New Short Film with HD-100/ Mini35

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Manny Rodriguez

I am From Long Beach Area, you ever need help on a film shoot just let me know...
Manny

What do you do Manny? I may have some work coming up soon for another short I wrote.

[Scott Ward]

Thanks for puting that video up. I was really interrested in the story and it had a real hollywoood opening. Good music. I really liked the actors - it didn't seem so indie with them in there. I guess you are from LA!

I also have the hd-100 and am proud what you have done with the camera and I can honestly say it is the best footage out of the HD-100 i've seen! It also goes to show how a good script, story, lighting and setting up shot goes a long way when trying for a film look. It is not all just pixels and compression quality to make a great picture.

If you need a hand - jeez- I will fly down!

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Scott Ward

Thanks for puting that video up. I was really interrested in the story and it had a real hollywoood opening. Good music. I really liked the actors - it didn't seem so indie with them in there. I guess you are from LA!

I also have the hd-100 and am proud what you have done with the camera and I can honestly say it is the best footage out of the HD-100 i've seen! It also goes to show how a good script, story, lighting and setting up shot goes a long way when trying for a film look. It is not all just pixels and compression quality to make a great picture.

If you need a hand - jeez- I will fly down!

Hey Scott,

T H A N K S !

Its funny you should say that "[i]t is not all just pixels and compression quality to make a great picture." When I first joined here (DVINFO) I mentioned that there may be too much heated debates over which camera has the best resolution, best frame rates etc, well, you know the deal, rather than focussing on just shooting a movie with a decent story. Mind you, the audience out there care less about resolution, but more on seeing something interesting in motion on the big screen or TV.

Again thanks for your kind words and encouragement. I need it. Making movies is a roller coaster.

Also, I actually finsihed a script tonight that I will be shooting next few weeks. Not sure what you do, but we can ALWAYS use help. Especially a good DP, or someone that knows lighting. =)

[Warren Shultz]

Hey Brian,
I thought the sound was pretty danged good. I'd like to know your process. If you stripped everything you obviously replaced ambience. Was it sound or room tone from the location? Or did you just start from scratch. Did you compress the dialogue? If so, what software, program, etc. I also thought the lighting looked great for a basic lowell kit.

You obviously caught us up in the story when we all wanted to see the husband get the bullet.

Thanks!

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Warren Shultz

Hey Brian,
I thought the sound was pretty danged good. I'd like to know your process. If you stripped everything you obviously replaced ambience. Was it sound or room tone from the location? Or did you just start from scratch. Did you compress the dialogue? If so, what software, program, etc. I also thought the lighting looked great for a basic lowell kit.

You obviously caught us up in the story when we all wanted to see the husband get the bullet.

Thanks!

Hi Warren,

Thanks for your supporting comments. I actually deleted all the original sound files, and started from scratch suing Soundtrack Pro. When I did the ADR I obviously used the original sound for sync purposes. Everything else was done using Foley, my sound library etc. No ambient was used from the original locations except a little bit in the motel room. Its tedious work, but I've been doing it for so long and a meticulous person and a perfectionist and my own worst critic.

I didn't compress the dialogue, as it didn't sound good. I added some EQ and used a good mic when recording everything.

The story continues in my mind, or maybe on day on the big screen =). The story was really about the relationship between the daughter and father, but I never got to that. Maybe in the next Episode, the Return of the Sixth Dad. !

[Adrian E. Cavalcanti]

Hi Brian, I just saw your movie and I thinks is very good. Unfortunately if you listen to all we say then it's not going to be your movie anymore, the most important thing is that it's finished and it works, I don't know if it works the way you intended to but ...

I noticed that you had more room tone in the last scene in the motel, but then again I started to read the post before I watched the short so if you didn't say anything about the sound maybe... I would try to go to the locations you shot the other scenes and get some natural sounds to use as room tone under the dialogue...

I also noticed that the scene when Daniel rides his truck is too shacky.

The story is good. It's not the way I would have told it, I would have not revealed anything until the last scene and also I would have used the scenes in a non-chronologial order. I know, maybe then it might look more like a supense flick. I always try to make people believe a different story and then twist it at the end.
I hope this helps.

At least I can say it looks 100 times better than my shortfilms!
http://www.eraldofilms.com
I warned you not to go there!
Adrian.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Adrian E. Cavalcanti

...the most important thing is that it's finished and it works, I don't know if it works the way you intended to

Thanks for your comments. Well, it did and it didn't turn out the way I intended. Like I mentioned on this post, we just didn't have much time for a variety of reasons, but it did come close to what the script was on paper. Again, I would have loved to have had more time to work with the actors and try different things, and also get more coverage of each scene not to be stuck with 1-2 takes to choose from in the end. You live and learn.

Originally Posted by Adrian E. Cavalcanti

. I would try to go to the locations you shot the other scenes and get some natural sounds to use as room tone under the dialogue...

I did use some fo the room tone in both motel scenes. The diner scene was so noisy and so was the opening scenes, and the car scenes so using sound from there wouldn't work out.

Originally Posted by Adrian E. Cavalcanti

I also noticed that the scene when Daniel rides his truck is too shacky.

Yeah, the car mount was expensive to rent amnd it SUCKED in my opinion. However, the shakiness I don't mind since it is him, and it gives oyu a felling of distortion, but YES it does shake.

Originally Posted by Adrian E. Cavalcanti

The story is good. It's not the way I would have told it, I would have not revealed anything until the last scene and also.

Interesting. I am not sure if it would be easy to follow and make sense to an audience. One paper a lot of times it can look like a great idea, but when you actually watch it back people miss the point. We actually went back to shoot the first scene, as there was no connection between Glenn (the husband) and Corine (wife) and it needed to be established or you would just have some guy hiring, not knowing if he was related to her. I am a narrative person, and I know if a movie is too confusion you lose the edge. Again, that's just my two cents. It is very difficult to follow a movie like Memento. Also, this was intended for a drama and to be about the rekinddling of a relationship, not a murder, infidelity, and betrayal. That's for the sequel =)

Overall I REALLy appreciate all the comments, inclduing yours. They ehlp me improve this and future projects. Will take a look at some of your work.

[Tim Le]

Originally Posted by Brian Duke

Yeah, the car mount was expensive to rent amnd it SUCKED in my opinion. However, the shakiness I don't mind since it is him, and it gives oyu a felling of distortion, but YES it does shake.

Brian, can you more detail on this mount? I've cobbled together my own mounts with pump-type suction cups, rods and grip heads so I'm interested in hearing about other people's experiences.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Tim N Le

Brian, can you more detail on this mount? I've cobbled together my own mounts with pump-type suction cups, rods and grip heads so I'm interested in hearing about other people's experiences.

I forget which one it was. It was BIG metal mount that is strapped tightly on to the car. However, since my camera is 20lbs with the Mini35 and pretty long it shook the camera, which we partly fixed when we shot the girls in the car, but just didn't have time to reshoot the scene with "Daniel." So it was the same car mount the whole time. well, actually I think we had two. One for the hood and one for the sides. I am buying a different one myself. Hope that helps.

[Amos Kim]

Hey Brian. Great job on the project. Could you tell us your experience with HD-motionpictures.com and companies like these? Would you recommend these services to other filmmakers? I"ve never used them and was curious about what the benefits were in going through these companies.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Amos Kim

Hey Brian. Great job on the project. Could you tell us your experience with HD-motionpictures.com and companies like these? Would you recommend these services to other filmmakers? I"ve never used them and was curious about what the benefits were in going through these companies.

Hi Amos,

I am part of HD Motion Pictures, and we are JUST getting started, but I can tell you it is worth it for filmmakers to have a one-stop place. If they only had companies out there like this I would have gone myself a long time ago.

The benefits are:

1. Fast, responsible, reliable service.
2. Creative input to improve on what you have.
3. Less responsibility for the filmmaker which should spend time on the developing the project, not producing, casting, hiring crew, renting etc. (we do it all for a very reasonable price)
4. Great production value for the amount of money you spend, regardless of the genre you pick.

"Twist of Fate" was done to jump start this company and to show others what we are capable off, and hopefully help other get their dream done, rather than talking about it. Obviously, each filmmaker will have their own story and creative design, but we can handle all the legwork and ask the tough questions to make the movie as good as possible.

If you have a project in mind, let’s talk. For the amount of money it will cost to rent equipment, crew, editors, locations, permits, insurance etc you will get a bargain, and save a bunch of time on research and having to deal with a million different places. However, if you are just shooting a small minidv film with friends and family you probably don’t need us =)

[Stephan Ahonen]

Man, I wish I could watch that MOV, but Quicktime for Windows is awful, it's dropping tons of frames on a 2 Ghz machine. Ridiculous. I wish they would actually optimize it for Windows.

EDIT: I just reread a bunch of posts and realized you didn't really have time to actually shoot a lot of this stuff and get it right, which is hard on anybody. I'll leave it as I wrote, though.

As far as critiques, it's most just stuff in the editing and the types of shots. I would've liked to have seen more reaction shots and 2-shots in the final scene, and more CUs through the windshield in the opening scene with Daniel and the husband. I don't like when I see a cut to a shot that's identical except for being reversed, I generally prefer a cut to a different type of shot, though I realize that was unavoidable with how you were shooting the car scene with the two women. If you could have shot that scene from another vehicle either in front or to the side I think that would have given you more variety, as long as your camera car doesn't have a head-on collision. =D The shot from the car's right side, while probably necessary to allow you to cut around the good takes and sections, just looked bad with the women backlit. The scene in the restaurant could have used more of that 2-shot from the side of the table instead of being all OTSs.

I really don't want to seem harsh, since you really have done a good job, and I haven't mentioned all of the things you've done *right,* I'm just a perfectionist.

Some people have said the head-on shot with Daniel driving is too shaky. I don't really think so. It is noticeable, but it doesn't actually look *bad,* it just looks like a car driving on a bumpy road. I've seen shots just as shaky in the same sort of context in big budget features, so I wouldn't worry about it. Some people are too quick to say "OMG shakiness" whenever they see any hint of anything not completely smooth. I say it's all about context, a shot like that would be inappropriate in, say, the last scene of this film, but it doesn't look out of place in a driving scene at all.

[Amos Kim]

So Duke, how is the mini35? I hear it loses a lot of light and it adds grain. I was thinking of getting a 35mm adaptor. People say the redrock is solid with better performance and lower price.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Stephan Ahonen

As far as critiques, I would've liked to have seen more reaction shots and 2-shots in the final scene, and more CUs through the windshield in the opening scene with Daniel and the husband. I don't like when I see a cut to a shot that's identical except for being reversed, I generally prefer a cut to a different type of shot, though I realize that was unavoidable with how you were shooting the car scene with the two women. If you could have shot that scene from another vehicle either in front or to the side I think that would have given you more variety, as long as your camera car doesn't have a head-on collision. =D The shot from the car's right side, while probably necessary to allow you to cut around the good takes and sections, just looked bad with the women backlit. The scene in the restaurant could have used more of that 2-shot from the side of the table instead of being all OTSs.

Stephen,

In the last scene, we had no time unfortunately, and ended up with the two C.U., two takes and not much to pick from. With what I had, I am amazed of how it came out. I do have a wide shot, but it was out of focus, as some of the other shots. (I didn't pull focus in this movie, so don't blame me.)

The girls driving, I do have shots of them from the front of another car, but it just didn't come out right, or as I envisioned. Also, in the diner scene I have a shot of them from the side from across the table, but it just didn't cut right, and there were lighting issues.

The opening scene I also have a variety of shots, such as the front etc, and more side shots, but again, when I went to the editing room, they really didn't cut well together.

Yes, you are right, but I can only use what I have that actually work when cut, and again, my issue was not enough time.

Don’t worry about being harsh, especially since you are being specific. I appreciate the criticism, as it helps me learn and do better next time around.

[Brian Duke]

Originally Posted by Amos Kim

So Duke, how is the mini35? I hear it loses a lot of light and it adds grain. I was thinking of getting a 35mm adaptor. People say the redrock is solid with better performance and lower price.

I shot this movie with the Mini35, so it speaks for itself. Either people like the way it looks or they don't. I happen to like it, and yes, of course, there's some grain, but I also like that. It gives you more of a film look, rather than video. I have also seen the JVC with the Mini35 blown up on 35mm film on big screen and it still looked great.

It does lose about 2 stops of light, which is why you need someone to understand that they need to add the necessary light to compensate, ESPECIALLY for interior shots. Is it worth getting? YES 100%. Again, everyone will have a different opinion, but at the end of the day what is important to me, is a good story, interesting actors, and well-directed movie regardless of what you use to shoot it with. My opinion is that there is way too much emphasis on resolution, frame rates, color aberration, compression etc (tech stuff) and not enough focus on story telling. Look at the way a lot of the reality shows are shot, like some of the dating shows and people still love them, even though they have bad sound and look like cheap video. It really doesn't matter, as long as they engage you.

If you can afford a film adapter, get one, but at the end of the day the most important start for any filmmaker is: a) good idea, then b) good script, c) good casting, d) good direction, e) good editing f) good sound, and then g) the proper music to go along. All this can be done well without using an expensive camera, or even a good camera.

Think about it. Is the problem with most movies you see the quality of the picture or the story and acting? Go to a festival and make your own call. I say the latter, which is why i work very hard on focussing on that and will make much more of an effort to have more time to shoot next time around.

Now go get your adapter =)