@shian So what would you do about outdoors? I bought some ND filters and reflectors. Going to try to control lighting as much as possible. What would you suggest?

One thing I see is that your white balance is drifting (especially in the choking shots). the GH2 does not lock white balance even when shooting unlike Canon, you should always use a WB card and lock with a custom white balance.

Doesn't really look like anything is graded either. IMO, for a project like this you should be going for a look, whatever that is. Find something that fits the tone and try to get the footage leaning a little that way. You probably won't be able to push it too far because of the lighting but you can do something with it. Bleach by pass it, raise the blacks, crush the shit out of em. Something that give it a look. I'm not suggesting those, just giving examples.

As for outdoors, if you can't do anything like throwing up a silk or something like that, you could always negative fill camera side with heavy black cloth or black foam core. That might help a little to unflatten people faces.

@silvertonesx24 I noticed the roaming white balance after the fact. I am currently experimenting with using the Kelvin scale for basic white balance and correcting any aberrations in post.

for camera movement we just acquired a handheld rig. we have a dolly system. we have a jib. and we may be acquiring a slider

@Mckinise: Where is your GH2 made?

@andyharris do you mean the guy with the southern accent? I am thinking the dialog would have flowed a bit better with the cuts and inserts we attempted to record. Had a few card writing errors before we switched cards. We only had one take that made it through for Andy (Southern Guy). We ended up using a scratch clip for his reaction shot.

A little attention to lighting and grading will go a long way. In the very first shot, for example, we see some really unpleasant shadows. The door casts a somewhat distracting shadow on the wall as it opens. It's not a particularly crisp shadow, it just sort of looks like a random lamp was pointed right at the center of the shot. Which is basically what I assume it was. That's how we all start out lighting shots. Get enough light on the subject that you can see what's happening. You've certainly done that, but now you can start thinking about the next step. What do you want it to look like? For that first shot, I think there are basically two ways to go. One is bright even lighting so that it looks like a happy cheerful house, so the attack is a surprise. Or, a high contrast, moody setup so that you establish immediately that this is a creepy/scary situation.

So, assuming the cheerful route... Don't shine a light directly on the scene. If you are lighting it with something like a 500 W home depot work light (much under appreciated, and not at all expensive), I would start by pointing the work lights directly away from the scene. Point them at the opposite wall, using it as a giant reflector, you will get a smooth wash of light this way, and smewhat minimise shadows. Adjust and fiddle as needed, depending on the geography of the scene, and the available light kit it's hard to be very specific. The table on the right also needs to get cleaned up. I mean, it's less cluttered than the table in my apartment, but you aren't shooting a real table in your house. You are shooting an abstract cinematic concept of a table, and it doesn't need to be cluttered to express being a table. If you can get something like a paper lantern light above the table as a practical light casting a warm slightly redding light, that will help add some color and warmth, and some shading on the subject's face so he doesn't look completely flat from the flat wash of lighting coming from the far wall. When it comes time to grade, push in a bit of contrast, and keep it saturated. Take advantage of that warm lantern. You'll need to play in the grade a bit to hit what you want. Also, don't be hand held for the shot. Have some sort of gentle movement, but this is a perfect cheerful, cinematic shot. Moving on a dolly is best. Moving on a wheeled office chair may be close enough. Panning on a tripod works, too. Just has to be smooth. If you are handheld, see if your editor has a motion stabiliser mode in it to smooth out the bumps.

Assuming that you want a more moody thriller look, you want the shadows. But, you probably want them crisper than they are in this scene. You also want some sort of motivation for them. So, start by adding a practical lamp in the lower left of the frame. Dim it down almost all the way, so you can tell it is on, but it isn't actually your main light source. Then, use your actual lighting from off camera behind the practical. Now I can see where the shadows are coming from (Or think I can. Same difference in a movie) so they aren't confusing to the eye. A big 500 W worklight has a big reflector area in it which softens the shadows somewhat. Maybe try black light absorbing foil or something over the reflector. (Again, assuming the work lights because they are common. Not that you specifically have to use them. Just guessing about cheap kit. Be creative with what you have handy.) Now the light is coming from a small area instead of the big reflector. You lose some light, but that is the price of controlling it. This is a scary, imperfect world from the first shot, so don't worry about the table. Just let it get darker than it is. If you want shadows, revel in the shadows. Use the light to point out "look exactly here" and let the other stuff be less important in the frame. Move the camera more to the right so you aren't right parallel with the light. If the light is coming almost parallel to the wall, you probably want the camera at a 45 degree angle or so. The range of 45-90 degrees between camera and key light is basically where this kind of setup works. You need to be able to see the dark side of what is being lit. In the grade, you probably want a lot of contrast. Keep things crisp. But, no need to crank up the saturation here. Handheld is fine. The camera man was so nervous about being in this creepy place that he didn't set up a tripod. He's ready to run.

In the next scene, it's the poster frame on Youtube. "We called the law..." You have the talent sitting in the shade, but you can see the sunny background. Your camera doesn't have infinite dynamic range. So, either move the talent to the same lighting as the background by getting them out from under the shade. Or, dim down the background. As it is, the background looks very blown out, which is a dead giveaway for the low dynamic range of video. You will need to work within the limitations of the equipment you are using. You could set up a net behind your actors in these shots, which would reduce the brightness of the backdrop. But, when you get to a wide shot, the shaded area will still be much darker. You want to maintain consistent appearance for thing between shots as much as possible. You could expose so that the guys are really dark in the close ups, but that would probably be weird. This kind of shade + sunshine of sort of a Kobayashi Maru of lighting setups.

Anyhow, that's my thoughts after looking at it quickly. Hopefully this is helpful for your next project.

@Mckinise

Well, the "looking around on wood pile" moment would be an easy spot to show actor's face, since movement stops but visual pace needs to continue. Then, when one of characters stumbles, closeup of his exhausted expression. Things like that.

Generally, since it is a chase, I'd try to run with characters and film from the front, behind and side. Dolly for side shots, stabilized rig or handheld for side, front and back shots, moderate wide angle lens (12 to 20 mm in m4/3), fixed focus, enough DOF to keep actors somewhat sharp in medium to close shot sizes.

When shooting from the side on a dolly, maybe longer focal lengths too, to increase the effect of sidewards movement and make characters and background appear closer together. This could also be somewhat faked by panning, with long enough focal length and characters running on a circular path around the camera. Sounds a bit silly and in worst case could end up looking that way too, but worth a try if you want a close shot of actor running between motion-blurred trees.

For wide shots that show more of landscape, outward or inward dolly moves centered on actors could work. For example, outward movement at the wood pile, and slowing down inward movement as actor arrives to where the two girls are.

BTW, have you tried to borrow a "formula" from similar sequences in movies you like? How many shots, what kind of shots, order of shot sizes, the cutting rhythm and so on. It could make things easier.

@Mckinise: Just take a look at the bottom of your GH2, there is a metalic label where is written.

@endotoxic I'm studying every day to get better and I appreciate everyone that has given me pointers.

What would you suggest I do to better understand scene composition?

You teach a class? Awesome.

Question for everyone here. Is there ever a point where you just decide to shirk the conventional and just do things your way; the way you want?