The Book of Mystery - ID# 500
Vernon Hills
Seven Day Challenge
Entry Description
A student finds a note in his locker that leads him to find a mysterious book. The book holds something mysterious that leads the student on a thrilling quest.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
Judge 1
Positives: Your cinematography is very beautiful in this piece. The shots at dusk under the streetlamp are some standouts and I appreciate the use of camera angles to convey mood and tone, specifically your use of rack focus and dutch angles. Your film also has very little dialogue so you're relying on physicality from your actors and your editing to tell the story, which you do well. The audience is getting all of their information from the visuals and you keep things simple and clear so we know what's going on. That can be a hard task to accomplish and you do that well.
Improvements: I would have liked to have had the librarian's dialogue captured by a boom or lav so her lines could be mixed on another channel. When you have such little dialogue, it is important that everything be heard clearly. This piece also would have benefited from more closeups and insert shots, especially from the librarian as she comes back in the end. We want the audience to remember her face so that when we see her again, it means something.
Judge 2
Positives: Nice work!! 1) While there was some low levels at points in dialogue, I gotta shout out the score! Great use of applying tension and overall tone to the film.
Improvements: 1) Story wise, I wanted more! I didn't understand the motivations of the librarian or the evil voice. I think you built a very strong base for more story! 2) Perfomance wise, let's get another take!! In the world you built, I do feel an intention to tone down the emotion of the performances, but for the stakes being as high as they were, I wanted to see a little more emotion and energy, which I know all of the talent are capable of!
Judge 3
Positives: Multiple locations added well to the plot of the story. Multiple camera angles and creative shots were utilized to add to the piece.
Improvements: The audio was quiet and could have been better balanced at several points. The piece could have benefited from quicker cuts on many of the scenes.
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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