BLINDED

[buck_suck]

Hello everyone,

Its been awhile since I last posted a movie here and since I've been reviewing & commenting alot I decided that perhaps I should promote one of my recent short films. Basically, its the 15 min shortened version of our 30 min film. Its quite a long story but basically this is the draft/test/trial of our full film. We rented a warehouse for 2 days so this is the footage taken of the first day. Its not as good as the 30 min version which we shot on Day 2(still in post production) but I guess it makes a good teaser. Funded by a budget of $2,000, it is approximately 16:22 min (Including full credits)

Its available at:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9612784332

I apologize for the low quality and HORRIBLE AUDIO. Even though we used a professional 3CCD camera, I believe Google reduced the quality drastically to quicken the download speed. As it is, the show might take awhile to stream but I encourage ya'll to be patient cuz I can gaurantee its worth it

I also say sorry in advance for the crappy digital effects. Everyone here seems to detest digital effects for firearms but in our case we did not have a choice. Here in Singapore, possession of firearms & explosives of any sort (Or replicas for that matter) is deemed illegal with a humongous jail term. They're very very very strict and vigilant about it. As it is, getting the weapons we used for our film was really tough and took almost a year or more of sourcing.

Please feel free to make any comments/criticism/feedback/opinions about the film here or at my e-mail address: buck_suck@hotmail.com. Anything and everything is welcomed.

Be honest.

Some Production Stills:

All photos available at:
www.nikkinikki3.deviantart.com
www.productionlogs.blogspot.com























TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Name:
BLINDED

Total Length (Including credits):
16:22

Genre:
Action/Thriller

Budget:
$2,000

Synopsis:
On the trail of an elusive serial killer who murdered his fiance, Sergeant Chan wakes up mysteriously before a concerned psychiatrist; unable to recall the events of the past few hours. Recounting his hasty assault on the killer's hideout, he pummels deeper into a psychological mind game where nothing is as it seems. An intricately woven, high octane thriller with a twist, Blinded portrays how fatal single-minded obsession can become.

Featuring the talents of mere sixteen-year-old students in Singapore, BLINDED is the 15th film of Brian L. Tan and is currently competing in numerous competitions such as the Canon Film Festival, the Short Shorts International Film Festival, the Singapore International Film Festival and the Los Angeles International Film Festival.

Edited Using:
Toshiba Tecra M2 Laptop
HP Pavillion ZD Laptop
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
Sony Vegas
Ulead Media Studio
Acid Pro Studio
Garage Band
CakeWalk Composing Software

Cameras Used:
Sony DSR-PD170 Prosumer
Canon MVX35i Camcorder
JVC GR-D270 Camcorder
JVC D220 Camcorder
Panasonic NV-Gs35 Compact
Sony TRV338 HandyCam
Sony HC96 Camcorder
Sony TRV138 HandyCam
Some other Sony handheld (I forgot the model)

Enjoy. Yeah sorry this post is sooo long.

[justin!butcher]

Pretty good! Some of the dialouge was a little awkward but otherwise really good : ). Just one thing, Im not sure if a SWAT team would throw a smoke grenade into a building...that seems like a pretty stupid thing to do, maybe im wrong (? )

[buck_suck]

Some of the dialouge was a little awkward

Thanks for your comments man. Yeah I admit the dialogue is quite off. Acting aint that great plus the audio quality is horrible. Arrgh. We dubbed Day 2 cuz of that (The 30 min version) haha. ^_^

Well actually i dont know for sure but if I'm not mistaken it is standard operating procedure to throw a smoke nade if they suspect an enemy is waiting inside and if its a big area. Correct me, anyone? I think flashbangs for small areas (I.e. rooms, etc.) but smoke for big ones like a warehouse. Then again I may be wrong. It looks cool anyway haha so I dont mind being in factual error =P.

Btw any ways we could improve on it?

Well

[mr_humble_guy]

I actually think you did pretty well as far as digital effects go. Some of them could be touched up a bit, but they don't look terrible. I liked the parts where you saw the killer silently taking out the SWAT guys (as opposed to them just getting shot). Personally, I think the only things that really needs work here would be the audio and the psychologist's acting.

Good job on the film. I'm looking forward to the 30min version.

[ctbullet]

that was wicked dude, really enjoyed it
a couple of queries

1. i noticed that some SWAT members had writing on their tactical vests and other didn't
2. the acting for the SWAT officers was fair, i mean you should have gone all out on it, screaming, acting your heart out, i do it whenever doing a shootout, it looks so much better
3. it also seemed rather unprofessional for the SWAT team to stay in a group for such a long time, and your tactical movements were a bit off

sorry about ranting on about your acting but it had to be said,

also how did you do the smoke suddenly imerging, did you have a pipeline along the floor with holes or something, looked really cool anyway

[britishbulldog]

what realy makes or breaks a film for me is background information and this didnt seem to have alot and the gap between him finding that dead women and then turning up at the wearhouse could have been crammed full of stuff

[buck_suck]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I sincerely appreciate it.

some had writing on their tactical vests and other didn't

Those were nametags lol. Basically it was a costume problem. If you watch the SWAT guys carefully enough, you'll notice that there are basically 2 times of vests. One of which is the bulging, mult-purpose vest with many pockets (Worn by 6/8 of the actors) and the other the non-pocket, straight down version (Worn by 2/8 of the actors; the lead and the other team leader). Basically the kevlar vest worn by the team leaders dont have a place to insert/pin a nametag haha.

unprofessional for the SWAT team to stay in a group for such a long time, and your tactical movements were a bit off

Lol really? I always thought SOP was to stick together unless alot of ground had to be covered and required them to split (i.e. the last warehouse). With regards to tactical movements - Well I guess we can't help it there, although we did try - One of our guys (the 3rd last guy to do) is actually a real army guy and I suppose he did his best.

how did you do the smoke suddenly imerging

We rented a smoke machine. Basically this large device which converts some chemical (Sorry not a science guy) into smoke that can be directed out and controlled via remote control. Costs at least $80 a day to rent so we deployed it fully this film unlike our previous ones where it just played a minor role.

what realy makes or breaks a film for me is background information and this didnt seem to have alot and the gap between him finding that dead women and then turning up at the wearhouse could have been crammed full of stuff

Alrighty I can understand that. There were actually alot of scenes in between the 'intro' and the warehouse bit which explained their relationship, etc. etc. in more detail. However, we cut these scenes to save time (Canon Film Fest required a less-than-15-min timing), and because I judged that it would have broken the past-paced flow of the story. But yeah. I agree. Lacking background information is something that we have to work on haha. Will include these scenes for 30 min version ^_^

Anyway thanks again for taking the time guys. Keep the comments coming. =P

[maj_barnes]

Everyone here seems to detest digital effects for firearms but in our case we did not have a choice.

I doubt that since almost every movie on here does use digital effects for their guns . I think almost everyone here hates using digital blood, I know that.
_________________________________________________________

Okay, it was great, I rewatched a few parts. I think just showing the girl there dead was fine, I thought the killer guy got her, then they went to go get the bad guy at the warehouse.

I thought when they were first getting fired at, the second element to run in, was a bit stupid to do so. If you see one guy get hit and someone is firing into that narrow doorway, I don't think I would run through there. Also when they came through the door, I thought the second element would break to the left rather than continue to go right with the others. I don't think SWAT wears name badges into situations, and even so, wouldn't they have a perimeter set up by other police officers, so if they lost a bunch of guys wouldn' t they pull back to that perimeter (Waco, Texas is a perfect example, although they were mostly HRT)? When they stacked up on the door the second time, no one was pointing at the door but anywhere else; if some guy popped out with an AK47 he could take down most if not the entire team. Close to the end I noticed the guys with the SMG's were starting to carry them alittle too high up with the stock going well above their shoulder, also at times not connecting with the shoulder. Which would suck when you fire it, because if you don't connect with the shoulder when you fire the gun will recoil too much, and if it's above it... well, you know.

Also I noticed when the 5 guys get trapped between the doors, and then they begin to walk to the door to shoot it, one seems to disappear. I might of missed something, but i thought it was kinda funny.



Hmm...

The gun effects at some parts were bad to great. Some of the missile streaks were a bit on the slow side, and some overlapped the gun itself. Others (like the incredibly sparky ones) looked great with the submachine guns. But the missile streaks with the over theshoulder shots looked great showing where they were shooting, and giving some distance as to how far they were shooting. Also some of the rate of fires on the guns seemed vary scene by scene, and also I noticed a few times when you'd see the flash and hear the sound a second later(maybe because of compression?).

Acting was sometimes bland, but more than passable.

I would suggest not to use CounterStrike sounds for stabbing noises. If you have "The Movies" they have what I think is the best knife stabbing sounds. Nothing too over the top, just a nice impact.

I LOVED THE SMOKE! It really helped this movie out! And yes they do use smoke grenades.

Overall, it was great! I enjoyed watching it. The action scenes were fast paced, and it kept me in suspense at times.

[Kentertainment]

Screenplay
The dialoge was well placed out but tended to be a bit cheesy in other spots.

Acting
Definetly the weakest point, there were moments when the SWAT members were being shot at and they were communicating with a normal tone. As stated before they were bunched up too much and in some instances they didn't look very cautious (when they went into the hallway with locked door) and some of the dialoge wasn't believeable.

Design
Good job with the design, a giant empty warehouse, what a perfect spot for a gun battle. The uniforms were superb with the exception that some of the SWAT members seemed to be less protected with gear than others did.

Music and Sound
That music was great for being original, there are some discs you can buy for ACID with loops on it, are there any you'd recommend to me, I liked what you used. I want to start making music for my movies, I am currently but I'm using actual instruments and it's a bit hard to get organized. Anywho, maj_barnes basically sumed up my oppinion on the sounds.

Cinematography
Another big plus. I loved the lighting in the warehouse. Was that natural lighting or did you actually do some of it? The camera angles were well placed and it kept the continuity going. I liked certain shots that would move side to side (for instance whent he first smoke grenade was thrown and the dolly shot when they entered the warehouse).

Editing
Another big plus as well. The transitions worked along with the style of the film and the colors (I'm assuming you Color Corrected) were a nice fixture.

Misc
At 7:44 there is a muzzle flash that extends off frame.
The music seemed to fade out a little too quickly during the open title

I very much enjoyed this and it finally cured my crave for a good amateur film to watch, keep them coming and lets see the 30 minute version.

[theChad]

I really liked the editing, even if the sound was a bit off, it still paced out nicely for the most part! Great Job!

[ctbullet]

regards the writing on the Vests, i meant the actual word SWAT not name tags, also very unlikely for them to have ID or any sort on them, as stated previously

[buck_suck]

Ah s***! This is like the second time I’m typing all this because my stupid computer hung on me. Damnit.

Okay anyway. As I was saying:

Thanks for taking time to post all the comments guys. Really helps. Okay I know this’ll take quite a long time (For me to type…Again… And for ya’ll to read) but I really cant resist discussing this. Alright I know it’ll be kinda formal but I’m gonna discuss each part chronologically. So bear with me yeah?

Also when they came through the door, I thought the second element would break to the left rather than continue to go right with the others.

Haha its funny you mentioned this cuz after reviewing the footage of the first day, we came to the same conclusion and directed our actors to go towards the right on day 2 (30 min version)

I don't think SWAT wears name badges into situations, and even so, wouldn't they have a perimeter set up by other police officers, so if they lost a bunch of guys wouldn’t' t they pull back to that perimeter

Well, if I recall correctly, in the first warehouse after the SWAT guys make entry, they find 3 dead policemen who were among the first to go in.







Arrgh I guess we didn’t portray it very well but we were essentially trying to establish the fact that that despite the loss of their perimeter and stuff going suspiciously wrong, Sergeant Chan still choose to continue because he was blinded by revenge and anger.

To quote from the psychologist:

“You knew very well the danger you were in yet you choose to go without backup or anything of that sort. You were draw like a lamb to the slaughter…â€

[maj_barnes]

Ah yes and about the missing actor in the locked door scene. You are correct. I must say that your eyes are very very sharp haha. Hats off to you. The first take is actually Day 2 footage though I thought no one would notice heh.

You thought wrong.

Yea, I just thought 3 guys dead wasn't too big of a loss in the perimeter.

Also, that was a good call with the helmets!

[buck_suck]

Yea, I just thought 3 guys dead wasn't too big of a loss in the perimeter.

Just wondering....Usually how big is the perimeter?

[maj_barnes]

Whenever I see like a standoff on the news or something there is usually a minium of 20 to 30 guys. Or on COPS, for raid and stuff they might have 20 or so.

[buck_suck]

Oh. Doh. Are these like SWAT guys or normal cops?

[maj_barnes]

The guys on the perimeter are usually normal cops. Maybe another element on the perimeter.

[SgtPadrino]

k, let's see here - one thing you have to remember is that when a SWAT team storms a building, they generally spread out to fill the gaps - occupy every empty space to clear out enemies, and keeping proper intervals so that one burst doesn't take out a handful of cops. They also move with speed and cohesion, something that your SWAT guys seemed to lack - they should be keeping up communication with each other, whether verbal (if they're making a dynamic entry, which your guys are. For example, an element enters a hallway, there is one door on the right wall that is ajar, the point man calls out, "Open door right!") or hand signals (if they're making a stealth entry) and moving as a team - covering each other, etc. Also, their reaction to the gunfire didn't match the volume of fire that was being heard - they didn't find cover or move fast enough, for example. Also, when breaching rooms (when they were moving to take out the sniper when the gunfire started,) flashbangs are almost always thrown in before the element makes entry, especially when they know that they're moving in on a heavily armed suspect. With a movie that's as SWAT oriented as this, I think you should do a fair amount of research on how teams act, move and communicate, then train your actors on what you've learned - putting them through scenarios and whatnot until they've got it down pat.

That being said, I thought that the music, cinematography and acting (something many people don't realize is that when somebody finds the dead body of a loved one, the first reaction is utter disbelief, not screaming their lungs out, and I think you did a great job of capturing that) were great. You really pulled off the documentary look well, and the lighting was excellent. The muzzle flashes were also good, but when you have a budget like that I think you should have invested in PFC guns instead (buy two or three, then trade those off among the actors that are firing the guns, and give airsoft guns to those that aren't going to be firing their weapons)

And ct_bullet, SWAT didn't get to be the most highly trained and specialized police organization in the world by losing their cool under fire and bellowing out orders for enemies to hear

[maj_barnes]

^^^
I was wondering when you'd review this.

, but when you have a budget like that I think you should have invested in PFC guns instead

Here in Singapore, possession of firearms & explosives of any sort (Or replicas for that matter) is deemed illegal with a humongous jail term

[SgtPadrino]

Singapore... for some reason I thought you guys were coming out of Seoul

[Lawriejaffa]

Well i think it was really good Buck-Suck, in fact I'd say that you have a dash of promise and sparkle to you! Hope your thinking about film school mate

Now im in a rush so forgive any typos to emerge lol, the cinematography was good, sure like anything it can be improved a little here or there, but yours was very reminicent of the kind of action 'tography seen in thriller series like '24' and other action films, (hong kong in particular!)

Which of course works really well, I think you guys sure your young but among asians to western audiences this is not nearly so obvious a youth as it is when you have 18 year old caucasions acting as swat team guys hahaha (attack of the dworks etc) So your boys looked the part, some guys crit on the 'tactics' of your squad and for things like badges here or there etc. Some of these hold a little bit valid, but you can't let it distract you from the much more important elements of your film, the succesful narrative, the drama, etc, the stuff that joe public wants to see, not a gear freak

The special effects imo are just fine, american kids get really excited about cherry bombs for everything lol, but its not always available as easily available (and does not always look as good as digital anyway.) So your effects imo were fine, just the ricochets looked a wee bit wonky (but forgivable)

I think you lads did well, kudos to you for making an ambitious short film full of action and scariness Next time you can grab some acting students perhaps?

Grab a fishpole and boom mic for your sound next time, and i think you lads will be onto a winner (oh and use that sony pd170 for the whole movie next time haha.)

So anyway congrats!

[buck_suck]

Haha. Aww gee thanks Lawriejaffa! Your encouragement and kind words really made my day! Been feeling kinda down lately about my filmmaking adventure so thanks man. Now I feel all good and all heh! I really do appreciate it ^_^

But Film School? Haha I'm not there....Yet....

Grab a fishpole and boom mic for your sound next time

Yeah i know! Sound was horrible wasn't it? After observing the bad audio of this film, all subsequent films were dubbed so I think we learnt our lesson from this one haha

oh and use that sony pd170 for the whole movie next time haha

Heh got it ^_^ The reason why the quality drastically changes at some scene changes is because in order to save time and take shots from different angles, we had 5 camera crews shooting from different angles at all times (Think 'Man on Fire' & other Tony Scott movies). Unfortunately however, not all the cameras they were using had 3CCD quality

you should have invested in PFC guns instead

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit noob here but what are PFC guns?

And oh yeah...Strange that you should mention it...

tography seen in thriller series like '24' and other action films

Cuz 24 does happen to be my favorite show! Jack Bauer all the way! Yeah!

Singapore... for some reason I thought you guys were coming out of Seoul

DOH. Okay...Well...Its a step better I suppose. Last time people used to go 'Singapore....Thats in China, aint it?'. Maybe my English is good cuz I used to live in California but all the people here in Singapore speak pretty good English being a former Brit colony and all heh.

Btw just asking.... When I say 'this film is from Singapore', what immediately comes to your mind?

[SgtPadrino]

Well, nothing really. Maybe I expect it to be more action oriented?

But basically PFC guns are just ultra-realistic cap guns. Look on for a few helpful links -

www.modelguns.co.uk

www.mp40modelguns.com

Expensive, but worth it if you've got the cash. Actually it'll be probably cheaper for you since you're closer to the source (they're made in Japan.) I don't really know about the rest of Asia, but as far as I know they're pretty much useless in Hong Kong, as the caps the guns fire are considered explosives and are therefore illegal. That doesn't keep people from selling and collecting them, though.

[buck_suck]

Haha if they're strict in HK, then they're totally severe in Singapore. Sweeeetttt guns. Damn nice. Unfortunately, here in Singapore, they dont even allow model replicas...Or airsoft either for that matter. I've gotten into a wee bit of trouble myself with them. Have to be really careful and all the props you saw had to be purchased through the black market....For really jacked-up prices

[SgtPadrino]

Maybe for your next movie, grab some extra cash and fly everyone out to America. Not much replica gun restrictions here (for the most part, a few states like New Jersey, New York and California have some pretty tough laws,) even though you'll have to pay far out the a** for the guns alone... just go to Japan then