Colors

Vernon Hills

Seven Day Challenge

Entry Description

A short sci-fi film where the government controls what colors humans see and feel.

Judge 1

Positives: The use of color isolation as well as the different grades throughout the film is super effective. It not only showcases a technical ability, but is a great visual cue to help the audience understand what the character is seeing. The contrast in the black and white footage also looks great - and the switches between b&w and color later in the film is really great! The eye blinking effect on the POV shot is also great. It puts us in the mindset of our character and we understand why he's freaking out - he's staring at a blue sky for the first time. This shot helps sell what the character is seeing and helps us as an audience to understand him.

Improvements: I was a bit confused about the first set of tests John was given. Why did he not remember the 3rd test? It didn't make sense for it to seem like he blacked out during that one but not the others. Was that the test that would let him see full color? If it was, it wouldn't make sense for him to not be able to remember it since the doctor wasn't aware of it either. After John starts seeing blue, there's a pretty rough jumpcut with the cut from the doctor walking away from John to him standing and writing on his clipboard. If you really wanted to cut between those two shots, you needed to have the doctor out of frame for another beat or two so it would be believable for him to stop walking, turn around and pick up his clipboard in that amount of time. It's good that you let him exit frame, but he either needs to be clear of frame for longer, or cut on the action of him walking into the next shot to keep with continuity of his spacing and movement.

Judge 2

Positives: The filmmakers employ seamless integration of music and sound design into scenes, driving the narrative forward and effectively conveying emotions to the viewer. The cinematography demonstrates excellent mastery of craft and the post-production element of selective color use effectively and elegantly drives the story forward visually.

Improvements: The first scene could be cut shorter, to expedite the narrative to the point where we learn who our hero is and what his task will be. Additionally the second half of the film, during which the hero must complete his task could be extended, with further obstacles put in place to increase drama and drive the narrative to a more satisfying conclusion.

Judge 3

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 4

Positives: This is a creative story and I like how you present it. You do a good job with sound and your transitions from black and white are smooth, which is great.

Improvements: The opening shots move a little bit to slow, in order to hook your viewer into the movie you want to get make it faster. Also, I was confused why on some of the shots of the test subject the colors changed, but on others they did not. You need to make this smooth so that it is clear for the viewer. Watch your head room and framing on some of your shots. One example of this is the park scene.