SHORT: TURNING POINT - Short Film - Mike Ballif

M

mikerstudios

Member


Hey guys! I'm new around these parts, and thought I'd quickly share my latest film shot on my DVX-100B! Please, let me know what you think. Let me know what you liked about it.. what you disliked.. where I could improve, etc. I'd love some constructive criticism.

Here's the link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT2P6L1BWa0&fmt=22

Also check out my youtube profile for other DVX-100 short films:

http://www.youtube.com/mikerstudios

Make sure to watch in 720P, HD! I upres'd my DVX-100B footage to HD for youtube playback.

Shot on: Panasonic DVX-100B
Cast: Drew Bartholowmew, McKade Nelson
Budget: $0.00. Shot for fun, with no planning done before hand.

Description: TURNING POINT was made with the intention of addressing the aspects of filmmaking that I'm either unfamiliar with, or haven't had much experience with. My main emphasis on this short were Special Effects, Color Correction, and Sound Design. All of which I had very limited experience with prior to shooting. I ran into my fair share of problems, but am pretty pleased with what we came up with. It's not perfect, that's for sure. But for what it's worth, I think it's entertaining at least.

TURNING POINT will be, more or less, a series/"run-on short film" - mainly for practice purposes, where I will continue to "test-out" and try to accomplish great new heights.

Part 2 will come soon. Next on the agenda: Dialogue/Writing.

Thanks for watching!
 
Last edited:
it's not bad at all.

The gunshots are ok, maybe little EQ...

For the hits, they're ok also but maybe more layers. One hit actualy exists out of different layers.
 
Great job for something that was in a way a test.

The beginning is a little slow, and some of the moves they make don't make sense (in the gun battle). Not enough running for cover and such, they played it very out in the open which to me seemed a bit odd.

SFX and music mix was good. A little EQ to bring those gunshots more in line with the ambient effects and I think you have it.

I wouldn't lean so heard on the smoke effects. The muzzle flashes were nice but the smoke from both the barrel (at the end) and the ricochets took away from the awesome selling of the moment your sound effects accomplished. They looked out of place and forced.

And was that Supremacy or Ultimatum? :)
 
dre83 said:
The gunshots are ok, maybe little EQ...

For the hits, they're ok also but maybe more layers. One hit actualy exists out of different layers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to watch! What do you mean exactly when you speak of layers? I appreciate the feedback.


William_Robinette said:
Great job for something that was in a way a test.
Click to expand...

Thank you!

William_Robinette said:
SFX and music mix was good. A little EQ to bring those gunshots more in line with the ambient effects and I think you have it.
Click to expand...

Again, I'm not sure what you mean by the EQ. Thanks for the feedback!

William_Robinette said:
And was that Supremacy or Ultimatum? :)
Click to expand...

Ultimatum. Good ear ;)

Thanks everyone for watching! Any other takers?! ALL feedback is appreciated :)
 
Not too bad at all. Some quicker cuts, especially when the guy with the shotgun shooter shoots the back of the truck. The hit looked good, but when it disappeared you could tell it wasn't real, because there was no hole or dent in the truck. Also, I think the first time he shoots the shotgun there's really no big boom shotgun sound, unless I heard it wrong. The only other thing I saw, and these nitpicks are minor, was that the truck didn't seem to be going fast enough and the driver may not have been intense enough for that situation where he's hauling a** out of there. Other than that, I thought you had some good shots in there and some good music to go along with everything. You definitely kept it interesting. Good work and good work out of the DVX.
 
hits exist out of layers: you have low, mid and high (in theory)
low sounds can be hitting leader pillows.

For the high, you can tage for instance celery that you smash

And to add: maybe hitting your own body,


About the EQ. Well that's hard to explain. In theory, removing low frequenties (untill 10kH or so) gives the effect to a sound being "furter away"
Removing high frequenties (until 500Hz or so) gives the effect of being behind a wall.
Some reverb added can make it more realistic.

For a gunshot, gunshots are recorded inside or outside (mostly outside I think). So this means that they sound as inside... close, compact. To let it sound more "open", you can higer some freqenties around 10kH or 15kHz. And cut some lower frequenties.

But as I say...it's just theory. It's like a pilot explaining how to land...in theory.
 
Not bad, although I agree with the others about the muzzle flashes and such. To me the biggest disapointment was the lack of a storyline. You had plenty of time to turn it into a small story. It just went No where. I guess if it was a scene from a movie I could understand, but as where it seemed like it was a "short film" I was expecting somekind a a storyline. Over all, the technical aspect was decent, and the flaws are fairly easy to fix.
But I would spend more time creating a story than spending the time fx.
 
Last edited:
maranfilms said:
Not bad, although I agree with the others about the muzzle flashes and such. To me the biggest disapointment was the lack of a storyline. You had plenty of time to turn it into a small story. It just went No where. I guess if it was a scene from a movie I could understand, but as where it seemed like it was a "short film" I was expecting somekind a a storyline. Over all, the technical aspect was decent, and the flaws are fairly easy to fix.
But I would spend more time creating a story than spending the time fx.
Click to expand...

Doube post, sorry.

I agree, the storyline is what's missing. Don't forget, this was shot for fun in just a couple of hours. It wasn't meant to have a great storyline by any means, as the main idea was to focus on making a cool sequence - and, not to mention working on a few technical aspects I was unfamiliar with.

Thanks for watching!
 
Just a heads up! But filming for TP2 began yesterday! It will be finished in the next couple of weeks. I'll post a link on here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top