Brandon McCormick Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 It's only about three minutes. It was shot on the Sony Cinealta. I only had it for a month before I shot this, so I learned a lot in the process. My shots in the house are terrible, but I was kinda happy with everything else. I am the director and cinematographer for this. Please let me know what you think. http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/mo...ctiononline.mov Thanks! Brandon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seth christian Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 fantastic idea! I loved it. However, just a couple things did bug me a little: a couple jumpcuts here and there, the knife scene where he gets mugged could've been directed much better, it was pretty lame when the guy hits him in the belly...sortof. and, I disliked the house shots, except for the one with the stove. u did some great prep work with head props, stickers, etc. u had some terrific slow camera moves, made a good feel for the song in context. did u use the f900 or z1u cineAlta ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon McCormick Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 (edited) This was shot on the Cinealta f900. Thanks for the critique. Edited November 26, 2006 by Brandon McCormick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneu Luca Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I often have trouble watching indie/guerilla shorts/trailers online. Video technology and the internet has afforded everyone and their goldfish the chance to display crap after crap. But this was nice. It is nowhere near the direction im headed. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. I could see a trilogy develop out of this. Any plans to explore other ideas with Mr. Smiley? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon McCormick Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 Ha, yeah, my goldfish actually helped me on this one. As for more, nope, this was just a one time little short for some fun and practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feldspar Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 (edited) It's only about three minutes. It was shot on the Sony Cinealta. I only had it for a month before I shot this, so I learned a lot in the process. My shots in the house are terrible, but I was kinda happy with everything else. I am the director and cinematographer for this. Please let me know what you think. http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/mo...ctiononline.mov Thanks! Brandon This is great! I got a huge kick out of it. The so-called "terrible" house shots didn't bother me. You did a great job using the smiley face and the protagonists deteriorating emotional state was depicted well by the physical detoriation of his smiley face. In terms of direction, I would have liked to have seen one or two more really quirky plays on the smiley face -some kind of surreal juxtaposition between "our" world and the way this smiley face world works. The body language when he waves goodbye to his kids and slumps when they ignore him is excellent. You had the Cinealta for "only" a month? Isn't that a really expensive camera? How'd you get to play with it for that long? Anyway it looks like you know how to use it. WHERE did you get those smiley heads? It's only about three minutes. It was shot on the Sony Cinealta. I only had it for a month before I shot this, so I learned a lot in the process. My shots in the house are terrible, but I was kinda happy with everything else. I am the director and cinematographer for this. Please let me know what you think. http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/mo...ctiononline.mov Thanks! Brandon On what format did you record? Is this HD? Why didn't you like the house shots? Edited November 27, 2006 by Jim Feldspar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon McCormick Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 Thanks for the thoughts. I purchased the Cinealta for my production company. Investors. I had only been playing with it for a month when I shot this. The smiley heads were custom made by a guy named Bill Johnson. He's a production designer for a lot of feature films, and he's a good friend of mine. I thought the house shots were kinda weak because the colors were muddy and didn't pop like i wanted to. This was shot on HD tapes in the Cinealta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seth christian Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 [quote ... my production company. Investors. I dont wanta stray too far from the forum topic, but whats your company? and what investors r u using if you dont mind me askin..and how is it going? I only ask because I'm on the verge of embarking down that investor road myself and am just curious on your take. if you'd rather start a discussion in business, just let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Feldspar Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Thanks for the thoughts. I purchased the Cinealta for my production company. Investors. I had only been playing with it for a month when I shot this. The smiley heads were custom made by a guy named Bill Johnson. He's a production designer for a lot of feature films, and he's a good friend of mine. I thought the house shots were kinda weak because the colors were muddy and didn't pop like i wanted to. This was shot on HD tapes in the Cinealta. I made two coworkers watch it (they both shoot video) and they liked it a lot. They thought it looked great. Please tell Bill that he did a great job too. How did the actors see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon McCormick Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 the actors didn't see, which kinda explains the funny movement. I had them lean into it and act all "cartoony" but in reality, they couldn't see a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Irwin Posted November 30, 2006 Share Posted November 30, 2006 I really liked this! I can see what you mean about the interior shots. The cream color cast and somewhat flat lighting... BUT, I thought that look worked extremely well with the mood set by the story and the music. What we're seeing on screen is not normal (people with giant smiley heads), so if you went with more stylized "hey look at me" lighting, it would have detracted from the mood, IMO. I loved your dolly moves and compositions. And all of your prop work. I think my favorite shot is the slow push near the end where Mr. Smiley is quivering in the arm chair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamir Merali Posted December 1, 2006 Share Posted December 1, 2006 Its really good. The song and the images worked really well together and I can tell there some sort of deep meaning to the movie. At first I thought it was a walmart commercial though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Lee Maisel Posted December 3, 2006 Premium Member Share Posted December 3, 2006 I think it was totally great! I can't really find anything to complain about, it was very well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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