now thats more like it..
thank you sir, may I have another.. !!!
@Koli,
exactly right on point. I confess that I have AVOIDED that comparison. Right now, without having watched that short since I started this one, Id say I'm rather short of the quality of that piece.
I have lots of excuses for all ya'alls points.. but they are just that excuses..
which excuse is largely this..
Over confident planning, a screwed up shot list order and no story boards. I only got 50% of the shots on my list! I really needed to shoot for two days, but thought I could do it in one.
This is why the shots are long, I dont have any cut aways, variant angles or anything else to pick from. I had to use a take of just about EVERY SHOT I had in the can to get this much on the screen. For example, those little jump cuts at the beginning, are not just artistic, I got NOTHING to put in between three very similar takes, neither of which was good enough on its own to make the sequence... I had on the LIST, ECU's etc.. missed em all!
The vague story is sorta on purpose, sorta just happened.. Im cool with serendipity so I like to try and just see what happens. Maybe it let me down in this case..
In the script I have very detailed information conveyed in the flashbacks that describe exactly HOW she died and other details via printed words.. As I was editing, it just felt like I was CRAMMING EXPOSITION DOWN THE VIEWERS THROAT. I opted to just show her discovering that she was a "thing" of some type... this could be clearer no doubt, but I kinda like the "art house" feel that fell out the end of that process. It seems the chronology of events got tangled a bit with the flash backs. My wife was trying to explain the order of events as she interpreted them, not quite as I meant, but not completely unreasonable. This again sorta puts the whole piece more artsy fartsy then I had intended. Style over substance as I mentioned..
All that said, I still have pride and a sense of accomplishment and its not complete dodo.
It sucks that you can't hear my golf clap from here, but I'm doing one! It's pretty damned big of you to see your work with the eyes of others.
Here's my only advice, since you've pointed out everything that I saw (and guessed) from watching it. From someone who deals in VFX in just about everything I work on and everything I want to work on: Flicker said it, but less is more. That stuff means absolutely nothing to an audience separated from the process of filmmaking.
Spend more time telling a solid story without VFX, that stuff's just icing on the cake.
At least you're learning with shorts, I had to go through an entire feature to learn that. xD
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