The Digit - ID# 150
Wheaton North
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description
A boy named Will struggles to beat the record for the most digits of pi ever computed. In this excerpt, Will has lost everything due to a storm that destroyed his computer. But, while packing up the last box, he notices something strange about his previously frozen monitor, leading him to a mysterious location.
Recent Teacher Comments
- 3/1 3:42 pm - Really strong work here. You’ve got excellent visual storytelling at play here even though we don’t know (yet) what the specific details of the story are. Your opening scene grabs my interests with its specificity. (Good performance from your actor, by the way. No small accomplishment for both him and especially you as the director.) We don’t know why he’s packing that box or what he’s seeing on the computer, but he does, and you clearly display the urgency of all of this. I think your music and sound are really well selected, your levels are high. An easy fix. I love a lot of your cinematography- interesting compositions, good use of close ups, etc.- but your image quality suffers in the low light. On my computer, it’s super-muddy and pixelated. (Maybe you cranked up your ISO?) Too bad, because you seem to have an excellent eye. I’d bring in some low fill light if possible to give definition and reduce your visual noise. Bottom line: I think you have real chops. Keep working.
- 2/23 11:43 am - STORY: It's unfortunate that the time limit exists for this festival, because I'm sure the full video would provide a lot of context. Nonetheless, I think you did an excellent job establishing the character's search for some mysterious thing. What he ended up seeing in the end is still a mystery...could it have been an alien? Perhaps a robot? Or something more sinister? SOUND: Your sound effects and music choices are superb and fit the scene very well. However, your mix is painfully bad. Use a VU meter; it's not an opinion, it's a scientific fact. The levels for dialogue or voice over should be between -6 and -12. Sound effects should be between -12 and -18. Music beds should be between -18 and -24. Again, your dramatic music is WAAAAAY hotter than it should be. Properly mixed soundtracks are very important. CAMERA: Interesting first shot. Most of the shots cutting back and forth during his computer search were well done. The final revelation on the screen was a bit hard to see because of the reflection of the lamp in the shot. The exteriors were nicely done - the last shot of him dropping the little piece of glass was excellent - very cinematic. LIGHTING: The lighting in the first shot was interesting, but just using those practicals isn't enough. You have a TON of visual noise. When you approach a dark scene like that, you still need to add lighting from a source off-camera. It could be the moon coming through a window (a light with a blue gel), it could be more warm light from above, simulating the desk lamp. One way or another, you need more light. For the exterior shots, I like how you used the lantern (a practical light and prop), but you need more light - even for nighttime shots. Any big light (600 watts or more), up high as possible with a blue gel, could have added some "moonlight". But without that, your shots looked very noisy, pixelated, and grainy. Not in a good way. EDITING: The edits were appropriate for the pace of the first scene, as well as the exterior scene. I had no problem following the action.
Judge 1
Positives: Nice use of music to emphasize tension Good work with external location shooting; here the lighting works well
Improvements: Work on lighting to better avoid unnecessary shadows and lamp on computer monitor Narrative difficult do to excerpt; might be worth incorporating a lead-in (seems like something is missing between 2 scenes)
Judge 2
Positives: Shot composition, editing fluency
Improvements: Image quality suffers in low light. (Excessively high ISO?)
Judge 3
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Judge 4
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