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watch A SOLDIER'S SON (horror short)

Scoopicman

Scoopicman

Touching and Scary....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utfNl8qznU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utfNl8qznU


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ROC said:
Loved the decatree SFX in the beginning.
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Thanks, ROC. I was going to insert radio dialogue, where the soldier radios for air support and mentions that his buddies just choppered out without him. Then, I thought it would best not to explain it all. The audience has just enough clues to explain the motivations of all involved. I've been quoting McKee, a lot lately, but he made a good point that story is just as much about how much info you hold back. Anyway, I thought those sounds would be a perfect segue into the son's battle recreation.



wheatgrinder said:
Great story.
That first line from Robbie blew me away.
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Thanks, Wheat! I probably should have rendered it out non-interlaced. For some reason, it never bothers me, but other people bring it up often enough that I should.
 
Pretty good, Mike! The family that films together, stays together ;)

The machine gun fire in the hallway was jolting and added the perfect amount of punctuation to the piece. I didn't expect it which was cool.

Also, you did a great job on the lighting, keeping the darks dark and lots of shadows. Always nice when people are sleeping and aren't overly lit.

Congrats on another short!
 
Thanks for checking it out, Sidewalkbowling!


Flicker Pictures said:
you did a great job on the lighting, keeping the darks dark and lots of shadows. Always nice when people are sleeping and aren't overly lit.
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Amazingly, it took more light to make a dark house than a lit one - almost 4,000 watts and 7 lightstands.

BTW, the machine gun.....was not an effect. :)
 
i really liked it actually, you had a good story, and an excelent acting, but sometimes, it was a little way too dark for me, you know i'm a fan of the dark photography but sometimes it made harder to tell what was going on, my advice on this types of subjects, i that when you shoot, you got to make it light and clear, everything, and then add all the darkness in post prodution, that way it would still be dark but your public would still notice what's happenning, other than that great short film! :)
 
Thanks, Skylight Studios. Just so you know, I was using almost 4,000 watts of light, but the lights were right outside the windows like this:

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I actually thought some shots were too bright! I'm hyperaware of "too dark" scenes, because I know they are not always seen in a dark monitoring room. For example: I've projected A SOLDIER'S SON outside a couple times, including for a crowd in the backyard, last night, and even with glaring of nearby streetlights on the 10' screen, you could see all the details that I would want seen. Then again, I wanted moments of the son walking into black and then into light, but the light areas are fairly bright.


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The darkest shot is probably this one of the soldier:

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....but then the thug raises his flashlight. I actually reshot this sequence to add the flashlight, because it was dark without it.


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I wanted it dark enough that the machine gun lit up the scene a bit, since, it actually fired 30 rounds. I wanted even experienced FX people to look at that and wonder how it was done. Oddly, I've done so many gun effects that people (except very few - one guy last night) still think it's an effect.


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I've done the "artificial blue dark" - like THIS - I wanted this to be more natural and have real blacks.



my advice on this types of subjects, i that when you shoot, you got to make it light and clear, everything, and then add all the darkness in post prodution
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I tried this with the final shot of the soldier talking to his son. His face is bright and I wanted it dark with an "eyelight" on his eyes. I darkened it in After Effects and when I made a DVD (where contrast changes from compression), there were noticeable areas of light and dark blacks! The soldier was turning around, so I used moving mattes - you could clearly see the darkened blacks against the light blacks and they were moving! I would have to frame by frame rotoscope (I have CS2 After Effects, so no Roto Brush) the soldier just to get a proper shading effect and not having the highlight move around.


i really liked it actually, you had a good story, and an excelent acting
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Thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to watch.
 
you have the basics down but need to vary the shot sizes more in my opinon which in turn will help with the pacing which I felt was to slow, also Actors can make or break a film and although they don't break it they don't make it either.

Good work though keep it up!
 
I'm glad you checked it out!


Tlang said:
you have the basics down but need to vary the shot sizes more in my opinon which in turn will help with the pacing which I felt was to slow
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I agree with the camera variation; and while I like slow tension build and wouldn't quicken anything up, more angles and movement would definitely improve the viewing pace. (I meant to get closeups with the knife to the wife's neck and was in such a hurry, I forgot.) The reason was that I had to step out from behind the camera and play all 3 male parts. My male actors literally flaked on me, so much of the time the camera was unmanned and sitting on a tripod getting wide shots, while I stabbed myself, was interacting with my wife, son and self, etc. My original plan was to stay behind the camera and get more movement.

For a better example of camera work, check out this 48 Hour flick I shot - DISCHORD, which you can see HERE.



STABBING MYSELF

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A greenscreen would have made this so much more accurate (move each element where I want), but we were in a hurry to get this done for IndieMeet. I just stood in for the melon and masked it out.

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Of course, no one is behind the camera. My wife went to bed and I shot the "knife pull out" and me getting shot in the hallway, with no one else around.



Actors can make or break a film and although they don't break it they don't make it either.
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I could see that with my parts (the burglars and soldier), but do you think the boy and mom (two leads) were anything less than excellent? But, yeah - the three of me were just okay in this. :lol:


Thanks for your comments!
 
Get 'em, Scoopic!

Way to work with what you had available. Always a fan of just getting it done, especially when it comes to wattage. Very used to working with 5K total and under.

You're pretty brave: I would never subject myself to being in front of the lens! Haha, not even with masks on.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Kholi said:
You're pretty brave: I would never subject myself to being in front of the lens! Haha, not even with masks on.
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Well hello, Kholi! Actually, I am a full on "ham." But, I am now a believer that you either stay behind the camera and shoot/direct or appear in the movie and concentrate on the acting. Doing both is really a distraction, unless it is very well planned and you have a DP that you can trust. I would like to find that guy....and I might have. However, I'm starting to like the technical journey - getting better with lighting, getting better with camera and sound. If I send this to a festival, I will fix the dialogue when the thug has the knife to her and they get into the fight. But, for now, it's what you see.

Speaking of "masks," I usually got in front of the camera because I knew I would do more than anyone - fall off a cliff, jump off a house, subject myself to hours under makeup, put myself on fire, etc. I rarely found anyone who was such a sucker for sensationalism. Heh heh!


Ripping face off

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I put flammable rubber cement on my head and lit it.

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dummy standin

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Werewolf gets shot

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Acid burned man

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Kholi said:
You've got some insane memories compiled!
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Yeah, there are a lot of them. Back in those days, for about 10 years, all I cared about was being in the movie and pulling off a crazy effect and getting friends to shoot it. I didn't know much about lighting, camera - really anything technical, except for writing it and putting it in a sequence that you could understand. My visual continuity was a strong point, but composition, lighting etc. didn't become a factor, until I did more shooting.
 
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