WHERE THE HEART LIES ... Johnson, Hyten, Golden & Bullis

[Mark Johnson]

On a different note, I've been meaning to ask. How did you get this film up without the black bars? Is it an HVX thing?

Ted,

You simply use the CROP function either when you are making a QuickTime movie inside FCP or when you are using Compressor. Just be sure you are CROPPING and not RESIZING!

[Ted Arabian]

.... and we were bumping up against the deadline...so what else is new...
LMAO!

I'll tell you what else is new... You have a winner! That's what's new. Whether the votes confirm it or not, the film put forth by this team is extremely impressive and is leaps and bounds above anything I've seen from Johnson, Hyten and Golden!

Congrats again, boys. I know that you are all sitting back with snifters of scotch and stogies burning celebrating your efforts!

[Ted Arabian]

Ted,

You simply use the CROP function either when you are making a QuickTime movie inside FCP or when you are using Compressor. Just be sure you are CROPPING and not RESIZING!
Thanks Mark! Blaine has enlightened me to this as well.

I am sure that I will be calling on you two when I attempt to do this myself!

[HorseFilms]

I've noticed some comments say the music is a little 'too' much. Perhaps in the next cut, I can tone it down some?

No. I think your work on this was perfect. I'd kill to have someone with your talent score one of my flicks.:beer:

[Kyle Stebbins]

I agree with HorseFilms, the music was perfect.

I'd like you to score one of my films as well... I love it.

Hey Fat Monster team, I'm sitting here in my basement after just finishing up a mock of a Doritos ad and decided to take a break and send you guys a little message.

I hope all is well out on the Rancho homestead. I miss you guys. -- You did some seriously great work and we're all proud to know you out here. I can't tell you how much it means to be able to show my friends that "I know the guys that made this film".

You've got my vote ;) Great work, again.

kyle

[abalex]

Great show Mr. Jhonson, great drama, good shots, good acting, hot actress and very good looking bad guy.

top 3

gv.

[Noel Evans]

Well, in my book, one of the best films, if not the best, I have seen in a dvxuser fest ever. Congratulations to all involved.

I just read Edgens note on the music. I never even noticed the music once, seriously. To me, that means along with the top notch dialogue and suspense, the music was like a glove, a perfect fit.

[Norm Sanders]

Hey guys, I don't have time to post much, but I finally got a chance to start watching films last night, and yours was the first on my list. WOW, such a stand out over your previous works. Worlds apart! You guys worked hard, and meticulously thought it all out, and it shows.

The ONLY disappointing thing for me was that I read ahead about a week ago, and accidentally saw that 'the guy gets shot', so I kept expecting, and when someone did (our main character), it didn't shock me as much as it would have had I used some self restraint and not read what others thought. DAMNIT! Lol. My own fault.

Regardless, great twist, solid performances, editing, score, camera work, etc..... all top notch, IMO.

[Slimothy]

Well, in my book, one of the best films, if not the best, I have seen in a dvxuser fest ever. Congratulations to all involved.

I just read Edgens note on the music. I never even noticed the music once, seriously. To me, that means along with the top notch dialogue and suspense, the music was like a glove, a perfect fit.

Wow, Noah that's a great compliment. We couldn't have done it w/o our amazing crew and actors. Everybody really stepped it up this time.

I can't wait to hear what the next fest will be. I hope it's something we're able to participate in as we've collaborated with so many talented people on this one and would love to do it again.

[Edgen]

No. I think your work on this was perfect. I'd kill to have someone with your talent score one of my flicks.:beer:

No need to kill anyone for a score.. all you've gots to do is ax. :) (depending what other work i've got brewing)


I agree with HorseFilms, the music was perfect.

I'd like you to score one of my films as well... I love it.
Thank you Kyle. :) Let's do it. Make a film and I'll jump in and score it.



I just read Edgens note on the music. I never even noticed the music once, seriously. To me, that means along with the top notch dialogue and suspense, the music was like a glove, a perfect fit.
Thank you Noel. I've heard that if the music doesn't overpower too much, it's done its job. Then again, we/us composers need a little glory.



Good luck WTHL crew! It was a fun ride :)

/j

[Tom Marshall]

Justin, your score kicked ass, buddy! :beer:

[Brandon Rice]

Yeah, as always Justin, phenomenal work!

[Zander]

What adaptor did you use? Lenses? The image was outstanding.

Sorry if this has been discussed already but I'm not digging through 127 pages and when I tried to run a search it couldn't find anything.

[Slimothy]

We used the SG Pro along with Nikon Primes.

[Zander]

I think I've just been completely sold on the SG Pro. :D Thanks.

Any BTS photos?

[pmark23]

Awesome camerawork and sound design. Lighting and composition was great. I like the squished aspect ratio (assuming you meant to do that).

I couldn't hear the dialogue some of the time. Sometimes the acting seemed forced or out of place.

I knew there would be a twist, but I was expecting something sappy and sentimental. When the twist happened, something broke in my head. **twitch**

Awesome.

[KenV]

Durban,

Ok so i hate to be the bearer of bad news/critisims especially on a professional level, and especially since im much lower on the food chain than you, but, Durban, I felt your score was too obvious at points. To the point I thought I was listening more than watching, a trailer.

Your work is 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0x, better than mine, and I do like your scores,

But in my mind the score was way too obvious and too much. A little less would have done it. But in my mind I would't know how to do alittle less. But still, just a little less and this would have been perfect.

. . .

perfect

[KenV]

perfect to the point, where I would want have your babies. . .

[Slimothy]

Awesome camerawork and sound design. Lighting and composition was great. I like the squished aspect ratio (assuming you meant to do that).

I couldn't hear the dialogue some of the time. Sometimes the acting seemed forced or out of place.

I knew there would be a twist, but I was expecting something sappy and sentimental. When the twist happened, something broke in my head. **twitch**

Awesome.

Thanks for taking a look man. I am a bit confused by your mention of a "squished aspect ratio?" It should be a cinemascope.

[Blaine]

Perhaps it's the fact that it was 2.35:1 with the black bars cropped out. The pixels themselves weren't "squished." :)

[jojopop]

Great film. The look, feel and tone of the film was just through and through fantastic. Great cinematography! To me, this was one of the very few really polished pieces I saw in the fest.

My only complaint is that I felt the climax of the story was a little too much on the predictable side. I was actually hoping you guys were headed in a different direction, but then it veers right into Tales From Crypt-ish territory (although, that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing... I was just hoping for something different).

That aside, however, this was very well executed. Great job!

[Rodney V. Smith]

Awesome, awesome awesome. I finally got a chance to watch it all the way to the end and I loved every minute of it. The shots were great, lighting, sound, music... felt very much like watching a "real" movie. Glad you entered man, and you better keep it up.

Raising the bar for all of us.

My only note was that there was a little confusion at the end there, where I had to go back to watch it three times, and I'm still not sure what happened. Is the husband dead? How did she set him up? Questions that can only be answered through a second nstallment perhaps? (hint hint)

[Nathan Beaman]

nicely done.
very nicely done. beautiful look and feel.

[Luis Caffesse]

Alright guys - just under the wire I'm making my way in here.
I haven't paid too much attention to what has been said already - so if I'm repeating feedback you've already heard...well... then I guess I'm not the only one who thought this way
:)


First off - DAMN.
I've told you each individually and I'm telling you as a group now - you guys were really firing on all cylinders during this production. From a techincal standpoint there is almost nothing to say at all. If I were to flip on my tv and see a clip of this playing I wouldn't think twice about it - and what I mean by that is that the production is solid, professional, and consistent. This is the kind of stuff I love seeing coming out of these fests, and it's the best work I think I've seen you guys do.

Geoff was clearly on top of things in this one - I thought the camera moves were well done, well paced, and the lighting was moody enough to fit the piece but not outrageous enough to be distracting (which could happen easily with a piece like this).

The sound and music were great - and added to the dramatic weight of the piece, though I did feel the music was slightly overpowering at times. I'm not a 'music guy' by any stretch of the imagination so I don't know if it was because of the music itself or simply because it was too loud - but I can tell you there were a few times I caught myself paying attention to the score, which means I wasn't paying as much attention to the story.

The story is the only place where I feel you could have improved this a bit.
Though honestly it may be a limitation of the running time. I would have liked to have had another scene with the husband and wife to give me a better feel for their relationship - and I woudl have liked to have seen a bit more of his friend as well.
But like I said - there is only so much you can show us in the time allotted.
The problem now is that we have so little time with them together that, while I'm hooked in and interested in the events as they unfold, I'm not really finding myself invested in the characters themselves. So while it was exciting to see how things played out, in the end if would not have made a big difference to me who lived or who died.

The ending also seemed to come a bit out of nowhere - granted I was looking for a doublecross of somekind - but the way it played out seemed to come from left field a bit for me. It was definitely surprising, which is good, but looking back it didn't seem 'inevitable' - which is where it falters a bit for me. Maybe I missed it but giving us some clue to the fact that these two had some sort of relationship would have helped - or even a clue that he was was involved with someone would have helped.

But that is a small critique in what is an otherwise incredibly well put together story.
I'd love to see you guys put together a longer cut, and I do hope its in the works.

This was a fantastic piece overall - thanks for putting in all the effort and raising the bar on the fests once again. I hope you take my few critiques as they're intended - just some honest feedback to hopefully help you raise the bar on yourselves even more next time around.

Congrats on the film.
:thumbsup:

EDITED TO ADD:
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention... I really liked the Schwarzenegger line.
It gave us a tiny moment of levity in a really tense piece.
I would have loved to have seen more moments like that... and wish we had a few in our own film as well.

[Kyle Stebbins]

Man, this thread is seriously a behemoth. Wow!

[Mark Johnson]

My only note was that there was a little confusion at the end there, where I had to go back to watch it three times, and I'm still not sure what happened. Is the husband dead? How did she set him up? Questions that can only be answered through a second nstallment perhaps? (hint hint)

Matt, the husband, is indeed dead. The closing scene of the wife (Lisa) phoning Jack (the friend who murdered him) shows that the two of them have been having a long affair and the husband unwittingly gave them the setup to get rid of him. We made some choices in how we edited this to NOT give away too much, hoping that puzzling out the ending would be part of the fun. We've been very gratified by the comments and critiques and we can't wait to shoot the next one.

We do have quite a bit of coverage that we couldn't use in this 6-minute limited running time and we hope to learn from the comments of the wonderful viewers here as we edit a new version.

We are humbled by the talent and imagination shown in this fest. Now, if we can only have the next fest allow the inclusion of giant robots and scantily clad vixens we will be set.

[Slimothy]

nicely done.
very nicely done. beautiful look and feel.

Wow, that's actually a huge compliment as I've been a fan of your work for quite some time. I've been over to your urban rhino page more than a few times. Thanks so much Nathan.

Tim.

[Bryce A]

Hey Mark. Great film. It was a treat to watch the acting in this. I thought the ill-fated husband did a wonderful job with a hard role. All three main characters were perfectly cast. Kudos to the actor and director collaboration.

My only beef would be the vfx. Just didn't look right enough. I'd love to see what you can do with a flick without a gun.

Great work!

[Mark Johnson]

Bryce A, we really appreciate your comments regarding the acting. I'm especially pleased you recognized that Heath Finn did a great job with a tough role. Of course, people will have their own opinions, but I share your own.

I especially agree with you on the VFX. As posted earlier, we had to change the VFX for the gun shot at the last minute and it was a rush job. I do look forward to reworking that scene. THANKS so much again for those notes!

Mark

[David Saraceno]

Was Electric Image used in any part of this production?

[Mark Johnson]

Hey David! Thanks for stopping by. Actually, Electric Image was used in two shots that are NOT in this 6-minute cut of the film. There is a crane shot and an exterior shot that used EIAS, but we didn't have room in this short version to include them.

For those of you who hang out here in the fest threads without spending a lot of time elsewhere, David S is one of the real HVX mavens on the forum and a good friend with a production company in Washington.

[Marlon Ladd]

Mark, I haven't read any of the other reviews for your film yet, but I'm sure they will echo what I'll say. This was an excellent film. Everything about it was strong; the acting, editing, directing, lighting and the story. I really enjoyed it. Just a very professionally done piece of work.

I did also like the story, but I knew something was going to happen and that he (the husband) was at a different room than where his wife was. The buddy doing the deed seemed to come out of nowhere, but of course once the hubby was shot, you knew it had to be the buddy. Unless I missed something, it would have been nice to see a very subtle indication early that the buddy was or would be involved some kind of way. Maybe a funny look or something that you could go back to and say, "so that's why he looked like that" or "that's why he said that." Like giving the audience a chance to figure out the plot (even though they won't). Makes them feel that they should have been paying more attention.

I also wanted to mention that the sound was flawless and I loved the transition shots. Good work. You definately know what you're doing. Good luck.

[Marlon Ladd]

Oh, loved how you had the credits at the end too.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

tic toc tic toc boys :)

[Mark Johnson]

... Unless I missed something, it would have been nice to see a very subtle indication early that the buddy was or would be involved some kind of way. Maybe a funny look or something that you could go back to and say, "so that's why he looked like that" or "that's why he said that." Like giving the audience a chance to figure out the plot (even though they won't). Makes them feel that they should have been paying more attention. ... .

Excellent point ... and one made by others here. This is the kind of thing that makes these fests so valuable. We have been giving serious thought to how we might address this with a little foreshadowing that wouldn't give away too much. I have been thinking that I wish we had shot a short scene with Jack (the buddy) and Lisa (the wife) together that wouldn't give away the affair but would be clearly seen as an indication of it after the twist plays out.

THANKS so much for this kind of feedback.

[bosindy]

I have been thinking about this quite a bit and I was thinking what if you showed Lisa in a sexual act in a series of shots throughout the film and then end with the reveal of Jack and her at the end having sex.

Maybe have the first shot of a silhouetted man as he walks into the room with Lisa on the bed in act one. Then the next shot in the second act of Lisa in the throws of passion and then in the last act, the reveal. This give something more solid between the two and it helps unravel the twist. just a thought.

BTW I want to reiterate again that this was an awesome film

[Mark Johnson]

tic toc tic toc boys :)

Jack, thanks for the comments in this and the thread on the main page.

We just got back from Catalina Island where I was best man for my old college roomie's wedding. I drug Tim along to shoot video with a promise of food, beverages and bridesmaids. Lots of interesting occurrences and resulting skepticism that maturity is coming to Fat Monster any time soon.

[Mark Johnson]

I have been thinking about this quite a bit and I was thinking what if you showed Lisa in a sexual act in a series of shots throughout the film and then end with the reveal of Jack and her at the end having sex.

Maybe have the first shot of a silhouetted man as he walks into the room with Lisa on the bed in act one. Then the next shot in the second act of Lisa in the throws of passion and then in the last act, the reveal. This give something more solid between the two and it helps unravel the twist

BTW I want to reiterate again that this was an awesome film

BTW I want to reiterate that shooting a sex scene with Ana Alexander is an awesome suggestion. :) In all seriousness, the more I think about this, the more I think this is a really interesting suggestion. One thing, though, that comes to mind is the need to avoid the plot hole that comes in IF it appears that Lisa is truly believing she is flirting with the college buddy Sean. If that is the case, it is difficult to make believable that Jack would be willing to go along with things. We think it is important to make sure the viewer puts togther that Jack tips Lisa off as soon as Matt discloses the subterfuge.

Anyway, any other ideas or comments are GREATLY appreciated.

[bosindy]

BTW I want to reiterate that shooting a sex scene with Ana Alexander is an awesome suggestion. :)


gee, I hadn't thought of that :engel017:

[Zak Forsman]

tic toc tic toc boys :)

haha! interesting..... Jack, do you have an inside track on the results? :)

[Blaine]

BTW I want to reiterate that shooting a sex scene with Ana Alexander is an awesome suggestion. :)I volunteer to be the stand-in. :love4:

[Mark Johnson]

I volunteer to be the stand-in. :love4:

Unfortunately, Blaine, I bet we writers would get stuck in the bar again while everyone else is on the closed set. SIGH:crybaby:

[bosindy]

BTW I want to reiterate that shooting a sex scene with Ana Alexander is an awesome suggestion. :) In all seriousness, the more I think about this, the more I think this is a really interesting suggestion. One thing, though, that comes to mind is the need to avoid the plot hole that comes in IF it appears that Lisa is truly believing she is flirting with the college buddy Sean. If that is the case, it is difficult to make believable that Jack would be willing to go along with things. We think it is important to make sure the viewer puts togther that Jack tips Lisa off as soon as Matt discloses the subterfuge.

Anyway, any other ideas or comments are GREATLY appreciated.

Yea, that is a hole, but a women like this clearly has the upper hand with the men in her life that they can't help themselves. The way Tim cut it, which was great, might make the cut to the sex scenes a little tricky because there are already flash backs and now you are adding flash forwards, but I think it can be done.

I noticed you cut the "you always were the smart one" bit of dialogue at the end and that might have helped to clarify the twist. I know exposition through dialogue is not always the best, but it wasn't overly intrusive.

Although I got it the way it is right now.

[Blaine]

Unfortunately, Blaine, I bet we writers would get stuck in the bar again while everyone else is on the closed set. SIGH:crybaby:
In that case, we need to play the 'Producer' card...:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

[Mark Johnson]

Yea, that is a hole, but a women like this clearly has the upper hand with the men in her life that they can't help themselves. The way Tim cut it, which was great, might make the cut to the sex scenes a little tricky because there are already flash backs and now you are adding flash forwards, but I think it can be done.

I noticed you cut the "you always were the smart one" bit of dialogue at the end and that might have helped to clarify the twist. I know exposition through dialogue is not always the best, but it wasn't overly intrusive.

Although I got it the way it is right now.

Yeah, Jim, you saw the scripts and even the shooting script had some exposition there at the end but when we were on set it just wasn't working so we scrapped that dialog. We did shoot some telephone conversation that may serve the purpose, so we'll have to revisit the coverage we have. I'm also thinking that if you did the sex scenes intercut during the film you would probably have to eliminate or drastically change the flashback cutting.

I know that Blaine is very interested in seeing a rough cut of the original linear plot and I am also thinking it will be instructive to see how it plays. We departed from the linear version because we couldn't make it fit the 6 minute limitation (the flashbacks dramatically allowed us to cut out portions of scenes). So, without the time limitation it will be interesting to see how it all flows and actually consider whether using a device like quick ambiguous sex scenes might amp up and give some cohesion to the story.

[Brian Parker]

What can I say that hasn't been said? Didgeridoo. There. As far as the film goes, there's really no need for my analysis. Kudos, thumbs up, great job.

[RyanT]

I just watched this film and oh my goodness. So good. Soo, so good. I am actually slightly jealous. Can we be friends or something?

I even had to show my mother and she really liked it. For a film thats in some sort of competition with something I made, that's a real honor. Be proud.

[Blaine]

Hahaha, Ryan. I love the fact that you showed this to your mother and that she liked it. Thanks for sharing that and thanks for taking the time to watch.

[David Saraceno]

For those of you who hang out here in the fest threads without spending a lot of time elsewhere, David S is one of the real HVX mavens on the forum and a good friend with a production company in Washington.

Mark and I go back to when he was using Photoshop without layers, and we were outputting video using a VideoVision Studio board that utilized pixel doubling.

840 MEGABYTE AV drive ran $1K

[Ted Arabian]

MARK, TIM, BLAINE, BULLIS....

HOORAY FOR YOU GUYS!!!

I LOVE FAT MONSTER FILMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats guys! Really proud of you boys!

-Ted

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Congrats guys.

You had a very enthusiastic vote from me. :beer:

[Mark Johnson]

Thanks SO much guys. Can you believe we actually put in the time to make a decent film? Jeez! What a great fest and what a pleasure to be appreciated by so many peers.

[Slimothy]

Thanks a lot. This was by far one of the best fests so far.

Cheers.

Tim.

[bosindy]

well done Gentlemen, well done.

[mentatDUKE]

Congrats on a job well done, guys!

[Blaine]

Thanks a lot. This was by far one of the best fests so far.

Cheers.

Tim.I agree, Tim. Except, overall, I'd say this was the BEST fest so far. So many quality entries. I'm thrilled and deeply appreciative that so many enjoyed our film.

[Rodney V. Smith]

dudes, this movie ROCKED! You guys did an awesome job and you're only going to inspire the rest of us to up the ante for the next fest.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Congrat's guys! Congratulations to Geoff as well. He shot the hell out of this one.

Cheers,

[DJ Lewis]

When does the party start?

[tmnt]

Very sorry if these questions have already been asked...

1. What did you shoot on?
2. Quick run down of your encoding method - it looked and sounded great.

You guys did a fantastic job. There were moments that looked like FILM not filmic (liked the close ups at dining table on her and her at computer silhoutted by light among others).

Your actress was great, perfectly cast.

Only thing I didn't really like was the Swarzenegger joke, just out of place, especially at that moment.

Liked the CC/photography with the lead in the car, so when you cut back from the other scene on a close up of him where not lost at all - that could've easily not worked out so you handled it with ease.

Good job to you all.

[Slimothy]

DJ-The party started before the production!:thumbsup:

We shot on HVX w/ Sg pro & Nikon lenses. Zak Forsman actually helped w/ our compression, but if you PM me I can probably remember what we did. The entire short is pretty much 99.99999% IN CAMERA as we had NO time to grade.

I agree, Ana did an excellent job, as did the others.

Tim.

[tmnt]

I'm extra impressed - it all looked great, didn't notice and CC holes.

[Norm Sanders]

Congrats to you guys, Tim, Mark, Blaine, Geoff, Justin, and everyone else! If you hadn't at least placed, I would have started a riot.

I don't need to be going to jail anytime soon, so thanks for saving me on that one. :grin:

[Mark Harris]

Congrats guys. Great work.

[Zak Forsman]

well done, gentlemen.

[Brian Parker]

Great job guys. Big ups!

[Brandon Rice]

Just wanted to pop in here and congratulate you guys! Great work on this film... you were up against some fantastic entries this festival... I believe this was one of the strongest fests yet, and you guys rocked! :) Great work!

[jojopop]

Congrats, guys!! Friggin nice job all around. Looking forward to more!!!

[Marlon Ladd]

Congrats, guys.

[smashedburrito]

Congrats you guys! Have you started your next thread yet?

[Mark Johnson]

Congrats you guys! Have you started your next thread yet?

We are only waiting patiently for Barry to set up the new section. We've already outlined a story that we THINK will fit the theme of TIME FEST and as soon as we see the rules we will jump in. What this fest taught us is that there is no substitute for preproduction and given that we are, by nature, procrastinating f*ckups, we need to give Blaine sufficient time to whip us into shape or we end up standing here grinning at everyone with our pants around our ankles.

We are serving notice that we're going balls out for this next one so everybody better step up your game a notch.

[disjecta]

So is Time Fest definite as a theme? I'm not sure where the discussion is about it.

[Mark Johnson]

So is Time Fest definite as a theme? I'm not sure where the discussion is about it.

Yes, the theme was announced in the thread announcing this fest's winners. No details but it is TIME FEST for sure.

[Arrik]

Yo congrats, Fatmonster. I was rootin for ya.

[Cliff Wildman]

what an entry! love the work and love you guys obviously put into this...

the one thing that keeps coming back to me -over and over- is that the motel sign is faked. wow...just wow. great job and congrats everyone!

[Geoff_R]

Nice work guys! Congrats!

[Cliff Wildman]

Nice work guys! Congrats!

pat yourself on the back Geoff, great camera work!

[ZFarms Productions]

congrats guys. can't wait to see what you guys do for timefest.

[Cryogenic Filmworks]

Johnson, Hyten, Golden & Bullis and everyone else involved. Loved this, very well done. Glad to see you get in the seat early and guide this to a successful finish. You got one of my votes. You have a lot of talent there and I was very happy to see you place this time.

:thumbsup: and for Mark and Tim :beer: (like you need another :laugh:)

[Simon Höfer]

Hey, congratulations! Well deserved! Maybe next time you can even really finish it and place higher :D Thinking of the vfx :P

[Mark Johnson]

Hey, congratulations! Well deserved! Maybe next time you can even really finish it and place higher :D Thinking of the vfx :P

Read our minds, Simon. We are in preproduction now (assuming our idea qualifies for what we believe Time Fest will be) and will be starting on VFX immediately.

This time we're going to have no excuses. Promise!