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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 :)

Trailer for "Stiffs" - Shot on RPP's

Jonathan Stevenson

Jonathan Stevenson

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I am pleased to announce that we've almost finished post production on the first short film in Colorado to be shot on the Red Primes (Shot in July 09) We are now deep into Post and hope to have the film done in about a month. We shot 9 straight days- all night shoots, which included closing down a street in downtown Denver, building 2 sets in a condemned warehouse, and taking over a house in the mountains for 2 days.

Jeff Kilgroe graciously rented us the Red Pro Primes for the shoot, which he literally received from FedEx about 6 hours before bringing them to us for our first day of shooting. For this, we are eternally grateful. The primes performed beautifully, as expected- our DP said he didn't notice any breathing, the focus and iris action is tasty and thick, and they have a rugged, tough coating that withstood several drops... I MEAN.... uh..... just check out the trailer!

The comedy film follows two Coroner drivers who pick up a girl that's recently committed suicide. The only problem is that she was never dead in the first place. Now they must figure out what to do with her...

Trailer- (omitted for now)

I would love any feedback if you have it!! If you want to see some (ungraded) screen grabs, visit http://chaptertenfilms.com/film/My_Albums/Pages/Stiffs_Grabs.html


A013_C010_071216_0416.jpg
 
Trailer looks great! I love to see the RED PRO PRIMES in action. Good stuff!
 
what does everyone think about the acting? To me it looks a bit staged. The timing could use some tightening. Also you may consider having sound sweetened a bit before passing the clip around. The concept looks interesting but the acting looks shallow. Hopefully you can tighten the cut.
 
Thanks for your comments. Could you elaborate on the sound issues? And the acting was the acting, not much we can change about it now, haha. I see what you mean though.
 
I always find it interesting how people like to comment about tighter editing when only seeing a teaser trailer. That said, the trailer could perhaps use a tweak or two. I've only seen some of the rough cut short at this point, but there's a lot more going on than what is portrayed in the trailer. It's a short film, don't want to give away too much in the trailer.

As Jon says, the acting is what it is. Perhaps a bit shallow in places or even "canned ham", but what micro-budget indie short doesn't suffer from this? Seriously, I want to know? ...Let alone in a teaser trailer released during post, assuming the film even gets a trailer.
 
I guess I'm curious about what's coming across as "shallow acting" in the trailer? There's like 3 lines of dialog here. Are all 3 of those clips bad?

BTW, thanks Jeff for defending our shitty acting. haha :-)
 
The only thing that comes across in the trailer to me is the screaming while the van skids to a stop. It's a little on the cheesy side, sorry. :) It played out really funny in the rough cut I saw though. Watching the trailer again a couple times, I think I agree on the audio sweetening. There is nothing "wrong" with it now, but the opening "time of death" line for the trailer seems to lack that "professionally processed" vibe that we have all become accustomed to.

Anyway, welcome to criticism on reduser.net. My favorite is when I post a grab from a camera test to recreate an image anomaly and people ignore the issue being discussed and critique the cinematography... It's like reviewing shots of a test chart and complaining that the subject is so two-dimensional.
 
Hahaha. Well, the van screaming is supposed to be cheesy, so I'm glad you had that reaction. Maybe it's just not working because up to that point in the trailer, the tone is much more serious.
We're going to send the final cut into a studio for professional mixing, so it'll only get better from here.
Funny you should say that, I've noticed in the past that your test chart shots are somewhat lacking in strong metaphorical composition... ;-)
 
Jonathan Stevenson said:
Funny you should say that, I've noticed in the past that your test chart shots are somewhat lacking in strong metaphorical composition... ;-)
Click to expand...

I know... I've tried to improve, but can't seem to make it work. I think I'll have to take the easy way out and just let bikini girls hold my charts from now on.
 
I think that there was a lot of problems with the trailer. First of all, we follow the dead girl in the beginning. As I see it, it's a story about the two guys, and therefore we need to follow them. Dark gothic music, doesn't work for me. I'm expecting something to happen -- therefore it's no surprise. It's sort of like the cheesy Extreme Close-ups on object that are important later in the story, that we've all seen before. I would choose "fun" music, and follow two guy - perhaps on their first assignment or whatever -discussing something stupid... and the BAM! dead girl's alive! Maybe even see them carrie her out to the van or whatever they do. The fade in/out does not work for me either, it supports the mood, that I think is wrong. And I think the screaming-part would work better, if it wasn't there until after we see the van make that heavy brake.

Just a few opinions. Hope it'll help sell your movie.
 
I think I the main problem with the trailer. I'll be recutting and reposting tomorrow. Thanks for the input.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I always find it interesting how people like to comment about tighter editing when only seeing a teaser trailer. That said, the trailer could perhaps use a tweak or two. I've only seen some of the rough cut short at this point, but there's a lot more going on than what is portrayed in the trailer. It's a short film, don't want to give away too much in the trailer.

As Jon says, the acting is what it is. Perhaps a bit shallow in places or even "canned ham", but what micro-budget indie short doesn't suffer from this? Seriously, I want to know? ...Let alone in a teaser trailer released during post, assuming the film even gets a trailer.
Click to expand...


so why was the teaser posted - if not for feedback?

I know it must sting a little to get less than positive feedback but hey I was trying to give an honest impression of what I saw.
 
Adil, I was not offended by your feedback. It is much appreciated. That is why I've now removed the trailer for revision and will be reposting it later this week. I definitely appreciate a non-biased, honest opinion about the work we put out, so thank you.
 
Adil Lahoulou said:
so why was the teaser posted - if not for feedback?
Click to expand...

Of course. :cheers2:

I probably came off as a bit defensive and it's not even my film. :) I just supplied the lenses.

To me, having seen a lot of the rough cut of the film, I didn't feel the trailer gave a good representation of the film. It didn't have the same vibe.
 
Can't wait to see it now after all this chatter! Any chance of posting the original trailer along with the revised one? Would love to see what prompted all these comments.

Cheers,

Jim
 
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