"The Unassumed"

[Marlon Ladd]

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/TheUnassumedposter.jpg

Things are not always what they appear to be. Be careful!

This will be my first DVX competition entry and I'm excited. I'll be filming with the DVX100a and I plan to start next weekend and hopefully just a two day shoot.

Camera - DVX100a (IFocus Lens Adapter)
Editing System - FCP (Mac G5)
Budget - $150 - $200
Locations - 3 (House, Gas Station, Neighborhood Street)
Actors/Actresses - Elizabeth Oliver, Erika O'Bar, Phillip Borghee, Marlon Ladd
Cinematography - Douglass Conrad, Ricci Jett
Audio - Ricci Jett, Juba Allen
Written, Directed and Edited by Marlon Ladd

I finished the script 2 weeks ago and haven't had a whole lot of time to do anything else yet. I'm in the process of finding the cast and then we'll go from there. I've been hesitant to post anything, because I don't have anything done yet, but I guess this is what it's all about - step by step.

Let's have some fun!

[Marlon Ladd]

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UAErikasideCUbwa1.jpg
Erika O'Bar as "Joan"

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UALizCUa1.jpg
Elizabeth Oliver as "Sarah"

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UAErikabydoora.jpg



10/15/07
Filmed 90% of the "The Unassumed" this weekend and it seemed to take forever!
Friday from 8 p.m. - 2:30 a.m. (Didn't get too much done)
Saturday 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. (Regular, like clockwork)
Sunday 8:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. (Regular, like clockwork)

It's coming along pretty good. Can't wait to edit. Will have pics loaded tonight!!

[DimmuJed]

unassuming makes an un-ass out of you and me

[Marlon Ladd]

10/21/07 - New Grabs!

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UALizdeadCUa1.jpg

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UAGarysquints.jpg

http://recoil-movie.com/db1/00076/recoil-movie.com/_uimages/UAlightening.jpg

[Marlon Ladd]

The Unassumed production timeline (Also on page 1)

10/11/07
I ordered the mask for the shoot and ordered it for 2 day delivery. Must have it by Fri., because that's when I plan to shoot.
10/10/07
Today I finalized days and times to shoot for the weekend. Plan to shoot Fri. (10/12/07) at 7:30 p.m. until - and then Sat. (10/13/07) from 5 p.m. until finished.
I had already told the cast and crew (basically my friends and family) earlier that we would shoot on this weekend, but sent emails to get confirmations from everyone. Also, sent the Halloween store online an email to see if the mask has been shipped. Got confirmation that it will arrive tomorrow, Thursday (10/11/07).
10/11/07
Went to the mailbox and picked up the mask. Looks good, but on the original picture I saw, there was hair with it. No hair with it though. Still, it looks pretty creepy. Met with one of the actors, Phillip (who also helped produce "Recoil") and cinematographer, Douglass Conrad (good friend of mine) for lunch. Purpose - Phillip had invited an actress that was interested in playing one of the parts. She was getting her hair done and ran a little late, so I was not able to meet her before I had to take Doug back to work. She sent pics and directed me to her myspace page. All I was looking for was a look and enthusiasm to work. She passed.
9 p.m. - Phillip tells me that the actress, Liz was called into work and could not do the film Friday, but would be available any other day. He asked me if I could film her scene any other day and I told him, 'nope.' We're already pushing for starting so late. I did have 1 or 2 other girls that could do the part, so he told me he would get back to me, because she really wanted to play the role.
10:30 p.m. - Phillip said Liz is a go. We're on. Now I need to memorize my lines.

10/12/07
Got up at 9:30 a.m. to get some things knocked out before I have to go to work at 3 p.m. Cut my hair, shaved and got dressed to head out. 11:30 a.m. - Went to Walmart to look for prop eye glasses, but didn't find any. Also picked up trashbags and a few incidentals and then went to the Dollar Tree to get some cheap glasses to break in the fight scene for the movie (cost - $20). Next I picked up my camera (let a friend borrow it) and borrowed his still camera for photography on the set.
While at work from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. I typed up a shot list. Not to go by necessarily (I hardly ever look at them on set), but rather writing the shots down helps me memorize the shots that I absolutely want to get.

7 p.m. - Left work and picked up 3 pizzas and pop from Little Ceasar's for the shoot (Cost - $18.43).

7:30 p.m. - Arrived at shoot location (my house).

7:45 - 8:30 p.m. - Cast and crew arrive. Getting started was a horror flick in and of itself! Dougie D. didn't bring all of his lights, which would have given us 2000 more watts. I'd rather have too much light than not enough. Then I forgot Corey had my lights, had to send somebody back over to get them. I couldn't find alot of my equipment, because I had not filmed anything (beside church stuff) since "Recoil" and my wife loves to pack stuff away in an attempt to clean. Everything was rushed and we didn't get hardly anything shot and still didn't get finished until 2 a.m. I was so tired and drained after the shoot and when everybody left, everything, all the equipment, was still out and all over the freakin' place. I had to clean up and pack it all up and make the house neat again, so I went to bed (at 4 a.m.) frustrated wondering if I ever wanted to film again (unless I had the money to pay somebody to do EVERYTHING).

10/13/07
Woke up sore and tired. Seriously considered cancelling everything until maybe the following weekend. Yeah, right! Decided to shoot half of the stuff left today and half tomorrow. Set up most of the set before time to film and pushed back the shoot time from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. This time had a crew of 3 plus 2 actors (including me). Erika, my other actress needed to leave at 9 p.m. for a lottery shoot, but then could be back at 10:30. However, I wanted to get finished completely so she wouldn't have to come back. We did it! Got some great shots and Erika is the FX/makeup lady and did her own makeup and did a heck of a job.

10/14/07
Call time was 7 p.m. Had to cancel one scene, because of rain (will shoot that next weekend). I was able to get alot of things set up ahead of time, but when Ricci (audio/DP) showed up (after the Dallas Cowboys' game - he's a huge fan) he had forgotten my character's eye glasses. He had to go all the way back home to get them (20 mile round trip). So, while we waited on him, we got some great pick up shots!

8:30 p.m. - We start filming and everything goes great until I accidentally kicked the camera during the fight scene. It was okay though! Lucky for me! Shot fast and furious (everybody had to go to work the next day). Cut down some of the fight scene and everything went smooth - finished by 11 p.m.

10/15/07
I don't have intertnet at the house, so I uploaded some pics and put them on a jump drive after I got off work. Went to get on the internet later at a friend's house and uploaded a few pics. Got home around midnight and looked at some of the footage. Looks pretty good, but you never know until you start editing.

10/16/07
Once I got off work (after working a 10 hour day), I took a nap. When I woke up an hour later I started going through the footage and logging time codes. I'm sure there's a program or an easier way to do this, but until I figure that out, I just get a pen and pad and go through each shot. Since we had 3 1/2 hours worth of footage, it took me quite some time. By the time I logged the last time code, I was spent. It was about 1 a.m. and I had to get up in 5 hours (@ 6). Needless to say, I won't be able to log the time codes onto the computer until tomorrow (after work)!

10/17/07
Got home after work, ate, took a quick nap and went right to the computer to log the time codes. It took a little while, because I had quite a few shots. After that I set up the camera to capture and was underway. I don't know about you, but I've been in the position too many times where you walk away from the computer and come back an hour later and there's an error. So, every 15 or 20 minutes, I check on it. Well, one scene seem to drag on over 4 minutes, so I knew something was wrong. I cancelled out and instead of logging all 60 + clips, I just selected a few on the first tape. Turns out one of the timecodes was off (computer error) and was set to log 42 MINUTES! I tried to change it back to what it was supposed to be, but it just would not do it. I had to re-log that clip and erase that one. Once I did that, it was smooth sailing. I stayed up until 2 a.m. and when I got up at 6 the next morning, I set the last tape to log while I was at work.

10/18/07
Got a call from my wife letting me know that OG&E was having electrical problems in our area and the power had gone off at the house. Great! What the freak?!!!

6 p.m.
Got home, everything was back on and the clips did log. Whew! Okay, I had a plan to get the poster done first and then start editing. Took a nap and got up at 8:30 p.m. I was dead tired, but excited to finally get started. Worked on the poster until 10, but nothing seemed to look good. Decided to start editing anyway and put together a rough cut of the first 60 seconds. Looking pretty good. Shut it down at 2 a.m. (again, dead tired), but the good news is that I don't have to be at work until 3 p.m. the next day.

10/19/07
Got up at 9:45 a.m. Ate a quick bite and got right on the computer. I was just moving along all to the good and got up to getting 1:56 of the movie done. I was all set to watch the whole playback (still a rough cut - no audio sweetening yet) when FCP just QUIT!! It just shut down. I was worried, because it's set to save every 30 minutes, but I didn't want to lose those changes from the last 30 minutes, because I did some real detailed stuff that I might not be able to remember. It's like not being able to paint the same exact painting twice. Well, hell, it turns out that even though it had been autosaving every 30 minutes, it took me back to the version it saved after the first 30 minutes I had worked on today! So, everything I had edited for the past 2 1/2 hours (it was 1:37 p.m.) was gone! Then I only had about 45 minutes before I had to stop and get ready for work. Well, I went back through and patched it up as best I could and went to work.

Will get back on it as soon (and I mean as soon) as I get off at 7.

7:30 p.m. - Edited straight through until about 1 a.m.

10/20/07 - 11:15 a.m. Edited pretty much all day on and off. Missed most, if not all of the college football games. Only got to see OU off an on. You miss so much stuff when you spend so much time behind the computer. Was supposed to film the other scene, but just couldn't get around to it. Too many other things going on. Decided to wait until tomorrow.

10/21/07 - Started working on the poster. I had a really good idea that I thought would work, so I saved the idea on my phone a few days ago and tried to make it happen. It took a few hours to finally get the vision right, but it worked. Saved it to my jump drive, went to the gym to get a quick workout and headed to a friend's house to upload pics and the poster on the computer. Got over to my friend's and realized I had saved the poster as a wrong file type for that particular program. I drove immediately back to the house (8 miles), saved it right several different ways and then headed back. Posted it, but then realized I really couldn't see the credits like I wanted to. Un-posted it, then went back to the house and re-did the credits in Adobe Illustrator. After that, I continued to edit until 11:30 p.m., so I could wind down and go to bed (had to get up at 6 for work). Really worried, because I chopped and cut the movie down a whole helluva lot and it's still 6 minutes, 24 seconds.

*Couldn't shoot the other scene, because it's an outdoor scene and the weather didn't cooperate. I don't really need the scene now anyway, so I may not shoot it at all.

10/22/07 - Got to work and used a friend's computer to post the poster. Got off work and started editing at 6 p.m. and made myself stop at 10 p.m. Cut the movie down to just over 5 minutes, but a 10 second shot is missing (I haven't filmed yet) and no credits. I feel alot better after being able to cut it down though. It still actually makes sense. I was able to get most of the audio tightened and added virtually all of the sound effects.

[Glideshot]

That's a lot of reservations, good luck with this!

[tmnt]

Good luck mate. Gas stations are always cool locations too.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Welcome, good luck on your entry will check back for updates.

[Joops]

Best of luck!

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate all the support. I think this'll be great. This will be my first stab at horror too.

[Glideshot]

Hey Marlon...any updates? From the looks of Recoil, it sure seems like you have the talent to put together some great stuff!

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Glideshot. I appreciate the compliment.

I just checked out your link. Love the poster! The pics are cool too. I'm gonna' check out your post to get some updates on what's going on with yours. By the way, the girl playing Val is off the chain (hot). If she can act as good as she looks, she's a superstar.

Update:
1. Still finalizing actresses.
2. Deciding which day to shoot this weekend (will probably be Fri. night).
3. Working out the direction of everything in my head.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Good luck! Post some pics when you have them...

Cheers,

Mike

[Marlon Ladd]

Yeah, I hope to have some pics (and maybe the poster) up by Sunday, Kyser, so check back.

[Marlon Ladd]

Got a few pics up and will have more soon.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Great BTS pics. Looks painful.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice pics!


Mike

[tmnt]

Nice make-up, particularly the multiple slits on the girls chest.

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, guys. I should have some more pic and information on the production soon.

BTW - Can somebody tell me how to get my banner up on my signature? Don't you just link the URL like you do pics? I've done that and it doesn't work.

[tmnt]

Click 'User CP' at the top of the page. Click 'Edit Signature'.

[Marlon Ladd]

Yep, I did that TMNT, but for some reason it just shows my banner as a link. I'll keep trying.

[Joops]

Sweet screen grabs. Hot actress. I think I will tune in for sure!

[Marlon Ladd]

Hot actress.


I was hoping somebody would think so. LOL.

[Marlon Ladd]

The Unassumed production timeline (Also on page 1)

10/11/07
I ordered the mask for the shoot and ordered it for 2 day delivery. Must have it by Fri., because that's when I plan to shoot.
10/10/07
Today I finalized days and times to shoot for the weekend. Plan to shoot Fri. (10/12/07) at 7:30 p.m. until - and then Sat. (10/13/07) from 5 p.m. until finished.
I had already told the cast and crew (basically my friends and family) earlier that we would shoot on this weekend, but sent emails to get confirmations from everyone. Also, sent the Halloween store online an email to see if the mask has been shipped. Got confirmation that it will arrive tomorrow, Thursday (10/11/07).
10/11/07
Went to the mailbox and picked up the mask. Looks good, but on the original picture I saw, there was hair with it. No hair with it though. Still, it looks pretty creepy. Met with one of the actors, Phillip (who also helped produce "Recoil") and cinematographer, Douglass Conrad (good friend of mine) for lunch. Purpose - Phillip had invited an actress that was interested in playing one of the parts. She was getting her hair done and ran a little late, so I was not able to meet her before I had to take Doug back to work. She sent pics and directed me to her myspace page. All I was looking for was a look and enthusiasm to work. She passed.
9 p.m. - Phillip tells me that the actress, Liz was called into work and could not do the film Friday, but would be available any other day. He asked me if I could film her scene any other day and I told him, 'nope.' We're already pushing for starting so late. I did have 1 or 2 other girls that could do the part, so he told me he would get back to me, because she really wanted to play the role.
10:30 p.m. - Phillip said Liz is a go. We're on. Now I need to memorize my lines.

10/12/07
Got up at 9:30 a.m. to get some things knocked out before I have to go to work at 3 p.m. Cut my hair, shaved and got dressed to head out. 11:30 a.m. - Went to Walmart to look for prop eye glasses, but didn't find any. Also picked up trashbags and a few incidentals and then went to the Dollar Tree to get some cheap glasses to break in the fight scene for the movie (cost - $20). Next I picked up my camera (let a friend borrow it) and borrowed his still camera for photography on the set.
While at work from 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. I typed up a shot list. Not to go by necessarily (I hardly ever look at them on set), but rather writing the shots down helps me memorize the shots that I absolutely want to get.

7 p.m. - Left work and picked up 3 pizzas and pop from Little Ceasar's for the shoot (Cost - $18.43).

7:30 p.m. - Arrived at shoot location (my house).

7:45 - 8:30 p.m. - Cast and crew arrive. Getting started was a horror flick in and of itself! Dougie D. didn't bring all of his lights, which would have given us 2000 more watts. I'd rather have too much light than not enough. Then I forgot Corey had my lights, had to send somebody back over to get them. I couldn't find alot of my equipment, because I had not filmed anything (beside church stuff) since "Recoil" and my wife loves to pack stuff away in an attempt to clean. Everything was rushed and we didn't get hardly anything shot and still didn't get finished until 2 a.m. I was so tired and drained after the shoot and when everybody left, everything, all the equipment, was still out and all over the freakin' place. I had to clean up and pack it all up and make the house neat again, so I went to bed (at 4 a.m.) frustrated wondering if I ever wanted to film again (unless I had the money to pay somebody to do EVERYTHING).

10/13/07
Woke up sore and tired. Seriously considered cancelling everything until maybe the following weekend. Yeah, right! Decided to shoot half of the stuff left today and half tomorrow. Set up most of the set before time to film and pushed back the shoot time from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. This time had a crew of 3 plus 2 actors (including me). Erika, my other actress needed to leave at 9 p.m. for a lottery shoot, but then could be back at 10:30. However, I wanted to get finished completely so she wouldn't have to come back. We did it! Got some great shots and Erika is the FX/makeup lady and did her own makeup and did a heck of a job.

10/14/07
Call time was 7 p.m. Had to cancel one scene, because of rain (will shoot that next weekend). I was able to get alot of things set up ahead of time, but when Ricci (audio/DP) showed up (after the Dallas Cowboys' game - he's a huge fan) he had forgotten my character's eye glasses. He had to go all the way back home to get them (20 mile round trip). So, while we waited on him, we got some great pick up shots!

8:30 p.m. - We start filming and everything goes great until I accidentally kicked the camera during the fight scene. It was okay though! Lucky for me! Shot fast and furious (everybody had to go to work the next day). Cut down some of the fight scene and everything went smooth - finished by 11 p.m.

10/15/07
I don't have intertnet at the house, so I uploaded some pics and put them on a jump drive after I got off work. Went to get on the internet later at a friend's house and uploaded a few pics. Got home around midnight and looked at some of the footage. Looks pretty good, but you never know until you start editing.

10/16/07
Once I got off work (after working a 10 hour day), I took a nap. When I woke up an hour later I started going through the footage and logging time codes. I'm sure there's a program or an easier way to do this, but until I figure that out, I just get a pen and pad and go through each shot. Since we had 3 1/2 hours worth of footage, it took me quite some time. By the time I logged the last time code, I was spent. It was about 1 a.m. and I had to get up in 5 hours (@ 6). Needless to say, I won't be able to log the time codes onto the computer until tomorrow (after work)!

10/17/07
Got home after work, ate, took a quick nap and went right to the computer to log the time codes. It took a little while, because I had quite a few shots. After that I set up the camera to capture and was underway. I don't know about you, but I've been in the position too many times where you walk away from the computer and come back an hour later and there's an error. So, every 15 or 20 minutes, I check on it. Well, one scene seem to drag on over 4 minutes, so I knew something was wrong. I cancelled out and instead of logging all 60 + clips, I just selected a few on the first tape. Turns out one of the timecodes was off (computer error) and was set to log 42 MINUTES! I tried to change it back to what it was supposed to be, but it just would not do it. I had to re-log that clip and erase that one. Once I did that, it was smooth sailing. I stayed up until 2 a.m. and when I got up at 6 the next morning, I set the last tape to log while I was at work.

10/18/07
Got a call from my wife letting me know that OG&E was having electrical problems in our area and the power had gone off at the house. Great! What the freak?!!!

6 p.m.
Got home, everything was back on and the clips did log. Whew! Okay, I had a plan to get the poster done first and then start editing. Took a nap and got up at 8:30 p.m. I was dead tired, but excited to finally get started. Worked on the poster until 10, but nothing seemed to look good. Decided to start editing anyway and put together a rough cut of the first 60 seconds. Looking pretty good. Shut it down at 2 a.m. (again, dead tired), but the good news is that I don't have to be at work until 3 p.m. the next day.

10/19/07
Got up at 9:45 a.m. Ate a quick bite and got right on the computer. I was just moving along all to the good and got up to getting 1:56 of the movie done. I was all set to watch the whole playback (still a rough cut - no audio sweetening yet) when FCP just QUIT!! It just shut down. I was worried, because it's set to save every 30 minutes, but I didn't want to lose those changes from the last 30 minutes, because I did some real detailed stuff that I might not be able to remember. It's like not being able to paint the same exact painting twice. Well, hell, it turns out that even though it had been autosaving every 30 minutes, it took me back to the version it saved after the first 30 minutes I had worked on today! So, everything I had edited for the past 2 1/2 hours (it was 1:37 p.m.) was gone! Then I only had about 45 minutes before I had to stop and get ready for work. Well, I went back through and patched it up as best I could and went to work.

Will get back on it as soon (and I mean as soon) as I get off at 7.

7:30 p.m. - Edited straight through until about 1 a.m.

10/20/07 - 11:15 a.m. Edited pretty much all day on and off. Missed most, if not all of the college football games. Only got to see OU off an on. You miss so much stuff when you spend so much time behind the computer. Was supposed to film the other scene, but just couldn't get around to it. Too many other things going on. Decided to wait until tomorrow.

10/21/07 - Started working on the poster. I had a really good idea that I thought would work, so I saved the idea on my phone a few days ago and tried to make it happen. It took a few hours to finally get the vision right, but it worked. Saved it to my jump drive, went to the gym to get a quick workout and headed to a friend's house to upload pics and the poster on the computer. Got over to my friend's and realized I had saved the poster as a wrong file type for that particular program. I drove immediately back to the house (8 miles), saved it right several different ways and then headed back. Posted it, but then realized I really couldn't see the credits like I wanted to. Un-posted it, then went back to the house and re-did the credits in Adobe Illustrator. After that, I continued to edit until 11:30 p.m., so I could wind down and go to bed (had to get up at 6 for work). Really worried, because I chopped and cut the movie down a whole helluva lot and it's still 6 minutes, 24 seconds.

*Couldn't shoot the other scene, because it's an outdoor scene and the weather didn't cooperate. I don't really need the scene now anyway, so I may not shoot it at all.

10/22/07 - Got to work and used a friend's computer to post the poster. Got off work and started editing at 6 p.m. and made myself stop at 10 p.m. Cut the movie down to just over 5 minutes, but a 10 second shot is missing (I haven't filmed yet) and no credits. I feel alot better after being able to cut it down though. It still actually makes sense. I was able to get most of the audio tightened and added virtually all of the sound effects.

[pborghee]

Great pics boss! This movie sure is gonna be scary!

[Glideshot]

I really like your screen grabs, and I love the way you describe your days...it's hard to stop reading! Great job in working through the adversities! That's where you can separate the do-ers from the talk-ers.


Hot actress.

INDEED!

[tmnt]

Click 'User CP' at the top of the page. Click 'Edit Signature'.

Instead of using option 1 to insert link use option 2, upload image. That should work.

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Glideshot. It's the nature of what we do. I think people just don't understand how much is involved in making a film.

Okay, TMNT, I'm gonna' work on that this weekend too. I gotta' get my banner up, that is, as soon as I get this poster done. LOL.

Oh, added a couple of more days to the timeline. Check it out!

[Marlon Ladd]

Oh, and Glideshot, I was in your thread yesterday and I told Joops that I think I figured out how to make the poster and banner move like y'all did with yours. Of course, mine won't look as cool. Y'allz is dang artwork! I think itz one of the best if not THE best one on here.

[mentatDUKE]

Nice grabs. Good luck w/ the film.

[majormorgan]

Wow, Lee, looking good and I don;t just mean the talent. Good luck with the shoot if it already hasn't happened.

'Keep them peeled'

Richard
The Major

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Mentaduke and majorm.!

Yeah, peeps have been talkin' 'bout my actresses. She is kinda'. . .uh, talented, huh?

[Marlon Ladd]

Majorm. I shot most of everything last weekend and have another scene to shoot mabye Sunday. I'm cutting it real close. LOL.

[majormorgan]

Cool, go all guns for the finish !

I can't wait

Cheers,

Richard
The Major

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, appreciate the support!

Check out the new grabs at the front. Will have the poster up tomorrow - that's a promise!

[Brandon Rice]

That last grab looks really cool...

Nice and natural.

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Brandon. I got lucky on that one and a couple of others.

[Marlon Ladd]

Poster's up!! Poster's up! Finally. Still wanted to animate it, but will have to try that later.

[Joops]

Cool looking grabs. Love the lightning shot!

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Joops! It's all coming together.



Check out the updates on the journal.

[Marlon Ladd]

Okay, I finally finished everything this morning!! Everything looks really good, but then again it could really suck. I'm biased of course. Will upload after 7 today when I get off work pending an answer from Barry S. that the credits can be shorter than 10 seconds.

I crammed a whole heck of alot in that 5 minutes.

[Marlon Ladd]

Finally uploaded! Keeping fingers crossed.

[Marlon Ladd]

Approved! Sweeeeeet.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Congrats on getting it in on time, I will look for it!

[pborghee]

Congrats on getting accepted boss. Hope it turns out how you planned, you always have a good idea behind your scripts!

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, PB. It's all good.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Looking forward to this one...

Cheers,

Mike

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Mike. You're's is going to be one of the first ones I check out too.

[bosindy]

SPOILERS:

Really strong film. David Lynch would have been proud of that mask and dream sequence. Loved the image of the rolling bottle. The size change of the killer was slick. Good fight sequence. The ending seemed a bit unmotivated as far as story, but there is the dilemma of how to end it once the dream is over. Really good entry though, congrats.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

SPOILERS...




I liked this one a lot as well. Nice camera work, especially during the fight scene.
I wasn't too sure about the main character near the middle, but after the ending it made a little more sense.

Cheers,

Mike

[Glideshot]

I just watched this, and I was very impressed with it's suspense level. More so than most of the films submitted. Your character was (to me) so believable, and did a fantastic job of delivery.

You're in my top 5 after watching all of the films! Great Job Marlon!

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks, Bosindy. I really appreciate the feedback.

I had to cut it way down, because him being the killer is what it was all about and the end was supposed to end with him having a conversation with a new girl he had met and run into at the gas station while disposing of some of his evidence. While talking to her they would decide to go get a cup of coffee and then she would talk about the fact that the police found another body. Then as she describes what she heard on the news, then you would see the girl dead and only then realize he was the killer and the new girl was going to be his next victim.

[Marlon Ladd]

SPOILERS...




I liked this one a lot as well. Nice camera work, especially during the fight scene.
I wasn't too sure about the main character near the middle, but after the ending it made a little more sense.

Cheers,

Mike
Thanks, Mike. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really enjoyed your film to and thought the cinematography was great. After watching alot of the films I was asking myself if I was even good enough to be here. Thanks.

[Marlon Ladd]

SPOILERS:

Really strong film. David Lynch would have been proud of that mask and dream sequence. Loved the image of the rolling bottle. The size change of the killer was slick. Good fight sequence. The ending seemed a bit unmotivated as far as story, but there is the dilemma of how to end it once the dream is over. Really good entry though, congrats.
Thanks, Bosindy. I really appreciate the feedback.

I had to cut it way down, because him being the killer is what it was all about and the end was supposed to end with him having a conversation with a new girl he had met and run into at the gas station while disposing of some of his evidence. While talking to her they would decide to go get a cup of coffee and then she would talk about the fact that the police found another body. Then as she describes what she heard on the news, then you would see the girl dead and only then realize he was the killer and the new girl was going to be his next victim.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Thanks, Mike. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I really enjoyed your film to and thought the cinematography was great. After watching alot of the films I was asking myself if I was even good enough to be here. Thanks.
Definitely!

Keep on making great movies.

Cheers,

Mike

[Marlon Ladd]

I just watched this, and I was very impressed with it's suspense level. More so than most of the films submitted. Your character was (to me) so believable, and did a fantastic job of delivery.

You're in my top 5 after watching all of the films! Great Job Marlon!
Thanks a lot, man! I feel very excited and humbled to get this positive feedback from real filmmakers. I want my films to be appreciated by everybody, but it really means something when fellow artists (who are really good at what they do) like what you bring to the table.

I left a post about your film in your thread, but in case you haven't seen it yet - I was impressed. It was very well shot and a good triangle, twist type story. I had actually thought about doing one of those too, so I'm glad somebody did it and did it well.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

I loved the John Woo roll across the floor with the gun; the monster was kinda cheesy though. At least you had the janglies to submit something there were something like 75 people who started a thread and lo and behold no films when the time came!

[Marlon Ladd]

I loved the John Woo roll across the floor with the gun; the monster was kinda cheesy though. At least you had the janglies to submit something there were something like 75 people who started a thread and lo and behold no films when the time came!
Well, he was not really meant to be a monster, but a mysterious killer with a mask - in a dream. Something similiar to like Michael Myers, but a bit different in a sense.

Thanks for the critique though and thanks for checking it out.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

I used to work as a security guard, so the whole sleeping on the job thing made me laugh. They run you crazy shifts sometimes, gotta sleep sometime!
Looks like I was way off on the monster thing! Sorry!

[Marlon Ladd]

I used to work as a security guard, so the whole sleeping on the job thing made me laugh. They run you crazy shifts sometimes, gotta sleep sometime!
Looks like I was way off on the monster thing! Sorry!
It's okay, because it's my job as the filmmaker to make sure you see my vision on the screen. If you don't then I haven't done my job effectively, so don't even worry about it.

And i know a bit about security myself. LOL

[mentatDUKE]

Lee, I liked this. Your villain was really creepy. I like that you made him essentially unstoppable. Teleporting away from bullets, etc. The fight coreography was well done and felt very energetic and real. I don't see too much of that around here. Good twist at the end and cute actresses. :)

[Marlon Ladd]

Lee, I liked this. Your villain was really creepy. I like that you made him essentially unstoppable. Teleporting away from bullets, etc. The fight coreography was well done and felt very energetic and real. I don't see too much of that around here. Good twist at the end and cute actresses. :)
Thanks, Mentaduke. I watched your film to and I'll be going to your thread pretty quick.

Yeah, the girls were off the chain, huh?

[Brandon Rice]

Hey, watched your film... the villan was pretty creepy. I would be very scared to face off with him. I didn't get the ending though... is the guy the one who killed everyone? Was he fighting his alter-ego? Some of your shots in this were good... it didn't have much depth to the lighting though...

Thanks for the watch! :thumbsup:

[Maximus]

Good job! This is the kind of film I enjoy on a Saturday night, kicking back with some popcorn and just goin for a ride. I liked your main actor, he was kind of geeky like a grown up version of Erkel, and clearly in over his head. The killer's mask was cool and creepy. I was rootin for Erkel when he went into the house, that was all very good. When the killer grabs him and Erkel starts the kung fu - man, my boys who were watching it with me - started cheering excitedly, that was fun stuff! We hoped our hero was gonna pull off an upset. The shooting stuff was very good and imaginative. I always liked how in Blade Runner, Deckard shoots at Batty point blank, and Batty is too fast! Kewlll!

Anyway, the twist at the end didn't work for me. Came outta left field, the tone was totally different than the previous four minutes. An upbeat ending woulda been nice.

I didn't like the B&W freeze frames (2:28 for example). It seemed like a "Look at what I can do!" moment. The Music and sound were good.

Look forward to your next film.

[Marlon Ladd]

Hey, watched your film... the villan was pretty creepy. I would be very scared to face off with him. I didn't get the ending though... is the guy the one who killed everyone? Was he fighting his alter-ego? Some of your shots in this were good... it didn't have much depth to the lighting though...

Thanks for the watch! :thumbsup:
Thanks for the review, Brandon. Yes, he was fighting his alter-ego and that just wasn't conveyed very well, because I really had to cut, cut, cut it down to 5 minutes and it kind of took away from the ending.

I had to cut out one scene when the guy first gets in the car and beats on the steering wheel, because he's mad his alter-ego got the best of him again. Then, there was supposed to be a scene at the end when the main character's at the gas station throwing away evidence and runs into a woman - a new friend - and they decide to go get coffee. That's when the audience was supposed to find out (through her, because she heard it on the radio) that the police had found (yet another) dead girl's body. He's a serial-killer that has been going on a spree and they keep finding the bodies, but don't know who's doing it. So, at the end, you see that he has seemed to have found him another victim. And of course she would never have any idea, because he's so, "unassuming."

Thanks again though for the review. Good feedback. I appreciate it.

[Marlon Ladd]

Good job! This is the kind of film I enjoy on a Saturday night, kicking back with some popcorn and just goin for a ride. I liked your main actor, he was kind of geeky like a grown up version of Erkel, and clearly in over his head. The killer's mask was cool and creepy. I was rootin for Erkel when he went into the house, that was all very good. When the killer grabs him and Erkel starts the kung fu - man, my boys who were watching it with me - started cheering excitedly, that was fun stuff! We hoped our hero was gonna pull off an upset. The shooting stuff was very good and imaginative. I always liked how in Blade Runner, Deckard shoots at Batty point blank, and Batty is too fast! Kewlll!

Anyway, the twist at the end didn't work for me. Came outta left field, the tone was totally different than the previous four minutes. An upbeat ending woulda been nice.

I didn't like the B&W freeze frames (2:28 for example). It seemed like a "Look at what I can do!" moment. The Music and sound were good.

Look forward to your next film.
Yep, Maximus, the ending was way more abrupt than I would have liked. When I finished the first rough cut it was 7 minutes, 46 seconds. I had to cut alot and there was so much stuff in the beginning and it was so good, I had to leave it, so in the end, the ending suffered. There was supposed to be alot more and it's like I was telling Brandon, there was a shot where "Erkel" gets in the car the next morning and beats on the steering wheel and then drives off. Well, when you see the dead girl, that's when you realize that his alter-ego got the better of him again. That's not how the original story was, but I was going to cut it down to that, but there just wasn't enough extra seconds to put it in.

Thanks alot for the review though. I appreciate the feedback and glad you guys enjoyed it. I get tired of people in horror flick getting killed easily by the crazy killer, so I wanted a character that if he was going to go out, to go out fighting like crazy! Oh, and the freeze frames (BW) were to save time and segway to the next scene, because I had to cut it down.

[Justin Kuhn]

Some good work here. The first sequence had a nice creepy tone, the rolling bottle sound got to me. When he bails out of the room with the dead chick in it, firing randomly, I had an lolz moment, don't know if that's good or bad :) Part of that is probably because he gags a bit, then shoots. It would seem like a realistic reaction if it weren't for the fact that he doesn't do it immideately as a panicked reaction, but delays it. The fight sequence was impressive, we don't see a lot of kung fu here, and the knife from the sleeve was pretty slick.

The bad news. I wasn't really sure what was going on with the end, I mean I got that he killed her (I guess...? was my thought), but it came out of left field for me. The sound effects gave it kind of a cartoony feel, but that was sort of fun so maybe it's what you were going for. Another thing, lighting might be something you want to work on. In any case, good work, and keep it up!

[Marlon Ladd]

Some good work here. The first sequence had a nice creepy tone, the rolling bottle sound got to me. When he bails out of the room with the dead chick in it, firing randomly, I had an lolz moment, don't know if that's good or bad :) Part of that is probably because he gags a bit, then shoots. It would seem like a realistic reaction if it weren't for the fact that he doesn't do it immideately as a panicked reaction, but delays it. The fight sequence was impressive, we don't see a lot of kung fu here, and the knife from the sleeve was pretty slick.

The bad news. I wasn't really sure what was going on with the end, I mean I got that he killed her (I guess...? was my thought), but it came out of left field for me. The sound effects gave it kind of a cartoony feel, but that was sort of fun so maybe it's what you were going for. Another thing, lighting might be something you want to work on. In any case, good work, and keep it up!
Thanks for the feedback, Happy. Yep, it's like I've been saying, the ending was rushed, because I had to cut it down to the 5 minutes, so I'm not surprised people have questions about that.

With the lighting though, which parts didn't work for you and what might you suggest?

[J.R. Hudson]

I really enjoyed this film.

You seem to have the chops needed to be a filmmaker. Your shots did not feel wasted albeit for a partial moment in the car in the beginning I felt could have been cut down and tightened

What really delighted me was your attention to audio layers. The majority of the filmmakers in this fest don;t seem to get that Audio is your friend; not just a score, but foley and FX. I loved the wind, the crickets, the thunder ...

I liked the payoff; his own bad dreams are what drives him to be the madman he is.

You had some nice compostions as well and I felt that I could turn it all off and watch only visuals and comepltey get what was going on; another rarity in these fests.

I'd like to see more work from you. I think you have some talent.

Well done !

I laughed hysterically when he started popping off his gun inthe bedroom. That was great.

[Marlon Ladd]

I really enjoyed this film.

You seem to have the chops needed to be a filmmaker. Your shots did not feel wasted albeit for a partial moment in the car in the beginning I felt could have been cut down and tightened

What really delighted me was your attention to audio layers. The majority of the filmmakers in this fest don;t seem to get that Audio is your friend; not just a score, but foley and FX. I loved the wind, the crickets, the thunder ...

I liked the payoff; his own bad dreams are what drives him to be the madman he is.

You had some nice compostions as well and I felt that I could turn it all off and watch only visuals and comepltey get what was going on; another rarity in these fests.

I'd like to see more work from you. I think you have some talent.

Well done !

I laughed hysterically when he started popping off his gun inthe bedroom. That was great.
Thanks, J.R. Didn't quite know what you might say here. I read some of your critiques (you really killed a couple of them) and was kind of waiting for you to hit my thread, wondering what you might say.

Glad you enjoyed it the film though. You seemed to get it all. He was battling with himself in the dream. I was also trying to show a different (more realistic to me) side of a would-be victim (the security guard). Like what would you do in that situation if you had a gun? Fire a couple of shots to hopefully scare the sh*t outta' somebody trying to kill you and then don't just get killed, fight to the death! Thanks for the review.

[Justin Kuhn]

Thanks for the feedback, Happy. Yep, it's like I've been saying, the ending was rushed, because I had to cut it down to the 5 minutes, so I'm not surprised people have questions about that.

With the lighting though, which parts didn't work for you and what might you suggest?

Well on the exterior sequence my main suggestion would be to gel your lights towards a bluish white color, more like moonlight, because what I see reads more as Home Depot lights. Also you show the streetlight, so you can motivate light coming from that direction--but it looks like everything is coming from the porchlight instead, I guess, which doesn't entirely make sense because of the way the whole street is lit up. Motivated lighting seems like an issue for most of the film.

A lot of your character's shots could have used some backlight to help separate him from the background. For instance, when he runs inside the house, your DP could have used that streetlight as an excuse to hit him with a bit of backlight from the top right. I would have used the streetlight to motivate most of his backlight in the exteriors.

Another thing--eyelight. What I'm talking about there is that glint you see reflected in the eyes in some (most) movies, it gives the character some more life. He could really used some in the shot where he loses his glasses. I try to make that a rule for closeups in particular. It doesn't take much either, the eye is an extremely reflective surface--so don't overdo it, just enough to get that reflection. It looks like you did achieve that in some of the shots, so good job.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I would reccomend that you/your DP study films that have a look you want for your film, deconstruct their lighting, (where is the light coming from? Where is it supposed to be coming from? How many lights were used?etc) then try to recreate it. Also, get a gaffer.

Hope that helps.

[Marlon Ladd]

"Motivated lighting." Hmmmmm. I've heard that before. It makes alot of sense. There were no Home Depot lights (even though they can do the job too sometimes). The eye being reflective is really a new one to me. I've never really thought of that concept like that. If I achieved it in the film, it wasn't necessarily on purpose. I'll definately look into it. All good suggestions! Thanks, HG!

[Justin Kuhn]

No problem!

[Marlon Ladd]

Happy, I've already done alot of research and found a bunch of info. on how I want and need to light my scenes for my next feature (which will be a horror flick). It has all become more crystal clear based on your suggestions. I'm really going to experiment and master my technique to better reflect my style.

Thanks again, because I'm a continuous student of the game.

[Justin Kuhn]

Just glad I could help. Keep practicing!

[cinealma]

REVIEW:
Nice little film. Defintitely engaged me throughout. I definitely like the idea of the guy fighting with his "alter" maniacal self, but I think it doesn't work well within a cat nap in a car. What I mean is, it's more interesting if this internal struggle takes place in some kind of alter reality, something a litte more (or little less depending) than just your average sleepy time dream.

The film sounded great. I too really liked the shot of the bottle rolling in the street.

Good job! Can't wait to see more from you.

FILMMAKER-TO-FILMMAKER:
Lock that camera down! The opening montage of shots looked handheld, so it kind of gave a sloppiness to what were otherwise beautiful shots.

Ease up on the jarring cuts. Because you used some quick flash frames to move time forward, I wasn't sure if the killer was dodging bullets because he was teleporting/Matrix-like quickness or if he was walking and you were showing a compressed amount of time.

Ok, so here's the "what I would have done" stuff, which only means I liked your film a lot and so that always tends to get me thinking as a filmmaker:

The girl in the "dream" should have been the same as the one he kills in the end. Because you established the location in the dream and for real as the same place, it would make more sense. Like he's been stalking her or watching her or...

Shot in the garage is out of place (this film is this guy's POV all the way). Rip it out.

An easy way to fix the ending... cut to a shot of the mask peeking out of the bag next to him on the seat of his car as he drives off from the house.

I mentioned that I didn't care for the dreaming thing. One thing you could have done was make that internal struggle thing happen inside the mask, like when he puts it on, this stuff goes on in his head.

The change in character from the "Erkel", as you put it, to the roll-on-the-floor, Kung Fu action dude didn't quite work, even if it was supposed to be only a dream. Just kind of struck me as, WTF? Why didn't you just call the whacko out when he was standing out in the street in front of your car?

Anyway, sorry, I'll stop now.

Again, good job!

Cheers!

[Marlon Ladd]

REVIEW:
Ok, so here's the "what I would have done" stuff, which only means I liked your film a lot and so that always tends to get me thinking as a filmmaker:

The girl in the "dream" should have been the same as the one he kills in the end. Because you established the location in the dream and for real as the same place, it would make more sense. Like he's been stalking her or watching her or...

Shot in the garage is out of place (this film is this guy's POV all the way). Rip it out.

An easy way to fix the ending... cut to a shot of the mask peeking out of the bag next to him on the seat of his car as he drives off from the house.

I mentioned that I didn't care for the dreaming thing. One thing you could have done was make that internal struggle thing happen inside the mask, like when he puts it on, this stuff goes on in his head.

The change in character from the "Erkel", as you put it, to the roll-on-the-floor, Kung Fu action dude didn't quite work, even if it was supposed to be only a dream. Just kind of struck me as, WTF? Why didn't you just call the whacko out when he was standing out in the street in front of your car?

Anyway, sorry, I'll stop now.

Again, good job!

Cheers!
First off, John, I want to thank you for watching and reviewing my film. I'm glad you enjoyed it and took the time to write the review and make suggestions.

1) Now that I think about it, yeah, I can definately see how that could work.

2) That's a good idea and one that I did think about, but since it was a
different girl being killed I needed to make sure the audience knew that.

3) The mask peeking is also a good suggestion - There's a shot of the security
guard getting in the car pissed off and beating on the steering wheel. Obviously
upset and then he drives off. A great shot and prelude to showing the dead
girl, but alas, time and cutting it down to the 5 minutes was a factor and I just
could not fit it in no matter what I did. Also, initially (we didn't get to shoot
everything and some stuff didn't fit, because of the time limit) the security
guard was supposed to leave the house and go to a gas station way out and
dump some of the girl's bloody garments in a dumpster and while there, meet up
with a new female associate that wants to date him. He was then to find out from
her in their short conversation about the police finding yet another dead girl's body
and then I would have showed the girl dead in the house and the audience would
have figured out then, that he was the killer.

4) Him putting the mask on is also not a bad suggestion that would have
been creepy as well. That definately would have been alot simpler to do.
Now you tell me! LOL.

5) Well, somebody else called him "Erkel" before I did, so I just went with it.lol
But, it's not that he all of a sudden turned into a bad a@@, but yes, he
was scared and frightened for his life and when faced with extinction he
decided to fight like he had never fought before rather than just give up.
Since he was armed security, he did have some level of training (not that
it's necessarily to that extent). I just wanted to show that if face to face
with that kind of situation, I think somebody's (this character in particular)
going to fight and maybe gather some strength like they never have
before and not just go out like a. . .well, sucka'. LOL. Then also, he didn't
know the guy was a whacko killer until he saw him actually in the house
and the girl dead. Sometimes even though the signs might be there, you
choose not to see them until they're forced upon you.

Anyway, like I said, you had some very good suggestions and I'm really loving all the feedback right now (it's all been good so far - keeping fingers crossed on that), because I do feel like it's helping me grow and giving me different ideas about how to improve my craft. That's why I really dig this forum, because there are so many talented and creative minds here. So, Filmmaker-to-Filmmaker, thanks again, John. I appreciate all the feedback.

[andoguru]

Hey leenewton,

I like the story. The internal struggle of a killer. I didn't know it was going to end that way and that's good.

I think this could be trimmed down a bit. There was too much at the start before stuff started happening. Though a lot of the shots and what was in them was cool, there was just too many of them. We didn't see the bad guy until almost 2 minutes in.

You shot composition was mostly very good. I liked a lot of the effects you did like the bad guy dodging the bullets. The gun shots sound effects were good too.

A part that was a little confusing is why the guy was so scared of the bad guy, I mean he has a gun. I guess I can see him be alittle scared, but it seemed like he was terrified.

I think you probably could edit this down and make it a bit tighter and it would play better. Don't let a 5min limit influence how long you want to short to be meaning you don't have to fill up the time...just use what time you need to tell your story and get out of there.

Overall good job. I enjoyed it.

Laters,
Ando

[Mark Harris]

I thought this was really interesting. I thought the actor gave a good performance and the story was pretty well done. I'm sure there are things you can improve on, but it seems like your instincts are pretty good already, so I'm sure you'll keep getting better.

I read what Happy was saying about the lighting, but I actually thought this stark, sort of off-putting lighting only added to the film. It put me just a little off my guard and made me wonder what I was really looking at. Somehow, that lighting felt disturbing to me. Frankly, it felt like a choice to me. So if you go to film festivals with this, SAY IT WAS A CHOICE. They will think you a genius. :)

Interesting little film. Good work.

[Marlon Ladd]

Hey leenewton,

I like the story. The internal struggle of a killer. I didn't know it was going to end that way and that's good.

I think this could be trimmed down a bit. There was too much at the start before stuff started happening. Though a lot of the shots and what was in them was cool, there was just too many of them. We didn't see the bad guy until almost 2 minutes in.

You shot composition was mostly very good. I liked a lot of the effects you did like the bad guy dodging the bullets. The gun shots sound effects were good too.

A part that was a little confusing is why the guy was so scared of the bad guy, I mean he has a gun. I guess I can see him be alittle scared, but it seemed like he was terrified.

I think you probably could edit this down and make it a bit tighter and it would play better. Don't let a 5min limit influence how long you want to short to be meaning you don't have to fill up the time...just use what time you need to tell your story and get out of there.

Overall good job. I enjoyed it.

Laters,
Ando
Hey, Ando. Thanks for checking it out. Glad you enjoyed it. The beginning was slow paced, because I wanted to show that the guy was out there alone on a stormy night with all kinds of things to be weary of and somebody wandering the street is just 1 of sooo many things that could creep somebody out.

The reason why he was still very cautious even though he had a gun was because everything was so weird. He couldn't tell what this huge guy was doing and if that was a mask or was some kind of ghost or devil or or if there was just 1 guy/thing/monster or what. So, not knowing what to think, that gun provided little comfort. For example, if you had a gun and you were all alone in a dark alley you still wouldn't feel totally safe, because danger can come from anywhere and in many different forms. Also, this strange person just sliced and diced that girl so fast it wasn't humanly possible - so, yeah, he was terrified.

I definately hear you on the time constraint thing (cutting it down), but in actuality there was more of the story to be told and I actually had to cut in down.

Anyway, I appreciate the good feedback and again as I put in your thread, I thought you're movie was excellent.

[Marlon Ladd]

I thought this was really interesting. I thought the actor gave a good performance and the story was pretty well done. I'm sure there are things you can improve on, but it seems like your instincts are pretty good already, so I'm sure you'll keep getting better.

I read what Happy was saying about the lighting, but I actually thought this stark, sort of off-putting lighting only added to the film. It put me just a little off my guard and made me wonder what I was really looking at. Somehow, that lighting felt disturbing to me. Frankly, it felt like a choice to me. So if you go to film festivals with this, SAY IT WAS A CHOICE. They will think you a genius. :)

Interesting little film. Good work.
Thanks, Mark for your review as well. Some of the lighting was a choice (like most of the car for instance), but some of the other stuff I wasn't able to get the lighting just perfectly the way I wanted, like in some of the CUs and wide shots in the house. I like the dark shadows and I'll definately be better next time at placing them exactly where I want them. But next time I will definately say, 'It was a choice!' That is, unless everybody hates it! Then I'll blame it on somebody else. LOL

Thanks again, for stopping in and giving a review!