<strong>Mr. Macintosh, I didn't like your movie. With iMovie you could do waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than that. You know that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The program used is not going to affect shot quality , the script, or the pacing of the movie. Those are all determined by what the director/writer/editor knows and how he/she applies that knowledge. Wheter he uses iMovie, FCP, Adobe Premiere, or even Windows Movie Maker is going to have no effect on the basics.
To Mr. Macintosh:
There were some that complained that your opening is slow moving. If you didn't do that on purpose to capture the essense of a dragging morning routine or something like that, here are a few tips from my TV production class that you might find helpful for the final cut.
1. Cutting to an action already in progress instead of cutting and then having the option start really helps pacing and looks more natural. In your movie this cropped up in the case of the door handle. You cut to the door handle and I was like "Yep, that's a door handle all right... sure is... oh, it's opening." Cutting to it opening or just an instant before opening would help.
2. Don't stay on a shot too long. This came to mind with the alarm clock shot. Although the sound effect was hilarious, after about the third "alarm pulse" I was thinking "Ok, it's piercing alarm clock... I get it."
Some things that don't have to do with pacing:
1. Continuity is important. Continuity errors are when we cut to a shot that shows the same scene with no time progression and something is different from the previous shot. This even crops up in multi-million dollar motion pictures and is sometimes unavoidable, but you should still try to avoid it.
In your movie this cropped up when you showed us a subjective shot from the father's point of view and then we cut to a shot of Chris that clearly shows the closed door and no father. If there was supposed to be some time passage between those two shots the audience really had no way of knowing that. If you want to quickly and easily expess a passsage of time, using a dissolve instead of a cut works wonders.
An exception would, of course, be a montage in which all kinds of time and/or location changes are going on from shot to shot.
3.Jump-cuts should be avoided. A jump-cut happens when a shot cuts to another shot of the same subject that is similarly framed. Often it looks like a few frames of video are just missing or something. I saw this on the close-up of the alarm clock. it read 6:59, and then jumped to a slightly different angle reading 6:59 and then it went off.
It was also a slight problem during the "getting dressed" montage. You're in a T-shirt and then suddenly you have your dark long-sleeved shirt on. Since that was a montage it's not really a jump-cut but it still didn't quite jive. Doing the second shot from another angle like you did with the rest of the montage would eliminate this rough spot.
4. Lighting. Entire semester long courses are devoted to lighting but some basics are
-The subject should be significantly brighter than the background. About a 30:1 contrast ratio. (Faces were a little dark occasionally but it wasn't too bad)
-Don't wash out the subject. (you didn't)
-Try to frame around glaring shadows or position your subject away from walls or background objects whenever possible so that she shadow is naturally out of the shot. (since you weren't using extra lighting this wasn't an issue)
Lighting kits are expensive but you can do some impressive stuff with modified shop-lights and other creative riggings, but if you don't got lights you don't got 'em, not much you can do about that. Other than not having the most desirable contrast ratio Lighting wasn't really an issue with what I saw. It's not like all we saw was a silhoette(sp?) where we should have seen a face or anything.
5. Music. Your music use was effective and appropriate to the action on screen. Kudos.
The storyline so far seems interesting and you do good camera work, especially considering you are completely or relatively untrained (I'm assuming, my apologies if I'm wrong :eek: ) With a few minor tweaks it's got great potential. Keep in mind that departing from conventions, like the ones I've listed above, can be an excellent tool for artistic expression so don't let them limit your creativity. However, you have to know what the conventions are in order to know how and why you're breaking them. Also keep in mind that I'm just a student, so my thoughts are in no way the end all of cinematic theory. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
I hope you've found these tid-bits helpful, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, I can always at least pass them on to my professors.
Oh wow thanks a lot man, that was very helpful. I have some editing improvements and some more footage to show you. I will implement some of your ideas, they really are great ideas and good observation on your part. I see that you assumed that I am untrained and youre right, I am just a 17 year old junior in high school. I will keep trying, this does start off slow but I have some good stuff planned. Thanks.
<strong>The program used is not going to affect shot quality , the script, or the pacing of the movie. Those are all determined by what the director/writer/editor knows and how he/she applies that knowledge. Wheter he uses iMovie, FCP, Adobe Premiere, or even Windows Movie Maker is going to have no effect on the basics.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know. But I wanted to make a point that he should use the 'tools' he has at hand.
Good, I think the transition between the second song (dont know name) - the one when ur shaving - and the last song- eating cereal- was a little abrupt...maybe a crossfade?
<strong>Good, I think the transition between the second song (dont know name) - the one when ur shaving - and the last song- eating cereal- was a little abrupt...maybe a crossfade?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah youre probably right. I dont know how to work the imovie audio edit perfectly yet. The songs are...Dont Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult), She Dont Use Jelly (Ben Folds Five), and Just Wait (Blues Travelar)
Um this seemed more like a gay dramatic film festival movie rather than the "comedy" you claim it is. I spent 5 minutes watching and nothing happened at all. I know making movies is hard, I've done it and am in high school and honestly I don't mean this in a bad way but, try again.
Better. The pacing is better, and a lot of it doesn't seem to drag on as much as the first one did.
I still have some suggestions and questions (because I honestly want to see you do as well as you can with it):
First and foremost, I don't know many people that sleep with the lights on. I don't know why I didn't catch it before.
Why does Chris' dad wake him up BEFORE the alarm goes off? I would think once Chris didn't get up to the alarm, Dad would come help.
Cut out more of shaving. Only 5 seconds less or so. My suggestion is to take out a chunk of putting the gel on your face. It gets boring quick, and we know what you're doing.
Maybe it'll be explained later in the vid, but why is Chris trying stuff on, wearing the graduation outfit, and then NOT wearing it? To clarify this, maybe have A shot of him taking it off and sighing, or something like that.
Except for a flash frame a couple shots into walking down the stairs, that whole sequence is VERY good. It's not too long, and it portrays the boring walk down the stairs that kids ALWAYS take EVERY day.
Last comment: Shorten the cereal sequence by a little. Either take an entire shot out, or shorten all that are there. It's just a bit too long.
This video is a good project, and you're doing a good job with it.
Everybody else: Go easy on him. Obviously, he's no Spielberg or Lucas. Sometimes I think you all just want to be mean to Macintosh as much as humanly possible.
I think you have way too many musical clips in there. The whole thing is one frat-boy song after another, and it is too much. sometimes silence, or just the simple effects of a cheap sound stage can do better than your & applenut's mutual top 50 music collection (where's the damn Pearl Jam)
The two acts could also be cut better into about 80 seconds. It's just way too long. Any feature length film has WAY more footage than what is eventually shown. You should take notes: make it a 20 - 30 minute thing and it will be a lot better.
And wow, you're house is pretty posh. Makes me want to take a QTVR of the warehouse in CT I'll be living in after the end of the school year.
Yes, very good comments by all but I think I really do need to cut some stuff. Oh, the comedy is coming, I assure you...this is only 4:30 so far...just be patient! Haha, a patient mac crowd is an oxy moron. But believe me, the comedy is coming.
My house may be "posh" but thats because my mom went nuts when we built it last year. 5,700 square feet of poshness.
Comments
Bashing people won't help...why not use that energy to give people constructive advice?
<strong>Guys....please a bit gentle.
Bashing people won't help...why not use that energy to give people constructive advice?
Why encourage a surgeon with Parkinson's?
<strong>Mr. Macintosh, I didn't like your movie. With iMovie you could do waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than that. You know that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The program used is not going to affect shot quality , the script, or the pacing of the movie. Those are all determined by what the director/writer/editor knows and how he/she applies that knowledge. Wheter he uses iMovie, FCP, Adobe Premiere, or even Windows Movie Maker is going to have no effect on the basics.
To Mr. Macintosh:
There were some that complained that your opening is slow moving. If you didn't do that on purpose to capture the essense of a dragging morning routine or something like that, here are a few tips from my TV production class that you might find helpful for the final cut.
1. Cutting to an action already in progress instead of cutting and then having the option start really helps pacing and looks more natural. In your movie this cropped up in the case of the door handle. You cut to the door handle and I was like "Yep, that's a door handle all right... sure is... oh, it's opening." Cutting to it opening or just an instant before opening would help.
2. Don't stay on a shot too long. This came to mind with the alarm clock shot. Although the sound effect was hilarious, after about the third "alarm pulse" I was thinking "Ok, it's piercing alarm clock... I get it."
Some things that don't have to do with pacing:
1. Continuity is important. Continuity errors are when we cut to a shot that shows the same scene with no time progression and something is different from the previous shot. This even crops up in multi-million dollar motion pictures and is sometimes unavoidable, but you should still try to avoid it.
In your movie this cropped up when you showed us a subjective shot from the father's point of view and then we cut to a shot of Chris that clearly shows the closed door and no father. If there was supposed to be some time passage between those two shots the audience really had no way of knowing that. If you want to quickly and easily expess a passsage of time, using a dissolve instead of a cut works wonders.
An exception would, of course, be a montage in which all kinds of time and/or location changes are going on from shot to shot.
3.Jump-cuts should be avoided. A jump-cut happens when a shot cuts to another shot of the same subject that is similarly framed. Often it looks like a few frames of video are just missing or something. I saw this on the close-up of the alarm clock. it read 6:59, and then jumped to a slightly different angle reading 6:59 and then it went off.
It was also a slight problem during the "getting dressed" montage. You're in a T-shirt and then suddenly you have your dark long-sleeved shirt on. Since that was a montage it's not really a jump-cut but it still didn't quite jive. Doing the second shot from another angle like you did with the rest of the montage would eliminate this rough spot.
4. Lighting. Entire semester long courses are devoted to lighting but some basics are
-The subject should be significantly brighter than the background. About a 30:1 contrast ratio. (Faces were a little dark occasionally but it wasn't too bad)
-Don't wash out the subject. (you didn't)
-Try to frame around glaring shadows or position your subject away from walls or background objects whenever possible so that she shadow is naturally out of the shot. (since you weren't using extra lighting this wasn't an issue)
Lighting kits are expensive but you can do some impressive stuff with modified shop-lights and other creative riggings, but if you don't got lights you don't got 'em, not much you can do about that. Other than not having the most desirable contrast ratio Lighting wasn't really an issue with what I saw. It's not like all we saw was a silhoette(sp?) where we should have seen a face or anything.
5. Music. Your music use was effective and appropriate to the action on screen. Kudos.
The storyline so far seems interesting and you do good camera work, especially considering you are completely or relatively untrained (I'm assuming, my apologies if I'm wrong :eek: ) With a few minor tweaks it's got great potential. Keep in mind that departing from conventions, like the ones I've listed above, can be an excellent tool for artistic expression so don't let them limit your creativity. However, you have to know what the conventions are in order to know how and why you're breaking them. Also keep in mind that I'm just a student, so my thoughts are in no way the end all of cinematic theory.
I hope you've found these tid-bits helpful, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, I can always at least pass them on to my professors.
<strong>The program used is not going to affect shot quality , the script, or the pacing of the movie. Those are all determined by what the director/writer/editor knows and how he/she applies that knowledge. Wheter he uses iMovie, FCP, Adobe Premiere, or even Windows Movie Maker is going to have no effect on the basics.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know. But I wanted to make a point that he should use the 'tools' he has at hand.
I thought Macintosh made a weird slideshow with some pics of you playing baseball from your .mac site a while back?
Jeff
[ 03-03-2003: Message edited by: Mr. Macintosh ]</p>
EDIT: O, NEVERMIND!
[ 03-03-2003: Message edited by: Bioflavonoid ]</p>
<strong>Good, I think the transition between the second song (dont know name) - the one when ur shaving - and the last song- eating cereal- was a little abrupt...maybe a crossfade?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah youre probably right. I dont know how to work the imovie audio edit perfectly yet. The songs are...Dont Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult), She Dont Use Jelly (Ben Folds Five), and Just Wait (Blues Travelar)
I still have some suggestions and questions (because I honestly want to see you do as well as you can with it):
- First and foremost, I don't know many people that sleep with the lights on. I don't know why I didn't catch it before.
- Why does Chris' dad wake him up BEFORE the alarm goes off? I would think once Chris didn't get up to the alarm, Dad would come help.
- Cut out more of shaving. Only 5 seconds less or so. My suggestion is to take out a chunk of putting the gel on your face. It gets boring quick, and we know what you're doing.
- Maybe it'll be explained later in the vid, but why is Chris trying stuff on, wearing the graduation outfit, and then NOT wearing it? To clarify this, maybe have A shot of him taking it off and sighing, or something like that.
- Except for a flash frame a couple shots into walking down the stairs, that whole sequence is VERY good. It's not too long, and it portrays the boring walk down the stairs that kids ALWAYS take EVERY day.
- Last comment: Shorten the cereal sequence by a little. Either take an entire shot out, or shorten all that are there. It's just a bit too long.
This video is a good project, and you're doing a good job with it.Everybody else: Go easy on him. Obviously, he's no Spielberg or Lucas. Sometimes I think you all just want to be mean to Macintosh as much as humanly possible.
<strong>Whoa, Applenut, I wasn't taking a dig at you there.
I thought Macintosh made a weird slideshow with some pics of you playing baseball from your .mac site a while back?
Jeff</strong><hr></blockquote>
oh my god... i completely forgot about that...
<strong>
oh my god... i completely forgot about that...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah I remember thinking it was sort of creepy. I'll take Mr. Mac's current project over that or his teacher ass any day!
I think it's cool that he's getting good advice, too.
Jeff
The two acts could also be cut better into about 80 seconds. It's just way too long. Any feature length film has WAY more footage than what is eventually shown. You should take notes: make it a 20 - 30 minute thing and it will be a lot better.
And wow, you're house is pretty posh.
My house may be "posh" but thats because my mom went nuts when we built it last year. 5,700 square feet of poshness.
<strong><a href="http://www.newlondonpress.com/ROBERT/supertoos.mov"; target="_blank">Here</a> is a funny .mov I did in iMovie. Defiantely not a waste of time.
Defiantely not! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
funny !!!