Student Film: "FARE"
 

Hey Guys,

Well here is my labour of love from last year. Shot on the Canon XHA1 and the Redrock 35mm adapter. Cost about $10,000 ($7500 cash and $2500 support from PS Production Services) and has gotten into several Toronto Film Festivals.

I know some of the smaller character acting in the film is a bit wooden, but I was thrilled with my lead, my DP, the editing, and generally with the film. Some writing issues as well, but I hope you'll enjoy.

Looking back on it (finished in April, shot in Feb), I wish we had more time in post sound, and I would do a bit differently... but hey, who wouldn't.

136mb, so please download and watch (right click, save as)

www.notomatofilms.com/FARE.mov

Behind the scenes stuff coming on my website soon.

No one? I thought it was better than that :P

If the file size is a problem (136mb), try out this file. WMV, only 60mb

www.notomatofilms.com/Fare.wmv

In my honest opinion... the production values were decent but I didn't really get into the story. It took a lot of time in establishing that the driver was assaulted, and I didn't find the conflict compelling. Maybe it is because the driver is very passive... things happen to him, but he does not make things happen. I didn't feel that he really made an effort to overcome his obstacle.

The levels on the web encode looks off. (Which is unsatisfying to me since I can't get into the cinematography when that is the case... the picture should be dark but it isn't.)

Yes Glenn, the levels on the encode are off quite a bit. Unfortunately I am having trouble making it compress better.

I appreciate your critical feedback. It differs vastly from the majority I have recieved, but it is also interesting to see how a film plays at 640x320 res on a computer, as opposed to on a big screen at festivals... I know watching it myself here on my computer that it doesn't grab me nearly as well.

Are you using Vegas btw? You should apply the "studio RGB to computer RGB" preset on the video preview FX level if this is the case... (and you can set the render as dialog to check the do not letterbox setting).

I actually found the wmv to be dark on my laptop. Not too dark.... just about right.

As for the movie... I liked it. The edit could have been tightened up a bit here and there but I did enjoy it. The conversation between the cab driver and his fare outside against the car was tad low for me.

Overall, I thought that it was pretty good. It just drags a tad in spots but not too much.

Cheers,

Mike

Thanks mike, comments appreciated. Yes, our audio was of major concern. Our sound guy was fantastic, but working on ten other films, so our sound was sort of left till the last minute. Instead of having a 4 hour mix session, we had a 4 hour mix/build session which greatly reduced our audio quality. Oh well!

Matt

my worthless 2 pennies!

It was good overall Matt.

I do agree that sound was distractingly off (mostly outside) in some areas where a wireless lav/mp3 audio recorder could have been beneficial.

Some great shots and the lead actor was solid for a production of this level; but some of the other talents in front of the camera were noticibly weaker in comparison. I also agree that the editing could be tightened considerably in some areas to and improve the overall pacing of the piece.

One thing tho is that I felt some of the cinematography was too 'obvious', like the main baddie flushed in red light+gel. imho some cross processing could be used thoughout the movie to add production value in addition to making some of the cinematography techniques blend in more.

Congratulations Matthew, I've seen my fair share of student films over the last few years, and for student work yours is terrific. Yes, as others have pointed out there are a few small problems with the sound and some of your supporting actors' performances, but they're small problems and even less concerning when you get back to the fact that it's a student film.

Personally I think it shows a lot of potential, How'd you find your lead by the way, he really anchored the piece. Well done.

Hey Mark,

I hunted down the lead through some websites. I originally had a much older Persian man as the lead, but Sam showed up and floored me. What I liked about him was that he made me see the character as a younger person, and gave me lots to work with.

Mike, as for the editing, I like the pace a lot and think it's well edited... where would you tighten? (I am a fan of slower films and don't think everything has to have that MTV feel :P).

The one scene I would lose is with the two female passengers, but the realities of money and time on a student film nipped us in the bud on that one... we were paying $200/hr for the police escorts so had to wrap it fast.