ok looks like its back up now.

Thanks

Yeah, When I look back on this particular project I wish there were some way I could turn back time and direct it. There are certain nuances I wanted to include that the written word couldn't achieve.

Plus there is no way the original 8 page script should be 14 minutes long on screen.

The Director handled the source material with a very dark tone, which wasn't my intention at all. I wanted to keep it light, but at the same time have an edge to it.

Oh well, At least something I've written is out there in circulation. Now if only I could get my next short film made. *sigh*

Trevor T

Promos for firearm/defensive training videos
 

Hi,

Here are two relatively short promos i put togther for a series of defensive handgun / defensive tactics DVDs we have produced. Any thoughts or comments?

http://www.ffkgvideos.com/Videos/DHD1-2(large).mov

http://www.ffkgvideos.com/Videos/DHD3-4(large).mov


Thanks for taking the time to watch these.

Jim

In the second video, there is a beeping at the very end. What is that?

Otherwise, these are pretty effective and convey the message well.

Is this for their website? For the web, I think you should look at the delivery closely. I had to wait some time to get the videos and I'm on an OC3.

Jim, I'm absolutely speechless.

VOTE NO TO MAYOR McCHEESE
 

Vote NO to Mayor McCheese
www.sonnyboo.com/onlinemovies/mayor.htm

this is a 2 minute epic on the evils of MAYOR McCHEESE's reign of tyranny. After SUPER SIZE ME, the award winning doucmentary, we had our own take on it.

DIRECT LINKS

QUICKTIME www.sonnyboo.com/video/mayor.mov

REAL PLAYER www.sonnyboo.com/video/mayor.rm

other links & more info www.sonnyboo.com/onlinemovies/mayor.htm
_________________
S O N N Y B O O P R O D U C T I O N S

"Don't Go to the Movies, Go Back Online"
wWw.SoNnYbOo.cOm

No political threads on DVinfo.net!

I don't think the politics of McDonaldland are quite as controversial as real politcs...

Oh man. There should be a warning in your post or something. I clicked the link while having my freshly made morning coffee, lol

Looks like lighting has been different in many scenes because you were shooting them at different time and probably different locations. Like when he is sitting in the office and then you show his hands typing. I guess the only way to change that is do some color corrections in post. I liked the idea. The scene when he was trying to steal pennies from the donations bin was too long and I had to fast forward it a little bit. :-)

Good work overall!

Some brief replies...

Keith, the beeping you are referring to is from a timer. We had it set for a specific time (to represent the amount of time it might take for an attacker to be incapacitated by a gunshot wound) so when it goes off we yell "blue" to end the drill. In this case, we didn't turn it off very quickly and it worked really well as a trailer.

As far as the time it takes to download, we have found that Windows downloads it once, and then again to show it. This seems to happen on most sites (except Apple's own). Mac users seem to have no problems. Are you using Windows? Do you have any tricks or recommendations?

Wayne, in the absence of any other comments from you i'm going to take your speechlessness as a good thing (please oh please oh please). ;-)

Jim

Project X3 trailer
 

Hello, im new here, just wanted to say that I have a little trailer for my so-called "lifestyle" film for everyone to check out.
Hope it "teases" the viewer to see more since the movie is done and awaiting encoding for the net. Please post your comments on it.

new host, this should work smoother

http://couchpotato.no-ip.com/stored/...%20trailer.mpg

At the cafe table there were some bad shot selections. I don't think the "character's perspective" shots work. Also the car crash scene.... he's running on a sidewalk then suddenly they are in a parking lot? And the bleeding was way too much to be believable

It was edited okay and had a pretty good pacing for it. I've just
seen way too much of this kind of footage to be interested, sorry.
I also didn't like the transitions in the end (such transitions almost
always look cheap in my mind) or the ever changing frame size.
But again, I thought the editing was good.

First Anniversary Video
 

Sunday was my first paying DV job. Someone asked me to make a video of their grandparents 50th anniversary dinner party. It was my first one so its not great so any critisism and tips are accepted. The audio sucks. I was in a square room with tons of people in it so I had ambience bouncing off every wall so it threw my little cheapy Azden all outta wack. The lighting was also pretty bad in alot of shots because it was an all glass room. Heavy backlighting but I was able to compensate for most of it by over exposing. Anyway, here is the beginning of it...

http://www.bmxbums.com/videos/anniversary.mov

http://www.bmxbums.com/videos/anniversary.wmv


And it keeps going after that with more interviews and stuff. I'm not done with it yet but I think its going to end up being around 10 minst long. Maybe a little longer.

Hey Dustin.

Okay, I am definetely no expert... nor have I done any "party" :) videos... but I am gonna go ahead and give you my 2 cents.

In your intro, "April 4, 2004" fades in over white. Try having the palm trees fade in and then the "April 4, 2004" fade in over that, but make sure it stands out and is legible.

Your next fade to the outside of the building... I think you might want to fade in text of whose anniversary it is - "The Johnsons 50th Anniversary Bash!" (<- wow that's corny).

Maybe you should consider scrapping one of the outside shots... they both show the same building just 2 different angles. I prefer keeping the zoom out shot.

Once you start showing the couple and guests... maybe cut your shots a little shorter and later on cut back to it... but don't make them as long as you have them... just a bunch of people talking and we can't hear them.

One last criticism... why the sudden black & white shot? It seems lone.

The Goods - I like the musical choice... very calm and "oldie", I guess. Lighting isn't bad at all. The sound is a little hard to hear sometimes, but at the final interview with the guy & girl... sound is fine. BTW, I like the transition... zoom into the lake and fade in the interview(s).

Basically for a complete stranger like myself, I begin to pick out flaws and find parts "boring". But I guess for anyone there its all fun and nostalgic... I mean I love watching my home movies, but I'm sure you'd kill yourself having to watch them.

But, good job and I hope I've helped either that, or made an ass out of myself. :)

Definately do something about the intro text on the white background. It's way too difficult to read, especially for the older crowd that the video is geared towards. I would also lose the first outside shot of the building, just take it out.

The pull-out from the building fading to the zoom-in on the couple was awesome; a great way to introduce the setting and the couple. Overall I though the pace of your editing matched with the music and the event, so good job. I didn't really mind the quick switch to b&w, but then again, I'm pretty tired right now, so who knows on that. The fade past the couple to the water was also great, but I would make sure your dissolve ends before that guy walks in front of your camera at the end. It ruins a great shot/dissolve combo.

Audio was okay. I film a lot of weddings, and that means receptions, which are a nightmare for audio, even with a shotgun mic.

By the way, I checked out your bmx site, and watched the two Naples trailers. Nicely done on both. Although that second one had me holding my own shin. Ouch!

Haha. Oh man I forgot about that black and white clip. I was going to add some more black and white shots in there but I decided not to. I guess I forgot to take that one out. Oh well. I'll take it out when I do the final one. Thanks for all the compliments and critisism. I think for the first title "april 4th 2004" I will leave that up during the palm tree shot, then for the first shot of the building I will put up the "so and so's anniversary" title and leave it up through both building shots. Maybe this will help blend the two shots of the building so it doesnt seem like its one too many shots of the same thing. If it doesnt work then I'll have to go through and find some other clip to fit in there, that way I dont have to retime everything. Oh and with the Text on the white background...it looks perfect in photoshop, I think the video played on the resolution of these computer monitors gets thrown off. I've had a few do that, so I'm gonna check it on my television set when I get home to see what it will really look like. If it still looks kinda distorted I will change it. But then again I'm gonna fade it over to the palm tree anyway so it may just stay. Don't know for sure. I'll just have to wait and see what everything looks like.

Thanks again everyone!

visit my site, look at our stuff!
 

Hello,

Click here to see several clips from independent films I have done in the past:

simplemachine.net/if.html

My second short! Teaser for "THE SKRYPT"
 

Hi there,

long time no movie, but finally at least a teaser for my second one: THE SKRYPT

www.kop11.com

Shot completely with the xl1, the 3x wide-angle, studio1-adapter, a lousy no-name mic (baaad mistake), a few construction lights and some diffusion gels for the lights.

The teaser was created completely in Vegas 4 with a few bits of the "music" done in Magix Music Maker 2004. The final film will also have some tweaking from After Effects.

Have fun watching it!

Crits, good or bad is welcome and nervously awaited :-)

Cheers, Peter

THE CHINESE SHOES at the VC Filmfest 2004
 

My DV short film LES SOULIERS CHINOIS (The Chinese Shoes) will be screening as part of the 20th Anniversary Edition of the VC Filmfest!

The screening is scheduled for:
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 6:00 PM (Program 23)
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA, Theatre 2
7920 Sunset Blvd., LA 90046

Hope to see you all there!

For more information about THE CHINESE SHOES, visit: http://thechineseshoes.com

For more information about the VC Filmfest 2004, visit: http://www.vconline.org/ff04/index.html

VERY GOOD TEASER!

First of all, the light was great.

I liked the harmony of the yellow tones too.

The cut is cool, following that heart-beat-like sound.

And the better thing is: I´m curious to know what is THE SKRYPT!!

Tell us about your light kit and how you did that shot from a very high place.

THANKS!

The shot from above was simply taken from a balcony about 4 meters high of an old warehouse where we shot the movie. We just went up and shot handheld from up there. Btw, all exterior scenes play in this circle of light you see in the teaser. The main light came from a long board that we extended from the balcony and it just pointed straight down. The lightsource was a cheap 500W construction light with some blackwrap around it to create the lightcircle on the ground.

Close-ups in the exterior were shot with this light and the help of one 150W construction light which was bounced from a piece styrofoam to reduce contrast on the actors.

All interiors (the table scene and the fighting) were shot in one room with a single light source: A lamp that was hung above the table. The lightbulb was a 150W Halogen (exactly the same as the bulbs in the construction lights, just in the form of a normal lightbulb, I don't know the english word for Halogen lamps, thats just what we call these things here in Austria).
In front of the bulb we taped one sheet of a Rosco Diffuser gel to eliminate the harsh light of the lamp and get softer shadows (I don't remember which diffuser, I bought a sample kit that had 17 different sheets and we just played around with them). For the action away from the table we just cheated a little bit by lifting and turning the lamp to get a little more light on the actors.

Summary:

1x 500W construction light (Halogen) ~7 Euro
1x 150W construction light (Halogen) ~5 Euro
1x 150W Halogen light bulb ~7 Euro
1x handy piece of styrofoam ~zero
1x diffuser sheet kit from Rosco ~40 Euro
plus a long board, some cables and a little blackwrap.

We also built a very very simple crane for about 15 Euro and a little bluescreen which was lit by 2 extra 500W construction lights(haven't keyed the footage yet, so no idea if it worked..) for another 9.99 Euro, but these shots are only in the final film.

You can see the lights on the productions images on the website. At least the interiors, I don't know if we have pix of the exterior online... there are so many. And if the movie turns out NOT as a complete desaster we might release a DVD of it with a really long making-of.

Cheers, Peter

PS: The yellow tones are out-of-the-camera, there was no color correction. The xl1 white balance was just set to indoor and that was it. The final film will look a little different because I will make some minor color correction.

That trailer was kicka$$. I'd go see the movie. I'd probably also pay for a DVD with the extensive making of stuff. I love that kind of stuff.

Can't really say I saw anything in the trailer that I would change, and trust me, usually there's something I can develop an issue with. d:-)

Great job!

Ok, first of all: I can only watch half of the teaser( there is apparently something wrong with my player;).

But I saw half of it and thought it was GREAT!

I like the light and the editing a lot.
It gives the film a really mysterious feel and it is just making the big question bigger: WHAT IS THE SKRYPT?

GREAT JOB!

(looking forward to wathing the whole film)

Peter,

Great job... the look and feel is very nice... it really brings you in. The lighting is exceptional. Sometimes simplicity rules.

How long is the final film going to be? What language is it in? When will it be complete?

Good luck and keep it up.

Wow, THANK you so much for the positive reviews! We really didn't expect it to do so well!

We just finished shooting 2 days ago and I guess we will be ready sometime in May. The language is English (with accent as we are no native speakers) and the length should be around 10-12mins.

Cheers, Peter

Delivery Boy - teaser
 

A teaser for a little action/comedy i'm putting together. Tell me what you guys think about it.

http://couchpotato.no-ip.com/stored/...ilms.tk%5D.wmv

For those of us who like to store a movie on our cpu, it's easier to download if you make the URL clickable, like this:

http://couchpotato.no-ip.com/stored/...ilms.tk%5D.wmv

b/w short
 

Check out the short YES, BUT SO WHAT... that my friends from film school made. I dp'd for it and i know that they would like some feeback.. whatever you can give em will be good. thanks alot.

www.smiley-films.com/yesbutsowhat.WMV

Feedback:
The Framing was nice throughout the film.

The Actors preformances were good.

Didn't quite like when it changed briefly to color. It's not that going to color was bad but the timeing on it it didn't seem right.

The story.....well, it was good. I liked the part about his tie. The ending isn't clear to me. Did someone steal the thing or was this guy just so damn boring it came to life and crawled away :)

One more point, what ever the audio in the background was at the end. if it was someone speaking or if it was important I couldn't make it out.

-Kris

There are two cuts, back-to-back, at the end, that make no sense to me in the trailer. When the delivery boy wipes something off of his shoulder, and then the subsequent clip of the gum in the wrapper. I just don't get why those are in the trailer. I liked it up until that point.

You misspelled package, although i probably just misspelled misspelled......... unless thats the way package is spelled in your country (pacage).... in that case all that happened was i misspelled misspelled.

I liked it. This stuff comes with practice.

Eddie

First: I love the production companie's name, funny!

For my personal taste it was too long. I liked the twist at the
ending (I had hoped on some twist earlier) and was thinking
more along the lines maybe she was real but he couldn't face
himself to cheating on his wife/girlfriend or so.

It was too long for me. Moved too slowly. I can see why it is
moving at the pace that it is, but I had to work a bit to not loose
interest. As with Kristopher I was thrown out of the movie with
the color sections and the police siren.

Well, I liked it overall. I especially liked his failed 'attempt' at suicide. I think the movie could do without the scene where the other guy comes into his office. It's just one of those scenes that doesn't add anything to the story.

I have mixed feelings about the switch to color. I realize why the film switched to color (at least I think I do - it switches because he finds some hope in his discovery of the manequin[sp?]), but it switches to color before he makes that discover, and that is distracting. Beyond that, the switches back to b&w make sense to me.

Overall all the film was a little long, but I didn't really mind. It was necessary to feel what this guy was feeling. I liked the ending. It's totally unrealistic, of course, but it's very good use of dark humor (IMO). I didn't really understand what the talking at the end was supposed to be. My guess is that he's supposed to be hearing his conversation all over again, but I can catch some of the phrases, and it doesn't seem to add up to that.

The police siren came off as a cheezy sound-effect clip to me. I would have either left it out, or made it much quieter so that it wasn't as obvious.

But bottom line, I liked it. Nice job.

<<<--it switches because he finds some hope in his discovery of the manequin[sp?]), but it switches to color before he makes that discover, -->>>

that beter describes what i meant also.

the daily grind takes a new meaning
 

Just finished a short called "The Daily Grind" and interested to see what some of you think. You will need to go to www.triggerstreet.com to watch it and then go to "Recent Uploads" or just do a search for "The Daily Grind."

I tried to play around with the color, but could never get it the way I wanted, so I just went with original color. I shot it with DVX-100, edited on FCP.

If anyone has a good color receipe they would like to share, please offer it up!

thanks,
EPP

I didn't really get what was going on but it was shot and edited well. I'll watch it again some other time

Delivery Boy - Screener
 

The Delivery Boy "screener" is now online for a limited time. The reason we are calling it a screener is because some scenes will be shot later, around june. This version of the movie is 6:44 min long, but the final version is going to be about 10min. So, we wanted to put this screener online to get some feedback. The dialogue is in swedish, but a txt file with subs are included in the rar file, which is 30mb in size. All comments are welcome, good or bad.

http://couchpotato.no-ip.com/stored/...(screener).rar

A better comment would be to convert the film into wmv, mpeg, avi, divx, mov or something that is standard. I would love to take a peek but my past experiences with Real Player have been no good and i decline downloading it. Divx is a good format but requires the codec most people have. I would suggest mov, though quicktime adds on some sort of blotch to the footage it is very easy and takes up tremendously less bandwidth than Real Player. It is your film, format it the way you wish.

Where are you adding the scenes? I hope at the end! Up until the end it works fairly well, if not a bit slow in some places (i.e when he's tailing him in the park, I don't think we need to see so much of it). I'm also confused about why the first guy hired the second guy, but maybe that's something that will come with the new scenes.