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watch Trunk Fiction

Zensteve

Zensteve

Online at last!

It still needs a wee bit of colour correction (and as usual, a redub of dialogue), but I am very happy with my very first film on Super-8. Much different from video, for sure.

This was made primarily as a test of my beautiful, sexy Canon 814 AZ. Learned many things along the way, including the massive differences in colour saturation, working manual exposures on delicate film... and other things that will be on top of a checklist to look for the next time we use real film. :cool:

Some of the extreme closeups came out blurry... first and last time I ever mess with the diopter after the DP has set everything up perfectly. Sorry Flaviu.. my bad. :blush:

Why is it called "Trunk Fiction", you may ask? I just needed to use that patented Tarantino trunk-shot.

Anyways... enjoy. :cool:


Windows Version Here - 15 MB



QuickTime Version Here - 45 MB


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Pretty good stuff Zen. Like you mentioned, the sound has issues, and the actors readings were pretty stiff.

Nice twist, and good looking film.

Poke
 
Thanks for the reply, Poke :cool:

the actors readings were pretty stiff
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I agree, yes. This was part of the learning process, mind you.

I bought 10 rolls of film for this. Unlike video (where one can re-use the same tape over and over, if running out) I had no idea how long the film would realistically last. In trying to conserve my limited film supply, most of the shots were single takes... or second takes, if not good enough the first time.

At the end of the day, we had used 4 of the 10 rolls, total. Looking back, I can see I could have been far less frugal with the shots. I was just mortified that we might run out of film cartridges before getting every scene. I feel more comfortable with ratios now. :)

the sound has issues
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Aside from the actual dialogue (with all that extra noise going on in the background), how is the foleyed sound? (birds chirping, car noises, etc)

Nice twist
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Very interested in this. I was thinking that the flick may have been too hard to follow (especially as the trail looks more like motor oil than blood, before upcoming colour fixing).

You were able to follow the suggested storyline okay?

and good looking film
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That's all Flaviu's work. :yes:

You don't want to see what it looked like, when I was using the camera. :no:

It was a first time for all of us, using real film. Can't wait to do it again.
 
Zen--awesome! Congrats on your first "FILM!" Its good to see that you were able to get it done and online, especially while you are likely also working on a different one for the competition. I agree that there was a bit too much sound fluctuation when diaglogue occured, but I thought the sound was otherwise okay. As for the trail of liquid, I think it still looks a little like motor oil but the first few lines of dialogue clearly establish what's going on...I don't think there is any confusion about the story. Thanks!
 
Zen,

The sound issues I was referring to was with the dialogue. The other stuff sounded good. So good in fact that I think it made the dialogue portions stand out.

I followed the story easily. It's pretty obvious the implications when you have the woman get all wide eyed when she sees the guns. I did see it coming though. I think the some of the lines made it too obvious that they were not saying it was a person in the trunk. Does that make sense?

Poke
 
Nicely done as a first super 8 film. A few things out of focus. Also, at first, you couldn't tell the leak was supposed to be from the trunk. You needed (in my opinion) to show the back of the car in the shot where it was dripping from the trunk. It just looked like a puddle on the ground near where they were parking.

Good job Zen. Break the super 8 out again!
 
Is good to hear the setup for it wasn't too confusing. :)

You needed (in my opinion) to show the back of the car in the shot where it was dripping from the trunk
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We actually had those shots lined up to do.

We attached a hose to the trunk, and wound it around the side of the car and through a window, where a pressurised tank of blood would squirt it out. Unfortunately, when it was time to do that actual scene... the on/off control handle was smashed when David climbed into the car and closed the door on it. Oops

We kinda had to fake it from there.

Here's what the simple rig looked like.

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bts_hose_02.jpg


...and here is our DP Flaviu about to discover that I was messing with the diopter when he wasn't looking. :cool:

bts_flaviu.jpg
 
Great film! I loved it...
I found near the end a bit of quicker cutting could have saved the acting a bit, but that didn't stop me from laughing outloud. Great job- loved the ending, lol.

Can't wait to see you competition piece...

-Logan-
 
Zen bravo on getting the film in the can and all finished up. :clap:

I really liked how it all came together. This was a first step and from here you can go on and improve. Looks so great shot on film. :yes: I really like seeing those BTS pics, post more if you got some. ;)
 
i'm not so sure tarantino can really be credited with the trunk shot. I'd like to think Alex Cox and Repo Man hold that title but thats just a stab in the dark. Either way i'm looking forward to seeing this thing.
 
Thanks for the addititional feedback people. :)

I really like seeing those BTS pics, post more if you got some. :)
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David Ament is addicted to his palmcorder when not actually onsceen. I have a copy of that tape (where I'll be nabbing more bts shots from), and apparently he's going to try his hand at editing all his footage into a bts video of some kind.

near the end a bit of quicker cutting could have saved the acting a bit
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Actually, this is exactly what I was thinking while uploading this. Initially the idea was to have the longer pauses to magnify some kind of tenseness between the two... in retrospect I can see it did not work as well as I imagined. I'll be trimming a bit more out.

i'm not so sure tarantino can really be credited with the trunk shot
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While he may not have been the first to do it, Tarantino is the contemporary that this generation recognises for it.

In my opinion, a lot of what Q does is not very original... and he readily talks in interviews about how he lifts ideas and more from a massive selection of films to give style to his own creations.

Good call on Repo-Man, though.

It's good to see Super 8 is not a forgotten format
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While not forgotten, it still needs more love... and I'll be providing it.

It was very exciting to be asking everyone I knew if they had ever workd on film before... all replying "No"... and saying that that was as good an excuse as any to go ahead and try it. :cool:

_______

Btw, the link for the QuickTime version has been edited into the original post, for you wacky MAC people.

I should also mention that many of the crew and cast (all extremely talented, I might add) follow the threads here. If anyone has any questions for (or about) any of them, please ask away. After all, they are the ones that really make it all happen.
 
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Zensteve - Nice short film! Super 8 is definately the way forward!... one question? did you get it properly telecinéd or did you just shoot video at a projected image?

Tarantino and the trunk shot... well considering tarantino has nicked just about everything he's ever shot he'd be a bit hypocritical telling you off for using it! LOL!

Film - perhaps the cutting could have been a bit slicker... the dialogue seemed to have long pauses. Also - what did you record the sound on - it might have been better to do sync sound with a boom and a mini disc recorder rather than onto super 8 if that's what happened. Rock on! keep it up!

Rock on Super 8.
 
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It's been a long time coming poke. But I'm back... I had a busy period of film making :( But it's all over now! Back to the desk and back to indietalk! woohooo!

Also recently - film school has been on my case all the time. Indie talk is so big now! :O way to go indie - you've got yourself an empire - I guess moderating is a full time job poke!
 
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Long time, no see Nathan!

did you get it properly telecinéd
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I had it done with a film-chain transfer. Not sure if it was one-light or best-light. Forgot to ask.

might have been better to do sync sound with a boom and a mini disc recorder
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Actually, we had a boom-mic running to a PD-150. In theory it could have been a lot better... I am just the master of messing up sound. If there's a way to screw it up, I'll find it. :cool:

I'm seeing the two with dialogue this weekend... I'll ambush them to redub their lines then.
 
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