The Guilt - ID# 299

Homewood-Flossmoor
Movie Trailer
Entry Description

Copyright free music: Ofelia's Dream https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/ofelias-dream

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/15 10:29 pm - Great overall visual production value. Camera work was very good with interesting compositions. The color grading that gave you that drab, muted look was very cool. Title cards and music were well done. You owe it to yourselves as film makers to devote as much time learning about audio as you have about video. The dialogue here just wasn't captured or mixed well. The characters were consistently peaked and blown out. The dirty secret of production is that good production audio is more difficult to acquire than production video. Start learning this important skill. The story didn't have enough things clearly defined to have me follow it. Why is the girl having these powers? Where did they come from? I realize we can't have all the answers in a trailer, but you need more clarity than what you showed your audience for them to invest in the film.
  • 3/4 10:46 am - Great camerawork. Good use of angles, close ups, editing and pacing. I was captivated until I heard the initial audio. The story line needs more development and should be a little clearer.
  • 3/2 7:42 pm - You have some really nice shots, especially on the close ups and the cemetery shots. It looks like you took some time to plan visually. Your audio was your big distraction- it was way too hot to the point where it sounded distorted. Very distracting. And that's too bad because the trailer probably could have used MORE talking to convey the story a bit more. About halfway through, the trailer takes a turn when the girl starts to see things- this is where the music should have changed too. Music is so important in trailers, and the music just didn't follow along with the mood that was trying to be conveyed. The story is kind of clear, but could use more to hook us into seeing what the movie is ABOUT. You have a lot of what you need for a great trailer- if you just organized the final product a bit better and improved the audio, you'd be well on your way.
  • 2/26 1:54 pm - SOUND: Levels were too hot all across the board. Make sure you're watching the VU meter when you're recording AND editing. Dialogue levels should be between -6 and -12 db, sound effects between -12 and -18 db, and music beds should be around -24 db. STORY: a little bit unclear; the basics are simple enough to understand (dad dies, girl has strange supernatural flashes), but not enough context to explain WHAT is happening to her or WHY this is happening. Doesn't hook the audience into wanting to know more and watch the movie. CAMERA: your shots were pretty nice overall; some good framing of shots and nice angles.
Judge 1

Positives:

Improvements:

Judge 2

Positives: Skillful editing and storytelling!

Improvements: Could use quite a bit of work on sound – proper recording and mixing would really help this piece.

Judge 3

Positives: Excellent camerawork! It's apparent that you paid a lot of attention to shot composition. For example, at :44 the character fills the left part of the frame nicely leaving the right 2/3 empty. This creates a sense of despair or loneliness. Another example occurs at :51 with the two shot. Most of the frame is filled with the actresses. But the focus is on the girl who says she is feeling weird. The girl who is not speaking is involved with her activities and seems a little distracted until she hears her sister say she is feeling weird. Then she becomes involved and concerned. Even though words were spoken the statement to your audience is made through the visuals.

Improvements: Try to build the relationship between the father and daughter a little more. They seem to be having fun during the first two shots, but I'd like to see more. They to set up the reason(s) for the car crash that kills the father. Is he distracted? Is he having an intense discussion with someone on his cell phone? Is he texting? Did he just hear some great news of an accomplishment that his daughter made? There would be great motivation for the daughter to be racked with guilt if she had the slightest involvement with the cause of the car crash by distracting her father.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: