Project ETi - Forbidden Alliance

I'm a music guy just getting into film and video and loving it. Here's one of my foist.

Great job...that was enjoyable. Give us some details on how you made that.

I appreciate the encouragement!

I made it up as I went along. The actors are just friends who agreed to help out. The good thing about today's technology is you can just think about stuff and shoot it, with the understanding that assembling it in FCPX will be a breeze.

So once I imported all the AVCHD footage, it was very easy to rhythmically select shots and drop them into the main storyline. The magnetic time line was even more useful in keeping the flow as I switched instinctively between angles.

I put everything in a compound clip and applied a filter from the looks library, also used a free filter from Brandon Gibbons "BG Editors Bag of Tricks" to crop the final. For the shot where Diannisa transforms from the tree, I would have preferred to use a morph effect but hand-to-hand combat with CHV's Morphing FX demo left me defeated on this task. I'll have to study this a little more for next time.

Despite the complaints around the web regarding FCPX. I believe its a dream for people who want to get their feet wet without feeling like once they master the product they would be doomed to a product that can't scale to their future aspirations.

Thanks for the info. Don't let the complaints of FCPX deter your ambitions. As evidenced by your video, you can do great work with minimal effort in that application.
Best of Luck!

indeed an you can work so fast with it (from idea to delivery) that it creates a very efficient feedback loop, leading to rapid improvement.

I would like to seem them close the deal on integrated audio mixing as well as bring some of the bezier masking and tracking features from Motion.

I was just wondering, what camera stabilizer were you using in the beginning if you were using any? Great short clip, do you have any other work?

I appreciate that comment, also I had another friend ask me about stabilization, but I didn't use any..I just bent my knees while walking with the camera.

I don't have anything else to show yet but this week I'm finishing up the scene that follows this one. Hopefully I'll get better each time.

Nicely done for a first - congratulations. The dialogue levels could be a bit higher (and the sound is a bit too roomy for my taste).

It's an interesting story. Can't wait to see the next part.

Don't think about the FCP X naysayers. It's a tool. You seem to be come along pretty well with it and produce some good stuff. That's all that counts.

Agreed, audio needs much improvement, I used the on board mic anticipating that I would use ADR later, but logistics were tough. I'm hoping for much better audio as we continue shooting. An audio mixer in FCPX would also be greatly appreciated

itsDavidAbraham wrote: I appreciate that comment, also I had another friend ask me about stabilization, but I didn't use any..I just bent my knees while walking with the camera.

I have found that the stabilization filter in fcpx is actually pretty decent, although it upscales the footage to some degree and reduces resolution which is unappealing. A trick I found, if you're shooting less than 1080 is to shoot at a higher res than your project, apply the stabilization and then scale the resulting clip back to your project size. Doesn't always work depending on your project format and how you need the clip to fit, but worth experimenting with if you have a clip you need to use.

I will certainly give that resolution trick a try...

any recommendations on microphones for better audio?

I recommend as entry level stuff, the Audio Technica AT 8035b shotgun and the Rhode Mic Boom . A lav will cause more problems than they'll solve with action scenes and wardrobe like that.

Thanks for the specificity and links. FCP.co seems to be that place. I'm grateful.

Good job on the video, especially considering how you said you were just getting into it. I'll give you as much criticism as possible to help your future work.

1. Considering the fact that you claim to come from music, you should always pay close attention to dialogue audio. Don't let the background music over power the dialogue because the voice is what pushes the story forward.

2. I found your use of 1 girl playing two parts very convincing. Giving them different tops to wear made it easy for the audience to differentiate and I thought you did a great job doing something that is normally hard to pull off.

3. Acting, I can see that the actors are your friends however I found a lot of the lines weren't selling it to me. Obviously this is common issue when using the closest friends you can find to use as actors, and it happens. However you're the director and you're allowed to tell the actors to repeat the lines and make it more convincing. In your future work, try to direct the actor's voice and expression, not just camera work.

4. The 3rd person shot at 0:28 was very good, and I liked how you cut to the other actor pulling off his jacket while your actress found the first aid kit. Good job on those cuts.

5. Pacing. At around the 6:00 mark, the scene became action-oriented. When it comes to chases and gun fights, it's important to make fast cuts and up-close shots to sell the sense of adrenaline. Some shots were great, but some could use some improvement.

6. I'm not one for "rules" but I find the 180-degree rule is important just because it allows the audience to understand the spacial orientation of the characters. At 5:46 I felt like things were getting a bit to scattered. A bit more attention to character framing would definitely improve the shot.

Honestly, I thought it was great. The shots were good and the story was effectively presented. Hope these tips help!

-Athan

hey thanks Athan..that was very helpful...I must have missed the notification because I see you posted this two weeks ago. I will take everything you said here very seriously.