Bad Pumpkin

[Mobie540]

"Bad Pumpkin"

A couple picks out a haunted pumpkin that terrorizes those who don't truly celebrate Halloween.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2269/badpumpkinposter.jpg
Poster by Mike Swonger


10 Oct - Story idea
11 Oct - Script written
18 Oct - B-Roll Shot
22 Oct - Day 1 Shoot
23 Oct - Day 2 Shoot
28 Oct - It's due?! Dude, WTF!

Crew:
Writer/Director/Editor - Chris Westfield
Production Assistant - Jill Harvilchuck
Script Supv/Asst Director - Scott LLoyd
SFX/Puppeteer - Chris Dedobbelaere
Gaffer/Grip/Poster - Mike Swonger
Boom Op - Rick Mann
Music - Matt Harris

[Mobie540]

Trey Kauffman as Jack

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/2685/treyoneshot.jpg



Michelle Gonzalez as Ash

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/5313/michellephoto.jpg



Tiffany Thornton as the 911 Operator

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/5957/33520619204549420253610.jpg

[Mobie540]

Screen Grab Goodness

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4219/zombiedawn.jpg

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5224/screengrab2i.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2863/screengrab3.jpg

[ZazaCast]

Good to see you back for this one too....Cheers!

[Elton]

welcome and good luck! Great title. :-)

[Matt Harris]

mobie is back in action at the last minute! nice dude.

[Mobie540]

mobie is back in action at the last minute! nice dude.

Yes I am and this is truly last minute. So thanks for the score b/c that will help tremendously.

[Matt Harris]

that's why i threw that music up there, to help at the last minute.

[Mobie540]

Don't know if I'm going to make it in time guys. Full time job and editing every night. We'll see. Friday is going to suck.

[Matt Harris]

You can always enter it as is just to get feedback. we want to see it!

[Mobie540]

Eff it, it's not finished but it's getting in on time d@mnit!

[Hawk Teflon]

One thing you'll learn from these fests: it's never finished. They could give us a year, and we'd still not be finished. Take pride in what you made!

[ZazaCast]

One thing you'll learn from these fests: it's never finished. They could give us a year, and we'd still not be finished. Take pride in what you made!
...or...we could all start earlier. :happy:

[Hawk Teflon]

That's abserd.

[Rodney V. Smith]

I freaking love the title and the grabs. Good job on getting it in. Now bring on the Pumpkin!

[Hawk Teflon]

SPOILER REVIEW: (Don't continue reading if you haven't watched)

The good: Multiple locations! I'm notorious for keeping one location. Great job on that! I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the guy at the beginning. I also like the perspective of the pumpkin being warped. Good job pulling focus on those shots. Pretty decent job on the TV screen, but I would suggest blurring the screen just a little (since the set in the shot is blurred). I also liked all the different things he was watching. I also liked your angle on the shot where the pumpkin-man sits up. Good choice.

The not as good: A couple continuity issues (Saying he's just opened a beer, then goes to the fridge). It seemed like they were talking on the phone at different times. Looked like 9PM for him, and 6PM for her. Why did she all of a sudden assume he was dead without checking? It was weird how it went a little more humorous (pumpkin throws up on him), to serious (pumpkin eats her).

Favorite part: Jack-o-lantern peeking around the corner as the guy walked by.

[Matt Harris]

Hawk you're a tough reviewer to follow, you're really breaking stuff down!

Mobie I'm so glad you got this in, It's a lot of fun and really reminded me of other spoofy horror stuff like Chucky, The Hand, Slither etc.
What's admirable about your film is how serious you took it! That's what made it funny for me.

And I think there was some creative filmmaking here the way you had the vine grow from the pumpkin, the pumpkin with the knife,
the pumpkin on the guys head. You really went all out with camera tricks and whatnot.

I also appreciated the fake movies the guy was watching, nice touch. There was a shot from the inside of the fridge that was cool.

I think the intro, in the pumpkin patch could have been shortened a touch, it's pretty goofy, but i guess it shows us that the lead is
pretty much an idiot, so there's motive for the pumpkin. wow i can't believe i just wrote that, lol.

All in all, this was fun, and it's nice not to have to take something serious once in while. Good job!

[thetvirus513]

REVIEW!

I enjoyed this one quite a bit, most of it was really well done, and the best part was how you got creative with bringing this pumpkin to life.

What I liked a lot - As above, the way you brought the pumpkin to life, and the PUMPKIN VISION! Definitely creative to have us see things from "his" perspective. I also liked the things that were on tv, a nice touch. The pumpkin throwing up on him was pretty funny, definitely made me laugh and I think it fit really well with your story and the character of a "killer pumpkin"

What I didn't like as much - Some continuity errors/cuts. Especially the first time you see the man holding the knife after being on the phone, that cut didn't work for me. I honestly don't think you need the first scene in there at all. If the story is as simple as the couple are planning on carving the pumpkin when she gets home and he'd rather "carve" them (hehe) or just something like that it would still work great. The whole feel of the first scene just didn't work for me, and everything after that seemed to be really well done to me as far as technical and acting and whatnot, but some stuff in that scene were lacking.

All in all I liked this one and would like it even more with a few changes. It wasn't "scary" to me but that worked really well for you. I mean, it is a killer pumpkin we are talking about so the choice to make it humorous was a very good decision especially with how you executed it.

[dre83]

In general it's good.

Few "details" for sound: if you paste 2 shots and in one shot you have the guy moving, it's good to still "hear" him in the other shot, where the girl is replying.... and vica versa.
Probably the lines didn't match etc ? But that's where Foley comes in... Now it sounds "cutted" to much.

The sound of the TV is nice, it gives a kinda "suspens".

It's indeed not that "scarry" but it's nice to watch if you like to watch something scarry but not to scarry....

It's good you found solutions by framing etc because VFX would have take much more time etc... But maybe that also "blocked" you in framing ?

[ZazaCast]

I know you said this wasn't quite finished...and all your past work is well done...so first off, kudos for getting this baby in!
That said, I rather enjoyed this film even though I don't know what to think of it. It was silly, scary, funny & goofy all-in-one.
There are some really nice looking shots and the acting for the most part works.

A little polish and it will shine.

Thoughts as I watch:
- You don't even need the opening scene...or cut it back to them looking for a pumpkin, he falls over one...and the film begins. It looks like it's in a backyard and not an orchard.
- Music leaves a bit to be desired. (in the opening)
- Female lead...good job.... both of them so far!
- Ah... the classic inside the frig shot... I like it.
- Pumpkin peek....SWEET! LOL
- He screams like a little girl, that's great.
- Pumpkin Puke..."WTF" (dialogue quote of the fest)....nice.
- Jack... perfect character name for this one.

I'd love to see you tweak this one, it would be worth the effort. Congrats to the cast & crew!

[Chris_Keaton]

Hahaha, a bad pumpkin. I liked pumpkin vision. Was that one of your previous shorts playing on the TV?
For some reason that dudes head inside the pumpkin made me chuckle.
I see a lot of people didn't really shoot for a chiller. This was a fun short.

[Mobie540]

Thanks for the feed back guys, you pretty much hit all the concerns I already had with it.

The footage on the television is combination of new and old.

[Edgen]

So this movie actually made me laugh. From the puking seeds to the lame lead character. It was fun to watch and it seemed to show a story that kept me wanting to see what would happen next with guy.

el spoil er....
Then the girl shows back home and is not believable at all. Maybe it was a wrong casting choice, her direction or line delivery. I think if you took a little more time, and really developed the tension of her coming home, I would feel a little more for her in the end.

I think the film had some great moment and some really classic cheesy ones as well that kept to the spirit of halloween. more work in the beginning and more in the end could have made this a nice entry.

Music... shew. Not sure what to say except it succeed in the cheese. Maybe it should have been pumpkin cheese that threw up everywhere.

Good luck and looking forward to a more serious entry next round.

/j

[oscillian]

Hilarious! Me and my girl laughed out loud in the sofa!

[MOVIE MASTER]

dude this movie is BA !!!!! one great flick that did not go into the recycling bin tonight keep up the great work!
next you should totally do one of killer tupperware!

[Darkline]

I love halloween, so I love pumpkin shorts. This made me laugh out loud in places. It was quite refreshing to see a scarefest movie with a halloween theme, and it paid homages to some classic films. good fun

[Charli]

Definitely a comedy-not-really-horror flick. I enjoyed the peek-a-boo as the pumpkin watched him pee (I can't believe I just wrote that). The pumpkin POV was cool. Acting was on and off for me. I see you made the guy a bit thick in the beginning so not noticing the sprouts on the pumpkin made sense the man was dense.

It was funny, fun, but that's as far as it got for me.

[lawriejaffa]

Yep I'll just add to what Darkline and Charli said, the film was good fun, amusing and a little rough around the edges, but it got a good laugh and i too appreciated the homages. I think it could still benefit with 40 secs off though!

Well done on the film!

[Mobie540]

Hey everyone, thanks for the kudos and feedback. I appreciate you taking the time to look at this one. Even though it was unfinished I'm delighted with what I did with the time I did it in. Can't wait for next fest!