Blood Stalker

[mattdaviestv]

BLOOD STALKER

So this is my new horror video about a vampire if that wasnt obvious by the title :P

i made this using my new Canon EoS 600D without a tripod, external mic or lighting and with that in mind i think i did quite well with the low light conditions

hope you enjoy it feedback is much appreciated here and on the video itself, cheers

[Midnight Blue]

I'm not sure if I'm just distracted because I'm at work or I'm a video nerd and cringed at the bad lighting but I couldn't really engage with this story. It seems to have all the right elements, it tried to build up the tension, variaty of shots etc. but I couldn't go along with it, I did try a couple of times. The thing that's bugging me is that I can't put my finger on why. The timing on the editng was a bit off and may be I found the story was predictable, even the scary face at the end was telegraphed to the viewer which lessened the shock factor/impact.

I find myself wanting to like your work because I see a potential in you BUT I think you need to up your game a bit if you want to make better videos.

Stating that you think you did well considering you didn't use the tools you should have used is really saying I couldn't be bothered to do a proper job.

I'm not meaning to be insulting to you I'm just trying to get you to up your game, if that's what you want.

[mattdaviestv]

I'm not sure if I'm just distracted because I'm at work or I'm a video nerd and cringed at the bad lighting but I couldn't really engage with this story. It seems to have all the right elements, it tried to build up the tension, variaty of shots etc. but I couldn't go along with it, I did try a couple of times. The thing that's bugging me is that I can't put my finger on why. The timing on the editng was a bit off and may be I found the story was predictable, even the scary face at the end was telegraphed to the viewer which lessened the shock factor/impact.

I find myself wanting to like your work because I see a potential in you BUT I think you need to up your game a bit if you want to make better videos.

Stating that you think you did well considering you didn't use the tools you should have used is really saying I couldn't be bothered to do a proper job.

I'm not meaning to be insulting to you I'm just trying to get you to up your game, if that's what you want.

well it isnt saying i couldnt be bothered more than its saying i dont own these items and i cant afford them just yet :P and hmmm i dunno i guess sometimes even in professional budget films its hard to go along with the story it may just be one of those videos haha

[MattintheHat]

I think it's pretty good Matt. Only a few shots were hindered by low lighting. The close shot of the girl near the end showed some graininess but the rest looked quite good.
I think, however, it may have been beneficial, and/or added to the progression of the video/story, if there were to have been some shots of the vampire approaching the room with the girl, as opposed to him just being there in the way it played out when she returns to the sofa. In the sense of a stronger tension buildup. Such as cuts back and forth between the "victim" and the "assailant".
(Cut to girl. Cut to vampire creeping up. Cut to girl. Cut to different shot of vampire. so on and so forth.)
But thats just how my head works. I could be wrong. What do I know I'm just some dirty stinking drunk.
But it's good. Thanks for sharing and putting it up for discussion.

*oh and I forgot. the "menacing" audio track starts pretty...... i guess 'abruptly' might be the word. maybe having something like that fade in would be preferable

[mattdaviestv]

I think it's pretty good Matt. Only a few shots were hindered by low lighting. The close shot of the girl near the end showed some graininess but the rest looked quite good.
I think, however, it may have been beneficial, and/or added to the progression of the video/story, if there were to have been some shots of the vampire approaching the room with the girl, as opposed to him just being there in the way it played out when she returns to the sofa. In the sense of a stronger tension buildup. Such as cuts back and forth between the "victim" and the "assailant".
(Cut to girl. Cut to vampire creeping up. Cut to girl. Cut to different shot of vampire. so on and so forth.)
But thats just how my head works. I could be wrong. What do I know I'm just some dirty stinking drunk.
But it's good. Thanks for sharing and putting it up for discussion.

*oh and I forgot. the "menacing" audio track starts pretty...... i guess 'abruptly' might be the word. maybe having something like that fade in would be preferable

thanks for the comment yes a few of the low light shots were unfortunetly grainy but once i have some lighting equipment and a tripod and shotgun mic im going to maybe shoot a prequel to this video maybe explaining why the vampire has descended on this town and yeh man im always open to suggestions like that i mean just from that can tell you have at least a small appreciation for horror hmm i tried it with the fade but it didnt come sudden enough with the light switch as i wanted so i decided to just have a quick blunt start.

[TimStannard]

The problem with the lighting wasn't just the graininess, but the contrast between one shot and the next. Whilst I'm sure it's useful and much easier to get good results with proper lighting, I'm sure you could have found odd lamps around the house which would just hav improved the general level. Also there seemed to ebe a lot of autoexposure going on. Not good.

I'm with the other Matt on the audio - it started very abruptly, though I take your point about wnating to make a connection with the lights switch. Normally you woudln't fade in music so much as start withquiet, suspenseful passage (which may, admiteedly rise out of nothing or "fade in") so that when you switch it up a gear - start to bring in percussive sounds (heartbeats never fail) as the light switch is turned off - it is a natural progression rather than a jarring sound which serves to remind us we are watching a video rather than part of the story. You want to avoid anything which takes the viewer out of the story.

Personally I quite liked the vampire(?) being there one second and not there the next - we never knew where he was going to appear next, but this is harder to carry off than the more standard approach of cutting between vampitre and victim. Truth be told, it didn't quite work here, but all credit for trying.

I enjoyed the opening, scene setting shot. That was well constructe. Our focus is unquestionalble on the radio. Having and everyday activity out of focus in the background sets the scene that this is am ordinary, everyday scene, but with the focus on the radio, there is no doubt that our attention should be on what is being broadcast. Yes, it could have been lit a bit better (just a bit of light on the other side of the radio to separate it even more from the background) but I thought this was a pretty good example of how a shot can be very simple to set up, yet still very effective. Static camera, little required in the way of acting, sound added in post (I'm guessing the tea making sound was live, but it didn't have to be) - really easy to shoot and edit. But very effective.

[mattdaviestv]

The problem with the lighting wasn't just the graininess, but the contrast between one shot and the next. Whilst I'm sure it's useful and much easier to get good results with proper lighting, I'm sure you could have found odd lamps around the house which would just hav improved the general level. Also there seemed to ebe a lot of autoexposure going on. Not good.

I'm with the other Matt on the audio - it started very abruptly, though I take your point about wnating to make a connection with the lights switch. Normally you woudln't fade in music so much as start withquiet, suspenseful passage (which may, admiteedly rise out of nothing or "fade in") so that when you switch it up a gear - start to bring in percussive sounds (heartbeats never fail) as the light switch is turned off - it is a natural progression rather than a jarring sound which serves to remind us we are watching a video rather than part of the story. You want to avoid anything which takes the viewer out of the story.

Personally I quite liked the vampire(?) being there one second and not there the next - we never knew where he was going to appear next, but this is harder to carry off than the more standard approach of cutting between vampitre and victim. Truth be told, it didn't quite work here, but all credit for trying.

I enjoyed the opening, scene setting shot. That was well constructe. Our focus is unquestionalble on the radio. Having and everyday activity out of focus in the background sets the scene that this is am ordinary, everyday scene, but with the focus on the radio, there is no doubt that our attention should be on what is being broadcast. Yes, it could have been lit a bit better (just a bit of light on the other side of the radio to separate it even more from the background) but I thought this was a pretty good example of how a shot can be very simple to set up, yet still very effective. Static camera, little required in the way of acting, sound added in post (I'm guessing the tea making sound was live, but it didn't have to be) - really easy to shoot and edit. But very effective.

im definately going to take in all your ideas on lighting and background music technique for my follow up to this video. i say follow up it will in fact be a prequel about why the vampire descended on this town, i plan to make it a kind of movie short maybe around 15 mins long. thank you i thought to myself that the opening scene was probably the most professional looking scene of the whole video but for next time i want to apply that level of appearence to the whole video haha.

cheers for commenting

[jimbob2k]

Ive done some shooting in my house in the dark. It looked pretty grainy. So I found the best way was to recreate the level of darkness you want by shooting in light and adjusting your aperture/levels etc down suffiencently to have a nice clear but darker image. Too much ISO will look terrible. Im guessing this is your new 600d you got recenlty. With a bit of playing around with it and researching on youtube you should be able to get an excellent HD film look. I have the 550d and my big problem is the editing, I cannot get my head around sony vegas, and end up doing it in live movie maker, but its very limited. It also compresses the quality a bit too much unlike vegas. Unless Im doing something wrong with it.

As for the movie, storywise, well it didnt really have one. I think when shooting in a residential property, again Im summising that this is your house. You are restricted to what you can and cant do and how you can shoot. The radio bit was a good touch, altho no offence mate your northern tones are well known to us so I had a problem accepting that it was a real broadcast.
The door handle seemed to last too long, we knew it was going to open. The door should have been locked you would assume, I mean who would leave their door unlocked at night these days, esp in redcar.

[enc]

enjoyed that

[mattdaviestv]

enjoyed that

thank you glad you liked it