What are your thoughts on a short I shot?

Ok, I watched the film. I won't comment on script/direction stuff since you're asking about cinematography. First off, congrats. It is obvious you made an effort and you did a good job. I just shot my 1st "serious" drama short film and I've now begun appreciating less than amazing films a lot more, because it is just so darn difficult implementing in practice and under a tight schedule your vision. Anyways, now for my opinion and nitpicking. I can see that for the living room interiors you went for red/brown colours as a theme. I thought that the fact that she was wearing a red dress, and that the curtains are red, doesn't help to bring attention to the character. The actress kind of gets lost in the background. Also I feel quite a few shots are underexposed. for example at 1:44, the actress is a bit underexposed compared to the candles in the background and the same color in foreground and background also contribute towards her getting a bit buried. Maybe some kind of a rimlight on the actress and different art direction might have helped separate her from the background. The extreme CU at 3:31 is unnecessary. Also I felt that generally the skintones are a bit too red which I'm pretty sure is intentional but I don't know, maybe it still has to do with the foreground/background thing. If the background was a cold color bluish/greenish maybe, the redish skintones would have been great. Moving on, some scenes like 3:35 , and 3:48, need much stronger/raised highlights, they're way below 100 IRE. nothing some decent color correction can't solve. Speaking of color correction, I assume the basement interiors with the green thing are a result of color grading. I think it's a bit too harsh, and it has a weird effect next to the very saturedted pink/red skintones. Lastly, the composition of the shot at 11:15 is a bit offputing and unnecessary i think.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents, and I'm being extremely picky here! these are minor minor observations I made. Overall very good job!

hope this helps somehow.
 
Nit-picky, and probably more a reflection of "what I would have done" so my comments don't necessarily mean right or wrong.

00:37 - Black background doesn't create depth, it creates a gaping black void. A 50w flood light pointing up at some bush or trees, or something would still appear dark but help illustrate the depth of field you used.

00:41 - Left side of screen is black, again no depth here, just black void. See on the right side how even some light on the leaves is enough to show you what's back there? For her, I would definitely have lit or filled her face.

01:28 - I agree regarding the red dress, if no choice to change it or the wall color then definitely a rim light would help create separation.

02:09 - He dissappears into a black void. You have depth of field you can use, so why not light the room he went into to get the wine?

03:11 - Lighting is good on her face.

03:26 - Good lighting.

03:51 - Add rim light to background character.

04:43 - Too dark. Flat lighting is good, but ambient could be raised.

09:44 - white is hot.

09:49 - white is even hotter.

Liked the way the last scene was done.

Overall I think use of rim lights might have taken this project to a whole new level. I liked use of the camera moves when used, otherwise many shots look locked off on tripod to me. Exposure levels of actors seemed to low overall.
 
I agree the lighting is rather poor. I do like the film..... I tried something close and it pulled a few awards also.
 
I read the book this was based on several years back, Although it was two guys, and he ate his penis, it's still pretty much the same story. I think you did a good job with it, I enjoyed watching it.
 
Sorry guys I have been very busy since I posted this and haven't been on DVXUSER for more than a few seconds at a time since. Thank you very much for feed back. I will say this to address most of lighting issues, I was shooting on a free borrowed pre MX RED one with very slow PL lenses. Because of the budget we were forced to use very little lighting, and an inadequate tripod to support the camera. We couldn't light at the native 320 ISO. The whole thing was shot at 500 ISO and even pushed farther in post closer to 800 and some shots even more. Anyone who has used the pre MX RED one knows this is a bad scenario and the fact that we didn't even have enough lights to do it right at 800 ISO was enough to keep me up at night during the shoot and during post. I know if I were to do it again I'd spend a few hundred out of my pocket on lights and lenses or at least call in some favors to make this happen. I took the gig for the story, and to get some hours using the RED. Back then I hadn't used it much. Another problem was the lack of time in the spaces and lack of lens choices. We were forced to shoot 4K, 3K, and 2K to get all the shoots needed and even had to crop some close ups out of wides or mediums in post. Another thing I learned was to be better prepared for shoots. We were not prepared on this shoot and I was to blame for some of it.

Background and dress being brown/red:
I agree Stefanos that this was a bad choice. The director and art dept sold me on the idea. They convinced me that since she was a piece of meat all this would be foreshadowing. At the time I agreed, in hindsight I agree with you. This is also the case with the red bias in the color correction of the dinner scenes.

The use of rim lights:
Thanks for the feedback here. At the time my lighting skills weren't what they are now and even tho my lights were limited I feel if I were to be in the same situation today I would have found a way to free up lights elsewhere to be able to make a rim light. This is the thing that bothers me most about watching this film.

Close up at 3:31:
If I remember correctly the script mentioned how "The man admired her soft red lips as she sipped the glass of wine." or something like that. I disagree here. I like the close up, I just wish I had more footage to edit around it to make the case better.

Greens being harsh in the basement:
I disagree here as well. I liked the surreal feel we made in color correction and in the sound in the basement scene. The only regret was maybe too harsh of light by the chains.

Shot at 11:15 being off putting:
Why? Stefanos can you explain here? Just curious what you'd do different. Thanks.

00:37:
Yes this is a good idea and I should have done this. Thanks.

00:41:
Yes I agree here as well. There was nothing but a field back there, but I should have cheated the shot somewhere else where the was a background on both sides.

2:09:
We actually had a black curtain hanging there. It was a rented bed and breakfast location and all the furniture we took out of the room we shot in was back there stacked on top of each other. plus with lack of help to move the furniture and lack of lights this just wouldn't have been possible. I do agree tho that this would be the wat to go if we could have.

Good lighting on her face:
Thanks. I do think a little edge or rim would have been nice for this shot, but yes it is one of the better lit shots. Thanks again.

03:51:
Yes I agree. Thank you.

04:43:
This was a tough one in post. it was impossible to separate her and the couch. In hindsight I thing a different wardrobe or different couch would have been the best. Thanks.

Whites hot in basement:
My thought at the time was since the story had an almost heavenly sense yet creepy connection between the two I thought just having 3 500 watt source4's coming down on her was a good thing. I think you are right tho, I should have made it more subtle and dial it back a bit.


Yes Maranfilms this was based on the man nicknamed the German Cannibal. We decided to make it a male and a female so more people could maybe relate to it a bit.


Thank you everyone for your input. I appreciate it.
 
Brian you are brave putting yourself out there for critique, truth is its much easier to criticize someone elses work then your own for some reason. Way to go! Would love to see what you've been working on recently........ . :D
 
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