I really, really, and I mean this, REALLY enjoyed your film.

The cinematography was great, especially in the light that I paid it no attention. I didn't need to. Visually it was there, and cued me to what I needed to know, without spelling things out. The audio was great, the actors expressed great emotion....

I did think that the B&W transitions were somewhat out of place, something a bit less intrusive would have been more pleasing to my eye, personally. Other than that...

The story was phenomenal. The storytelling was even better. Congratulations.

I like it.

Good song, good pace....visually interesting. The winking pirate at the end is a wee bit silly but that's ok given the context of the little treasure chest scenerio.

Amazing what you can do in a 10' x 12' white room and a little imagination.

Now the vintage broadcast type microphone like the one used by your lead singer seems to be a popular prop in a number of music videos i've seen but it still works in yours because you treat it as just another prop except when the Bass Player does his solo vocal part and visually it's the right choice .

As for lighting ....pretty basic stuff. Looks like you had a key light maybe a 2nd light and whatever was coming off the ceiling light. I could see the Musicians faces plus desaturating....it looked ok.

Over all good job Jeff.

Very nice!
I was thinking about getting together with some friends that jam every now and then for fun and put together a little video. I was wondering any suggestions for syncing? They do have some stuff recorded. I am really new to all this so any suggestions would be great. Thought it would be fun

Hi, we now have a teaser and a trailer on the site. Check out and tell what you think :)

http://silentpaprika.kapsi.fi/evil

Thanks for the feedback Oliver.

I am quite an experienced diver but I also used a tripod for many of the macro shots, which of course helped with steadiness.

I think I will shorten it somewhat, and I will reconsider that opening music track.

Trailer for feature I shot, F900
 

A feature I shot a long time ago is finally seeing the light of day, as the producers are shopping it at the European Film Market. I've been waiting for this one as it was a strongly visual film, I think I posted about it here back in the day. Please enjoy the trailer here:

Flash version
Quicktime version

This was mostly shot on the F900, with some additional photography done on the Genesis.

Congratulations, Charles! Finally!

Good heavens, you aren’t kidding when you speak of it being “strongly visual;” the trailer was enough for me. :) But it’s beautifully shot, just as all of us would count on from you. I have to say…that first scene is really gross!

The man who plays Nikolai looked familiar, but I didn’t recognize his name. Judging from the trailer he did an excellent job. Then as I looked to see your name (so cool!) I noticed that he wrote this movie.

I had to watch both versions because on my computer the audio on the Flash version is out of sync. It’s “prettier” than the Quicktime, though, so I hope it works for others.

Wonderful news...wonderful job!

Great work! you're a true artist. I can now see what years of experience and natural talent can do when matched with the right equipment and a great crew and am impressed. I was wondering if you could take a moment to discuss the lighting equipment and techniques used in the movie. In particular, is the key light coming from a direct source or is there a certain kind of diffusion or bounce used in combination with the key light? Does your method change throughout the movie? I'm interested in learning how to match (or compliment) the lighting style from one scene to the next when they require vastly different sized lights (ie - low lit interiors vs. bright exteriors). This kind of information would be really helpful, I think. BTW, Great job on the movie.. hello Sundance! And, thanks for your reply in advance.

thanks Lorinda and Brian.

"right equipment and crew"--well, sort of...this was actually a really low budget movie, appearances to the contrary. I'm not supposed to say how low but suffice to say that the general consensus is that it looks like it cost 10-20 times what we actually spent on it.

I started the job with a different grip and electric crew that was replaced after a week, then things settled down a bit, but we were always way understaffed, and the biggest equipment package in the world (not that I had that) is of no use if you don't have the manpower to use it! Some of the sets were very large and required an alternative approach to light based on our resources.

Many different lighting approaches in the film, but generally I kept the Narrator (main charactor) in half-light as it made him more menancing, and it was generally pretty hard. Some of the locations required more of a soft-light approach, and the segments with Roslyn Sanchez at her mansion were much warmer and prettier than the rest of the film as she represented the yin to the yang of the violence and darkness seen elsewhere in the film.

It will be difficult if I am ever called on to do an interview on the lighting of this film as so many years have now gone by, it's getting fuzzy, but I might be able to remember details for specific shots if asked.

by the way, the official site at perfectsleep.com has added a set of great framegrabs from the movie.

In the theatre
 

is where I would like to watch this. Looked interesting (and funny, in a Snatch sort of way. Good stuff. =D) , and of course gorgeous. Love the music in the last 3rd of the trailer! :)

C

I'd love to see it in the theatre too Carl! With any luck the picture will be sold soon and I'll be supervising the film-out right after that.

It looks good but I could not get the Quicktime version to play. When do you expect the movie to be complete? How was the movie shot?

Did you download the file? Because I didn't get the streaming to work :(
It\'s ready in 1.3.2008, we have the premiere set for that. If we don\'t get a distribution deal anywhere, we will make it available for free in the internet. It was shot in 5 days last summer with a Panasonic dvx100, minimalistic light set and a crew of four.

Making the most of bad footage, Part 2 - MMA promo
 

My latest assignment was to make a promo/intro video for a new website, www.mmarecruiter.com, a forum that brings together promoters and fighters in the increasingly popular sport of mixed martial arts fighting.

My limitiation was that I had to use previously shot fight footage. Generally speaking, the video that was supplied was not good; over- and under-exposed, blurry, shaky and too far away much of the time. Many of the fights were lackluster. After sifting through hours of footage I was able to come up with a handful of clips that I could use.

I decided that I wanted this vid to be as different as possible from the high-speed, screaming heavy metal MMA clips that have quickly become cliche, despite this sport’s relative newness. Admittedly, what I’ve come up with is all style and very little substance. I plan to make another version that outlines more clearly just what MMA Recruiter has to offer. In the meantime it remains to be seen if fans of MMA will find this version awesome...or too artsy. What do you think?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UShSrJ_RDnU