This is my first movie that I did in middle school. You can see it at www.stormpointstudios.com. I need some professional feedback.

Can I get some feedback on the movie please?

I'll be completely honest, it was bad. You need to explore After Effects more than use the Particular presets. The story was unoriginal and overall boring. The camera you shot this on is obviously some old consumer camcorder, aren't you that kid that said you were getting an XL2 for you 15th birthday?

Judging from this, you shouldn't buy an XL2 yet. That kind of step needs to be made after taking at least 2 photography/film classes, learn more high-end editing, and max out the capabilities of the camera you already have. Not just make one film that you base your whole career on.

Most of this feedback is negative, but you need to take this and improve on what you're not good at; which is a lot of things.

Although you have figured out shooting, capturing and presets, there is still a LOT more you need to learn before making the big step to professional cameras.

I'm gonna be honest with you here. The only thing I watched was the opening sequence, and then I turned it off. I don't want to come across as a jerk or anything, because believe me I'm probably only a little older than you. What I've learned is that if you are making a low-no budget film and for whatever reason there is a scene or sequence with something like a plane crash or an explosion it is best to not show the audience this event rather than show it badly.

What I mean is in the opening sequence it would have been better to have the sound effects of a plane crashing, someone radioing for help, during the title sequence. Rather than trying to make a cheesy visual of a plane crashing when you can't possibly make it look good on a no-low budget film. Let the audience's imagination fill the rest in.

That's my only advice. Sorry if I came across as harsh I didn't mean it that way.

NICK / FLIGHT 208

Apart from the feedback on your movie, taking your age in consideration,
I believe 14 years, the honest effort to pull off your 20min movie backed
by your web-site and the way you use your website to pull donor
investments justify a word of praise.

When I was your age i was playing pinball machines with every cent i could
lay my hands on. The closest i could get to making movies was to watch
a matinee show.


Go for it ! / Herman.

This was my first try ever at making a movie. Allot of the issues with the camera were cause because I was in the movie instead of using the camera. Next time I'm not in it, and I have an experienced operator. The video quality is much better on the DVD than online, because it is severely compressed. Also, I;m not doing any special effect on the next one. So hopefully it will be allot better.

Actually I was 13 when I made Flight 208. No I'm 14 and I have a ton more experience on other projects.

I'm not the person who said I was getting an Xl2. I am eventually going to get an XH A1 though. I'll add some of my newer project since this one was before I had any experience or professionals helping me.

I'm not the person who said I was getting an Xl2. I am eventually going to get an XH A1 though. I'll add some of my newer project since this one was before I had any experience or professionals helping me.That's even worse. You shouldn't jump to High-Def. You have made one amateur movie and you're buying a professional's equipment. Not something you want to do.

And have you ever heard of the edit button Mr. Triple Post?

Nick, you tried and that counts for something. You need to remember when your writing and shooting movies that this is a visual medium, we are visual story tellers, so with that in mind, one thing your movie did constantly was to have the actors saying everything that popped into their head, and state everything they were doing - not necessary. Many of those things are obvious because the audience is watching it happen. For example, the whole berry eating part, most all of that dialog was completely unnecessary. The theme of letting the audience figure it out is a good one to consider, especially on low budget films, for example, Nick Rothwell's suggestion about using sound effects in the opening credits to establish the plane crash is a very very good suggestion. As far as the XH A1 purchase goes, it would be a good idea to wait on that, high definition is very unforgiving, your focus cannot be off, and it is alot to deal with, its alot more everything, more money, more hard drive space, as well as more resolution, and that resolution will make the mistakes all that more visible. I used consumer cam's on many movies before I started using bigger camera's. Photography classes are a great idea as well, as many as you can, and some film classes as well. I personally always stress fine art as too. Searching these forums and reading everything on them and all the responses is another great way to learn, if you dont know what their talking about, look it up, if you want to see the equipment they use check BHphotovideo.com, you can see what their talking about, BH also has some good books that would help you. Pro equipment doesn't mean Pro production, that takes more than what you can buy. We all started somewhere, so keep at it.

-Ben



P.S as far as production value with pro equipment goes improvise, we all do it.

I'll be really honest, I haven't even seen the clip..Yet.. However I will.. I think we all (Chris) need to be professional and provide the younger newer people with constructive feedback and try to support everybody on this forum. He may have lot's to learn but I'm sure he will..We were all there at one point and time..I think that's sometimes easy to forget.. Anyway not trying to start a war, but Nick Keep pluggin away and never stop learning..When you think you don't need to learn any more then that's when you should find something else.

Taking your age into consideration I think that is a huge accomplishment. Thought people were being pretty harsh, but guess introduce him to that early, since there will be a lot of that. I'm sure you learned an unbelievable amount from the whole project. I would say take more time on your shots and over shoot. Get each scene a few times so you can be more picky in post. Good to hear that you are working with some people that have more experience for you to learn from, but hope you keep doing your own thing too. Good luck to you and hope to see more.

I'll be really honest, I haven't even seen the clip..Yet.. However I will.. I think we all (Chris) need to be professional and provide the younger newer people with constructive feedback and try to support everybody on this forum. He may have lot's to learn but I'm sure he will..We were all there at one point and time..I think that's sometimes easy to forget.. Anyway not trying to start a war, but Nick Keep pluggin away and never stop learning..When you think you don't need to learn any more then that's when you should find something else.I guess I came off a little too harsh, but I was just being honest. Part of being a filmmaker is learning to accept negative feedback and transform it into a learning experience.

From what I've seen, I'm trying to convince him not to waste his money. Considering his age he is probably naive and thinks that Hi-Def is simple and will make a Professional Production. Like someone said earlier, Pro equipment does not mean Pro production. I don't think he really understands what he's getting his dad to buy him..

Like I said, you need to take photography classes to learn the mechanics of a camera. Aperature, shutter speed, f/stops, exposure, aspect ratio, frame rate etc. etc. From there YOU NEED TO COMPLETELY MAX OUT THE EQUIPMENT YOU ALREADY HAVE! Make as many movies as possible, study film, take film classes, view the classics, etc. Once you have peaked in your creativity from there, then MAYBE look into a higher end camera, and THEN Hi-Def.

Lastly, at your age kids are very likely to pick up and drop random hobbies. I remember I wanted to be in a band, a cartoonist, an animator, then a painter, then photographer, and now I've really gotten my heart set on film because you can do ALL those things within this visual medium.

So what I'm saying is, is this some childhood hobby your dad is gonna pay good money for and end up you taking up something else? You need to find yourself more before jumping into the professional equipment pool.

Just a suggestion, if you want to get this camera, be completely clueless, and deprive your dad of hefty money; be my guest.

...Was that harsh?

Nick,

Ok, so it is not very good at all, but you have plenty of time to get better! I would not invest any money in a new camera. I would instead invest my time in practicing with what you have already. A new and better camera will not improve what is wrong, and may just make it worse. especially if you go HD. It just makes everything more complicated, more expensive and it takes time away from studying film-making.

Learn to tell a story with the camera and study how to make films. There are probably plenty of great books and the Omaha public library system should have most of them if you don't want to buy them. (I used to live in Omaha)

Practice your editing, like when and where to cut to tell the story the best. Stay away from special effects until you have everything else in place.

Keep at it, don't quit!

Mike

From what I've seen, I'm trying to convince him not to waste his money. Considering his age he is probably naive and thinks that Hi-Def is simple and will make a Professional Production. Like someone said earlier, Pro equipment does not mean Pro production. I don't think he really understands what he's getting his dad to buy him..

I'm not going HD for a while (2008) so I'm not just doing it now. For the next movie I'm going to have a hired camera operator with an Xl2 who know what they are doing. I'm also buying some new audio equipment because that was one of the major problems with Flight 208. And film making isn't just a hobby I recently took up. I have been doing stuff with the camera since I was seven, but I'm just now starting to figure out how to use more professional equipment.

I'm so new that this that I almost shouldn't be commenting, but I agree with the comments regarding the overall story line. At least with this movie, you've gained some experience with doing voice-overs and getting fairly good footage, but I wouldn't spend all that time on creating such a pretty website - at least not focused on that one video anyway.

Would it be a good idea to be a little less focused on a full production? I think that's what I'm planning on initially since I know that I'd waste my time and efforts if I were to try and gather up actors and come up with a real script at this point.

I know you are a very busy man, but if you have some spare time,
please read the following post under THE TOTEM POLL by Marco Wagner.

" The passion,The Pain, The Production."


Herman.

I know you are a very busy man, but if you have some spare time,
please read the following post under THE TOTEM POLL by Marco Wagner.

" The passion,The Pain, The Production."


Herman.

Thanks Herman, I wrote that as a reminder to myself as well. It's for those times when I'm wondering what the heck I'm doing in a dingy boiler room at 2am filming -only to have the footage come out like total crap when viewing the next day, lol.

Nick - Be hard, but be humble too. You're in a position that some would wish for -being that young and having today's technology...

Thanks Herman, I wrote that as a reminder to myself as well. It's for those times when I'm wondering what the heck I'm doing in a dingy boiler room at 2am filming -only to have the footage come out like total crap when viewing the next day, lol.

Nick - Be hard, but be humble too. You're in a position that some would wish for -being that young and having today's technology...

I read that. It's great advice. Thanks for writing it.

No problem, now on to flaming your first movie, lol nah, just kidding.

Flight208

Aside from what has already been said I can give you this:

1. Practice enoding for Google Video or YouTube -both have their issues (heck I'm still learning). If someone is going to watch 20mins of anything on the web -they will more than likely have high speed allowing you larger file sizes. Some transitions just suck when converted by these online sites. You'll probably find plenty of workflows on this site.

2. The sound for dialog felt a bit, uhm, narrative almost or like a kung fu film where they had to dub english voices in. It was easy to tell the voice overs. Either add some filters in post to make it sound like they're outside or get boom setup.

3. The story itself has been done so many times in so many ways -I think the best was "Alive" (IMO) or maybe "Castaway" (save the lengthy Wilson scenes though). Plane crashes, someone survives, they get saved. In reality when big planes crash hardly anyone ever survives. If they do survive it's usually not good enough to warrant a whole movie. This may sound stupid but it falls in line with "another one of these movies" to some people. That's when you lose them.

Now what about a short that covers the initial plane damage, the passengers realization, and then the thoughts/actions of the soon to be crash victims-then the crash as the climax and end! My point, the difference between a good short and a bad short lies in the script, actors, and story first and foremost THEN all the rest. Try to be as original as possible, it may be hard, but that's what stands out in a crowd of millions. It's also what makes me revise a script for a solid 6 months now! LOL. I cringe everytime a new movie comes out and an idea I have prepared is exploited to the point where I'd be the one "copying" :-)

4. Pat yourself on the back for having the courage to come on here and ask for feedback. Learn from it, embrace it. It may be in-your-face at times but that is the beauty of opinions. You are ahead of this game should you continue to play for many years to come.

PS - I thought you did a decent job on the plane, the crash wasn't as good, but the plane didn't look like a cutout, so not bad. I agree with the others, sound would've been your better friend for that opening sequence.

Pat yourself on the back for having the courage to come on here and ask for feedback.

key words... Nick, you're brave to put your work up here, because I think sometimes comments (not just for your work but others) can become hypercritical. I really thought it was very complete.

A couple of points; you've completed a lengthy movie story, from start to finish, with special effects. That's awesome. I'm multiple times your age, and I haven't done that yet. Well done.

- Most of this is shot without sound (i.e. MOS), and it's difficult to have looped lengthy conversations look convincing unless you film them carefully.
- To sustain something this long, there should be at least some kind of character development or subplot.
- This is a relatively long "short", so you need to look into an appropriate story arc - millions of screenwriting books cover this area.
- Again, in terms of time, it's too short to be called "feature" length and a wee bit too long for a fictional short. It's arguably about the right length for a 30 minute TV slot. Bottom line, have a target market, otherwise fewer people will get to see your work.

Very impressive - wish I was turning out movies like this when I was your age...

Greg

To sustain something this long, there should be at least some kind of character development or subplot.
- This is a relatively long "short", so you need to look into an appropriate story arc

Originally this was supposed to be a video podcast that came in eight different episodes that were about five minutes long. I put them together because I couldn't find a really effective way to deliver the video and because I didn't want to continue making new episodes (the original plan).

Originally this was supposed to be a video podcast that came in eight different episodes that were about five minutes long. I put them together because I couldn't find a really effective way to deliver the video and because I didn't want to continue making new episodes (the original plan).

I hear ya'

We did that with Redneck Planet, originally it was supposed to be 15 minute webisodes but it is hard to keep a whole crew hot on a non-paying project over and over again. We ended up putting it all together as one 37 minute "Episode Zero". Now we are just doing misc. random redneck skits when that crew is together and in the mood, usually once a year.

Nick

Every filmmaker is entitled to a bunch of bad movies. Chalk it up to a learning experience and keep on going. Like many have said just practice and be true to your vision. And I applaud your age im sure there are alot of people telling you the same stuff because they have a whole slew of not so great movies that they have made...some are nicer that others about how they feel about your film but honestly I would rather learn from other artists and filmmakers on the boards as most people dont get what we do. So the advice...make movies..make a ton of them and read read read and post them and have fun doing it. Take care...oh and try really hard not to take any of it personally....making movies is an art and as soon as you start your are subject to criticism. Ok now I'm done.

man times have changed. I wish i even knew the process of how to make a film at 13 yrs,

Im 33 and have worked with crew people who canont even handle the work involved or time that needs to be invested, the fact you finsihed what you started is all that maters as one post metioned above you have plenty of time to practice.

if you surround yourself with people as dedicated to film as you are now, you will have surpassed all of us here by the time you hit 20, and you can come back and teach us a thing or two.

for one stay on this forum theres alot of great info here and good feedback, ive learn something new everytime I pop on this site, its great forum.

Keep up the good work and never give up.

13 years old?
Nicely done Nick!
You are an amazing young man.
Don't stop now.
And go get that HD you wanted too.

Honestly I have to disagree with Van. Don't go out and buy an HD cam just yet. The HD market is really out of whack right now anyway! Instead invest in a descent education. Even if it is just a few classes here and there, most schools have equipment that you can use. Learn how to compose/direct great productions. Then, if you want to be in your own projects you can be!

Definetly keep a creditable film/video school in mind. Practice with a lower end camera for now. A great videographer/director can produce an amazing finished product even with the lower end cameras.

Most importantly, keep an open mind about criticism. I think that this is the most valuable thing to learn. Many people on this site are very experienced videographers, so let your guard down and truly listen to what they have to say. They aren't just trying to be mean, though some of them may be jealous that they didn't start as young as yourself (myself included).

I know your parents and peers probably love the work you've done so far. Just please don't think that your work is the greatest ever made at the age of thirteen. Like I said before, keep an open mind about criticism, cause most of what other people have said is constructive.


Keep following your dreams!
Ry