Thread: Dead Man Working

Hi Everyone,

Been reading these forums for a while, thought I would share my first effort with you. Made by four of us over four days last November, a great learning experience as it was the first time any of us made a short video.

Shot with a Sony VX2100 and edited on Adobe Premiere 6.5. Shot on campus (office scene), around Farnham, and Canary Wharf including the station (thanks to the station manager who was very cool letting us film, albeit without the tripod).

Also have to mention Oly, co-creator, who jumped in at the deep end with the acting when we couldn't find anyone willing to do the project.

http://www.alpinequest.co.uk/phpnuke...download&cid=4

A few problems, no script...audio turned out pretty shoddy so we threw a song on top which is a big cheat i know but we still feel it works well. The actual story took 2 months of arguing/debating to develop. Editing took another 3 weeks, of 10 hour days 5 days a week, mostly due to it being a big learnng process for us.

Bear in mind there is a longish colour bars/black video at the beginning and it hasnt been deinterlaced.

Anyway it would be great to hear your comments, good or bad, don't hold back!

Cheers,

Anthony

i loved it...How long did it take you?
Spell check:Luke

Really nice work, with some great camera angles. This is a classic example of what a little planning and a lot of editing can do. Well done!

Very slick, this is great editing. Love the fades to white, the blurs, and the sequence of shots throughout is brilliant, especially in the tube station.
Not sure about the ending, though.

I am impressed, I'm particularly fond of the camera angles on the way to work.....good job

Wow, thanks for the great responses guys.

Our only brief for the project was that it had to relate to the theme of identity. Regarding the ending, I dont want to spoil it for anyone, but its symbolic...there arent really 2 Bills, its just him breaking free of his old life.

I thought the entire story could be built upon and would love to reshoot the whoe thing, perhaps with a budget larger than the £10 it cost..excluding travel cards to London When I saw the excellent "The Machinist" (which came out a few months after we made this) I was shocked at some of the basic similarities between the two premises, check it out if you haven't yet.

We would love to make something a little longer, with speech, a couple more characters and of course greater character development. The office scene is perhaps its lowest point, though not bad, it doesn't really fit in with the Canary Wharf setting, is too brightly lit (would look nice with spot lighting on Bill perhaps).

We couldn't lug a dolly around on the tube so i bought a mini skateboard from tesco and we strapped the camera to it for the outside shot following the feet into the office.

@LukeD; When we approached our tutors with the idea they told us it was impossible and to cut the story down, as we only had the equipment booked for 5 days. Being the stubborn person I am we persisted and did it in 4 days. But filming is really only a small part of the story, planning took 6-8 weeks of arguing. I think the arguing made the whole project, we spent hours every day at eachothers throats..it helped fine tune what we wanted, and brought us closer together. Then the editing process, as you all know, is where the magic happens...3 weeks of intense, long days. I lost over a stone in weight during this time as i completely forgot about food...yes, editing is the new power walking.

Thanks again, if you have any more questions feel free to fire away.

Anthony

edit: P.s. Checkout my cousins reel here http://www.spyentertainment.com/director_08.html. and also his latest commercial http://www.strategymag.com/screening...404/three.html.

B E A U T I F U L!!!!! - very nice job mate. - Well put together, well shot, well cut and a stonking good tune!

I loved the frankenstien tea making too.

Absolutely top banana. Very good indeed. Any more in the pipeline?

Amazing, shows what brilliant results you can get on a shoestring bugdet and a mini skateboard.

just a quick question...How did you do that what looked like DMX lighting waS IT tourches?
Spell checked:luke