DVC16- "Dead Of Winter- Choices Made" by Chris Barcellos
 

Okay, okay. I said I wasn't doing challenges this year. But then I got the Canon 5D Mark II, and I just couldn't resist trying it out.

This film is a sequel to The Dead of Winter. Our lead actress dropped out about two hours before time to roll cameras, so we drafted my granddaughter Kassie to play the part. The part called for a twenty something, and she is a fifteen year old freshman in highschool Her sister Emily play her in younger years. I have been pointing cameras at them for years, so they are use to it, but I am so proud of how they both stepped up.

Learned a lot about this camera in shooting for this film. We shot double system sound, but also fed the mix to the 5d. Some of the feed had a whine in the background, which makes me believe the camera AGC was have issues with our line feed. More experimentation is in order there.

Being my real first double system project, I failed to do a good job of identifying scenes, and this led inablility to use the double system material in at least one or two sections of the film, as presented. Probably not that noticeable in the internet presentation.

Except for the dream sequences, we shot the project in a four hour period. I had wanted to experiment more with depth of field and dramatic lighting, but the four hour window we gave ourselves, just didn't allow for a lot of that. We shot on a Saturday night, 8 to midnight.

Here are links again.


Dead of Winter- Choices Made on Vimeo

YouTube - Dead of Winter- Choices Made


This is link to the first Dead of Winter

YouTube - The Dead Of Winter

I can understand she doesn't want to kill the guy, but she can't kick him? Come on, give him a boot in the ribs! Or open the jam on him, for that matter. I laughed out loud to myself when the guy gets beaned in the head by the jar; the way he whips the gun up in the air as he falls back really got me.

The whine in the audio did jump out at me a couple of times, but it's not the end of the world. The dialogue was intelligible, and that's ultimately more important.

I'm always in the same boat with trying new things. I think the DV Challenges will be a good opportunity to experiment, to do something I haven't done before, but by the time I come up with an idea worth pursuing there's usually no time left to do anything but what I'm familiar with. You did manage to show off your fancypants full-frame sensor at a couple of points, though. When Amanda first walks through the kitchen, for example, you can really see the effect.

And to hear you shot most of this inside of four hours, well, that's my kind of moviemaking. Good show!

Nice
 

But truly to much work for 4 hours... GGEE... 4 hours... WOW... Nice job with the DOF... makes me only wish I had one even more..... Now for the real question... how many hours editing?

Hey Chris,

Man, you just had to show the guy shooting the dog AGAIN, didn’t you. Some of us didn’t complain enough last winter? ;o)

You got some mighty pretty images out of that new camera. I loved your lighting and the images when the girl is standing in the doorway talking with the guy. It’s gorgeous.

Speaking of that scene, tell your granddaughter she did an excellent job with her dialog. Very real, very believable. From an acting standpoint and in regard to the emotion of the film she’s the one who made the whole thing work. For me, anyway.

Polished and professional, Chris! I’m sure that audio issue was frustrating to you, but it’s still a great film.

The think I was most interested in all the people that we're going to be using the 5D mark II was how they were going to deal with the sound. It was interesting to hear the you used double system sound. Did you use a clap board? What did you use for your other audio and how did you deal with 30 fps frame rate of the Canon when syncing? Also what lenses did you use? To me, there was definitely some shallow dof, but not as much as I would have expected from that camera. So I guess kudos to you for not over doing it with shallow dof that I'm sure I would have done had I been shooting with that camera.

And I love sequels so that was fun.

Hey, Chris. I really enjoyed seeing what you did with the 5D MkII, Just enough DOF to get away from that "everything crisp" look we've been getting. I enjoyed the story flow from the "Previously", the incorporation of dream flashbacks, and the way you wove the prop into it, right up to the SMACK upside the head.

I didn't get an entry in, been laid up for months with lower back and leg probs, and couldn't get a crew together anyway. If it "harelips Hitler" I'm getting behind a cam for the next one.

Congrats on a job well done, even if only in 4 hours.

We recorded sound into an Eng44 mixer, then recorded to my Sony HiMD and my 5D through different outputs. I was cocky enough to think that what was going into my camera would be okay. I figured with the short shoot, I would be able to track down the right sound clips if needed. So I did n't us clap board... since I was editing too. Right away I new I had trouble as I listened to first clips, there was a persistent whine. Tracking down the sound clip was difficult for sure, and in fact I just lived with the whine on a couple of clips. Lesson learned...

In fact, the first minute has most of the bad sound, as I just ran out of time to find the sound clips needed fo that stretch. Also, the very last seen where she says " I'm choosing toast and jam is the bare camera mic.

Next time, unless the new beachtek adapter really proove to solve problems, I will do full protocol clap boarding and scene calling.

Hi Bruce. Glad to hear from you... sorry about your issues.... I am running into a problem a week, but I guess its just something that starts happening to our bodies after more than have a century of service. !!

Lorinda:

Sorry about that dog thing, but that killer guy is just dispicable.. I was tickled how my granddaughter actually saved the day in coming in and doing this on about 2 hours notice, and frankly I agree she carried the film..

Thanks for your kind comments.

Editing, I can't figure out why it takes so long, but I am betting I spent 20 hours trying to pull it all together. Part of it was the double system sound issues, and we did do some pickups. The last scene close up was picked up two days after the shoot. And as I said the dream sequences were shot in a couple of hours on another day...

Chris,

Your stuff just keeps looking better and better. The opening, seems very TV crime series like, with the fades to "previously seen" footage. Your lighting and exposure is beautiful. Interesting silhouettes, create a mood of mystery. Nice choice of music.

I think you daughter did a great job, considering her age.

I'd love to seen the guy's head explode, all over the daughter, but then again, I'm into a little gratuitous violence.

Gratuitous Violence
 

Yea I guess a bit of payback would have been Ok with me as well... Water Boarding would have been a good start... Or how about the son of the Dead Dog for "Dogs Used to Torture"... But then again I lean the wrong direction for most...

Great Lighting...
 

I'll be honest... I don't typically like really dramatic shorts like this one, but with that said.. I thought it was right on. You have a great team of actors and I like the fact that it was a sequel. The choice of shots were good and the lighting was excellent. Especially the shot where your grandaughter enters the house and when the hitman kills the body guard and starts walking towards the door.

Nice work on this one, Chris -- I enjoyed this one as much as it's predecessor, if not moreso. You really made some great shots with the new camera; but more importantly, it was clear that the shots were carefully chosen by you. You had a control over the camera, the camera didn't have a control over you... am I making any sense?

I agree with Robert -- even though there was some whine in the audio, the dialogue was clear and audible. Credit for that should go to both your actors as well as your editing. Perhaps you can try masking the whine with some other sound effects? I always like to hide sub-par sound with some kind of sound effect or foley of sorts. Hmm... maybe put some crickets in the opening, for example? That may hide some of the audio issues.

Perhaps I'm into gratuitous violence, too, like Dick or Robert, haha... BUT, with that said, your lead actress showed some great restraint in not doing anything further with the villain. Oh, and we can't forget about the guy who played the father -- a great performance! Kudos to all of your actors, in fact!

I'm a fan of cop-dramas, and this piece was very enjoyable. I'm hoping you continue this series, Chris!

Seemed like you were crossing the line a bit during that conversation in the doorway. Tough to get the right shot from the other side with her hugging the door though.

The music seemed a bit too repetitive for me. Maybe using it on occasion instead of throughout most of it.

Looked good though. A little more grading could have given it a more film like look.
Aside from that it was well shot and edited. Nice lighting as well.

Good work.

Mike