HANG IN THERE! -- Last Minute Entry

[Kholi]

LINK HERE: http://www.kholi.net/HangInThereV1.mov -- Right Click and Download, Please.

AND HERE: http://www.dvxfest.com/allhallowsfest/loader.php?id=40960 ((Thanks, Larry))

Everything was shot in the wee hours of two nights, and it took me forever to edit.

DISCLAIMERS: THE SOUND IS TERRIBLE (and so are a lot of other things).

I feel exactly like what the title of the short says. Haven't even begun to shoot yet. Haven't even gathered all the props yet. Haven't even finished a shot list yet.

Am I fashionably late?

--- Reserved

BTS DAY 1 - Dennis Hangs Out

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/10937/1193304282.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/10937/1193336957.jpg

[Kholi]

SUPER SPECIAL THANKS!!!

Everyone who came out to help, DVXusers included! I'll do an entire break down and thanks to each one of you... after I sleep and stuff.

[Brandon Rice]

Go Kholi!!

[MOVIE STUNTS]

The pressure is on, use it to your advantage!

[Billy Pilgrim]

Last minute is always an interesting challenge. Good luck!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

GO! GO! GO! You CAN do this!

Put the early birds to shame...

:)

[Mark Johnson]

Kholi, just do a crappy job and you'll finish on time and with a minimum of stress! I highly recommend it.

[Kholi]

Kholi, just do a crappy job and you'll finish on time and with a minimum of stress! I highly recommend it.


You know, I think I'll go that route instead. Dunno WHY I never thought of that before.

[Jay Rodriguez]

lol, kholi, my boy! so you're shooting something huh? nice....

[Kholi]

lol, kholi, my boy! so you're shooting something huh? nice....

Yeaaah maaaan. Those who've been talking to me know I went through three scripts, all drafted more than four times until this idea hit me like, what, maybe five days ago or so? Four? Hate when that happens.

[Jay Rodriguez]

I know, you've been changing up like an actor on a braodway show, lol.

[mentatDUKE]

Wow. That's really ballsy of you Kholi. How are you gonna finish all the post work in time? Or are you designing your film to not require an intensive post pipeline?

Good luck!

[Kholi]

Wow. That's really ballsy of you Kholi. How are you gonna finish all the post work in time? Or are you designing your film to not require an intensive post pipeline?

Good luck!

That's pretty much it. Shooting for the edit and nothing else. So that it's as drag-and-drop in FCP as possible.

That'll leave me mere seconds for sound design and music, and the rest of the VFX.

[Geoff_R]

It's a good story... perfect for HallowFest.

[Kholi]

Geoffffffff. Wish you could've made it out here but you stay busy. Much to do in a few weeks!!

[Brandon Rice]

It's a good story... perfect for HallowFest.

Yea, I'm curious to see it on screen for sure :)

[Justin Kuhn]

Sorry I couldn't get out there and star in your movie man...if you don't like how it turns out, blame me.

[Kholi]

Uhm, yeah. You kinda ruined my shooting schedule because of that.

[Edgen]

you are never too late to enter. :)

looking forward to seeing your film!
/j

[Brandon Rice]

Good luck tonight Kholi!

[Kholi]

First night of shooting. The worst day to start with... the best 2 hours over to end with.

BTS up at the front. I guess you get what the story's about now.

[Mark Johnson]

Yassuh! Kholi!!!! Friggin-A!!!! I love it........

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Did you really have to hang the guy!?? Talk about method acting...

:)

[Marlon Ladd]

Good luck, Kholi. Burn the midnight oil (stay up late to get 'er done).

[DimmuJed]

Looks like this movie features a good old fashioned murder....or hanging...or murder via hanging... either way Jeddy Likey.

[Brandon Rice]

Way to go Kholi! Looking forward to seeing/hearing more about it!

[Kholi]

Did you really have to hang the guy!?? Talk about method acting...

:)

You just have no idea how scary the hanging shot is. No idea. I freaked out and didn't want to do a second take.

[Kholi]

In-camera BTS sort-a still

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/10937/1193336957.jpg

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

You just have no idea how scary the hanging shot is. No idea. I freaked out and didn't want to do a second take.

Well, I set up a haunted mansion once. We had a masked guy hanging from the rafters. You couldn't tell that he was hooked up to a harness due to the outfit that he was wearing. Needless to say, he scared the crap out of people who walked by thinking he was a dummy. :)

But that pic you took does look damn convincing.

Cheers,

Mike

[Geoff_R]

Wish I could have been on set to help you guys out! Good luck tonight!

[Justin Kuhn]

Kholi comes correct. Just remember mang...ya best check ya neck.

[Brandon Rice]

Hope your shoot tonight went well bro!

[Tom Marshall]

Rock on, Kholi... Rock on... :beer:

[Kholi]

Wrrrraaaaaapppeeeeddd.

[Nic Aragon]

Congrats!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice job!!

[Brandon Rice]

Sweet! Good work Kholi!

[Kholi]

Down to the wire and it hung me! Not gonna make it but I'm gonna keep going with the sound.

[Jared Meyer]

Noooo! Sorry to hear that, you guys had a lot of last-minute momentum going there. :( What happened?

[Kholi]

It all came down to sound, honestly. I had much more trouble cleaning up the sound than anticipated. It's cool, however. Everyone'll still see it!

[Jay Rodriguez]

damn bro, sorry to hear this. looking forward to it though.

[Justin Kuhn]

Damn it Kholi, now I gotta drive over there! I'm a man of my word.

[Brandon Rice]

Down to the wire and it hung me! Not gonna make it but I'm gonna keep going with the sound.

RATS!

Valiant effort nonetheless bro!

[Geoff_R]

Looking forward to your film regardless. Be sure to post it here.

[Kholi]

It's DEFINITELY all good. The important thing is that it got me off of my ass and broke the wall down that always prohibited me from "just doing".

And, it's my first shot at narrative directing. =P So, I'm happy regardless.

Still, huge thanks to everyone that came out and helped! I will post up soon.

[Barry_Green]

Looks like there will be a few exhibition-only films this time. Congrats on getting yours done!

[Brandon Rice]

it got me off of my ass and broke the wall down that always prohibited me from "just doing".


And that's definitely a value you cannot put a price on!!

[Nic Aragon]

$3.89 + tax

just did!

*runs

[Brandon Rice]

$3.89 + tax

just did!

*runs

Priceless!

:thumbsup:

[Marlon Ladd]

Yep, still looking forward to checking it out, Kholi and I know what you mean about getting up and getting something done.

[Kholi]

Link Here: http://www.kholi.net/HangInThereV1.mov

Right click and download.

[ugafan]

good job kholi! :thumbsup:

i didn't read the rest of the thread, so forgive me if you posted it already, but how did you get the hanging shot?

[Mark Harris]

Dude, my new name for you is "Dutch."

The only thing I am going to break your balls on here is being too much of a pussy to get it done on time.

What a great fucking film!!!!!! It had an interesting premise, some personal writing, good, living, believable characters with an actual relationship to one another.

Certainly there were things that could improve. I thought the actors were all right, but just needed some more time to settle in, rehearse, just get a little more comfortable with the environment. And the end felt a little rushed, like you could have had some more fun with that bit with Death. More shots, stretch it out, maybe try something else with it. Like you had so much fun with the subject anyway, maybe play with what Death's life is like in this situation? Just a little detail.

And you can use a sound mix. I think that will step up the whole thing about 100%. Get one of the pros on the board here to do it.

But DUUUUUUDE, that rocked out with its cock out!!!!!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Man! I would have loved it if you would have entered in a polished version of this. Different and cool!
Some great camera angles as well...

You accomplished quite a bit in a very short time!

Cheers,

Mike

[Luis Caffesse]

Kholi -
Nice effing job...
Sure, there are some rough spots....
But I thought the story was there, and that's what counts.
I thought this was really entertaining, the opening was great (talk about darkness!)....
the hanging looked killer (no pun intended) - and the story really took some unexpected turns.

The final scene felt a bit rushed - but I'll assume that's because it was.
:)

Overall, I think this is a really good piece.
Congrats on getting it done - too bad it didn't get in on time.
But either way - I really enjoyed it.
I'm glad you didn't just let it go, and saw it through to the end.

:thumbsup:

[Robbie Comeau]

nice job man. How did you do the hanging shot?

[Blaine]

KHOLI!!!!! Great job on this. Too bad you couldn't get it done in time because it was better than most of the entries that were. I've given you a lot of shit in the past about not going out and doing something...that's over, you finally did and you did something really good. Considering it was your first shot at a narative piece, you did an EXCELLENT job. Big props to you and everyone involve in it, Dutch... :beer::beer::beer:

I wished he had watched this last night on the big screen.

[Kholi]

Dude, my new name for you is "Dutch."

The only thing I am going to break your balls on here is being too much of a pussy to get it done on time.

What a great poo pooing film!!!!!! It had an interesting premise, some personal writing, good, living, believable characters with an actual relationship to one another.

Certainly there were things that could improve. I thought the actors were all right, but just needed some more time to settle in, rehearse, just get a little more comfortable with the environment. And the end felt a little rushed, like you could have had some more fun with that bit with Death. More shots, stretch it out, maybe try something else with it. Like you had so much fun with the subject anyway, maybe play with what Death's life is like in this situation? Just a little detail.

And you can use a sound mix. I think that will step up the whole thing about 100%. Get one of the pros on the board here to do it.

But DUUUUUUDE, that rocked out with its cock out!!!!!

Well, I certainly didn't expect THAT response. Thank a lot, Mark. I know you're as big on story as I strive to be, so that's really good that I didn't totally screw up.

I totally agree about the ending, it was the MAJOR hold up with post for me. Everyone was so tired by that time, Didn't get everything I wanted. excuses excuses. As far as DUTCHING goes, I knew I was gonna catch stuff about it. In realiity, it was all purposely done. I went looking for a "comic book" style to add to the humor, hoping to transfer the buddy-buddy adventure into the naked HVX lens. It got cumbersome, I think I went overboard juuussst a little, but it was definitely a choice. Think it was too much? honestly?

I do wish I would've come up with this idea much earlier so i could've polished, gotten one of the DVXuser's on sound, a real editor, etc. Next time, though.

Thanks a lot Mark!


Man! I would have loved it if you would have entered in a polished version of this. Different and cool!
Some great camera angles as well...

You accomplished quite a bit in a very short time!

Cheers,

Mike

You n'me both. Next time, though. I'm branding it as a 48hour adventure. I think that's about as much time that was logged on the entire thing from principal to post.


Kholi -
Nice effing job...
Sure, there are some rough spots....
But I thought the story was there, and that's what counts.
I thought this was really entertaining, the opening was great (talk about darkness!)....
the hanging looked killer (no pun intended) - and the story really took some unexpected turns.

The final scene felt a bit rushed - but I'll assume that's because it was.
:)

Overall, I think this is a really good piece.
Congrats on getting it done - too bad it didn't get in on time.
But either way - I really enjoyed it.
I'm glad you didn't just let it go, and saw it through to the end.

:thumbsup:




Thanks for watching, Luis! You are infinitely accurate on your assessments. Kinda repeating, here, but yeah I lost a lot of shots because of the late hour. No excuse, really, but the only one I have to make-up for my sloppyness! There are so many things in the frames that I didn't see during shooting. LOL.

Aside from that, Thanks a lot. If you find anything else that you see off, don't hesitate to post! I need the deep critique, regardless of the time constraints in production, to better m'self.



nice job man. How did you do the hanging shot?

A friend of mines hooked up the hanging rig. It's a vest under his shirt and a really thin yet super strong cable. The scary part was the fact that those pipes above him are sewage. VERY afraid of actually bursting those. So afraid that I almost didn't do a second take on that shot. If you look closely you can see it, definitely. I haven't even painted it out.


KHOLI!!!!! Great job on this. Too bad you couldn't get it done in time because it was better than most of the entries that were. I've given you a lot of shi* in the past about not going out and doing something...that's over, you finally did and you did something really good. Considering it was your first shot at a narative piece, you did an EXCELLENT job. Big props to you and everyone involve in it, Dutch... :beer::beer::beer:

I wished he had watched this last night on the big screen.


Thanks Blaaaaaiiinneee. LoL. Is Dutch going to stick? It took a lot of pushing to get me up and doing it, once it started going though it was pretty straight-forward. So, now there's only room to grow. I'll make sure to send the recut and re-sounded version out as well.

I am NO sound guy... AT ALL.

[Mark Harris]

Let's get Jarred to change the line under Kholi's name to "Dutch"

:)

It was great man. I think you should still keep polishing it, get the sound mix, etc. even just to have it for yourself.

[Kholi]

I will certainly have better post peoples go at it. I feel bad for not doing that in the first place, but wanted to scoot something slightly complete out before the holiday passed too far.

New Link for DLs: http://www.dvxfest.com/allhallowsfest/loader.php?id=40960

[Luis Caffesse]

Let's get Jarred to change the line under Kholi's name to "Dutch"

Or 'Dutch member'
:)
http://www.kipar.org/period-galleries/paintings/1670/dutch_man_1673.jpg

[Mark Harris]

yeah, Kholi, I don't think it was too much, just messing with you. But your story telling is tighter than a lot I have seen in the actual fest.

One thing that bugged me, was I wanted some explanation as to why he appeared to the guy BEFORE his death. Know what I mean? Did I miss something?

[Kholi]

yeah, Kholi, I don't think it was too much, just messing with you. But your story telling is tighter than a lot I have seen in the actual fest.

One thing that bugged me, was I wanted some explanation as to why he appeared to the guy BEFORE his death. Know what I mean? Did I miss something?

Oh, no, you didn't miss anything at all. I literally said "to hell with that" in the writing stages and left it completely up to interpretation. Which, IMO, is a massive cop out.

You could say he got a second chance, could say it's cosmic or whatever. But, the truth is that I got lazy as a writer and didn't go into the fourth draft. I had written three in the span of a day then went immediately into casting; don't hang me for it!

I hope next time I'll have a spark much earlier than last minute.

[Luis Caffesse]

I hope next time I'll have a spark much earlier than last minute.


The important thing is that you had one at all.
I'd rather be turning in an entry late than be sitting here like me, with nothing to show for myself.

:)

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Hahaha, Nice recessatation! I loved this one Kholi! Some wire removal needed to be done on the noose scene, other than that, thanks for putting it out there, It made me smile!

[Kholi]

Hahaha, Nice recessatation! I loved this one Kholi! Some wire removal needed to be done on the noose scene, other than that, thanks for putting it out there, It made me smile!

Absolutely right about the wire. I feel terrible for not waiting until everything was a bit more polished, but I will be getting it off to more capable hands in most post departments for fixing while I start on another project asap.

Thanks for checkin it out. I still have to do some watching of my own, now that I am free.

[Jay Rodriguez]

good stuff dude.... i liked the mesh of it all, wwish you had planned this one and spent some time on post though.

[Kholi]

good stuff dude.... i liked the mesh of it all, wwish you had planned this one and spent some time on post though.

Thanks Jay! You and me both! I have more qualified people cleaning it up for me, thankfully, so V2 or V3 will be the one that goes on my own site.

Still, no excuse for showing a half-done project. We learn as we go!

Still gotta get around to watch everyone's short. Time is much better now that I can pass it to someone else.

[Justin Kuhn]

Yeah I'd definitely say this is one of the more enjoyable entries. Well done sir.

[Kholi]

Yeah I'd definitely say this is one of the more enjoyable entries. Well done sir.

You know better than that. Spill the critique!!! 'For you get beat up.

[Nic Aragon]

I enjoyed this short movie.

[Justin Kuhn]

Well, you've heard my thoughts on eyeline/composition. I wanted to see what was going on with Courtney. 'Cause I'm a perv. The end seems a little abrupt. Also it suffers from a total lack of the x-men theme.

[Brandon Rice]

Kholi! When I read the script... I didn't think it'd turn out to good... but dude! This ROCKS! The sound needs some work, but the direction of the camera, some of the acting, and the script rocked! Nice work dude, nice work! props.

Good to see you get out and do something too! :) Awesome!

[sean90291]

I don't want to frame f**k this film, so I'll just say you have a great cinematic opening, but the rest was tonally inconsistent.

[mentatDUKE]

Kholi. This was a pretty interesting film. I'm glad you entered the fray. That opening hanging scene was quite powerful. I like how you just dropped us in the story without warning. Your overhead shot was enjoyable also. I liked the acting and found the characters engaging. Nice job.

[Edgen]

Kholi, Found my top 5 film. :)

I think this was 10 times stronger than most of the other films in the fest. You should have entered it.

/j

[Kholi]

Sean, Duke, and Durban thank you very much for your thoughts!

I know it was rushed, half-assed, etc. Next time I'll have more time and hope to churn out something much better.

Speaking of... Justin I need to ask you about re-scoring and such. Will send PM soon.

[Edgen]

Speaking of... Justin I need to ask you about re-scoring and such. Will send PM soon.

Ha!! Fire away brother! :)

cheers!
/j

[mjjason]

Why wasn't this an official entry? It was as good as many of the other entries. I enjoyed it more than most.

[Kholi]

Hey Jason,

I actually didn't make the deadline and there's definitely not a wine glass in. Long story short was that I literally shot everything the last two days before deadline (two nights, actually) and didn't make the cut in time.

Next time, though. Glad you enjoyed it, apologies for the rush job.

[Tom Marshall]

Hey man, I could have composited a wine glass in there for ya... :grin:

[Chris Messineo]

I thought this was great.

I especially liked the story. It kept me interested throughout and the characters were fun.

I also loved the camera angles. Lots of great shots. The sound was a little rough (I missed a couple of lines), but the music was superb.

I'm sorry this one wasn't in the competition.

Very well done.

[J.R. Hudson]

Seems like only yesterday we danced in circles; me ragging you for not getting busy and me most likely taking out my own angst on you

Wow !

I loved this. Dude, you have skills. You really impressed me with this entry. The story was wonderfully creative and your attention to detail on the audio layers was the best of the fest.

So many of your shots and comps were great ! Whether dutch or pushes or wide shots or overheads ... You really took great care to not waste shots and keep us entertained visually !

Not one time did I get bored with a shot. This was beyond the normal balse coverage of master, reverse, reverse ... this was very creative use of the camera !

I loved the story; the supernatual elements, the fight with death, awesome !

The audio of the tv shows and the pasing traffic were great and really helped draw me into this piece !

The actors were fun, if not completely polished !

My only subjective needs:

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

The score, although well done, I thought was too serious for this lighthearted film; a more FRIGHTENERS sounding theme I think would have worked; something scary, but with a playful tune (Google the FRIGHTENERS track)

The night and darkness shots called for some light :P Using light to pretend it is dark, you know ....

This hands down would have gotten my vote as the best film of the fest if not for the late entry ? I am really stoked seeing your work; you are miles ahead of most people here IMO.

Your shots, the story, all of it came together.

Really enjoyed this one ! Please stay busy shooting and please retain your creativty and shot selections !

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

She wasn't having sex with anyone, she wasn't cheating. She was just masturbating to porn or something. Wasn't this the reason why he now wanted to live? Maybe I missed something.

I'll have to watch this again.

Mike

[J.R. Hudson]

Ah yes; of course. I knew this.

Why I said two bodies ... Hmmmm ...

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Ah yes; of course. I knew this.

Why I said two bodies ... Hmmmm ...
LOL! No problem... had me going back to watch again. :)

Edit: On that note... I really enjoyed it, again.

A couple of things...

I thought that the shot of the hanging, while excellent, would have been a tad better if the camera moved and kept the front of him in frame. Once we start to see his back you can start to see the rigging and wire alongside the rope. Keep the shot face on and you are golden.

This was a very good thrown together short. Excellent really. My favourite part is when his friend gets the phone call while he is taking to his almost dead friend. Very nice moment.

Great work.


Mike

[Kholi]

Seems like only yesterday we danced in circles; me ragging you for not getting busy and me most likely taking out my own angst on you

Wow !

I loved this. Dude, you have skills. You really impressed me with this entry. The story was wonderfully creative and your attention to detail on the audio layers was the best of the fest.

So many of your shots and comps were great ! Whether dutch or pushes or wide shots or overheads ... You really took great care to not waste shots and keep us entertained visually !

Not one time did I get bored with a shot. This was beyond the normal balse coverage of master, reverse, reverse ... this was very creative use of the camera !

I loved the story; the supernatual elements, the fight with death, awesome !

The audio of the tv shows and the pasing traffic were great and really helped draw me into this piece !

The actors were fun, if not completely polished !

My only subjective needs:

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

The score, although well done, I thought was too serious for this lighthearted film; a more FRIGHTENERS sounding theme I think would have worked; something scary, but with a playful tune (Google the FRIGHTENERS track)

The night and darkness shots called for some light :P Using light to pretend it is dark, you know ....

This hands down would have gotten my vote as the best film of the fest if not for the late entry ? I am really stoked seeing your work; you are miles ahead of most people here IMO.

Your shots, the story, all of it came together.

Really enjoyed this one ! Please stay busy shooting and please retain your creativty and shot selections !


Wow Hudson... that's the third very unexpected review. I really wish I would've had time to really work on this harder, I didn't and so next time I'll make sure not to go out and rush rush rush.

I know the audio really sucks, I DID put as much effort and knowledge as I could into cleaning it up to the best of my ability. Next time, there'll be a sound guy.

KYSER-- Yeah you are right about the masturbation thing. I didn't want to throw the girl in there actually doing it because it sort of detracted from the entire story the way it was shot. I wish I could've figured out a way to shoot that and still match the tone. Also, the audio track that's in there has a male and a female voice. I need someone to really rework sound altogether (along with picture, honestly cause I suck at editing) to drive home a lot of dialogue.

Also, you're very right about the hanging shot. Thinking back, I should've tried to make sure he was rigged to where he wouldn't have turned too much, but given the time constraints I wanted to get that shot before we ended up getting in trouble.

I had no permission to shoot anywhere, it was all "okay whatever let's just shoot it!".

Enough excuses though, I thank everyone that has commented and when I go into my next one I'll hold every note in a notebook to review as everything is pretty spot on.

[andoguru]

Hey Kholi,

I like the story. The overall idea of having the dead guy and his friend try to stop him from killing himself was neat.

There were a couple parts I felt were unmotivated like why the guy wanted to go by his girl's house when he knew he had no time to waste. I mean I know the reason, but the transition to having him go over there seemed awkward. I know you were rushing to shoot it and put it together so maybe you're going to smooth it out. It might have been a problem with the beginning and me not fully understanding why he was committing suicide.

Death looked cool and very nice tackle.

I think if you were able to put a little more time into it and flush out some of the kinks you'd have some really cool, not to say it isn't good right now.

Laters,
Ando

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Just seeing this believe it or not.

Will save my excuses.

Really nice job.

I think the strongest element was the concept.

It's not a cop out IMHO to not say why he showed up before he killed himself. If there's an explanation that wouldn't put you in reams of exposition for exposition's sake it doesn't come easily to mind. So I'm more than fine with it being unexplained. It's a short film. I much prefer get on with the story than "when a friendship is truely special sometimes a man's ghost will appear before his death to warn the friend according to ancient chinese ghost story" or something.

Also the tone of the film was a little punk-rock, so it kind of worked to be - screw you man that's just the way it is, ghost comes before he dies.

The acting was pretty good and the dryness of the performances gave it a nice tone.

There's nothing wrong with this movie that can't be attributed to rushing and first timeness ... and most of its been mentioned so no need to go into it.

Basically. hats off to you in big way for getting past the excuses so many make and finally making a film. Which even with some technical problems was infinitely watchable, inventive and entertaining. But now you've shown us you have talent, can tell a story, and can tell a story that interests us. Now you MUST make more movies and make them often. You could own these fests.