*FILM TRAILER* The Parallel

[nicola]

This was our final major project for our college media course. A couple of friends and I came up with the idea for The Parallel and this is the trailer for it:



The actual film has been made (and shown in our local cinema) but we haven't put it online yet so trailers are the best I can do.

We also have a website for the film. If anyone is interested, you can find the link in my profile on here ;D

[dude]

LOOKS GREAT WITH THE B/W START
THE JUDGE LOOKS A BIT comic

[nicola]

Yeah he was our teacher hehe. We couldn't get anyone else so he agreed to do it

[shindig]

Meh. Looks a bit generic and hammy.

[nicola]

Fair enough. Can you tell me what you would have changed about it?

[shindig]

- The captions basically tell you the whole film. It's all about revenge, right?
- There's a lack of spoken dialogue so it's difficult to judge the finished product.
- The token bad guy does that token 'stare through the eyebrows' stuff which I dislike.
- Plus he can't take off a balaclava.
- Empty video boxes. Is that because you're students or is the dead fella a pirate VHS kingpin?
- Bombastic soundtrack. I've heard that song a million times.

Primarily, I'd much rather hear some dialogue than let the captions do the talking. Trailers are there to entice and provoke. This just looked like something that's been done before.

[nicola]

Ok well it was our first attempt at a film and the first assignment we were given that didn't really have a brief to it so we found it a bit difficult at first.

I do appreciate people's input though. It's too late for us to go back and redo that particular film now but I can bear in mind what you've said to help me in the future

[Dave]

You have to remember that shindig is our own Sesame Street style grouch. Popping his head up to impart some downbeat nuggets of wisdom every once in a while, but otherwise he just hides in a dustbin.... errrrr... that analogy didn't work.
Basically, alarms go off whenever he says something positive. ;D

Anyway. For a first attempt, I thought the whole thing looked pretty ambitious, and I'm not damning it with feint praise there I don't think.
The only thing that struck me as really not working, was the way some of it was sped up.. looked a little bit Benny Hill, rather than stylish (which I guess was the intention).
How long is the whole thing? Is it going to end up online?
I think a good move would be to try and make something entirely in your own time, and not for college. Should help keep the pressure off for one thing!

[Gareth]

gotta agree with shindig on this one, one more tweek and it could have been a comedy trailer full of clichés.

I spent three years at film school and never got the oppertunity to direct, which I grew increasingly bitter about but in hindsight it was the best filmmaking education I could have hoped for; after watching other directors fuck up film after film and other writers write generic gangster film after generic gangster film I knew exactly what to do when I got (well gave myself) the chance to direct.

take Daves advice and make something in your own time, and take my advice and keep it as short and as simple as you possibly can

under a minute with a punchline at the end will mean you can think about every single detail, whilst practicing story telling by building the tension towards the punchline

[Tom]

Hey.

This is my take on it...

Firstly, it looks like a student film, and by that I mean it's an intense and ambitious story trapped in a mismatching-furnished house with actors at least ten years too young to play their roles. But don't worry, you're not the first students to do that (and you won't be the last).

I never studied film at university, I had to go out and shoot my own work with whatever I could manage, and truth be told, I think it helped me to avoid a lot of those obvious pitfalls.

I would say that working with what you have, rather than imposing things that look out of place (blood, guns and balaclavas) will always make for a better story. As Dave says, and Gareth reiterates, you should shoot something outside of college, something small but worthy. The best student films I've seen are the ones that embrace their limitations, and don't expect extreme dramatic turns from drama students or fellow film students. The worst ones ALWAYS have blood and guns and snarly faces. That's not to say that yours will be bad, but it's obvious that the influences are being brought too heavily to the film, rather than you having your own voices. And ultimately, that'll come in time.

So my parting shot is this: Be glad to get the first film outta the way (it's an important first step), now focus on finding your creative voice, and think about what you want to say in film. And remember, student houses should only be used if you're telling a film about students, and the same goes for student actors.

[shindig]

Aye, I forget whose film it was but there was that film up here a few weeks back about somebody bursting for a wank. The student accomadation doesn't feel out of place in that.

If I was to shoot a trailer for my Cold War spy story, I'd really need to find a scene and location that wouldn't look too out of place. Fairly difficult but picking and choosing the right moments to put into a trailer are crucial.

[nicola]

Jul 8, 2008 23:37:08 GMT Dave said:

How long is the whole thing? Is it going to end up online?
I think a good move would be to try and make something entirely in your own time, and not for college. Should help keep the pressure off for one thing!

It's 28 minutes long including credits. I'm not sure whether it's going online or not yet.

I am going to make my own films over the summer (before I go to Uni) and I will bear in mind what everyone has said.

I just hope I get a good grade for this now.

[Gareth]

well said Tom, another thing is to make sure to avoid smart arse tarrintino esc pop culture dialogue,

heres a useful and entertaining link,http://www.filmmaker.com/dumps/ this is the most intesting bit:

"A film professor once told me that on a film set, one second of "real" time equals three seconds of film time. Something to remember. Watch a student film and notice how often there are long pauses between lines of dialogue."

[Gareth]

"This one is zany. A character walks INTO THE CAMERA LENS! And then we fade to black, or more commonly, cut to the reverse-- someone walking AWAY FROM THE CAMERA LENS! OOOooo!
What a good idea..."

[nicola]

We actually did a lot of research before we made our film but I feel that if we'd had a bit more experience or direction, we could have made it a lot better. I am pleased with how parts of the film (as a whole) came out but I know there are bit's that could have been improved. Sadly, I didn't notice these until it was shown in the cinema (everything looks a lot different on Avid - although it's an amazing editing program).