I've only seen part one, so far, so I can't say much. There were things about the movie I liked; the opening credits, and the music selections, just to name a few.
As far as some critiques: I felt the titles like "The Next Day" or "Kaylee's College" are on screen a bit too long. They should be there just long enough for an average reader to see.
Also, when the song with the lyrics "I'm about to come alive" is playing, we don't really see anything that engaging on the screen that tells us much about the character. Yes, she's a student; we see her studying, listening in class, walking on campus, but: Is she a good student? Does she have lots of friends? Is she overwelmed by her studies? Perhaps something like, a shot of her trying to carry several books at once, and she drops them on the floor, and as she bends down to pick them up, she notices that guy she likes, is down the hall talking to another girl, and she is embarrassed because they turn to see her struggling to pick up her books. Maybe, you cover all this in the other parts of the film, but I didn't feel the shots used during that song complimented the song or moved the story forward. I would like to see that song used when she actually is showing signs of coming alive, and not just going through her daily routine. If you only use scenes that move the story forward or reveal character, you could shorten the film and still tell your story. Also, one technical point, I use an inhaler from time to time, and she doesn't look like she is using it properly. Those are my feelings, anyway. I will have to watch more of the film when I get a chance, but I wish you well on it and future projects.

Just so you don't get me wrong, you are VERY talented. I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

Take care,

Mike

1Reason short film
 

Hey, guys, you can get the film from right here http://www.theculturalrevolution.net/ . It is about 20 minutes long, 78mb. Please feel free do leave any comments or critiques on the comments page.

I'm watching it right now, and my first reaction is, whether or not it is a documentary. It sort feels like one, but it is basically just narration with clips of b-boying, and don't get me wrong I came from the early 80s of NYC b-boying so I know all about it. Was around when Roxy and the Funhouse was rockin and hung with illest b-boys. I am just not sure what it is you are trying to accomplish. There are 1000s of clips like this on youtube without the narration. My comments are below, and they obviously only reflect my own view, so take them with a grain of salt.

They are:

1. The narrator is not very clear, maybe because the sound isn't that good. It should be well-spoken clear narration. Use a handheld mic and speak clearly into it. Maybe hire a professional narrator. It didn't work for me. It lacked energy and vital information about b-boying in general.

2. There doesn't seem to be a story. It basically seems like kids' commentary. Almost like you are just interviewing your friends, but the question would be, does that make a short film? I am not sure.

3. There are already several semi-documentaries out there, such as Fresh Kids, Style-Wars, etc, covering a lot of the same issues, but with more of a story, i.e. character driven, conflict, and plots. (Fresh Kids doesn't have much of a story either.) So my question would be, what new are you bringing?

4. The interviews weren't that informative, and the sound wasn't that great. A handheld mic would have done much better, or clip on lav.

5. Here is would have worked better for me. You should have found a kid (b-boy) with a specific story to tell, maybe reenacted it, and how b-boying changed him, or how it may have been a struggle. Conflict Conflict Conflict. Did I say conflict? It’s VERY important to make something interesting. That means drama. NOW, having said that, IF b-boying was totally new and no one knew about it could have worked with just interviews and clips, but it has been done many times before. Beat Street worked because there was character development, struggle, conflict and triumph. These are important elements, even in a documentary. Michael Moore is a genius at that. It isn't easy, but it can be done.

Hopefully you take my comments as constructive criticism and not be offended.

My Demo Trailer wmvhd
 

http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=39841120

200mb windows 720p high def

Just starting out in this game heres a sample of what I've done . Post up your thoughts mabye send some work my way too. All shot with z1u and hc1

A couple of things,

The download speed is really slow, i was only getting 15kbs so i don't have the time to download it.

And if you want someone to throw some work your way it may be a good idea to let folks know where you are. Just a thought.

Andy.

:EDIT:I tried downloading it again and its jumped to 60kbs, still pretty slow but tolerable

thats odd with your dl speed i am getting way over 100 here. Anyhow I am in Connecticut. usa

I bottomed out at around 125 Kbps. I started at >400

Not bad...

I'll have to look at it later.

Mike

ok cool thanks...

I downloaded it but it was jerky and wouldn't run properly on any of my media players. Don't wory it's probably my pc, its an athlon thats about 5 or 6 years old that i only use for the internet. I keep my mac offline so it would most likely run ok on that.

I normally get in the region of 300kbs, could just be that the net was busy or my local exchange playin' up

From what i could see it looked fine, same kinda stuff i do at weddings.

Andy.

yeah windows high def you need a relatively new comp

"Leave it to Chance" - XL2 movie - available on DVD
 

"Leave it to Chance", a feature shot on the XL2, and screened at various festivals, including Santa Barbara Int'l Film Festival, is now available for pre-orders on DVD (release date is Nov. 20th). There are also special features and commentary which address digital and low-budget filmmaking. You can find the DVD at: Amazon.com, or for 20% less at Brownplay Store

2 New Music Videos
 

Please check them out, i'd love to hear from everyone. they were both shot on the DVx 100a, the Kazy video used the 35mm Adaptor.

for some reason on youtube the Midwest video is a little off on sync at the beginning. i'll reupload to try and fix it later..

Midwest "Under the snow" - director,DP and editor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYzPy_ScH4

Kazy "Choke" - I was the DP on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPqKoHliE8g


Thank You!

Chris Donnelly

Wow! Nice work! I only watched the Kazy video...I'll try to watch the other one later.

Thanks again very much :) can't wait to post the HD stuff

Step Show Promo
 

Hey all,

If any of you are familiar with Greek life at an HBCU (historically black college/university), the Greek step show is one of the biggest events that goes down on campus. It is a really big competition.

One of the important aspects that judges look at is the theme and the introduction. I was asked by our Zeta’s to direct, shoot and edit their introduction piece which is played in front of almost 10,000 people (the step show is held at the local coliseum). It turned out really good is by far some of my best work.

www.greenbench.tv/videos/Zeta.wmv

Check it out and let me know what you all think!

Thank you!

More input would be great! I'm trying to oull everything i can out of the dvx.. plus get ALOT better at editing... which i believe color correction and editing are my weaknesses..

thanks guys!

Very nice John, what did you shoot it with?

Thanks for the response!

It was shot with a DVX100B.

Great intro....any footage of the step show?

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the step show, but I heard that my video was well received.

ON EVIL GROUNDS - a first look
 

"On Evil Grounds" (aka "AUF BÖSEM BODEN", Feature, Canon Xl2 with P&S adapter, 85 min.)

Seeded: Summer 2005.

Plowed: 2006.

Harvest: Early 2007.

Moving images: Today.

Download. Now.

Here:

Windows Media (20MB): http://www.aufboesemboden.com/oeg_640x360.wmv

MPEG-2 (26MB): http://www.aufboesemboden.com/oeg_640x360.mpg

... alternate a Flash Video Version: http://www.aufboesemboden.com

Cheers, Peter

Trippy, hard-core... I like it.
Pity it wasn't subtitled, but I got the basic concept.

"Englands Best Salesman" - weird shortfilm made with XL2
 

I have made a new, twisted shortfilm that I thought I might share with you all! I hope some of you may enjoy it, it's a bit "Hannibal Lecter"-esque.. it was fun making this, if nothing else =)

High quality:
http://www.coolsida.se/vovin/films/salesman-high.wmv

Slightly less amazing quality:
http://www.coolsida.se/vovin/films/salesman-low.wmv

Then there is an ALTERNATIVE version where I get brutally murdered by a zombie too :P

http://www.coolsida.se/vovin/films/s...-alt1-high.wmv


Regards
Andreas Rylander

I tried to watch the HQ version but consistently had network errors so I gave up. I hope it was a problem on my end. The little bit that I did see was well-shot.

Yes, sadly my server is a tad bit unreliable - though it should be functional now, I believe! Just keep trying =)

So glad to hear you liked the shots that you did see, I am nervous about being the cameraman, as it is not really what I consider my primary competence - So I was overwhelmed to hear that you considered what you saw well shot! Hopefully you get to see the whole thing, and I hope you find it amusing =)

Have a good day =)

I liked it! The lighting needs improvement in some of the shots but overall it was very good. Funny stuff!

Well done...

New Music Video
 

i just finished this music video for a local artist "A-Bomb". The song is titled "why".
Filmed with my xl2 and edited with Vegas 6.
Used AE6.5 for the rain in the beginning and end of video. Tell me what you think of it guys.

http://csxinfo.net/nbfilms/Why.mov
55MB
(Right click and save target as)

I thought it was cool. Great clarity on the video, and good use of the flash transition.....

Not very interesting, but not many performance driven videos are.....

short video shot using sony a1e and some toys
 

http://web.mac.com/philip.bloom/iWeb...o%20video.html

sorry for cross post but thought it might be of interest here...

Good use of lighting and as Sheldon said the clarity was great. What frame rate and shutter did you shoot at? Also what settings did you use in term of the look?

That was quirky cool and looked fantastic aesthetically. (that woman dancer cracked me up)

Questions:

- What other filters did you use besides Nattress to get that look? The colors were phenomenal.

- which 35 mm adapter did you use for the a1?

Great looking footage. Its hard to believe it was shot with an A1. I have FXs and use Nattress and my footage looks no where near that filmic.

This looks really interesting. I dig your style. Did you use any specific settings for the Xl2 to get that look?

It was filmed at 1/48 shutter in 24p On my Xl2.
Off hand I really cant think of the settings i used, Are you reffering to In-camera settings or in terms of CC? Thanks for the Replies as well.

In terms of custom presets in the XL2. Just wondering if you did anything special.

Thanks a lot!

The 35mm DOF adaptor I use is the Letus35 flip enhanced. It's a great piece of kit, I thoroughly recommend it. I used it with different Nikon manual SLR lenses.

In camera I had black stretch on and cinematone 1. I also upped the colours by 1 notch.

In the edit I used Natress fast de-interlace smart blend. A slight reduction in gamma, squashed the blacks a little bit more and upped the saturation by about 15% to get that effect.

I didn't use any optical filters for any of it.

Phil

Thanks for the kind words!

@Mike

Except that we used a mini35 adapter and the ocassional ND filter, there were no special settings to achieve the look except for trying to get the most neutral image on tape so we could have as much as possible headroom for the color correction - and it is CC where all of the look comes from.

Cheers, Peter

PS: Well our most special setting of the cam was our DOP Marcus Stotz - great cinematographer!

Peter, that looks great! You're DOP is awesome! I love seeing stuff like this. As people speculate and debate about SD/HD, RED, which camera to buy, blah blah, people like you just plow right through all the crap and get on to making great looking images! That's got to be some of the best Mini DV footage I have ever seen. Just shows what can be accomplished. Well done!

Pumpkin Deed Stop-Motion Halloween Short
 

Howdy,

I recently finished a stop-motion short with Maroon Films, located in De Pere, Wisconsin. It runs 2min 45sec.

The video will require Flash 7 or newer (everyone should be running Flash 9 because of some important security updates anyway). I will post some WMV, MOV, and RM options before this weekend.

http://www.pumpkindeed.com/

Enjoy,
Bob

video was great, love the stop-motion effects! slight hand reflection in window, but overall great. Go Packers!