Plague screener

[matt_asimpson]

Hi All,

Its been a while ....im finally posting up the screener for my recent 17 film Plague.

[ame="http://vimeo.com/6407379"]PLAGUE - OFFICIAL SCREENER on Vimeo[/ame]

Its a pretty big file download as its in HD, so if your keen, you might want to set it going and come back in twenty minutes.

Contains images of horror and violence.

thanks

Matt

[chaceyboy]

what gear did you use? looks like a 35mm adapter but which one?

[HueyNRolf]

Very good job on the production. Impressive to get all those people for the zombie scenes.
Now some people will tell you that the 'voice of god' technique is a poor substitute for good directing, acting, writing etc. I wouldn't agree and think of movies like bladerunner, goodfellas where the technique works well. However, the whole thing done in VOG, is too much. In your opening scene (the van) I just got the impression that the sound guy didn't show up.

Anyway, congrats for pulling it off, it is very impressive overall.

Oh and why didn't you use a center gutter on your credit crawl? That always looks much nicer... IMHO

[MalfunctioningHuman]

Really good, I like it. What camera did you use to shoot this? The only advice I can give you is to watch the vignetting that you are getting at some points. Other than that, it's great.

As for the voice over narration (or "Voice Of God") technique, it is a little subjective. I would probably agree with HueyNRolf that doing the whole thing in VOG is a little overkill. Try to add some dialog, and maybe a couple of VOG intervals.

This discussion on VOG made me think about Terrence Malick. I think VOG is one of his favourite techniques, and I have absolutely no complain about the way he uses it. It tends to give the movie a more pensive, melancholy mood.

[bmsweb]

I didn't mind the VOG, I think you could have been a little more aggressive with what to cut out and speed up the pace. Having said that, I think you did a great job, far better than most could achieve.

Would love to know how much this project cost you and how long it took to film and edit etc.

Great Job!

[HueyNRolf]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the van is on the wrong side of the road, should be LHD spec. and the British number plate can be seen clearly. Reversing (mirroring) these shots in post and removing the front plate would've fixed this problem.

I hope this observation isn't too pedantic, but attention to the small details add up and do make a difference... IMHO.

[cinemasteve87]

This is very well done, Matt! It looks like you put a lot of time and effort to film this. I love the fact that this film was not a rushed, frantic, and stereotypical zombie film. The slow and steady build-up really made me feel the tension of the situation. The music was also a major factor in creating a tense atmosphere. I don't mind the voice over at all, I thought it was very well done. The main character really had a sense of loneliness and hopelessness in his voice, and the way the actor delivered the lines had me convinced. The plot was very simple, and to the point.
On the technical side of things, I did not notice any major flaws at all. The cinematography was great, and the shot selection was well executed. I am also curious what kind of equipment and lighting you used for filming. I am not a huge fan of depth of field, but you utilized that technique well.
This is the type of stuff that really makes me pick up my camera and start filming. Thank you for sharing such an entertaining film, and I look forward to seeing more from you!

[hdx]

Actually I think Voice of God suits here very much. I like this idea. It makes film have a great climate. It was said but I will repeat that once again. Slow pace of movie makes is unique.
I like big amount of people involved in this project, wow!

What gear did you use?

[matt_asimpson]

Hi Guys,



Hueyandrolf,

Thankyou for your crit, its ok to be pedantic, god knows i am, i only see faults when i look at my work, and by the time i get to the credits, have pretty much no love for my work, I was actually quite depressed after the first time i watched it in a cinema.

I did toy with the idea of doing the whole shot flip thing, but didn't opt to, i just didn't like my compositions as much back to front, so i left it. It was a conscious decision to try to make the film without any dialogue with the main character, and yes I do agree, once Id cut that scene I wish id done a speaking version. In all honesty, there wasn't a sound man at any point, all of the audio, (bar the car sequence) is recorded as foley in post.

Malhuman, I was going for melancholy and claustrophobic, The film was directly inspired by reading WWZ, a great book, which contains accounts of lonely survivors in an undead world, I kind of wanted to translate that diary/ confession thing into moving images, hence no dialogue, If i reshot, i probably would have added some minimal dialogue, but you live and learn,

BMS, Chacey, and Cine,

I started writing the film in winter 07' & was undecided about what i wanted to shoot with, I was going to initially hire a Varicam, as id used it before i thought it gained very good results. then I saw some footage from the hv20 using a twoneal, and thought, thats what i want to use to shoot Plague, I thought the thin depth of field look really lended itself to the type of film I wanted to shoot.

The crew generally consisted of three people,

Me Directed, and Operating,(which i wouldnt do again,) plus doing a fair amount of SFX makeup.

My Girlfriend, the Producer, keeping everything in check and on schedule,

And My Good friend Joe, who was playing the main role, plus Co directing/ dressing sets.

we did have one fairly big shoot day, where I actually had to shoot properly. i.e hire additional sfx artists, ADs, a runner, drivers and catering, and a lot of zombies. Feeding people was the most expensive part.

What i did spend was time, and lots of it, My producer planned a tight schedule that we shot over two weekends, plus a couple of days of pick ups, We used sunlight only for 99% of Plague, so we had to really think about what times to shot what sequences at.

I did use one redhead for one sequence, but other than that.... it was the odd reflector.
As far as the other kit,

1 hv30 with rode video mic. nestled upside down on a shrigg, with a small SD lcd top mounted to flip the image.

3 canon lenses, a 28mm, a 50mm f1.2 (a must) and i think my long lens was a 135mm

Th adaptor is a Worley made by Leo, which at the time was by far the cheapest, but when used right, the rushes looked easily as good as those from a Letus mini.

a fairly standard Velbon Tripod, plus a cheap, pvc pipe dolly.

This film was made with no money, and was above all an excercise to see what we could do with an HV30,

I don't want to think about how long I sat at a mac keying things in AE that most people probably will never notice.

I agree that the music is great, probably thing i like most, im lucky to have some talented friends in the music biz, that worked very hard, to create the atmosphere that I needed.

Thanks for you feedback guys, my biggest technical resource in Pre Prod was HV20.com, and the people that procrastinate on it

[1]

...biggest technical resource in Pre Prod was HV20.com

We want to be credited!

Sorry, can't watch it here, but congrats on what sounds to be a cool flick!

[bmsweb]

I don't want to think about how long I sat at a mac keying things in AE that most people probably will never notice.

If no one commented on all the AE work then that's the highest compliment. I look at projects like this and marvel in the dedication, determination and motivation it takes to see a project like this to completion. Well done!

Thanks for the insight into this project.

[dWyZaK]

This is brilliant mate, you won any awards or received any serious kudos for it yet? An awesome piece of work, that house was a very nice set, I liked your pacing and development. I guess dialogue would of been hard with barely any non-zombies on show, but the voice over did leave it a bit morbid, though i'm not that good at judging this genre.

I like how you kept the ending open ended.

What you got planned next?

[Snazzy Flapper]

Nice production value! Too bad it's just another unoriginal zombie movie.

I hope you can use your skills to come up with a story that's fresh and unique and apply your attention to detail and skills to that project.

[antman]

This was really fun to watch. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Just wanna give you lots of props for your work man.

I think Zombie movies never get old when done well. It gives you that sense of "what would I do if I were in this situation" feel. I loved the last zombie in the house where he gets the nail through the hand. very creepy and the score added tons of suspense to the scene. keep up the great work.

[psyburn]

Loved it..

Personally, it took me around 7 minutes to really get into it and ignore it's flaws. The first half, before he leaves his home and gets chased by zombies, seems pretty unpolished to me compared to later on. Also the use of less voice over later on contributed to that.

Personally, I would play with the order of some the scenes, and take things out. Most notably, the part in which he shoots the zombie outside the window. I'd recommend either salvaging some of those shots for later scenes, or just keeping everything in except the actual shooting. I doubt anybody else would have problems with that specific sequence, but it didn't work for me. There are times when I just feel like you use too many cuts in some areas. When he walks up to the house for example, I would take out the closeup as it distracts from solemn flow.

The film relies heavily in, for lack of a better word, it's beauty. Yes, some of the composition isn't "perfect" but it works 100%, especially the outdoor sequences; they are gorgeous. The film wouldn't be the same without the brilliant music.. and that ending..

God that ending. It's perfect.

Some changes to rough edges here and there should be sufficient. You have something great here.

[matt_asimpson]

dwyz, thankyou!
weve had official selection and the odd jury selection at a bunch of genre festivals, probably most noted the "nychorrorfestival", trieste Italy "science plus fiction".

And were still getting a lot of interest so its great, the response over the last few days has been huge, makes it all worth while,

Snazzy, thankyou, i know alot of people wont bother to watch my film because of its predictable arguably stale genre, but I just had an itch, i see a lot of terrible indy zombie flicks, people assume its easy, and often make it their first project, I really wanted to make a serious effort. But yes im done with zombies now, i can safely say.

My next project is in pre and will be our first feature, centred around my own real experiences of staying in a supposedly haunted house in the mid 90s with a few friends, some genuinly frightening things happened, I like scary stuff, but ive seriously never been so frightened.

Its just a shame paranormal activity just came about, beaten to the mark
damn it, although im not too fussid because i thought it sucked!


Anman, thankyou im glad oyu enjoyed.

Pysburn, hey thanks for you crit, im always interested to hear what flaws people see, as I end up seeing only flaws, however case is long closed on this one, being an editor by trade, means that often i can see the cut before ive even shot, but ill take your points onboard.

thankyou

[Jespinoa]

This was absolutely amazing! I get amazed more and more by what the Canon HV series can do! I can't say this enough! I just got my HV40 recently and I can't wait to be up at the level you are at.
I, myself, have also read WWZ and it is absolutely one of my all time favorite books. I know they are working on a WWZ movie but from what I've heard the script isn't all that great. But that's just what I hear, can't say for sure until Ive seen it. I just wish you could do the some excerpts and stories from the book. I think you did a great job at giving the character the feeling of being alone. There are many zombie movies out there and they are either really good or really bad, never really an in between. I have to say this one was really good.

I think the VOG fit in perfectly. He is alone after all, no one to converse with. It would have helped maybe if you made some scenes where it shows him writing this as a journal entry, and then at the beginning have someone find the journal and read through it and then it can go into the rest of the film as the VOG. That's just me saying that though, and you not doing that does not take away anything from the film. It was great from start to finish. I can keep on rambling on about how great your work here is, but I'll shut up now haha.

Seriously, great work and I can NOT wait to see more.

P.S. I just finished playing Left4Dead a couple mintues before seeing this so I was already in the Zombie mood , this just totally made my night haha.

[matt_asimpson]

Hey Jesp,

Glad you enjoyed it, the response has been awesome in 4 days, its been viewed nearly 7000 times, linked and reviewed all over the place, Ive seen it pop up on japanese and spanish websites, although i have no idea what they are saying about it :/

Ive had a handful of people say its crappy make up and slow story, terrible acting etc,
but i expected alot worse.

Its just good to get one in the bag, Im going to try to get the feature rolling soon, and this one will have dialogue.

Thanks to everybody thats taken the time to watch it.
there are pal and ntsc dvds available at cost price about 8usd, delivered internationally is 5usd. message me if your keen.

[matt_asimpson]

Hey guys, just thought id drop bye with an update, I dont see that many names from back in the day anymore but some of you might know me.

the film concerned in this thread, i put out in december, did a bit of marketing myself, wrote to a few people ended up doing a few interviews, and before i knew it, it had spread over the net like crazy, embedded all over the show,

a few weeks ago i got a call out of nowhere asking about the short and how it was made for so little. That call was from one of the big hollywood production houses who now represent me as a director.

So now Im writing my first feature, and i don't need to worry about getting it read anymore, i just need to make sure it's lalalala hot, pretty scary stuff,

and all from a short shot with 1 hv30.

never underestimate the power of the zombie.
never underestimate the power of the internet, screw year long festival runs, get your films seen, thats what i reckon anyhow.

[Mr. Mingo]

Yeah boy!!! That's incredible man, congratulations! I remember when you posted this a while back, gotta say I always thought you had some serious skills.

Don't forget about us when you're livin it up in Hollywood!

[matt_asimpson]

cheers man, I feel like I owe a lot to this forum,
the people here helped me understand what I needed to make my rig right.
i got the hv30, just to make PLAGUE, because it was cheaper than hiring a varicam.

still can't really believe it got noticed,
Getting an agent has given me a real boost in my writing dedication,
no more modern warfare 2. well not so much haha.

[Gillvane]

It looks great. Well done. That's a big production to get that many extras, and do all the make up. Bravo!

The twoneal looks very good, nice shot composition. How did you do the shot where he pulls his hand off the shard of glass?

[MAGICOFPYRO]

Great job Matt! I really enjoyed the whole thing, and I liked the "voice of god" effect, it worked in my opinion, I think having to sound all the zombies could of probably spoiled it.

I'm inspired by your completion of a project, being my long awaited project i've been working on is "infected" related, I could care less that people don't like the zombie genre because I want to make films that I like to watch.

Keep up the good work!

[matt_asimpson]

Mingo, cheers man, I appreciate it, it's cool to have some doors. if i get my big budget flick ill defo give hv20 crew a credit.


Gill, thank you, the hand is a latex prosthetic left over from a harry potter movie, i knew it would come in useful, at some point. Having lots of extras is hassle, luckily they were not my problem to organize, my producer/girlfriend was very organized.

Magic, you know man, when i was getting geared up to shoot, I was checking out your rig, thinking that guys got the right idea, so mine ended up looking something like yours, plus a massive black card box attached to my lcd, and blanket over my head, on the set i looked like an 1800's photographer.

Screw what people say about zombies, It's every douche out there is making a bad zombie film every weekend, I thought that would hurt my film.

Apparently not the case, people still crave a good zombie flick,
how many good ones actually are there?
If you have a good angle on it, and execute it well,
people will get excited.

I look forward to seeing what you do.

[azmyth]

Its alot easier to stand out in a sea of "bad" than it is in a sea of "good". So make something "good" in a sea of "bad" and you'll be noticed.