Prewedding film "true story" with letus

Hi guys,

I'd like to share my prewedding film.... please.. :P it was shot in one day from 7am to 9pm (man.. long day that was...)

We used xh-a1 + extreme with nikon lenses 24mm f2.8, 35mm f2, 50 f1.4, 135 f2.8

i know.. my lenses are not that great.. :P all bought off ebay!

This one is gonna be shown next week while we shoot their wedding on saturday.

This one was pretty tough for me, its very far from the usuall happy happy times and stuff. We really dig into their story and how to make it as filmic as possible.

Have we nailed it? dunno.. I'm sure it could've been better (if SM/jmag shot it) :P but then again, I have to say that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I learned so much in this production and can't wait to do another one.

its not easy to tell a story.... well! gotta keep learning.

So your feedback would be much appreciated since it will help for me to do the next one.

There are 3 different timeline here and that's when it gets tricky. I let you guys figure it out.

This is a password protected video on Vimeo

password: papercranes_pl


Thanks in advance!

Santo

[Trevor Troup]

Wow.. really nice. Nicely lit, well paced,your actor/ actress were great and I liked the outakes. My only question was how he eventually won her over? Thought that could have been a little more clear. Just my 2 cents..

[Susanto Widjaja]

Hey Trevor, thanks for watching

The reason he won her over was because he did something heroic for another friend and the bride was very much touched with what he did.

But they chose not to include this on the film, which I sort of have to make do.

The climacs on the sms was supposed to be the thing moment where the bride was finally accepting him to get close to her, but Its not that clear to you I suppose :) my mistake. thanks for the feedback.

Santo

[Matt Barwick]

Santo - that was outstanding. Simply outstanding.

When I saw 7 minutes duration I was expecting it to drag but it actually didn't feel long at all when watching it which is a real testament to the story telling. I was completely drawn in.

You've really utilised subtle DOF well, without going over-the-top extreme shallow for no reason like some of the samples I recently seen.

I loved the organic, natural feel of it - and without the use of any flying shots too.

Have you nailed it? Yes - and then some.

Cheers,

Matt.

P.S. You HAVE to film and share the guest reactions at the wedding!

[Susanto Widjaja]

Thanks matt, I see that you're an owl like I am. still up at 12.30, I'm actually editing at the moment..

I agree with you, the only thing that letus is better from 5D is the organic "film" feel of it.

5D is great, looks clean, sleek, bokehful (ooh.. new word :p ), short dof, amazing.. but not very filmic at all.. its just like a VERY NICE HD footage.

At least that's what making me not so upset about buying the letus first before getting the 5d a 2 months later... :(

thanks again for your kind words, I'm so happy to hear you liked it.

I've just taken the plunge to go to still motion workshop next year. Not sure whether they still got a spot for me, just emailed them yesterday. Are you coming?

PS: filming the guest's reaction is a good idea! will do that! thanks!

Santo

[Stephen J. Williams]

Dude Santo... That was awesome. Can I come work for you? I'm pretty good at getting coffee :-)

I really like how ended with the out takes.

Steve

[Paul Mailath]

Fantastic Santo!

I started writing this and decided to call instead.

Terrific job, Loved the images and the lighting, you captured the story well, we identify with both the girl & the guy and the bloopers are an absolute winner!

[Susanto Widjaja]

Originally Posted by Stephen J. Williams

Dude Santo... That was awesome. Can I come work for you? I'm pretty good at getting coffee :-)

I really like how ended with the out takes.

Steve

Thanks Stephen, you can come work with me on next week shoot.. as long as you pay for your own travel fee to sydney :p I'm willing to pay you double rate!!

Santo

[Susanto Widjaja]

Originally Posted by Paul Mailath

Fantastic Santo!

I started writing this and decided to call instead.

Terrific job, Loved the images and the lighting, you captured the story well, we identify with both the girl & the guy and the bloopers are an absolute winner!

Thanks for the kind words and also for your call today Paul. Do you want to swap your new pilot with my letus ? :P

[Randy Panado]

Incredible. Seriously. I was going to skip over watching this but figured I had some time in between edits to poke around dvinfo.

I'm glad I did. Impressive work! Your coloring was great and you could really sense a difference in mood and what you were trying to portray with each different color sequence. This reminds me of a korean music video I saw a while back. The story of the music video was what really drew me in along with the subtleties in color and dof. It left me with A feeling. That's what reminds me of the video with yours. Leaves me with A feeling.

Thanks for sharing. :)

BTW, you're going to love the SM workshop. I went to the first one (2nd class) myself and it was the best thing I've ever spent towards my education in this business.

Take care

-Randy

[Matt Barwick]

Originally Posted by Susanto Widjaja

thanks again for your kind words, I'm so happy to hear you liked it.

I've just taken the plunge to go to still motion workshop next year. Not sure whether they still got a spot for me, just emailed them yesterday. Are you coming?

PS: filming the guest's reaction is a good idea! will do that! thanks!

Santo

Hey Santo,

No problems at all. The praise is well deserved.

Yep - I'm travelling to Sydney for the Stillmotion workshops in Feb. Really looking forward to it. I think the first one is full, but last I heard the 2nd one still had a few spots.

Cheers,

Matt.

[Joel Campos]

Now that is beautiful example of visual storytelling. Loved it immensely. The couple really came across as genuine when watching them...it didn't feel like a performance or re-enactment at all. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces i've seen from anyone this year. Keep up the amazing work Santos!

[Susanto Widjaja]

Originally Posted by Randy Panado

Incredible. Seriously. I was going to skip over watching this but figured I had some time in between edits to poke around dvinfo.

I'm glad I did. Impressive work! Your coloring was great and you could really sense a difference in mood and what you were trying to portray with each different color sequence. This reminds me of a korean music video I saw a while back. The story of the music video was what really drew me in along with the subtleties in color and dof. It left me with A feeling. That's what reminds me of the video with yours. Leaves me with A feeling.

Thanks for sharing. :)

BTW, you're going to love the SM workshop. I went to the first one (2nd class) myself and it was the best thing I've ever spent towards my education in this business.

Take care

-Randy

Thanks Randy for your poking around DVinfo and drop me some nice words :)

The part when you say that my video leaves you with a feeling really made me feel great! I feel like I have told a story that is not "just" a story. Thank you.

I'm very much looking forward for the SM workshop, but I haven't got an email reply from them. maybe next week I will.

Originally Posted by Matt Barwick

Hey Santo,

No problems at all. The praise is well deserved.

Yep - I'm travelling to Sydney for the Stillmotion workshops in Feb. Really looking forward to it. I think the first one is full, but last I heard the 2nd one still had a few spots.

Cheers,

Matt.

I hope to be on the same workshop day as you!

Originally Posted by Joel Campos

Now that is beautiful example of visual storytelling. Loved it immensely. The couple really came across as genuine when watching them...it didn't feel like a performance or re-enactment at all. It's definitely one of my favorite pieces i've seen from anyone this year. Keep up the amazing work Santos!

Thanks heaps for that, this couple are seriously nice nice nice people. The kind who say "sorry" before they ask for something. It makes you want to do even more for them.

keep up the great work too!

Santo

[KathyRitondo]

I liked it. I have a serious problem with the "turnaround", what turned her around after so much rejection. Since you can't show it, my suggestion would be to eliminate the shots of him bringing her flowers and her turning him down and just use the Rose in the box (nicely transitioned from the counter to the bed shot by the way). The rose will be the symbolic turn of events since we see it in the present and the past. Problem solved. As for the shots of the friend and the groom watching the video in the living room. I find this distracting and doesn't lend anything to continue the storyline. I would eliminate. Finally why do we see dates on the screen. I get the first date to set the scene. Why tell that we are advanced two years later? The entire thing is done in time shift and is just calling attention to the technique instead of the story. Finally the end needs more punch and/or some definition between the end and the outtakes. Good luck with it.


Kathy Ritondo

[Susanto Widjaja]

Originally Posted by KathyRitondo

I liked it. I have a serious problem with the "turnaround", what turned her around after so much rejection.

In "reality" she turned to him after seeing a heroic thing that he did for another friend, but they chose not to show this in the film. Therefore, I tried to make it so that the reason that she turned to him was because she finally felt bad about rejecting him over and over again and rethink about her decision. This is "hopefully" shown in the bedroom scene where she's just sitting there stunned.. but I'm fully aware that it is not the very best way to do it.

Originally Posted by KathyRitondo

As for the shots of the friend and the groom watching the video in the living room. I find this distracting and doesn't lend anything to continue the storyline.

This one is because that is what exactly what happened before. The guy was devastated, and then his best friend encourage him to try one more time and sms the girl, which eventually he did and the girl accepted his offer to get a cup of coffee :)

Originally Posted by KathyRitondo

Finally why do we see dates on the screen. I get the first date to set the scene. Why tell that we are advanced two years later? The entire thing is done in time shift and is just calling attention to the technique instead of the story.

The couple asked for the dates because it means a lot to them. A lot of the props in this piece were using the actual items e.g. flowers, note, shop, bubble teas etc.

Originally Posted by KathyRitondo

Finally the end needs more punch and/or some definition between the end and the outtakes. Good luck with it.

Thank you so much for the lovely and constructive feedback. Will look into it!