So a bunch of us made a short film. We’re calling our crew “Something Simple” for now.
It’s called Truth be Told and it’s available in HD.
As you can see it doesn’t really have an ending. We’re thinking of shooting something right after the part where it says “two hours later” at 6:48, and getting rid of whatever is there now.
Also, let me know what you guys think.
Thanks.
Using my one free bump.
I figured not many people would care about a student film, but I though I’d give it a try.
I watched the film, and I’m not really sure what you were trying to achieve.
From a technical point of view, most of the shots seem too tight, the whole thing looked handheld, and the composition is sorta…casual. Really didn’t like the zoom on the preacher guy. To pull that off, you need a tripod…or a camera guy a lot steadier than the one you had.
From a storyline point of view…I guess I didn’t get it. It was never clear to me why the guys were traveling, or where they were going. At the end, they decided to see something…but what was it and why did they want to see it?
You could add something to the opening…a clear “Let’s go watch/see X”, keep what you’ve got, and end with a shot of them buying tickets, or otherwise ending the travel. You could make time for the extra footage by speeding up the credits…they seem to be awfully long for such a short film.
There is nothing to get. We have no story. That’s the problem.
We just thought the scenes themselves were interesting enough to shoot so we shot them. Now I’m trying to think of something to do with the scenes.
I disagree a bit. To be honest, I like using a tripod. But I’ve seen a lot of handheld shots that are worse. Not my style, but I didn’t find it too distracting. And there’s nothing wrong with two-shots. They would become tiresome in a longer film, but in a nine-minute short I thought they were OK.
I re-watched the street preacher. Are you talking about the initial pan and then the quasi-dolly? (With a zoom the camera is stationary and the subject is brought closer optically. With a dolly shot the camera is moved closer to the subject.) A little unsteady. Would’ve been better if they’d used a wheelchair. Or a SteadiCam. But I suspect one wasn’t in the budget. A wheelchair or even a pair of skates would have helped. It’s a short shot though. Could’ve been better; not a total failure.
Not knowing Lakai or his ‘vision’, it’s possible he intended the film to look handheld. Cinéma vérité and all that. Or it could have been that he didn’t have the budget, permits, or whatever for steadier shots. It is what it is. It will work for some people and not for others.
The story reminded me a bit of a Jim Jarmusch film. You have a more-or-less ‘normal’ person interacting with weirdoes. If that was the intention, the Tom Cruise fan friend could have been quirkier. And the dark-haired guy should have interacted with the preacher instead of the friend. But if that was the intention, then that’s what I got out of it. The porn actor was the one who sealed it for me. Creepy, invading the guy’s space, uncomfortable situation. So there’s the friend who thinks Tom Cruise is a great actor, a wacko street preacher, a too-close porn actor, and a girl who spends too much time on Facebook. At the end, these two (apparently) Jewish guys walk off to look at a Christmas tree. A bit Jarmusch-esque. As a Jarmusch fan, I appreciate it.
Of course I could be totally wrong.
Here is picture of our director.
You can see the equipment he used in the picture. I don’t know much about the technical aspects of filming, so I don’t if he meant the film to be shaky.
I’ll post an update if we do end up changing the film.
Thanks to everyone that replied. It was really helpful.
Yeah, I thought it looked like he was using a GlideCam style of thing. It looked too smooth to be completely handheld.
Is that a DVX100 camera?
Nice photo, BTW.
The traditional ending when you can’t think of one is to have the main character see a clone of himself walking around and then go nuts.
See:
2001 A Space Odyssey
The Prisoner
Twin Peaks
It’s a HPX170.