Mob Wars Trailer Contest Entry - The Don

[pyrococcus]

You can see the camera and the camera man a few times from the car and the sun glasses reflections.

[tsirahxuan]

I like the Don part.. but the mother and son seem not so pro : /

[hbmorris5558]

Love it, Mike. Cast, locations, camera angles and moves. Great job.

[DinoCorleone]

Would have been excellent if you would have get rid of the bitches & the little school boy at the end. The don & his right hand guy look good though.

[crashpix]

Hm. By "bitches" I assume you mean Stevie and My-Ishia. They're both talented actresses (and good friends) who lent a lot of atmosphere to the short without having to say a word. The point was that all this was happening in a young boy's imagination, so it made sense to have beautiful women hanging off the kid's imaginary alter-ego. Sorry that was lost on you. Rob and Tevis both did a very good job and really lived their respective roles.They were also key in setting everyone up with wardrobe.

[DinoCorleone]

@crashpix:

Thx for the explanation. I'm sure Stevie & My-Ishia are talented actresses & didn't mean no disrespect by using layman terms. Your explanation made it clear that the characters were based on the kid's imagination as well. I would have prefered the old school, high class, not flashy type of mob more :P but that's an opinion of a guy you don't even know :P Anyway... all in all you guys did a good job & wish you good luck in your future undertakings. Salute.

[crashpix]

Ahhh... gotcha. Yeah, there's definitely a lot to be said for old school - it never really goes out of style. Given some more time to wrangle up the production elements a more classic mob thing would have been a lot of fun to do. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[kudjo24]

i wanna say this is HD but the HQ option begs to differ. did u use a HD camera?

[crashpix]

It was shot in standard def - we used a Panasonic DVX100B. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[T63D]

LMAO great vid

[handsomemonkeyfilm]

I really like your actors and props, they really suit the role and you have create a very convincing mob scene.

My personal feeling is that I didn't like the direction, when it end with a kid playing mob wars. It is just my personal openion.

by the way, awesome location, I wish we had a place like that for our shooting.

anyway, good luck for the competition.

[crashpix]

Heya, thanks for commenting. I'm lucky enough to know folks who are good actors and generally look like mobsters ;^) Locations are easy - just keep your eyes open for them and get used to talking to folks who own them. We didn't pay a dime for any of our locations, we just asked nicely!

I'm really happy with the ending; nothing that starts off as over the top as this short should ever take itself seriously and we hit the right tone of self depricating humor. Good luck to you too!

[TRUCKTURNER2010]

Great job. I really enjoyed this one. I like how you referenced the game. I'm curious to know what kind of camera you used. When you get a chance, check mine out and tell me what you think! Again, good concept!

[crashpix]

Thanks for watching - glad you liked it! We shot this on a Panasonic DVX100B (it does say that in the notes but it's tucked down waaaaaay at the bottom). It's a little pricier than most consumer camcorders, and doesn't do HD, but it's still a very good solid camera that can produce really good looking footage and will last forever. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get serious about doing no or low budget film making.

I'll pop over and check out your entry. Thanks again!

[TheSKPFilms]

(cont'd again) if you had a short close-up of the computer to establish what the character is doing, but then focused on the CHARACTER...as he worked the computer. Characters are always more interesting than pictures of the game. That way, we would know what he is doing on the computer, while still being compelled by him. Here's a suggestion...why not reflect what he's doing in the computer in his glasses?

Anyway, this was definitely the best one I've seen so far. Kudos.

[crashpix]

Re: the game screen. I've seen some people using straight screen captures which I agree is totally uninteresting. However I wanted to show what the game looked like so I chose some close up shots of the interface that supported the narrative. The sunglasses idea is a neat! One possibility would have been to start close up on the screen reflected in the glasses and then pull back to reveal the kid. Still, I'm happy with how the screen shots turned out. Thanks for your feedback -it's appreciated!

[TheSKPFilms]

(cont'd) ...at the one minute mark. Check out that part. The parts when people talked off-screen were fine, but if someone's talking, unless you figure out an amazing way to do it, its all or nothing when framing.

2. The acting was really great, until the end with the little kid...that was overacted and it seemed forced. However, everywhere else it was really really great, so don't worry.

3. I never liked those close-ups of the mob wars game on the computer...it would have been more compelling

[crashpix]

that context it's a lot more interesting to show that coolness and power by way of how the characters around the Don relate to him rather than in "hero" type shots of the Don. Also, there are times when inserting additional shots can slow down the flow of a scene - I wanted to keep things going as smoothly as possible.

While Tisha and Eric aren't as experienced actors as most of the other cast they took direction well and I'm very pleased with the performances they turned in.

[TheSKPFilms]

This was probably the best one I've seen so far...good job! The sound and video quality were excellent, the sets and costumes were great, the writing was clever, and it was interesting...the camera was interesting, the plot was interesting, it held my attention and gripped me! Just a couple criticisms...

1. There were a couple parts when the camera cut off characters' heads, while they were talking...it would have been better to cut to a full view of their head when they are talking...like

[crashpix]

Thanks for the kind words and for taking the time to offer your thoughts! Glad you liked it. Re: the framing - Selectively framing out a person's face is not uncommon to emphasize the power of the character talking. Granted, it's usually used for villains but you see it in film noir too. Honestly if I could do it over again I'd actually show even *less* of the Don's face. Really this isn't about the Don as a character, but more about how cool and powerful the Don is (as imagined by the kid). In

[Tenonefilms]

Great video. You had good audio

[crashpix]

Thanks! Audio is definitely a neglected facet of a lot of indie producitons, but we've always been big proponents of good sound quality - nothing takes an audience out of the moment faster than terrible audio. Thanks for noticing ;^) I think we used a RØDE boom mic - not sure what the pole was but it wasn't too fancy.