My first drama in 40 years.

farss wrote on 4/9/2012, 4:33 AM

I've been a bit reluctant to share this because compared to a lot of the work I see here and by my own standards it isn't all that good. BUT...I had a ball doing it, so did everyone involved including the better half who it turned out is a pretty decent boom swinger. The final giggle is I let myself be talked into being in front of the camera.

In fairness to the talent, none of them have been in front of a camera before and the few that have had any acting experience it has been on stage. Same goes for the screenwriter / director. In combination that led to a lot of issues editing it. I should have been more on the ball during shooting making certain the talent were hitting the same lines at the same place, so yes, there's some horrid cuts.

The other lesson I learned is to watch motion when you shoot and think how it'll cut into the next shot. A couple of cuts jar something fierce because of this oversight on my part..

Needless to say all cut in Vegas, only Rx was used to get rid of some location noise.
For the sake of my sanity each scene had it's own project and they were nested into a master project where I added music and adjusted levels. As the script changed a couple of times and scenes were reshot this approach made my life reasonably easy.

Bob.

Comments

craftech wrote on 4/9/2012, 5:45 AM

I liked it Bob.

The message was clear and consistent with the teachings. That was it's goal and it accomplished that.

Well done.

John

ushere wrote on 4/9/2012, 7:22 AM

well done!

liked syd quad transposed to church ;-)

what mic outside - was pretty clean sound, was that post rx?

farss wrote on 4/9/2012, 8:22 AM

"what mic outside - was pretty clean sound, was that post rx"

Scene with the young boy and priest on the steps both had wireless mics on them.
We found that too time consuming trying to hide them in those costumes plus we were getting a lot of fabric noise. From then on it was just a Senny 416 on a pole.

Indeed some shots needed to have noises such as buses and cars removed with Rx, especially the scene with the mother and daughter. That building was at an intersection and there was a bus stop immediately outside plus a chopper kept flying over.
Bob.

Tom Pauncz wrote on 4/9/2012, 11:33 AM

Liked it Bob. Good stuff!
What was the camera?
Tom

farss wrote on 4/9/2012, 3:23 PM

"What was the camera?"

My EX1 except for one day when I had to use someone else's EX3 which I nearly dropped off that bridge thanks to a faulty euro style release plate. I caught the camera in mid air.

Bob.

amendegw wrote on 4/9/2012, 3:45 PM

Bob,

Was that you at 03:45? Oscar material! :-)

...Jerry

paul_w wrote on 4/9/2012, 5:21 PM

Nice one Bob, thanks for sharing. Looks like a lot of fun!. :)

Paul.

xberk wrote on 4/9/2012, 10:18 PM

I applaud the message wholeheartedly.
I watched the whole thing, so that's pretty good.
This "drama" stuff is not easy, huh?
I congratulate you on completing the effort despite the problems.
I know the work that goes into these things. But it sounds like it was a labor of love.

Kick in the pants to see you on camera Bob. Very poised were you !

Paul

Golfer wrote on 4/10/2012, 12:56 AM

Thanks for sharing Bob.. truly

farss wrote on 4/10/2012, 2:48 AM

"Was that you at 03:45?"

Guilty as charged your honour.

"Oscar material!"

Thanks Jerry, now I'm blushing.
I usually suffer badly from stage fright but I'd been so flat out trying to dress the set, light it and get the director to push the record button that I didn't have time to freeze up.

That was my first attempt at "motivated" lighting. In a small room that is way harder to pull off than I thought it would be. Apart from the desk lamp that I'd messed with using ND gell I had two Z96 LED lights with Cinefoil made into a snoot to control the spill.

Bob.

Grazie wrote on 4/10/2012, 3:08 AM

Thanks for sharing Bob!

Have you got an itch/ache to do more?

Grazie

farss wrote on 4/10/2012, 7:03 AM

"Have you got an itch/ache to do more?"

With the same group, for sure.
We all started with the same level of (in)competance and it'd be quite rewarding for us to keep going and build on what we've learnt. So long as we keep it no budget, low key, seat of our pants and have fun and the odd good laugh at one another when we stuff up I'm good for it.

Bob.

megabit wrote on 4/10/2012, 7:45 AM

Well done, Bob!

I envy you having the time and artistic ideas necessary to even start a drama production. When I was buying my camera(s), and spending more and more on the rigs (yes - I do believe that the gear lust is a decease) - I kept telling myself I would be doing things like this... Unfortunately, my other involvements keep me busy enough to only be capable of a couple music videos a year...

Piotr

CorTed wrote on 4/10/2012, 11:56 AM

Great job Bob, I loved it.
Nice smooth pans, and yes you are definite oscar material.
I'd say do another one..... (I kow I would love to try one)

Ted

Serena wrote on 4/10/2012, 8:13 PM

Nice little film with a pleasing richness in your videography. The Indian actors have a relaxed and natural presence, although perhaps it's just their accents hiding from me any staginess in their speaking. I suggest that it's the director's job to plan shots that cut together (the DP has enough to do without directing the director) and perhaps next time some story boarding could prevent those crossing the line errors and awkward cuts. At around 0:20 I might have stuck with the master shot because the MCUs cut in very awkwardly, but that's easy for me to say. I would have preferred the music lower under the dialogue, but drowning the actors is the contemporary Aussie audio style. Some most heavy footsteps from the lightest actor! Maybe work a bit closer and more attention to the rule of thirds?
Looking forward to your next film with this company. As my mentor keeps telling me: "get out there and shoot".

farss wrote on 4/10/2012, 9:11 PM

"the DP has enough to do without directing the director"

Very well said and the rest of it as well.
You didn't get to see the best part of the staginess thanks to Vegas's Secondary CC. The first two days of shooting the director put bright red lipstick on everyone. I thought it was just part of some Indian custom until she saw the footage, reeled back in horror and asked me if I could get rid of the lipstick. I asked why it was on the talent to start with and she said "because it looks good when people act on the stage".

We'd also originally shot the last scenes with the teenage Vivekandra played by a girl and I thought she played the part brilliantly and her androgenous look worked a treat. Apparently though the Indian community found the concept offensive and we had to reshoot all those scenes.

This film was shot to enter into a local short film competition with the prize coming from Western Union with an additional prize for the best product placement. A pretty good piece of scripting managed to wrangle "western union" into the final words but even I felt that was over the top and thankfully it went from the final cut.

Bob.

imaginACTION_films wrote on 4/10/2012, 9:52 PM

Don't leave it another 40 years, Bob, this was great!

I was a judge in two Se3agate video competitions and I saw hundre4ds of clips, 90 percent of which were utter self-indulgent rubbish (by contrast most of the stills in the stills section were excellent!). So this little film stands out as a real gem. Sure there are some ways it could be improved but as others have mentioned, it makes you wqant to stay with it and it makes you feel uplifted at the sentiments. Congratulations to everyone involved!
David