Gray Days

[open-heart burglary]

The film is finished, but we worked this a little differently. Gray Days is the first in our two part film. Gray Days is concluded in Stark Nights. I hope we don't get screwed for this, but, anyway, enjoy. Watch Gray Days first and then watch Stark Nights.

We hope you enjoy.

[stinkpot]

Cool... crime. I look forward to your movie. Welcome to the fest!

:beer:

[Erez Henya]

Wonderful. Good luck!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Welcome to the Fest!

MAH

[Rodney V. Smith]

cool dude. welcome to the festivities

[SparkyZa]

Welcome to the fest!

[Ryanrjack]

Here's a poster I came up with for them movie. Simple and effective if I don't say so myself.
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235948879.gif

Here's another poster idea I just came up with.

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235964484.jpg

[Ryanrjack]

Here's some more screenshots. Good stuff we're getting!
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235951700.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235951813.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235951875.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235952006.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235952071.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235952125.jpg

[Ryanrjack]

Here's a behind the scenes photo taken with a crappy cell phone camera on my black berry.
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/35373/1235949203.jpg

[JackStudios]

This movie is looking great and there's more to come soon!!

[Mark Harris]

D90?

[clarkage]

Love the screenshots! Goodluck!

[Ryanrjack]

D90?

Yeah we're shooting on the D90, and using an HV30 as a B cam.

[Ryanrjack]

Love the screenshots! Goodluck!

Thanks!!:)

[Eric Meisner]

Looks very film noir-ish, love the gritty grabs...

[Ryanrjack]

Looks very film noir-ish, love the gritty grabs...
Thanks!! That's exactly what we're going for!

[open-heart burglary]

Just wanted to get the thread back up toward the top. Read the first entry for the details about this particular entry.

[Richard J. Johnson]

Man this was right up my alley. This was my favorite so far. I love all of the grain and noise. The audio popping was quite abundant but it looks so amazing I did not care. This was just amazing. acting was oustanding! You really need to make this into a feature or a series or something dammit. great effing job.

[Ryanrjack]

Man this was right up my alley. This was my favorite so far. I love all of the grain and noise. The audio popping was quite abundant but it looks so amazing I did not care. This was just amazing. acting was oustanding! You really need to make this into a feature or a series or something dammit. great effing job.

Thanks! As far as the audio there are some glaring issues in Stark Nights, because I kind of ran out of time and energy. I think Gray Days sounded good though. Were you talking about Gray Days or Stark Nights?(they're part one and two of the story)

Thanks again for your kind words

Ryan Jackson

[Richard J. Johnson]

I think it was grey days. It sounds like when each audio file is about to begin you hear a slight pop. I get that a lot in FCP, I just add a fast fade and it goes away.

BUT it could be the download on my end. My mac is old and acts up sometimes. Especially when doing anything online.

Either way film is probably my favorite so far. I watched it 4 times.

[Marlon Ladd]

I liked the story, the action and the acting. I thought the look was cool as well and really dug some of the shots. On another note, when they were punching the guy it didn't look real. It looked like they were playing with him. You should have had them really him in the arms and chest. Some sound fx would have gone nicely with that as well. Other than that I thought it was a very good and intriguing piece.

[open-heart burglary]

I agree with the punching thing. We plain old ran out of time and just didn't have the time to reshoot. Thanks though. Watch Stark Nights afterwards to finish the story.

[Mickey Munday]

i liked this film. the punching scene was weak as mentioned before. everything else was really cool. i loved the intro and how you told the story filmwise.

how did you get those different angles in the car scene during the dialogue, etc? were you sitting up front or something? had the cam mounted on the car outside?

[Imaginate]

I loved the visual tone that you created with this story. Great camera work. The shot with the snow... I loved that. Great scene where is laughing on the ground... loved this short... congratulations to your whole team!

[Blaine]

This one had some potential. I like the gritty feel. Not so much the acting which just didn't feel natural to me. Quite a few times the lines felt like lines an it left me outside the story.

I was never given enough information in the story to develop a connection with ANY character so I didn't really care what happened to any of them.

For the most part the action was good...aside from the beating scene.

As I said, there IS potential here and I'd like to see you guys live up to it.

[Rodney V. Smith]

Is this a 2 parter? This ends where Stark Nights picks up.

[Ryanrjack]

Is this a 2 parter? This ends where Stark Nights picks up.

Yes they're two films that are part of a larger story. But they stand on their own as two separate films, two separate entries. The goal was to make it so that you could watch either one and not need to see the other to understand what's going on, now if we succeeded in doing that is a whole different story......................


(http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=1573820#post1573820)

[Ryanrjack]

This one had some potential. I like the gritty feel. Not so much the acting which just didn't feel natural to me. Quite a few times the lines felt like lines an it left me outside the story.

I was never given enough information in the story to develop a connection with ANY character so I didn't really care what happened to any of them.

For the most part the action was good...aside from the beating scene.

As I said, there IS potential here and I'd like to see you guys live up to it.

Thanks for checking out our film. I hope we can live up to our potential in the future!

[Lost Skies]

This was great! The ONLY part that took me out was when they beat him up... but you've already addressed that ;) I loved the lighting very noir- was it all practical or did you augment any of it?

[open-heart burglary]

all the outside stuff, except in front of the house was practical. Everything else was lit with several lights.

[chriscurl]

Really loved the look of this movie, I wish I had a better understanding at the end of what was going on but I enjoyed watching it, there were some great shots like all of the inside car stuff, I wish some of the line delivery felt as "real" as the movie looked, if that makes sense. I look forward to checking out the companion piece. Good job!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Really loved the look of this movie, I wish I had a better understanding at the end of what was going on but I enjoyed watching it, there were some great shots like all of the inside car stuff, I wish some of the line delivery felt as "real" as the movie looked, if that makes sense. I look forward to checking out the companion piece. Good job!
That's my issue with this 2 piece/entry business. I don't think it does stand on its own and I think the confusion surrounding the ending shows just that.

This was gritty and real, I liked that. To be blunt I don't like that you cut a longer movie into 2 acts.

I think it also hurts your chances in the ratings, especially the way that you did it. The time limit is there to test you. To see what you can do in 6 minutes or less.

Best of luck.

MAH

[open-heart burglary]

well we wrote it in two parts, and that's how we made it. It's not terribly helpful for you to tell us that the limit is there to test us. We are the only ones in the fest who thought of this and you are condemning our idea. If you don't agree with it that's cool, but if you watch the two entries back to back, the way they're supposed to be watched, then they make a lot more sense.

We also don't make movies to get good rating. We try to make good movies, and then, hopefully, the ratings will be there. If not, that's cool too. We just wanted to make movie that we liked, and if other people like it too, then that's just bonus.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

well we wrote it in two parts, and that's how we made it. It's not terribly helpful for you to tell us that the limit is there to test us. We are the only ones in the fest who thought of this and you are condemning our idea. If you don't agree with it that's cool, but if you watch the two entries back to back, the way they're supposed to be watched, then they make a lot more sense.Of course they do, as a 12 minute movie. That's my point!

IMHO, one doesn't really work without the other.
I'm not the only one to touch on that. That kind of dispels the "They work on their own" theory.

BTW, this idea has been tossed around in the past. :)

I just gave you my 2 cents and now I'll move on. Take it our leave it.

My advice would be to learn how to tell a cohesive story within the 6 minute time limit and you will do MUCH better in the Fest.

Just my opinion.

Cheers,

EDIT:




We also don't make movies to get good rating. We try to make good movies, and then, hopefully, the ratings will be there. If not, that's cool too. We just wanted to make movie that we liked, and if other people like it too, then that's just bonus.
If this is the case then you should have entered it as a 12 minute exhibition film and you wouldn't have this confusion.

MAH

[Rodney V. Smith]

We are the only ones in the fest who thought of this and you are condemning our idea. If you don't agree with it that's cool, but if you watch the two entries back to back, the way they're supposed to be watched, then they make a lot more sense.

We're all creative people here and we can be a little sneaky, so don;t you thin you;re the only one who considered doing a movie in "two parts" and submitting as two films. You're the only one who went ahead and did it, while we decided to honor the rules since that would be a little "too sneaky".

I watched this film and I made notes, and just had this feeling that it wasn;t finished. That left me with a feelign of being cheated, so I made a note on that and to ask you about it.

Then i decided to click on the "cpmpanion piece" and imagine to my surprise... same actors.... and starting where the other one left off. And here's the thing: I saw exactly why I had felt cheated...

[Ryanrjack]

My advice would be to learn how to tell a cohesive story within the 6 minute time limit and you will do MUCH better in the Fest.


I take offense to that statement, my advice is you take your own advice. I'm familiar with your work.

I'm all for criticism as long as it's constructive and I have a very thick skin, but I know when someone is being a jerk. They are stand alone pieces not one 12 min film. The fact is we had to cut some things out of both that may have helped each of them work better as two movies. With that said they are still two separate movies.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I take offense to that statement, my advice is you take your own advice. I'm familiar with your work.

I'm all for criticism as long as it's constructive and I have a very thick skin, but I know when someone is being a jerk. They are stand alone pieces not one 12 min film. The fact is we had to cut some things out of both that may have helped each of them work better as two movies. With that said they are still two separate movies.Thick skin? Hardly. I never got personal, you have.

No problem though. Everyone else is wrong and you're right. All those who have been confused are wrong.

Have a good one.

MAH

[Ryanrjack]

....while we decided to honor the rules since that would be a little "too sneaky".

Who are you calling sneaky? What's up with that? That kinda sounds like an attack on our character. We were not trying to be sneaky.

[Ryanrjack]

Thick skin? Hardly. I never got personal, you have.

No problem though. Everyone else is wrong and you're right. All those who have been confused are wrong.

Have a good one.

MAH

I'm not saying that everyone is wrong, but you DO NOT speak for everyone, so stop acting like you do. I for damn sure am not always right just ask my girlfriend! So please stop with the condescending crap.

Have a good one

[Geoff_R]

Really cool opening here... like the energy... same look/tone as the other half... like that gritty, grainy, rough look. A part of me likes the dolly shot off from the car and then gunshot... but in some ways, it bothers me because I know what's going to happen prior to it happening. It looks cool but simultaneously detracts from the overall story IMO. I'd almost rather have seen a push in towards the guy which edged her out of frame while at the same time, his actions seemed as if he were humanizing the moment and going to let her live and then suddenly blew her away. Still perhaps predictable... I'm not sure... but its little things such as I'm describing that I notice in films and it can go a long way towards how I feel about it as a whole.

This is still a difficult story to understand.. I'm a fan of parallel editing and I've done work just like it but it was hard to follow this one... I think it's because you have many characters to track and follow... and some of them look similar... perhaps not to you, because you've seen these people more and notice the facial differences with more ease but to a first time viewer, some of these characters look similar and I'm not certain of who's who during certain moments. All of this distracts the viewer from appreciating your story. They're consumed with trying to understand rather than absorbing, interpreting and enjoying.

I personally think it was a bad idea to break this into two movies, that just takes what I said above and compounds it doubly. I understand the drive to experiment and try things but in this case, I feel like this really is one movie cut in half. You really need to watch the two parts back to back (as you've said above)... and if you have to do that, then really it's one movie, except now you have to see some quick intermittent credits, do some double-mouse clicks and watch another dvxuser leader before seeing the rest.

I think more people would understand the movie and you'd get better feedback if it were one movie at twelve minutes. It'd be more solid and allow people to focus on your story and characters rather than trying to make sense of things.

From a pure tech perspective, I enjoyed the other half a little more... more of a visual style in that one, but I think that's because of the additional small moments such as running through the car wash, etc... I'm still very sold on that bit and it's definitely my favorite moment from this piece.

[Chris Messineo]

I am totally in love with the look of the D90 footage. I love the colors and the grain.

It all went perfectly with the atmosphere and tone of your film.

Of the two, I liked them both, but I would say this one, was my favorite.

Well done.

[Lawsuit_Boy]

Dang, having trouble opening this one. I'll get it figured out, no worries.

[Ryanrjack]

Dang, having trouble opening this one. I'll get it figured out, no worries.

We compressed them as M4V. files to get them to around 50MB I'm able to watch them in I Tunes. If you have I Tunes it will be able to open the files.

[Ryanrjack]

.... A part of me likes the dolly shot off from the car and then gunshot... but in some ways, it bothers me because I know what's going to happen prior to it happening. It looks cool but simultaneously detracts from the overall story IMO. I'd almost rather have seen a push in towards the guy which edged her out of frame while at the same time, his actions seemed as if he were humanizing the moment and going to let her live and then suddenly blew her away. Still perhaps predictable... I'm not sure... but its little things such as I'm describing that I notice in films and it can go a long way towards how I feel about it as a whole.

Interesting point you make there. Never really looked @ it like that before...

Many thanks

Ryan

[SMarston]

amazing job! acting was perfection!

[Lawsuit_Boy]

We compressed them as MV4. files to get them to around 50MB I'm able to watch them in I Tunes. If you have I Tunes it will be able to open the files.

That's what I did. I'll have a review soon.

[Lawsuit_Boy]

First off, I must say that the dolly move before he pulls the trigger to put them out of frame was a great instinct. It reminded me of the dolly move that Scorsese did in Taxi Driver when a very awkward and sensitive conversation is about to occur on the phone and he tracks away to look down the hall.

Overall, I felt that this film exhibited a very strong sense of direction, style, and intention. The music was strong as well, and even though at times I felt the leads got a little off track and fell out of the moment, rendering them a little hesitant, they held very strong.

The lighting in the car around 2:30 is quite good! I feel that the green is just too saturated for realism, even with flouros, but since the whole piece is tinted/toned with green, it stays consistent and works. I guess I just worry about films falling too far into Tony Scott-ville (although you didn't chop the crap out of the film, so no problems there).

There were some issues with sound between cuts occasionally, though. It didn't take me out of the experience. I can stay focused and not let that disrupt the story. It just stays as a mental note for later. ;)

There were just a couple other things to point out, but it's nit-picky aesthetic mumbo jumbo, so don't worry about it.

Really strong entry! I enjoyed it. :beer:

P.S. The gun shots were very authentic! I was also impressed by the blood spatter at the beginning.

[vnguyen972]

Just watched this and I must agree that the film was beautifully lit and got so many good shots... I'm so impressed with its look.
I got real confused on the story though as it goes by so fast, they look so similar with the facial hair and I can't tell their motives at times...

[Ryanrjack]

First off, I must say that the dolly move before he pulls the trigger to put them out of frame was a great instinct. It reminded me of the dolly move that Scorsese did in Taxi Driver when a very awkward and sensitive conversation is about to occur on the phone and he tracks away to look down the hall.

Overall, I felt that this film exhibited a very strong sense of direction, style, and intention. The music was strong as well, and even though at times I felt the leads got a little off track and fell out of the moment, rendering them a little hesitant, they held very strong.

The lighting in the car around 2:30 is quite good! I feel that the green is just too saturated for realism, even with flouros, but since the whole piece is tinted/toned with green, it stays consistent and works. I guess I just worry about films falling too far into Tony Scott-ville (although you didn't chop the crap out of the film, so no problems there).

There were some issues with sound between cuts occasionally, though. It didn't take me out of the experience. I can stay focused and not let that disrupt the story. It just stays as a mental note for later. ;)

There were just a couple other things to point out, but it's nit-picky aesthetic mumbo jumbo, so don't worry about it.

Really strong entry! I enjoyed it. :beer:

P.S. The gun shots were very authentic! I was also impressed by the blood spatter at the beginning.

Thanks Lawsuit Boy your comments are appreciated!

[Ryanrjack]

Just watched this and I must agree that the film was beautifully lit and got so many good shots... I'm so impressed with its look.
I got real confused on the story though as it goes by so fast, they look so similar with the facial hair and I can't tell their motives at times...

Thanks! I agree that the story is very convoluted and may be hard to follow the first time through.

[Keth Andril]

I enjoyed working on this with Open-heart burglary. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to do more work.

[Ryanrjack]

I enjoyed working on this with Open-heart burglary. It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to do more work.

You worked on what movie???

[alex whitmer]

Enjoyed all the movement in this. Well choreographed.

Never quite got who was killing who, or why. A few actors looked the same - or were they?

The Boss character was unconvincing. Cigar didn't help!

The mugging was definitely the weakest part of the film. That next to the guy running and firing is night and day in pulling off convincing action. The opening sequence was great stuff.

Some really beautiful shots here. Really enjoyed the watch.

alex

[Blaine]

A few actors looked the sameI didn't mention it in my review but I felt the same way and it made it kinda hard to keep track of who was who.

[Mcph55]

I really enjoyed the cinematography in gray days, really good stuff. Loved the lighting especially in the car, i really loved those one shots in the car as well. you really used the D90 to its potential. and how the hell did you not get any jello-cam? good stuff.

with that said i feel like the acting was one of the weakest points, like some others have said, it just didn't seem natural, and it felt over the top. This is probably one of the hardest things to get right on a no budget indie film, so i understand where you are coming from. The sound in Gray Days was decent, but in Stark Knights it was almost unbearable. It seemed to me that you almost always forgot to record room tone, to cover up the sound edits. its hard because i loved the picture but the awkward sound edits really took me out of the movie. Next time i would suggest just recording 30-40 seconds of room tone in every new location, this way you can lay the tone down under those edits and it will sound natural.


over all good attempt,

again, i loved the picture, but the sound was what detracted from it.

[Ryanrjack]

The sound in Gray Days was decent, but in Stark Knights it was almost unbearable. It seemed to me that you almost always forgot to record room tone, to cover up the sound edits. its hard because i loved the picture but the awkward sound edits really took me out of the movie. Next time i would suggest just recording 30-40 seconds of room tone in every new location, this way you can lay the tone down under those edits and it will sound natural.


over all good attempt,

again, i loved the picture, but the sound was what detracted from it.

That was my fault completely. I simply ran out of time to really do what was needed in the sound department (@ my pace) on Stark Nights... I was also spent mentally from the shooting every night, working a full time job in the day, and editing for hours on the night before the deadline. Not to make excuses, but it really was the reality of the situation.

Thanks for checking our movie

Ryan Jackson

[MrKilloran]

Great, there's room for improvement but the grit and dirtiness of it really feels right.
Noir and some good action.

The beating looks bad and the acting was hit or miss. Overall good job.

On to... apparently the second part.

[Brian Parker]

Liked the first half of your Grindhouse-style double feature. Crime is a genre indie filmmakers have to be careful with because it's real easy to step into cliche but this was good. Liked the dark grittiness of it all. Opening action shots were really well done and edited nicely. Most of the acting was good but the delivery of a few of the lines was flat. Oh, and one or two of these guys gotta shave because between the darkness and the beards I did get a little confused on who was who. Good film though. Off to watch the second half.

[Keth Andril]

You worked on what movie???

Dude, its me, Dylan. You even put me in the credits.

[Robbie Comeau]

Hey,

The acting in this really struck out as bad in this film. The cuts/editing didn't help it either, felt really choppy.

I liked the cinematography though, although some lighting was to under exposed.

The audio was very good and it sounded professional, so good job on a job that's tough to do in films.

Robbie

[Tim Joy]

I'll review both parts here.

Loved the music all around, especially the guitar riff at the beginning and end of stark nights, but the fades cut off too quickly. I see you had some time issues with the audio editing... so, forgiven.

I also loved the look of it. Gritty and delicious night shots! D90 rocks the house. Makes me want to go shoot...

I was a big fan of "Mr i", and this was a pretty big follow up. I followed the story, but only after seeing stark nights. Nice twist. It felt like a jumbled timeline thing in Gray Days? I wasn't quite sure.

The boss, her father, didn't quite give us that Godfather feeling, and others have mentioned this. Otherwise, some very good performances.

I didn't understand why she shot her man too? Women are crazy, so who knows... :)

Good work!

[Will Clegg]

Gray Days/Stark Nights weren't really my kind of films, but I thought they were really well shot. The actors didn't seem believable to me in a number of scenes, which was distracting, and I have seen this sort of story many times before. You had nice production value and you obviously have some talent behind the camera - I would love to see a more original story with some better talent in front of the camera next time.

[Austinv]

Some of the talent is iffy, well shot though. The D90 has a certain look to it. It stood out to me for some reason.

[Spear670]

I'm all about the dark and gritty, which these films had in spades. I'm willing to go with Yeehaanow's theory that women are just crazy for explaining her shooting her man too, but overall I wasn't sold with most of the acting. Still looked great!

[Norm Sanders]

It's LATE, but I made a commitment to watch, rate, and comment on all the films before nights end. At this point, I've only got time to watch & rate, so I'm simply letting you know I've done so for yours.

If you'd like a specific review of your film, please just PM me to catch my attention, and I'd be glad to come back here & post a review. :)

[John LaBonney]

I'm looking forward to seeing more of can be done with the D90; there certainly is a lot of grain in this film (too much maybe? I don't know).

I have to admit I couldn't follow the plotline entirely, but I think I got most of it. It looked a bit fake to me when they were beating him up on the ground.