A Grim Game

[Stolen]

I filmed this a year ago. I didn't have access to a Mac and Final Pro to dice it up, but other than the audio and cutting, can you provide some (constructive) criticism please?

YouTube- A Grim Game

I plan on changing the opening title slate....get rid of the background. And go with more conventional credits.

[Timbickford]

I could not hear the dialog.

[Stolen]

At all? It differs for everyone it seems. I apologize.

[Timbickford]

I have the volume turned all the way up on my laptop. I could hear it with my ear pressed against the speaker....

Can you post again with improved audio?

[Stolen]

I was going to attack that issue when I attacked any other faults you guys brought up. When I said the audio is different for everyone, I meant it sucked in different degrees...not like your laptop is the issue or anything and it should sound wonderful or something.

I'll try and get a better sounding one up this week, but in the mean time is there anything else you find wrong with it? Or is it difficult to critique due to the audio issue?

[Timbickford]

Not being able to hear the video makes if almost unwatchable from an entertainment perspective. Try watching a tv program that you have never heard of before, with the sound off, for 7 minutes. I think you get the point.

As far as the video production. I like the fact that you use a tripod for most of the shots. I think the guy (talking with the girl) could have used some light. Perhaps from a sun reflector. I also suggest that you open your aperture up so that you can achieve shallow depth of field in some of your shots of the girl and guy talking. You may need to get yourself some ND filters if you are going to work outside in the sun light.

I'm not too crazy about the shadows on the checker board. But, I suppose that's a style thing.

The car leaving the parking lot looked like a video of a car leaving a parking lot. I suggest scaling back on that scene.

As your video progressed it looked darker. Not scary darker but.... you could use some light on the subjects kind of darker.

Overall I think you did a good job cutting from one shot to the other. Perhaps if I could hear the story I may have looked a things a little differently.

Sorry to be harsh... but that is what happens when you post and ask for opinions here.

[Stolen]

I don't have Final Cut Pro on me now, but I took the .mov into Premiere and amped up the volume a bit. Also realized the aspect ratio (?) is off.

[Stolen]

And you didn't sound harsh...I asked for criticism after all...you get used to it with our kind of aspirations. It was definitely expected with the audio being an issue. And I lurk these forums all the time...just hard to retain the information unless you do it all the time.

Thanks.

My professor asked me to cut down on the car leaving the lot thing...said it was a Ford commercial...dunno why I didn't listen. I think it was for build up lol I'll scale that down.

[HueyNRolf]

You can consider the location audio lost forever. The only hope now is an ADR. I have to be honest, but the camera work is so poorly lit and exposed, I'd be inclined to write it off and shoot something else. Bone up on location audio first, though.

[Stolen]

I think I messed up the audio in post believe it or not trying to get rid of an airplane in the background and lowered everything in soundtrack pro. I was going for a darker look, but I guess it's better to go bright and then color correct? 60i instead of 30p? I'll look into getting decent at ADR (we used a boom mic). Thanks.

[HueyNRolf]

I think the location audio is what's messed up. The noise is appalling, if you add gain in post you'll only make it worse.

[Stolen]

Oh "location", sorry....now I know what you mean.

[HueyNRolf]

Hmmm, You boomed a shotgun mic? Which mic is that and how was it boomed?

[Stolen]

This was a while ago so bare with me....I may have used a combination of these:

Male to Mini XLR Cable
Audio Technica AT8415 Shockmount
AT897 Shotgun Mic
Gitzo G556 Fishpole

[HueyNRolf]

And the shotgun was boomed from above close to the talents?

[Stolen]

The first angle I used, the mic actually got in the shot. Which I had to zoom in on to get rid of it. Dunno if you can notice the drop in quality from the resolution being pushed to the edge so to speak.

But for the medium shots, I won't say the mic was less than 2ft away though. It was above, but not like 2ft close.

[HueyNRolf]

Well there's a lot of wind noise, that's the main problem, but I can hear all kinds of other noise which should've been rejected if the microphone was positioned right. I've no idea what went wrong.

[Stolen]

I let the louder one upload onto Youtube on my laptop and went to school, got to school, and this is how it turned out:

YouTube- Sequence 01.mp4

Sigh. I'll repost this when everything is actually decent....dunno what is going on....but yeah, increasing gain and etc. really brought out the annoying location sound...I'll try playing with it in soundtrack pro but it probably won't come out consistent or isn't even worth it.



I don't think the dialogue came out too bad...how can I not be careless on location sound for next time? Choose a quieter location?

[HueyNRolf]

Well of course, the wind rumble could've been avoided with a dead cat. As for the noise, that's poor SNR, your microphone wasn't boomed correctly. That can be the only cause and no amount of tweaking in post can fix that.

[Stolen]

Dead cat > foam windshield?

[HueyNRolf]

Nah, that foam shield is for indoor use. Useless in strong wind.

[Stolen]

Oh alright, thanks man. Based on posts from you I've seen since October, you seem to be the pro on sound.

[HueyNRolf]

Thanks and people have said this before. While I'm flattered, the truth is I'm not. I do care about sound and believe in getting the most out of my gear, which is nothing special.

[Stolen]

Well I appreciate you sharing your pointers and will keep you in mind and said pointers while working on film from this point forward lol

[HueyNRolf]

I did a Kendo documentary a few years ago and that was B&W. People complimented my choice and it did seem to suit the subject. But, the truth is, I did it out of desperation because the color from the two cameras was impossible to match.

[Stolen]

What were the cameras? And I'm sure if the color did come out to par with your wishes you may have considered going B&W even then, no?

[HueyNRolf]

What were the cameras? And I'm sure if the color did come out to par with your wishes you may have considered going B&W even then, no?

This was a while ago and I don't know what they were apart from being DV consumer cams. Another factor being I didn't know color grading back then, I'm still not very good at it.
I don't know if your familiar with kendo, but they wear dark gear and you can't see their faces through the men (headgear). So B&W did add something to the darkness of the look. People seemed to like it anyways.

[Stolen]

I love kendo; don't partake in it but I love the art and everything so I know what you mean about the colors worn and etc. I was gonna ask you about color grading the footage in my last post but concluded and assumed that the colors were so bad in your opinion that cc couldn't salvage it. But it could have? Do you ever go back and play around with the footage? If you still have it I mean.

[HueyNRolf]

Holy crap!
I posted that thing about Kendo in the wrong thread. There's a discussion about using B&W and I meant to post it there. Sorry Stolen, I must be losing it.
But to answer your question. YES, absolutely you should CC, the footage seldom looks its best off the camera, especially if you're shooting in Cinemode. And no, I tend not revisit old projects once they're out the door and the kendo thing was years ago.

[Stolen]

Haha, it seemed random at first lol I thought about it for a good 2 minutes before replying and just went along with it lol I can sleep soundly now lol

[HueyNRolf]

Sorry about the confusion there.
Ironically I got no response when I posted in the correct place. Thanks for humoring me.

[Stolen]

Anytime man, anytime lol