Broken
– A DVX100 Digital Short Film
cont'd.
by
Carlos
Aceves
(...continued
from previous page)
Proof
in the Pudding?
While making my way
to the DVD player, I thought to myself “how and why the hell did
they cram over three hours of do it yourself filmmaking info into
this puppy? Are they really giving away their secrets to success for
only $20? Are they insane? Without hesitation, I power up my
television giving it time to thoroughly circulate the plasma gases
throughout the entire 60 long inches of hard glass and plastic to
ensure the highest quality image my box can kick. Then I carefully
inserted the disc into my DVD player and pushed the mechanical tray
back and eagerly waited for a visual. Viola!! At last…another DVX
film…Broken…has begun.
Production Quality
I almost felt as
excited as I did while the 20th Century Fox anthem played
during the re-release of Star Wars Episode 3 in ‘97. Okay, not that
excited, although I did want to jump right in and get started but I
didn’t. Instead I browsed the entire “how to” DVD segment chapters,
priming myself up for the main event. My girlfriend pressed play.
Uhhg! The independent movie started and I watched with a sharp eye
and an open mind. I was quite impressed up until they revealed their
bad guys. Man, I couldn’t believe it…they all sucked!! Not the
actors but the characters… too cliché with the tattoos and the
scarred face villain. The best film character they had was their
lead female actress whom was not much of a character at all but more
of a damsel in distress.
Post Production
After the main
villain’s all so predictable “step in from under the darkness to
reveal my scarred face” introduction, their action star finally
emerged and suddenly wooed me with a massive display of rapid gun
fire during their action sequence with digital muzzle fire and
explosions filling the screen and had me analyzing the DVX100 movie
production frame by frame for each digital effect. It was amazing!
Their use of digital effects to enhance their storyline was sheer
genius. By the end of the 15 minute short I totally forgot how lame
their characters were and how little impact the story had. However,
Alex Ferrari and friends do display a great deal of technical
abilities. For example all of their production shots that were
intended to be portrayed as night time scenes, whether interior or
exterior, all of the movies’ scenes were very relevant and
consistent, complimenting one another.
The Final Word
As far as the
special “how to” features from the DVD are concerned… well… that’s a
whole different story that I’m not about to get into. Let’s just put
it this way… there are way better “do it yourself” information
available online and you don’t even have to pay one penny.
Overall, the
DVX100a movie “Broken” is just way too much hype and not enough
product for either the independent movie buffs or the do it
yourselfers. I consider it a bum move by Alex Ferrari and friends by
marketing to the DIY community because it clearly isn’t worth a
budget of $8,000 for a 15 minute short, but a win none the less. Hey
I bought it! And let’s not forget the true champions at Panasonic.
Thanks to Broken, Panasonic can put another independent movie
production in the bag, thus proving that the DVX100, DVX100a and the
DVX100b are the SD Mini DV cameras of the decade.
Let’s recap:
Title:
Broken
Director:
Alex Ferrari
Writer:
Jorge Flores Rodriguez
Lead Actors:
Samantha Jane Polay and Paul Gordon
Budget:
$8000.00
Camera:
Panasonic DVX100A.
Overall Score:
As a short
film I give it 6 out of 10. There is definitely a lot of film
production value that was put into this movie. It was definitely
entertaining from a DVX user stand point. As a product I give it a 1
out of 10. I feel somewhat ripped off because their website makes
the DVD out to be very intuitive to the small DIY film maker. All
the while, they never show you “how to” do anything that they
imply from the website and DVD.
Stay
updated with all our Panasonic DVX100 movie reviews. It’s a
great way to experience the finished products of digital movies shot on the DVX
100 and see the results the DVX mini-dv camera workflow.
Do
YOU have a cheap, low budget, do-it-yourself DVX100 tip or trick that
you'd like to contribute?
If so, just email it to
us and we'll post it up!
Thanks
for helping the grass roots grow!
