[RELEASE] Siblings: What a Blast! WMV or Quicktime MOV Available. Download it here, and now!

Siblings: What a Blast! is my first project over 5 minutes in length. Not to mention, it's my first scripted project.


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John's parents have left for the morning for a business meeting. John finds this to be a great chance to play a few arcade games while his siblings watch some movies. Hey, we can all dream right?

Wrong. Disaster strikes at the most inopportune moment, and John is faced with the bitter reality that siblings have been causing chaos since the beginning of time.


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I recommend that if you're using a windows machine you download the windows file. It's better in quality, smaller in file size, and has the proper pixel ratio. The .mov is sorenson 3 for compatability.


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Siblings: What a Blast! 33 meg WMV file, Right Click, Save As

Siblings: What a Blast! 65 Meg .Mov file, Right Click, Save As.

Hosting of the MOV file is Courtesy of SilverFox0440, owner of 2ManShows.com. Thanks again Silver!


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A few notes about the film.

The audio in this movie was the biggest challenge, due to the fact that I was using the onboard mic on the DCR-VX2000, and the onboard mic of a Canon Optura (not sure which model) and more often than not, the air conditioner was running.

I did the best salvaging of the audio I could though, and now every line should be understandable. I did three bits of ADR, which turned out quite bad, but at least you can hear what's being said.

The other note is that many little points I wanted to get across didn't quite make it. About half the material in the script is actually in the film. However, I do see why these problems occurred, and I'll remedy them for the next film.

And last but not least, this project was a Mothers Day gift for my grandparents, so there are a few things of note that don't seem normal to most people (Mom and Dad come home to a locked door. Inside family joke there about my Dad being absolutely paranoid, and locking himself out of the house at four in the morning) but I still hope you enojoy it.

I was going to letterbox it, but the footage just didn't work for that. Next time, I'm shooting with guides. As it was, some shots were perfect when letterboxed, others were god-awful.

Well, I hope you enjoy the movie, and have a great time!

John.

 

Haha. Dude, that was awesome. Surprisingly good acting from everyone in it. I downloaded it with meager expectations of a decent home video thrown together more as a fun thing to do with the family. Instead, I was really impressed with the quality of the movie overall. Excellent job.

 

Well I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the comments, I love comments.

*hint hint*.



Have fun!

 

Ah, C'mon guys!!

It's not THAT bad, is it?

Can't be. Just.... Can't be!

Or can it?

I was at least hoping Dorkman to come in and chew me out for the bubbly audio, but no such luck. *sigh*.

I guess I shall throw away my camera and dwell in a cave, where everyone likes me.

So, if you don't like it, I'll give your money back. Give it a go. If it doesn't float your boat, you're ok, right? Well, other than the fact that your boat is underwater and you're drowning, but lets not get technical. Watch the film, share your thoughts.

I'm not some newbie that can't take a hard wack. If you don't like it, blatantly tell me so. This should be fun for you!

Until then,

John.

 

//kicks thread

Ahem.

 

I'm going to download and watch it, don't feel bad your not getting feedback, I'm sure people are downloading it. I only got like 5 comments in the boards on my first film but it was downloaded almost 1000 times in it's first week. It sounded like a really fun project I look forward to checking it out.

 

Hey John,

I downloaded and watched it. I was particularly impressed by the performances throughout the whole thing. This has pretty darned amazing acting from kids that young. The start of the flick was really entertaining. The middle act was a little bloated IMO - it took way too long to get to the climax, where again the pacing was impressive.

As you noted above, audio is a huge issue. I don't have great speakers on this machine, but usually stuff is decipherable. A lot of audio was pretty muffled. I would encourage ADR on future projects, if a decent mic and a person to hold it is out of the question.

Good job!

-Spiff

 

That was aw3some.

I felt the comic surrealism was nicely done.

 

Loved it!!!!!! Will there be a sequel?????

 

Yes, there will be a sequel. Not really a sequel, but another episode. You know. It's called 'Siblings: A Penny for your Thoughts'. Hopefully it'll make our September 1'st deadline.

Spiff, absolutely man. The audio SUCKED. After a LOT of work in Audition, I made it understandable for the most part, but man. That audio sucked. This time around, we have an Audio Technica AT-897 Microphone on a boompole, and we'll also have a very primitive dolly.

The acting actually did pleasantly surprise me, but then again, I made them do it over and over again until they got it right. In fact, we have 6 hours of footage for this 18 minute film.

As for it being too slow, I can't agree with you more. It should have been 12 minutes, not 18. I actually had 16 pages of script, but I was a little too wordy with it. It should have been 12. Unfortunately, I'm not making Sibs 2 any shorter. I'm actually shooting for 25 minutes with it. It should have quite a bit more interesting and original concept behind it though.

Same actors, in case you're wondering. They really made this movie work.

Glad you guys watched it, I know 18 minutes is a little long, but I watched some that were way longer back when I was a regular on the boards. Like, WAY longer. Some way worse than this. Of course, I had nothing better to do with my time.

 

Man, this thing will just not stay on the first page.

Its worthwhile, folks.

 

I think it's too long. Not to mention that criminally stupid stuff I posted the other day. People are probably shying away from me. :\

 

I never really felt that it was dragging.

I loved the continual return to the pong game, and how the friend reacted the same way as uh,, well, you. Also, you're hella tall, though Im sure I've mentioned it before.

 

Eh, it could have been faster. I considered actually speeding up some of the takes in the middle, but the slightest speeding caused a very evil sound and unnatural look about everything. In the end, I would have only lost a few seconds, so it just wasn't practical.

As for me being tall....

6'1". Which is a blessing a curse. You know, the double edged sword is always present.

Instead of making movies, I should be playing basketball or something.

 

Great movie, man. I enjoyed it all the way through.

 

Pretty good for a first film! Lots of funny little gags and stuff. Good camera angles, etc. Loved the slow-mo during the water balloon launch. For your next film, work on your timing/editing a bit better so things don't drag so much at times. When you're editing your film, sometimes you have to be brutal towards certain sequences and cut them out (or cut them down).

Thanks for sharing.

 

I just finished watching it.

In short, I'm extremely impressed with the whole project. It may not be perfect, but what is? Especially when you consider the ages of all the people involved!


Now, for detailed review:

The good:
The acting was excellent. Especially on the part of your level-headed sister. I found it really funny that she was the most sensible of them all. I suppose there always has to be a voice of reason.
The dialog was really good, except that it was overacted in some spots (by you, the director, oddly enough.) I really dug how you did the bit with the house suddenly being clean. It suddenly was like ultra-technicolor. That was funny.
The shots with the stuff happening on the monitor was done well. I couldn't tell if that was really some game or just some graphic that you whipped up and animated on the screen. (Nice to have that crazy contoller on your machine.)


The bad: (And this part is only so long because I think you will benefit more from knowing what was wrong than what was right.)
The David character was completely disjointed from the whole thing. While he acted his part fine, I didn't get what point he had in the story. I also didn't get why he always jumps when the phone rings. (Turn the ringer down, man...)
Oddly enough, his performance was exactly the same as yours. (Getting back to the overacting thing I mentioned.) It seemed as though you were trying to make a point of being excessively angry for no reason. I guess the game was frustrating you. But, you were overacting a bit whenever your sister came in and startled you.

I'm listing the special effect of the bomb under "the bad" only because it could have been done a lot better. I mean, it looked like a cartoon. Which may have been intentional... But, I don't even get how that worked into the water balloon fight... The, and the tracking was all over the place. The effect of the explosion itself was excellent, though!

The editing could have been tighter. There were a few scenes that starte to drag a bit. It's one of those things that's really hard to do, is cut footage. But, it does make a big difference in keeping the pace up.
I can't go that hard on it. I'm just nitpicking, really. It still looks really good.


In conclusion, I think it was an awesome effort. You all deserve a big congratulations for getting this project finished with such good production value. Really... Setting aside compression issues, it all looks really good!

Now go have a tea party with your sister already!

 

Thanks Durb!

You're right about the David character (the friend one, not the brother one), he didn't have much of a point, except to be somebody John wasn't always irritated with. Pretty much real life, IMO.

The over the top acting was probably for the same reason as the cartoon bomb; It was originally supposed to be a childrens movie. Now, kids don't ever get it, which is weird, but that was the reason for the very cartoony bomb. The next one has some even more cartoony elements about it, but they're consistently a part of Gators imagination.

That's what supposedly produced the bomb this time. Gators imagination. There was a lot of material (3 or 4 minutes actually) that I cut out because it slowed the thing down. It explained Gators genius with bombs a lot more, and Davids role of the 'wise and trusted friend'.

As for the phone ring. Heh, I was trying to make it shock the audience, but looking back on it, it's WAY too loud. Sorry.

As for the technicolor, yes. I love the technicolor.

Reagan actually isn't the main character of Sibs 2, Gator is, but Reagan is prolly gonna be the main character in Sibs 3. She isn't that level headed in real life, but the rest of us are pretty much how we've been portrayed on screen.

Compression.

*sigh*. compression is teh sucky.

Jeremy over at theBRB is gonna show me how a few of these fancy compressy things work. Sibs 2 should be available at nearly full res.



Have fun, and thanks for the review!

EDIT: Just so you know, the script actually reads: And out of nowhere, Gator runs up with a cartoon bomb and places it at Johns feet. WIDE SHOT OF HOUSE. House rumbles as the bomb explodes, and a huge ball of smoke floats into the air.

 

Hi John,
I forgot to ask you: How did you do the opening shot? I.e. the move-in (don't know the technical name) towards the house? Skateboard? Bike? Car? Tractor? Anyway, I really thought it looked good.

 

HaHa, This is a great film, could be alot tighter though as aforementioned, Ironically I was watching it when I was meant to be studying.

May favorite bits are when you put the phone down after your mother rings.
When your cursor is moving back and forward between the two programs.
And when your brothers say your taking it well and your slaming your head into the wall.

Some improvements could be made when your friend puts the phone down after you tell him your going to die, his reaction should be more obvious, perhaps even to do a recurring joke with his cursor moving between the blog and the pong game like your cursor was moving between the physics and the pong game and have him start playing the game again.

My mother walked in while it was on, and sat down and watch it, she seemed to like it as well, which is good because if she wasn't interested in it I proabably would have been told to start studying again.

Anyway as I said, great film you've got there.

 

I think I'm with Durb on just about everything he said, (like usual ) but I will say that I agree with everyone in that it was a very good effort by all of you. I loved the slow-mo with the water balloons right before the bomb goes off, and there were a number of things in there that just made me laugh. Overall a job-well-done IMO.

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks DV!

Michael, it saved you from studying? Awesome!! It has helped humanity in some way! Glad you liked it, and I really appreciate the review, as always. Glad your Mom enjoyed it to some degree too. I really made it for parents in general, but Mom's seem to love several parts more than any other audience.

Doc, the intro shot was done by strapping the camera dolly to the top of the truck. Not too practical at all, and it still wobbled to some degree, so I had to stabilize it digitally. I'm going to try using a simple steady cam rig and a fourweeler next time I do a rolling shot. Should be easy enough.

Hope that helps!

L8r.

John.