'Paul' (short film 2019)

[François Albaranes]

Hi there !
This is my last (self produced) short film.
I'm wondering if you can guess the gear used for this one... ?

Thanks for watching ?

[KnightsFan]

That was really well done! I liked the unassuming and consistent pace, and the overall production value was quite good. I appreciate how the conflict is introduced in the very first scene, but is implied and veiled. The movie hides the conflict the way Paul is burying his own emotions. I do think, though, that for the runtime, there is too much buildup and not enough payoff. Part of that is that the moment of confrontation between the two men is the weakest part. There is no leadup to Paul falling, it's just a shot of a foot slipping out of nowhere, and then there is no visceral "punch" when Paul hits the ground. And then suddenly Emilie's there. I think that's the part that kind of harms the payoff for me, there's no connection between Paul and Emilie and then suddenly there is, with no story element to explain the resolution (unless I missed something, which is possible).

[François Albaranes]

On 12/18/2019 at 11:19 PM, KnightsFan said:

That was really well done! I liked the unassuming and consistent pace, and the overall production value was quite good. I appreciate how the conflict is introduced in the very first scene, but is implied and veiled. The movie hides the conflict the way Paul is burying his own emotions. I do think, though, that for the runtime, there is too much buildup and not enough payoff. Part of that is that the moment of confrontation between the two men is the weakest part. There is no leadup to Paul falling, it's just a shot of a foot slipping out of nowhere, and then there is no visceral "punch" when Paul hits the ground. And then suddenly Emilie's there. I think that's the part that kind of harms the payoff for me, there's no connection between Paul and Emilie and then suddenly there is, with no story element to explain the resolution (unless I missed something, which is possible).

Thank you very much KnightsFan ! I appreciate a lot your analysis.

[KnightsFan]

2 hours ago, François Albaranes said:

Thank you very much KnightsFan ! I appreciate a lot your analysis.

No problem! I enjoyed watching it.

And for the gear... The thickness of the color and richness of the shadow tones was very good. The blue jacket at 9:55 for example popped out. I thought the last scene on the boat looked a lot like some more stylized film stocks. I thought the boat shots stood out as the best in terms of color. If I had to guess I'd say XT3 with Sigma Art lenses. But whatever you used it was consistent and did the job well.

[François Albaranes]

18 hours ago, KnightsFan said:

No problem! I enjoyed watching it.

And for the gear... The thickness of the color and richness of the shadow tones was very good. The blue jacket at 9:55 for example popped out. I thought the last scene on the boat looked a lot like some more stylized film stocks. I thought the boat shots stood out as the best in terms of color. If I had to guess I'd say XT3 with Sigma Art lenses. But whatever you used it was consistent and did the job well.

Thank you very much!

About gear, I used micro four third stuff. A Panasonic G85 with Panasonic lenses: 12-35mm f2.8, 15mm f1.7 and 42.5mm f1.2. I used Magic Bullet Looks in Premiere Pro and a LUT that's called "AriColour 4k Cine Pop". Changed the tint and colours hue to get more reddish skin tones, blurred a bit (as m4/3 is way too sharp) and added grain.
This radically changed the look of the film.

That's interesting to see that you can get good results without cinema lenses and a high end camera.

AriColour_4k_Cine_Pop.cube

[KnightsFan]

4 hours ago, François Albaranes said:

A Panasonic G85 with Panasonic lenses: 12-35mm f2.8, 15mm f1.7 and 42.5mm f1.2.

Ah man, should have gone with my gut! I was thinking GH5 the entire time, right up until that final boat scene. In my experience, Panasonic tends to have colder tones on everything except skin, which ends up being more orange, which is especially apparent in the scene around 6:40, or the shot at 2:13. I told a director once that Panasonic white balance was always too warm and too cold at the same time lol. But those boat shots look really good, so I thought it must be something like an XT3.

I don't have any experience with any MFT lenses. All I could tell really was that they were very modern, based on the lack of CA and overall sharpness. For the gear used, was it just what you had available, or was there any special reason you paired this kit with this story?

[PannySVHS]

I assumed GH4, so pretty close.:) Well done, Francois, thank you for sharing! Too bad this section barely gets attention even though it would be the best place to dicuss, showcase and enjoy the usage of gear. Using it and showing its results is the best thing one could actually do with gear after all.

[François Albaranes]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Yes, to me as well sharing and showing what you can achieve with the not-best cameras is what we all have to do.
Instead I usually see in forums people compare/complain and ask for more, but I'm never allowed to see what they produce with - let's face it - cameras that can do much better than pro-cinema/hollywood cameras from the '90s.

Yes I used MFT for budget reasons, and I can say I am very happy to have achieved that film with only a G85, pana lenses and 1000€. MFT lenses are very good and sharp (i had to add blur in post to give a more cine look), but they can't give you the shallowest DOF. Skin tones are worse than what more pro cameras can give you, but color grading can change the game and the audience doesn't care about that kind of things (if job is properly done).

Project after project it becomes pretty clear that STORY is paramount, and then SOUND design.

[LOM]

As a student of McLuhan the theme of the piece grabbed me. McLuhan's problem was not exactly the same, but the jealousy amongst colleagues was the same. The jealousy then is amplified with the so called inappropriate flirtings with the students. Little wonder the guy needs aspirin. 

The boat business struck me as odd. The idea of poor pay for an academic didn't jibe with the expensive boat. 

I think the main theme would have been enhanced with more interaction at the department celebration by other colleagues; and driven the guy to an even bigger headache.

Bravo- great piece even though I didn't get what happened.

[François Albaranes]

On 12/29/2019 at 12:37 AM, LOM said:

As a student of McLuhan the theme of the piece grabbed me. McLuhan's problem was not exactly the same, but the jealousy amongst colleagues was the same. The jealousy then is amplified with the so called inappropriate flirtings with the students. Little wonder the guy needs aspirin. 

The boat business struck me as odd. The idea of poor pay for an academic didn't jibe with the expensive boat. 

I think the main theme would have been enhanced with more interaction at the department celebration by other colleagues; and driven the guy to an even bigger headache.

Bravo- great piece even though I didn't get what happened.

Thanks LOM.
I wish I could have shown more about the characters, but I didn't have producers/help or extras to allow me to get scenes with more interaction/people.