Hey guys,

"The Lady in White" is a short film I shot with the Canon XH-A1. The film is inspired by the old mystery radio plays in the 1940s. I wanted the film to feel like an old radio play, and have that old film look, but in a contemporary way.

Synopsis:
A man driving home late one stormy night, encounters a mysterious bride in the middle of the woods.


The Lady in White (2009) on Vimeo



Let me know what you think! Thanks!

That was really, really pretty. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you don't mind me asking, what did you do in the grade to end up with such lovely black and white?

Excellent! Visually quite beautiful- good choice going with the partial desaturation rather than full B&W. Production design was excellent, music and effects were atmospheric and the performances were solid. And it told a story- something that is quite rare to see in the micro-budget indie web video world. If felt like a classic ghost story and the design, cinematography and atmosphere were a big part of that. I was initially a little uncertain as to what the ending meant, but I think I'm on the right page now! For me, telling a story is the main thing, what it's all about and you've rightly put the story first with everything else supporting it. Congrats!

On a somewhat geekier note, it's nice to see something like this come from a camera like the XH A1. So much of what's around the web at the moment is DSLR material and there's this consensus that low-budget + cinematic = DSLR. It's good that someone's proving that great cinematic visuals can be achieved on a 1/3" HDV camera. Hats off to you, sir!

Thank you for the kind words! I really wanted the film to feel like a classic ghost story. I wanted the audience to feel like they were listening to a radio play. It was definitely one of the toughest shoots I have ever done, from the car problems to the pouring rain, to a bear coming out in the middle of the woods.

Henry, for the color grading, I simply used Final Cut's color correction tool. I knew that I wanted a very gray and mono-tone look from the beginning when I wrote the script, so I made sure the production design was done in a way to reflect that. The costumes and the make-up really helped with that, pretty much was just made the actor's faces white and gave them a real ghostly pastey look.

I'm glad you guys enjoyed it! Hope to hear more feedback!

many thanks, Glen.

Great light, photography, props, costumes, sets. Top to bottom. And one pretty looking lady. I thought the sound however was overwrought -- to the point of distraction, too many cues telling me what I'm supposed to be feeling and lastly I didn't get the story. What was that money bucket about? A guy meets a woman in the woods and it turns out she was a ghost of a bride who got left at the alter? Do I have that right? Technically awesome though.

Did you have a fog machine? How'd you create that?

Nice work. I liked that shot of the moon.