GRcade

Hey ho,

Anyone here have any short films/films/documentaries they've made?

I've been writing for a few years and have recently decided to try and make a short film this year. Budget is very, very tight so I've decided to go the DSLR route and invest in either a Canon 5D Mark III or Nikon D600. The latter is cheaper and I already have Nikon glass so that's preferred but have heard mixed things.

So, if you've already made something feel free to share here! A few questions for you...

What equipment are you using?
What do you edit with?
Are you fluent in After Effects?

I made this a year ago, mainly testing out the 1080p on my camera - Shot with a D7000, 18-105mm.

That's great. Eerie, suits the track. Did you use any post-effects? Has a very film grain like effect.

Thanks, I didn't add any post effects, it's just high ISO because of the low lighting :] . Actually edited it in Windows movie maker too lol

About time this topic was made!

This little 4 second animation below I've been working on this weekend, all made in After Effects.



Been wanting to work and understand shapes for a while now, really pleased with how this one has come out

That's quality! I love it.

Floex, that is incredible.

Bacon, good to know. I've heard really mixed things about the footage from Nikons, so it's nice to see you got a great look like that with minimal effort.

Cheers guys, means alot coming from other creatives

Yoshi, have you made any shorts before? Haven't done one since college but it's something I'm itching to get back into at some point.

Do you have a reel or anything Floex? would love to see more stuff like it. I get asked if I can do motion design quite often too, have to turn down all of it, might be able to send some work your way.

@ Yoshi, yeah I was pleasantly surprised with the quality too, the inbuilt mic though, that's pretty gooseberry fool. I had the idea in my head to make a little documentary in the same kind of style of the bunch of super interesting drunks that live near me and are ALWAYS hanging around the library, but I just haven't had time time/motivation to do it. Was planning to give them a tenner each or something, there are some super interesting characters there and I have a lil chat with them now and again lol.

And there are so many awesome shoulder mounts and stuff you get buy fairly cheap:

Floex wrote:Cheers guys, means alot coming from other creatives

Yoshi, have you made any shorts before? Haven't done one since college but it's something I'm itching to get back into at some point.

I've never done one, no. I've made a few corporate videos though which I really really enjoyed putting together despite the dry nature of the material. Other plus is that it made me learn some basic editing skills and I'm really keen to move on to bigger things now.

And Bacon, that's exactly the kind of rig I'm looking to get. I have a short story written and while a lot of the scenes could be done with static shots, there's a follow shot at the start that would require something like that, or a glidecam.

Also currently saving for the Nikon D600. Have seen some good footage come from that, despite some of the limitations with changing aperture in live view.

All my stuff is on VHS or VHS-C, its all old, easily 10 to 15 years ago.

Did a few bits and bobs, never took it anywhere. Made a trilogy starring me and a few mates called the big bad brain, return of the big bad brain and Oh no the big bag brain strikes again. Another movie called killing doors and a cross over called killing doors v the big bad brain.

I think the longest of those is like 25 minutes just, but a craic making them, and learning how to edit on 3 VHS players

Bacon wrote:Do you have a reel or anything Floex? would love to see more stuff like it. I get asked if I can do motion design quite often too, have to turn down all of it, might be able to send some work your way.

Very kind of you mate, yeah it would be something I'll be interested in. I work full time but should be able to dabble here and there. As for the showreel, tha's still coming on after a years progress It's one of those things, I add something, see an older thing I've done that I don't like anymore and then have to replace it. It's a vicious cycle! But I'm finally coming to a point I'm happy with what I have

Guess my Uni short belongs in here!

Also - I really like that Floex, I love the crispness of it.

DML wrote:

Guess my Uni short belongs in here!

Also - I really like that Floex, I love the crispness of it.

Cheers DML

Just looking at your animation, how'd do you go about making it and by that I mean what did you use to make it. Very well done if a little creepy

Sound effects, does anyone know a good place to find them?

Its all hand drawn and coloured digitally. Using a colouring system called Animo which has no doubt been superceded now. We had a proper composer for our short - and it was award nominated as well. The film has been to many more countries then I have which is nice to think.

DML wrote:Its all hand drawn and coloured digitally. Using a colouring system called Animo which has no doubt been superceded now. We had a proper composer for our short - and it was award nominated as well. The film has been to many more countries then I have which is nice to think.

Ha, really liked that. It's like some crazy cross between those fun little 1980's cartoons like The Little Toaster, the madness of a gross Nickelodeon cartoon from back in the day plus a little sad Waterhip Down shoved in there for good measure. Cool stuff.

I remember I used to want to do animation when I was younger but I just found it too time consuming and I have a very short attention span.

get serious ren and stimpy vibes from that DML! great stuff.

and Floex get your reel sorted!

Bacon wrote:get serious ren and stimpy vibes from that DML! great stuff.

and Floex get your reel sorted!

Yeah, we just wanted to make this crazy wacky short because the year before there were so many 'artsy' films and we wanted to do something different.

We also broke a ton of rules. We were told to get professional voice actors, naturally we did the voices ourselves. We were also told to have only one of two characters so naturally we had (I think) nine. We were told to record the voice track first and animate to that, so obviously we did it afterwards (an advantage knowing that we'd be doing the voices) and basically did the whole thing our way.

We started with the least prep, the film was finished first, was the only film to be Annecy nominated that year (ironic as we were putting on dreadful French accents and also the only guy who has lived in France was banned from doing any French accent) and also got sold to 'Spike and Mike's Sick and Twsited Animation Festivals'.

Basically - we bossed it.

And then graduation happened.

I know that feel bro.