My Short, "The Soup Party" - Trailer - IndieTalk

WideShot · 01-05-2005, 02:40 PM

Hi all!

It pleases me to introduce my first short, "The Soup Party". You can read the full story in the production notes as well as other info at http://www.thesoupparty.com . The short of it is, I had been dying to get out and make some cinema, but I was always too busy and other obstacles in the way. But one day I just said to hell with it, took my ancient Mini-DV camcorder, did 2 1/2 weeks of non-stop planning, casting rehearsing, etc. , shot over 3 days, edited over 48 hours and turned in the 10minute version to our school film festival in the nick of time. TSP has since been re-edited to 14m35s and letterboxed.

This was written as a simple story making use of what I had available to me. Something I knew I could pull off with without having to resort to stunts, or much special fx. It did however spawn into a cast of 7, and some rather great acting talent needed for the two main roles.

So, presenting the first glimpse exclusively to IT, here's the trailer for TSP (1m 16s):

(Right click and choose "Save As")

High Bandwidth (WMV) 4.9M
Lo Bandwidth (WMV) 1.9M

indietalk · 01-05-2005, 02:53 PM

Great! Left me wanting more. Can't wait to see it.

Moved to Homepage Picks.

Will Vincent · 01-05-2005, 04:46 PM

That looks awesome!

NicklausLouis · 01-06-2005, 11:56 PM

Good looking stuff. Maybe it's just the title, but it reminds me of "The Anniversary Party." I love that push into the actress as she smiles -- great shot!

Poke

WideShot · 01-07-2005, 11:14 AM

Thank you very much guys! This is my first experience in making a trailer, I was hoping it would leave you wanting more.

Poke - The whole short was shot on the device I told you about long ago, so I have dolly type moves, whip pans, steadycamish stuff, etc. The camera never saw a tripod... and it had no image stabilization

Will Vincent · 01-07-2005, 01:05 PM

What is this device of which you speak?

WideShot · 01-07-2005, 02:15 PM

I'll PM you about it, we don't want to release much info publicly right now.

Banned: cinematography · 01-07-2005, 03:36 PM

You should always test the quality of your sound recording before every scene, and you should never use the internal microphone that comes with your camera. The sound in the car shots had a some background hum and noise. It’s not too bad though, and it didn’t distract from what the characters were saying.

The acting and camera setups were decent. I am a little confused about the story though. What kind of a girl would stick with a guy who only cares if she can cook or not? Either she has very little self-worth or she enjoys being with a jerk. And the two Asian girls doing the little Matrix thing at the end seemed very out of place.

Aside from these complaints, your effort and work definitely shows though. Congratulations on completing your first short film.

Will Vincent · 01-07-2005, 04:50 PM

I dunno, I'd have to disagree... I know a LOT of people like that girl. The just repeatedly end up in "bad relationships". Aside from that his delivery of the line about only marrying her if she can cook struck me as more of just pushing buttons, than an all out threat.

WideShot · 01-08-2005, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cinematography

You should always test the quality of your sound recording before every scene, and you should never use the internal microphone that comes with your camera. The sound in the car shots had a some background hum and noise. It’s not too bad though, and it didn’t distract from what the characters were saying.

That is absolutely right. I did have a cheap boom working but found out on the day of shooting that the mic input on my ViewCam was dead... it had worked before but not then. In the actual movie, I spent a good deal of time filtering the sound to the point where you hardly hear the hum, which aparently didn't carry over well in the trailer edit. I will take another look at that and possibly re-render.

But that whole car scene left a bitter taste in my mouth... not because of what I ended up with which was acceptable but because everything else came off so well, that the car scene was lacking as just a static wide shot. There was no excuse just because we were rushed to do it in 1/2 hr to not go in and get covereage or to do something about the audio. This is the primary thing I will be learning from for the next one. I learned a LOT from doing this one, especially not having the time to dwell on decisions, just do all of it setup, setup, setup.

Quote:

The acting and camera setups were decent. I am a little confused about the story though. What kind of a girl would stick with a guy who only cares if she can cook or not? Either she has very little self-worth or she enjoys being with a jerk. And the two Asian girls doing the little Matrix thing at the end seemed very out of place.

Aside from these complaints, your effort and work definitely shows though. Congratulations on completing your first short film.

Thanks for the comments and critique, really!

NicklausLouis · 01-08-2005, 02:32 PM

I took it that the two pretty Asian ladies were on a mission to get their friends engaged.

Poke

WideShot · 01-08-2005, 06:00 PM

They are on a mission... but of a different type

You'll see when you watch the whole movie.

Banned: cinematography · 01-08-2005, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WideShot

That is absolutely right. I did have a cheap boom working but found out on the day of shooting that the mic input on my ViewCam was dead... it had worked before but not then. In the actual movie, I spent a good deal of time filtering the sound to the point where you hardly hear the hum, which aparently didn't carry over well in the trailer edit. I will take another look at that and possibly re-render.

I had a similar problem on one of my shorts. I recommend lowering the bass in the audio to take out the hum, and lowering the quality of the sound to take out the hiss. The hiss comes from the sweetness of the sound. If you dull it down, the hiss shouldn’t sound as loud. A noise filter in a program like Sound Forge can do this also.

Quote:

But that whole car scene left a bitter taste in my mouth... not because of what I ended up with which was acceptable but because everything else came off so well, that the car scene was lacking as just a static wide shot.

An idea: You can either cut it down, or cut in shots from the upcoming scene into it, kind of like how you did with the trailer. Good editing on the trailer, by the way.

Quote:

Thanks for the comments and critique, really!

You’re welcome, WideShot.

John@Bophe · 01-16-2005, 09:55 PM

WideShot--I like the trailer and I definitely want to see the finished product when available! I agree with the comment about mic noise in the car, but it sounds like you already have a handle on that. I also agree that the lead characters don't come across as immediately likeable people. Him for being a bit of a jerk (and rather arrogant) and her for being weak-willed. But, as Will Vincent said--these are REAL people, they do exist out there in the world...and darn it, they usually make for great characters in movies. Please keep us updated on the project!