It was nicely put together, however it got a bit boring for myself
since I don't know any of those people you showed. I assume
your audience does know who they are?

Good work!

Well, most people are hard at work at their next movie probably!

The video quality was fine, played perfect here! However, what
do you mean by player? I just saw the standard Windows Media
10 player bar underneath the video, nothing special!?

I thought it was a nice reel. But I'm a bit confused. Is this the reel
of two people? If so, I wouldn't really do that.

I can't see how a grip can really have a reel (unless someone
shot him at work perhaps). If Wing wants a steadicam reel it
should only have steadicam shots to show what he can do, not
all kind of other stuff.

I didn't like the distorted images around the clapper and the
welding part. The following the car shots was really nice although
I would've cut it away just a bit earlier, I liked the people on the
bike shot as well (and there again I would not include the 360
degree look around, the shot had way more impact before that
happened [in my humble opinion])

Some nice stuff on there!

Homemade 35 mm?
 

What do you mean by "homemade 35 mm"?

I agree with the piece being too dark, I need to go back and re-encode it. I'm not sure why it turned out that dark. It varies on different computers, mine doesn't look as bad.

Thanks,

By the player, I just mean that the video only plays properly on WMP 9+

It supposed to warn people that have an older version, but I guess this isn't the best place to test that, as most members have the latest version of WMP.

Thanks again!

Tim, try putting a different icon for the movie on your main page or adding text to indicate what it is. At first I wasn't sure that was the video link until I wandered around the site.

Great job ! And don't let the feedback let you down. It's common here and nothing personal.

An adapter to mount 35mm lenses to a DV camera without loosing
the depth-of-field. If you don't know then you didn't use it! Perhaps
it was due to the overal darkness...

16x9
 

"It's not about the greatest gear, it's about what you do with it...."

Jay I totally agree with you.

Joseph

Effo Films: http://www.friedorange.tk
 

Hi everyone,

I remember in August I was in these forums, asking for advice about cameras, software, equipment and so forth. Well, now it's 3 months later, and I've finally set everything up and completed my first digital short.

http://www.friedorange.tk

This is my first website and on it is a short 'teaser trailer' for the short film, 'Epilogue' and additional information and bios. I hope to add details of my future works onto this site, there not much there now, but please, I invite you to take a look.

Just a note, I'm not too experienced with web hosting thus the teaser is not streaming, rather, a download.

Hope you enjoy the visit,
Dennis

gotcha'
 

Nah...I don't have the capability to even attempt making a homemade 35 adapter :)

I would like to get my hands on that P+S Technik mini35 and see what it looks like. I hear a lot of good things about it in the other forum!

Soccer/Football video (music)
 

Back around May of this year I saw a video that showed two soccer teams playing one another (in Europe I believe) and the video had some very moving audio in the background; the music was what the young 20 year olds listen to; anyway I thought the song was great and now I cannot locate that video and the song playing in the background.

Does anyone recall seeing/hearing a video like that?

Thank you.

Re: wide angle adapter and vx-2000
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Jay Noggle : I have the Sony $400 version and use it all the time, especially in 4x3.Jay -->>>

Jay, I think you're talking about a wide angle lens, not an anamorphic 16:9 converter which is what I assume Joseph wants. To the best of my knowledge, Sony doesn't make one of these. Century Optics and Optex are the only companies I'm aware of that make anamorphic lenses for the VX-2000, and they cost ~$600-$700.

Congratulations on your first short, feels good to have it finished,
doesn't it?

I watched the teaser and must say for a first short it really had
some nice shots etc. in there, good work! The only thing for me
was that the teaser didn't really excite me about seeing the
short, but that might be just me, ofcourse.

Other than that, good work!

Thanks a lot for the comment.

The final product will have the titles of the presenters and performers, but most of the people who will see this will know several if not all of the people in the video.

I really wanted to see if the video flowed well, the cuts worked in tune with the music.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. Yeah, I found it particularly difficult cutting a trailer/teaser that didn't reveal too much of the story/plot, as the full film is only 5 minutes long. It seems I have not grasped the technique of editing trailers/teasers just yet. However, in the coming months I will be making more shorts, and I hope to improve my editing skills with each new project.

Once again, thanks for taking a look.

Dennis

Please critique this piece to help answer a question
 

I'm working on a highlight reel for a client and they want to convey certain facts about their program.

I suggested that the piece should be narrated but they would rather see text on screen.

I created the piece with the text on screen. Please review the piece and let me know if the text works or would it be better narrated.

Also what do you think of the piece in general? I wasn't responsible for the footage I just got two hours of footage and had to make a presentation out of it

http://www.roaddoggz.com/sgl/dj.html

Thanks a lot for your time

IMO, it is too hard to read. One thing is the timing. I think it is 20 frames per word as a guideline, but I could be wrong. There is too much happening in the background and with the audio track to keep my attention, but I have been working through DVD production problems all day, so a little zoned.

If the DJ doing the track was doing the lines, that would be really catchy. At least, I think it would. :)

Just for your amusement ... or not
 

I did a promo for our DVD that we did for Spirit Drum and Bugle Corps. It is on my site at www.versatilemediasolutions.com/spirit.htm

Not too special, just hacked up the DVD and put it to music from Sonic Fire (can you say sync licensing is a pita?). Footage from around the US, with a bit in the Denver area that is recognizable.

I thought it looked nice! Good looking footage etc. Only the shots
with the guys saying the "damn" lines etc. was much darker than
all of the other bright spots, that stood out a bit.

The dark part was one of those impromptu run and gun moments. Need to adjust for the backlight, but missed it. And then missed it again in post. Geez.

They were saying 'Two time'. ;) That was the cymbal line and they were getting their two time world championship award in about 15 minutes.

Thanks Rob.

Oh, that was a VX2100.

Nice stuff. Keep working hard hard and hard... until 3 am on the morning..:))) Great work man

i agree that it should be narrated (by the DJ would be a plus) mainly because you've got two different text boxes on screen at the same time and it gets confusing and frustrating trying to read both of them. whereas, you can hear the narrator and read the names of the DJs at the same time. i think it would come across clearer. until the DJ began to speak i had no real desire to keep struggling to keep up with the text! you must present the audience with a comfortable experience or they wont tune in to the message.

my thoughts....


Marc Sacco
www.zenimage.com

Two Digital Films
 

Please check out
http://kinetic-pixelworks.com
and download our two digital films:

mojado: 4:52 min three sizes.
by Alfredo Castil.

lesson 2: 2 min long two sizes.
by Ian Chaurero.
Feedback welcome.

No More AOL CDs: The Video
 

I finally created a web site for myself and started putting some videos up. Check out the “No More AOL CDs” video. This was inspired by a less-than-steller experience with the company, and, of course, the ever present AOL CDs. My sister and I shot this on a whim one evening a little more than a year ago, unscripted and spontaneous. If you need a laugh, here it is.

Enjoy!

Christopher Lefchik

Cute stuff.
Keep shooting.
Keep posting.
Jimmy.

Regarding Mojado: I feel like I've seen this film a dozen times. The surreal anything goes stylized montage combined with the soft spoken, profound narration. This fits solidly into the category of "student art film". Some people really like them and find pleasure in drawing meaningful metaphors from the recklessly thrown together clips. I just think they're dull and overdone. I can't even critique any part of it because for all I know it was all intentional. All I can say is that at every student film festival I go to half the films look like this. So that can't be good.

Regarding Lesson 2: Cool use of the mirror for both practical effect and lighting. Otherwise see above.

My advice to both of you is to learn the craft a little more before embarking on an art film. Once you have perfected telling a traditional story using somewhat traditional shots, then try getting artsy.

The opening you described is what the client thought the footage would reveal. The local DJ talking about the benefits that the Seagram's Gin program provides.

But since they didn't want to pay for a full crew and a director, they hired some local person to shoot w/o a director and the talent was acting like the video was alll about him. Bottom line I have to work harder to make this look good.

I did convince them that a narrator is needed and I'm waiting on the script now.

Doing so much with so little, gotta love it.

Tough trying not to get personal, I'll take the kernel of truth and learn from it.

Thanks for the time you took downloading it.

Thanks, I intend to.

Cute and humorous, simple look... a nice chuckle!

Alex

This weekend, MiniDV Festival in Hollywood
 

Come to the MiniDV Pure Digital Festival in Hollywood this coming weekend to see 113 films projects projected on the big screen. A BUNCH of which was shot with the PD150 & PD170.

Get all the details here: www.MiniDVfestival.com

<moderator note>
This message was cross-posted to a number of forums which is not allowed. Please note that the author wanted you to know that the films being shown were shot with a number of popular DV and HDV cameras.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

A Joker's Card teasers
 

Hello everyone posted at the Neighborhood area so didn't want to repeat myself much, if you have some time, I've 2 teasers online about this parody/fan film based on DC Comics charactres

http://www.mdifilm.com/joker/media.html

Thanks!

Johnny Wu

Hi Johnny,

Nicely done! Can you tell us more about the project? Do you plan to show more of it online?

Thanks John,

the short film is about 20 mins long, tells the story about Joker's son (Jonathan Napier) always being beaten up and when he is visitng his father at the Asylum, he talked to Mr. Freeze's son (Vince Fries) and Vince suggested some 'revenge'...

So, they team up with the help of Mr. Big to get some thugs to do their task, only thing, the good guys' son and daughter are a bit misfit... Obviously Nightwing, the back then Robin, will come at the end to save the kids while have to fight aganst Ekin Tzu.

A Joker's Card is also a blend of Anime and HK films that I am inspired by (Hero, Volcano High, Arahan, a few)...

Other than 2 characters are really from the Batman world, the rest are fictitious characters based on Gotham City realm, this way we can make it a comedy without hurting any actual characters and having fans killing us. :)

Several teasers concentrating on each character will come about shortly then a trailer and finally the finished 20 mins long short film. (I'm in editing right now up to 13 mins done).

The project was shot by using DV cams, XL1 (3), PD150, TRV900 etc. and edited with Adobe Premiere Pro. During shoot, we set up several tv monitors to view the outcome so we can be satisfy with the look and feel.

You will see a major color difference between teaser 1 and 2 as the 2nd one is actually reflecting the color tone/style I'm going for with the finished short film.

We started planning on this in Feb 2004 and started principal photography in October 13th. I've done many short films and produced a few features (low-budget) this one cost as much as a low-budget feature film I've done in the past...

As for wire work, we have done an experimental wire-fu short film The Chase in 2003 (www.mdifilm.com/thechase) and we decided to go more into challenging us with crazier stuff. And doing a comic book based would be more 'believable' if the characters can 'fly' :) Afterall, they are superheroes/villians

Ultimately, to have fun was our goal and I think we accomplished that thanks to the team work.

Crew was about 25 people and cast is about 20 at one time. And we have over 10 hours of behind-the-scene footages that will be included in the final DVD giveaway which including interviews, comentaries, bloopers and all kind of stupid things we did during shoot. :)

Johnny

Wow, this project sounds awesome!

Let us know when their is a download of it, I really want to see it!

Cosmology Conference intro - your opinions appreciated!
 

This is a minute and a half intro for a video series of a conference on cosmology (the study of space) that I filmed and edited late last year/early this year. Most people would probably find the subject dull and boring, but who says the intro has to be?

I used a Steadicam JR for the shots. Since I grabbed the shots during a break in the conference I added the speakers’ clips later by motion tracking them to the screen in After Effects. A friend of mine composed the music.

Anway, please let me know what you think of it. Do you think it could make a good sort of promo/trailer?

You can view the video on my web site.

The speakers' point of view was very clear, which makes for an interesting promo. I question the use of the empty auditorium as a framing device, because it implies that your speakers were talking into a void--and since the speakers' ideas are clear, you don't need to fancy the video up with the effect.

Michael

Sites with films
 

Hey, I performed a search here, but I didn't find anything, although I know somebody once asked the same thing (I THINK, don't know for sure)

But this is my question: are there many sites with peoples movies, like here?
I know fanflicks.com, but that isn't updated regularly, and I know Triggerstreet to, but the size is so very small.

Does anyone know other sites?

Thanks in advance.

www.ifilm.com and www.atomfilms.com are two that I can think of off-hand.

Be sure to check out "Home Base" for one of the best shorts I've seen online:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2410176