Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 21, 2016 Premium Member Posted March 21, 2016 So something unusual recently happened, I was hired to direct a short film. It was a lot of fun and I was given lots of freedom to do what I wanted. It recently got into the children's section of the Toronto film festival, so I'm planning a small trip to Toronto in April, which I'm excited about. I didn't realize it at the time, but I lifted the idea of shooting through smeared glass in the movie "The Assassination of Jesse James..." I wanted the images to feel like illustrations in a children's book that faded off the edges of the frame, so in several of the wide shots we put 4x8 sheets of clear plexiglass about seven feet in front of the camera and smeared out the trees and things with Vaseline. Because we had a budget and time we were able to play around with stuff like that. It was a really fun shoot. Unfortunately we quickly found out this technique was pretty easily replicated in post, but it was still fun. Here's a trailer to the movie and below are pics with the plex and Vaseline... Tiny's New Home
JD Hartman Posted March 21, 2016 Posted March 21, 2016 Cool. Experimental. I guess this falls in the category of in-camera effects?
Premium Member Miguel Angel Posted March 22, 2016 Premium Member Posted March 22, 2016 The trailer looks great so do the frames with plexiglass! Next time you will have to test prisms in front of the lens and 138mm diopters in front of 80mm lenses! They work really well! Also, the rectangular glass which is used on microscopes.. If you direct either the sun or a hard / spotty light at the edge of it, it creates very interesting disturbances! And nothing beats in-camera effects! Good luck in Toronto! You should send it to the Galway Film Fleadh or the Cork Film Festival over in Ireland! ! Have a lovely day!
Premium Member Satsuki Murashige Posted March 22, 2016 Premium Member Posted March 22, 2016 Looks really great Justin! I think the effect looks a bit heavy handed out of context, but I'm sure it works well in the flow of the story. Hope we get to see the film :)
Guest Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 It recently got into the children's section of the Toronto film festival, so I'm planning a small trip to Toronto in April, which I'm excited about. Of course it did, it's not......Canadian :) Good for you, TIFF Kids is what I assume you are talking about. You'll have to PM me when you arrive. R,
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 23, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted March 23, 2016 Right on fella's, thanks. I do like the in camera effects, but this one was pretty easy to replicate in post, so it was hard for me not to think we wasted a little time on set. But like I said, it was a lot of fun. Miguel, sounds like your suggestions would be harder to do in post. If I ever do something like this again, I'll definitely try something like that. The still frames were actually from a test day that wound up making it into the movie, so I think we were a little less aggressive on the actual shoot. But I will say, Satsuki, I've certainly never been accused of being too subtle :lol: I'll PM you for sure, Richard. I would love to meet up if you got a sec. I've heard the city is great, and I'm really looking forward to checking it out. You'll have to tell me the best dinner spots. Thanks again guys!
Guest Posted March 23, 2016 Posted March 23, 2016 I'll PM you for sure, Richard. I would love to meet up if you got a sec. I've heard the city is great, and I'm really looking forward to checking it out. You'll have to tell me the best dinner spots. I don't eat in Toronto very often very often, but when I do, I dine at the Keg Mansion. Hopefully you will not mind stepping over a homeless person at every turn, and seeing garbage all over the place. Oh but of course Toronto is better than a big US city because we have socialism :) R,
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted March 23, 2016 Premium Member Posted March 23, 2016 I thought it was gleamingly well-kept.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 23, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted March 23, 2016 I thought it was gleamingly well-kept. I heard that too. My friend told me it reminded him of a clean and safe New York.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 23, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted March 23, 2016 I don't eat in Toronto very often very often, but when I do, I dine at the Keg Mansion. I will check that out. Thanks
Guest Posted March 24, 2016 Posted March 24, 2016 I thought it was gleamingly well-kept. Oh really? What part of Toronto is that? Maybe a few places where they sweep up, but overall the city has gone downhill dramatically over the years. R,
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 24, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted March 24, 2016 You're not going to scare me away Richard :lol:
Guest Posted March 24, 2016 Posted March 24, 2016 Oh you'll be fine, knifings have seen a 13.8% reduction, kidnappings are down 12.7%. The police chief of Chicago once laughed at Toronto's murder rate, 50 a year in Toronto is considered to be a disaster. The Chicago police chief was facing 500 a year. R,
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted March 24, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted March 24, 2016 The police chief of Chicago once laughed at Toronto's murder rate, Sounds about right...
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted May 14, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted May 14, 2016 Little update... After we screened at TIFF kids we had a handful of festivals ask for the movie, but one of the more interesting was the Museum of Modern Art in New York. They asked to purchase a copy (think we can just give it to them :)) to screen in their Family Films program which was created to help introduce children to the "richly varied world of film." So does this mean I can call myself the big "A" word? Just kidding. I would never be that pretentious ;) 1
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted May 14, 2016 Premium Member Posted May 14, 2016 Nice, Justin! Congrats!
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted May 15, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted May 15, 2016 Thanks Bill! We're pretty excited. Different.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted May 15, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted May 15, 2016 If anyone wants to take a look at the whole movie, go ahead and PM me. I just can't make it public right now. Probably soon though.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted November 14, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted November 14, 2016 Hey everyone! Here's the movie if you're interested. It's had a pretty good run. Lots of cool festivals and a handful of awards (including cash :) Enjoy! Tiny's New Home
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted November 15, 2016 Premium Member Posted November 15, 2016 That was really cute! The editing was spot on (nice job!) and I loved the fact that there was no dialogue. The girl had just the right amount of expressivity in her face. I thought the lighting in the close-ups were very nice. Great music to set the mood, too! Nice work, Justin!
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted November 15, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted November 15, 2016 Thanks Bill, I really appreciate that. I was really happy with the music. I felt like the composer got the tone of every scene just right. It's always playful even when it's dramatic. Thanks again.
Premium Member Miguel Angel Posted November 16, 2016 Premium Member Posted November 16, 2016 Very well done! I liked it a lot :) Nothing else to add to what Bill said! :)
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted November 17, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted November 17, 2016 Thanks Miguel!
Premium Member Gregg MacPherson Posted November 17, 2016 Premium Member Posted November 17, 2016 Just saw this and enjoyed it enormously. At the start I enjoyed the mild sense of abstraction, and the freedom that comes with not having the talking lips. Justin the... "artist"?...wahoo. As it progresses the pragmatic narrative becomes recognizable, and I was looking for a new "a" word that I couldn't find. If it had been nudged further to the abstract I think you could easily be working a different notional audience segmant at the festivals.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now