DVC7-Fossenkemper, Martens "Two Guys in the Woods by a River"
 

I'm twitchy with excitement to view all of the shorts. Well Here's ours (well not yet...). Love it? Hate it? Don't care either way? Let us know. Questions? Comments? We'll try and answer them.

Very funny short! I felt that it was missing a little something near the end but it was shot extremely well, and it was a lot of fun.

I can't really explain it, it just felt like it climaxed too early.

I really enjoyed it though...


Mike

Looks awesome! The concept was funny and the music fit perfectly. A few questions:

1. what did you shoot on?
2. how did you do the tracking shots in the woods?
3. what compression method did you use?

Thanks for the comments. We shot a bit much and in the end had to edit it down quite a bit. So some of the buildup had to go.

It was shot on a pany DVC30 with a 35mm adapter.

The woods shot was something I put together using a modified varizoom flowpod that I bolted to a piece of wood and then put pulley wheels on it, strung a steel cable between trees mounted the camera to it and let gravity do the rest. It had it's complications like, didn't roll and having to do about 12 takes until we got some without any wobble. This shot took the most time to pull off and only lasts about 4 seconds, hahahaha.

This was all shot in one day. we used the car scenes to get to each location. there was supposed to be more river shots but it got dark and thus the night shot on the porch. But if you look close and quick, you can see a glimpse of the river.

Robert and I have some making of stuff that we'll post after the voting that shows the cable cam in action.

(edit) compression used was sorenson 3, set to auto and med high.

Good God, understatement of the year! Hell, that's enough for '07, too. You guys have no idea how much we shot that didn't make the cut. It was a hell of a day, and I was sore for a week (no exaggeration--I'm not in such great shape, shocking as that may be to you) after those twelve takes. We kept talking about how it'd end up being "less than thirty seconds" of footage in the final film. It's less than five. Talk about return on our investment.

As Mike said, we're assembling the behind the scenes stuff, hopefully it'll turn out to be something you guys like.

Hi Michael
 

Just wanted you to know I loved this short! Absolutely hilarious, well executed, terrific acting and great camera work.

Speaking of acting, I remember Paul in your DVC 5 entry. He was excellent in this film too.

And how about that "Bobby" character played by our very own Robert Martens?!! (Robert, I started the previous sentence with "and" just to see if I could get a rise out of you...eh...eh...eh.) Seriously though, Robert, you did an absolutely brilliant acting job in this fim. Well done.

"It's a little used. A little bent, like you were." Full circle with the ending too. Yeah!

Sniff...sniff. "Oh my god! You couldn't get new ones?" LOL! Cracks a weirdo like me up every time!

Bravo!

Bradley

Oh, come on, I'm not THAT anal about grammar; people who insist on using "dived" and "sneaked" drive me absolutely insane. Starting sentences with "and" or "but", or ending them with prepositions are not things that bother me, so long as the result sounds right. So you may relax, the honorable Robert C. Martens approves of your wordsmithery.

Thank you for your kind words, but I've got plenty of problems with myself. My "I'll make you proud" dialogue is short and clipped; I don't know, it sounded all right when I was speaking it, but now it's like I was rushing. My face was all weird looking (more than normal, I mean) with the pantyhose on, and even I can't read my expression when we're preparing for the "job". I also tend not to speak loudly enough, and I can't turn what seems like a subtle, nuanced performance inside my warped--or just dumb--mind into anything more than "not bad for a beginner" to the camera. And I'm so nasally, too, that's what bugs me most. I have to see an ear nose and throat guy, I think there's something wrong with my sinuses. Sinii?

In any event, enough about me. My dad could use some acting lessons (I'm not one to talk, I understand), but he wasn't doing anything that weekend, and it made for an interesting "memories" thing, since I look like him, and all. We could not, unfortunately, use the better of two takes of his performance, where the line was smoother, "It's a little used, and a little bent, but so were you", but I'll let Mike decide if he wants to tell that story. :)

Hey Guys:

Great images, interesting plot and complex shooting. I liked it a lot. I think, you should have had some of the beginning shot at the end, though, for better continuity. I had to actually rewatch the first part to understand that they didn't get away with much money..... If you had him walking into the woods with the fishing, maybe mumbling about hey I brought you something, then flash back to the crime, then flash forward again with the lines about the garage sale, I think it might have flowed better. Just my two cents.

Ohhh, Robert... So self conscious. I thought Robert Was GREAT in this. Sure you speak a little quite, compared to Paul who's yelling the whole time. We'll let the others decide if you delivered or not. But your dad on the other hand, he could use some acting lessons. hahahaha.

The Best take of him. Apparently I hit the record button twice, in otherwords not rolling, and then when I hit stop (record) all I had got was us laughing. Oh well.... it was a long day, forgive me.

Chris, yeah we had a completely different beginning in mind. We actually shot it but I had to scrap it due to time. So I came up with this beginning which is actually ahead, then a flashback. Kind of a short and sweet circle.

This is a GREAT movie! Last challenge, Michael, you lamented that you needed to learn how to tell a story…well, not that I thought there was anything wrong with your storytelling, but I’d say you figured it out and then some!

Sounds like a silly thing to say to an audio engineer, but your voice acquisition is perfect. Then again, so are your camera moves, your editing, shot selections…the list goes on and on. That dolly/crane stuff while the guys are running up the hill is phenomenal. And, as always, you get the most beautiful images with that 35mm adapter of yours—without the tell-tail signs.

About the characters, I laughed out loud when Robert’s character is being the lookout and settles into his spot against the wall. Then, of course, there’s the whole pantyhose over the heads scene—absolutely hilarious! The two main guys did a great job of bringing us into the action with them. The leaves absent-mindedly kicked over the body was an awfully funny touch, as well.

Thanks so much for the big-screen-worthy entertainment! Put back in the stuff you had to slash and enter this one in some festivals, will ya?

Nice, Mike!
 

I loved your use of natural sunlight which brought out the color of your locations, skin tones, etc. Acting was great and cimenatography superb. You work very efficiently to have shot that all in one day. You've raised the bar for all of us.

Hmm...I saw things as you intended. Part of the appeal, for me, was your very subtle, nuanced performance. The look on your face through the holes in the nylons had me in stitches--particularly that "I don't know how to respond to your ranting" look at one point. I thought it couldn't have been done better by anyone--Hollywood or otherwise. Even your hand movements when the door was locked (edits there were great, too!) cracked me up. But, as I said before, that little shifting of your weight from side to side next to that building just tickled my mind to no end. I've got to ask, what inspired that?

I really like your forest camera work. That must be one heck of a rig for the cable shot! Pretty nice though. It was 4 seconds that definitely impressed me. Very nice work and funny story.

Side note: My grandma has a TON of used pantyhose if you'd like them...

HA!

I can't wait to see it. Sounds like a really unique rig.