Feedback so far on the first cut of HOD is on the whole, very positive. I’ve an ever growing list of changes I want to make but I don’t quite feel up to it yet. Perhaps Tuesday I’ll have a go at a second draft.
I wasn’t happy with my initial efforts at grading SToA, so while I was fixing the few foibles I had with the mix (the strings were too loud) I thought I’d have a go at tweaking the grading as well. I ended up starting again from scratch, but I’m much happier with the result. The whole concept of colour is starting to make more sense to me now I can see it in action. So now red hues = activity with the book and Dr Crabtree has his own yellow world (hopefully echoing the ‘is he, isn’t he bad?’ vibe).
I also added a bit more motion, subtly moving in at various points to add tension. I think it works, but I’m going to have to see what it looks like at work on the big projector. Speaking of which, I checked out HOD for any duff shots on the big projector (after having noticed one glorious shot in SToA that shifts in and out of focus ever so slightly after watching it on there). All seemed to be well, though it did point out a couple of slight concerns which I should be able to fix very easily (better now than at the first public showing, as it was with SToA!).
I’ve set myself up a YouTube Directors account so I can stream SToA once I’ve shown it at a few local film festivals. I’ve come to realise that without the big name it probably isn’t going to get very far at the bigger festivals, and HOD is soooo much stronger as a short there’s no real point pushing both of them. But without some film festival activity, I’m not going to get that IMDB listing… It’s a tricky line to walk.
I’ve also just forked out for a copy of DVFilm Maker. I tried the demo out on both the HOD rough cut and SToA (even though SToA was shot ‘progressive’) and was mightily impressed with the results. My wife laughed when I showed her the interlaced version of HOD saying it looked like an old episode of Crossroads (thankfully she still liked the film though). Lack of grading aside, she had a very good point, and was impressed when I showed her the de-interlaced version.