is now online. Looking for feedback.

The movie was shot on the DVX100a. We're still struggling with some issues in post, but hope to have the movie ready for distribution soon.

You can see a .WMV version of the trailer on our new MySpace site (which is under construction, so there's not much else there.) www.myspace.com/chapelgrovefilms

Or there's a better, clearer RealPlayer version on our main website -- www.chapelgrovefilms.com/afterlife

See what you think.

David W. Richardson
Chapel Grove Films
 
the myspace film link does no justice to the quality of the film. :p Encode it to a .mov/.mpg i wanna see better quality ;)
 
t-h-e-w-h-o said:
the myspace film link does no justice to the quality of the film. :p Encode it to a .mov/.mpg i wanna see better quality ;)
Click to expand...

You're right, it really doesn't. I don't have a good QT codec. Every time I make a QT file of it, it's HUGE. But I'm workin' on it.

The RealPlayer version on the other site is better.

David
 
Like the guy before me said, Myspace bites the big one. I'd love to see a higher quality version of the trailer. Everything looked very good, with the exception of the fake horns on that girl in the red. That said, what are your plans with the film after it's complete? Distribution? Looking at any specific distros? Details please!
 
Thanks Kevin. I'm trying to minimize the fake horns by giving that whole scene a deep red filter. That particular scene takes place in Hell, so it's fitting.

Wonder if YouTube.com would be a better place to put the trailer?
 
Kevin,

We hope to get direct-to-video distribution when the feature is finished. Right now we're facing two major hurdles in post -- we have some sound issues, and we're trying to make our ghost look more ghostly. I'm afraid we may have to seek outside help for both of those issues, but the problem is we're out of money. (An old story, eh?) OH! And we're having issues with two greenscreen compositing scenes. (It would help if I was a skilled editor and compositor, since I'm the one doing the editing.)

We've had a nibble or two from a couple of distributors, but nothing even remotely serious yet. Once we get a good screener ready, we'll start making the rounds.

Worst case scenario -- we self-distribute.
 
I've uploaded a better, clearer version of the trailer to my Chapel Grove Films website. It's a RealPlayer file, and I know a lot of people don't like RealPlayer -- but it's the best way I've found, using what I have available, to make a good quality video with a file size small enough.

You can view the trailer at www.chapelgrovefilms.com/afterlife -- just click on the link for the trailer.

Let me know what you think. :-)

David
 
I liked it looks interesting, I would change the titles for the trailer! Other then that sell it and make that money!
 
cool - i'd take a look at the keys in the car - the crash - after watching the trailer, i went back to that spot because something made me keep thinking about it - like something was out of place. i think it was the keying - there are noticeable halos around them - and even for that split second - something stood out to me.
 
Thanks Dan. You're totally right about the compositing on that scene. You may have also noticed the white streaks in the upper right quadrant -- these were caused by greenscreen material that wasn't flat.

I'm trying to make it better, but I'm a rank amateur at compositing. To make matters worse, I use Adobe Premiere 6.0 and I don't even have After Effects or any other keying/compositing package. So I don't know how much better I'm going to be able to make it.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Afterlife - nice trailer.

Afterlife - nice trailer.

Hey Hey!!

Nice trailer, good acting, good lighting in the beginning, but make sure to watch the lighting in some of the later scenes in the trailer. The devil woman stabbing him was kind of a detractor - giving us a more amateur feel rather than a real film, and some of the choices of angles, for example, the scene with him knelt down by the grave, I think it could've been angled different for more of a dramatic affect.

The opening part with the party: all very believable, but it seemed to get more an more indie looking rather than with that professional flare - you know. I think it looks good, but I would try to recolor some more and I would add a voice-over rather than the fades to black and then we see text. Make the text more dramatic and dynamic, if you wanna keep it, but I'd use a person with a theatrical movie trailer voice, to do the written text in the trailer, giving it a trailer feel as well. It looks very good though, I was impressed.:)
 
Revisiting this for a moment. One question -- Do Hollywood movies even use v/o narration in trailers now? It almost seems archaic. Can anyone think of a recent trailer that employed a v/o narration? (And I don't mean the use of dialogue from the movie as a voiceover.)

Thanks!
 
The dancing/Party scene had TOP NOTCH lighting and the DP was well done. The following kissing scene on the bed was lit well again. But, then we get to the car scene and I felt like I was transported to a different film. Did you switch DP's? Or were you unable to the lighting kit back? The lighting became more natural looking or that you didn't have lighting. The driving scene you could see around the characters hair that it was green screen. The physcic in with the candle scene looked as good as the first scene, but I dunno, the other scenes didn't match up to the high end production style of the dancing/party scenes in the opening. Anyone else agree? But, it looks good nonetheless.
 
tomyboy342000 said:
Hey Hey!!

Nice trailer, good acting, good lighting in the beginning, but make sure to watch the lighting in some of the later scenes in the trailer. The devil woman stabbing him was kind of a detractor - giving us a more amateur feel rather than a real film, and some of the choices of angles, for example, the scene with him knelt down by the grave, I think it could've been angled different for more of a dramatic affect.

The opening part with the party: all very believable, but it seemed to get more an more indie looking rather than with that professional flare - you know. I think it looks good, but I would try to recolor some more and I would add a voice-over rather than the fades to black and then we see text. Make the text more dramatic and dynamic, if you wanna keep it, but I'd use a person with a theatrical movie trailer voice, to do the written text in the trailer, giving it a trailer feel as well. It looks very good though, I was impressed.:)
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't see someone else already post about "it getting more indie looking". I agree with this guy.
 
My friend told me that when you agree to the myspace agreement for uploading video, you are actually giving them rights to your video and the ability to reproduce it and all that jazz. I haven't taken the time to read the agreement, but just thought I'd put it out there. I am sure it is just an CYA on their part, but...
 
ShamrockFilms said:
The dancing/Party scene had TOP NOTCH lighting and the DP was well done. The following kissing scene on the bed was lit well again. But, then we get to the car scene and I felt like I was transported to a different film. Did you switch DP's? Or were you unable to the lighting kit back? The lighting became more natural looking or that you didn't have lighting. The driving scene you could see around the characters hair that it was green screen. The physcic in with the candle scene looked as good as the first scene, but I dunno, the other scenes didn't match up to the high end production style of the dancing/party scenes in the opening. Anyone else agree? But, it looks good nonetheless.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback! It was the same DP and lighting guy, but we had problems with the compositing of the driving scenes. I'm still trying to find someone with a pro compositor and skills to take a stab at it. Our DP/lighting guy did an amazing job on the party scene and many others. I'm afraid he didn't have as much prep time on some shooting days as others, which probably accounts for the visual differences. As the producer, that's completely my fault. Still, I think even his worst work is pretty darned good. :-)
 
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