DVC 12 - Metamorphosis - Joseph Tran
 

The project is in the can, and what a project is has been!

One of the most difficult aspects of this piece was in the storytelling... how do we keep the balance between watching from the "audience" POV, versus the "artist" POV?

From pre to post-production, this piece really pushed the limits of my work. Oh, and you should also know -- no animals were harmed, during the making of this film.

Thank you, fellow DVC members, for your inspiration. I humbly submit, for your consideration and enjoyment, "Metamorphosis".

Perfect, don't touch it. I would say you have mastered the craft, but none of us truly do. But you are damn close.

Good job

Jim

excellent piece! Always use something you already have available to you to add production quality! Very Very well done...

My only concern was this. you need to see the audience to give the show more perspective. I felt the whole time you were standing alone on a stage in a room with 1 or 2 guys in it. maybe have a few more things on the stage? or even a shot of people watching you from off stage? I know you can't really secure 300 extras to fill an audience. But maybe there is some stock footage or something? It just would have added another aspect of realism to it is all.

So good! I think this will be the one to beat

Best of luck

Very nicely filmed. It looks like your DP has been at this for a long time and it really helped tell your story. Bravo.

Sorry to be dumb, but where are you guys viewing this? I can't seem to find a link for it. Thanks.

we found it through referal links in youtube or at least I did. Granted it still hasnt been "released" yet. We are being naughty.

how does this already have 1500+ views!!??.... tell me your secrets (no pun intended)

great work though. very impressive

Looks like it got featured by youtube for a little bit, (check its links link under the player)

ahhh makes sense

Outstanding work. This looks very polished. Lighting, sound, acting, everything came together very nicely.

I echo Jim's feelings. As close to perfect as one can hope to get. Maybe less reverb in the voiceover? Even that's not distracting, this film is engrossing enough that it doesn't matter.

My favorite detail is that we can hear you breathing as the curtain goes up. A genius idea, it sums up the whole story in my mind, and seems to itself embody the message of the entire movie.

Well played, an excellent entry!

Many thanks to all who took the time to respond to my submission...

Jim -- wow, thank you; and though I was tempted, no I won't touch it. I won't! I've seen your work, so that means a lot coming from you.

Jesse -- good point... I actually pictured this as a sort of semi-period piece (reminescent of Moulin Rouge with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, or the Tonight Tonight music video by Smashing Pumpkins), and thought it'd be nice to have that audience of dressed up people going to the theatre. I'll keep the extras in mind if and when I figure out how to pull it off. Couldn't do stock footage in this version, though... that's against the rules ;)

Josh -- I'll let my DP know about your comment. He's actually the Emcee in the piece. He's actually somewhat new to the whole DP stuff. We're both Theatre majors, so we played with our strengths there (theatrical lighting, acting, sound cues, etc.). I've been putting him in more projects to build his experience and confidence. What we've done, in case it helps anyone else, is we watched a lot of movies with the goal of lighting and camera angles in mind. Then we talked about it... ideas, goals, angles, likes, dislikes, the whole nine yards. I drew lots of storyboards to convey my ideas to him... mind you, I can't draw for the life of me, but even my stick figures got the idea across. On set, playback was very important. I figure we have that luxury, so why not rewind the tape and make sure we got it right? Sometimes we didn't get the right shot... but again, we talked about it, made the adjustments, and resumed shooting. We're still learning, still working. Oh, and it also helps that he's my best buddy... haha... we already got the working chemistry part down to a pat.

David -- I was trying to figure that out for myself!!! Is it really the link feature thing, Josh? Maybe the tags I used? I just remember seeing the numbers balloon in the first hour and thinking, "What the... who is watching this thing?!"

Bruce -- thank you... back in college, I was a stickler for making my college films not look like college films. So I spent countless hours reading about the importance of lighting, sound, foley, etc, etc, etc... that's how I found this great forum! I even learned about the history behind our technology... who, what, when, where, why we use 60i or 24p or ntsc or pal and such. I constantly went back and watched my favorite movies while asking myself why they were my favorite movies. This is one of the first projects where all the pieces are finally coming together.

Robert -- yeah, I can kill the reverb a bit. I'm glad you like the breathing part. Funny story... in the first draft of my script, I originally wrote, "I'll never get over that moment when I'm standing behind the curtain, nervous, only to be welcomed by the audience, seconds later." I had to cut it down, though, yet still portray that message. A mentor of mine always said to keep your acting truthful and in the moment. That's how that breathing part was born -- I really do that right before the curtain goes up.

Thank you all, again, for your feedback! I am having a wonderful time watching all of your work as well!

This was a really great piece. I concur that the camerawork was excellent and I especially enjoyed the transition in colors that occurred when you "changed" into your stage persona. Very effective. I also agree that this would benefit from the inclusion of audience footage (I thought stock footage was allowable in a few cases, but I'll have to go back and read the rules again). Either way, the lack thereof did not distract too badly and the overall piece was really wonderful. Great job!

Outstanding!
 

Outstanding piece of work, loved the color grading, storytelling, everything was in place. Congrats!

In five seconds I realized I was watching a professional quality piece. It it kept gettng better. Fantastic story, beautifully told, with interesting visuals. Little details abound. The shot of the feet as the curtain went up. Great directorial eye.

I think this is the strongest overall piece I have ever seen on a DV challenge.

No Pain. No Sadness. Only Magic.
 

Therein hides the key. What are you hiding from our audience? Sadness? Stage fright? Lonliness? Depression? It's a given: Your production design, photography, editing and timing are awesome. But do you have two lives? That is what I'm getting here. Are you saddened by your audience disassociating themselves with you as fellow human beings? Is this a phenomenon exclusive to many live stage entertainers? You have showed us a piece of the real you in this movie. You've succeeded. All aspects excellent. Thank you for such a touching an emotional piece. I look forward to more of your movies.

Then again, I could have missed the entire point and if so, I am truly sorry.

Thank you for your feedback, Alex, Mugurel, Dick, and Hugo! It really means a lot to see that people are enjoying the parts of my work that I am very passionate about. Glad you saw the color grading, too! A subtle, but effective device, I believe.

Hugo -- I think you hit the point of the piece right on the nail. At first, I misread your post (your unneeded apology threw me off), but you touched upon one of the key points that has been stirring some conversation on the film...

I talked to a friend of mine about it last night. The magician feels a disconnection from the audience, and comments that "they will never know". That works on a couple of different levels -- for the audience in the movie, as well as the audience watching the film. I chose not to illustrate all of the details of what he is going through, because, well, "they will never know". If we show all that he is going through, then the magician suddenly becomes connected to the audience, and I wanted to leave that until the curtain opens (and no sooner). It was an intricate detail that took me days to figure out -- how much do we show to both the 'in-film' and the 'real' audience? I could only conclude that by leaving a chunk of the extended storyline up to the audiences' assumptions, we keep the "mystery" of his ordeals intact, and stay true to his effort of keeping all of that from his audience.

That was the comment I came up with... but it's still not as good an explaination as yours, Hugo.

Thank you again, to all. Cheers.

Joseph:

I only wish my own movies can be as deep, multifaceted and meaningful as yours.

Hi Joseph,

Dick Mays said what I've been thinking about this film (almost word-for-word; guess we think alike in some ways, eh Dick? :).

Since almost all the superlatives have been taken, I'll simply add the one that went through my mind the first time I saw it and still holds...Masterpiece.

AMAZING!!! What else can I say... This really is a masterpiece. It can't get any closer to perfect than this... CONGRATULATIONS! :-)

Joseph, perhaps I am not alone in this, is it possible we could get a download-able version of your entry? :) Would certainly enjoy having it in my library in good quality.

I too would really enjoy seeing this in a high res version. Great piece. You obviously spent a far amount of time on it. I love the shot with the curtain going up. Hands down my number 1 vote for this contest. Excellent work and I look forward to seeing more in future competitions.

Lorinda,

It's the difference between C and C++...

Yours is the same as my thinking, but with just the addition of "class."

Again, thanks all for your enthusiasm on this piece -- it really inspires me to go out and shoot more.

I will have a downloadable version for your enjoyment tonight.

Oh, and Hugh... sorry, I've been calling you Hugo all this time. Whoops... haha!

As promised...
 

... you can download a high resolution version at www.movingtrainpictures.com.

Thanks and enjoy!

Joseph, thank you so much for the download version. Excellent work once again!

This post took me longer to compose than it should have, only because I was typing up an elaborate question that was answered immediately when I viewed the film again. I'm dumb like that sometimes.

I really love that H.264 version, it looks gorgeous, and has landed along with the Youtube version in my now-five-and-a-half-gig DVC collection.

Congratulations, Joseph, you've earned the win. Bravo! Encore!