Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

PJ_pund wrote:

Bummer...
Yeah I know you guys don't like my style too much so I am changing a bit for these challenges.  I understand what spudster is saying but I feel most of his criticism is stuff I was intentionally trying to do.  I won't change the camera I use 'cause it is a cool digitalblue lego camera but I can create a less cluttered shot.  We have different approaches to beauty.  I suppose I can position the figures differently but when I think of an energetic stage setting I don't picture people perfectly posing or having props perfectly placed.  The shot is of a stage that has been thrashed by a bunch of angry young minstrels. 

No offense taken here though and I appreciate everyones openness and I am eagerly awating the next challenge.  I hope to please others with my next entry but you are not the first people to not understand my art (yes even if it appears sloppy to you it is still art), I do abstract acrylic paintings and I sure get a lot of yeah a preschooler could do that when in reality it what looks like slop on a canvas is pain staking effort of playing with color and texture.

It sounds like you're trying to justify the fact that your frames suck.

-Jimmybob

Move over Rover, let Jimi take over.
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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u166/filmyguy/CCspaceentry_1.jpg

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

I'll just keep my mouth shut and go forward, I will keep all your comments in mind.  My shot is really rough I won't argue that.  But I still like my shot and I felt my rusty skills would help accentuate the energy I was going for in the shot.  I like my art and wanted to explain where I am coming from so maybe others can enjoy it.

I Got a good clean simple shot in mind for the space challenge.  I have been messing a bit with blue screening a bit and will try and get something posted tonight.

Last edited by PJ_pund (February 9, 2010 (09:39pm))

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

This one or the one announced by the winner of mine?

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af40/OzPutProductions/spacechallenge11.jpg

Any better?  The camera angle is plain I know but a less cluttered shot.

Oh, goblins got my green screen and the bogey man is bogartin' the blue screen.  I'll have to make or get one.  Haven't done it in a while, but I want to try it again.

Filmyguy, I like your entry but what's with the banana peel effect on the legs?

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

jimmybob wrote:

Ark11: SABERDICK

What?

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

jimmybob wrote:

Ark11: SABERDICK

Bahahahaha! For some reason I just found that really funny. Seriously, I went back and looked at Ark11's entry and then laughed at this for about 5 minutes straight. mini/lol mini/lol mini/lol

Anyway, on more serious note, the discussion on PJ_pund's style. The problem with his other shots was not that they were cluttered. The problem was that the way the clutter was positioned and the way they were shot made the shots very hard to "read", by which I mean it was hard to figure out what was going on. If an audience can't tell visually what is happening then it be annoying to them which means they can become bored or disinterested.

As for your current frame, the background is the first thing that bugs me, because it looks like a flat backdrop, not the wide empty expanse of space. the framing's not too bad, but there's a problem with the way your eye moves around the shot. It may be different in the context of the other shots that would come before and after it in an actual film, but as it is your eye is drawn first to the yellow astronaut (mainly because he's the biggest point of contrast in the shot), whose movement and eyeline draw towards the black astronaut, who's movement an eyeline force your eyes out the side of the image, meaning that it takes more effort to pull your eyes back into the picture. The light is a bit strong too. Try using tissue paper or something as a filter to dissipate the light and make it a bit softer.

And filmyguy, I'm not sure what you're trying to portray, but the shot itself is not too bad, I might have put the camera a little higher, but that's just me. My big problem with the shot is that it's abstract for no apparent reason. Call me shallow, but a scared guy sitting in a white expanse does not say "in space" to me. I know you did something similar with an astronaut in one of your films (I believe it was your S.T.A.R. entry, but it's late here and I'm too tired to check), but without that context the shot makes very little sense.

Sorry for the rant, I know I can get a bit nitpicky with certain things but I mean it as a friendly critique. If no one ever points out certain problems, how can you know how to fix them?

-Kimothy

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/KimGohlich/Misc/sig_img_2.jpg

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Thanks for the critquing Kimothy.  Yes the background on this shot is quite flat but the best I could whip up to get a test shot done.  Although their is a bit of symbolism behind the backdrop; it's a our checkbook so it represents a blackhole from which nothing escapes.  On my next entry for this contest I will be playing with the background or lack their of for space. 

I Certainly forgot about how the eye moves around the canvas, er well screen.  I will keep that in mind.  Doesn't the little robot in the further background kind of pull one back into the shot?  Perhaps if I positioned the Black astronaut so he is facing the robot in the background to better draw the eye that way.

I do use tissue paper over my lights, but my staging area was a bit cramped and the lights were too close to the set.  It is easier to shot on the weekends, but I had a decent idea for a shot that I felt might improve my standing in the group a little bit.

Your comments take me Back to an excellent presentation I gave in my Art History class about Caravagio's Entombment and how the eye spirals out from the bright center to the black edges.

To the group in general: Before I get lambasted again, what is the general consensus of word bubbles in your shot.  Too cartoony?

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

PJ_pund wrote:

Thanks for the critquing Kimothy.  Yes the background on this shot is quite flat but the best I could whip up to get a test shot done.

Again with the excuses.

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/vikthebrikvikthebrik/drugsneedle.jpg

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

You're just making weird entry's to win do you? mini/tongue
Sorry, but it doesn't look any good

''You don't have to tell him how great is coffee is man!''

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Ease up Spuds.  Yes it is an excuse for the background but also an explanation as to why I used it.  Gotta try different materials, some work and some won't.  Any thoughts on the shot itself?  Did you like anything about it?

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Why do you have to explain anything? It's cinematography, we don't need to know why you used it. The mask is pretty good.

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

I like sharing what I did to create the shot itself.  Half of the fun of this contest is quickly building a set and improvising through small problems.  I will try to limit my explaining.

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

PJ_pund wrote:

Ease up Spuds.  Yes it is an excuse for the background but also an explanation as to why I used it.

These two terms both mean the same thing.

Gotta try different materials, some work and some won't

You're right. The best way to do so is to take the criticism and learn from it rather than continuing to argue about it.
- Aaron

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

point taken, entry number two,

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af40/OzPutProductions/Entry22.jpg

Last edited by PJ_pund (February 10, 2010 (10:01pm))

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jimmybob/MOC/picture_188.jpg

edited this to look cooler

-Jimmybob

Move over Rover, let Jimi take over.
[email protected]

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Pretty cool, Jim, but I'm not a huge fan of the whole crazy effects thing. It seems a tad bit lazy to me. It looks good though.

And, PJ, that is probably your best so far. However, the blatant backdrop, sub-par lighting, and picture quality and size still make it not so great. I would recommend getting a better webcam.

Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Thanks Spudster.  I will continue to work on lighting and backdrops.  A better camera is on my list of things to get. 

Jimmybob- a bit grainy but I really like the silhouette contrast

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Re: Cinematography Challenge (Read Rules First)

Night Owl wrote:

Can I add another rule?

4.) The frame must have been made specifically for the challenge.

I also think it would be a good idea to limit the number of entries per user to just three each round.