watch First Short Film for School

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to first say what an awesome board this is. Don't know if any of you ever read through the "Sputterwall Epic", but what an Epic post that was. But just seeing all the great responses, even when I was getting a little frustrated with the poster, you all seem to really keep your cool. I've seen other boards related to different topics where people get WAY too personal and defensive. It's almost becomes a "Jerry Springer" board...completely idiotic.

Anyways, it was that epic post among many others that brought me to join. You guys seem like a great community and look forward to reading and posting with you all.

Now to my film. Just a few details. This is my first film...actually first time shooting anything. I've used a camera, but never recorded any footage before. I shot this on Super 8, using a camera from school. Super 8 is definitely Super cool. It got a little dark at the end, sorry about that. Being mindful of the light was difficult, mainly because this first film had to be an IN CAMERA EDIT. I was stressing about keeping continuity...and then low and behold...my sun is going down...nooooo.

Ok, I think that's all there is to say. I know most of the shorts I've seen on here are awesome and done by pro's. So my apologies in advance, I'm new and just curious to see what the big dogs think.

Without further adieu...here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP4nUnfaLvI

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

First, Welcome!
Second, thanks for appreciating this site for what it is.
Third, please -- no apologies needed. There are members here with all levels of experience. As you observed, the members here are generally very respectful. They try to offer constructive criticism -- not insults.
Fourth, I will check out your video later tonight (on my way to work now...)

Enjoy the site!

For an in-camera edit, I think that was a good start. There was a good flow of action from one cut to another. I'm afraid I didn't get the ending. I think I missed something in the end, because it was too dark for me to make out.

I can't wait to see your next feature. Thanks for sharing.

A trick with film for doing in camera edits: When you let your finger off the trigger, the film and shutter spin down leaving the shutter open longer than normal. This pushes the film toward overexposed for a couple of frames. You can cover the edit by making sure you pan to or uncover something white as you let go of the trigger...this way the frame is already flooded with white when it washes out.

The short was fun, edits were pretty good. There were a couple of beginnings of cuts that were a bit long waiting for the actions, but editing in camera, you only have one chance to get it...so it's quite forgivable.

What did you use to digitize?

Well...

That was the bad part Knightly. It was supposed to be shot at 18fps and I somehow shot it at 24fps on accident (not sure if I bumped the switch or what). So when the Film Dept guy at school Telecined (is that correct?) it for me, he did it at 18fps. When I got it, I had to find a way to speed it up a little. So in essence, it's a pretty jacked up transfer...haha.

I see your point on the editing technique, I just think it may be difficult to always incorporate some type of white space before you jump to your next scene. But yea, it's something to think about doing when possible...thanks.

Excellent handheld work. You have a great natural ability for handheld.

for an example, watch "Rope" by Hitchcock. The whole thing seem sto run as one take. In reality, the film loads only run for 10 minutes...someone always crosses the frame when a reel ends and crosses away from it when the next begins leaving a point to edit between the two reels. "Rope" is an amazing piece of very technical cinema.

Thanks...

I appreciate the kind words Indietalk (that's weird, sounds like I'm talking to the website...haha). I guess I was just really happy it actually was a watchable film. I was so worried as I waited for it to come back thinking, "what if it's just all black".