'Yes, Chef' - Short Film

director SIMON CADE
producer ALEXA RODRIGUES
written by TIARA WESTLAKE

CAST:
jeremy VÍCTOR PÉREZ
sophia KERRY WILLIAMS
mike ANDREW SYKES
olivia DANAY BOUZALA

CREW:
1st assistant director MARIANA LAFRATTA
art director ELLIOT SELFE
sound recordist: TAMAS JESZENSZKY
production assistant : ANDREA BORTOLASO
clapper: JAMIE MCKERNAN

The Z 6's small form factor, 5-axis stabilisation and large sensor with the Z-mount helped us to film without tripods, sliders, or even lighting equipment.

-----------------------------

[Tallontherocks]

Storyline could use some work. The long pauses made me wonder to much. Also, the ambient sound during the pauses sounded like being inside an airplane.
Otherwise the technical parts are good. Thanks for showing your process.

[pimeto]

All good but the pacing is slow. Cant feel the dynamic enviroment, the rush. Think you can cut a lot more! Great job though!

[fostej]

I think the cinematography, blocking and acting were all excellent, not sure how I feel about the story, definitely had me hooked but felt like it could have had a stronger message and ending. Great work though Simon 👌

[Hardymovies]

Simon - you need to start being much more self critical. This honestly felt lazy film-making. And that's nothing to do with the constraints you had - it's not technical laziness, it's creative laziness.
Your shot choices didn't seem particularly motivated or thought through, and they did not tie together at all in the edit. And I think the edit is honestly a large part of the issue for me.
I know this is a character piece, not a plot piece, but you had 6 minutes of a film, and about 13 seconds of interesting character exploration. If it was a stressful rushing environment, we needed to feel that. You could have played a lot more with the juxtaposition of him being slow and disinterested, with everything around him being swift and precise.

We could have dived right in at the 40 second mark with all the chaos, chef shouting the orders, hurrying the cooks up etc. Could have opened with the 'how long have you worked here' conversation, that way we already know this guy is new here. The whole half a minute between 'You've got 10 minutes on that chicken' and him taking the knife could have been reduced to about 10 seconds. 20 seconds between dropping the chicken and picking it up could have been 5. You can still keep the vibe of the slow and boring grind that our character is working in, without boring your audience to death at the same time.


Don't let the edit be an after thought.

You have a very large influence as a guide in film making, particularly to younger aspiring filmmakers. And so if you're going to have that responsibility (insert spider-man reference), you can't let yourself off the hook with pieces like this.

You're capable of an awful lot better. I hope this is useful.

[andreasholmm]

Storyline is quite flat, but still good stuff.

[jacobchristianglover]

Great job Simon and TEAM! I cooked aboard three nuclear submarines and work in several restaurants in America and Europe; and you really captured some of the tension in that kind of working environment. Brilliant job on using the bare essentials for this production... I tip my hat to you and the entire TEAM. Be well and stay encouraged!!!

[LifeinFarmland]

The emotion comes across well. You can feel what the character is feeling. Great job Simon.

[SHDEdits]

I've never been so bored watching a film and so disappointed with the outcome. I want my 5 minutes back

[donovanoakes]

That's the most real feeling I have seen in a film. It's so organic and makes me fell like that's what it would be like. Really dug it Simon!

[mohawkdenhollander]

great job! I could feel the tension form being in the kitchen reallly well

[JamesInAWeek]

Wow, Simon. I enjoy your DSLRguide videos so much, I think each and every episode is excellent, well thought out and delivers so much useful information and lessons on filmmaking in an enjoyable way. Having said that, I'm sorry Simon but I really didn't like this short film. The story was pretty flat, no ups and downs or any real point to the story line at all. Also, the dialogue audio volume seemed quite low compared to the ambient sound throughout the video. The ambient sound is so loud in comparison it was almost distracting. Also, you should have made the part where he dropped the chicken more predominant and emphasised it with audio and a close up shots of the drop, fall and it hitting the ground. You could almost miss the point when he dropped it because it happens so quick in a relatively wide shot. Lastly, I think the long empty pauses in dialogue could be cut out to make the film more captivating. However, even with this I don't think the story itself was strong enough.

I'm really sorry that I'm being so critical of this but it's just my honest opinion. Although, I absolutely love all of your work over at your DSLRguide channel, your videos are so enjoyable and have helped me a lot. So, thank you for that.

P.S. Well done on directing this film, you've demonstrated in the BTS videos that it is anything but easy to do.

[johnakridge]

That was great for 1 camera and 1 mic. Definitely inspiring and helping the confidence. Thanks

[Daniel-Rosa.]

I could feel what working in that kitchen is like. Full of sounds, not conversations. The guy next to you still feels like a stranger. And you do that for hours.

[Hernandez]

"When he says first kitchen actually", and the water comes out the end of the tongues I started to laugh because ever chef knows not to do that when grabbing pasta from a pot for that same reason.

[thegoodchild]

I like how everyone is a critic in the comment section... Acting like there opinion matters... You are making content and they are not.


Kennedy said it best, their are three types of people in the world, a winner, a loser, and a spectator. The loser is always better than the spectator because he tries.

No matter what you are better than the people in the comment section because you are trying. Keep up the good work.

[RjTheGenius]

Loved what you were able to do with such little time and resources!
I do have some constructive criticism, however:
1) I feel like the pacing was off. The message (at least to me) was that the expectations of a new line cook and how fast orders come in and out of the kitchen in the end are what causes him to serve chicken that was dropped on the floor. But there was a lack of intensity in the cuts, framing, and in the acting of the lead actor...which leads me to my 2nd point;
2) I feel like the lead actor wasn't right for the role. He came off very standoffish and unlikable (to me, at least) and would have been better suited as a seasoned line cook with a chip on his shoulder and annoyed at the newbie asking a lot of questions. I would have switched the roles and have the younger line cook be the lead - as he had that look of intensity and urgency - and had your lead actor play a secondary character as stated before.


That said, I really admire what you've done in this film, as well as your past films! Best of luck for the next one!

[antoniesb]

The difference between being you tuber and being filmmaker is evident in this video

[animateangus]

As someone who works in a restaurant kitchen, I found this very relatable. I want to get into film and animation.

[Webbula]

I worked in a kitchen a long time, I think you did a great job.
Worked with a lot of people like that guy.

[davidsanchezaraiza]

This short was great! I don't agree with the other people with their criticism here. I used to work on a kitchen, and i felt like i was back there again. I remeber i dropped the pizza and served it like that lol. And my coworkers were idiots too.