Hole (First short, B&W, 8 min)

[Ingerson]

Well, it’s been 8 months since I completed this and almost a year since I promised @mercer to post it once completed

I don’t really know what to say about this, it’s my first short and I wanted to try this medium after trying music, photography, drawing/painting and all sorts of writing in order to figure out myself and my depression.

It took me months to complete due to my mental state and lack of energy and I intended to post this sooner, but life can be a little too much sometimes. Or very often in my case.

Even though it was the hardest creative thing I’ve done in my life, (despite having a background or experience in most of the separate artforms that make up a film) I was really lost in the entire process and I developed love/hate relationship to it. I wanted to quit all the time when I wrote it, when prepping, when shooting and during the long, motivational drainage that is editing.

But I guess that’s also where the love was born. No matter all the mistakes I made, I could somehow save it and make a decent first short thanks to the editing by re-arranging the pieces I had. Throw away most of it, stretching what was left of it, slowing or speeding up some of it, playing some of it in reverse. Dubbing in new sound (needed, cause most of it was unusable. Note to self: Don’t forget sound!

I’ve tried to make another short since, but haven’t completed the shoot. I don’t know if I’ll finish that one, it’s just a silly comedy I made with my then girlfriend, now fiancée on my phone (This one was shot on the DVX200 before anyone asks, cameras are important on this forum apperantly, hehe) because she wanted me to make something less depressing, but I guess I’m just a gloomy guy, all my new ideas are based on my different malfunctions.

Hopefully I’ll work up enough energy to make another, I really want to.

Anyway, enough talking. I hope you’ll give this a go and give me some pointers, but go easy on me, okay?

Now, pick you poison:
 

https://vimeo.com/272702923

 

https://youtu.be/rsXdjH4I5YA

 

[mercer]

@Ingerson nice job, thanks for coming back to post it. 

Since we discussed this in a B&W thread, I must say I loved the crisp look of the B&W from the DVX200. How did you like working with that camera?

Sorry to hear about your depression. I am not clinically depressed so I don’t want to minimize your condition by saying I get it. But I can appreciate it being difficult for anybody to open up and show their work... or even finish their work. There are times I just want to throw my camera across the room, sell all of my lenses and quit. Filmmaking is physically and mentally grueling and often it is lonely. Moving boulders all day would be easier and in some ways, more people would be appreciative of it. But there’s that drive or obsession to see what you imagined in your head on a screen.

With that being said, I’m glad you finished and shared it.

I watched it on my phone and was really impressed but I want to wait to get more specific until I watch it a second time on a bigger screen. 

So stay tuned...

[Ingerson]

Many thanks, @mercer

The form factor was very weird for me since I'm more used to the SLR in photography. The DVX200 was big and heavy. I've got more of a docu style and I love natural light and finding the "right" image. And it's much harder to get a series of images that have to work in a sequence than just the single picture.

The image got grainy despite lighting (but I'm not really good at it) due to the fixed lens that get's really slow when zooming in. Not great ISO performance. Shot in UHD and mastered in HD, so the grain got much smaller (it also looks much nicer in BW than in colour), but it also saved me in the editing when I didn't have enough material. Just zoom in and suddenyl you got a close up from your medium shot without losing quality.

My take aways are that it's big and heavy and pulling focus manually (since AF was really bad) was no fun. All this made me opt for tripod only but I felt chained because of that. But I didn't think handheld would be right anyway, a locked down camera felt like a better visual metaphor for feeling stuck, like I often do.

And this is the reasons why my second, unfinished short was shot on my phone. Much easier to move around and not having to worry about focus. But the apps's settings aren't easy to change on the go and it's hard to get a stable image without a gimbal, but I wanted to go handheld and have more of a gritty look (I even made a diffusion filter out of an old SD card packaging and taped onto my phone, haha)

That was on the iPhone SE, now I got the Xs and the image is amazing in comparison and now I have a wide and a normal built in without having to add external lenses. Playing around with it almost daily and really like it.

[kaylee]

dude!!! GREAT WORK, I LOVE ITTTT

first of all, this is a really interesting piece, and it was easy to actually watch, because....

as a director youre a storyteller, and like telling any 8 min story, if ppl dont have faith in you as a narrator, things arent gonna work. on the other hand, when you establish competence immediately, and then offer a little twist to the audience, THEN you rlly have ppls attention going forward, u kno what i mean?

so, in a world of boring ish thats ALL THE SAAAAME, this got my attention immediately~!

On 2/15/2019 at 1:29 PM, Ingerson said:

I don’t really know what to say about this, it’s my first short and I wanted to try this medium after trying music, photography, drawing/painting and all sorts of writing in order to figure out myself and my depression

lol i hear ya. only i call it an "art practice"

On 2/15/2019 at 1:29 PM, Ingerson said:

It took me months to complete due to my mental state and lack of energy and I intended to post this sooner, but life can be a little too much sometimes. Or very often in my case.

same. im in a p good place now, but u dont even wanna kno abt the past

On 2/15/2019 at 1:29 PM, Ingerson said:

Even though it was the hardest creative thing I’ve done in my life, (despite having a background or experience in most of the separate artforms that make up a film)

same

On 2/15/2019 at 1:29 PM, Ingerson said:

she wanted me to make something less depressing, but I guess I’m just a gloomy guy, all my new ideas are based on my different malfunctions.

to be fair, i actually have a fantastic sense of humor when im in a good mood – i could write comedy. but its REALLY in stark contrast to my gloominess, or my tongue in cheek gloominess, as the case may be. point being, that confuses ppl, and you cant be dark and funny, gotta pick one. so... thats the silver lining ????

 

seriously man, great work, loved the short, its almost impossible to get someone to watch an 8 min short on youtube, let alone a b&w 3:4 silent film, but u did it. my first short is v similar in those ways. one more thing:

On 2/15/2019 at 1:29 PM, Ingerson said:

Hopefully I’ll work up enough energy to make another, I really want to.

DO ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

i saw a video one time where quentin (tarantino, not quentin hickenbottom) was relating a story about how he was talking to some rich woman at a fancy party, and he was between films, and he wasnt sure what to do next or if he wanted to do anything next at all, and he told this woman that, saying that it was like climbing "a whole new mountain every time", or something to that effect

so if he, one of the most successful, acclaimed filmmakers of his generation feels that way, AFTER hes made world class hit films...?? i think its ok for you and me to be human too

filmmaking is hard af. dont give up

 

[Ingerson]

Thank you so much @kaylee for the kind words! I def got more energy to make more now  And I'm going to use "art practice" from now on, haha. Great to hear you feel better!
 

56 minutes ago, kaylee said:

to be fair, i actually have a fantastic sense of humor when im in a good mood – i could write comedy. but its REALLY in stark contrast to my gloominess, or my tongue in cheek gloominess, as the case may be. point being, that confuses ppl, and you cant be dark and funny, gotta pick one. so... thats the silver lining ????

 

I've managed to make people do quite a few spit takes. Today I told my fiancée that just like I've got a face only a mother could love, my humour is the kind which only can make a partner laugh . She got a bit upset and said: "So you think I have bad sense of humour?" and I replied: "No, you just got bad taste in men". She almost fell out of the chair laughing xD

[kaylee]

looool thats hilarious ?

[Ingerson]

Well, this is not something I would ever expect but the film got picked up by a world wide distributor! Surreal O_O

[Zach Goodwin2]

Excellent short film.

[thebrothersthre3]

Art is a fine balance of technical skills and pure imagination. I would have taken this film as the work of a seasoned artist. 

In other words, very nice work! I had thought the grain was intentional. Just shared on my facebook. 

[Ingerson]

Thank you @Zach Goodwin2 and @thebrothersthre3! Glad you liked it

[PannySVHS]

great photography, cinematography and involving visual storytelling. Great short film. Thanks for posting. Also got here from the B&W thread.:) cheers

[heart0less]

Thanks for bringing this up, @PannySVHS - don't know how I could've missed this, but I did.

@Ingerson, that's a truly great short.
Those first shots and on-point sound design made me watch it in one sitting, with no interruptions - and that's something!

Not so much was shown on screen, which in turn awoke my imagination from a deep slumber.

Amazing storytelling.

[PannySVHS]

Great way to show off the DVX200 also.  @heart0less