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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Piano Man - Short

very nice job Andrew :) playback was a bit choppy on my end ... carrying the piano over the images throughout works for me. Neat twist in the end. How long did this take u to complete? Overall .... well done :)
 
Thanks for checking it out!

As for how long it took to make - let me try to do the math here -

I wrote the screenplay over the course of several days. Then I spent 3 weeks or so casting, doing wardrobe, production design (which included doing a nude photo shoot of my 19 year old male cousin!), and shot lists, rehearsals, lighting tests, rentals, etc. One day to set up all the lights in the main "set", which consisted of me, my producer, and my brother nailing wire and carabiners into the ceiling to support image 45 and image 85 kino flo's. Then there were three days of shooting - two very light days (which werent as easy as they should have been - fought a long hard battle with the sun), and one huge allnighter. We sprayed our actor, Roger Fanter (who was a trooper) with fake blood at four oclock in the morning. Not my proudest moment.

Then I rested for a week, before diving into the rough cut edit. This went very rapidly, as I didnt have the time to shoot any extraneous footage!

Then I got lazy and left it alone for a month, until this past week, where I did a little CC and tightened it up a hair.

So I guess it took a little more than a month from script to edit, minus a full month of time not spent working on it.

It was my first time writing, directing, and doing cinematography, Minus the 4k 72 hour film fest, which I shot without a script and almost no lighting. I had no idea how much work it was going to be and what I was getting myself into! I learned a heap and it was a blast! And kudos to my Amazing producer, Joseph G who put every bit as much into this project as I did and was a great whip on my back at times. And the crew and cast!
 
great work. Acting was good, production vaules really good.
liked the story and didn't see the twist coming... not completly sure i got it though.

So the piano man killed the hitman and accountant? if this was his plan all along why did he need to bring in the other guys at all? was it so he could get out of debt and make some money at the same time? in that case the hitman needed to be the same guy he was talking to on the phone was he?, otherwise whats to stop the guy on the phone from seeking revenge on the piano man?

Maybe i'm thinking about this to much. either way it was an interesting watch.

PS: i believe you could cut the accounts line re the piano mans request for a smoke. it is assumed he's alloud to smoke once we see him out front of the house.
 
scott you got the story wrong I think.

The piano player did not kill the hitman, the hitman killed the piano player.

The guy the piano player talked to on the phone was the hitman. he told the hitman about the plan so he and the hitman could work together and split the money 50-50 but the hitman just decided to kill the piano player so he could keep all the money to himself.

Good work Andrew, I really enjoyed your film. the way you told the story (out of chronological order) was really well done. The length was pretty perfect as well, I wasn't getting bored as I do with a lot of the short films a watch.

Good work.
 
J. Brennan said:
The piano player did not kill the hitman, the hitman killed the piano player.

The guy the piano player talked to on the phone was the hitman. he told the hitman about the plan so he and the hitman could work together and split the money 50-50 but the hitman just decided to kill the piano player so he could keep all the money to himself
Click to expand...

Bingo.


Thanks for watching, guys!
 
"don't kill the barman"

damn that was a great short buddy!!
 
Hello Andrew
I'm impressed...awesome short....Music, images, camera angles....all very beautifull and modern. Exactly where the majors should be going!
I would have done more work with the keyboard reflection in the pianoman glasses!
Plese tell us more on the camera setup. Which focal did you use for the "rich" man when we first see him? He is beautifully cut out from the background.
Again, nice work. Would love to meet you one day.
 
André Bériault said:
Hello Andrew
I'm impressed...awesome short....Music, images, camera angles....all very beautifull and modern. Exactly where the majors should be going!
Click to expand...

Im flattered. Thanks!

André Bériault said:
I would have done more work with the keyboard reflection in the pianoman glasses!
Click to expand...

I wanted to as well, except that the keyboard piece wasn't yet written during shooting - which meant too much of the reflections and it would be apparent that the playing in the glasses didnt match up to the soundtrack. I was just happy to get away with as much of it as I could. I recorded and filmed the composer, wearing the same jacket and gloves as the lead, recording the soundtrack a week after principal photography ended.

André Bériault said:
Plese tell us more on the camera setup. Which focal did you use for the "rich" man when we first see him? He is beautifully cut out from the background.
Click to expand...

I shot using nikkor lenses, a 17-35 2.8, a 50mm 1.4, and an 85mm 1.4. I lit, in general, to around f4, except for the night exteriors which I lit to 2.8. Me and my brother were dragging kino flos up on to the roof and ghetto rigging them up there. Very precarious!

For the introdution o the "Rich man", which plays in slo mo, I think I shot using a 50mm in 2k, which gave it the approximate FOV of a 100 mm. I also had to open up the lens rather wide to maintain consistent exposure at the faster FPS, and shooting 180 degree shutter angle. Im thinking it might have been around f1.8, but thats just conjecture. This accounts for the very blurred out backround. There is a chance I shot it using the 85mm, but Im pretty certain it was the 50mm. I've got a shotlist buried around here somewhere and I could double check. [/QUOTE]


André Bériault said:
Again, nice work. Would love to meet you one day.
Click to expand...

Would be my pleasure!

Andrew Wilding
 
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