Posthuman: "Strain Theory" - The first episode of my web series...

[T'Baio]

Thanks for the advice! I had never heard of Lulu before, and have checked it out now. Very interesting, and a distinct possibility. We've already had in mind the idea of eventually editing all the episodes together and possibly having a screening in town one day in the future.

But those are all pipe dreams for now!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Computers and the Internet bring pipe dreams within reach.

 

[Mr Awe]

Very nice!! Well done!!

I'll echo the comments about the sound and female lead. In particular, with the female lead, it's not the direction. She's just uneven. She does serious well but not so much the light hearted. Just something for her to work on.

I enjoyed this!

Mr Awe

 

[Trekker4747]

Pretty cool and looks decently made. I think it'd be neat if the "noir" vibe of it were cranked up a degree or two but, otherwise, it's pretty decent and watchable.

 

[T'Baio]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys!

 

[Guartho]

Quite good. I did occasionally notice the audio issues that Holdy mentions. For the muddy dialogue, as has been mentioned, keeping that mic as accurately aimed, and as close as possible will help immensely. For the audio dipping out during cuts, something that can help hide that and add atmosphere is to lay down a continuous ambient noise track. It can be as simple as the sound of the empty room, or it can be something like city street noise from another source that you keep low, and maybe mud up a bit, like it's out the window. In any case, just a track that fits the scene and is as long as your scene can do wonders for sub-consciously selling the reality of your scene.

The only other comment I have is purely a stylistic/artistic suggestion and should be taken as such. It looks to me like color footage that has been fully desaturated. In ye olde days of film black and white film usually had greater contrast than that. You might want to play around with the contrast and see if you discover a different look that you like. If it were me, I'd start by crushing the blacks some to see what happens.

Also, I couldn't tell when you were using a prime lens vs. a zoom, contrary to the problem you mentioned in your PM. Good luck, and keep pushing the envelope. We corporate guys learn a lot from what you artistic guys do with the same equipment.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

A very nice start! I'll post my thoughts here shortly, and will probably put a full review on my site (I've been meaning to get back into reviewing web series and this is the perfect excuse). But before I do, I'm curious about a couple of technical aspects of your production. You mention a DSLR -- which one are you using? Which lens(es)? I recently purchased a Canon T2i with an eye on, eventually, getting into some kind of online production. And which program(s) are you using to edit video and mix your audio?

 

[Guartho]

I don't know the rest, but I know the body he used is the T2i.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Thanks for the info, Guartho. I'm pleased by the fact that it was a T2i; its 1080p video and external audio input are part of what drew me to the camera in the first place. The result here is very good. In fact, I actually thought the strongest elements of the webisode were its visuals. I particularly liked the design and cinematography. I suppose he could stop down the exposure slightly and either increase the contrast or try to add a filter in PP. But otherwise, the film looks good.

The audio issues (as others have mentioned) can be distracting. In fact, I missed some of the dialogue the first time through. But I think they can also be addressed with a bit more PP -- the ambient background noise, as Guartho mentioned, as well as some more aggressive noise reduction and mixing with a program like Soundtrack Pro from FCP.

And say all of this, of course, knowing that I'd kill to have produced something as polished as this.

 

[T'Baio]

QFor the audio dipping out during cuts, something that can help hide that and add atmosphere is to lay down a continuous ambient noise track. It can be as simple as the sound of the empty room, or it can be something like city street noise from another source that you keep low, and maybe mud up a bit, like it's out the window. In any case, just a track that fits the scene and is as long as your scene can do wonders for sub-consciously selling the reality of your scene.

The only other comment I have is purely a stylistic/artistic suggestion and should be taken as such. It looks to me like color footage that has been fully desaturated. In ye olde days of film black and white film usually had greater contrast than that. You might want to play around with the contrast and see if you discover a different look that you like. If it were me, I'd start by crushing the blacks some to see what happens.

Thanks for your thoughts, Guartho! Those are good thoughts, but I must ask, as I hear this a lot...what exactly is meant by "crushing the blacks?"

You mention a DSLR -- which one are you using? Which lens(es)? I recently purchased a Canon T2i with an eye on, eventually, getting into some kind of online production. And which program(s) are you using to edit video and mix your audio?

I am indeed using a T2i. The lenses I used in this were a Canon 50mm prime and the kit lens, an 18-55mm zoom. I don't like the look of the zoom in comparison to the prime (despite what Guartho says ), so I'll be shooting the second episode in a couple weeks with the 50mm and a 28mm Canon prime. For a few establishing shots at the beginning, I might use a 70-300mm zoom, but those shots will only end up in the film in the end if the quality compares. But the shots are supposed to be a bit hazy, so it might work.

As for editing, I'm using Final Cut Express to edit both video and audio. I wish I had Soundtrack Pro, and Final Cut Pro, for that matter, but I can't afford the $1200 price tag, unfortunately. So I'm making due with what I got. I'm actually quite impressed with what the most recent version of FCE can do. I just have a bit of a learning curve to figure out my audio inexperience.

The result here is very good. In fact, I actually thought the strongest elements of the webisode were its visuals. I particularly liked the design and cinematography. I suppose he could stop down the exposure slightly and either increase the contrast or try to add a filter in PP. But otherwise, the film looks good.

The audio issues (as others have mentioned) can be distracting. In fact, I missed some of the dialogue the first time through. But I think they can also be addressed with a bit more PP -- the ambient background noise, as Guartho mentioned, as well as some more aggressive noise reduction and mixing with a program like Soundtrack Pro from FCP.

And say all of this, of course, knowing that I'd kill to have produced something as polished as this.

Thanks for your thoughts and compliments! I really appreciate it! I hope everyone likes the second episode. We're shooting October 3rd, and hopefully it should be up within a couple weeks of that...my school schedule notwithstanding.

 

[T'Baio]

So last week, we couldn't shoot episode 2 because of weather, but luckily we had a relatively easy episode planned, episode 4, that we shot instead.

And I just got back now from shooting the 2nd episode...and this weekend was perfect for it! Shoot went well. Far more traffic noise in the background than was there when I scouted the location, so I'm a little worried about that. We'll see. Anyone know how to take traffic noise off an audio track?

We'll see how things now from here...

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ If the background noise is really bad, the only thing would be to dub in a new audio track in a studio (or wherever).

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Yeah, even Soundtrack Pro (bundled with FCP) can only do so much with lots of traffic noise. Either way, can't wait to see the results!