Saturday, March 10, 2007

Silence Averted

So I've been fairly quiet on my film in recent weeks. It's not that I've lost interest in updating this blog, although sometimes it's difficult to cut out what's interesting to what's boring (and frankly, editing isn't exciting to talk about), I've just been working hard on it because of impending deadlines. But no worries; alas, ALAS, it has come to a halt - the film is completed, and submitted to two separate Film Festivals (One that's National). I find out tomorrow if it gets in to the first, and I dunno on the second one (national).

I'm fairly confident it'll get in the first, as it's a student film festival being shown locally. There's lots of interesting stuff condensed into an ADD lover's paradise of 12 minute films over 2 hours, so you get a bit of everything. If you're in London, Ontario, Canada on March 16-17th, check it out at Rainbow Cinemas, and then go get wasted for St. Patty's Day.

The film itself I'm fairly happy with; I was told earlier today that I'll probably never be totally satisfied with my work, which is likely to be true. I love how the images are crisp and sharp; at the bottom of this post there's a few framegrabs of the finished product. The story flows well visually - 99% of the actions match up from shot to shot, which is what took the most amount of time in editing (which I assume is typical), but the dialogue isn't quite as natural as I'd wanted it to be. For that I don't blame the actors; rather, it was certainly my directing. On set I envisioned it laying out differently (pacing wise) then what the edit gave, so it's a bit choppy, or more accurately, too obvious it's scripted. The actors themselves deliver the lines fine; my lead actually did a fantastic job and really got a good feel for the character. The music wasn't what I expected either, but that's cause there wasn't enough time for an original soundtrack and it was a scramble to find an artist that I could use their music for free. I also didn't like how it transitions into the flashbacks; I couldn't get the proper feel so I used a green matte, which will probably confuse people rather than give the feeling of murky "sickness". I probably should have additive dissolved or something... I dunno, maybe I'll recut it (probably not, though).


What I DID like though was the title screen, and the crispness of the images. The opening scene alone is like an art painting that moves; everything about it is so sharp and colourful. The title screen is complete badassery for effects, and I'd explain it but it's easier to look at the pictures at the bottom.

There's a lot more to talk about in this film, but I think I'll hold off until after the festival (and I'll get this film up online).

Mark

No comments: