"SUBJECT" Film Release

Hello all. As most of you have no idea, I am currently a senior (credit wise) at Columbia College Chicago. I was recently brought on to help finish a friend of mines film, Subject. This film was shot on 35mm last year, and just went through final sound design, color correction, and visual effects. I was visual effects supervisor on this, working usually from the hours of 11PM to 9AM, the only times I was not in class. It was rough getting it done but I think it turned out great!

The film is about 5 minutes long and is being used now as somewhat of a "teaser" for the feature length script that is being written. Also, any old school video game nerds may recognize the main actor.


Let me know what you guys think!

SUBJECT

Also if you have time check out the BUDD commercial, it's got some pretty cool effects in there as well. Not to mention some nice production value!

 

His production value here is pretty spot on, too. I couldn't even dream of doing something like this. Wow.

It's kind of a cool short film, it does leave me wanting to know exactly what's going on. Briefly, it reminded me of Fire in the Sky, but that's definitely not what you're going for here.

And yeah. It's pretty to look at. Very much so.

-Vaportrail

 

This movie is absolutely awesome. Great work!

Spoiler:


However, I do feel the need to point out that it's strange that after the guy gets cut in his chest, the wound completely dissappears after he gets up...

 

He thought so too.

 

The look of the film is awesome. Absolutely top-notch. If we were meant to get an idea of what was happening, it didn't work for me (the end), but I suspect it's meant to be ambiguous. Sound effects were great. Effects were good. I think the music was about 70% successful, and 30% felt kind of amateurish, even though it was well-produced. Loved all the flares.

 

Loved this film! Really well done. I couldn't help but think it was a little like a movie version of Half-Life!

 

Indeed, I freakin LOVE the look of film, show me one digi camera that can get somewhat close to those images, it cant, film is better and more pro then any video formate. It shows in this image quality. Great job with this project.

Also, I am currently workin on that Nuke drop Trowa. I'll pm you the results and details.

 

The problem with the film is exactly what makes it awesome, film itself. Film is expensive. VERY expensive. Not to mention getting an HD transfer of said footage. The film would be longer if there was more money/time, but since the footage was shot specifically for a class it was on a tight time frame of one semester.

Thanks for all the comments guys I'll make sure to forward it over to the crew/cast.

Something fun: If any of you have Mortal Combat 3, check out Sub-Zero's face on the menu screen. Then watch this again.

 

Wow. Incredible production value. Nice flares. But, I don't get it. I mean, visually it flowed together, but there was no story whatsoever. Pure eyecandy.

And hey, where's the stinger?

 

I second this. I watched it twice and still don't get what's going on! But it still rocks!!

 

It would seem to me that the guys in the masks are extra terrestrials. That is why they fall down when the main character rips out their air tubes. They can't breathe Earth's atmosphere. I believe the shadow at the end is the mother ship. My interpretation anyway.

Well done.

 

Looks good. But when I first heard the music I thought it was from Pirates of the Caribbean. Closer listening proved me wrong. Silly me.

 

Listen to Pixel. He knows well.

 

Here you go.

Michael Bay has singlehandedly managed to make the anamorphic look (aka "nice flares") synonymous with high production value at a time when anamorphic shooting has been on the wane and is considered almost "retro". As such, your DP made a smart choice in shooting anamorphic; although it's more challenging in some respects (pulling focus comes to mind), you get loads of production value like the flaring, shallow depth of field (moreso even than spherical 35mm), and distinctive bokeh, for "free".

As for your part in it, besides the very last shot there was nothing that stood out to me as "this is an effect", so well done there. And even the last shot only jumped out as an effect because I know it would be impossible to accomplish practically.

Definitely good material to have on a reel. Congratulations.

 

Nice film. Love the look as well. What exactly was your part in it though? I'm with Dorkman in that I'm not sure what else, other than the final shots, required any special effects? The final shots were quite spectacular though.

The look of the film was great, but the story felt like just filler. It was interesting and raised a lot of great questions, but still nothing much to it. If this was done for a class, then was this just an inability to come up with a cohesive story? Or was it a requirement to leave the audience in wonder at the end of the film? Or was the main intention to make a teaser for this script? What's the script about?

Man, can't wait to eventually work with 35mm.

 

I did the final shots with the aliens on the buildings, eye glows/distortion, laser-things, glows on bottles/tools, and there are roughly about 20 shots throughout the film that had MAJOR "spot" removal. A chemical spilled on the film during processing and put huge splotches on the film like this:

[image=http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y141/TrowaGP02a/subject_spot.jpg]

On shots that it did happen on, it happened throughout the duration of the shot. Removing them all was annoying. The worst were shots like the one above where they happened on the character while he was moving, and he usually moved fast.

But I guess since no one noticed, I win

 

WOW. Amazing work on the removal. You rock.

 

Wow. Well like they say, the best visual effects are the ones you don't notice. Heck, even the last shots I didn't notice they were special effects, but of course I knew they had to be.

 

Wow, totally awesome! I like this kind of films with open ending. SUperb camera work, great acting. I'll definitely watch the rest of your films.

 

That was simply amazing, it's kind of fun to try and figure out what was going on. The production value makes it seem like no amateur, and the look and style is great as well.

Visual effects good, too.

 

I'm very curious to know how the the intro sequence was organised with the cars and fire trucks? Stuff like that would require a lot of permits, fire wranglers, safety crews all of which = big $$$

How much did all this cost?

 

A lot less than you may think. Film-making is all about who you know, and that does NOT mean just "other filmmakers you know".

As I am not the producer or the owner of this film it is not my right to say how much it costs, but it was less than the price of an HVX I'm sure.