DVC 14 - "One Extra Step" - Dennis Khaye
 

I think there's a HD download link on Vimeo. If not, or if it doesn't work, let me know, I can provide a link for a download.

This was the funnest shoot I've ever had. I don't know why people hate working with kids, they were all terrific. Shot with my Canon HV-20 set in my home made PVC phig-i-mus rhig-i-mus during five hours on a Sunday afternoon. The wind rumbled across the mic all day that Sunday. Had to ADR the whole thing. We got some 2nd unit stuff the following Monday. Six hours shooting all told. Hope you enjoy it.

I really enjoyed this one! When I was first watching it and they pulled out the guns and started shooting each and the blood squirted, I was curious because it all looked so fake. Then when I learned that it was all imagination I thought it was perfect. It would be fake.

The kids did a good job, and I really like your play on the theme especially with the one mom saying "there's no telling where their minds travel too." It looked like everyone had a lot of fun with it.

Nice job on the ADR as well. I wouldn't have guessed it if you hadn't told us.

Fun film for me and my wife, as we watched it. Special effects to boot. And I liked the touch at the end.

Nice job !

Yes! I love this movie. "Every time I go out to play".

ADR is never pleasant, but it's not the end of the world for this short since I had so much fun watching it.

I thought at first it was just a bunch of guys being big kids, and I wanted to see one of them go down the slide head first after being killed, but seeing how the story ultimately played out I think that kind of a gag is unnecessary.

The full costume ending made me smile, especially the pan over to the kid who picked up the stick; going back to the kid's framing and only tilting up afterward was an excellent touch.

Dennis,

Very creative use of the theme. Mind travel. Kids imagining themselves as adults? I did this but only when playing a Western with guns which made the paint guns understandable.

Good questionable "travel" in the basketball game. Another use of the theme in an original way. I refed youth basketball, and kids expect to be able to take that extra step these days. Iverson gets it so they want it too.

Great deadpan delivery by the older kid, "every time I go out to play. " I'd use this kid in more stuff.

Very believable Moms, with a nice relationship. Would have been great to see the kids morph into adults with some super CGI stuff, but I don't have that fancy stuff either!

Fun to watch!

As we discussed before, I go with the saying that big guys are just little boys in grown-up clothes. Now you’re telling me little guys travel the other direction? :)

This was a really cute and entertaining film, Dennis. Big boys were every bit as likable as the little ones, and I loved the understanding moms, as well. The gal in the denim jacket did a great job--very natural.

Did the big guys run and affect movements more like what little boys do, or do those guys just move like that naturally? It was great! I also loved the way the one guy fell into the camera when he was “killed.” It seems like there’s always one just like him in a group--incredibly competitive, making up his own rules--all that stuff you had him doing.

And if ever there was an opportunity to inject some potty humor in a film this was it, but you kept your promise! :)

“Sucking….chest…wound….” LOL!

Oops! I just now remembered that you went to the trouble of providing a version of this film on YouTube when I whined about Vimeo! I'll add it, just in case, but it looks like everyone is able to watch the Vimeo version just fine...

Sorry, Dennis! :)

Hey Dennis, great job on the special effects! Having to ADR the whole thing is tough, and I'm glad you went through with it - others may have just thrown in the towel (a cheap shot at Dylan). I did notice the ADR when first watching, but the story was engaging enough to not be distracted by it too much.

There were a couple of shots where I noticed exposure change in mid shot. Looked like the camera was on auto. I would try to shoot on manual exposure because something like that can be distracting to the eye.

Great job overall....a solid contender.

It's true, I gave the direction for the big guys to act like little kids. The walk the talk the "Hey I got you!". The hard part was getting Gerry to act overly aggressive and some what of a bully. He's such a nice guy.

Nobody mentioned that he looks like Jack Nicholson? Maybe it's just me. LOL

I have to tell you guys about the miracle of nature. The forecast was for drizzle in the afternoon/early evening. So we set up and shot all the pre-shoot out stuff in the morning with the sun shining. As the clouds rolled in we got closer and closer to the shoot out. By the end of filming the shoot out it was really dark. It never did rain but it was like having a druid on location controlling the weather for us. Not sure if you can tell how dark it gets as the story moves into the shoot out phase but I was amazed how well nature cooperated for us. You hear so often how nature ruins a shooting day.

Thanks for all compliments and critiques so far. It was a lot of fun.

Hey Dennis,

Fun film. Great story. I loved the pirate stuff at the end, that was a great way to end it!

The basketball sequence could have used a few more shots/closeups to move it along.

When the guy shoots the ball, we just see him looking, we don't see the ball. Then the guy bows down and says "we're not worthy". That's great, but I wanted to see a cut from him throwing the ball to the ball flying through the air cut to the ball swishing into the hoop cut to the guy bowing. Those types of things give the game more energy and visual appeal, at least IMHO.

The block/fall sequence was good.

The fight sequence was good, except the last shot was really dark. You may have meant for it to be, but it looked like the camera was exposing for the sky.

When the moms walk up, you tilt up to one mom and she's not saying anything, but we hear a voice. I thought she was 'thinking' those words, but it was probably someone else talking. It was confusing for me.

Tilting back down to the kid was awesome. Great twist.

The rest was very good.

Once again, great story, I loved it!

Hi Dennis,

I think the best way to tell this one is from front to back. I'm trying to leave detailed feedback of my experiences with everyone's films, so please bear with me :)

I liked the choice of music for the title, it set the mood well. When you lower the volume of the music to expose the dialogue, I thought that was unnecessary, but that's a style decision.

Right off the bat I noticed something off with the dialogue/sound. I didn't realize until I read the thread that the audio was looped. With that in mind, I say awesome job, for the timeframe involved I think you did great. I have years in sound, and I once spent 3 days on a 15-second phone conversation. However, not knowing the technical aspects of it, I think our group just sensed something was 'off' and criticised the film early.

So my next thought is, "hmmm, these guys aren't really that good at basketball" but I get the 'travel' concept right away, and that gives you points in my book koz your concept is already wittier than mine :)

The next thing is, I'm having trouble with the shooting. The sequences of the actors playing ball isn't really bad, but I have this thing about camera movement. I think if you establish your sequence with a nice stable shot from a tripod, then all your handheld looks intentional. If not, then it all just looks handheld. The thing I see in films is: camera's really don't move that much, and when they do, it's usually really smooth or subtle. So with that in mind, I develop a rule for myself: if I can't make it smooth or subtle, stick it to a tripod. This alone does 2 things: makes the job harder because now you have to spend the time trying out angles to find a shot that looks nice, and, (in my book) makes your film automagically look more pro.

But 1:20 I'm thinking, "I hope this isn't 5 minutes of basketball, that's worse than 5 minutes of pratfalls...", and then buddy pulls his shorts out of his butt and everyone's laughing. I'm still thinking the basketball sequence was too long.

So then there's "what what" and the dart guns, and I'm curious as to where you're going. I like how the heavy music plays a bar and then pauses to give accent. That was well done.

By the time the fake blood starts flying, I'm still curious but I can see you've lost most of the group that's watching with us. I'm just convinced that you're just having fun with it, so I'll keep watching.

I'll echo James' comment above, when the ladies walk up, one of them says something off screen. It just says to me 'bad shot', I didn't get that she might be thinking that (if that's what you intended). Then you cut to a shot of the one guy on the ground. The tilt up looked unnatural for whatever reason. It was smooth enough, it just looked off to me. Then in the same shot, we tilt down, there's a kid laying there and he says, "sucking....chest....wound."

Okay, I'm howling, all past blemishes forgiven. Your film is brilliant :) I get it and I love it.

The pirate shots at the end were hilarious and nice icing on the cake, well done.

The funny thing is: out of the whole group (I think there were 12 of us) only my wife and I really liked it. As in liked it enough to put it our top 5. It started to make me think about what it is about films that people like, and what it is they don't. I don't have an answer yet, but I'm thinking about it.

Anyway, I think you did a great job, high creative score, with a little technical polish, this film is a hit.

All the best,
Aaron

That was planned to be uncomfortable, slightly jarring. This is point where the kids imaginations stop and we're back to real life. Same effect when the stick holding boy turns into a pirate. Or were you talking about something else?

Anyway, thanks for the crits. Every little bit helps.

Fun piece, I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said. I can tell that a lot of work went into this and it shows. It's nice to just smile all through a film. Well shot, well acted, well edited, well done!