Originally, my group was supposed to do a remake of Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" throughout the hallways of my school. We got this far and then were told that what we were doing didn't match the criteria for the project, so we were forced to start all over again. We're still going to make the Weapon of Choice video but for now it's on hold until we have the time to continue it. The criteria for the project is that we have to match the visuals with the actual descriptions in the lyrics, which, obviously, Weapon of Choice wouldn't be good for. Instead, we're doing The Wallflower's "One Headlight", and it will be my first real attempt at a serious topic--the dead, the living, and how one losing a grip on the other can be emotionally traumatic.
Even the artist himself admitted that the song has no actual meaning--he claims that his music serves his purpose so long as it moves you somehow. You can check out our progress on either movie at these places:
Wow looks very nice, the guy even did a good job replicating Walken. The cinematography looked great as well; I see your put the 35mm adapter to good use.
I'm not much of a compositing guy yet but I rendered the leaf in C4D and then put it in using Premiere's keyframing doohickie. I have to say it turned out better than I anticipated. One of those happy mistake things.
Thanks--glad you liked it.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: funkbomb,
OK, on a serious note, that was incredible. Not a frame of that looked amateur. The entire thing was beautifully shot and beautifully edited. God, the movements and the cuts are so streamlined I'm about to cut my head off.
And tell me, please, bastard, are you working with a vertical track at some point there?
- Harris
Posts: 598 | Location: Mobile, AL | Registered: May 10, 2005
Actually I already sacrificed my heart to satan for a GL2 and a steadicam rig. Looks like you could use my liver though with all that whiskey Fash .
Seriously though, I'm flattered--and please excuse my ignorance when I say I've never heard of a vertical track before, but I'm assuming it's a dolly thats mounted up and down instead of on the ground, in which case that'd be a no. All the up and down moving shorts were steadicam'd by yours truly. My arm was aching for a while after that, lemme tell ya . But if you thought it was a track instead of freehand, then I guess it was worth it. If you're wondering what kind of steadicam it was, it's a Steadicam JR I pawned off ebay for $300. Expensive, yes, but totally worth it.
We also used the dolly system for a lot of shots too, but for more complicated shots that required aiming the camera on the y axis up and down (the headlight/car shot, for example--aiming down into the window to see the calendar on the seat) we were forced to freehand it without the steadicam, being that it's almost impossible to pull focus and not mess up the balance.
The river scene was quite dramatic to shoot. I had to climb down into this drainage gulley thing to get that angle below the bridge, and carrying my precious GL2 in the rain while hopping narrowly from rock to rock across water killed my nerves. Not only that, but I had to have a towel over my head, an umbrella tucked in my armpit, a zoom lens in one hand and a prime in my pocket leaving only one hand to shoot and pull focus. I'm happy to report the GL2 stayed completely dry and functional, but boy, I'm definately not doing that again.
Good to hear your feedback! Hearing that from you guys is especially flattering. Thanks!
Great investment in that steadicam, Ben. The movement is all very fluid.
I'll reiterate just how impressed I was by this. I showed it to a lot of people, and they all said the same thing: Looks professional, looks like film, looks like something that would be on MTV, great CG work, blah blah. Very cute girl, too.
And you did this for a class assignment, right? Just out of curiousity, what were some of the other projects from other groups like?
- Harris
Posts: 598 | Location: Mobile, AL | Registered: May 10, 2005
Yeh, she is cute, and an amazing actress as well. She really wanted to put it all out there in front of the camera, which something I think is really admirable and difficult to do.
Yes, this was a class assignment, and the other projects were, well--interesting. One of the groups did a video to "Aaron's Party" that I thought was pretty funny, with all those tiny quirks that make some videos fun to watch. It's difficult to say exactly how they were "like" other than to say they were the typical point-and-shoot iMovie videos you'd expect to see from people who's main interest really isn't filmmaking at all. Good for a few laughs. I give credit to a lot of them because as easy as iMovie is, a lot of people ran into difficulties and barely managed to make the due date. Let's just say I think I'm the only one in my class that knows what color correction is. Or lighting for that matter. I'll see if I can upload one of them for you all to see.
Too little too late but--three things people never notice about this video (now at http://qt.frozenphoenixproductions.com/oneheadlight.mov ), is that you can see the girl in the background stalking under the tree by a gravestone as the boy stands over her grave with the rose, hinting at her ethereal existance ,also depth of field becomes deep at the end because everything has become "clearer" now. And finally, the boy always walks to the beat of the music. Little things. I guess I just never got around to sharing them. This is one of the few videos I've made that I still like to watch.
Ben, thanks for reactivating this thread. If you had not I would have never seen that awesome video. I liked everything about it from the overall look to the acting and just the overall professionalism of it. Some of the stuff I see from my college's senior thesis films doesn't even come close to that type of quality.
Posts: 292 | Location: State College, PA | Registered: April 13, 2004
Your adapter changes everything. It gives your film a professional touch.The DOF is so beautiful with that adapter.The rose scene is a fine example. With That nice adapter and professional lightning like HMIs and Kino Lights the result could be more fantastic. Post more of your work.Cheers
Posts: 309 | Location: lisbon | Registered: August 17, 2006
Actually not even after effects. I just took a picture of a leaf and blurred it, then motion controlled it, all in Premiere Pro.
HMIs and Kinoflos aren't really in the student film realm. When you've got lights like those you essentially have the budget to shoot film in the first place.
Studentfilms.com Filmmaking Forums 
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. But if you thought it was a track instead of freehand, then I guess it was worth it. If you're wondering what kind of steadicam it was, it's a Steadicam JR I pawned off ebay for $300. Expensive, yes, but totally worth it. 
