trailer for HAND GUNS

B

ballyhoo42

Active member
Hi - This is a trailer for our nine minute art video entitled HAND GUNS, which is currently exhibiting at Soil Gallery in Seattle.

This is our first time posting a video here. Any feedback is welcome.
We haven't put the complete video into a web friendly format yet.


http://homepage.mac.com/gormally/iMovieTheater4.html

Your screen may appear black for a few seconds before the video plays.

If your computer wouldn't play this video, please download the free QuickTime plug-in at www.apple.com/quicktime

-ballyhoo
 
That frightened me. The sound started blaring, no video.

And I already have QT 7. Why won't it play then?
 
Project looks interesting but here is some criticism to note.

1) What is this film about? The trailer told me nothing other than it has to do with handguns. Is it about the dangers of handguns? The great thing about handguns? A bunch of people with pretend handguns? I know it is an art film but what is the purpose.

2) The interview with the lady is kind of distracting and a bit annoying to be honest. You should never ever cut someone’s head off during an interview. If she didn't want her face in the camera, you could have used creative lighting to black out her face.

Other than that, it sounds interesting.
 
Ummm...didn't really get me interested, didn't tell me what the film was about, I could see the cameraman in the mirror during the interview w/ the old lady (on purpose?). I know this is a trailer, but I think it will really fail miserably in getting anyone interested.
 
I actualy like that the old lady's head was cut off. And I disagree with the idea that you should "creatively light" out someone's head. I feel that kind of thing is best left to filmmakers my parents age.

The trailer has got me curious...but if you are not going to answer the curiosity you raise, I think the trailer could be a little tighter. That way I am left with the just curiosity and without the time to wonder why you are not giving me more.

Good luck with it.

-rook
 
It seems to be your "art" for this clip to have all heads out of the picture... Interesting.

The "Bang bang" shots seemed to go on forever... Maybe just a few too many. But from the last shot- the one with the two children holding the flowers- I'd guess that your video is about safety and getting hurt!
 
rook said:
And I disagree with the idea that you should "creatively light" out someone's head. I feel that kind of thing is best left to filmmakers my parents age.
Click to expand...

Did you not read my post rook. I said that if someone doesn't want to be in the shot that is one of the best ways to have them there but not. Watch Dateline or another major tv news program that do hundreds of interviews a year. They constantly use the 'light background, dark subject' approach for anyone who doesn't want to appear on camera.
 
Try adding a few real guns (maybe not around the kids), Just to give it a realistic feel. I thought it was good. Its just missing a few things.
 
Trunks, I read your post. And I understood what you meant. I didn't mean any offence to you I just think that old school darkened face interview convention is a little cheezy for my taste. They use that tired old trick to make jokes in cereal commercials. I liked the "chopped off the heads" look better. It felt cooler to me. Conventions are meant to be broken. Cutting off a subject's face at the jaw worked for me, espesially for the flavor of this trailer.

-rook
 
Thanks for the posts everyone. Sorry you couldn't get the video LeSeul Giraffe. I don't know why it wouldn't play for you. Did you watch it for a couple of seconds and still no video?

Anyway, everyone in the complete nine minute film was photographed from the jaw down, deliberately, for quite a few reasons. It creates an anonymity to each subject, thereby making it more universal, and facilitiates the tranferal of the experience to the audience. It forces you to focus on peoples' hand movements and the sounds they make, which was the focus of the film. Plus, it circumvents the whole model release issue - and since half the people in the film were people that I just stopped on the street or the playground and asked to participate - it keeps everything simple. And, its a rather harsh thing to do, to crop someone in this way - which is fitting to the subject, is it not?

Yes, there are real guns in the complete video - we filmed inside a gun shop.

As to showing the complete video - the contemporary art world seems to handle video differently than the film world, and I need to look into it more before I post anything.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.
 
I think your off to a good start with film,,,,,I ****ing love anything that deals with America
's favorite icon. Keep it up!
 
You should use the sound of a real gun being blasted at the end when your in black and maybe the sound of someone screaming...Like someone said the trailer didn't say anything except we know its about guns and from the interview subject that someone got shot. The video worked for me, I saw everthing with no problem.
 
I got the idea that even though you called this a trailer, it was more of a PSA or political statement talking about the horrors of hand guns. That end shot of the kids holding flowers seemed like it was showing they could be the next innocent victim(s)?

I liked that we couldn't see their faces. Gave the impression they could be one or all of us.

Overall, the editing could be much tighter. Just too many shots of people going "bang bang". Less is more. And I agree with DVX100shooter. Good idea to use real sounds of gunshots at a certain point. Not the entire time, but maybe the voices going bang bang could transition to real gun fire sounds. Would be more impactful that way. Especially if we heard one last gunshot on the shot of the kids holding flowers. Would really sell what you're trying to say.
 
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