Michael Slowe wrote:Greg, any judge who says 15 minutes is too long before seeing a film has no right being a judge.
I've forgotten to tell you something. I always work on my films for months and months. My storyboard is always a very long one. Sometimes more than 400 shots !
My clubmate Samuel, however, makes short films. In"The Prey" for instance there are not more than 20 shots. But he's runner-up in the Guersey Film Festival ! There is not even one close-up in his film. I always encourage my friends to take as many useful close ups as possible when doing camera work.
It all proves that Samuel is a real artist ! He can create power in his film in a very simple way. He does not even need close ups to make a powerful film. He can make a film of high quality in only a few days.
Making shorter films in the future... That could be a new challenge ! I fear that I don't have enough artistic feeling and ability to achieve a short film of high quality.
Michael Slowe wrote:Greg, any judge who says 15 minutes is too long before seeing a film has no right being a judge.
I've forgotten to tell you something. I always work on my films for months and months. My storyboard is always a very long one. Sometimes more than 400 shots !
My clubmate Samuel, however, makes short films. In"The Prey" for instance there are not more than 20 shots. But he's runner-up in the Guersey Film Festival ! There is not even one close-up in his film. I always encourage my friends to take as many useful close ups as possible when doing camera work.
It all proves that Samuel is a real artist ! He can create power in his film in a very simple way. He does not even need close ups to make a powerful film. He can make a film of high quality in only a few days.
Making shorter films in the future... That could be a new challenge ! I fear that I don't have enough artistic feeling and ability to achieve a short film of high quality.
Yes you have Willy, you just need to dare more and not always think about what people will think. People are attracted to new experiences they haven't already had, try to show them that. It sounds maybe contradictory but it is a good exercise to experiment in that direction.
Absolutely Samual, be daring and don't worry what folk think because every film finds an audience!
One of my collegues made a fairly random film using empty drink cans after a party. She took to having herself and family crush and stomp on the cans, then arranged the shots in a sort of musical manner. In all the shots all you could see was the feet flattening the cans in various way. The film is called "The Easter Can Stomp", (like it says on the tin- couldn't resist it!)
Just a normal random art film yet it found it's audience on youtube from a bazaar yet keen viewing group who requested more of the same.
What a surprise ! My clubmate Samuel on this forum ! I'm very pleased. In a few weeks we are going to the Guernsey Film Festival together.
One more thing about the length of films. Samuel saw my Passchendaele film a few weeks ago. Now it is 15 minutes shorter and it is quite different, Samuel. I showed the film in my Antwerp club and yesterday my wife Vera saw it for the very first time. Vera is always very critical. She said : "I don't know what you should delete to make the film more powerful." Now it is ... 52 minutes long ! For a competition it must be shorter !!! What a challenge for the coming weeks or perhaps months... ! Next week the film will be on a disk with a menu. I made 8 films this year. They're all on that DVD.
To be honest... I feel that I am exaggerating all the time. I should calm down. A sabbat year would be excellent ! Going to BIAFF without having a film.
I can't imagine what an audience would say if they went to an amateur theatrical production that ended after 20 minutes, never mind ten! So it must be the script or the subject, I suppose.
Peter.
Since I have been quoted ad nauseum on this thread can I add a couple more comments?
Ned, suporting my feeling on the matter, puts it in a nutshell. The retention of the audience is paramount, end of arguement. That applies of course to judges since THEY are the audience. I watched spellbound for over two and a half hours in a West End cinema a film shot in a mountain monastory in France withput a word being spoken! The latest rage here in London is over a fascinating documentary called 'Man on Wire' about the young Frenchman and his friends planning his walk on a tight rope strung between the two towers in New York in 1974. All the critics complained that the running time of 85 minutes was way too short!!
I, a few years ago, had a documentary about two alpaca breeders, in the Guernsey Lily festival, running for 29 minutes which was voted by the audience their favourite film. The moral is don't worry about the length at the outset, make your film and then see if it works. You'll know in your heart whether it does, if it is good enough never mind the length - feel the quality!
