check out my sitcom pilot!
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd15HFoARTc

Seven Deadly Cinema is back, you sonic twats





(i still <3 u knox, yr not a twat :o )

Wacthed it. I dig the dood's jokes.

I liked it a lot.

my favorite part starts at 10:06

Lol oh yeah! I forgot to ask. Those chicks smoke? Fuck!

Yeah, I think his stand-up is pretty clever too. That's what inspired me to try and make a show based on him.



Thanks man, I appreciate it. I've watched this damn thing so many times that I can't even differentiate what looks good, and what looks bad/what's funny vs. what isn't.



I know, right? ;)

I had no idea you were black. :EEK:

I wish I had more time to watch your sitcom. alas, I spent what little time there is watching your video of girls in panties dancing to heavy metal.

WOW detroit is ugly like a motherfucker.

life is too short. MOVE imo.

6.5 pionts /10

i know....
that you know....
you can do better and go heavy'r down
be more creative, ect

i'm really now in the mood to go to a comedy show
here they don't have that

they still don't have time awareness
why?
why do europeans have no future time?
they were brainwashed for 2000 years by churchbells
now they only reach the awake state by the ringing of the bells


if the church dies out
they never reach a state of awakeness

those euro apes
or shall we make the word european a bit smaller
eurape??
you-rapian

they sure broke the record raping childeren

congratulations to the vatican : YOU GROUP IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MOST RAPES OF CHILDEREN
CONGRATULATIONS


always know that i'm not a eurape
even if they giving me a digital passport with ethnical subcoding on the digital passport

you eurapes can shove their passport in their baboon retarded sapian ass

digital passport???
like i'm going to get access into a ultra modern spâceship

I think he's referring to this atrocity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnZNrZwfSnA

oh!! gonna watch now!

alright, i watched the sitcom once, will watch again later and post comments. jootube was fuckin slow.

but re: the music video-- nice car shots-- and EXTRA POINTS FOR THE BLONDE IN THE UNDIES. she can make that butt wiggle! (i hope she gave a good audition in the casting couch-- hA!)

okay mang. nice job on that pilot. will post comments later, maybe tomorrow or something.

interesting!

Here's a theme for a future episode: Do You Know How I Can Travel Overseas Without a Passport?

Or maybe I should keep that for my own sitcom?

Oh I know! Their server (or whatever) has been giving me hassle all week! I appreciate your patience with the load times and whatnot; especially seeing how long the video is.

And please do, you're a man who's opinion I can really put some merit towards.



Yeah haha, her ass is the only thing about that video I actually like! :p

I don't wanna whore my shit out too hard, but if you're actually interested in a GOOD music vid I've done, I couldn't recommend the UUUUUU vid more. Derek's music was intimidatingly good, and I really tried my best to rise to the challenge and create something worthwhile.

You can watch it here if you'd like - www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hp7D_RMGA

Thanks again for all the compliments everyone, I haven't been on these boards in a LONG while. It's especially nice to see gmku return as a regular.

alright mang here it goes. i'm taking notes as i rewatch so it will go in that order.

who reads the disclaimer at the beginning?

handheld camera is cool but sometimes too shaky-- it pans wildly. more on this later.

the main character i get is this horrible person. ("nobody is laughing")

i like the cut to jesus. [later: i dont know what role religion plays for him]

i don't hear well what they are saying in that room. are you using NR plugins to cut noise after recording? there's also loud hiss. not sure what mic you used but you can get a decent rode short shotgun for cheap ($100-200).

the chick does a good job acting.

his routine: use a de-esser

the weird old man, arthur, is totally offensive and hilarious. his is one of my favorite segments.

the canned laughter doesn't work for me most of the time.

i like the music, generally.

the thing friend back in the room it's funny too but the recorded laugh doesn't work for me. i won't say that again tho just try watching it without?

are you using lights? there's a lot you could do with some cheap lowells. sitcoms and tv usually use high key light, it's easy to do & people can move around. so something that will boost the light levels should work.

dr's office or something- handheld is cool but see about stabilizer. like a merlin, or a fig rig or something. you don't need to use a tripod, just have more camera control.

2 chicks on the bed w/ lights/effects was cool, is that what they want to do vs. what they are actually doing? regardless of whatever it means the contrast is cool.

k having a hard time understanding the dialogue again. your boom operator needs more practice & some headphones.

mannequin fucking-- bizarre and funny. when the door gets knocked, why the laughter? lisa does look good. oh mang the laughs why. stabilize camera.

k one thing i realize at this point is the camera angles & shots. there's lots of long and medium shots and few closeups. also the camera angle from above doesn't work for me there. if you could cut and do the 2 shot at eye level it would work better. yeah you need to cut and set up again but it would work better. this reminds me w/ the old man the shots were also from above always. put that knee on the ground and get to eye level more.

the shower part is more bizarre shit that i like with that wolf hat.

oh i get that now that lisa cheated w/ the other girls? i don't get why these 2 like each other.

the next routine i didn't like and i dont know if he's really joking or just playing an ass.

anyway i think you got a good idea there, a character everyone can hate, and bring back that funny old man.

for characters everyone can hate, it's not my kind of thing but there's shows like peepshow that are based on that-- ive had arguments w/ people here about it, but regardless, you don't need to have a "likeable" character. i just wanna see or hear more clearly what he's saying so mics is the thing to do. and lights. light that thing.

also this is something completely different but have you watched "workaholics"? this reminds me of that show somehow-- well it's a stretch but it has some common stuff. watch it & see.

anyway so if this justin guy is the main character, who are the others? is he a kind of mr. bean who exists in his own universe? or do the others around him count? i think they could come across more as characters of their own so you have more of an ensemble situation like seinfeld if that's what you like (i saw your post about the 90s), but they need more of a story rather than just be around him i think.

but anyway if you had to prioritize 1 thing and 1 thing only i'd say start with audio! audio is more than 50% of video, doesn't need to be perfect but what they're saying has to be clear, like the old man, and make sure it doesn't clip. try having your dialogue peaks at -12 maybe?

check this out and read up on part 3: http://www-tc.pbs.org/producing/medi...%20Revised.pdf

you see their loudness target is -24db. that's PBS which is "quieter" than other TV but it works.

or see this:

http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/982763

ok man, i gotta run, i don't know if this was useful to you but i hope it was.

ps- do you storyboard your shots?

moar bout dat later. k-- be well dude. talk soon.

Thank you so much, that was an excellent critique. Many things you pointed out were things I noticed myself.

Here's my attempt at responding to such a large post.... :)

i can only answer quickly tonight but maybe tomorrow with more detail.

okay so what's the problem here is you need a crew! if you're doing this all on your own it's bananas. make the fucking actors crew for you when they are not in the scene.

i highly recommend you storyboard and draw a floorplan. that way you can work out your blocking, your lights and your camera moves ahead of time. more on that later.

i get that you want that office/curb your enthusiasm looks but even with those single camera sitcoms the framing is always done right, the camera angles work, and you get a good variety of shots-- e.g. when they talk into the camera, etc. look here for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcf2CO65lf4

see how yheres a closeup as he approaches then the 2 shots are from the front & the side and it mixes them up?

storyboarding can help you set that up and figure where you wanna place yourself before it happens. what you wanna avoid especially are the high angles on characters who are sitting.

re: lighting you can work with regular bulbs and shop lamps that you clamp to things, as long as you have the same color temperature and while balance to them it should be okay. yeah, it's not as controllable as fresnels or light banks with egg crates but at least you get an improved look.

the scene in the room w/ curtis, they are in the shade and the back wall is brighter.and your camera if it's got auto iris is adjusting for the wall and not the subject.

and that's why i suggest using high key light, it's lower contrast and you don't need to set up every shot. here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoQfztMBi6A

one thing you could do is get some shop lights and bounce them off the ceiling or walls, it's as cheap as it gets (tho it can blow fuses, ha).

anyway good to hear you've been thinkig about this things. don't fear the storyboard or feel confined by it-- it's like a rehearsal for your camera-- if you're going spontaneous, you're gonna do that, but at least in your mind you'll have an idea of what you want instead of getting stuck in a bad shot or "searching" with the camera and shooting all over the place.

ps re- the floorplan-- it helps you see light ahead. for example when he opens the door and lisa is there, there could be a light behind the door so she looks better. know what i mean?

but def keep working on this! you're on to something, i swear.

oh and workaholics is on netflix online, if you have access watch it, it's fucking great, very funny, similar documentary style but not self conscious like office, but great fucking characters, you'll see.

oh and there's an episode about juggalos!

anyway we can chat about sound tomorrow, if you'd like. i hope i'm not being a fucking blowhard with the advice, i really believe in what you're doing that's why i'm taking the time to go over everything.

okay. seeya!

you were probably blind drunk. i can't come up with a better explanation.

Can't believe I missed this thread.

I agree with El Symbols re you needing a crew and in that sense, you really needn't worry about those technical issues too much. Just get people in who do know them. Film students will usually offer their help for little more than the promise of a credit. It's obviously a good idea to have some kind of grasp of certain techniques but only enough to have a way of conceptualising what you want for yourself and so you can communicate it to your crew. Echoing symbol's point, unless you want the style to be an integral part of the whole thing it should be as anonymous as possible, which isn't difficult to achieve and likely won't cost you any more than you're already spending. You just need to get the right people in and let them contribute what they're good at so you can concentrate on what you're good at, while learning off them at the same time. Look at a lot of the porn being produced at the moment. That stuff's largely done with tiny budgets and a minimal crew but still manages to churn out some really quite professional looking stuff. (I'm convinced film students these days would be far better served watching less Bergman and more BangBros.)

^ Yeah, episode 2 will be the first time in my whole 'film making career' that I'm actually using a crew. I plan to have a sound guy (like I said) with a boom, and my other friend, Peter (who graduated film school with me...big Cronenberg buff) holding the camera. This way I can work wth the actors more, and have them figure out the shots (based on my storyboards...of course)



Honestly, I couldn't agree more.

Except for Hour of the Wolf. Everybody should see that.

Thanks man. I really appreciate the critique; it's hard to get such valid feedback IRL.

Persona

lol @ bangbros. okay, you're right in part. but sven nykvist was a fucking film god! starting w/ winter light-- aaaah!

anywebos "el symbols" is my new official name. yeah! awesome.

so hm mr. felikson good to know you getting a crew, will facilitate a ton of things.

and now a lil case study if joo wanna look @ louie.

let's read this bitch together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj_4vl_H-SI

0:01 look at all the dark backround and the soft light in louie's bald head. subject > background always. conveniently, the dude behind him is wearing a black jacket-- this is not accidental-- if it was a white tshirt it would be a problem, you'd notice that instead of the ginger bastard.

:08 as the blonde (woman, not light) comes in notice she's lit from camera left (her right). so you don't just look at her cuz she's a hot chick, you also look cuz she's a bright spot on your waveform monitor (ha). once she stands there & starts talking you notice now she even has a hair light from cam. right.

0:33 now that it's been established she likes old dudes look how the shot changes. she's no longer a voice in the background, she's right there with him. actually if you notice she's slightly hotter (lulz) than louie. by "slightly hotter" i mean w/ the lights, ha ha ha. and notice how it's this fucking classic look: the woman in a bright soft light, the man in harder lights with more shadows-- this shit is straight out of film noir. compare:





this isn't done here because it's a "film reference", it's done because it fucking works every time.

anyway, as shit gets more intense we get the blonde's first closeup at 0:55. louie is just a blur at the edge of the frame. we're at eye level with her, just like louie.

see the logic of the shots so far?

notice at 1:05 or so the reaction shot-- it's not the same nice soft closeup of louie, no-- he's smaller, from farther away, seems almost to be shrinking in his fucken chair, she's actually bigger-- domination begins, ha ha ha.

cuts right back when she's talking-- she's taking control, he's become her toy, so what's going to happen after isn't going to appear out of the blue.

at 1:20 we finally get the first louie closeup after him sitting at the bar, and it's to reveal his confusion and perplexity at this hot chick who just told him he smells weird. you notice? the emotional contact (closeup) with the blonde is with her cool self-aware seductiveness; the emotional contact with louie is with his fear and helplessness.

now i don't know if it's the light or just his shitty skin tone but the blonde appears to be in a softer warmer light. ("i smell weird?"--cut--"totally" : notice that change in color on both sides of the cut-- you could prolly spot it with rgb monitors in your editing)

at this point also notice the sound mix: she's speaking softly and there is bar noise and music in the background, but it's not "realistic" "documentary" sound. in real life they'd prolly be yelling, but that would kill the mood of the scene. so the level of the sound bed is really low compared to the dialogue. okay prolly the bar noise is from the location, but the music i could bet was mixed in later. still, good micing, the attention is on the dialogue not the surrounding racket.

1:45 "young pussy smells good" goes back to the 2 shot so you can appreciate the body language: she's totally calm and in control and louie is cowering and perplexed. notice she invades his space with her arm to grab louie's phone-- she's in charge. it's nice that we get a break from the monotony of closeups and the shot says something-- it says she's physically taking over.

notice at 2:10 the boyfriend appears, and while he's soft-lit (i.e. harmless, not sinister) he's also semi-dark, meaning: he's not fucking important (she's just been talking shit about younger guys). meanwhile, the chick's perfect blonde hair dominates the screen. and then louie sits there with that cold bluer light on his pasty face.

2:16- fucking!

okay, notice now the following:
1) there is a bright beam of light coming in from the window. that's not "natural"
2) there is some light from behind the blonde that brightens up her hair
3) thank god louie remains clothed

now, the funny thing is, the establishing shot is not of the blonde, who is now without a face. the shot is on louie--why? because the show is about him of course, but also because this isn't a porn film, it's a comedy, so if we look at the bonde cumming and biting her lips for a while we're going to get a boner, but instead the boner dies and we laugh at the absurdity of louie's situation, who's a human dildo for a chick with a weird grampa fetish.

now that this has been established, we start moving to closeups between the two, and that's fine, a little titillation is alright, but see how quickly shots turn back to louie's silly face trying to come up with old shit so the blonde gets hornier. which is fucking hilarious. even as she's near climaxing, she screams "oh shit that's so old" and "yes so does my mom" ha aaaa haaaa haaa

notice at this point also how the edits seem to change quicker as she approaches orgasm. when we get the low angles on them she's mounting louie and we see only his bald head shaking like a fucking rag doll or something, which breaks from her hot face into comedy territory.

3:11 they go to the door, it's all brightly lit, very matter of fact light, though the key light coming from behind+above louie as you can see in his shadow on the door before it opens (in front/below him).

now here's when it's something you can see directly useful for your pilot:

notice as the door opens there's light on the door! you can see it reflected on the black surface. and there's a hair light on the blonde too! that light is coming from beyond the door, but it's not normal "corridor light", which normally is dim-- this matches the light levels from the inside, at least on her. its purpose is to keep the woman a presence on the screen, even as she fucks off. when she says "no" she looks perfectly clear and well-lit not lost in some shadow. she's got the power even as she disappears. and so transposing this to your situation think how when lisa shows up at justin's door there could just be a clamp light of this sort http://www.google.com/search?q=clamp+light on the other side of the wall ($8 at home depot, $9 at walmart)

so, even in a "documentary style" thing you can see now how there's a lot of artifice in the making of it. in other words, don't shy away from wearing lots of face powder and mascara, ha ha-- it' fucking theatre. and while you don't have the bazillion dollars and professional crew, just keeping a few of these ideas in mind can help you make bang bros look like bad home movies.

oookay man, let me know when you get your kickstarter going. you could prolly raise $500 from friends and acquaintances to make your next episode. "being unemployed" is no excuse-- make art pay! :P srsly, you can fundraise. have a benefit or something with the bands you made videos for, those bitches owe you. $10/person for a kegger party. yeah?

alright. go forth & thrash, etc.

Tanner Mayes is in that one, right?