Life of a Spy - Dramatic Short Film

[gdn35]

This is a short film I made this month. Filming was done in 3 days and shot on location in Aberdeen, Scotland. I filmed it with a Canon 550D - constructive comments are very welcome and much appreciated. Thanks.

[Midnight Blue]

Very nice job. I didn't notice the dead man was different to the husband so well done for hiding that BUT why ? was it just for a bit of fun.

I liked the script, the editing, cinematography, the acting, directing, the sound was mostly good with just a couple of little moments like the phone call was hard to understand what was being said.

Very brave to not have any dialogue until 2 mins into the movie.

Great job. You should all be proud.

[gdn35]

Thanks for the reply! The dead man (who gets strangled in the bedroom) is the husband!

Thank You for the compliments in regards to the production. I understand that phone call was slightly tough - I added in an audio effect, maybe it worked but maybe it didn't.

[Midnight Blue]

Ok, I've just re watched it there is another one at the begining which I'd missed.

[slimbob]

Thought this was very well made.
Lots of great camera work like (2.19) and many more too many to mention as I said it is obvious you know what you are doing and it shows in your well made video.

Bits I didn’t like were:

Speeded up beach walk scene
Inset pictures at start I didn’t like.

Agree with Midnight (ie) 2 minutes with no dialogue is hard to pull off but you did it well.
Another great example of a film with no dialogue for a long time after start is
"There will be blood" - excellent movie

One other thing, which is just a personal opinion.

After the initial 2 minutes the film didn’t grab me or hold my attention I made myself watch it to the end compared to wanting to watch it to the end.

Please note that is a personal opinion on the films content.

However there is no denying that you have made a very professional film.

Many congratulations on a job well done.

[gdn35]

Thanks for the welcome! I just found this forum today and I will definitely be active in posting over the coming months - watching other peoples work as well as posting my own.

I appreciate your honesty and thanks very much for complimenting my skills as a filmmaker. I am glad it looks professional.

[David H]

Hi

I just watched your short film. Good work, but a couple of your actors were a bit ropey and your baddy spies can't run, it looked really out of place in the housing estate and church yard shot, but overall it was an interesting 12 minutes and I enjoyed it.

I'd love to be able to put something like that together myself one day. I know little about shooting films at the moment, but as a viewer I felt the explaining of the plot through long dialogues was not necessary. I'd let the characters act more and those parts of the story will be made obvious through the character acting. The lead, she really looked the part, like a professional actress, I could imagine her on the BBC/ITV. I would have given her less monologue and more shower scenes, but that's another genre of film.

I look forward to your next production =)

D Holmes.

[gdn35]

Thank You for the comment, David.

[zamiotana]

My feedback: I loved this movie. Whoever was operating the camera did a fantastic job.

My suggestion: My wife usually edits my movies and 90% of my precious footage ends up being cast out. If she was editing your movie, my guess is that she would a) cut out the first couple of minutes and just "jump into the story" with minimal introduction and b) end the movie a few seconds after the phone call.

Zam

Digital Video and Film

[gdn35]

I operated the camera for this film so thank you for the compliment. Maybe you should give this movie to your wife to edit and we can compare