|
|
Ok, so that leaves me somewhat disappointed, but I still think this was our best work yet. If I had had Vegas 6 about a week earlier I would have solved most of the flaws (stereo sound, establishing the room by putting the multiple personalities in a shot together) and we probably would have gotten a few more votes, but like Matt said "I would have voted for them if this wasn't my film" and I agree. Props to Ground Floor for comming back from "Family" with a good entry that amazes me Technically at the very least. The plot was good too, but a little slow and I had to watch it twice before I caught all the little nusiances that they use to directly contrast the first encounter to the second. The existence of those nusiances is worthy of some props though.
Lets hope that week 84 is an awesome topic, 'cause we currently have nothing for week 82 or 83 and we'll be going to school about the time 85 rolls around. I'll need to have decided on the whole video camera thing by then...
~Mark, the desert ninja
| | |
| So, Wyoming Jones and the Complicated Tree is through. We, in the lightweight category, came in 3rd of four. To be beaten by HHG is humiliating enough, but I do understand why we only gained 21 votes, and perhaps why we were lightweighted.
The problem, as Newman so kindly helped me realize, was the story. My fault. It filled the requirements, but it wasn't very gripping. It boiled down to a man climbing in his tree. Sure, there was an unusual twist at the end, but it was high brow material, and not neccessarily appealing to all. As opposed to our last film, Disciples of the Gun, which had dynamic characters and a blood-soaked (in a figurative sense) plot. If I had realized the difference earlier, I may have been able to tweak Wyoming to make it a better film. As it is, there's nothing I can do for Reality Reversed. We shall see what feedback we get from that, and move on to some private projects to hone our skills.
-Matthew Nellist
President
PS: Tuesday, 25 July 2006 is the WORLD PREMIERE of Newmanmedia's Wyoming Jones and the Complicated Tree. Come see the stars! Interviews! Fine gourmet catering! More exclamation points than you can shake a stick at!!!!
| | |
| Lets say that this week is...complicated, to say the least. This, unlike DOTG, was a relatively short work cycle. We had our principle footage on time, and editing didn't drag on for a week and a half. The film is running, and is a LightWeight. As far as that goes, I'd like to open a line of discussion as to why that is. Here's the Editor's take on 8DL WJCT (WYOMING JONES and the COMPLICATED TREE)
1) We had a problem with the capture. We observe this issue and realize that the video could have been much more crisp. I am under the impression that our cameraman now understands his computer better and that if I capture or if he captures we should get quality footage.
2) We had a problem with the audio. That problem is known as wind noise. I am assured by our cameraman that his camera was foolproof, and that wind noise was impossible. This appears to have been an incorrect assumption. It is therefore my opinion that any further shooting done outside should be done with our cameraman's Hi-8 camera because it has a microphone that we can use to maintain solid audio quality. I can capture from such a camera with more ease than with a firewire equiped camera, so the transfer rate shouldn't be a problem in the future.
Lets please remember that quality is our goal, not speed. I don't want to hear anyone say "It'll be fine for FilmFights." We're a quality establishment and if we lower our standards our product will be that much lower than it should be.
3) Camera angles. Unfortunately, I was dissapointed with much of the camerawork in this film. DOTG worked well in the end, despite my early misgivings, but this one suffered from a lack of direction. The presence of both Directors will be neccessary in future endeavors to ensure that everyone is on the same page in future work.
4) Costume. This, in my mind, was unacceptable. Much of the idea was that some guy with an enduringly young personality was going to go adventuring as "Wyoming Jones, Entrepid Adventure Extrodiare." I'm not digging the platypus. If we were going to go more modern adventurer, he should have gone up with a fully equiped backpack and setup a serious pad up in the tree. Hanging around in a Hammock when the wierd guy walks up would have been way superior.
Costume has to be all the way. If its not blatatantly obvious and stronlgy established the idea's not going to get accross. Think big when it comes to costume! Go to the extremes and establish a character to the Nth degree with it. LOOK AT "MAPLE LOVE" was I only somewhat nerdy? It wasn't just taped glasses and me still wearing a normal sweet band t-shirt or something. I went with STAR WARS and a Nintendo Track Jacket! She wasn't just kinda goth. We did MAKEUP and the whole goth bracelets thing.
On another note, in hindsight being 20/20, he should have found a more cloakish thing up in the tree so he was more of a mysterious figure. The hoodie didn't do what I thought it would. This runs along that same mindset.
(By the way, this doesn't mean that I support casting GUMBY as the father in a film. That was strong costume, but doing the absurd in that form isn't our style. We try to keep in the range of Mid to High Comedy if we're going to try to be funny. Low Comedy (slapstick) might still be in our range, but Dumb Comedy (acting dumb because people will laugh at us for how stupid we're acting isn't on our list).
4) I did like the concept still. Writing's good, keep that up. Acting still needs work, we need to conference with our actors a bit and give them a better idea of what we're looking for. I'm considering having Matt and I do dubbed storyboards in moviemaker, he just won't know it until I talk to him or he reads this.
5) I still have to work out if I can put two people in the same shot or not using MovieMaker. I don't think I want to outsource greenscreen work unless I have to, 'cause I don't want to impose upon our neighbor studio. I do, however, think that doing a project in conjunction with NewmanMedia again would prove beneficial. Now that we've done a couple on our own to have Newman's advice again might prove extremely valuable.
~Mark, the desert ninja
I'll do reviews later, improving ourselves was most important to me at the moment.
| | |
| Editing has actually begun on "Wyoming Jones and the Complicated Tree." I finally got the footage from our cameraman (wow, that took way too long, but not his fault, just wierd occurances with the mail). In fact, editing may have been completed as of noon today. The current run will be posted on youtube as soon as its moderated or something. Feel free to comment here or contact me however you know how. I'm a little more happy with this one than DOTG so far. The wind noise is annoying, we'll have to avoid that in the future. It would also be nice if we could get a higher quality capture in the future, if resolution is bad on the initial capture, it'll only get worse in the editing proccess. MPEG is superior to WMV.
Link for youtube
UPDATE: Wyoming Jones starts FRIDAY! I've finished the final edit, as of now, 11:27PM Wendesday July 12, 2006. Its up on youtube too. Find it yourself, I only got 6 hours of sleep. We got 21 votes in DOTG. That, my friends, is a second place finish. I did some heavy editing from the last take, so check it out.
~Mark, the desert ninja.
| | |
| Filming for Wyoming Jones is complete. Editing is occuring,
though not necessarily at 8DL studios. Scripting for Reality
Reversed is in progress (no, really. Not limbo at all!) If
you want to star in it, boldly step forward.
| | |
|
