Good stuff there. Cut the music, and get down to the story, following a couple of guys through daily life and what happens to them.

If you show a gun, someones going to get shot!

Our film RETRIBUTION made the semifinals in iFC's Assassin's Creed contest
 

Our short film Retribution made it into the semifinals of iFC's Assassin's Creed Contest. View it online and vote for us.

View it here: http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail....id=5599&list=1

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1216/...816af849bd.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/...822623a9c6.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1379/...0363e99a8e.jpg

Just watched your short....cool, very cool! Great cinematography, acting, and directing. Good luck!!!!!!

You did a terrific job getting such good exposures..
 

I posted my comments on YouTube but basically you should consider doing a high quality film transfer of your film original and then lay over the new transfer clips over the existing clips on your time line.

Suddenly you have a slick looking film demo that will stand apart versus doing the original shooting on DV.

Thanks for you insight Justin and Alessandro!

I totally agree with you Alessandro about the xfer method. I was dissapointed myself with the degradation in quality. I was thinking about sending my original footage to a lab for a transfer then re-editing it, but I think I will move on to another project. It was my first time shooting on film and our teacher suggested we xfer this way. It saved time and money but doesn't look as good as it could of. Thanks for viewing my film though I appreciate it!

That's one of the problems with the way film is taught. To keep the costs down, shortcuts are taken, which can be a good thing, but...

But then someone actually shoots a film with excellent exposures and they don't take their film to the next level and just make it look nice. I read in the credits that you shot Plus-X black and white.

Super-8 Plus-X black and white looks so good these days that it can pass for 90's 16mm, it's definitely broadcast quality as well. I believe that whenever one does a project that exhibits some level of skills it should be used as a demo piece for future job opportunities. Right now your film may miss the mark because of how it was transferred, and that seems like a waste.

However, I understand your desire to move on and do more. I don't know how much footage you shot but assuming you shot 5 or 6 Super-8 film cartridges you are probably looking at around 175 - 325 dollars for an amazing quality transfer.

Then all you would do is go into your NLE time line and replace the existing shots with the newly transfered version. It is a form of education to see what you orginally did and then see how much better it became after the new transfer.

One final advantage to retransferring your footage is you learn about the film transfer side of filmmaking at a relatively low cost and then that knowledge base will help you in the future should you shoot on film again.

Wow that was great. I agree with Tunde great cinematography, acting, and directing.

Lethal Engagement Previews
 

Alrighty folks, I think that it's about time to let you guys have a sneak peek into our current production, LETHAL ENGAGEMENT.

A little bit about the film: It's meant to be like the visual style of the Bourne movies. A man without a past must fight through a haze of forgetfulness and politics to save the one he loves, and to remember who and what he was. It will be released as four parts, or acts, and each act will be download-able from the site, in both HD and SD versions. More to come about that.

I'm not going to say any more than that, you'll just have to see it when they come out.

Attached is the promo pic for Act III

Alright. On to the previews. (Note: My FTP service is being weird and not letting me upload anything, so I opted for yousendit)

ACT II Preview in HD: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...7467C4058E1550

ACT II Preview in SD: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...0028B449777C1F

ACT III Preview in HD: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...998E5152399080

ACT III Preview in SD: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...D861341C2E7438


Remember, these are just previews, and may not be how they will be in the final film. Teasers, if you will.

I will use this thread to post updates and eventually the final film.

Comments welcome.

Steven Bills

Ryan, there is a great potential for a story with what you're doing, but I agree with what the other guys are saying, its not really revealed yet. I realize this is just a trailer, but make sure your "doc" isn't just a bunch of thugs & gang bangers talking smack. You need to show the background of your subjects. I get the feeling you also need to identify your position on what you're seeing and filming... is it cool? tragic? hip? scary? pathetic? All docs are biased in the sense that the filmmaker chooses to tell a story, which is yours? I hope this isn't sounding harsh, because I think you're on the right track and have real potential.

Those kids, next time, get the camera down at their level, at least that's what I would do.

Ryan, be careful. Guys pulling out guns with silencer's on them, man, that is bad bad bad. Remember that people who are just "covering the story" get killed all the time. I would also consult a lawyer before you go any further. I'm pretty sure that taping illegal activity like that and just saying "hey, I'm just a filmmaker" can get you into trouble. I know its caused problems for people taping illegal car racing. In any event, being around guys with guns like that is not a good idea. Possibly a really great doc in the works, but proceed with caution! Cudos though for having the guts to get out there and shoot that. Didn't it freak you out a little?

That was funny as hell. Very nice!

Dude, I love your stuff. I still sing, "I ain't got much of a smile" all the time throughout the day.

Latest from my Japan videos
 

Been a while since I added any new videos to my site.

I just finsihed this one on a very mundane topic - Rice.

It is at the bottom of the list on the following page:

http://www.gaijin-eyes.com/03gallery/0301afh.htm


Hope it interests some of you....

Regards,
Douglas

Thanks for the comments. We're shooting with the JVC HD100 with the Brevis 35mm adapter.

The car crash was a lot easier than we thought. We got both for free, because the director's brother works with cars and has contacts. One car was just going to be scrapped, so we could destroy it (we couldn't touch the other one). The car guys brought their tow trucks, and used it to tip the one car over.

Our crew was minimal. We had a director, DP, gaffer, and about 3 grips. One guy did sound, and then we had someone doing stills.
Thanks for looking!

Brian:

I watched the film when you first posted too. Sorry didn't get a chance to comment. You used your contacts well...accident scenes was very convincing. And actress was great !

So when you are shooting with Brevis, it appears from most of shots that you have the prime lens stopped down pretty good. Seems to be around F5.6 to F8. Are you having to fight vignetting issues at all ?

A Trailer/Promo for my High school
 

My school has a new school-wide prayer. We wanted to promote it through entertainment media before we taught it to other students. As a senior, I'm in a leadership group that promotes ministry in music and other arts. I directed and edited the promo.

HVX200 w/ redrock
Homedepot lights

Any questions or comments welcome. Thanks guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHV5zsTU1co

Better Quality:
http://www.siprep.org/examen/examen.mp4

Thanks for the kind comments. iFC compressed the heck out of it.. but we have a higher quality 720p HD version online here: HD Portfolio

Bro ... Not much to say, except "I freakin' loved it." I think you did a great job on this!

Wedding Demo
 

Hi Everyone.

My first post here, so i thought i would post one of my wedding samples for review.

http://www.derienzo-videoproductions...sajakedemo.wmv

Any comments welcome.

Thank You.
John De Rienzo

Well, there is some nice footage there, but I think the music is mis-matched.

It wasn't 'romantic' wedding type music, way too disco/dance for the type of shots you have there, to me, it wasn't a good fit.

Another suggestion would be to actually create a 'still' in B&W or sepia when the photographer takes the photo and we hear the motordrive sound. Make the frame still instead of keeping it with the video, it's more effective that way.

Take them for what they are worth.

Jim

wedding highlight done with with a letus35fe
 

Heres a new one few days ago.
http://weddingmtv.multiply.com/video.../Alec_Michelle
(song is selected by client)

I just finished my Honda S2000 documentary
 

I wanted to share some Honda history with the "younger/newer" S2000 owners and also give something back to the owner community that I've been a part of since 1999.

We conducted some interviews within our group and after a month of off and on editing, I have the finished product ready for downloading. The file is 110 Mb and the video is about 16 minutes long

You can download a copy of the video here: http://satoauto.com/video/S2000_Life.wmv and I'd love to hear any feedback.

Great video man!! I love the images....How did u tackle the issue of light loss, did u use the letu flip??

THanks Tunde,
Yes i use the flip version. infact i dun find the light loss very serious. the light loss actually helps during daylight so i could use lower f-stop on my camera.

i used a dvx102b and am surprised that even at +9db gain the image is still rather clean. anyway those that you see on the clip during the make up is most 0 to +6gain. and its pretty good.
unfortunately its no no for wedding dinner not enough lux.

Hi James,

Thank you for taking the time to give me feedback.

Yes I agree the music is unusual! but as its a showreel as opposed to actual wedding footage i wanted to try something different.

I have had comments from people who say they love it to people who hate it, so i think you will fall very quickly into one of these categories.

My own personal style leans towards a very romantic wedding video, I prefer the more romantic style, but many also hate it!!!!

In the main video I used the still option as you said, but in another part of the film, not this part. I guess it was just an editing decision at the time, but yes i agree,having a still has a nice impact.

Thank you again for your comments.

John De Rienzo

Well, I think they'll love it. Really well done. Great editing; use of stills, nice transitions, pacing was really good, good VO, it really all came together. The only thing that I would change would be the "A" camera framing on the interviews. It was just a little too wide for my taste, but that was it. I really enjoyed watching your film, nice work.

Thanks for taking the time to watch it. I agree on the A camera. I actually made two versions of this video, one 22 minutes for the people who participated in the video and the 16 minute version you saw. Since the 22 minute version would only be seen on TVs as a DVD I intentionally framed it wide.

For the short version (which would be seen on computers) I moved the framing a bit tighter. Naturally there was a limit on how tight I could make it with standard def. In retrospect, I could have moved it "just a smidge" tighter without losing too much resolution.

trenches
 

A film I did some work on,, shooting was done in three weeks total, heres the trailer and site

hope you like

http://www.trenchesonline.com/index.html

You guys do just fantastic stuff. To be honest, it doesn't often happen that I find filmmaking reels online that really feel intimidating to me but this is just awesome. You guys really have that beautiful digital not-film-but-damn-cinematic Superman Returns-ish look down. Only point of critique I can give is that it seems to go a bit overboard with commercial-style lighting sometimes, making it a little bit too unreal, but I guess that was a stylistical choice.

Looked pretty exciting. Can't wait to see more. Some scenes in the trailer reminded me of Starship Troopers.

Regards

What was it shot on? Film or HD? What camera? Looks a bit like another Alien film.

Portsmouth Screen '07 - Short Film screenings: Call for entries
 

As part of the Portsmouth Screen '07: Film and New Media festival, SHORTS::CUT is looking for short films. For the past two years we have showcased the work of local production talent as part of the Portsmouth Screen: Film and New Media Festival. For 2007, We are looking for entertaining, engaging and thought provoking films in any genre, from drama to comedy, documentary to animation.

The deadline for submissions is 1 October 2007. Films should not be longer than 15 minutes, including credits.

We are now opening two sections: The first is for the filmmakers in the local area. At least one of the principle cast, or the writer, director or producer should reside or study in Hampshire, West Sussex or the Isle of Wight, or the film should have been produced in this area. click here for more infomation.

New for this year, a second section is open to projects from anywhere in the UK or around the World, though we do request that all films be in English or feature English subtitles. Click here for more information.

Alternatively contact port_shorts@yahoo.com.

--------------------------------------

Portsmouth Screen 07: Film and New Media Festival

Shorts::Cut

Absinthe Film
 

I put this together last year for a class. Its a little meditative (slow) but I had fun making it and despite a couple of mistakes, it turned out pretty well
Forbidden Fruit: The Absinthe Drinker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZa5ezt2ojI

thanks heres a link to the hd camera BTS pic

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...der/small1.jpg

http://s199.photobucket.com/albums/a...nder/?start=40

Very, very good! Looked like a big budget Hollywood movie to me.

Trailer Up - Pilot Showing in NYC this weekend (Shot with XH-A1)
 

Hey all,

We have the trailer up for Codeword Secret (www.codewordsecret.com). It is half hour TV pilot that was accepted by the New York Television Festival (www.nytvf.com). We are showing this weekend, Sept 7 and Sept 8. The screenings are free if you RSVP on the web site.

We shot it with the Canon XH-A1. I believe that they are going to put the full pilot on line this week, but I don't know for sure.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Andrea,

Just finished watching the hd version and to recap what I said earlier "flat out fantastic"!!!! I hope you guys win....please keep us updated as to what happens.

I see the 24 infulence in the cinematography which is a great show. I'll be shooting something similar in a few months and the cinematography is going to be 24/borne ultimatum.... Once again man excellent work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joe,
I ran across your film on the Spirit of Baraka website. Wanting to comment on the film, I"m glad you posted on this forum about the film.

I want to tell you I was completely enthralled by the film. The imagery is fascinating and the editing and pacing is spot on. The sequence with the trains had my skin shivering, I've watched it over and over again.

I would absolutely love to buy a full resolution DVD or Quicktime clip of this film from you!
Excellent work

A New Hero In Town
 

Hi,
Hope you enjoy our movie: Kid Scorpion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVjXzUI788g

Grab your popcorn :)

Oh thank God, it missed the Isle of man and my home town of peel by about 40 miles!
Nice work!

Icin Furgor - my first 'real' short film.
 

This is my latest film in it's first cut! There is still some things to fix so if you let me know about anything you feel should be changed I will very much so consider it!

You need Divx to watch the video I believe, go to divx.com to download the Divx player if you don't have it already.

http://stage6.divx.com/user/Dronex/v...08/Icin-Furgor

Thanks so much,
Justin