Hello everyone!

My latest film "Airport 9/11" is refering back to 21st October 2001 when Jim Barker was at Heathrow waiting for his flight to Las Vegas when he met an old friend...

Airport 9/11 can be seen on www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuhFAgToEFU and i am interested to hear the reviews...

Cool viewing. Shows what you've learned from TPW!

watched through it again, editing is tighter than TPW, I think you could still go tighter a bit though (I was verbally saying cut where I would have cut the shot and it invariable happened just after I said it, so much better there. Still a bit of extra leader on the next shots though...watch through with your eyes closed and hear the dialog without having to watch it.

Sound was on camera, There were some spikes in the dialog as you spoke the lines off camera. If you have those lines from the other side of the scene, you could clip out the ones from the shot you're using and replace just that line of dialog with the same line from the other angle...If you don't have that in the other angle, you could just roll the camera and sit the appropriate distance from the camera and deliver just the lines where the dialog is noticeably louder and "closer". Then add some of the room noise from the airport under the dialog that you've clipped in to make it blend.

The framing was much better...marked improvement there, filled the frame with the actors better. Airport shots were great...I liked the one with all the blue chairs right at the end alot.

Thank you Knightly!

I thought the dialogue scene at the paper shop could of been better, however i thought the acting was really convincing.

You know during the production we actually had the police turn up on our set asking what we were doing?!
Although we eventually did get permission to film at the airport, we intially thought we would all be locked up for breaching airport security!

However after filming we had a good laugh about it all while drinking in the pub. Ha! Ha!

And i really do enjoy watching this film!

I think most of the problems with the dialog scenes is still just timing. There's still a bit of handles on the lines (space before and after the delivery). If you listen to conversations in movies, time is compacted a bit, dialog happens faster than we actually talk because the audience is passive...we hear faster than we talk. The rest of the cuts I liked alot You did a great job establishing a sense of place by walking us in from outside to the table. I liked the angles you choose for the establishing and the moving stuff.

I'm up in the air about the center frame straight at the camera shot for singles, but that may just be stylistic on my part. If the camera is being treated as a POV shot (i.e. the other actors' eyes), the person talking spends alot of time making direct eye contact...it's a bit unnerving, that may be cultural though, I'm not sure. I think the faster cuts would make the dialog work better in the face to face...again, watch it through with eyes closed again and listen to see if the dialog sounds right.

I am impressed with your rapid improvement from the last piece!

Truffaut often had actors speaking directly to the camera.. :)

Yeah i know timing of every picture should measured out to the nearest second so the audio is accurately placed. You know i never use storyboards, just a script with how i am going to film it.

Storyboards are too much like hard work.

My dad says you will look back at your earlier films in the years to come and say what a load of rubbish compared to what i am doing now...

Theres a guy from Texas whose just wrote "creepy..."

Yeah i know timing of every picture should measured out to the nearest second so the audio is accurately placed. You know i never use storyboards, just a script with how i am going to film it.

I think the timing should be based on the flow of the dialog. Since you're shooting in DV and recording the audio with the camera, this shouldn't be much of a problem, the audio should automatically be linked and synched to the video. This gives you tons of freedom to play with the timing. Don't hold to timeline timing to make your piece flow unless there is a reason to do so, like a countdown...or to develop a monotonuous pace that will be anticipated...Just let the dialog flow. I'd be willing to do the same editing experiment for you as last time if you have a non-flash version of the vid I could get from you.

Storyboards are too much like hard work.

I only storyboard things that I would find difficult to shoot, or things that require all kinds of precise angles so I don't forget something on the day.

My dad says you will look back at your earlier films in the years to come and say what a load of rubbish compared to what i am doing now...

I'm already doing it...even within my current project. It's painful...I think that's why some actors don't watch their movies ever.

I think that's why some actors don't watch their movies ever.[/QUOTE]

Well when i see my work on the big screen i just sink in my seat, especially if it (and it usually does) goes all quiet at the end of the film, before people start clapping, and i am usually sat on the front row like Howard Hughes in the Aviator, with my hand covering my face!

I just watched this and haven't read any reviews so I may be repeating stuff here.

Two things that stood out were a major interlace problem and sound problems.

What were you using to capture and edit?

Sound seemed to be on camera. It was really low in some scenes and very high in others.
What camera are you using? Does it have an external Mic? Even a $20 mic is better than no mic. Put it in the middle if the table, behind a prop and use it.

The pilot seemed creepy. I thought it was like stagefright acting but now that I remember... there was no emotion from the pilot. I suppose you may not show emotion if your dead.

Thank you for watching Cootdog!


What were you using to capture and edit?

A Canon MVX250i (one chip) mini dv camcorder and edited on premiere pro 1.5.
During production i used the internal microphone only.

The pilot seemed creepy. I thought it was like stagefright acting but now that I remember... there was no emotion from the pilot. I suppose you may not show emotion if your dead.[/QUOTE]

Thats exactly what i wanted to put across! Remember the film "Field of Dreams?" The ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson never showed much emotion which builds a character of mystery...

You know after reading about 9/11 i find it unbelievable that none of the passengers ever tried to overcome the terrorists, because I CERTAINLY WOULD. With my first move by rugby tackling the terrorist, pinning him to the ground and hopefully this will encourage the other passengers...

Or have i been watching too many movies with Bruce Willis?

it's the reason they call them TERRORists. They are good and well trained at creating terror and controlling large groups using terror. I think we never know how we will respond to an emergency situation/life threatening situation until we are in one.

I agree, I've had a gun pointed right at my face, 5 inches away... it was a life changing event
Terrorists, put terror in your head. How many of you didn't travel right after? Or didn't shop at the mall because of Anthrax or microwave your mail and that?
Did you stay out of high rises for a while, or look at the middle eastern, new neighbor differently?

It's because they struck terror in your heart. Imagine if you were face to face with those people. Imagine the terror they could inflict on your mind, face to face.

The sound was so up and down I kept having to mess with the volume. The editing is still to slow for my tastes, but sometimes that's a preference thing.

You know after reading about 9/11 i find it unbelievable that none of the passengers ever tried to overcome the terrorists, because I CERTAINLY WOULD.

Actually, one of the planes never reached it's target because the passengers did fight the terrorists. It's the subject of a new movie "United 93." (http://www.united93movie.com/index.php)

Poke

Well back in 1999 i was sat in my car counting my cash when i heard a tap on the window and a man of middle eastern appearance was stood there with a handgun pointing at me saying in broken english "get out now!" At that moment i sat looking at him not thinking anything and it was obvious he was after my money and car, using a handgun to try and frighten me. Slowly i opened the door and then slammed it in his face and drove off! Later that week i heard an Iraqi asylum seeker got arrested by armed police after robbing a petrol station at gun point, making me wonder if it were the same one?

United 93 will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and that passenger certainly deserves a medal!!! However its a shame the plane still crashed.
I really like the poster of the plane flying past the statue of Liberty.

Yes i know the audio is a mess and its because i relied on the internal camcorder mike, however with an external mike i expect the audio would be a much better quality (i think). The audio mess might prevent the film from being broadcast on television because of the "broadcast standards." Therefore i heard that an audio of -12db is the broadcast standard so do you think i could amend the audio using premiere pro 1.5 to achieve this broadcast standard?

Tightening up the edits should be a walk in the park...

I think you might be able to do something but it won't be good enough for broadcast.

You have to lower audio is some places and increase it in others. The loud, next to the cam mic will still sound distorted, just won't be as loud. And the low voice being raised up, may distort too, because the wave is too small.

It's worth a try though. There are many plugins you can buy to help cut down the noise... but if you're working on audio manipulation, you should use an audio app, like Sound Forge or the like.

I still think you should get you and the other actor together and re voice just the behind camera lines (the ones where you spoke the opposing line from behind the camera, but from in front of the camera, about the same distance you were for the other dialog. These can then be edited over the too loud pieces to balance out the sound and make it sound like they were shot in the same environment. I would start by just writing down the off camera lines that you've done and deliver them while you sit in front of the camera...

Yes good idea!

I remember now clearly that Ed and myself just spoke the lines in the camera at a range of about six inches which i realise now is not a good idea.

I'm sure you can find a bit of just plain camera noise as well from the footage in that scene to place behind the new audio you'll be shooting, this will help blend the sound together.

Well thats what i did in the paper shop scene at the beginning, i just got the background noise from the airport into the picture, however the off camera dialogue sounds a bit too strong so i shall give Ed a ring next week...

can't wait to see the re-edit with the tighter dialog and the balanced levels! I think you'll have a winner.

Ok i have tightened up the edits and amended the audio to -12db and Airport 9/11 can be seen on www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUMHN9zQyLI

However at -12db i can now hardly hear the dialogue! What do you think?

Actually, one of the planes never reached it's target because the passengers did fight the terrorists. It's the subject of a new movie "United 93." (http://www.united93movie.com/index.php)

Poke[/QUOTE]

United 93 gets released in the UK in September and would you consider Airport 9/11 would link up well with United 93 as a short film before the main feature?

Nice idea. I liked it!

I find a disparity between the intent of flight 93 and airport 9/11, flight is more of a historical hero story, airport is more of a thriller exploration of the supernatural with a link to 9/11. I don't think the audiences would mesh that well...at least not in the same breath. The two movies don't have enough of an overlap to be shown together, the intentions aren't similar enough.

Theres been a superb and highly detailed review written on Airport 9/11 which can be seen on the link

www.microfilmmaker.com/test/critiques/Issue12/Air911_1.html have a read and please tell me what you think...

Apparently they say i sound like Riff Raff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show!
Cool!!!