Smiling Addiction

Brandon McCormick · 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

seth christian · 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 ?

Brandon McCormick · November 26, 2006

This was shot on the Cinealta f900. Thanks for the critique.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Brandon McCormick

Keneu Luca · 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?

Brandon McCormick · 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.

Jim Feldspar · November 27, 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

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

Brandon McCormick · 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.

seth christian · 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.

Jim Feldspar · 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?

Brandon McCormick · 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.

Matt Irwin · 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.

Zamir Merali · 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.