I figured it out before it was over =) Great idea... The biggest issue I had was the lady's sweatshirt bothered me. Guess thats from being in Ohio and seeing so many - heh.

I really liked the long dolly shot up to where she posted the flyer on the tree. Did you lay down track to get that?

Thank you both for your comments, I'm glad you like the film - that was my number 1 goal, to make a film people enjoyed. But, I also appreciate the technical comments as it helps me improve.

Jay - The no dialog was a huge help when working with children, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless :) Actually, I found it very easy to work with the children as long as I thought in terms of what I needed them to do and relayed only that information to them. I would say things like, "Stand right here...ok when I say "Go" run as fast as you can that way until I say stop." Or I would roll camera and say, "Who wants a cupcake?" they would all raise their hand and say "Me! Me!" Then I would say, "Which one do you want?" and they would all point at the one they want, with great anticipation in their eyes. It worked well for me.

Thanks for pointing out the jumping widescreen crop, I hadn't noticed that. I'm working on cleaning up things as people point them out so I have a really nice, fully polished film. I'll add that to the list of things to fix. The kids "dissolving" into frame was simply to cover a framing mistake. You can see their heads at the beginning of the shot and I wanted to have them run in after a brief delay. So I had to do some masking and overlay the ground over them, then fade them in as they ran. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I think it works ok.

The color correction has been a very subjective thing. Some people, myself included, really love it as it is. Others, like yourself and my father, don't care for it. I wanted a kind of "dreamy" feel to the piece as it is a parable, I hoped the desaturated/muted colors would draw your attention away from the details (also because it was a cheap camera) and focus the attention more on the story. The glow was added to make it more dream-like. To each his own, I guess.. I understand your reasons for not liking it, but I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one point.

I did use all natural light and on closeups I used a diffusion screen which I built myself. I agree I needed to use reflectors to bounce light back into the scene, especially when using the diffuser. Unfortunately, I didn't fully understand what the diffuser would do until I was in the middle of framing the shot in the field with people standing around and the deadline for the film looming. Live and learn I guess. I have picked up some white foamboard to bounce light around next time, I'm also looking into some simple lighting kits to add the extra punch next time.

Jeremy - Sorry about the sweatshirt, that was actually my last pickup shot. I filmed it the day I had to submit the film, so I had to hurry so I had time to edit it in and render the final film.

The dolly was an interesting thing. I don't currently have a real dolly (retail or DIY), but my dad has this nice garden cart. It is a green metal mesh platform riding on good size pneumatic wheels with a handle coming out the front. I stood the tripod on the platform, set the cart on the sidewalk, and had my niece (the young girl) walk on the grass, right next to the sidewalk). I made sure I framed from the knees up and then pulled the cart as she walked. It looks like she is walking down the sidewalk next to the park. However, I couldn't pull the cart and hold the tripod/camera, so it was extremely shaky. So much so, that I was going to cut the shot.

But I found VirtualDub and the Deshaker plugin...as you can see it works very well. In fact on the DVD I made for the cast I put a clip in the "bonus features" :) that shows the before and after shot, because it is such a drastic difference. I'll have to dig that clip out and post it later.

Thanks again for the comments and criticism. I appreciate both.

Thanks,
Larry

This is amazing news!!! Congratulations! Is there some link where I could see your trailer?

new film label in D.C
 

Hello everyone,

I've launched the website for my film label, 4312 Productions. The website is www.4312productions.com.

I'm looking for all sorts of people to contact me, potential investors, producers, actors, etc.

Check out the website for more information and I look forward to hearing from you,
Anthony Faust

Popcast.com
 

http://www.sonnyboo.com/images1/popcast.jpg

SONNYBOO @ POPCAST.COM

I've started 4 channels at POPCAST.COM > CLICK HERE



BEHIND THE SCENES OF HORRORS OF WAR > CLICK HERE

the Sonnyboo Classics> CLICK HERE - 6 older short films

Sketchcetera> CLICK HERE - several comedy sketches with the Second City cast

The Dramas > CLICK HERE - for 3 dramatic shorts


POPCAST.COM is a torrent based portal for filmmakers, music videos and other such things.

My Reel completed with Pinnacle Studio 9 plus
 

Hello guys:

I just recently finished my 3 minute reel on Pinnacle Studio Plus ver 9.4 - Will be switching to Vegas 6 in a few weeks. I would like your constructive criticism on my footage, shot in XL2 24p & 30p.

You can download the file here it's 12.2mb wmv, I rendered it at 538kbps

http://iwevo.station196.com/reel.lowres.wmv

ps. Pinnacle Locks up all the time during rendering - poor program, I guess you cannot expect much out of a $100 program.

Runing a Pentium 4 3.2ghz, 2gb 533mhz ram, PCI express Nvidia Gforce 6800 256mb ram, 960gb SATA Drive 7200rpm 8mb buffer, 800mhz fsb,

Thanks in advance !!

Ty

The Dorm. New Webseries.
 

Hey Guys,

A friend and I are creating a webseries for an MTVu grant contest.

Here's the pilot. It's called 'The Dorm' and it's a take off on 'The Office' about a group of students and their self-centered RA.

Enjoy.

http://www.meydenbauerentertainment.com/TheDorm.mov

Josh

What exactly is this reel for?

What is the reel for?
 

Hello Josh:

I would like to use it to get commercial jobs shooting buildings, should I do something different?


Ty

Manx wavesport short
 

My website has a short film of some surfing/kayaking action shot on the Isle of man(UK)
The full length film is out middle of next year and is called "5mm" and is a mix of surfing/music/culture shot on super8 and miniDV. All the water action was captured on a Canon XM2(GL2) and a Sony PD-170 in underwater housings(Ikelite)

www.phatmanfilms.com

Feel free to comment!

Nobody? Nobody likes it? Nobody hates it?

Music Video, Chair is Rock
 

Chair is Rock is a synth band i have with my roommate Karl.
I directed/edited this music video for our song called CRT Soundsystem. (A tribute to LCD Soundsystem.)

But anyways, critique me, I really want people to let me know what they think of it, I always want to better myself to surpass the other students in my school.

It was shot with a VX2000, edited in Premiere Pro 1.5, and ran through Magic Bullet's look suite. We wanted an "avant garde" european feel to it. Although it came out like pure insanity.

Enjoy. You can see me on the right being entranced in playing the music like a goon.

http://karlojanpa.manglerproductions.../CRT_chair.mov

1) your lighting was terrible. the shadows the dudes cast on the kitchen wall were extremely noticeable and annoying.
2) your editing pace was way to slow for the beat of the song
3) it was kinda funny, but you could have gone much further with some of the ideas, like more of the dancing light guy.
4) if you are going for strange, you need to be way more out there. quite frankly the video was really boring.

i don't mean to sound harsh at all so don't take it like that. you wanted critiquing so i'm telling you what i would want to hear.

Oops, I probably should have noted that we are in no way serious about the whole thing. I appreciate the criticism, but I'm just saying it's not a full pro quality video. We did it in our kitchen in one day!

The tight shots are actually quite good but the main locations with the harsh lighting looks bad and is shot bad. Your wides, just arent wide enough and the stark light with shadows everywhere just doesnt work. That is the biggest mistake for beginners, not going wide enough. Medium shots are boring... mix tight and wide...

I agree with more of the Xmas light dude... I would have shot him with a low shutter or put a strobe effect if you were going for that Euro feel.



ash =o)