So I just finished my first short film for a christian ministry with a gh1 hacked. Used the max latitude patch. I would like your input on the visuals as well as the content. I understand many may disagree with Christian views but I encourage you to still to have an open mind and give thoughtful input if you have any. :)
"When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!
But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit!
But I want you to know something, this is sincere, I want you to know, when it comes to believing in God, I really tried. I really, really tried. I tried to believe that there is a God, who created each of us in His own image and likeness, loves us very much, and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize, something is fucked up.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the résumé of a Supreme Being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently-run universe, this guy would've been out on his all-powerful ass a long time ago. And by the way, I say "this guy", because I firmly believe, looking at these results, that if there is a God, it has to be a man.
No woman could or would ever fuck things up like this. So, if there is a God, I think most reasonable people might agree that he's at least incompetent, and maybe, just maybe, doesn't give a shit. Doesn't give a shit, which I admire in a person, and which would explain a lot of these bad results. "
I like the setup of the shots and the contrast. The text disappears too fast for slow readers, I'm not a fan of the font. The speech is easily comprehensible and the background sounds are good.
The acting is a bit off for my feeling, but that could be due to the content. If this is meant for adults, then I think the acting is either over the top or the dialogue is just not very well written and incoherent. It could be my atheist bias, though.
If this is meant for children, then I think it will really, really scare them. The high contrast, close ups, sound design and acting gives an uneasy feeling. Also it's very unclear to me what you're trying to teach the viewer? If fear is what you're looking for, job well done.
To be honest, it feels like you're trying to scare the viewer into believing? If you're showing this to children, then that will probably work, but I would also have to say I find that a bit immoral.
@spaceandtime Hope it's useful to know - there's a rule of thumb about text on the screen: you should be able to read it three times before it disappears. Therefore as @Retina says, the text isn't up there for long enough. "All uppercase" takes longer to read than the normal mix of cases, so that, plus the short time it's onscreen, makes it even harder to read.
@Mark_the_Harp Yep, I now realize I should of have left the words on for a much longer period. As you have all said they fade away too soon. Did not know that principle about text on the screen, thanks for that, I'll be using that guideline from now on.
@spaceandtime really enjoyed the framing and the grade seemed pretty good. Nice use of the shadows and light. At this point however, I must mention that I love lurking on this site where it's ok to speak about politics and religion. And in most cases, everything hums along smoothly... More or less. Therefore, I must say, the message of the piece is predictably disgusting. Fear is and always will be the currency of religion. The wonderful thing about the world we are living briefly in is that, by and large, we are progressing away from the stone age. But that's just my opinion. If you were to use this as part of a horror flick, I would be keen to see a lot more... I know it takes guts to put stuff out there for people to attack so thumbs up for that! Thanks.
You have some serious banding issues there, maybe consider working in 32 bit and using driftwoods 176m patch? :) also try getting a steadicam and lowering shutter speed, as your images suffer quite badly from post-stabilization. I liked your framing, sometimes i would have liked something else in focus maybe. overall acting was okay, but in the closeup shots you could see the black girl was unexperienced still..
but carry on, maybe next time do a movie without a propaganda message, its very obvious - and i dont think its a good idea to try to convice people that this is true, what you say in your movie :)
I liked the look of it. yes there were some technical issues that pros could nitpick, but for the average viewer the way you framed the shots helped to tell the story and I think most will focus on the story.
As for the subject of the short, almost everyone has their own views on faith and politics and so I think this is as valid as any. It's up to the individual to make up their own mind what they believe. I see no problem in it, since it involves making an individual choice and isn't forced on anyone.
I don't know if the camera shake's rolling shutter at 2m40 is due to YouTube or the GH1. I assume you did this with shaking the GH1, which might give you better results done in post.
I like the clip,but not the Cristian tone in it. leave the text out, and let people imagination do the work. A girl running .. scared for something, what?
I totally agree with Vitaliy, when you get older, things change. You better understand how the world works, watch around, the world of today is changing rapidly. Even the pope is going a strange way last days....
But you are wright, people need to wake up. So the message is good, but leave out the text, and do some more research. For example, you need the dark side to make the clip interesting. A scary Forrest. a girl running (from what?) dark sounds to set the tone off the clip. And then, there is light, the one girl even steps out to reach the other. And the fear is gone.
You already see the different's for yourself, but you give credit to god, why? I don't no if it was the meaning off the clip. But one girl, is alone and properly very closed for the world around her, what give the fear. The other one is open to the world around her and feels free. The open mind is what takes away the fear...
by the way, i am a Cristian, i also learned to watch around, look ad people who are really make a change in the world. Read things about them, and what makes them drive. For example the last speech from oprah tels a lot.....
Off course this is a my very personal views on things.
Nice well shot short film..I would agree lose the text and leave to interpretation. I dont understand it when some people nitpick on technicalities like banding or posterisation when someone makes the effort to make narrative films with actors and a story..but thats just me.
Thanks for the input on the text. I actually did think about just leaving it out, but at the time I felt it would not have been the same. Guess I'll just put it in the past as a learning experience. :P
The earthquake by After Effects expression? Cool. It would have been nicer if the talents had shaken a bit by themselves immediately after the earthquake effect.
Well I do have a problem with this treatment as it falls into the category of propaganda. And propoganda blows. It's a mistake to say "All epistemological systems are equal"-- as is implied in these comments. They're not, the ones based on rationalism are superior to the ones based on superstition. That aside, I like the framing and the locations, acting was thin, but compensated by the fact the Black chick was a bit of a looker. One scene near the end, the earthquake, suffered greatly from the cmos jellovision.