laughing blood - i_&_t

[i_&_t]

you are the zombie, our flick is the brain (meaning, feel free to chew it up) .
thanks for watching.....

[Nobody356]

I thought this was really awesome!! This was one of my favorites that I have watched so far, altohough the title scared and sorta turned me off...I thought the movie rocked. The story was lacking a little....I felt like it should be part of a bigger piece but thats my only gripe. The clown flashback was so well done and so macabre(sp?)

Forgot to metntion...the cinematography was great and the whole thing felt really pro!!!!!!

[greeches]

I really enjoyed yours aswell. The flashback sequence was very real, and I enjoyed the interruption in the flashback... Effects were great and the acting even better. Would like to see the rest of the filM!!


:)

[J.R. Hudson]

I'll say it. THis film for me was my favorite and I rated it a 10. The only 10 in fact I handed out. This film simply 'DID IT" for me and is one of two films that left me wanting to see more. This film had a fair balance of all elements that make me tick.

From the opening shot I am enthralled. The atmosphere is creepy for me, the music is setting the mood and totally reminiscent of the 70's horror films (Specifically Fulci and Romero). The first thing that grabs my attention is the location. We're in a theatre and i already visualize a venue and an urban area. This is one of the few creative locations i have seen in this fest.

A clown. I'm sitting there asking myself "What the fuck shit is this?" ONe thing I look for in these shorts (and something I tried to do myself) is for a piece of a bigger picture. This one does it for me. The opening score, the flashlight beam in a dark and dank theatre........ a zombie sits up and a girl survivor shoots it. I feel like I'm in someone elses world all of a sudden and it does not feel contrived. This venue is claustrophobic and I feel like their are zombies everywhere in dark places.

When the second zombie comes along and we shoot it; the music stops, we pause for reflection and then THUD! Fuck thats great. That is classic Fulci and Romero right there.

The comps and framing are not superb (Some have massive amounts of headroom that detracts me) but I find them extremley creative; peering down the steep staircase as they walk up, the fluid pan right as they cross over, the door shut in our face and the music stops again. In fact, I noticed many solid pans during this piece. Nicely done; this should be used more; in this world of steadicams, dollies and hand held.

For the most part the comps and framing are great; not terribly stylized but simply just perfect. Some polishing would do them justice.

The clown looks at a baseball bat drenched in blood. These guys/gal look tired, they look sweaty, they look bloody and grimy. Attention to detail.

Suddenly; we're at a party. And the music is fucking clown music. Brilliant.

I get the impression this film was very well thought out in pre-production and I imagine even storyboarded. The clowns look RIGHT and then look LEFT as more Zombies appear and THE BALLOON POPPING is epic and classic and fun.

The little boys balloon losing its air and landing on the zombies head had me cheering. I was like AWESOME. It reminded me how fun filmmkaing should be and to try and not be all SERIOUS about it. It's these little nuances that Spielberg employs in his films. Cute, but not forced and detracting. LIke when the clown throws the JUGGLING stick at the zombie; this is wonderful. It may not be plausible but its being told in a flashback, remember?

The biting of the clown nose? OMG awesome. When the clown dude goes to his dead clown freind and the buzz of flies; Ewwww. Awesome.

I can go on and on and cant say enough good things about this piece. I loved every second of it and its the only one I have in mind for FUTURE VIEWING. I personally hope that there is a longer cut made and a future sequel becasue I want to know the whole story and the end of these survivors.

Of course I can find some flaws technically in this film; 180 line jumps, head room issues, the acting obviously needs some refining (The girl especially needs replacing but the two guys can be worked). But this is really neglible as the elements are there for me in perfect balance.

THis is the singualry defining film where I wish I could be a part of the sequel and their world.

BRAVO!!! The only thing that pisses me off is not having a BIGGER FILE of the movie (Cough cough maybe Ill get a PM with a larger file? cough cough)

[J.R. Hudson]

And yes; the TITLE needs to be re-thought. Thats my only real gripe.

[i_&_t]

:shocked:

[i_&_t]

Nobody356, greeches, and Mr. John Hudson... THANKYOU!
SO glad you want to see more...there is alot. our initial screenplay has flashback stories for all three survivors (we have since learned what five mins. actually is!). we are going to make it a trilogy. this one was cut WAY down to make five mins. (hence some of the jilty dialogue etc.) and we plan an extended cut after we tidy up the DVD vers. (darn ALL of you for keeping us from this task with your fliks! we can't stop watching them). we had a HELL of a time with the compression (obviously)...we "finished" the audio about an hour before the deadline and had NO idea what we were doing. alak and alas. it should look better on the DVD. oh, and we were filling out the entry form when we realized we still had not settled on a title so we went the 80s-straight-to-video-b-horror route. laughing dead is better. once again... :shocked:

[Hectorxd]

Hey
I didnt like this one too much. I liked the clown scene and the music that went with it but the beginning and end didnt really do it for me. I think some of that may be compression because the picture and the sound were so distorted. I might think its better on the DVD. The shooting of the fake zombies took it down a notch or two because some of the other movies I have seen on here are very believable with their effects or head shots.
Brian

[TC]

The biggest problem, that I saw, was that the plot seemed really unsure of itself. I wasn't sure if it was trying to be funny or not. I got the dark humor, but something was a bit off about it.

I really liked the idea of going into a theatre, I really wish that we could have seen more of it.

All the clown stuff was really funny, and there were some great gorey gags in there that I really enjoyed. The shot where all the kids are looking back at the zombies, and then cut to the baloon pop was awesome.

It ended really abruptly, which left me wanting more. Which is normally a good thing in a short, but this wasn't really a short film. It was a scene from a much longer film. So I suppose I'm not really sure if that's a negative, or a positive thing.

The gun effects and head hits were done really well. Some of the best I've seen so far in this festival. I especially liked the clown juggling pin into the guys head.

Your zombies' moans were unique. In a good way. :thumbs up:

Overall: Some good stuff going on, and I would love to see it as a part of a larger story.

[Norm Sanders]

I really liked how this started out, and liked the camera work, cc, etc. Great gun shot/sequences in the beginning as well, unique sounds from the zombies (as TC mentioned).

Once it got into the office, I thought the sound/mic quality really lacked & sounded like a tin box to me.

I LOVED the opening clown/party shot, and laughed outloud when the clown's balloon popped ... I've watch that section at least 5-6 times ... still makes me laugh!

I REALLY didn't like the FX here though, as it was too obvious that it was a doll's head that was getting blown away by the shot gun, etc. However, the bowling pin in the guy's eye socket was pretty good.

The acting in the office could use improvement, and it does end too quickly ... as in, I WANT TO KNOW how they got out there. I think a bit of time could have been cut from the clown's party to make room for a little more story being told in the office.

[CallaghanFilms]

I got a "Night of the Comet" vibe from your film.

Your devices were strong, and really worked...especially the clown. The clown gimmick worked so well visually, in fact, that it could have stood alone (without the aid of exposition/flashback.)

Storywise, I also was impressed with the idea that various "stragglers" were thrown together (not in tight-knit groups of their buddies).

You got a standing ovation from me on this one.

[J.R. Hudson]

Yes; the straggler idea totally worked for me. I cant wait for the DVD on this extended version. My fav!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

What the heck is the file name for this movie?

I've downloaded 79 files with no repeats I think and have no file name remotely close to to laughing blood.

Just skimmed thread looking for file name, didn't want to read details so I could watch it fresh, but saw Hudson mention it in another thread and wanted to see what's got his nipples so hard.

[Slimothy]

I thought the audio was really lacking in this one. I don't judge on compression but basically production value, I felt was really missing. The head hits were really, really bad with the exception of the bowling pin in the eye. The acting was decent (most of the time), and the clowns were cool. It was original, but seemed to really drag. I watched it a couple of times, but couldn't really get into it. Great job nontheless as alot of things were done very well. For advice I would say definately work on your f/x.

[Norm Sanders]

What the heck is the file name for this movie?

I've downloaded 79 files with no repeats I think and have no file name remotely close to to laughing blood.

Just skimmed thread looking for file name, didn't want to read details so I could watch it fresh, but saw Hudson mention it in another thread and wanted to see what's got his nipples so hard.

"lghngbld4" is the name on the file I downloaded ... I'll PM you as well, incase no one else has gotten this to you yet.

[Curugon]

I've watched this one a bunch of times, mainly the flashback. I agree that you could've just began it with the survivors in the room and the flow would've been improved (and given you more time for extra goodness).

The flashback is simply brilliant. The timing. The gags (that first bowling pin throw). Christ I nearly split in two.

One could complain about the video quality, the lack of slick camera moves, etc... but I won't, because it WORKED for this film. When this contest was announced, I knew I wanted to see something like Evil Dead 2, and this came closest. Applause all around.

[Ought2bCommitted]

Nice job!!! Loved the effects. Great job on those. Extra points for a clown in a lead role!!!

Acting was better than average and pretty believeable overall. Flashback was awesome. Liked the low budget feel of it and the effects worked really nicely overall.

Great job!

Robert

[i_&_t]

thanks for all the feedback! we've been away from dvxuser for a while (getting the dvd vers. done, "real"-life etc.) and it's great to come back and read all of your thoughts on our flick. alot of the folks who have posted in here haven't gotten comments from us YET. shame on us.

a few thoughts on your thoughts...
first off, throughout this thread you guys have made comparisons to some of our absolute favorites in the genre, which made us blush like little schoolgirls. :cheesy: :beer:
it makes us happy that the straggler\random people concept was noted, because that was our origional inspiration. it also makes us happy that the clown gags got some chuckles out of some of you. we had a lot of fun doing them (there are some pretty good bloopers in our b.t.s. stuff, if Jarred can fit them in). the idea with the mix of humor comes from our opinion that, during even the most awfull of circumstances, funny shit happens. getting the blend right in the 5 min. version was tough (maybe the serious bits will work better in the extended cut).
funny story on the live audio...we literally pulled the microphone we used out of its shipping box on location (it was delivered the day before), tossed the manual in our kit-bag, and plugged it in for shot 1. we were, therefore, pretty happy just to have sound! this was also technically true of the DVX itself...prior to day 1 on location we had spent about an hour with it in our studio. this entire project has been an exercise in jumping in head first.
the reactions to our head-shots and gore are a mixed bag, which we expected. we made a decision early on to do pretty much all of it as traditionally as possible as an homage to the greats of the 70s (romero etc.). we've never tried non-digital effects before, so it was a huge (and very fun) learning experience.
this is our first attempt at making a movie, and to have feedback from a group like this instead of just family\friends is incredibly valuable (and just plain fucking cool!). a bazillion thanks to Jarred and Barry S for putting this together and to all of you for sitting through ours and taking the time to offer your thoughts! :beer:
time to get our slacker asses in gear and finish commenting on the rest of the entries. :embarasse

[Ralph Oshiro]

Holy shit that was funny! GREAT JOB! Clowns are scary as shit!

[arielman]

The make up was great and the CLOWN bit was excellent !!!!. from the popping of the balloon in the clowns hands , the roller pin in the head .. and when the busted balloon fell on the Zombies head ..The whole clown scene was perfect .well done !!!
The compression was so so when watched in full view but didn't look bad in the smaller version . Watching this a 2nd time , I really enjoy the clown scene ..
Can't wait to see this on DVD .....Ian

[MattinSTL]

Everything arielman just said... the clown was killer... I mean KILLER. I liked his voice and his whole attitude... even his lines were good. Some of the other flicks had better FX on the headshots, but the action of the headshots was better here... Slimothy had some really good headshot FX, but I woulda' liked to see the head jerk more like your's. Whatever you have going in this flick it flat out works... I would love to watch another 15 minutes of this at least. The clown carries it... he's a good guy to include in future projects.

The clown flashback was absolutely awesome... I didn't like the carnival music for the entire flashback, but really this scene was killing me. Like "a" said above, the balloon popping in the hands... the kid letting the balloon fart it's way onto the zombie's head... the bowling pin (which I've played with so I know the construction of those... which made me laugh super-hard even though the FX were good)... I also expecially loved the one zombie head-shot where it looks like a REAL girl zombie was shot... you know, the one where the girl looks SO real (3/4 profile shot)... man I thought "did they actually kill a real girl?"... Okay so hopefully you're laughing WITH me right now 'cause I really enjoyed this flick.

This is one of the shorts that I think people are really missing out if they don't see it. It is perhaps the most entertaining flick out of the whole damn lot... if nothing else you deserve high marks on entertainment value alone!

EDIT: Oh crap I almost forgot... get a freakin' mic and a stick for cryin' out loud! The conversation in with the 3 was compelling enough that I wanted more quality there! Do yourself a favor for future work! You deserve it!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

What an imaginative and visually memorable piece. Classic “you got your chocolate in my peanutbutter” action. CLOWNS + ZOMBIES = surreal fun. Your actors pulled it off well, and there were lots of great gags. Favorite maybe is the juggling cone in the head. I think this is part of a longer work; my only major crit would be that it just sort of faded out at the end like a pop song on the radio without a strong button, which would make sense as the story continues. Nice work. Again – very very imaginative.

[KingVidiot]

This overall was one of my favorites. Great mix of action, doom , and humor...

I watched it several times, and laughed consistently. I love the clown character with his look and attitude (LMFAO).

I can't wait to see the other parts you mentioned.