Teaser for my upcoming short film (DVX100a)....
 

Hey all. Well, shooting wrapped on "Brie" about 2 weeks ago and I have an ok rough cut of the film together, still waiting to get a few shots done and working with the composer right now to get the score going so here's a teaser to hopefully build some anticipation if at all possible. The film is more on the side of gritty and handheld throughout most of the film (18 minutes in total length). This teaser is designed to not really give much away but build on the mood of the film and is so short, I had to dub it a teaser. There's very little dialogue throughout the piece and is based heavily on image and music. I was able to get a "producer" to give us some sort of budget which ended up being $1,000 which considering I already owned all the equipment minus carmounts and lights, wasn't bad. We had a crew of 5 awesome people, the dp who's a friend of mine went to NYU and overall I'm happy with the way the piece is shaping together. I plan to submit it to festivals and see what they say (if anything ;) ).... well hope you enjoy...

http://www.DefiningFilms.com/Teaser.htm

I'm sorry to say that it didn't really built some anticipation for me
or had me interested. It was more of a montage than a teaser
to a movie for me. The extreme cropping didn't help much either.

There where two technical issues that I noticed as well:

1. there noticable audio clicks (Premiere?), I assume this is just a teaser problem

2. there was some jarring and stuttering on some pieces that looked like it had been artificially slowed down

Rob - thanks for the feedback -

1. The audio clicks are part of the song. I'm on Vegas 4. It's a song by the group Mouse on Mars. They're like an experimental techno group (a bunch of their songs make use of audio clicks in rhythmic time) from Germany and are fairly big (not really my casual listen but more of just weird sounding stuff for a movie).

2. That's weird about the stuttering. Yes it definitely had been slowed down but my version shows no stuttering, maybe a single frame at the FTB before the white noise sound starts but that was the compression on Sorenson.

That's too bad about the anticipation. I think I was shooting for a mood and then hoping it'd make people wonder what kind of movie it was. I was trying to go a different direction than the standard question answering text (ie. "one girl in a quest to find herself") and in a movie with such little dialogue, to show too many visuals would really take some of the impact away. In fact, most of the vertical clips aren't even from the movie but fit the mood of it. Also, the whole film is shown through extreme cropping all over the screen ...... (just kidding ;) )

Techno is good, never heard it with clicks before though. Heh.

I think the extreme cropping distracted too much for me to the
point where I just wasn't sure about what I was watching. I
applaud you for not taking the standard trailer route, always
good to try new and interesting stuff.

Hey it might work for everybody else out there, just not me. Sorry.

I also was distracted by the cropping.
Maybe adding motion to the cropping and having it show key elements?
my two cents,

Jeff P

Maybe it'd work better as a DVD menu or something :D

Well, personally, I found the extreme cropping to be a nice touch. I think it did evoke a sense of mystery and curiosity as to what this short is all about. At the same time I think it is so extreme that it also brings about a sense of darkness, fear and suspense. But I would be extremely upset if I were to find out that this movie came out to be something other than a suspense mystery! So if that's what your movie isn't all about, then I'd go for something a little less sytylistic. :)

Randy - your response made my actually laugh out loud. Not because I don't agree or understand what you're saying, but your line "I'd be extremely upset" ending with an exclamation point was really funny. That being said, honestly, I spent an hour on this thing one night initially as a DVD menu but then kept on going to have a "teaser" to hopefully build a little hype for when it's complete in a week or so (hype meaning having people recognize the project and eventual posting).

I think in my mind, the extreme cropping was intended to bring about a couple of emotions: first, it's like you're getting a peak into this girl's emotional state with her numb and blank expression. It was intended to give hints of what the feel of the film is and so the viewer is more prepared for the message of the film: the crash after the high - the numbness that follows both recreational and prescription drug use - where are our drugs getting us? (the whole premise and point of the film). The cropping gave me a sense of wanting to see more in the frame. The teaser begins with like a "super Academy widescreen" mode to introduce Brie's face and her emotionless look juxtaposed with different elements (won't get too into why certain ones). Then for a jarring effect and change of pace, this widescreenish mode is flipped to a horizontal cropping, almost as if we're looking through the crack in a door while the elements switch from slowed down to time lapse high speed that include elements which could be compared to her state, bare trees or white washed flowers.

I think another goal of the teaser was to hopefully get people feeling the mood of this thing before they first watch it, because the short doesn't fit the traditional storytelling and shot style of films. We tried to make a short film that didn't hit the viewer over the head with the message we were trying to get accross but required a little more work to think about what we were saying with the film. Most of the film is handheld or "shaky" (not extreme or planned shakiness, just what happens when you use shoulder mounts). We also tried to present a short that would be visually fun to watch without relying on fancy sfx or after effect miracles (which I love both of by the way) and just rely on cuts, speed changes with framing, the power of music and visual and some extreme cropping (just kidding ;) ).

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not explaining these things because I think the "teaser" or short itself is wonderful or anything, just what we all had as goals for this project and what I was thinking when I threw the teaser together. I could easily see most people here not really liking the short (not because they don't understand it, just because they plain don't like it), and the acting is just barely in the acceptable range so, I'll be curious to hear everyone's reactions.... until then, I love to hear any more comments or criticisms of the "teaser".!

hmm, i like it.

Bryan, does the whole film play with that kind of croping?
i agree with Randy, this trailer is so stylistic, that if the film its self doesnt hold up to it, then people might be disapointed.

keep us posted

Rich - no, the film doesn't do any of the extreme cropping tricks. I'm not sure what you mean by stylistic but I can say it's a very visual movie. If stylistic means changing cropping tricks or split screens, then no. Our composer is hard at work on the original soundtrack as we speak and I have tweaking and re-editing this following week after some great feedback on the rough cut from my friend and our fellow community member Peter Sieben. Glad you enjoyed the teaser and thanks for your feedback Rich!

As Bryan mentioned I have seen a rough cut of Brie. The teaser mainly sets the mood of the movie. I won't tell anything about the story, but what I can say is that the contrast between the mood and music on one side and the visuals on the other side is what the teaser and the full movie share. The teaser hardly shows anything of the story, which fits it's purpose. Otherwise it should have been a 'normal' trailer.

Bryan, good luck with the final edits and music integration. I really look forward to see the final product!

I liked the teaser. It appealed to the same tastebuds that tingled with joy when the trailer for Garden State came on screen at my local largeplex. None of this sententious "In a time..." or "Imagine a world.." voiceover crap.

Nice, however, would be a tiny bit more narrative juice. Anything that shows a decision, a realization, a change your main character experiences. Doesn't have to be much; just evocative. Hell, you have a bit of that already.

I'd see it. But the danger of making something beautifully enigmatic like your teaser is that, well, you'd better deliver. Something. A strong narrative, for one (but then, I almost always want that).

Michael

bryan...
just checked out your site... really dug the onelinedrawing video.. and music.

I myself shot a music video for a local group (in Texas... I've moved back to seattle over the past week) and am currently editing.

The vid had a cool vibe, which I think fit the song nicely.
I read this board every so often, and post with some technical questions and such... but sometimes it disappoints me how wrapped up in "techno" things everyone seems to be.... constrast levels, color correction, camera specs, blah blah. Not to sound like I'm complaining too much... I find the technical information very helpful... very much a means to an end. But not an end in itself...

I liked your "teaser" for Brie.... bars and everything. Because it was different... because it made my eye look closer to see what was going on. It had a mood... clicks and everything.

But anyway, my two cents...

CMV

Christopher - thanks for the feedback and glad you liked things around Defining Films - the new website is done and there's just some fine tuning being done on the content but it's a much much better site and I'll have a new reel up showing some more of my work by the end of next week. To get to my online reel, you would have to click on the Defining Films logo and then on the main page click reel in case you wanted to see it, but I cut it together almost a year ago so it's rather out of date.

Just so you know, the full length version of the short film "Brie" is online and there's a posting with link and user feedback a few posts down, I'd be interested to see what you think.... -