Watch my new short film

[Young-H. Lee]

Hi guys

I've posted a new short film that I made. It's my first film - shot with 16mm, but everything is edited digitally. Check out the "making of" section as well, you can learn a lot about the production process.

enjoy and leave comments!

http://www.glue.umd.edu/~younglee/enterthesavior/home

[Pat Chaney]

I wasn't able to play it through to the end for some reason, but what I saw of it was excellent, often with a very artistic look to it. Your use of lighting is generally very effective, although I thought the blown out backlighting (even though probably intentional) took the edge off it a little.

I also liked your account of your trip to NYC, and the making of the film. Sounds like it was a character building experience for you!

Well done, and good luck with your dream of getting to Holywood.

PS - what do you use to get the effect on your web site where the film trailer is viewed through scrolling transparent text? Something like After Effects?

[Young-H. Lee]

Thanks a lot for the comments Pat, some people have been experiencing similar problems, I don't know why its happening, I used Pinnacle Studio version 8 to do the final compression into WMV. Maybe its Pinnacle...

The intro animation was just Flash, I used a masking effect for that and animated a few still images (zooming)

[Christopher C. Murphy]

Hey cool, very good job with the action and overall feel of the film!

Here is my opinion:

Definately change the sound effect for the punches. The music is very good with the look and feel of the film, but the sound of the punch stands out poorly. My suggestion is to do some "Foley" - record hitting a bunch of stuff and get a better sound. I'd do something less whipping sounding...more bass like or similar.

SPOILER BELOW - DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET:

The only part of the story I'm not sure about is who is the "savior"? I know it's the guy, but why him and where do they go? Is he dead? I guess that is what you are going for? At the end when they walk away it looks like they will be beemed up like Star Trek. Is that the desired effect? I haven't had my morning coffee yet, so I might not have caught something.

Great fight sequences. You should expand on that because it's a nice thing to have in your toolbox as a filmmaker. Also, there is a glowing thing that is throughout the film - was the on purpose? How did you get it?

Nice job!

Murph

[Pat Chaney]

Hmmm ... when I wrote 'Holywood' above I probably elevated it to a status higher than it really deserves <g>

[Jan van den Hemel]

Good fighting, efficient filmmaking with the storyboards and small crew. My only criticism would be the sound effects.

[Young-H. Lee]

Cool, thanks a lot guys for the comments. Yea, the sound effects are pretty lousy, that is definetly the consistent criticism. I was thinking of buying some sound effects libraries? Any recommendations?

Chris, to answer your question, (the following might sound a bit cheesy) this film is basically an allegorical story about our struggles in life and how through the help of others we are able to break free from the shackles that enslave us. In this case, the help of the Savior brings the drug addict back 'into the light.' Symbolically, he was able to empower us so we can stand up against the demons.

[Jan van den Hemel]

It is not difficult to make your own sound effects. And it's fun!

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Hey Young,

GREAT WORK!

Have you ever worked with a Bolex and if so wonder how you feel it would compare to the ARRI you shot "Enter The Saviour" with?

My second question is how do you feel your film would have compared if you shot on miniDV? In other words, do you think there is a substantiating difference because you used 16mm film as opposed to miniDV? Obviously everyone else has their point of view but I thought I would ask you since perhaps you might have worked with miniDV in the past and even considered it for your film.

Many thanks and I appreciate your answers!

Keep rolling!!!

[Young-H. Lee]

Thanks Dennis

I've never worked with a Bolex, Arriflex 16 is actually my first film camera I've ever dealt with, and before that, I've not done anything with miniDV. Enter the Savior was my first attempt at making a film. And to answer your question, if there is a substantial differnce to using 16mm vs miniDV:

HELL FREAKIN YES!!!

The difference is huge...in what ways?

- Lighting contrasts - with 16mm, I was able to achive those nice glows you saw in the film, contrast in miniDV is not as strong
- DOF - I was able to get a lot of nice Depth of field in some shots, that MiniDv usually cant
- softness and grainess of the film - miniDV as you probably know is sharp and very defined.

Overall, I really loved the way the film ended up looking. I would love to use film in all my projects, but its too expensive for an amateur guy like me. MiniDV is the way to go for me from now on.

let me know if you have any other questions

[Dennis Hingsberg]

Young,

Yeah I understand the differences between miniDV and film in terms of contrast range, grain, DOF etc.. but I guess I was wondering if you feel after seeing your short if you thought between production and post production you could have achieved something really close had you used miniDV?

I just started using the digital mini35 to make short films so I can get 35mm depth of field and also know I can tweak coloring and grain in post if I want.

I have the opportunity now to shoot a short film in 16mm but wonder with the equipment setup I own if there is really going to be much advantage?

I guess that's the answer I'm looking for.

By the way you can see still images on my site from some of the work I've done recently, just click each image on the first page for a slide show.

[Young-H. Lee]

you probably can with enough time and with the right equipment. you need to know aftereffects very well

[Sean McHenry]

Young,
On the sound effects, try slugging some meat. (Thawed). You can get that nice semi wet thump sound that way. Also, for the swings, what you had wasn't so bad, just stylized a bit too much perhaps. You could try swinging a dowel rod past a mic very fast and see how that works for you.

Overall, very nice. I will be passing this around for a while. Also, for those having issues playing the link, try right clicking and downloading it. I am using FireFox as a browser and it has issues with windows media files.

Thanks again,

Sean McHenry

[Young-H. Lee]

Hi Sean

I'm very happy that you found it good enough to pass around! Thanks man, it means much to me *sniffle*

THat meat slugging thing...I'll try that. I've never even thought about making my own sound effects before. What microphone do you use?

[Dylan Couper]

Hey!
It played fine for me. I enjoyed it and "got it" no problem. I love the look and F/X, kind of reminds me of something I did recently... ;)

You already know my only negative comment, which is ofcourse the sound effects. Do a search on here for foley effects and you will come up with a few threads with good advice.

Dylan