New trailer for "The Light of Eons"

[ccortez]

What flavor of HD24P did you use 720 or 1080? Did you have the film transferred professionally or did you use a home built scanner of your own design? I have 2 home built film scanners that I made 2 years ago. One can do 1280 X 1024 and the other does 800 X 600. I often wonder why no one had done Hidef super-8 before, now you have proven it is viable. Your footage looks great!!! I see you will be showing in Houston May, 22 which is my birthday I sure hope I get a chance to go.

I'd really love to be in Houston for that -- my in-laws live there so we're there a lot, and May 14 is MY birthday. FWIW... But 5/25 is the due date for my baby girls to be born, so I doubt I'm cleared for takeoff to any festivals.

You'll have to make sure and apply to the Austin FF and SXSW next year!

c.

[Paul L.]

Excellent work... I look forward to seeing the finished product. I wish more people would attempt to use super8 for interesting shorts like this one, instead of relegating it the claymation/shaky handheld dustbin.

[vegard]

Great work! I am very new in this super8 scene, so I haven't seen much, but this elevated the expectations I have for the format.

Regards from Norway.

[The Light of Eons]

Actually, "The Light of Eons" is playing on APRIL 30TH, at 1pm in Houston. Hope you can still make it, and bring everyone you can! I plan to be there.

David

[The Light of Eons]

Congratulations on winning the festival! I have to say your cinematography is very impressive. Good job!

I my self am shooting a short film with Tri X soon and wondered if you used any filters or anything to improve the contrast?

Hmmm maybe im just underestimating what Tri X can do . . . but i have seen some quite poor black and white done with this stock in the past.


Steven.[/quote]

I did use, on occasion, a red filter for some sky/cloud shots, but what I found was that Tri-x is so contrasty already, that using the filter made it almost too stark, at least for what I was going for. I shot some tests first, to see what would happen -- red filters will make the sky look very dark, or black, and clouds very white. It's a cool effect.

good luck with your films!

david

[steve hyde]

David,

I'm intrigued. This looks like an excellent film. One venue for your film in my neighborhood might be the Northwest Film Forum.

FYI http://www.nwfilmforum.org/index.shtml

Cheers,

Steve

[Lunar07]

Looks beautiful. Nice b/w timelapse.

Can't wait to see it!

- Chris

It looks beautiful. But the trailer does not answer the question: Why should I see it? It does not encapsulate the dramatic plot. The character in the trailer may have not slept in 17 years but this is a statement of fact. Then there is the woman. And the passage of time. But the trailer does not bind these elements together into an effective web that pulls me into actually seeing the film. A beautiful clip does not translate into an effective dramatic structure, and this trailer fails at addressing this point.

[Lunar07]

Let's see.. I used a Nizo for most shooting, including the time lapse, and a Eumig for the lower light situations, like in the subway and such.

Which models of the Nizo and Eumig did you use?

[steve hyde]

Looks beautiful. Nice b/w timelapse.

Can't wait to see it!

- Chris

It looks beautiful. But the trailer does not answer the question: Why should I see it? It does not encapsulate the dramatic plot. The character in the trailer may have not slept in 17 years but this is a statement of fact. Then there is the woman. And the passage of time. But the trailer does not bind these elements together into an effective web that pulls me into actually seeing the film. A beautiful clip does not translate into an effective dramatic structure, and this trailer fails at addressing this point.

Lunar,

I think your criticism of David's trailer is fair and I agree that it offers no clues to dramatic structure. Although I can also see why one would take this approach for a short form film. Personally, I wouldn't make a trailer for a short. I think a poster image that offers a few insights into the story should suffice for a short. I often see trailers that reveal too much about a story and when I do, I often think, --good, now I don't have to see it --
I feel like I've seen the whole movie in two minutes. When I watched the LIGHT OF EONS clip, I thought -- cool, these people know how to use the format -- I'd like to see this film and find out what it's about.

....my reaction for what it's worth. I hope it helps,

Steve

[vegard]

Yes, interesting discussion (if the trailer is effective or not). It worked on my anyways, and if our film-club has the possibility to show DVDs I will perhaps ask them and you permission to show it. We recently showed Gattaca, and when it comes to the art of filming, I really liked it.

[paul]

It looks beautiful. But the trailer does not answer the question: Why should I see it? It does not encapsulate the dramatic plot.

When I saw the trailer i thought, wow, great images, nice editing, what has happened to this man, who's that pretty woman, where does it go to. I want to see more..

With all respect, this criticism doesn't make sense to me.

Paul

[Evan Kubota]

As the director of a dozen shorts, I can tell you that cutting a trailer for a short is totally different from cutting a trailer for a feature. Even many feature trailers are less plot-based and more centered on the image (Star Wars Episode III, most horror films, etc.).

It's not a reasonable expectation for a short film trailer to set up the plot - firstly, because short films have very simple and abbreviated plots compared to features, and secondly, because there simply isn't time. For a 10 minute film the trailer shouldn't exceed 45 seconds to a minute. The most effective trailers I've seen for shorts have little or no dialogue - simply a series of images with evocative music. That's the best you can do in the format, IMO.

[filmo]

It looks beautiful. But the trailer does not answer the question: Why should I see it? It does not encapsulate the dramatic plot. The character in the trailer may have not slept in 17 years but this is a statement of fact. Then there is the woman. And the passage of time. But the trailer does not bind these elements together into an effective web that pulls me into actually seeing the film. A beautiful clip does not translate into an effective dramatic structure, and this trailer fails at addressing this point.

Actually, the first trailer that was up on the site (the shorter one) was my favorite, but I disagree with you. I would go see this film, and not just because I love super 8. In fact, without knowing in advance what format it was, I would have assumed 16mm.

Most trailers these days give everything away. Look at the trailer for Lords of Dogtown. Why see the movie when you know what's going to happen already? (unless you're into Star Wars

The LOE trailers worked for me. I preferred the first one because it DIDN"T mention that the main character hadn't slept in 17 years.

[The Light of Eons]

What flavor of HD24P did you use 720 or 1080? Did you have the film transferred professionally or did you use a home built scanner of your own design? I have 2 home built film scanners that I made 2 years ago. One can do 1280 X 1024 and the other does 800 X 600. I often wonder why no one had done Hidef super-8 before, now you have proven it is viable. Your footage looks great!!! I see you will be showing in Houston May, 22 which is my birthday I sure hope I get a chance to go.

Congratulations,
Paul Cotto

Hey -- just a reminder: "The Light of Eons" screens in Houston on April 30th!! (NOT in May at all).

I had my super-8 selects telecined professionally, and went to 24p, 2k HD (I think!). I'm impressed that you made your own scanners!

Thanks for checking in on this post and the film!

David

[paulcotto]

There are some pictures in the gallery of the scanner. I will sure try to be at the April 30 screening.

Here is a picture>>




Regards,
Paul Cotto

What flavor of HD24P did you use 720 or 1080? Did you have the film transferred professionally or did you use a home built scanner of your own design? I have 2 home built film scanners that I made 2 years ago. One can do 1280 X 1024 and the other does 800 X 600. I often wonder why no one had done Hidef super-8 before, now you have proven it is viable. Your footage looks great!!! I see you will be showing in Houston May, 22 which is my birthday I sure hope I get a chance to go.

Congratulations,
Paul Cotto

Hey -- just a reminder: "The Light of Eons" screens in Houston on April 30th!! (NOT in May at all).

I had my super-8 selects telecined professionally, and went to 24p, 2k HD (I think!). I'm impressed that you made your own scanners!

Thanks for checking in on this post and the film!

David