Escape From The Past, Directed by Joe Begos (Formerly Paradox)

[joshreluctant]

Stills are coming up tomorrow, we shot on the HVX, had a budge of about $200, this is our first timefest entry, and we have no professional actors or crew, haha. We've attempted more in this short than we ever have before, and we just started shooting last weekend.

The concept is a man who goes back in time to commit a robbery. It's very much a test for a feature we'd like to get off the ground, about a crew of criminals who perform robberies through time, going back 10, 15, maybe even 20 years, to pull off bank heists and the like, and using the time travel concept as their clean getaway.

We're not professional effects artists, actually we're not even effects artists, this is all trial and error. So time travel was a pretty big thing to tackle.

COLOR CORRECTED STILLS UP NOW!

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[connorfilm]

I like your title! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG) Thats ok, your movie sounds nothing like mine. This might be confusing with voting though...

[joshreluctant]

I like your title! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG) Thats ok, your movie sounds nothing like mine. This might be confusing with voting though...

haha, wow. we just figured, it's kind of the point in the conclusion of the story. Haha. we'll brain storm a new name i suppose.

[Duff]

Sounds like a badass concept. Looking forward to seeing it.

[Ben Sliker]

that cigarette grab is money.

[joshreluctant]

that cigarette grab is money.

yeah it was pretty exciting when we looked at the footage and saw that cigarette was in focus, whereas the explosion of ash was drifting in and out. michael mann would be proud.

[jasonthewho]

Damn, this looks good. Those stills are great.

[joshreluctant]

about to post some more stills, since everyone's been diggin' 'em. i'll post them in 720 and if you click, 1080. I love the HVX.

[Mark Johnson]

The cig shot is the sh*t. I love your concept all to pieces and the grabs look great. How'd you pull off getting the store location?

[Horncastle]

Welcome! The stills do look really good.

[Edgen]

f'n sweet stils! Looking forward to seeing your entry.

/j

[traviscool]

Woah- nice stills! I love your story I can't wait. Don't worry about about not having a professional crew and actors, we had none of those- it was just actors and my mom with the slate... haha.

[joshreluctant]

The cig shot is the sh*t. I love your concept all to pieces and the grabs look great. How'd you pull off getting the store location?

Actually the liquor store the director worked at, and the clerk is actually a good friend of ours, because the only way we could use the location (for free, luckily), is if someone who worked there sat in to make sure nothing got broken. we really lucked out with the liquor store.

and the cigarette shot looks even better when it's colored haha. i'm running it through color right now, afterwards i'll post some stills of how it looks colored.

[joshreluctant]

Woah- nice stills! I love your story I can't wait. Don't worry about about not having a professional crew and actors, we had none of those- it was just actors and my mom with the slate... haha.

Haha, that may be even more low budget than us. Well actually, we didn't even have a slate.

But we decided a long time ago, we needed to find some people who looked older than us, or at least old enough to be interacting with the lead. Otherwise this would've been a horrible entry. I played the lead, our cinematographer played the friend i consult in the short, and an old business associate played the guy with the shotgun.

[Simon Höfer]

Welcome to the fest! Still looking really great :)

[totitefilms]

Nice grabs. Welcome to the fest!

[Gohanto]

Awesome grabs and your story looks like it'll be great to see.

The last grab is an awesome shot.

[morbidodyssey]

hey everyone- thanks for all the kind words.

I'm the director and co-writer- figured I'd pop in. We scripted and shot and did all post on this in less then a month, and myself and joshreluctant were the only 2 crew members through pre and post, not to mention shooting. We had a DP helps us out a little bit but ultimatley was not there the whole shoot.

And we are working on a name change

thanks-joe

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Sweet grabs!

:thumbup: :thumbup:

[joshreluctant]

doing color tomorrow, hopefully have some tasty grabs for everyone. doing a sound mix right now, then we're off to ADR and Score it. Busting our asses to get it by monday, haha.

[Matt Sconce]

Good luck! You can do it! I want to see this movie!

[joshreluctant]

Name change, because another member is already using Paradox, and we don't want to step on any toes. And we're Carpenter fans, so now it's

Escape From The Past

[joshreluctant]

We're uploaded!

[Matt Sconce]

Awesome!

[Herman Witkam]

Congrats! Good luck in the fest.

Nice grabs too.

[Matt Sconce]

I like the name change, and I am curious as to why you changed it? Cool new name though!

[Geoff_R]

Grabs and concept look cool, I like shotguns and violence :) Anxious to see this one.

[morbidodyssey]

We changed the name because another DVXuser had the title "Paradox" and they had announced there film first.

[Matt Sconce]

We changed the name because another DVXuser had the title "Paradox" and they had announced there film first.


Cool. I like the new name.

[Gary Sconce]

Good grabs and nice name change. Best to you! :engel017:

[joshreluctant]

Any notice of how voting's going to work? I'm so curious to see the entries.

[Dustin R. Rogan]

I said WOW outloud when I saw your grabs, Good Luck Sir!

Rogan

[Mattykins]

Rolling, reviewing...

Interesting opening. Had the borne feel to it. The camera might have been moving a little too much for my liking. Interesting lighting idea come 1:50. Also had the 24 feeling too. With the Garage Band music and the intercut with the timer.

Interesting concept. I liked it. Don't understand how that ending came to be. But cool none-the-less.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I agree with the camera movement. It was fine during the robbery scene but it was bothering me a bit in the beginning.

I liked the concept for this. You had time, you could have explained it a bit more.
Loved the editing during the last few shots especially.

Nice ending.

Mike

[Mobie540]

Where have I seen this before? I was hoping Van Dam would make a cameo. I'm kidding. Well for me it was a little too much super shaky cam in the beginning shots in the car. I did like the side by side shots of the action and timer. I loved the time effects.

SPOILERS

I didn't understand why his head got blown off. Did the timecop shoot him or was it a result of his first test run of time travel and exploding heads was a result? The latter doesn't make sense in the world you set up so I can assume it's the former.

[ZazaCast]

I like it! I have to agree with some of the other comments about the shake, but overall I liked the camera work/angles. The stopwatch splitscreen was cool...and really...who doesn't love a good head explosion? BooYah!! I don't understand WHY his head exploded, but who cares...it did (nice job on that effect too).

Congrats on a job well done.

[morbidodyssey]

hey guys- i directed this film.

Thanks for the comments. I agree looking back on the car dialouge I don't regret shooting it handheld but I had the shutter speed cranked a 1/1000 which I think ended up being a little too much.

The reason for the head explosion is that the portal is only open for 5 minutes- thats why he's on a limit. Once the portal closes it creates a paradox.

-joe

[joshreluctant]

hey guys- i directed this film.

Thanks for the comments. I agree looking back on the car dialouge I don't regret shooting it handheld but I had the shutter speed cranked a 1/1000 which I think ended up being a little too much.

The reason for the head explosion is that the portal is only open for 5 minutes- thats why he's on a limit. Once the portal closes it creates a paradox.

-joe

in the car

"I don't know, how much time are you going to have?"

"5 minutes"

"what happens after five minutes?"

"don't know, trapped... maybe worse."



The original title of the film was "paradox".

There can't be two versions of "josh", but there's a 5 minute window of opportunity, we had more stuff written, but we cut 2 minutes out as it was merely exposition and got in the way of the short. There's nothing we hate more than a short that's too indulgent in itself, and it will lose viewers because of it. I'd rather have a shorter film that induces discussion, and you're absolutely right for having these questions, looking back, I wish that we had done more structurally, but on the tight schedule we were on, our first Visual effects shot, and the fact that usually we just use houses and woods as locations, makes me a little proud that we were able to pull it off.

The questions are well founded, and thanks for even taking the time to view it, constructive criticism is an amazing asset when you're work as run and gun as we do. Please post any comments or questions.

[Danielleus]

Hey guys,

Good work. I like the intensity here and a lot of the colors. I think you might have a continuity error with the CC in the car but otherwise, nice.






SPOILER ALERT BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(sort of)



I think the story needs work. I think you did well with what you have but I was thinking, what makes this different from any other TIMEtravel movie? I was hoping for a twist or something that would pull this together at the end and I'm not sure the payoff is big enough. Your end effect is fun and looked good. But I felt it needed more. Maybe more with the other guy in the car??? Or something relating to why he didn't wnat to go.
I like the use of a bathroom stall. And some of the dialogue was fun. Your actors did an okay job for not being actors.

Anyway, kudos on your first fest. I see many many fest in the future for you guys. Good work and thanks for posting.

[joshreluctant]

I think you might have a continuity error with the CC in the car but otherwise, nice.

YES! The sun was absolutely heinous that day haha, we actually had to keep the other kid out of the sun as he had gotten sun poisoning the other day. It's a miracle we only had one lighting bump. Thanks for watching, you had some really good comments to throw at it, it's appreciated.

[Existentialist]

My review:

The internal car shots was very cool. The Bourne camera feel worked really well because it seems you had a truncated shutter speed that just added great moving to the characters...I really dug that.

Story was interesting, had me guessing to the end. How did you get permission to
shoot inside a liquor store carrying shotguns? LOL

[joshreluctant]

My review:

The internal car shots was very cool. The Bourne camera feel worked really well because it seems you had a truncated shutter speed that just added great moving to the characters...I really dug that.

Story was interesting, had me guessing to the end. How did you get permission to
shoot inside a liquor store carrying shotguns? LOL

the kid who played the clerk was a friend of ours, and the director worked there before, we actually got the location for free. the owner came down to the store to check up on us and opened the door to find out timecop with that ridiculous motorcycle helmet holding up two shotguns, haha.

[Mobie540]

hey guys- i directed this film.

The reason for the head explosion is that the portal is only open for 5 minutes- thats why he's on a limit. Once the portal closes it creates a paradox.

-joe

Well that makes more sense. I didn't get that from your movies so maybe I missed something. I thought with the whole timecop thing, time travel was safe enough. I just thought the technology was limited to 5 minute windows. I guess maybe a better setup of the paradox in the beginning, just like the movie timecop "same matter can't occupy the same space".

[joshreluctant]

Well that makes more sense. I didn't get that from your movies so maybe I missed something. I thought with the whole timecop thing, time travel was safe enough. I just thought the technology was limited to 5 minute windows. I guess maybe a better setup of the paradox in the beginning, just like the movie timecop "same matter can't occupy the same space".

well in the film it's somewhat addressed, although not as much as it should be, with the line "well what happens in five minutes?", "don't know, trapped, maybe worse." But agreeably, we originally had a scene with a black market time dealer, who was sending the main character back, we cut it for pacing issues.

thanks for watching! much appreciated.

[STYLZ]

Loved it. Good job. At least I'm sure this was actually shot for Timefest and not a short with a shot of a clock added.

[Bryce A]

I don’t know what to make of your film!! I really felt the tension and insaneness at the end and opening. Lights, cutting, black, crazy audio all worked well. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no enemy of shaky-cam, but I think it was just way overdone in the car. Way too much for that scene. That’s really my only issue. Good work!

[joshreluctant]

Loved it. Good job. At least I'm sure this was actually shot for Timefest and not a short with a shot of a clock added.

yeah i've been noticing that with some entries.

[bosindy]

Loved it. Good job. At least I'm sure this was actually shot for Timefest and not a short with a shot of a clock added.


yeah i've been noticing that with some entries.


Really??? okay give us some evidence that films have been entered outside the rules. Or are you just conspiracy theorist?

[joshreluctant]

Really??? okay give us some evidence that films have been entered outside the rules. Or are you just conspiracy theorist?

well it just seems that some have taken the "time" theme liberally, and actually it's turned out what i think are some of the best entries, connorfilm's "Sewwer", and so far i'd say the most beautifully shot entry, "The Moment After".

It wasn't meant as an insult to any of the other entries at all. It really shouldn't have come out that way, and i'm sorry it did.

[Zoidoid]

I've been enjoying watching everyone's entries so much that I've been completely negligent with making comments. I just got done watching Escape From The Past, so while it's fresh in my mind I thought I'd say a few words here.

First of all, nice job! My favorite thing about this piece is pace. It's exciting throughout. There wasn't a moment where my mind wandered. The story was nice and focused.

I'll echo what previous posts have said -- the hand-held effect in the liquour store is appropriately frenetic. In fact, I didn't even realize it was being used. In the opening car scene, it was too much for my tastes.

Another thing I particularly liked about this short is how much you managed to do with so little at times. With some simple lighting and special effects, you managed to turn a bathroom stall into a time-travel device and I never thought twice about it. It worked -- you completely sold it. I love that kinda stuff.

As far as the storyline goes, I think your biggest enemy was the short time frame. When your actor said "They've got time cops for this kinda thing" that threw me for a loop and I certainly wanted to know more at that point. That being said, you certainly had a complete story here in terms of beginning/middle/end and I wasn't left unsatisfied!

Also, I read what you wrote above about the fact that if Josh doesn't travel back into the future, it creates a paradox. It makes good sense, but I'll admit that I didn't get that from viewing the short. If explained a little more explicitly, I think the very last shot would leave people slightly less bewildered and a little more tense as he's desperately trying to make it back to the stall. It would really allow you to milk the tension if the viewers knew JUST how serious a game he was playing.

Anyway. I don't mean to sound overly critical. I definitely think this film shows that you guys have very solid filmmaking intuition and talent. Definitely one of the better entries I've seen so far! Congratulations!

[bosindy]

well it just seems that some have taken the "time" theme liberally, and actually it's turned out what i think are some of the best entries, connorfilm's "Sewwer", and so far i'd say the most beautifully shot entry, "The Moment After".

It wasn't meant as an insult to any of the other entries at all. It really shouldn't have come out that way, and i'm sorry it did.

Well that's 2 different arguments 1) The film was made for some other reason outside of timefest (possible not within the time frame as well) and the filmmaker added a clock to shoehorn it into this fest 2) the film was made for the fest and doesn't qualify because it doesn't adhere to the "time" theme.

The first argument is the one that is offensive because it accuses the fimmaker of doing something dishonest. If anyone has evidence to that then prove it. most of the threads offer evidence to the contrary. That doesn't seem to be the argument you have made, but others have.

The second argument is one that is made every festival, and the same response is always given: The rules are loosely interpreted so as to not quell creativity. I could make a very strong argument for "the Moment After" fitting within the the "time" theme, but that would be irrelevant because the moderators have already decided that it does.

[Bryce A]

I think the very last should would leave people slightly less bewildered and a little more tense as he's desperately trying to make it back to the stall. It would really allow you to milk the tension if the viewers knew JUST how serious a game he was playing.

Yes, I was bewildered. But I totally agree. I think it would way more tense and a lot "cooler" knowing that was the reason for the five min time frame. Explaining that (without being overly blunt) would have really kept me on my toes wondering what was gonna happen to this shmoe.

[pauly_the_hitman]

Loved all the twitchy effects and the only thing I would have changed was the guns they didn't look real at all to me. But overall I found it very entertaining.

[joshreluctant]

The second argument is one that is made every festival, and the same response is always given: The rules are loosely interpreted so as to not quell creativity. I could make a very strong argument for "the Moment After" fitting within the the "time" theme, but that would be irrelevant because the moderators have already decided that it does.

agreed, i made the comment hastily and it was never meant as an insult to other entries, me and my director actually said aside time after the entries were posted to make sure we watched all the entries, and a lot of them were very, very good. again, sorry it came out that way.

and to everyone else, thanks for the comments. We've always worked handheld for most scenes just as a personal taste, and after deciding that a dolly\crane rental would be two expensive for the weekend, we chose that as our secondary stylistic choice. Next fest we'll hopefully have more time, and it won't be so much of an issue, thanks for the comments everyone.

[STYLZ]

Hey did you do a entry for another fest where it is two guys in a car talking, and one ends up stabbing the other right outside the car?

[joshreluctant]

Hey did you do a entry for another fest where it is two guys in a car talking, and one ends up stabbing the other right outside the car?

No, actually, that wasn't us. I'm not even sure of who it was. From the sound of it, seems like something we would've done back in high school. We used to shoot nonsense just to shoot it, Haha.

[krestofre]

The lighting in this film was top notch. I was also intrigued with the story, so kudos there. The only thing that took me out of it was the phrase "Time Cop" because I just see visions of the Van Dame movie, and anything that calls to mind a Van Dame movie can't be good. I'd change that phrase to something less overt.

Small criticism, I know. Just thought I'd mention it. :)

[joshreluctant]

The lighting in this film was top notch. I was also intrigued with the story, so kudos there. The only thing that took me out of it was the phrase "Time Cop" because I just see visions of the Van Dame movie, and anything that calls to mind a Van Dame movie can't be good. I'd change that phrase to something less overt.

Small criticism, I know. Just thought I'd mention it. :)

Thanks for the kind words, and for the true ones, haha. When writing the short, we realized "Time Cop" was a ridiculous phrase to put in a movie, but us being van damne fans (unapologetically, even), we thought hey, it's fun, if anything it'll give anyone who remembers 1995 a laugh. So we had thought about that, and thanks for viewing\commenting.

Haha, timecops.

[Horncastle]

This film seemed to work quite well. I really liked the very graphic flashing sequences in the toilet. I'm not really an expert on this sort of thing, but wouldn't the time cops be in the two main characters present rather than in their past?
Good work.

[morbidodyssey]

This film seemed to work quite well. I really liked the very graphic flashing sequences in the toilet. I'm not really an expert on this sort of thing, but wouldn't the time cops be in the two main characters present rather than in their past?
Good work.


Indeed they would be in the present, but the timecops can also time travel.

[joshreluctant]

Josh goes back, timecop goes back to get 'em.

[Matt Sconce]

Liked the lighting flashing light effect and souns. I would have liked to understand how serious the stall was. Not exactly, but if we knew he might die, it would have elevated the tension. Good job! I liked it! The ending was gross but cool.

[Simon Höfer]

great short! Caught me from the beginning. really good! Pacing was nice. good sound!

The talking in the car was a bit slow. And their sunglasses looked cheesy. And well, the head explosion looked cheesy too.

Overall a really good entry though! Thumbs up!

[jasonthewho]

This was a very solid entry. I really enjoyed it. I liked the style and look of the film. I really liked the editing.

I think the "time cop" thing caught me by surprise, in a way that it seemed funny. I think what would help would be to really set up that the two guys are living in a future world. As it was, I thought that maybe they were just living in the present and happened to have a time machine.

Because the time cop had a shotgun, I thought perhaps the exploding head was from a shotgun blast. If he imploded, completely blew up, or something else, that might make that moment clearer.

Anyways, nice work, I can't wait to see what you guys make next.

[morbidodyssey]

This was a very solid entry. I really enjoyed it. I liked the style and look of the film. I really liked the editing.

I think the "time cop" thing caught me by surprise, in a way that it seemed funny. I think what would help would be to really set up that the two guys are living in a future world. As it was, I thought that maybe they were just living in the present and happened to have a time machine.

Because the time cop had a shotgun, I thought perhaps the exploding head was from a shotgun blast. If he imploded, completely blew up, or something else, that might make that moment clearer.

Anyways, nice work, I can't wait to see what you guys make next.


Originally in he final seconds leading up to the head explosion the timer was counting down to 0:00. It didn't meld well with the scene so we took it out.

[Beat Takeshi]

I enjoyed this film and thought the editing was well done. The car scene was a little fake sounding for some reason but it still held together. I did wish I knew a little more of what would happen if he didn't get back in time. I didn't like that they would go to rob a store though. After all, if they have a time machine, shouldn't they be thinking about getting diamonds and gold and not $400 from a store? They seemed much more intelligent for that.
I thought at first the cop shot him in the head because of the boom sound when his head exploded also.

[joshreluctant]

I didn't like that they would go to rob a store though. After all, if they have a time machine, shouldn't they be thinking about getting diamonds and gold and not $400 from a store?

The short is a test for a feature where just that happens, larger bank heists, and other important such crimes. That's why he said it's a test run. A larger scale robbery would've been more fun, but unfortunately we didn't have the money for a better location. Thanks for the editing comment too! That's my department.

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

Excellent opening, a strong hook. Once the actors start talking I lose it a bit. The premise is, interesting. The time cop outfit is unconvincing, the final run up and surprise ending were fun. Keep going!

[Duff]

I like the concept, and I like how the piece was edited together, showing the two storylines simultaneously. As others said, the shaky-camera during the car talking scene was way too much and unmotivated, so it stood out. The audio sounded distorted at parts. I think the head-exploding bit was way overdramatic, so much so that it actually got a laugh out of me (but I don't think that's what was intended). Maybe it was because I thought he had made it back to the stall in time, so it was completely unexpected. I think the shot of the timer hitting zero is necessary, after all.

Your story-telling ability is strong. I love the line he delivers to the cashier -- good stuff. Cinematography was good, except for the one aforementioned scene in the car which calls attention to itself. All in all, nice work.

[Brad S.]

I really liked this story. I can definitely see this as part of a larger project, but it was a good concise story in and of itself. I would say that the sound mix was WAY too loud. Film shouldn't be mixed to "0" like music (of course music shouldn't be mixed so loud either but that's another topic).

[joshreluctant]

I really liked this story. I can definitely see this as part of a larger project, but it was a good concise story in and of itself. I would say that the sound mix was WAY too loud. Film shouldn't be mixed to "0" like music (of course music shouldn't be mixed so loud either but that's another topic).

I did do a re mix on the sound, but unfortunately the version we had re mixed wasn't in the final render, which was our fault for having too many render files laying around. This will be kept in mind though, thanks for commenting.

[jojopop]

I liked the concept and the overall execution. The sound design worked well for me as did the time travel effect. Probably one of few films that went in the direction of time travel being equated with pain, from my memory -- which I found really, really effective. The editing was spot on for those sequences and the last shot... whew. Good times.

Nice work!!

[Mark Johnson]

loved it. GREAT location. Great sound design ....... Really striking images.

[ConspiracyPenguin]

I actually enjoyed this piece. The story was good, I loved the thing about "Time Cops" that totally changed everything. You had one hell of a hook! I was adjusting the volume and I realized a lot was already happening in the first seconds. The sound was great, as was the acting and I enjoyed the little techniques with the flashing lights and shaking camera. Here were my only critiques:

1) The shakey camera works for some scenes but not all, in the car scenes it got to be a little too much for me and took me out of the story because I had to put out such an effot to stay focused.

2) The head exploding. Obviously not the most realistic. I think I would have maybe shown blood splattering on the walls with the sound of the explosion and then cut to the headless body (which looked great).

Other than those minor things, great job! Good luck!

[Susanne G.]

Your story is clever and the time police is an intelligent detail. The acting was pretty good. I am not really sure how much I like the "splatter end" - it seemed to me from a comic and this hard brake confused me. Above all - good work. Compliments.

Susanne

[Chuklz]

I liked the opening scene. Decent job of making it frenetic and confusing.

Your dialog scene: I like the choice to go handheld, good instincts. The execution leaves something to be desired. Your cam op was zoomed in so it exagerrated the movements which became distracting. very distracting. I know part of it was done to try to achieve a rack focus but overall the effect was... distracting.

What you can do to correct this is to move the camera physically closer so you can zoom out on the shots that dont require the focus pull. Planning helps for this.

On the ones you can't move closer for you can use a mono pod. Basically collapse your tripod so it's all 1 leg, and then operate so you can control the 'handheld' look but still stay stable enough to not distract from the scene. Also get someone else to pull focus other than the operator so he can focus on holding the camera.

When you guys get to the store, I love your choices there. I think the clock is cheesy and you dont need it. It doesnt go with the grittiness of the what you looked like you were going for. But I didn't hate it.

I'd rather see blood splash on the wall than bad after effects personally but thats my taste.

Very awesome first effort. Fire your cam operator, or make him practice holding the camera (even in the liquor store) if you cant. ;)

[morbidodyssey]

I liked the opening scene. Decent job of making it frenetic and confusing.

Your dialog scene: I like the choice to go handheld, good instincts. The execution leaves something to be desired. Your cam op was zoomed in so it exagerrated the movements which became distracting. very distracting. I know part of it was done to try to achieve a rack focus but overall the effect was... distracting.

What you can do to correct this is to move the camera physically closer so you can zoom out on the shots that dont require the focus pull. Planning helps for this.

On the ones you can't move closer for you can use a mono pod. Basically collapse your tripod so it's all 1 leg, and then operate so you can control the 'handheld' look but still stay stable enough to not distract from the scene. Also get someone else to pull focus other than the operator so he can focus on holding the camera.

When you guys get to the store, I love your choices there. I think the clock is cheesy and you dont need it. It doesnt go with the grittiness of the what you looked like you were going for. But I didn't hate it.

I'd rather see blood splash on the wall than bad after effects personally but thats my taste.

Very awesome first effort. Fire your cam operator, or make him practice holding the camera (even in the liquor store) if you cant. ;)


That head explosion was 100 percent practical my friend.

[Chuklz]

That head explosion was 100 percent practical my friend.

To quote Stallone's notes for Rambo's post teams.
More explosion. More blood.

[Edgen]

Awesome! A timemachine in the bathroom that blows your head off.
I have to say I really enjoyed the flick despite the incredibly annoying jerky camera movements. There’s a time and place for the freneticness, and a time to calm it down. Not to deliberately shake the camera all around to give a feeling of chaos and disarray.
I think the music worked for your film although there were times where I think it was poorly sliced together. Was this a custom score or found source music? (suppose I’ll have to go back and re-read the credits and explore your thread)
I enjoyed your cinematography. I think it looked wonderful. (of course minus the jerkiness) I also dug the premise of “What If”. The timecop thing was cool, but I wish he was a little more futuristic. A few high tech beeps and blips could help create the illusion of a future cop such as this. Would have love to know more about that character. Perhaps a few close ups or another line of dialog?
Regardless, congrats on finishing your film and looking forward to your next entry.

[Tim Joy]

I first watched this on my Timefest marathon at like 3 am and I thought my speakers were going to blow up as I leaped for the volume. It was awesome!

Seriously, though- I see that you may have had some audio issues, but you have to be really careful about levels when your mix contains so much distortion. It can do damage when played too loud. I loved the sound design though. It really launched your movie like a rocket.

Overall I liked it, and you kept me wanting more, except when you opened that can-o-worms called "... they have time-cops for that..." If there are time-cops then I guess time-travel is known to exist, and if so, wouldn't everyone be doing it? Or, wouldn't the guy know that after five minutes, your head explodes? I don't know, but that part of the story was a little thin for me.

It sounded like you adr'd his voice when he has the mask on, robbing the cashier, except you recorded it without a mask on. It didn't sound like his voice was coming through a mask.

The dialog and acting in the car was good. I liked the choppy shutter effect, but it was distracting. It did highten the tension somewhat though.

I think you could've done something better than the time-cop in the liquor store. For one thing, his costume didn't look real. Wouldn't they send in an army of those guys anyway? If I were a Time-Cop, and I detected someone that has traveled through time illegally, I think I would be a little sneakier about it. Maybe pose as another customer, then try and pounce on the guy or something. Just throwing out ideas.

I liked the ending. In with a blast, out with a bang. If you shaved 15 frames off the front of the head exploding clip I think it would work better. It's sitting there for too long before it explodes.

The whole movie LOOKED great. Whatever you did with the lighting, and CC was spot-on. Keep doing it. I liked the music too. It fit perfectly.

Good work! It's a unique style that stands out in the fest.

[iSTy]

Good camerawork
thank you

[Ben Sliker]

In the past few days, DVXusers Ben Sliker and Justin Kuhn sat down and chatted over AIM while simultaneously watching the same TIMEFEST films. We call them, "The AIM sessions". Here's their thoughts on "Escape from the Past"

This is a 'special edition' of the AIM sessions, Assistant Director Brad Mate has tagged in for Justin from the crew of JAM. Please excuse the stupid out of order time stamps by iChat.

spesliker (1:37:00 PM): escape from past
spesliker (1:37:08 PM): nice
spesliker (1:37:16 PM): escape then
spesliker (1:38:05 PM): ok
TheBrad84 (1:38:00 PM): omg is this movie going to give me a seizure?
spesliker (1:38:21 PM): lol
spesliker (1:38:22 PM): 3
spesliker (1:38:23 PM): 2
spesliker (1:38:25 PM): 1
spesliker (1:38:28 PM): go
TheBrad84 (1:38:42 PM): oh. my. science.
spesliker (1:39:02 PM): CONSIDERED ME SEIZED
TheBrad84 (1:39:08 PM): SHAKY CAM!! ACTION PACKED TALKING SCENE!!
spesliker (1:39:39 PM): we knows its gots action cause it's shaky
spesliker (1:40:02 PM): who in their right mind would teleport into a toilet?
TheBrad84 (1:39:50 PM): (and they are wearing glasses so you know they dont poo poo around)
spesliker (1:40:28 PM): do they give themselves a swirly to get back
TheBrad84 (1:40:28 PM): stop moving in slo mo!! you need to hurry!!?!@#lj32kh
spesliker (1:40:54 PM): ooo, it's like ang lee's the hulk, except he's not trying to remind us we're watching a comic book movie.
spesliker (1:41:05 PM): TIME COP
TheBrad84 (1:40:55 PM): jean claude is gonna be pissed
spesliker (1:41:12 PM): WHERES VAN DAMME AND SPLITS?
http://www.firstshowing.net/img/timecop-kicking.jpg (oh ... there he is.)
spesliker (1:41:23 PM): CHUN LEE, CHUN LEE
spesliker (1:41:37 PM): these are the worst time cops ever
TheBrad84 (1:41:32 PM): TIME
spesliker (1:42:20 PM): there's a rave going on in that toilet
TheBrad84 (1:42:13 PM): rawr
spesliker (1:42:34 PM): KA BLOOEY!
spesliker (1:43:20 PM): you should take mushrooms and try to watch that movie
TheBrad84 (1:43:11 PM): if i had a time machine....probably would go for something bigger than a liquor store
spesliker (1:43:29 PM): i wanna see what happens
spesliker (1:43:46 PM): i would warp directly into a bank vault
spesliker (1:45:16 PM): not bad, a little overuse of the f-bomb
spesliker (1:45:26 PM): but, interesting concept
TheBrad84 (1:45:20 PM): i like the splicing of the convo between the robbery
TheBrad84 (1:45:28 PM): interesting choice
spesliker (1:45:47 PM): agreed
spesliker (1:46:27 PM): i'd do the dane cook thing
TheBrad84 (1:46:20 PM): lol
spesliker (1:46:42 PM): "IT'S ME, IT'S YOUR SON FROM THE FUTURE"
TheBrad84 (1:47:06 PM): i know its just a trial run. but, a liquor store? you can rob that shi* in the present. i would have liked somethign a little more creative. but, if you got a convience store to shoot in....
TheBrad84 (1:47:17 PM): *convenience
spesliker (1:47:33 PM): when in rome
TheBrad84 (1:47:35 PM): anyways..
TheBrad84 (1:47:36 PM): im out
spesliker (1:47:55 PM): have fun drinking
TheBrad84 (1:47:50 PM): see what i did there? i quoted escape from the past
TheBrad84 (1:47:53 PM): *high five*
spesliker (1:48:15 PM): *high five*

Guys, nice job on this short. Having guns in a liquor store is just plain cool, and although a little rough on the eyes/ears, the flashing bathroom scenes were kinda neat. It felt a little like the style overtook the substance of this one, but we really liked your editing choices as far as structure goes. I want more timecops, because let's face it ... I've had enough of Van Damme and his shenanigans (although, you do get to see that chick from Ferris Buehler's Day Off naked in it, so bonus for that). PEACE. :thumbs up:

[joshreluctant]

thanks everyone for their comments, questions, and very constructive criticism, we'll be back next fest, and this time, with our OWN HVX, and a 35 kit. just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to view and comment.