12 Short Films in 12 Months. What could possibly go wrong??
Saturday, March 30, 2013
How to Kill Yourself in One Year #8 "Fatale"
So we're doing this neo-noir thing and everyone is asking "are you doing it in Black and White" and quite (no pun intended) honestly, it never even occurred to me to do that...and when I did think about it I kept getting caught up in the whole "contrivance" thing...but you know, when enough people ask...
so I decided to let the fans decide (we could have fans...it could happen).
Here be T.W.O. versions of Fatale:
one regular:
and one in classic noir black and white:
Once you finish watching, be sure to "like" your favorite version (or comment here) and at the end of April, we'll delete the loser...
With Black and White you really have to take advantage of the lighting, but also it allows you to fudge a lot with the color. In this instance I think the Black and White adds dimensions and makes color palette much simpler. I vote black and white! Great job guys!
you are too kind, sir! it's funny...when our gal friday (who edits AND color corrects) suggested doing a black and white version, she also fully disclosed, "but this may just be laziness at not wanting to color correct". but once we actually started transferring into b&w, we found we had to make adjustments as well as some of the more subtle color choices just looked dark once mono'd. it's definitely not something you can just "do"...I'd like to, someday, design a short to be done black and white and shoot/light it as such from the get go. Thanks for watching!!! mmmm quite.
I really enjoy both. The classic black-and-white isn't seen too much these days, and in order to stack up and truly stand out, you do need to do as The Noir Guy says - serious attention to lighting details. It holds a lot of potential, but with the focus on lighting and possible time-sink with post-processing to enhance contrast and emphasis, it might turn out to be a bit too much to bite off.
If you stick with the color version, I noticed there is some subtle "muddy" effects going on, which I think really helps put across the "noir" feel without actually resorting to black-and-white. Like with my first little critique, I do feel it could be pushed a little more - I imagine if the saturation was played with (test it out at 90%, and 80%, etc) and some contrast adjustments were made, you could have a color-noir thing going on!
Visuals aside, I have one suggestion for the audio: the female is notably more soft-spoken than the male, which by itself isn't a problem. But compared to the background track and the male combined, I found it very difficult to hear her part of the conversation. My best suggestion would be to lower the background track volume a bit (I'd start by lowering it 20% and moving around from there) to see if that helps her voice to be more audible. You could also try to increase her volume, but that has a tendency to blow out the audio and ends up with an artificial sound.
Hopefully this is some helpful feedback! Amazing work, guys, I hope to keep tabs on your progress!
yes...sound...my waterloo. it's been the bane of my existence since my feature (F**k New York) and all the way through the HTKYIOY series. I appreciate the critique and will definitely be adding your feedback to our post series revisit of each film--due to the concept of HTKYIOY, I am prohibited from making changes once the films have been put up (it's a stupid constraint especially since I'm the one constraining myself but I digress...). but once we're finished, we plan to do a proper DVD/Blu Ray that features both original and "enhanced" versions of each short. We're also hoping to have a few screenings of the films here, there and everywhere so hopefully you can catch us live! thanks for watching!!! mmmm quite.
With Black and White you really have to take advantage of the lighting, but also it allows you to fudge a lot with the color. In this instance I think the Black and White adds dimensions and makes color palette much simpler. I vote black and white! Great job guys!
ReplyDeleteyou are too kind, sir! it's funny...when our gal friday (who edits AND color corrects) suggested doing a black and white version, she also fully disclosed, "but this may just be laziness at not wanting to color correct". but once we actually started transferring into b&w, we found we had to make adjustments as well as some of the more subtle color choices just looked dark once mono'd. it's definitely not something you can just "do"...I'd like to, someday, design a short to be done black and white and shoot/light it as such from the get go. Thanks for watching!!! mmmm quite.
DeleteI really enjoy both. The classic black-and-white isn't seen too much these days, and in order to stack up and truly stand out, you do need to do as The Noir Guy says - serious attention to lighting details. It holds a lot of potential, but with the focus on lighting and possible time-sink with post-processing to enhance contrast and emphasis, it might turn out to be a bit too much to bite off.
ReplyDeleteIf you stick with the color version, I noticed there is some subtle "muddy" effects going on, which I think really helps put across the "noir" feel without actually resorting to black-and-white. Like with my first little critique, I do feel it could be pushed a little more - I imagine if the saturation was played with (test it out at 90%, and 80%, etc) and some contrast adjustments were made, you could have a color-noir thing going on!
Visuals aside, I have one suggestion for the audio: the female is notably more soft-spoken than the male, which by itself isn't a problem. But compared to the background track and the male combined, I found it very difficult to hear her part of the conversation. My best suggestion would be to lower the background track volume a bit (I'd start by lowering it 20% and moving around from there) to see if that helps her voice to be more audible. You could also try to increase her volume, but that has a tendency to blow out the audio and ends up with an artificial sound.
Hopefully this is some helpful feedback! Amazing work, guys, I hope to keep tabs on your progress!
yes...sound...my waterloo. it's been the bane of my existence since my feature (F**k New York) and all the way through the HTKYIOY series. I appreciate the critique and will definitely be adding your feedback to our post series revisit of each film--due to the concept of HTKYIOY, I am prohibited from making changes once the films have been put up (it's a stupid constraint especially since I'm the one constraining myself but I digress...). but once we're finished, we plan to do a proper DVD/Blu Ray that features both original and "enhanced" versions of each short. We're also hoping to have a few screenings of the films here, there and everywhere so hopefully you can catch us live! thanks for watching!!! mmmm quite.
Delete