NO HORIZON - A Horrigan / Harris Production

[Matt Harris]

http://www.soulstudio7.com/No_Horizon_Teaser_Poster.jpg

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Reserved

[Matt Harris]

Friends and fellow filmmakers,
It's been nearly 2 months and 3 weeks since Mike and I started this thread and since then we've barely made an update. We thought we'd get the jumpstart before the holidays, but we have been bogged down with work, family obligations and bad weather. And now there's nothing like a real deadline to kickstart this back up.

Mike and I have become good friends over the past year through dvxuser by running our scripts and films by one another, and utilizing each other's feedback to elevate our work. Mike is nearly legend as a dvxfester in that he rolls out of bed, brushes his teeth and places tops in nearly every Fest as if it's programmed into his DNA. I have not yet placed top 3, but placed 7th in Westfest, 4th in Thrillfest and won Best Cinematography in All Hallows Fest back in 2007. I also placed 32nd in Betrayal Fest - Sweet!

He and I have both entered 8-9 Fests each, so this Fest I asked Mike if he'd like to collaborate. We would each make a separate 3 minute film about human resistance against an alien invasion, and we would combine them. We might not even have the stories connect, but instead leave them as different vignettes of the same battle.

Keep in mind our idea was to make something very special effect laden, we are creating a post apocalyptic world, so this isn't something we can throw together. Also Mike is in Ottawa Canada, I am in LA, so it's not like we can grab a beer together and collaborate.

As it stands now, Mike may not be able to get his half done... or he might! Who knows? Time will tell. My half of the short is so chock full of effects I may not be able to get mine done either, but I will have something to enter, just to be a part of the fest. Consider us underdogs at this point.

My shoot is tomorrow, Monday the 31st 2011. Screengrabs coming later in the week!

For now, here's some concept art:

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No_Horizon_Mothership.jpg
http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No_Horizon_Panorama.jpg
http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No_Horizon_NYC.jpghttp://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No_Horizon_Sketches.jpg


-Matt Harris

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice poster, Matt!

[Susanne G.]

Hi Mike,

What will be your part on this short?

Susanne

[Mobie540]

Nice, can't wait.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks Mobie! Right back at you, glad to see you're entering.

[Larry Rutledge]

Sweet poster!! :thumbsup:

[Scott F]

Damn, cool poster! I like the MAH films I've seen so far, looking forward to this one.

[Noel Evans]

I expect this is going to push the competition - no pressure. Good luck.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Hi Mike,

What will be your part on this short?

SusanneWe're teaming up on this one. Two perspectives of the same event if you will. Somewhat intertwined.
Should be a lot of fun.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Damn, cool poster! I like the MAH films I've seen so far, looking forward to this one.

Matt is the poster master! Thanks for the nice words.


I expect this is going to push the competition - no pressure. Good luck.We're really going to try and push it to the next level with this one. Thx.

[Charli]

Nice poster, looks like my old neighborhood. Good luck guys, I'm rooting for you!

[Chris_Keaton]

Looks good. I love me some sci-fi!

[Susanne G.]

We're teaming up on this one. Two perspectives of the same event if you will. Somewhat intertwined.
Should be a lot of fun.

Fantastic - experimental filmmaking. That sounds very interesting. Good work/luck. I am looking forward to it.

Susanne

[Richard J. Johnson]

Oh. hell. yeah!! Two of my favorite directors. Can't wait.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Nice poster, looks like my old neighborhood. Good luck guys, I'm rooting for you!Thanks!



Looks good. I love me some sci-fi!Me too. :)



Fantastic - experimental filmmaking. That sounds very interesting. Good work/luck. I am looking forward to it.

SusanneI'm pretty excited about this one. It will be a fun challenge.



Oh. hell. yeah!! Two of my favorite directors. Can't wait.Thanks, Rich! Hope to see you jump in as well.

[Marlon Ladd]

This is gonna' be sweet! That poster's off-the-chain!!

[Zim]

Looks good and good luck

[Darkline]

oooh you cheeky bastards!

[Chris Messineo]

That poster is truly awesome!

[John LaBonney]

Mike,

Glad to see us both in this one. Good luck, let me know how I can help!

John

[Matt Harris]

Mike and I are working 'round the clock to deliver on the poster! Thanks everyone for the well wishes.

[MrFluffy]

I love to see CG in a film. Good luck with this one.

[Rodney V. Smith]

I can't imagine the sheer awesome sauce that this is going to be... Damn you Horrigan/Harris!

[Matt Harris]

Massive Update Coming Soon...

[Chris_Keaton]

Have I seen that poster before?

[totitefilms]

The poster reminds me of District 9 :)

[4100xpb]

Massive Update Coming Soon... Tease!

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

:lipsrseal

[Matt Harris]

I'm proud to announce that Dvxuser Ryan Patrick O'Hara is the DP on (my half of) NO HORIZON.
Ryan is a sick DP here in LA and an overall cinematic guru who offered his services for this fest,
and I snapped him up right quick.

We are shooting on a RED MX with Cooke Panchros. He and I have met several times and discussed
how to make this short the best it can be with the limited resources we have.

This is my first time working with a DP, typically I shoot everything myself, and i can honestly say I have
already learned a ton from Ryan in terms of set dressing, props and costumes. I'm excited to see his magic.

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No_Horizon_Location Scout_2.jpg

[Matt Harris]

Had some fun today...
These guns have been modified to fire laser blasts, not bullets.

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No-Horizon-Guns.jpg

[4100xpb]

Holy crap this looks awesome! I have a ton of respect just for the ambition on this, and knowing who is involved I am really excited to see how it comes through. Looking forward to this one.

[Elton]

Fantastic! Love the ambition of this project--good luck fellas!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Matt has really taken the lead on this and deserves all the credit. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to add something to the project from over here.

Good luck with the shoot today, Matt! It's looking awesome.

[Hawk Teflon]

I cannot WAIT to see how this turns out!

[Matt Harris]

Screengrabs coming soon, definitely by Sunday night...

Edit:

As per the rules, no screengrabs coming. My bad.

But BTS is coming soon...

[Marc Villafan]

Screengrabs coming soon, definitely by Sunday night...

I can't wait. It was great working with you Matt. Had a fun time, and I am sure the film will be terrific.

[Marc Villafan]

Hey Matt, I believe stills from the film are not allowed at the moment if you want to compete in the fest.

[Matt Harris]

Really? I always post stills, let me check the rules...

Oh and Marc thanks for being a part of the shoot, you kicked @ss!

Edit:

Marc you are correct sir, thank you!

Well there you have it folks, no grabs coming.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Edit:

Marc you are correct sir, thank you!

Well there you have it folks, no grabs coming.

Really? It's always been permitted.

Doesn't this mean you can?


SECOND EXCEPTION: You MAY post screen grabs from your footage.

[Matt Harris]

Hmmm now i'm confused.

[Marc Villafan]

Hmmm now i'm confused.

Michael is correct, stills are allowed!

[Matt Harris]

Sweet, I gotta get my shiz together and get the stills organized. For now... Superbowl time.

[Noel Evans]

Looking good guys.

[Chris_Keaton]

This looks epic.

[Jason Sanders]

the pics look great! Cant wait to see this one.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Matt, the concept art looks incredible! Nice going.

[Matt Harris]

The following screengrabs are not the final product, but a taste of things to come.
These are CC'ed and some of the laser effects are pretty close, but the spaceships are not final.

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/NH_Screenshots_1.jpg

[Matt Harris]

I want to thank DP Ryan O'Hara for shooting such gorgeous images on the RED MX while racing against the sun setting during the magic hour. His crack squad of elite commando camera ninjas, Jack Schaefer (A DP himself) and Marc Villifan, were really the glue of the crew who kept the ball rolling. Thank you Jack for the RED and Ryan for your Cooke Lenses!

Sheena Moriarty, sound-girl extrordinaire, captured the best sound I have ever had on a short. She used a boom (Not sure what mic) into something like the H4N (But it was Tascam or something).
I had to sync sound by hand (and Plural Eyes). The audio is rock solid!

Corey Bobker, one of my best friends, shot excellent BTS Video as well as stills on my Rebel T2i and Tokina 11-16. He also was my all around workhorse throughout the day.

Lastly, big thanks to Executive Producer Graham Wilson, who will be tracking and doing VFX, for throwing us a wrap party with booze and food.

Great crew!

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/No-Horizon-BTS-Photos-1.jpg

[Matt Harris]

http://www.soulstudio7.com/DVX_No_Horizon_Upload/NH_Screenshots_2.jpg

[totitefilms]

Nice screen grabs. Can't wait to see this one.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Great images. Nice work, guys. Looking very cool!

[Matt Harris]

Thanks guys for the checking out the thread!

Mike, I'll have a new cut for you mid-next week with the first VFX pass and you can consult with me from there.
Thanks buddy.

[Chris Messineo]

I love the shots and I'm psyched to see the film.

[Marlon Ladd]

Man, those look great!!

[Matt Harris]

It's not an epic movie, in fact "pray for mankind" is a bit over the top for a tagline. but it's more of a man on a mission movie.
Tons of VFX shots, like about 50. And I'm learning After Effects as I go. It's so much work!

[lyonfilms]

Looking sweet! Enjoying your pics and posts.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks Devon!

I have changed the tagline to "It's a suicide mission" - which makes far more sense then "pray for mankind".

New and final poster coming soon. The original poster was just the "teaser" poster.

BTS coming soon as well.

[Matt Harris]

Thank you Corey Bobker for shooting BTS on a T2i with Tokina 11-16. You did an epic job my friend.

Thank you to Executive Producer Graham Wilson who bought us $2k worth of sound effects and stock slo-mo Phantom footage. You, sir, are the bomb. (The stuff he bought was for our production company, some of which will be used in the final edit).

Ok so here's our BTS. Excuse my fatness, i waged a war on over-eating during the holidays. The holidays won. And now i'm paying for it in P90x dollars.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qehLTzrqq-E

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Damn. Even your BTS is awesome! Wish I could have helped you out on this one. Alas, I suck. :)

Nice going, Matt. Looking great on all fronts.

[Hawk Teflon]

Man, I'm getting super pumped for this!

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Thank you Corey Bobker for shooting BTS on a T2i with Tokina 11-16. You did an epic job my friend.

Thank you to Executive Producer Graham Wilson who bought us $2k worth of sound effects and stock slo-mo Phantom footage. You, sir, are the bomb. (The stuff he bought was for our production company, some of which will be used in the final edit).

Ok so here's our BTS. Excuse my fatness, i waged a war on over-eating during the holidays. The holidays won. And now i'm paying for it in P90x dollars.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qehLTzrqq-E

Great BTS video! hahaha. Every DP should wear white gaff tape belts.

I still can't believe we shot that entire short in half a day. Whew.

[Marlon Ladd]

Matt, I watched the BTS and I saw the camera and I was saying to myself, WTF kind of rig and camera was that?! Then when you said RED, I was like dang, you stepped your game up big time! LOL! The quality looks great and so does you production. You had lights and a crew and everything you need! Can't wait to check it out.

[Elton]

Lovin' the BTS vid! Very cool to post that. Can't wait to see this thing and it will be especially fun to see the GL1 inserts. ;-)

[Chris_Keaton]

Looks like a professional operation chasing the sun. Must've been a blast.

[Chris Messineo]

Great BTS video. I really loved it. It looks like a great cast, crew, and location. I'm psyched to see the film!

[Matt Harris]

Thanks guys, the BTS was fun to edit. Like Ryan said, we really got a ton done that day, and it's cool that the BTS let's us relive the mayhem.

Keep your expectations mild, the short is just fun and filled with lasers, robots and explosions. It is not Children Of Men or Road Warrior (2 of my all time favs), it is more like
early 90's B-movies sci-fi like No Escape, Freejack and Fortress. It's also very 60's Star Trek.

[Elton]

Is this the really short version of 'Battle:LA'? JK! This should be a fun one. :-)

[Matt Harris]

Gawd no, Battle LA looks like it will be one of the coolest alien invasion movies of all time. I can't wait for that one!

[Noel Evans]

Great BTS Matt. Looking good.

[Mr Blue]

Can't wait to see this one. Did you build the models in 3d yourself?

[Matt Harris]

Thanks Noel!

Mr Blue I did not build the 3D models as of yet. For Fiction Fest I'm getting permission to use a 3D artist's pre-made robot models. But when I have more time, after the fest, I may recreate the robots from scratch.

[Darkline]

Great BTS (Behind The Stress) video. Looks like you had fun too. Not easy shooting with Red is it? On Broadcast it did slow us down, but was worth it for the image quality. One thing I noticed was it made FX work so much easier, tracking, keying etc. Remember when you had to degrade all your CG plates and blur them just to match the dumpness of DV footage? lol

Looking forward to this one. Have fun in post...

[Sid Barnhoorn]

Looks excellent, Matt. :-)

[Charli]

I saw the camera guy on the stairs and my heart was like pounding. So hard to shoot in tight spots. I also know from my director Elton what it's like to chase the sun. It's a booger and we so understand that frustration. It looks awesome. Looking forward to it!

[Hitaish]

This looks sick...in a good way!

[EditPhish]

Most anticipated DVX Fest film yet I think! Looks amazing so far... anxious to see it! We're having a viewing party next weekend for all films, and your may just be the opening act!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Most anticipated DVX Fest film yet I think! Looks amazing so far... anxious to see it! We're having a viewing party next weekend for all films, and your may just be the opening act!No pressure, Matt. :happy:

[Matt Harris]

Too much pressure! Let me alleviate some off my shoulders: We will not have final spaceship / robot vfx for the entry. I have failed on that level. But the effects will still be watchable as temp, we are trying to get the most solid cut together possible for the fest. Big props to Horrigan who took some of my grainy RED footage (128k ISO) and ran it through NEAT which really removed the grain miraculously. It worked Mike, thank you!

[Edgen]

Looking forward to seeing your film Matt! Good luck! :)

[Edgen]

& Mike of course :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Too much pressure! Let me alleviate some off my shoulders: We will not have final spaceship / robot vfx for the entry. I have failed on that level. But the effects will still be watchable as temp, we are trying to get the most solid cut together possible for the fest. Big props to Horrigan who took some of my grainy RED footage (128k ISO) and ran it through NEAT which really removed the grain miraculously. It worked Mike, thank you!
So you can use what I gave you? Sweet! Happy to help. Least I could do.

[ashpatel]

Wow, incredible poster. Love the design of the alien ships. Nice work on those gun sketches. Very creative.

[Matt Harris]

Last minute sound design! Horrigan is helping! May the force be with us...

[hansel960]

Holy Crap! This looks amazing.

[Matt Harris]

Justin, Ashpatel, Hansel 960... thanks for your well wishes and stopping by to say hi!

[Alan H. Chang]

I really got to say I'm extremely impressed with those art concepts. Not even that, they'll be used in the final print of your movie.

[Zach Olson]

Love what you've uploaded so far, looks great! Can't wait to see the movie!

[AJ Brooks]

This should be a fun one! Up on my list already, I'm looking forward to it.

[Noel Evans]

Cant even imagine what goes into creating all the elements from scratch, excellent designs in this.

[Sarah Haley]

Loved it! Very well done. The reading lamp as the transporter made me laugh. Definitely not an indie-looking piece!

[Hawk Teflon]

Awesome! This was a lot of fun! Your actors were really talented, too.

[Chris_Keaton]

Looks good. Not sure why rebels would be dolled up to go out and have a night on the town. :) The static images of robots and such at the beginning takes some of the cool away, maybe if they were moving or something it would have more impact. I laughed at the 'resistance is futile' line. I'm not sure why they transported before shooting the ship. I did like how you left their fate up to our imaginations. The visuals were real good, I never noticed that was a reading light at all. Nice job.

[Chris Messineo]

I am so impressed by the scope and ambition of this film. I don't think I could ever do anything this big and I imagine this is how films like "District 9" began.

It doesn't happen often, but I have to disagree with Keaton about the static images at the start. I actually dug them and thought it gave the film a cool vibe. I felt immersed in this post-apocalyptic world infested with aliens from the start.

The cinematography is excellent - especially on the roof. The sound work was also stellar.

The leader of the aliens was really fun and that language he spoke was cool. I don't know why his subordinates spoke in English though, I think all of that could have been sub-titled.

Overall, it seems like this a moment-in-time from a much larger and more ambitious piece and if it is, I wish you the best of luck with that. I hope it turns out awesome.

[randin]

Yep, this was certainly as good as anything SyFy produces. :) I didn't love the actors and like Chris K, did think it was kind of funny how great they looked under the circumstances. But overall the film was of course off the charts for production value that is expected by a small crew and one-man post team in the short time. I'd definitely be interested in a more developed piece, as Chris M said.

[lyonfilms]

Great ambition and scope! I didn't mind the still images on the front end. I am a sucker for beautiful lens flare type effects and it was fun to see them incorporated into the weapons. Andrew Kramer? I thought the actors were solid, except for the woman's line when she saw the mother ship for the first time, her "my God" seemed fairly flat. I didn't like the alien that spoke English mainly b/c I liked the alien leader's language. Also, I thought the alien that was mostly dark, shadowed was cooler than the green alien. Sometimes I guess less is more. Sweet though, seriously. I gave it a high score.

[Amir Assasnik]

Learning After Effects as you go? I am amazed!! That makes me want to dive in and teach myself it too. I think that the film was great. Did you shot that all on the t2i? It looked

[ROM-30]

I think the film definitely had a lot of time put into it. The concept was great, the acting was a little dry and as somebody mentioned before, I feel that the actors shouldn't have looked so good in those circumstances. If I could change anything from this film, I would have more lens flares!! ;)

Overall real nice piece and not bad for learning after effects. Felt like you had a real strong effects itch that you were trying to scratch out. I think the film (for me) would have been a lot better with just a little bit of less effects and a little more time with the actors. I gave this film a good rating. Great work!

[Charli]

I also laughed at the "resistance is futile" line. It's not "Star Trek." She was a bit too, too sharp for me. Make sure your actors are likeable and believable. I thought they were believable, maybe not so likeable because you didn't have me invest in them. The static shots in the beginning were fine. I enjoyed the story because I was "in" the story watching it unfold. So far, of those I've seen, I actually want to say - "I want more!"

Good job overall. Top notch short!

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

holy shit!!! I wasnt expecting an entry of this size and ambition!

I really enjoyed watching it, major kudos. Incredible effects, very pro. Love the matte painting of the ship in the distance and the hologram pop ups.

Actors are very attractive. I wish your makeup had made them greasy, dirty, and also with torn/worn clothing.

Tiny nitpick, your actors have clearly never shot real guns :-) Having a former/current cop or military or local gun nut on set helping with handling and posture can go a long way.

All in all, incredible effort, will get a high score from me.

[EditPhish]

My criticisms: You know I had high hopes for your film. This is a genre I enjoy being a huge "V" and other "alien takeover" film fan. It was a hugely ambitious project, so major kudos for that... even if I'm going to nit-pick on some of it :)
I'm not sure your effects were always convincing. The first shot of the flying bot outside the window invoked some laughter in the room of our viewing party. I thought your actors were good-looking people, but their performances were a little hokey at times. The head alien/bad guy felt very "B" movie, and I couldn't tell if that was your intention or not. It took away from the story for me.

My compliments: Like I said above, very ambitious project that must have taken a HUGE amount of work. As someone who knows very little about creating big special effects, I can be in nothing but awe of you for the attempt and dedication involved. I really liked the shots of the big ship hovering over the city... it was a great scene and the most convincing of all your effects for me. I also enjoyed the hologram weapons-sites, even though I think it's a bit of an overdone effect these days. Though I said your actors were hokey at times as part of my criticism, I also think they were very good at times.

In general though, your film had a great look and feel. I enjoyed how it played out and the music pulled it together very well. Though I'm critical of what seems like a lot of it, you scored high with me overall.

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Hey, Matt. This came a long way fast!

Loved the shots in the hallway, some of my favorite. Wish you had more time for sound design and SFX. The fact that you did that yourself after just starting to learn AE is just awesome. Really inspirational.

The ship looming on the horizon looked fantastic. This whole thing was hugely ambitious!
I really like the attention to the production design as well. Really top notch.

The fact that you guys chased the sun with a RED is really incredible. Says a lot to your planning.
Now get on those 3D models and do some SFX work for me. :)

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

PS - really enjoyed the music as well.

[Hitaish]

Wow! Aliens, spaceships, explosions, lasers...and a love story to boot :cheesy: Definitely the most epic of the films in this contest in terms of scale and ambition. And it was put together as a labor of love on a limited budget (I presume). Production values are great. Well done!

[ZazaCast]

Matt, you are the VFX king! Loved the film...and that opening stairwell scene..."check my holster" (I've actually used that pick-up line... LOL) instant classic.
I can't believe or imagine the amount of work that went into this one. What else can be said...looked great, sounded great & it was a lot of fun to watch (repeatedly).
I don't even feel qualified to critique this as it's way out of my league.

But....(you didn't think you'd get off that easy did you?) in the opening scene he's ready to shoot her if she moves...then on the rooftop he 'loves' her? I didn't think he
knew her that well?

There was also a strange edit glitch at about 4:01...or is that just me?

Excellent job.

[lawriejaffa]

First of i have a lot of respect for Matt Harris, and Mike Horrigan, which is sincere and as filmmakers as well as chaps i sometimes chat with, i think there great artists.

I say that because when providing a critique of a film with such wild inconsistencies between what i consider to be great and very poor elements, it can seem overall that im expressing a very negative critique!

So often it is the case, that films in particular in this online fest, aim and reward those emulating the most - (mainstream/tv shows) rather than the reality by which short films are often rewarded in actual film festivals... Sundance, sxsw you name it.

It feels like such a waste when a prefixation with the superficial and a desire to look great and legit, are placed at such a priority that story and performance suffer. This I feel is represented with this film.

So from the intro to the cool cgi shot drawing us back from the window. Im buying it - it looks cool, has good atmosphere and sure it looks slick. (but that doesnt really matter nearly so much as we seem to think here...)

The first problem is when we see our actors, they look as if they have been cast to look like... other tv show type actors. Not as characters... There make up, everything - at this point the film is taking a pee over its own potential credibility as something genuinely dramatic.

This is not helped by the dialogue. Which reads like a hams fist of action 80s movie poster quotes mired in exposition.

Yes the cinematography looks cool (kudos there) but that means NOTHING... for we're not entering stories into beauty pageants.

The alien costume, dialogue and general irrelevance and lack of suspense/ or meaning was the films lowest point. The initial reaction to the costume by my viewing party was extremely negative.

It appears as if our hero actually shoots a missile as its about to be launched from the UFO - (albeit with 'i love you' before the second hits.) All of this is actually quite painful to watch, because it so embarassingly takes the very worst excess of poor television and tells us - the audience and fellow filmmaking peers, that this was the best the indie filmmakers imagination had to offer.

Consider how films such as 'Monsters' have done the exact opposite - resulting in them being percieved as innovative, original, with artistic credibility and pleasing genre crowds. Then I wonder if this film was made more to explore a fetish for new experiments in AE... was it attempting to embrace the superficial and be a fun - cheesy action romp? Even those types of films never aim directly to achieve such cult status!

So i was dissapointed in this, but do feel that Matt, you are extremely talented (last fests virus film rocked.) This was a vain exercise however imo.

(apolagies for poor spelling lol, had to go over and edit, not withstanding the poor grammar that remains!)

Just to add - that of the positives I liked, the cinematography, elements of the fx (such as the exploding spacecraft, and exciting introduction to the film) general colour/grading etc did stand out in the competition, seperately as outstanding visual elements.

[Matt Harris]

Lawrie, I was just going to reply to everyone but i'll start with you. Of course no offense taken, I know you're a tough critic. And I know your film for Thrillfest was very experimental, so I would never expect you to understand or enjoy something like No Horizon. But if you could perhaps see the bigger picture, you do realize my short is a B-Movie and meant to be fun? It literally has lasers, explosions and fake alien languages. The 80's dialogue was obviously intended, and in my opinion, well written for the purpose of moving the plot forward.

You mentioned something about what works for Sundance, but this is DVXuser. I made a a short for Fiction Fest, not Robert Redford.
You also mentioned American tv shows? I don't know any TV show where humans run around on roofs with hologram watches and plasma
rifles shooting down probe droids.

You also mentioned that there is no imagination in my hero blowing up a mothership by shooting a missle before it leaves the launch bay thus causing an implosion. That is an original idea in my mind that I'm pretty proud of, If you have anything better I'm all ears.

You mentioned "Monsters" but I certainly didn't intend to make that movie. Kudos to Gareth Edwards for making a realistic doc-style movie called "Monsters" that has no monsters until the very end, when the monsters end up being friendly. I do like the movie a lot, I am very happy for Gareth's success, but that's not what I set out to make.

If you want to know what No Horizon was influenced from, as i stated earlier in my thread, rent "Freejack", "No Escape" or "Fortress".

They are really bad, but really fun sci-fi B-movies.

Thanks for watching.

[Matt Harris]

Everyone, thank you so much for watching and taking time to comment, your constructive criticism will be put to good use. I am in the process of more sound design, a proper sound mix, and real 3D robot models that are being created and animated in Cinema 4D. We will also probably create a CGI Alien Commander, but leave the voice as is.

I agree 100% with everyone's comments. Much of my short-comings are due to a rushed and stressful shoot (Noone's fault but my own) as you can watch on my BTS. :)

I wish we had a dedicated makeup artist and a consultant to help the actors handle the guns, but we were essentially stealing a Hollywood roof top location during awards season and were running around with rifles on the roof of a building 2 blocks away from the Kodak Theater. This meant that i had to limit the crew.

Did i mention there was a police helicopter circling above us as we were shooting? Yeah. I thought we were done for. So basically NO HORIZON is nothing short of a million miracles colliding together to make it in time for this fest.

Byron, the male lead, signed on at the last minute after 3 of my leads fell through! So whatever qualms you have performance-wise, the guy showed up last minute and did a bangin' job with no prep time.

I wish I could have had multiple table readings before the shoot, but it just doesn't happen like that here. I was lucky to even secure my actors, let alone have them show up a few days early for prep. I really need a producer for my next film, it's getting to be too much to handle.

The character of "EVE" was originally supposed to be a "pleasure droid" which would have been another level to the love story. As a "pleasure droid" it would have made sense for her to have makeup on and not been able to hold a weapon correctly. But that plot point didn't make it to the final cut.

Drew Falcone, my DVXfest actor vet, did his own makeup and came up with his own alien language. We knew it was going to be B-movie and an ode to old school Star Trek, so we just had fun with it.

I appreciate everyone giving honest feedback to my film's obvious faults, while recognizing the enormous effort I put into all this. It was 6 straight weeks of work!

P.S. Yes, i made a B Movie.

[Charli]

Btw, next time you have a short actress, have her stand on an apple box. When he holds her head withh is arm, that's all you see! LOL, she's got a big head too.

[lawriejaffa]

Hey there Matt! I know how frustrating it cam be to produce something with a lot of intensive graphics, god knows i worked my nuts off doing the visuals for Morgan M Morgansen's short films, so you've done well in that respect, including Ryan with the cinematography - just want to reiterate that!

Please don't assume by my previous fest entries that im a kind of hipster arthouse critic hehe though! Did you know that among my favourite movies are Running Man, Escape from New York, Total Recall and even Fortress is good fun! I actually even directed a promo for a FOX tv series competition that came in the top 5 out of like 2000 - it was cheese fodder too (with visual fx, guns a blazing etc.) So I definately appreciate more what you were trying to achieve, than you may realise.

The trouble with producing homages or material aiming to be 'intentionally' be cultish or b movie like is that the fans of the genre your embracing are the MOST discerning - not least. We've seen that with movies like Skyline.

So i know its harsh but while you were attempting to make this 'fun' like the movies you listed, it just didn't work that way for my viewing party, and among them are mostly genre geeks for sci-fi. I think your film will do more to impress folks on dvx as a kind of 'show and tell' with its ambition visual fx, and pretty visuals, but the story does feel dead on delivery. Id love to see in future, what those same assets combined with a good script could produce - yep, even for a film fashioned in a attempt to pay homage to a cult genre.

A final tip on recieving criticism - if you challenge it (like whether for example i could ever have appreciated your film) then folks are forced to validate why there criticism is valid (to them) i also know folks get sensitive as to how there threads appear with folks giving criticism because everyone wants to do well in the competition etc. But really, agree to disagree and move on if you don't want to discuss the points further etc.

[dwyz]

3 days of 'File [No_Horizon-Matt_Harris.jpg] is not found on the server'

annoying, got all the other films :-(

[Matt Harris]

Lawrie I have no problem with you not liking the film, it's not a matter of "agreeing to disagree". I'm not worried about your review contaminating this thread or how people will vote for me. I just want to make sure you know that, if you read the earlier pages on this thread, I have been touting my movie as a "fun B-movie homage to old school Star Trek and early 90's sci-fi". So when you review my film and compare it to Sundance and Monsters, I don't feel those comparisons are in the same vein as to what I was trying to achieve. That's all. I'm glad you like Fortress.

[Matt Harris]

DWYZ, can you try donwloading the zip file?

[dwyz]

Ah forgot you can stream too Matt, nice fun little piece, props.

[Marlon Ladd]

Hey, Matt! Great job, man. I have to admit, I really couldn't be all that objective on the film. I always like your stuff and I know what all you were trying to do. I liked the look and the cc of the film. The effects were very convicing although I would add some better sound design on the hits and explosions. There was one explosion that could probably use some work, but all of the other cgi stuff was nice. The actors looked the part, besides being really clean, but I felt they dropped the ball in a couple of places and wanted more from them. Other than that, I really enjoyed watching all your were able to do here. I plan to dive more into these types of films too as soon as I learn cinema4d - as soon as I get done with my freakin' film!!!!! Anyway, nice work. Keep pushing yourself and going above and beyond. That's the only way to learn.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks Marlon, you and I are cut from the same cloth. I literally was just surfing around and saw your BAD TO THE JONES trailer not 5 minutes ago. I love the new title, and the trailer is epic in zombie goodness. I can't wait to see your final film!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Lawrie I have no problem with you not liking the film, it's not a matter of "agreeing to disagree". I'm not worried about your review contaminating this thread or how people will vote for me. I just want to make sure you know that, if you read the earlier pages on this thread, I have been touting my movie as a "fun B-movie homage to old school Star Trek and early 90's sci-fi". So when you review my film and compare it to Sundance and Monsters, I don't feel those comparisons are in the same vein as to what I was trying to achieve. That's all. I'm glad you like Fortress.

I think it's the comparisons to Monsters and Sundance that threw us for a loop.

That's really not what Matt was aiming for with this one and your first review gives the impression that you didn't know that. No big deal though. We all appreciate anyone who takes time to offer feedback.

[Marlon Ladd]

Thanks Marlon, you and I are cut from the same cloth. I literally was just surfing around and saw your BAD TO THE JONES trailer not 5 minutes ago. I love the new title, and the trailer is epic in zombie goodness. I can't wait to see your final film!

I think the same way. LOL! I think we like the same types of films and genres. You're in trouble though for just now seeing the new title and trailer, buddy!! :kali: Thanks for the compliment though. We worked hard on this thing and I'm hoping everybody enjoys it.

We have conversations about cc before, did you use Color again to cc?

[lawriejaffa]

That's really not what Matt was aiming for with this one and your first review gives the impression that you didn't know that.Yep its true i like films that aim to combine genre with some intelligence however like i said i do love and consider films such as Running Man, and others to have managed that. See thats what really sets those films apart from the ones we forget too.

Sure Michael lol its only fair to critique my feedback - and i admit that i probably did send a confusing signal with that comparison. However, I stand that as a film not aiming to be like 'monsters or sundance' and aiming say, more to be like an action genre homage to older sci fi/films fun genre type films that it failed for me, for the same said reasons that its focus was not on entertaining but on filmmaking show and tell ie. superficial. I mean the story is superficial etc.

The problem is that those films that endear us to them, say John Carpenters 'They Live' for example, are often pretentious, and not attempting to be merlely superficial or glossy. This film preoccupies itself with looking shiny to such an extent, or qualifying itself almost to other filmmakers for reasons of cinematography and effects that its just missing heart. And i hate to say it, but just because a film tries to be fun doesnt excuse it from well failing to be entertaining.

It did entertain me in some capacity though, as a fellow filmmaker i enjoyed some of the effects, and i enjoyed the huge work that i could see was put into it. I like this as a filmmaker on a filmmaking forum to some extent, but just not as an audience member. I do admire the effort - and the work you guys do, i mean that sincerly - it just didn't gel for me this time, again not because i was looking for Tolstoy either!

[Gord.T]

Hey Matt and Mike. I liked it. The story was a bit confusing but it looked great. The CG was too on the 2D side though. It lacked depth. District 9 comes to mind.
But how can you pull that off in a six minute short in 3 months? Not so easy. I liked it but at the same time I'm tryng to be honest. As a pilot or something, I could go for.
That's a tough one. Good job guys.

[Blaine]

Matt, I liked the look of this. The vfx, not so much. I was surprised that guy and girl (she was HOT) turned out to be lovers considering he was ready to shoot her at the beginning so that set me back a bit. The effects were kind of in-between...not cheesy enough for you intent and not good enough to believe them. All of this seems to be coming off a bit more negative than I feel about you short. You've done better, you've done worse...

All that said, I could appreciate the work that went into it and I DID enjoy watching it. I didn't find myself looking at the time like I did on some other films.

[lawriejaffa]

Thats true for me too, in terms of pace it maintained my attention without watching the clock! (Im no clock watcher er!)

[Matt Harris]

Aww, Lawrie just facebooked me, we are now facebook friends. :)
Now that I am wiping the blood off my brow, Blaine is about to swoop in and destroy my film in 3, 2, 1...

[Matt Harris]

Darnnit, Blaine beat me to the punch. Thanks for the watch and comments Blaine. And yeah can i gotta get SOME credit for doing a fast paced action short? I'll take the pacing kudos Lawrie, thank you. Might even print out the compliment and frame it.

[hansel960]

I just watched it again. I must give kudos for definitely the most ambitious, and difficult, short film of any in the fest. I give props for that alone.

[Matt Harris]

Gord the CG was totally 2D, but we are working on getting it all redone in Cinema 4D which should help a lot.

[lawriejaffa]

Yeah Matt well i mean pacing is actually one of the most essential elements - i mean god - we all know how many films (ESPECIALLY) short films, from aspiring filmmakers, have a kind of funeral based pace lol! Now don't get me wrong i like breathing room for films - but its ironic that so many filmmakers, primarily young men, inspired mostly by the films of popular culture, find pace such an issue to overcome.

So yep - no issue here! You nailed that on the head.

[4100xpb]

The good – VFX were well done, not just the aliens but all the gadgets too. Camerawork and lighting was fantastic, I saw your BTS and chasing the sun definitely paid off on the screen. It looked fantastic.



The bad - the love story seemed to come out of nowhere and felt tacked on to me. I think the story would have worked just as well without that. And the shot that took down the ship ranked pretty high on the incredulous scale for me, and pulled me out a bit. But overall, those are minor gripes. This was a really strong effort, thanks for putting it in.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks 4100xpb, I'm glad you appreciated the magic hour and the effort into chasing the sun. I think it caused a lot of problems, but when DP Ryan O'Hara gave me the footage I was really excited with the results. I love the scenes from Children of Men, Days of Heaven and No Country For Old Men where the entire scene goes from day to night or night to day. It was definitely a big experiment for me and the crew.

[totitefilms]

I like the vfx and the girl. She's hot :) The vfx reminds me of "Battle of LA". The story is a little bit confusing to me though. I wasn't sure how the ship exploded at the end.

[Susanne G.]

Very professional production and a story full of clichés - I had the whole time of the film a amused smiling in my face. I admit that you enjoyed very much the VFX work! All around enjoyable.

Susanne

[MrFluffy]

A great attempt at a difficult project. The VFX could have done with a little more work but you did a great job.
The only thing I found a distraction was the cuts at the end between the roof and the street whcih seemed to have been shot a vastly different times of the day.

An enjoyable film. Well done.

[Anthony Todaro]

Stunning visuals and I bet you shot it in a weekend. Amazing. A fine display of your vision and technical prowess. I saw the boom guy 2 minutes in but hell, that’s an indie badge of honor in my book and a quick fix. You blew my mind with your animated stills. The exterior reveal of the ship was epic, but I think would have worked better before you cut to the ‘bridge’, to help establish the villains locale. I wasn’t sure where he was. The 3d towers threw me off a little. The story was a tad thin, I can see the thread going a lot deeper with even less dialog. But then again, all I know how to do is write and saying that I ‘know’ is even debatable... =) The eye candy and good acting certainly compelled me forward. Bonus points for making a 70‘s style diagonal wipe work in this modern tale. I loved how the villain sold out his crew. That was a nice touch. Overall a champion effort. Hats off.

[dre83]

It's very cool done.. Nice VFX and SFX.

Just one thing I notice... Can it be that the SF of the thing he stole from the lab, only sounds right around 1:53 ?

Another thing: watch out for SFX in voices.... if viewers have to listen with attention...they'll fall asleep after 3 minutes because people only can concentrate for 3 minutes.
Well...it's less I know..But still... You know what I mean :-p

Then storywise.... I find it was a bit to easy for them....

[Noel Evans]

Congrats Matt.

[Matt Harris]

Thank you everyone who watched, commented and voted!

[Anthony Todaro]

5 of my top 6 made it.
Elated you weren't the one who didn't.
Well deserved congratulations.

[Charli]

Congrats on the 2nd round. I knew you'd get here.

[Blaine]

A big step for you, Matt. Congratulations!

[Marlon Ladd]

Congrats, Matt!!

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Nice!

Came out well, Matt! If you re-release it, I'd CC those inserts! :tongue:

All and all, the pacing was great and I really love the sunset to night transition. I think it works nicely! Happy to have helped.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks Ryan, you really made this short come to life. I have a lot more work to do in post, and i'll make sure to CC everything tighter.
The 3D robots we are creating in Cinema 4D are looking amazing already, and will really elevate the final look to the movie. I'll keep you posted.

Thank you to everyone else who dropped me a note. it's been an exhausting 2 months, I worked on this short day and night and must have logged in hundreds of hours. For the next fest... I may have to keep things a bit more simple.

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

For the next fest... I may have to keep things a bit more simple.

:) Perhaps, but then again, your ambition is really one of your biggest strengths for No Horizon. It accomplished a scale few others dared to go.

[lawriejaffa]

Oh come on you big girls! lol - what is all this cheesy self congratulation over the fx! It is cool and i do respect em' but keep it in perspective! All this bromance over it is testing my stomach! It's pretty modest fare, and god knows ive seen fx artists have to put out fx seen here within a week!

It is ambitious, but keeping it real, its also relative to the fact (i presume) that Matt's still learning fx - in that respect its impressive in a modest sort of way! X

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Oh come on you big girls! lol - what is all this cheesy self congratulation over the fx! It is cool and i do respect em' but keep it in perspective! All this bromance over it is testing my stomach! It's pretty modest fare, and god knows ive seen fx artists have to put out fx seen here within a week!

It is ambitious, but keeping it real, its also relative to the fact (i presume) that Matt's still learning fx - in that respect its impressive in a modest sort of way! X

Thanks for raining on the parade and pissing in the lemonade man.

31836

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yFSpml8oSw

[lawriejaffa]

and pissing in the lemonade man.

If you think thats bad wait till you try your chocolate twinkie ;)

[Darkline]

Hey Matt,

What I loved about this film is unfortunately what I also think was its achilles heel too, and that is it's very ambition.

I'm a huge fan of sc-fi. Addicted to the V remake for my sins... But I think here you set up a world that you couldn't quite pull off visually. But that does take time which we don't often have in these fests. On the plus side if this is your first delve into AE then it's very good and the most convincing effect for me was the holographic wrist thingy that you motion tracked. The ship in the distance was also very well done.

The problem for me was that the drones looked like 2D images scaled/moved across the screen and that pseudo 3D just stood out to me, along with the explosions which didn't seem part of the environment. I want too much I know! But I guess stuff like that just pulls me out of the short. The opening stills didnt bother me, I quite like that they don't move as it leaves more to the imagination. Just was a shame that all the ships seemed cloned from exactly the same angle (again... time)

I loved the rooftop shots, I think that was the part which looked most like a real movie to me. The magic hour looked stunning there.

Story wise, as you've said you were homaging b-movies so I wont delve into it too much. It was an interesting mix of star wars (especially the wipes), star trek, V, etc...I will say that when your alien reveal came on there were a few sniggers - but this could well be intentional. I didn't get that he loved her after threatening to kill her earlier. Tough love eh? (I know a lot of people that get off that though!)

So big congrats for the scale and ambition, shorts like this are huge learning experiences, and I bet you had fun along with the sweat and tears. So while I didn't think you quite nailed it as a finished piece I take my hat off to you for the show you tried to put on.

[Matt Harris]

Darkline, thanks for the view and review man, i really respect your work. The 2D effects are all I could get done in time for the fest. I am currently recreating everything in Cinema 4D. I am not a VFX artist but I had to tackle it this fest because my AE guru got bogged with work, simple as that. Glad you liked the rooftop shots and I agree, those seem to be the stronger parts of the short.

Lawrie, Ryan was DP and raced against all odds to shoot the movie as the sun set. Sometimes when you are part of the production you have insight to appreciate something that critics on the outside could never appreciate. There was no "cheesy self congratulation", he only complimented me on ambition.

"god knows ive seen fx artists have to put out fx seen here within a week"

That's a compliment, thank you. 40 Hours is a lot of time to put into effects for a Dxvfest, especially when you are learning the program as you go. I also spent weeks on creating pre-visuals, writing the script, creating the costumes, editing the film, composing the score, creating the sound design and color correcting the final film.

Thank you for appreciating my many weeks of work that went into NO HORIZON!

[lawriejaffa]

I get it Matt, you don't have to go searching in my text for subjective compliments either - ive complimented already what i like about it (its scope, ambition, some of the fx, the cinematography). When I joke about the bromance, its because you and Ryan are getting mushy over something only you two can appreciate. The time and effort you two spent.

As a neutral observer i can think of many films produced with more time and effort, in dvxfests alone that have not engaged in this kinda self congratulation. Its just unwarranted because the film while cute, is so flawed and simply not that great imo.

From your responses to critique I think you guys seem to be in a little self denial about some very gross and critical flaws in this film relating to the stuff that actually counts - the story, the substance - and instead seem hell bent on self congratulating each other on what you 'achieved' visual fx wise (in reality quite modest!) and some cute cinematography. So much so that it actually comes across as some kind of weird mounted defence? It's like watching the crew of Skyline singing there own praises in how they achieved the impossible dream with a bts docu!

Both myself and Darkline actually have produced short films with very heavy fx, himself winning 2 dvx fests, myself featuring work at fests, sundance, sxsw. So while the first response might be that im just being a debbie downer... think again i might actually be expressing something valid.

You have a cute film, with amatuerish effects with the odd good fx shot and a pretty terrible story that creates a good few unintended laughs. I would simply chalk this one to experience and move on personally. I also pride myself on keeping things a little real, which can sound a bit blunt - i appreciate that you might think im simply being a bad guy or being personal but no way.

Now if the response to this is going to be 'i appreciate your opinion lawrie but really i dont think you understand this isnt an arthouse film and is actually a b movie homage to blah de blah - save your keyboard!' That kinda response is dismissed almost instantly - a good film stands on its own two feet!

[Matt Harris]

Thank you Ryan and my whole crew for help making NO HORIZON the BEST Dvxuser entry of all time! We truly made the sickest sci-fi movie I have seen in years and the effects work I did is simply stunning! I would like to thank myself for really just making something that blew everyone away. I can't wait to enter this into Sundance and SXSW!

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

No no no, thank you Matt. You were so amazing to work with. I fondly remember that one day we shared together on that small rooftop and I wish it never ended. I'll always hold that day very near and dear to my heart. I may go onto many other productions after yours, but they will never mean to me, what you meant to me. We made a movie on the scale of Close Encounters and with the heart of The Godfather. I think the academy will see this subtle and timeless story as a perfect nomination for the shorts category for the 2012 Oscars.


Lawrie just doesn't understand. *Sigh*. If only he understood what we had, just for a moment.

Yours truly,

-ryan

PS: can you believe we made this short for only $5 million?!

[lawriejaffa]

hahahaha - love it - gotta say you did make me giggle with the response chaps :) but at least now your toning it down a little X

[Chris_Keaton]

I got a good laugh out this. See you at SXSW. ;)

[Matt Harris]

:)

[Darkline]

This just turned into my third favourite thread ever on DVXuser!

[Matt Harris]

LOL. You're just happy that Lawrie reminded people you won 2 dvxfests!

[AJ Brooks]

Haha. Bravo.

[Darkline]

LOL. You're just happy that Lawrie reminded people you won 2 dvxfests!

yeh, those are my first two favourite threads. lol

[David_Lee]

Nice visuals. It looked great

[lawriejaffa]

LOL. You're just happy that Lawrie reminded people you won 2 dvxfests!

hehehe im his agent - i cant help it! Still good luck in the fest Matt - plus how many threads can boast remarks about lemonade pissing and chocolate twinkies - (normally the kinky stuffs kept for the mod section)

[Aaron Marshall]

I had to laugh when Stryder said "I love you." I had no clue up until that moment (or really after too) that they were in love. Just minutes before he said, "I will shoot you", and had a gun pointed at her. Too much story was crammed into a short amount of time with just that one line. "I love you"

Why was she wearing makeup? That tells me she had the time to stand in front of a mirror and apply it. In that situation? Really? Aliens are attacking, LA is in shambles, and she has her makeup kit out?

Eve: Hold on Stryder, before we go I need to do something really important.
Stryder "What god damn it?".
Eve: I need to put some foundation on, and some lipstick.
Stryder "WTF woman?! We're going to die!"
Eve: "You need to understand that I don't go out without my makeup on! I'm PMSing so don't F with me right now."
Stryder: "Finally, an answer to an age old question. Does PMS trump an alien invasion? Yes, why yes it does."
Eve: "F you"

Now they sound like they're in love and the makeup makes a lot more sense.

The visuals were pretty neat. There were entirely too many lens flares going on. It had the JJ Abrams treatment. The compositing of the figures looked good. The big mother ship looked impressive. I personally liked the stills at the beginning. I know that probably got you points taken off in competition, though.

I liked the makeup job on the alien creature. The audio manipulation of the dialog in the mothership could have been better. It's too obscure without really having an impact. I can redo it for you if you want.

[Matt Harris]

Good constructive review, I appreciate it Aaron. Her makeup was just one of those things where she didn't look all that made up until i saw the final footage. I like your dialogue, might use it in the sequel: No Horizon 2 - More Makeup!

Thank you for the offer on the alien dialogue, I might just take you up on that.