Rootclip

:> x 10

Really nice visuals! Nice angles, great colors, incredible music (...not copyrighted, I hope...), and excellent story twist! The acting came and went, but never took me out, and your stranger was very intimidating! I'd be excited to follow up on this, if only I could... ;_;

Best of luck, Jakus!

All that guy is lacking is spraypaint to write "Free Candy" on the side of his van

Haha, thanks Fungus! The music is all legit, no worries. I'm glad you liked it! @SomethingsAwry It did, the car was just turned the wrong way =P

This was a little too safe, lacked depth and story for my immediate liking. I also noticed that creepy old guy appears to be driving in the wrong direction, with the houses on his left, then cuts to the mountain side as he's pulling up to the trio. Ryan and KC also run past the house that is centered in the shot of the two kneeling down to check up on April.

But, "Get in the damn car!" is almost as catchy as, "Hey, dirtbag!" Editing could be polished more, and I think there might be more room for overall surprise suspense. If the man was a priest or some one claiming to be her husband/brother, you might have caught us off guard.

Haha, you noticed dave >_<. I had one day that my actors were available to shoot, and it was the same god damn day the state decided to repave the road, so we were REALLY limited in our space allowed for shooting (if you look closely in the background you can see orange cones all over the place.) So this lead to a very limited filming space, which meant some cars had to drive the wrong way and the running had to go a bit far.

And I decided to leave the stranger character very open, I'd like to see what people could turn him into. I was afraid that if I claimed he was something (even if I had no intention of him being it) people would take it too literally. So instead I opted for the more mysterious kind of character. Why did he stop? Why is he so intent? Etc, etc. But I can't wait to see what other submissions have to offer!

People certainly will take it places you didn't plan on. ;) Good to limit the cans of worms ready to be popped open.

I agree with David that you may have popped the surprise a little early, because from the moment he mentioned "making room in the back," I doubted he was legit. And then the characters backed it up, and by the time he confirmed he was up to something, I was expecting nothing less. However, you did spend that time well in successfully building up tension; the shots of him rummaging in the trunk definitely made me nervous and the foreboding feeling of knowing what will happen and being helpless to stop it is very powerful.

I still really like it, though, and personally think it works quite well with this design. Who knows how it could've gone, but I do know that what you have, does work for entertainment and story. Best of luck!

Imagine if you replaced creepy with an old woman dressed for church, and she suddenly turned all psychotic and gruff with a gun. It would have been a bigger surprise, and a bigger challenge for continuing the story.

Also, there was no mention of the explosion. Eventually, someone has to explain it in a winning clip.

I definitely agree david, but I also didn't want to confuse people. Also, who's to say this guy isn't involved in the explosion? Thats the nice part about leaving the character so open. This is also my first submission, so getting the feedback is wonderful. It really helps give me an idea of what truly makes a good story, so I thank you a lot david for the criticism.

Even though I was critical, I think it's a well put together clip -- nicely filmed and good acting. The music was also perfect. You also get props for getting it in several days before the deadline.

:D Yeah, I don't like to play the "submit on the last day" game that many people on root clip seem to play. I figured by handing it in early, it would get more criticism, but like I said, I'm all for criticism. I'm anxious to see what I'm competing against, but I guess I'll find out in within 2 days and 18 hours...

I think getting it in earlier sets the bar. The longer it stays open (or the entries stay unimpressive), the more viewers and voters begin to consider whipping up one of their own to pitch in. You may have slammed the door shut this round by posting something so stellar right from the word "go."

Also, I'd submit early, if I ever finished early. :<

I hope we have three or four more submissions. But I agree, a solid entry like this one does set a bar. I'm not sure if that's good for early entrants or bad? But it does get people thinking.

Although, not too much action here ... seems awfully quiet. I would love to be notified by email when new clips are up - I almost missed this a few days back. I don't think too many expect submissions so early. Maybe email notifications are possible in the future?

I remember getting an email notification last round once voting started... But not when videos got submitted. Tis a good idea. I also hope someone else submits at least one video, it would be dumb to win by "default." But if you look at past videos, 99% of them come in the last 48 hours, so lets wait and see.

My only (relatively minor) critiques would be:

1) Suspense in early moments only really established by the music, not by the action or acting. For the first 30 seconds or so (almost 1/4 of the whole clip) we just have guys running. Maybe intercut with reaction shots or quick dialogue between them. Very nice tracking shot of them running with the mountains in the bg - that was cool.

2) Last 15 seconds or so of various dramatic intercuts (including April's unconscious body) kind of served the music and not vice-versa. I'm guilty of editing to the music, too, so can't say much about it but still.

3) I would've like to seen the last shot the bad guy holding them at gunpoint while the guys carried April toward the back of the car. More of a, "and there they go, off to their doom" kind of ending than just ending with them all staring at each other.

When directing actors, try to get as much emotions from eyes and facial expressions as possible. Most of the time they guys' faces were either in late afternoon shadow, or squinting into the sun. "I don't trust him" was the best line as far as seeing what they were feeling. Let the characters thoughts and emotions flow through their eyes and brow. I want to see the character thinking, even while they're saying dialogue.

Very nice work! It's got great potential for carrying the rest of the story...

Thanks! One of my major points for this video was about leaving it as open as I could. I decided rather than having KC and Ryan loading april into the car, to have them stay there. That way if in the next chapter, someone wanted them to try and resist or run away or do whatever, it would be possible. Thank you for the tip on directing the actors! And I'll admit I was defiantly guilty of cutting to the music (makes life so much easier that way :D). Thanks for the critiques, and I'm glad you liked it!

My perception is each that clip submission are short movies within a bigger movie. Leaving situations open is not always a winning approach. On the flip side, sometimes a specific and detailed direction can jinx a clip.

did you get that gun at a flea market? It's the exact same one I have.
Loved the music. I'm not a huge fan of the story, and the running got tiring for me.
I won't be too critical, though. I can honestly say I'd have no idea what to do at this point in the story. There are only 2 more chapters after this one. We gotta get this thing moving. O_o
Strong first entry overall.

Haha, no, no flea market for me. Internet. And thats the exact thought I had go through my head when I saw yours... But in the future I plan to use more realistic looking ones (metal rather than plastic :])

I agree that this story is moving slowly, but if you look at the past winners, they weren't speeding along either... But really this story is about a drastic change in Kevin and KC's mundane life, not necessarily about the explosion.

And does anybody out there have a video thats still in the creation process?

i hope the hungrymother/soulshine/defenestration team makes an entry

Haha, yeah... Funny how once judges were introduced to the website they stopped submitting... Maybe their friends just got tired of voting for them...

Less than one day to go ...

I wonder what would happen if a chapter went by and no one submitted...

Don't worry ... someone is going to submit.

The music is fantastic! It's ok to edit to music! There is nothing wrong with this, just don't rely on it. I think you did a great job using the music to created tension before the plot was in motion, and with that snappy editing it added a powerful ending to a predictable twist. I love the way you start out by having this slow music bring us in to watching April, while the camera does an excellent job of creating an out of body feel during the pull out over April, this move is wonderfully aided by the music. It gave me concern for April, leading me to believe she could be dead or seriously hurt.

@ KRN, the running is perhaps my favorite part. The music explodes in with a close up. I liked how the shot was not just a close up of the feat but of there legs giving me a chance to see the surroundings but still not know where these people are or how there atmosphere will effect them. The full body shot of them running was executed magnificently, the way the camera falls behind them running and then bolts forward thrusting us into the next shot. Well done! Now were zoomed into the feet giving me high anticipation while seamlessly creating a feeling of longer time lapse.) The music was a blessing and curse in this clip. The MUSIC gave away your twist! You had eire music chime in when you cut to him. I enjoyed the twist, but you ruined it. I personally would have created a more definitive character to give more room for creativity and depth but in a competition such as this, your vague depiction is a formidable strategy.

Lasthome made a strong point, try to always have the Actors emotion (implying other things than face) in frame unless it's for an artistic reason; otherwise actors are almost pointless.

This is a good entry and you have some raw talent. I will never forget how you did the running sequence. Keep it up!

I could certainly be wrong, jaytaylor, but I think you read a bit much into that running sequence. Judging from the rest of the cinematography, I doubt they purposely did things like 'thrust us into the next shot'. Don't get me wrong it's not bad shooting, the above shot of april was beautiful. I think the shots were planned well, I'm just not seeing that level of intention in the framing. But accidents can be your friends, especially when people like Jaytaylor can make such poetic interpretations. And Jay it's not personal, I think being that supportive is awesome!

But by all means, if I'm wrong, I'm impressed too.

Well, certain things weren't quite planned, such as "thrusting into the next scene" but others were such as the building tension with the closer shot of the feet. Well, let the voting begin!

Sorry, my comment was a bit unnecessary. This is really good work. I might be dual voting again this round.

The "thursting into the next shot" effect is very effective, but I definitely assumed it was because keeping a car parallel to running actors is so hard. ;) Doesn't change the fact, however, that it's a great idea to do on purpose!

I also agree that cutting to music isn't a bad thing, as long as it isn't a crutch. The thing is, very few of us have the ability to get an original score. Without having music pre-fit to our cutting, we have to drop in something never meant to fit, and try to force it. I think most (all?) of us have felt that magic moment when we drop in a song for kicks and -- whaddayaknow -- most of the cuts line up beautifully, but there's just a couple that need to be edged back and forth. There's always limits to how far you can really go before you're messing up the film over it, but I certainly didn't see that here in Unwelcomed Help.

HOWEVER -- getting a few extra angles for that final segment may have helped make the cutting seem a little more organic. We see several repeat shots that cuts of a swirling dolly may have made an excellent replacement of. Just for potential consideration. :)

This might be my favorite entry. Just watched it again, and the music is really astounding.

this entry moved the plot along very well. doesn't explain the explosion from the beginning but does take the characters into a good suspenseful situation.

Awesome Video man.... When did you do this. and why aren't there any Stamford people in this..... hmmmmmm.... i'm disgusted..... nice work with the angles great audio..... i gotta get me one of those watcha ma call it's... a somethin or other GL2 right lol.... best of luck.

I take a week off and a musical wins? I guess this one advances the story the best...

sorry Charlie, lesbians aren't welcome here ;)

Not for nothing but were you planning on advertising sneakers? sorry to say but I think I fell asleep in the middle of it. Started thinking of bad Bay Watch acting.

Nice twist on the potential scifi story. Love the music.

Errg! So...close....to voting...for...!

You guys have done a great job of tearing me up this round. I'm still not really sure which way I'll put my vote...

I do think this entry is classically most fitting to continue with. But then, the efforts to shake it all up (Outta Time) and glaze it in cheery happiness (True Colors) are brilliantly attractive as well... :< I'll sleep on it another day or two, and hopefully have a firmer decision by Monday. ;_;

We got a 2nd place volley on Unwelcome Help and True Colors ...

By far the best out of all the entries this round. Best of luck, and you got my vote!

I also voted for this one, even though I ripped it apart .. a little. Good filmmaking.

Yo jake kick ass vid man! you got my vote best one by far!!!

Back in 2nd!!!! There is still a chance

niceee jake.

in defense of BIB:OOT, we had a lot of problems loading the video on here; luckily, allen, operations at R.C., (at 3 am our time lol) helped us out in finally getting it in a proper format. It looks great in 300 MB version but we had to use a 20 MB or so. That'd be why it looks very pixelated.

Of course the uncompressed version always looks better, but this is the web, so you have to shoot your video with the fact in mind that its going to get compressed. Compression can be as important as color corrections.

Wow amazing surge of votes at the end last days and especially the last couple min .assuming you didn't chat congrats those time stamps seem a bit suspect.

CHEAT*

this film sucks. the blonde guy's acting is just... horrible.

Our exported movie, even the smaller one, looks a lot better than this. The transition to the web site was responsible for the loss of quality. Rootclip had some issues with our submission coming out garbled, and it had to be re-encoded on their end. (I uploaded a larger video that Allen from rootclip worked with)

We followed all the instructions in the submission guidelines and uploaded several versions trying to to get it to work. I don't know what else we were supposed to do.

I know Jeremiah had other reasons not picking our clip and I understand. We assumed that the quality the site displays a video wouldn't impact judge's picks, maybe just the general voting. I guess we should have complained.

By "this", I of course mean OUR video, as it up, BIB:OOT. Sorry.

Part of this contest is rallying for votes. The judges put everything in perspective.

Yes, but if there's a chance that complaining and demanding a higher-quality version of the video get put up could have changed that perspective... I'm not happy.

I don't believe you beat true colors let alone back in black ,its hard for me to even take that fact in. I have mixed feelings if I even want to enter round 5 . I'm torn on the one hand ,you have this horrible video winning and that makes me think my own video being good will count against me but then on the other hand I have the urge to win round 5 just so jackassB won't get two grand and first place . (Also wanna hear moons thoughts on my video) I think I will still enter round 5 and ask true colors and back in black to also enter again so a good video may be selected as the winner.

this chick is sassy. we haven't had any female filmmakers yet. I'd love to see it.

I don't think this video was horrible, and it has "unofficially" won because of the judge's votes.

I didn't think Back in Black was such lousy quality video for the Web. Seems like Rootclip gave your video special attention to make certain that it went up smoothly before member voting. Less than good quality was only mentioned today, as far as I know.

It doesn't sound like any of the judges we blow away by one particular video. It also seems that they had to really weigh in the good and bad, and reach in some cases like video quality.

@jhonnyonthespot -- you better submit next round.

Well with KRN and Moon wanting me to post I guess I have no choice. I will have to think outside the box and go against what I was planning . Got to dig deep into my bag of tricks for 30 seconds of running a dash of lesbians and a pinch of rocket launcher to really make it pop, and ofcource a musical number. hey a maybe a guest star ! How about this people ,tell me what you wanna see and I'll do it for next round ,sound like a plan ?what ever it takes to go to round 6.

i used to work with jhonnyonthespot but then she got a big head and started popping midols like they were candy. lol

Who the hell are you and watch what say maybe me KRN will will team up and you will need a midol!

Who the hell are you and watch what say maybe me and KRN will will team up and you will need a midol!

I knew this would win! Congrats jake, you earned man. Jhonnyonthespot, You absolutely must enter. If I end up getting together a team, I need some competition

Can we please delete the killercheesyninja account ...

Hey, can we possibly start displaying IPs in people's profile?

You surely don't want to pi off anyone from Patterson, NJ -- Badda-bing, badda-boom.

Hey, where did my asterisks go?

Yes, I agree. ERIC! ALLEN! KEVIN! delete this jerk-off, it's pathetic.

SONYA! tell Eric to delete this guy

While were suggesting things, Can we get the ability to created user posted Blogs? or perhaps comment boards on our profiles to allow us direct communication with one another?

whatever i'll delete everything myself. touchy. i didn't know you guys ewer so supportive of eachother

Les is a good guy. Despite the sometimes childish bickering that goes on here, we need to strive for a strong sense of good sportsmanship.

Aren't we missing a judge?

If you are not going to say something nice, don't do it in disguise.

We are missing one judge, but even if he votes for Back in Black, they are still 1.5% behind.

User blogs would be excellent, or Facebook, etc. profile links.

@jhonnyonthespot, if you wanna talk about possible cheating, look no further than back in black and the three screenames listed on the voting list that all voted within each other and involve "jeebus" and "bongs"

Oh, and congrats on the win JakusB! I was rooting (no pun intended) for you the entire time. I await going up against you in Chapter 6! >:3

I wouldn't mind almost like a movie of month club. We go out and watch the same movie, then come back and comment about it. I would really like to pick some brains on this site about certain movies.

I still want to know what the guy thought, and who he picked. I bet he'll pick 'Back in Black' he always goes for the cheesyest.

I gave Jake a real hard time, but he took it on the chin like a winner. I think he's going to be a contender in round 6.

I want to know if the judges read our comments before they make their choices. Or is it purely on the videos and their expertise? (you know, like us) :D

@fiercedeityys yea dude check all voting history lots off fishy stuff.... doesn't this site check for ip's or for unique votes . if not they should cut it all down. I wanna know what real votes are ? Cause if the winner isn't real this whole contest is cheapend and I wanna win round 5 and have it mean something!

:) I love this site.

I like this site to ,the only thing I really don't care for is fan vote. It really can end up not mattering at all you would need a 10.1% lead just to beat out 1 judge and even then , if all 5 judges pick 1 video all the fans would need to vote on a dif one just to tie. But what are ya gunna do I guess the most I can ask for is fair fan vote .

Infact lol I'll bet that judges win in a tie. Something else just came to me ! While we are waiting on judge 5 .all judges should vote at the same time and be hidden until all are done . Like think of judge 5 he knows exactly what his vote is worth ,he could vote for anything and know it means nothing! Judges shouldn't even know what other judges voted for!this is not a spectator sport ! Come on people. It can't be just me thinking this ....or is it dun dun dun .

Hey Jhonny, if you don't like the way it is now. Then try to imagine how we all felt before there were judges. After much crying, complaining, and bitching we got the system we have now. Kevin and Eric read the boards and seem committed to making this site the best it can be. If what we have now sucks so much, How could it work any better? It's one of the reasons we all try to be so cordial and sportsman like to each other; to scare the cheaters away with our KINDNESS!

How do you know that Judge 5 is on the site? Do you know him personally? Are you stalking him....

As to what I would change....didja read ma post lol. now you aproched me pretty friendy so I will try to do the same but honestly when you ask a question like that I feel like you are just picking on me , not reading what I write and trying to get a rise. I can imagine how you felt and I am trying to make it even better for the next guy or gal who will bitch about the next round until after that process repeats a bunch of times it will be perfect . (In short less powerful weighted judges votes and fairer fan vote) its def better but things can always get better.

Would it help if I just picked the winner ... the hell with users and judges, right?

There was not clear winner in this round. I think all of the entries were flawed in many ways. Not every round goes this way ... I like the 50/50 split, and I believe they do check the logs for evidence of shenanigans.

I'm not trying to push your buttons. I honestly wanted to know. I saw you calling for people to be fair, I know RC does what they can but It's all part of game like David said. Less powerful judges...... that could help. Since this is the first RC movie with judges maybe that will change the next go around, it certain won't before Chap 6.

jay is just pointing out how bad it used to be before we had judges. it wasn't bad for those who could get hundreds of mysterious votes, and win without anyone's questioning able to do much.

you can spam all your friends and gain votes, or you can waste hours of your life making up accounts and cheating. neither of these methods put the best video in the lead, just the most "popular". In my opinion, the best one should win, and the only way to assure that is to have subjective, unbiased, judging.

trust us jhonny, compared to the old voting system, judging is like a desert spring.

It's a democracy, with superdelagates, like America. it's a little corrupt, but in a fun way. like America. :P

Asking for a fair user vote is ridiculous. Not because I don't believe in fairness, but because there's no possible way to guarantee such a thing.

Ehhh...the best should win yes that is correct.and I know the sytem won't change mid stream (they could crush people from the same ip I don't know how to do it but they run RC I'd think they have the power of grey skull). But I do think people can win by sitting there makin accounts all day and voting up their score...check the total votes 20 or 30 could swing it .maybe 4 votes a house assuming mom dad sis bro all vote but come on.

Even if you don't win, there have been very few who have not learned something and have gone on to do better, or have won a future round. There's at least $250 (and a box of camera crap) worth of experience in each clip, regardless of your skills, God-given gift or experience. Rootclip is an excellent learning experience and exercise in filmmaking.

The voting process is not always right, but it's fair. It is, as the say, 'show biz'.

Well, looking back on the last rootclip, I'd say cheating/what have you has been curbed immensely, considering the votes got up past the 200s on occaison last time, but nowadays they're at 100 or less. Compared to the times of yesterclip, today's voting system is amazing.

Did any one notice how Erik and Allen have consistently voted for each clip. but Erik didn't for 'Homerun'. I visited Florida once. And I call a RECOUNT!

"Best" is only subjective to your opinion. One day I think we'd all like to see a larger, more objective community, where getting all of your friends to vote makes a minor dent in the numbers.

Hey RC I got a pretty good idea. How about a round robin . For another contest not this one. I think that def has potential. I love this rootclip idea . How about one though were they aren't related or maybe all have a theme and compete only one on one .then you rise the ranks as you defeat your foe's.( Btw remember me if this idea takes off)

I'm not sure if sure if I like that the site moderators vote. (no offense guys) I would find it a conflict of interest, especially if one or two votes matters -- as it did last round.

@jaytaylorthe1, do you really blame him for not voting for it?

I say that 33% of the voting should work like The Pepsi Challenge. The Rootclip team goes around to area supermarkets and asks elderly shoppers which videos they like the best.

last round? do you mean chapter 2, because the loss there was only by 2 votes. if you mean chapter 3, i'm a bit lost, because that one was a bit less close.

Round three - sorry. Since we are still in voting limbo, I see this round as still active.

I mean chapter 2 ... my how time flies.

I found something else that's interesting somehow in chapter 3 of 'Good Luck' KRN voted for Zombies and himself.... if you switch your vote does it still show in the voting records?...... but KRN, Why would you vote for someone else and least of all those rat bastard cheaters.

NO. I don't blame him for not voting. But as an operator of the website, I understand why they vote for each clip (to get the numbers up) but if your going to do that, then be sure to actually vote for each clip....

Old people taste funny

My court date is tomorrow in the afternoon, wish me luck.

Good luck!

@jaytaylorthe1:
I think you can vote for more than one video.. not sure.

Good luck with the court date! (how bad is it?)

misdemeanor

Congratulations, jakusB! Your editing, cinematography, and music won me over at last, and I thought your plot was well in-tune with the rest of the story thus far. I look forward to our Chapter 6 battle. >:3

Well I can't say I agree with this video getting 4 judges but what can you do I guess nothing lol

congrats JakusB!

Congrats on getting the record for most judge votes so far (you beat our 3/5 last round!).

Jake is the man!!! It'll be an interesting final chapter showdown, regardless of who wins 5.

Thanks David, its nice to get your seal of approval =D

I got a 150 Dollar fine. And my pride was slightly damaged because the judge made fun of me a little. He did enjoy my case tho because it was something different, there were 30 other people in the room with me; most were there because they didn't pay their taxes. After my hearing I went to the police station the had to beg another cop for my guns back. I got them back, and a free gun lock! So a hundred and fifty dollars sucks to loose but at least I'm not in jail.

Well, a quick google search shows a gun lock costing an average of $25, so really you only lost out on $125. And I'd take that any day over a felony charge. After hearing your story, I was so much more careful about pulling guns out on the street for this video. (Not to mention, the guy holding the gun is a school psychologist, and him pointing guns a kids isn't very good PR). But atleast this whole things behind you now and you can move on.

Glad you made it back out of there, Jay! ^^; And that you even scored free gear, although spending $150 on a short film definitely sucks.

Another potential bright side is that now that you've been made familiar, they may be more relaxed if they ever come across you again -- "Oh, it's just him. The film guy. He's not a threat, don't worry about it." Of course, my assumption is that you're hoping never to encounter them again, anyway, but you may just have bought yourself a little more leverage around town... ;)

Well...incase anyone was unaware of what the lever at the top of your tripod is or does , its called a quick relese and does pretty much what you think . Last night accidently hit that and sent my xl1 into a bellyflop onto pavement which it may have survived if I wasn't another 3 feet up on a table . That brings my to asking ...hey anyone got 12hundred for a lense .

But have no fear jhonny will still win round five just have to attack from yet another direction

Ouchhhhh! Thats why you must always be veryy careful with expensive things like cameras! That really sucks a lot. You didn't have insurance on it?

That really sucks jhonnyonthespot, I had my camera fall off the top of a humvee, probably 8ft or so, but props to Canon's compacts, the only thing that broke was the lens cover! Is it just the lens that broke? Is the camera itself still operable? Definitaly don't pony up 1200 to fix it, you can get a used one for less, or pick up a Canon HV20 for around 500 online, its my main camera and can do a lot at that price, full 1080i hd, great color, good controls, and a big internet community of mods and add-ons

No insurance, I'll get buy I like my xl1 and will fix eventually .stupid misstake I was just trying to get a shot b4 a car came into it. People don't rush! Take your time! Better not to finish then not be able to

I'll donate $15.

Moon to good to me , I can't take your money but will take your vote.

where do you guys get your music? it's so awesome. i always have troubles with music