Clip From My Feature with HD-200 and Mini35
 

Okay, so I am in post production with the feature I shot the last few months and I have been experimenting a bit. Thought I wanted to share a small clip of something I am fooling around with. No sound has been done. Just the raw audio, no mixing etc. Also still working on color correction and editing.

Any questions and comments are welcome, regardless of how bad they are =)

It will be eventually an urban tale of 5 guys trying to make it the fast way.

It was shot using the HD100/200 and Mini35. Tim's bleach bypass was used, cause I love it =)

Link: www.youtube.com/superbadduke

Click on "The Last Score" Rough Opening Feature Film Experimental"

Yeah, I know its youtube, but for a variety of good reasons I can't upload high quality yet.

wow! I really enjoyed it.
you have it all...directing, dialogues, acting, photography, sound, etc... congratulations.
keep up the good work.

Sergio.

Hey Sergio,

Thanks so much for your comments. Anyone else? I could use any type of feedback. It doesn't matter if its bad, as long as it is constructive.

Duke

O.K. you asked, so i will be honest.

I liked the tracking shots you had in the apartment.

I had a problem with the shots at the beginning of the two guys talking about the chick with no legs.

I would liked to have seen less DOF. How about shooting a tighter shot of the guys face when he is talking. They are discussing an uncomfortable subject (having sex with a girl with no legs). Make the viewer a little uncomfortable with how close the shot is. Make use of your 35mm adaptor to drop the DOF down to nothing. I would also have shot of it with the camera from the side kind of doing a profile shot. Having the guy smoking would have been cool too.

Just my thoughts. I think it has potential. I liked it better once it got into the story a little.

Good luck,

Dan Weber

Thanks Dan,

Honesty goes a long way. I don't want people to blow smoke up my behind. I can't improve if its perfect already so I appreciate positive comments of course, however, pointing out things like you did helps more in the long run.

Okay, obviously you are not getting the whole opening and what it is about since I haven't finishing editing so its is a bit difficult to judge. There is a reason why it was left sort of "cold." The characters don't smoke in this movie. Wouldn't really fit their character, and it may be good cinematically, however I think the whole smoking character may be a bit dated, but that's just my opinion.

The shot has a lot of DOF cause its a 9mm lens. I shot a lot of shots like that, close with wide. It is very hard to get less DOF with you got a guy with his head against a wall, since you have no dept to blur out. It wasn't supposed to be uncomfortable at all. It was just something the guy remembered in this moment. I'm trying to create some mystery of not knowing what is going on. When I get closer to completing the opening scene I will post, but I just needed to get some initial reactions from what I had done.

of course I appreciate anyone else.

Brian,

Thanks for sharing how you shot the opening. That makes more sense now that I know which lens you used. DOF would be a challenge with that wide a lens.

I wasn't pushing the smoking thing believe me. I don't smoke, but I just thought that it would fit with what I had seen from the characters so far.

I guess that I felt uncomfortable with the guys discussion at the opening, but like you said, I don't know the whole context yet, all I have to go by is the little bit you put up and that is what you asked us to give comments on.

I am interested in your workflow. Did you shoot tape or DTE? What is your post process.

I like it so far, but each person has their own style and we would all do it different. That's what is great about this business.

Keep up the good work!!

Dan Weber

Hey Daniel,

Yeah a 9mm lens is basically zero DOF. I hear there is a 3mm lens, but the widest I could get my hands on was the 9mm. When you see the movie you'll see its a very stylized film and I believe there is a purpose for it.

The smoking part to me just seems like a cliche to me. I.e the classic character telling a story with a cigarette. I try to get away from that, plus most people I know nowadays don't smoke. That was big 30-80s.

They are sitting at a wall outside a bank, which I will expose later, and they think they are getting caught, so one of them just thinks of this story which has nothing to do with anything. I.e. it takes him away form the moment they are in.

Now to the workflow. All shot to the DR100 and then imported to FCP 6.0. We actually did a lot of slo mo, which you will see later shot at 60P with M2T and then converted to 24fps. We are fooling around with different colors and filters to make it stand out, hopefully it will work.

I can tell you that you learn a ton from making films. It only gets better.

Are you happy with the DR100? I have heard both good and bad with it. Just looking for one more opinion on it's use.

Thanks and good luck in post,

Dan Weber

I wouldn't shoot without it. There were like once or twice where it didn't record. Could have been not pressing record right or whatever, but otherwise it was flawless. Mind you, I shot for 30 days so that is a lot of footage. If you have the HD100/200/250 get it. I would never want to use tape again. I'm not sure what has been said that is bad about it.

Anyone would give me their feedback? Don't worry if it is bad, I just need some feedback before I remove the clip in the next day or two. It is much appreciated =)

Hi Brian,
I liked the shots in the room, they all looked very cinematic. I was a bit confused by the outside shots, leaning on the wall, as I couldn't work out the geography - the first guy appears to be looking at camera, with something in the foregroud that looks like someone's shoulder. the other guy is not making any kind of eyeline (until the very end of the sequence) - it was only when they stood up that I realised they were sitting side by side. It's only a minor thing, but I like to know where people are in relation to eachother in a shot, so maybe a two-shot before going into single shots would have helped? Or perhaps if you have a different angle on one of the characters so that the background has a different perspective? (I'm guessing that the two shots were filmed from the same tripod location?)

Hey Paul,

First, thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback. I need it. All great comments and questions.

Hopefully I can address them all. The main purpose of the clip was to get feedback on "the look" of the film. However, I didn't want to specify that because people would just focus on that and I thought it would be nice to really hear any type of feedback relating to anything in the clip. My main goal is to create a different indie look without it being distracting. Hopefully I have succeeded since I have no adverse comments on it.

This is a rough experimental of an opening, and yes I do indeed have a two-shot of the guys sitting against the wall, and in addition I have a shot of cops down the street they are watching. None of which is in there now. When that goes in I am sure it will make sense. However, having said that, sometimes (although not the case here), a filmmaker can create a mystery of the enviornment to give the audience some interest to figure out where the characters are. This isn't the case here since I do want people to know where they are sitting, just not what happened. You'll see cops and them waiting for other characters, but that is just to begin the film. Then it goes to a "flashback" prior to this moment and we learn the build up and who they are. The shot was shot with the same tripod on a very wide lens (9mm) but we did move the camera for the close ups. The twoshot will reval more of the wall they are sitting against. Not sure what you are seeing with someone's shoulder. Gotta look closer for that. Maybe it was a bag.

Anyway, hope that helped clarify the questions and when I complete the scene I will repost to get the final verdict from all of you.

Thanks

Duke

Duke,

The short vid I like that you've posted is "first date". Great editing. Is the editing by your hand?

S.

Yes indeed. =)

Thanks