Sci-Fi short shot with HV20

[skinnyboy]

Howdy,

I have my first narrative movie shot with my HV20!
We did it for the 48 Hour Film Festival here in Greensboro, NC.

24p - yes, I added the pulldown step to my 48 hour workload. Smart? Sure, why not. We made it in on time.

http://actcasual.com/fait/fait.html

It's about a 70mb download. The movie is 5 minutes (but the last minute is credits). The first ten seconds or so gives the genre (Sci-fi) and elements we had to use, then the movie starts for real after that.

Let me know what you think. I can take it...

Peace

[Ian-T]

Wow....good job with that. Story made me think about what I would do with a device like tha....don't know if would want to know. That heartbeat.....made my chest hurt....lol. This motivates me to do my own.:hv20-smilie70:

[skinnyboy]

Thanks Ian.

The HV20 is great to shoot with, because it's so light and easy to move around. You definitely need to do your own! And post it...

[DustinHart]

I liked it, had a little trouble following the story but maybe that was because I was slightly distracted. I thought it was very well filmed though and makes me want to do some stuff when I eventually get my HV20.

[hyphenpipe]

Did you use an external mic with that?

Spoiler below:

The movie was very well thought out and I love how you kept thinking it was his wife who would be the one with not much time left, and seeing the young girl only had 3 days left made me sad. :(

[skinnyboy]

I used an Oktava MK012 on a boom. Through a Mackie mixer and then into the camera.
The MK012 is super-sensitive. It's amazing for a $200 mic. Blows me away frankly. I also have a windscreen for it, and discovered I need it on all the time to help cut down on picking up ambient room hum and any slight air disturbance.
Coupled with a Mackie mixer (best headroom in the biz for low-price units), the MK012 makes for killer sound.
Not that this film is the best indicator of that - we had very little time to do any sound tweaking in post. It was great that we captured good clean sound and were able to leave it alone.

[Mark Dog2]

hey skinnboy t looks real great good job bro, wanted to ask did you use cinemode with 24p ????????????? , and how did you do the pull down for 24p on the hv20 ????????????? , also did you do and color correction to the film ??????????????

[skinnyboy]

We did use Cine mode with 24p. I used Compressor in Final Cut Studio 2 to do the pulldown. That made it easier because I could set it to run and take a nap for a couple hours.

The only color "correction" I had time to do was fading the last shot of Joe to black and white. And that was pretty rough.

I'll probably revisit it and do some real color correction soon - I'll repost at that point.

Thanks!

[retired26]

Hey Skinnyboy

That was great. The bass was intense. I wish I could do as good. Nothing I shoot comes out that good but I am only a beginner. Again Good job.

JW

[Rikki]

Really impressed with it, far far far better than anything I could do. Only critique would be as follows and please bear in mind that I couldnt do ANY of what you did, these are only things I think could be improved on a little bit.

There was a bit of mic hum at the opening credit when the narrator was speaking.

It sounded like the boom mic wasnt close enough to the talent at some points, eg walking down the corridors.

The sound clicked when cutting scenes a few times.

Using the same cut shot 4 times (I think it was about 4) where the lead is pointing the device at his wife I felt was over done/over used a little - and the first few scenes seemed to be immediately repeated.

The realisation where the lead goes outside and wanders around in a daze felt slightly long.

Those are tiny tiny tiny things on the whole I cant believe you put this together with Canon's toy camera that we all know and love :D

[skinnyboy]

Rikki,

I totally agree with you on just about all those points.
Remember that we only had 48 hours, so fixing sound properly couldn't be done, and getting the perfect edit was tough.
We especially wanted to trim that wandering outside scene, but couldn't because it would have put us under the 4 minute minimum, and we couldn't think clearly enough at hour 47 to figure out what else to put there.

I appreciate the comments - I'll probably re-edit a bit because we may want to submit this to some festivals.

Peace

[Rikki]

Hi mate, didnt realise it was done in 48 hours :S In that case my points are completely null and void.

I am no film maker, I use my HV20 to record car stuff, documentary / sports style so I dont have the vision to put together what you did there!

Once again, awesome work - more so in such a limited time frame. Cant wait to see your next piece!

R

[TheoO]

i`m really impressed with the quality :)

and i liked the story also

would please tell me how you did or what u used for the pulldown?

and i would appreciate if you would comment on my video also (my 1st video, check the thread that i have) ;)

it`s 6 min long made in a few hours..

[MicheleW]

New member and new HV20 user ... and new 48 hr film challenger!

I've seen quite a few 48 hr film challenge movies in the past couple years and this is one of the best I've seen - filming, sets, acting, screenplay, twists, and use of camera! Nice work and I hope you win.

BTW - what city was that for?

[twoneil]

I really liked the story. I almost forgot that this was filmed with this camera!
Good job!

[skinnyboy]

MicheleW
this was for Greensboro, NC.
Sadly, we won nothing. I had some issues getting DVD Studio Pro to play nice and had to settle for a sub-par DVD burn, which they re-compressed for the screening and made look like crap projected.

Live and learn.

On the positive side, there were some very solid movies made in Greensboro this year.
Plus, we won last year, no need to be greedy.

Thanks for the kind words!

[MicheleW]

Hi Skinnyboy - We did the 48 hr this past July - I'm not sure how they submitted the final film (DVD I'm thinking), but the quality was bad as well - very shaky, interrupted. I'm sure it was the editor though this time since my reel was the same way.

When I submit for the next one (24 hours!!), I'll probably put it back onto the miniDV for submission.

[skinnyboy]

MiniDV is the way to go. I thought I'd have time to output a nice hi-rez Quicktime or DVD, and ended up out of time.
If I had it to do over, I'd DV lock the capture to the computer and then print to tape output at the end.

[threadhanger]

I thought I was watching a "real movie" after only a few seconds. The heartbeat sound clinched it. Sound is 50% of a film/video.

Two questions though:

1. It looked like there was ghosting on the scene where he goes outside after learning his friend had just died in a car wreck. Was pulldown not done on that section?

2. How was this death meter suppose to work? I kept wanting somewhat of an explanation. Make something up. Midi-chlorian metering or something.

Overall it was pretty good. It fits in the same category of the Lawnmower Man or Flatliners. I wish I could get together a crew here in Knoxville to make a similiar piece.

[skinnyboy]

theadhanger -

That "ghosting" was an intended effect and caused by slowing down the footage in FCP to 90%.

Um, the meter works by enhancing the natural harmonics of the brain-pan by activating the prismatic scale of the Peote Theory until you can see the numerical I have no idea.

You're the first person to ask that question. The lead tried to come up with something on a couple takes, but they're only good for the blooper reel.
We hoped to just ignore it, and therefore encourage the audience to ignore it.

And it would have worked until you meddling kid and your dog came along. :-)

[HCoremark]

There have been a couple of SF stories where the future is predicted by some kind of calculation that takes into account all possible outcomes and the chances of each.
If it were me then I'd go for a more fantastic explanation. Maybe along the lines of everyone has a pre determined path and this device can read that path.

As for this I have to admit I just thought it was another crazy SF idea and didn't give it any more thought.

p.s. good work - I quite enjoyed it.

[skinnyboy]

HCoremark:
Interesting thought - the guy who came up with the original idea (our soundtrack composer) figured out a way to go feature with the idea, kinda along those lines:
can the father stop his daughter from dying, or is it all pre-determined? Of course he's going to try, but will he succeed?

(A better question: will any of us actually write the feature?)

[MicheleW]

I wish I could get together a crew here in Knoxville to make a similiar piece.

Hi - If you have a Craigs List in your area - check out the tv/film area under jobs and you'll find lots of people looking for other film people to do movies. Just a thought ...

[threadhanger]

I've already done that. So far only one person has given a serious reply.

I just now got a decent computer for editing and am in the process of learning the in's and out's of Sony Vegas 8 and the free 24 pulldown process from on here. And making some stop motion puppets for my own sci-fi movie.

[skinnyboy]

It took me about 5 years to find the right folks to make movies with. It's not just the skill - that can be taught - you need to get along very well, because you're stuck with these people for the duration of the shoot.
I'd suggest just converting some friends into film makers...

[HCoremark]

They turned Minority Report into a feature so why not?
There's been plenty of movies, TV shows and novels about precogs and scrying. A machine with precognative abbilities is a pretty interesting idea. I'm sure if you dig deep enough there will be plenty of ideas like this already out there.

[MicheleW]

hey skinnboy t looks real great good job bro, wanted to ask did you use cinemode with 24p ????????????? , and how did you do the pull down for 24p on the hv20 ????????????? , also did you do and color correction to the film ??????????????

Hi - Maybe this is a silly question, but what is "pull down"? Thanks.

[MicheleW]

It took me about 5 years to find the right folks to make movies with. It's not just the skill - that can be taught - you need to get along very well, because you're stuck with these people for the duration of the shoot.
I'd suggest just converting some friends into film makers...

You are so right about finding people that you can work with well. I've had a couple not so pleasant experiences that told me I needed to find other people to work with. I agree, if you have friends (which you like in the first place) use them!

[skinnyboy]

Pull down is getting the junk interlaced frames out of the 24p footage.

The camera is natively a 30i shooter. 24p is made by making 24 progressive frames and then filling the remaining 6 "frames" (30 minus 24 equals 6) with repeat/junk frames.
For true 24p you need to remove the extra interlaced frames.

There are plenty of tutorials on here about how to do that...

[threadhanger]

I have one friend who's interested in movie making but suffers from ADD and is pretty lazy. People who respond to craigslist start out enthusiastic in their first reply but drop off quickly. I'm hesitant to even mention the HV20. Someone might see a picture of it on google and get the wrong impression.

Then again, maybe linking to this clip or others on this site might do some good.

[skinnyboy]

Where are you , Threadhanger?

Here in Greensboro, NC, we have an amazing indie film community. Lots of talent, and lots of people willing to learn and stick with it. I guess I'm lucky being here.
You may want to try something simple - no sound - to start. Maybe a 1-2 minute short. Do sound or have music in post and do it all yourself. Then you'll have something to show people. That may get more interest going...

[threadhanger]

I'm in Knoxville, Tn.

I was thinking along the same lines. A picture is worth a thousands words. HD footage with sound has to be worth a million.

If you build it they will come. Hopefully.

It's just time consuming to do everything by yourself. Shoot footage. Edit it. Learn the software. Etc. Being a perfectionist can get in the way.

The idea of putting something together in 48 hours with a crew/cast sounds like fun though.

[skinnyboy]

Movie making is time consuming, boring, frustrating. Did I mention boring?
The real trick to indie movie making is finding other folks who don't mind the boring parts.

It's also a lot of fun if you are passionate about it. You need to do it yourself to get an idea of which parts you like, and which parts you'd rather someone else do.

[John Watson]

Just watched it. Bloody brilliant! Well done!

[London Shane]

This is excellent! I'm just getting into videography, and my wife just bought me the HV20. I've been considering returning it to buy a Sony PD170 because I've been told the pd170 will give me the chance to make $ that I can't make with the HV20 because of it's appearance. After seeing your video, I'm having second thoughts about keeping it. Great work!!!!

[drmadison]

I gotta say - this makes me feel SO happy about my decision to get an HV20...I bought it with the idea of doing some indie film making and have only done some (rather grainy) home videos and was getting a bit down over it's ability to do better quality, but this looks great!

[skinnyboy]

drmadison,

Glad I could inspire you. Definitely go for it and make some movies! Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn along the way.
Grainy images are usually because you don't have enough light, or are shooting at the wrong setting.
Try picking a subject and shooting it with different modes in the camera with the same amount of light, then boost the light and do it again, then take the subject outside in daylight and do it again. You should be able to find a setting that you like the look of.
If you have any questions, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

[drmadison]

drmadison,

Glad I could inspire you. Definitely go for it and make some movies! Allow yourself to make mistakes and learn along the way.
Grainy images are usually because you don't have enough light, or are shooting at the wrong setting.
Try picking a subject and shooting it with different modes in the camera with the same amount of light, then boost the light and do it again, then take the subject outside in daylight and do it again. You should be able to find a setting that you like the look of.
If you have any questions, drop me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

The grain has largely been avoided by me learning to lock the aperture / disable the automatic gain (thanks to these forums actually) - my apartment tends to be a bit dark and so the hv20 was being "helpful" and adding a lot of gain for my benefit, and turning the image horribly grainy. A bit more lighting + disabling auto gain solved it.

I have a few shorts that are undergoing rewrites...then I just need to find the rest of the people it'll take (actors I'm lacking...) but not sure yet where to look or if I just want to go the "post on craigslist and hope for the best" route.

[dimaxx]

wow! it's really good! keep rolling!

good luck!

[skinnyboy]

You'll be amazed how many actors will appear if you post an audition notice somewhere. Hopefully you'll even get some good ones showing up.
If you have community theater in your town, or any colleges nearby, there should be plenty of experienced actors to be had...