Bob & Sam

[Jeff Anderson]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3559/3669383763_43f546595b_o.jpg


See the extended cut here - http://www.vimeo.com/5524103

[Jeff Anderson]

Reserved

[Robert Eldon]

Whoa Jeff, out of the blue. Good to see some new threads starting while others are dropping out!

Looking forward to seeing this!

[kurtmo]

I dig the poster. Looks like something grand is in the works!

[ZazaCast]

Oh boy! This is exciting...right down to the wire. Welcome!
Great poster. This is a 5-star thread in my book.

[RodThompson]

OH MY JESUS!

Please stop with the last minute entries! There can be no more!

...I'm going to be listening to Manilow over-time tonight...

[Rodney V. Smith]

he's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! talk about keeping it quiet dude.

[Jeff Anderson]

Yeah I like to sneak in there - been planning this for months and shot a few weeks ago - rough cut is done and life is looking good - realized today though I had no thread... Had I made a thread months ago, I probably wouldve forgotten to make a film...

A little more tweaking on the edit with a couple of days working on sound and color and we'll finished! Oh and there's that part where its currently 13.5 minutes long... doh! Will be cutting it down to the 6 minute mark for the fest though - we will be a contender :) Just expect a longer director's cut down the road...

[ZazaCast]

we will be a contender :)

No doubt!:beer:

[ramsaur]

Nice poster! This a comedy? Already looks like I'll be laughing.

[Noel Evans]

Whoa Jeff, out of the blue. Good to see some new threads starting while others are dropping out!

Looking forward to seeing this!

Agreed on all points.

[Jeff Anderson]

A comedy - yes... at least thats the intention... glad it looks that way.

zaza - only meant that in the theory of falling into the rules :) I dont have any competition in the hot naked chicks department... something along those lines yes, but not what you thinking or wanting to see...

[Jeff Anderson]

Uploading!

[ZazaCast]

Jeff... I've seen your work...I'm sure this is going to be good! A talent like yours doesn't need the naked chick stuff like I do. LOL!!

Congrats on the upload...can't wait to start watching.

[Jeff Anderson]

ha! Everybody needs naked chicks... Thanks man!

[Jeff Anderson]

I should also add that we had to make some serious cuts to make it to the 6 minute mark... There's a really nice 13 minute version I'm much happier with, but what can you do :) I'll post up the long cut as soon as the festival is over.

[Girgej]

Great Poster ... Looking Forward to watch this ... Good Luck

[Tom Marshall]

Why did I not see this? Jeff?

[Jeff Anderson]

Its cause you dont love me Tom... And because I forgot to make a thread until a few days ago :)

We're approved!

[Tim Joy]

13 minutes. That sounds familiar. It's painful to hack it down to 6, isn't it?

Can't wait to see it.

Congrats on getting there.

[Jeff Anderson]

Oh so very painful... Easy to see why some people just bust the limit and go exhibition... they always have really good films though... me... well we'll just see :)

[ramsaur]

It was a good little story and quest. Your color grading was pretty darn good. The news scenes looked a bit off? I could still see some of the green screen. I liked how it was a documentary and a film at the same time. Funny little film.

[Tom Marshall]

pure... fucking... brilliance... i bow to you, sir...

[stinkpot]

Just saw the thread. This looks great.

Welcome to the fest!

:beer:

[Jeff Anderson]

Ha, glad you guys are enjoying it :) While we definitely did put alot into it, it was a fun little light hearted shoot poking fun at ourselves much of the time.

On the greenscreen are you talking about the fringing on her hair (and maybe shoulders?) some of that is reflection and some of it is a crappy key. Coupled with using 4 sheets of green posterboard and a single CFL for lighting... We didnt exactly go for technical prowess on this one...

Tom, you can wholly expect to see yourself quoted on the next version of the poster/dvd cover.

Haven't started my viewing yet - long day, headed for bed - going to wake up early and start watching and making the rounds though - looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with.

[~jai~]

DUDE! This was freakin' hilarious! I hope there's a longer cut of this one! I thought the acting for the most part was adequate, but I really liked Bob Loosier, he was f'ing funny man! I had one question, the strange color at the beginning of shooting "the commercial", that was on purpose right?

Great job!

[Noel Evans]

Im officially a Bob Loosheir fan. He rocked in every way. Some really funny moments. Well done Jeff.

[Jeff Anderson]

Definitely a longer cut with much more character development of Bob and the Reporter and a good bit of Brian and Samantha too. Yeah the strange color on the commercial shooting was on purpose - as the docu team we we're shooting daylight balanced and the comm was shot with tungsten lights and lit much much brighter than any normal scene. Kinda gives it the BTS feel. Then of course we switch to the "real" commercial and the WB is correct as is exposure.

Can't wait for you all to see the longer cut - Bob just gets funnier. He continues to make me laugh even this far into the edit... Dan Wootton is quite the gifted comedian.

Fun Fact - Bob and Reporter Lindsey work together in an improv group called Crayons - completely hilarious. www.crayonsimprov.com. If you are ever in the area you have to see them. Not only are the insanely funny, but they are also very family friendly. No cursing, no "dirty" subjects, none of that. Totally PG.

[Jeff Anderson]

Ramsaur, been wondering about your color grading comment - first off thanks, but what is it you like about it? I just went for correcting back to white (flo's went a tiny bit green on me) adjusting the levels and cranking the contrast a little beyond the normal (made it seem funnier?). Plus a tiny bit of vignette. I love to color correct but wasnt quite sure what direction to head with this as far as the "mood".

[Brian Parker]

I too, am a bit of a fan of the color grading. The hue fit with the story and it worked well.

Great film. Some very funny performances, especially by Bob. I liked the concept and was into the story all the way through. Gotta love the subject matter too. Great work Jeff! Looking forward to seeing more of your stuff.

[DarkElastic]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry mate, must be my sense of humour, but I didn't get on well with your movie. My main gripe was the awkwardness of some of the acting.
On a plus, it looked good and I really liked the docu/movie feel.

[Jeff Anderson]

Oh no worries DarkElastic - can't be everyone's cup of tea. Honestly do appreciate the criticisms - love to hear that people enjoy it, but its actually helpful to know what DIDN'T work for next time.

[kurtmo]

Goofy spoof. Maybe even qualifies for weird. Seemed like the actors were enjoying their roles and that made it fun. Colors were off at times. Bottom line for me: I only like organic cheese from Wisconsin…so uh there you go.
Thanks for posting!

[hoz]

good fun! mr looshier did a great job i thought. the dude is a mess! loved the dog barking in the beginning- added that little something to the garage office deal. the middle of nowhere.... i kinda felt like you took me there. thanks! i think? good job!

[Girgej]

Hey ... Good Directorial Effort, but didn't really like the story ... but the actors were pretty good (so it's your Directing) and the sort of movie within a movie structure was interesting (writing / directing) ... unfortunately it was all good effort around nothing in particular ... so with a better story you could make quite a comedy ... keep up the good work

[stinkpot]

Hey man, I really liked it. The sarcasm was thick and poked fun at us all (makin' movies) which is great. "If you can't laugh at yourself..." you know the rest. Your cast worked very well and the reporter had a Tina Fey thing going on (SNL). The only negative (and not really important) is that I thought the D90 had a more video camera feel since your shots had a deep range of focus. Overall, I was totally entertained!

:beer:

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Pretty interesting film, Jeff. I love that you are trying some different things.
This looked really good and the characters were all quite interesting. Quite good production value as well.

Can't wait to see what you do next.

MAH

[Jeff Anderson]

Thanks guys!

Mike, I spent years cluttering up that set to give it a "garage feel" :) Yeah I went for something completely different than Beginning to End. Gets depressing editing serious stuff all of the time!

Stinkpot - glad you saw how it made fun of all of us - we've all been on those shoots at some point. Duct tape and broom sticks in some garage. I mean really who would go and just shoot in their own garage... oh wait... Shot this all with the HVX200, hence why it has the large DOF. You can see some D90 action in Beginning to End down in the link in my sig.

[ZazaCast]

It was fun... in a cheesy way... I'll give that! Enjoyed the film & it did entertain me for the duration, but i don't know what else to say...or if there is anything else to say. I think this turned out just as you planned...so it works for me! Nice shootin'

Cheers!

[Jeff Anderson]

So the social commentary regarding the state of our nation's assistance programs concerning struggling talent agents was completely lost on you? :)

heh, cheesy. that cheese smelled terrible by the way. Forgot what it even was but it was the biggest wedge of cheese they had. Poor Chandler is a serious trooper for holding it under those hot lights and not puking. I was 8 feet away and getting a tad sick from it.

Yep you nailed it - there's nothing more here than just us having a good time trying to entertain. No fancy camerawork, no big lighting setups (moved the same single CFL from room to room and used an onboard LED), no amazing writing, just fun. So I'm glad you enjoyed it and stayed entertained - I think if anything that was the main goal was to stay entertaining without any lulls or slow spots.

Must say you had quite the entertaining flick yourself Zaza - am just about through watching all of the films and will be making my way through to do more in depth reviewing in all of the threads, but I gotta say I just loved your initial title sequence - really set the stage - more on everything later.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

That's funny. I thought the production value was pretty good. At least it looked like you put some thought into it. :)

[Jeff Anderson]

Yeah its an illusion :) Thats just how messy my garage is. I did take some time to dress Bob's "desk" with the appropriate desk things for Bob to play with. Then Dan had the fantastic idea of having Bob have some allergy problems and created a nice pile of used tissue. Worked well since Dan was actually having some allergy problems. Sadly while cleaning the desk up later I wasnt really sure which tissues were props and which were real... oh well...

The living room actually was dressed though. My real living room is a tad odd in that it has a 10 ft wide projection screen hanging from the ceiling and that just didnt fit the story for me, so we flipped the furniture around and brought in a smaller normal tv and adjusted some pictures to kind of fill up that corner a bit.

I'm surprised no one has noticed that you can see a bit of the green walls from the kitchen as Bryan and Sam enter Bob's office. Maybe I'm the only that recognizes that as Bryan and Sam's kitchen and I should just be quiet. Shhhhhhhh....

[Steven Graeff]

meh... it was noticed but not so much that i thought i was a big deal... i just, "hey isn't that.." then before i completed my thought about the kitchen... i carried on watching...

i would say it was magnificently absurd... great use of "Oklahoma", that made the commercial awkward hence funny...

My only criticism would be a touch of over-acting here and there, but over all i thouroghly enjoyed it, looking forward to the 13 min directors cut

~stev

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4881/bannerdyg.jpg

[Lawsuit_Boy]

I was a bit curious at the beginning of the film, dreading the potential for this film to run into awkwardly structured situations with over-zealous deliveries of contrived lines. This is always a fear of someone embarking on a low-budge comedy film's journey.

I was happily proven wrong.

I found the documentary-driven shooting style quite refreshing. Not only is it the way the film works--while cutting in television newscasts and cheese commercials with extra "cheese," but the central conflict arises from a young, aspiring actor who feels stifled by her filmmaker boyfriend. Not only is he frequently turning her into an actor, but he's also coaxing dynamic performances out of her instead of what the sleazy Bob Loosier manages. This benefited the timing and texture of the comedy, allowing for jokes about the sound guy with no pants, listening to music, the director who's frequently preoccupied with other details, and an odd love triangle of sorts.

Now, I do wish that the story would have had enough time to add a little more to the sudden disappearance of the boyfriend documentarian. It's understood that she tossed out the legitimate filmmaker boyfriend for the slack and lethargic sound guy, thus creating a twisting spat of satire aimed at ostentatious nobodies that sometimes sweep in and steal the glory. Of course, it also represents a myriad of other relationship and work dynamics. It's very funny, but because of the time limit, it never really gets to become something of substance. It's more of an, "...oh" reaction to the boyfriend being booted. One knows it's coming, but as filmmakers ourselves, I'm sure many felt sorry for the guy.

I was extremely impressed with the sound work. The dialogue and foley work was mixed very well and game out smooth and full-bodied. I really didn't notice any major hiccups or slips in the mix. That immediately makes the viewing more pleasurable.

The image was also solid. The color palette, blocking, and focal lengths all lend a hand to the documentary sentiment. There were a number of areas in which I felt the film was simply oversaturated and exhibited far too many blow-outs, though. These elements can be controlled more easily even without excess amounts of equipment. In general though, the cinematography is smooth, consistent, and fitting.

The performances were all quite good. The comedic beats felt well timed and well delivered. The writing is very fine and the minute details (like the girl scoffing at the camera trying to sneak a shot) that the performers add are very much appreciated by this viewer. It demonstrates confidence from those in front of the camera, confidence from the director, and a strong working relationship among all. There were minor instances of over-acting, but it wasn't severe.

This is a very strong entry in the fest and certainly one of my favorites so far. Very nice work. :thumbsup:

[Jeff Anderson]

Lawsuit Boy - thank you so much for taking the time for such a thorough review - and its a good one at that! Glad you enjoyed it.

Regarding the subplot of the replacement boyfriend - it was kind of an odd last minute addition, and yeah I wish we could have dropped some more hints at it. In the longer cut we do get to see a bit more of the struggle between Sam and Bryan with some tiny tiny hints (if you can even call them that) to what is to come.

I've got to owe alot of your praise to the actors reagarding the writing - they're just funny people and so much of that came up on the fly. Between takes there was alot "holy crap - do that part again where you did..." And then the next take it would get a little bit better as the other actors would add a bit more and it was just a fantastically fun shoot to be a part of.

As for the blowouts and oversaturation - the saturation was just a choice I went for. THe blowouts were lazy lighting backed up by a desire to have a much less than perfect picture since its just a crappy documentary. Doing it again I'd definitely change a few things mainly to remove some of the nasty highlights on the faces in the living room and bring in some more eyelight in a few scenes.

Thanks again for the review - much appreciated by myself and cast/crew!

[Lawsuit_Boy]

Really glad the review was helpful, Jeff. I'm always willing to give another point of view. I just hope I can get to the rest of the films before viewing closes. I'm only about half way. Three scripts in progress takes it out of you. Talk about overload!

[keaseyb]

Just watched Bob and Sam and I really enjoyed it. The actor who played the talent scout Mr. Loser was great, he nailed it. It looks like you guys had a great time making this and that made it fun for me. I really dug the absurdity of the barely there garage set. Also, editing the piece down to 6 minutes only added to the ludicrous nature of the film. Nice job!

[Fictionfeatures]

Really liked this short it was well done and simple, nothing too complex. The one thing that took me back a little was when she had the sound guy for her boyfriend and not the other guy who was the one behind the documentary, and I wasn't entirely sure if the camera everyone was playing to in the last scene was the documentary camera or the news camera. Anyways, that having been said, enjoyed the short, one of my favorites thus far.

[Jeff Anderson]

Well alas we didnt make it to the top 8 - the good news being that we are now free to release the extended cut - http://www.vimeo.com/5524103 Enjoy!