"Until Death" a Film by Aaron Berg

[BergVision]

Coming Soon to DVXUSER.COM All Hallows Fest!
"UNTIL DEATH" A film by Aaron Berg.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x268/BergVisionStudios/UntilDeathPoster.jpg

Written in 5 Seconds. Shot in 2 Hours. Edited in 4 Hours.

"An Emotional Masterpeice"

"Amazing Use Of Red Wine In A Film" says.....Me.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x268/BergVisionStudios/Image0.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x268/BergVisionStudios/ScreenShotUntilDeath6.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x268/BergVisionStudios/Image1.jpg

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Love the poster! welcome to the fest!

[DimmuJed]

That's the best way to end a marriage....good ole' fashioned MURDER!

[Glideshot]

Welcome to the Fest...Good Luck!

[tmnt]

Marriage is punishment for crime in some countries.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Nice shots! Look reminds me of a grim wedding!

[Joops]

Good luck with it!

[DimmuJed]

Are woman bones really that tiny? Or did you marry a very young bride? Perhaps a 'dwarf.'

[Movie love]

Congrats on a successful upload!

[Brandon Rice]

Holy cow! Uploaded already? Excellent!

[Marlon Ladd]

Good luck!

[majormorgan]

Wow, a quick turnaround ! Good luck!

Richard
The Major

[cinealma]

REVIEW:
I liked the story idea. Don't know if a glass of blush is a manly drink to drown one's sorrows in. :laugh: Not too shabby for a one-man show. Thanks for sharing.

FILMMAKER-TO-FILMMAKER:
Fell a little flat at the end. I think we needed to see him with his wife in the "afterlife" or something like that. Music was a little weird for me for this film. Sound could have used some work, especially with the voice-over. But I understand the short time you put this together, so I applaud you for getting something done for the fest. Good job.

[mentatDUKE]

Hi Aaron. Congrats on pulling this off so quickly especially as a one man show. I liked the way you solved problems and told your story no matter what. (The way you portrayed other characters and didn't let the fact you were the only actor stop you)

Spoiler:
The ending makes me believe that he didn't really kill himself, but was having suicidal thoughts. The whole thing is the stream of consciousness self-loathing and ramblings that happen when you're stewing in your own juices.

That's what I got out of it. Congrats on getting it done! :)

[MOVIE STUNTS]

If it was just me I would not have been creative enough to do it all + I suck at acting, So I got to give you a hand, and well deserved!

[Brandon Rice]

Aaron... you did a great job with a one man show, seriously...

some critique... the audio was really hissy in some spots...

And the story... I really saw the ending coming here... and I actually got a little confused about the parents coming to visit him... lol...

But dude... congrats on getting this in, and pulling it together on your own! :) Keep shooting!

[Jazz Dog]

Cool. Reminds me of most of my stuff when I am sitting around trying to figure out how to get cool shots without anyone else in the room. Nice job and a few cool effects. I picture your wife coming home and you lying on the bed camera in hand holding up that ghost bride with your feet. She is probably used to it.
Only issue I had was the background hiss on the voiceover. You could hear it go on and off. And thinking...did he shoot himself...why no blood? ...oh wait maybe not.
Always good to be shooting and creating.
Thanks for letting us watch.

[Brandon Rice]

PLAYING AROUND is where it ALL begins! :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I have to say, I found this movie to be one of the more interesting of the lot. You really got my attention. Just start working on the little details and it will all come together.

Cheers,

Mike

[George_Bailey]

My comments in no particular order.

Great music. Nice feel.

A little over-use of smoke at the beginning, but that's just me.

The sound was unfortunate - lots of hiss when the VO came in.

I would have avoided the car-through-the-mailbox scene. That's a lot of work, but for all the work it just didn't look "fatal accident" to me.

And what wine was a drinking - a blush? Holy poo man - for the headspace this guy was in, he should have at least been doing a merlot if not a cabernet!

For the death scene, I would have gone for some blood spatter on the wall. Wouldn't have taken too much but would have significantly added to the production value.

Interesting story.

Thanks for doing this, man.

[Marlon Ladd]

Man, my hat really, really goes off to you. I know how hard it is to do almost everything and everything involved when it comes to doing your own film. I give you mad props, because even though you were standing alone, you got it done. I really liked the story in this one and the flashes were excellent althought the skeleton looked real fake in some places (quicker edits probably would have taken care of that). The audio was inconsistent in spots, but I liked the film and liked the ending. Very, very sad.

[Blaine]

Did she really kill herself running into a mailbox? That must have been one hell of mailbox. :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

As has been mentioned before the sound was not very good. And the use of voice over is just so overused in shorts. I'd much prefer a well told story without VO. If it's used as a noir element, okay but otherwise, I'd try and find a different way to get your exposition out there.

The effects were a bit cheesy. That would have been great if the rest of the piece had the same feel. But then I see that you did this as a one man show so I'm more willing to accept the cheesy ghost on that basis alone.

It looked like the husband was drinking white zin... :shocked: ...hopefully that was in remembrance of his dead wife. :beer:

Congratulations on getting this one under your belt. Now, go out and find some help on the next one. :thumbsup:

[Maximus]

First off, thanks for the insightful, indepth and fair reviews of all the entries. Great job, above and beyond the call of duty.

I was so impressed by your effort I checked out your website and reel before viewing your entry. Nice reel - that penguin on the ice shot was gorgeous! What camera did you use for that? :thumbsup:

Now on to your film. I will be brutally honest, and say I was let down. I was expecting so much more. I know we all have limitations, be it money, equipment, time, etc... but I think you could have done so much better.

I would suggest using "actors" next time. By "actors", of course I mean, any friend, family member or colleague you can get. It is a real learning experience, trying to direct non-actors, especially those with limited enthusiasm.

The CGI didn't really work in a dramatic story like this. It would have been fine in a Spy Kids kind of movie, but for this, perhaps a subtle approach ie: The Haunting would have been better.

The audio was pretty bad. Lots of hissing and big tone changes when the VO started and stopped.

The camera work was pretty good though.

Sorry if my comments seem harsh. I mean them only to be helpful. Try to give your next film your BEST effort. Aim for the stars, the end result will be so much better for it. I look forward to your next film.

[gabrielflorit]

I was going to start criticizing this and that until I saw "show in 2 hours". For reals??? Then this has to win some sort of prize. Unbelievable effort man.

The intro shots are very cool, with the fog and the slow dolly to the bricks. Very cinematic, beautiful composition. But right after that is a poorly composed inside shot, and that sort of kills the seriousness you'd just established. I won't say anything about the audio, since I'm sure you know you could have done better - but then again none of us are pros here. I loved how he'd explain this and that and right away we'd see a bunch of images explaining what he's talking about, it established a pattern and made me look forward to the next montage. Overall a most commendable effort especially due to the time constraints and the fact that you did everything yourself! Congratulations.

[Michele Seidman]

Finally got to give this a watch. Trying to click down the list even if I cannot vote.

Dang dude a one man show. I like the use of masks to give you more characters to work with and the concept works. I kind of like the fact his death did not really take place in front of us and it was his fantasy of what he should do.

My only problem was the inflection on the voice in one or two spots of the voice over and one or two reaction shots. The character seems to have too much emotion in the voice over in a few spots. In my head...granted this is my brain and not yours the author, but I want him to sound more drained as if his emotions have finally made him almost numb. The visual reactions seemed a bit over the top in one or two spots as if they were meant to be theatrical...but that might just be a side effect of the way cameras will magnify even the faintest flicker of a face muscle.

Hope you don't mind my critique...acting is my thing and I cannot do all the things you do. If you saw me try to edit...ha ha ha...well, lets not go there cause I suck at tech stuff other than using my microphones!

All in all I am glad to have gotten to view it!

[andoguru]

Hey Aaron Berg,

I thought the shots were pretty good and especially for being the only person acting and shooting this piece. I don't think you needed the Voiceover at all for this film. You're shots told the story fine by themselves and the voiceover seemed forced and redundant.

I like the part with the wife's parent being the you in the mask...it was very surreal. You probably could tighten the editing a little and also try not to show as much of the "wife" in the dream scene because it looked too much like a figurine. It would be more effective showing snippets of it and focusing more on the main char's reactions.

I think this was a good story and you executed it well. I've tried shooting something all by myself of myself doing things. You were a lot more successful at making a complete story then I. Good job.

Laters,
Ando