"Danger Below" by Matt Thompson / Avatuar

[EditPhish]

Wanted to start a thread for comments about this film... Doesn't seem like the filmmaker put one up...

Film: Danger Below
by: Matt Thompson aka. Avatuar

[EditPhish]

I'll be the first to comment I guess :)

The first criticism I would have is the sound mix... it was really pretty bad... lots of noise and hum.... dialogue volume up and down between scenes. And no music.

The acting was good... the guy with the glasses was VERY good. The story started out okay and had me interested... made me want to know more... but unfortunately went downhill from there.

It seemed really unplanned and inconsistent. I didn't like how they reverse roles (where the guy who originally didn't want to go became the gutsy one). The ending seemed really rush and awkward -- but I have to say, that same guy with the glasses was still doing a great job, though the way he was holding the phone was really weird).

The Chupakabra line made me laugh out loud, LOL.

The editing (or lack of) in the first scene didn't highlight the interesting aspect of it... it was basically one static shot. I would have liked to see more... other angles of the actors. The pacing of the next scene when they're climbing to the cave was slow. You had some lighting inconsistencies.

Sorry to seem so negative... I think your story had a lot of potential, and like I said it started off with an interesting idea... but a lot of your technical downfalls took away from it. I applaud your efforts and am glad you shared it... keep working to improve!

[hemophilia]

Thanks for starting the thread Opus; I hope the filmmakers find it. I guess I'll PM Avatuar?

I really liked the acting. I was actually frustrated (particularly at the beginning) with the directing. It made no sense whatsoever to me that it was hanging on that first shot so long with the one character's back turned. I was wondering if that was the gag or something... that we were intentionally not able to see this guy's face? So... not so high on the cinematography.

But really the acting and just the fact that these guys were actually delivering REAL dialogue and holding a conversation like humans do... got me going and made me enjoy this a lot lot lot more than just about any of the other movies I've watched. SOooooOOooo many of these sci-fest movies (the one I helped with inclusive) are relying on voice-overs instead of dialogue...which is OK on ocassion but wears thin quickly. And so many of the rest that attempt to tell a story through dialogue just fall sooOOoooo short with the believability of the actors that it's totally impossible to suspend-disbelief and get into the story at all.

Thankfully that was not a problem with this-- solid dialogue writing, solid acting. So visual aesthetic issues aside, I enjoyed it a lot more than some films with much better visual aesthetics.

[EditPhish]

Hemo... I totally agree with you on the dialogue thing. I'm not a big fan of voice-over/narration and we saw a lot of that in this fest... sometimes it worked, but sometimes I would have preferred the story told visually and through dialogue rather than in voice-over. With our own film (JTyner and I) we struggled to keep the dialogue natural (and didn't always succeed, LOL) so I totally appreciate what you're saying, and do give props to "Danger Below" for getting that right, at least mostly in the first scene.

[Ramon Boutviseth]

This was one of the first one I saw, it was aight.. I took em a while to get the cave I think the best part of the film was the ending where the dude with the glasses called his buddy about the invasion. I dunno ...maybe you ran outta time? I remember seeing a short film that you made a while bad that reminded me of a dawson's creek episode. It aint all that bad bro, at least you submitted something.

[Z B Brox]

I agree wiht msot of what's being said, but I want to add one thing:

I found it really odd that the first opening shot was a static over-the-shoulder where the characters were directly opposed, to sucha degree you couldn't really see one, but then moments later we fall prey to the rookie mistake of having the character stand next to each other sort of glancing at each other in a way that no two people who weren't standing on the ledge of a building have ever talked to each other.

Acting was good from the guy with the glasses, not quite so good from the kid, some believable dialogue, but the plot itself moves in fits and jerks and the overall production values leave a lot to be desired.

[arielman]

I found this started to abrupt for me .
The static shot of the 2 men talking was a little too long for me .
The actor with the glasses I thought did a nice job , even at the end when the alien(s) are standing next to him .
The idea of a Cave scene I have always liked . I believe more could of been done here . Maybe not as I'm not sure what you had to work with as in size of the cave.

I also liked the ending . the door knob turning is it or isn't an alien?

Good effort guys
Ian

[Jared Meyer]

I thought the acting was great. The story had me intrigued, but I really didn't buy the flip flop midway, when the guy who was gung ho about the caves turns into a wuss and the other guy who wasn't interested suddenly gets really passionate.

I think this needed more cutaways or just more shots....extra material to flesh out the scenes so that each one wasn't all from the same angle.

Overall, the movie felt a little off-kilter, with so much emphasis on the beginning dialogue and so little when the movie really takes off at the cave discovery and subsequent alien invasion.

Again, though, enjoyable, believable acting, pretty solid dialogue, and an interesting idea. Good job!

[iSTy]

I thought this was a bit long winded although the acting wasn't too bad, and I didn't find it scary.

[avatuar]

Hey guys! Sorry I have been out for so long, thanks for all the comments on my film! Here's the back story. I wrote it in a half hour the night before we shot and then started filming the day it was due! My first actor bailed on me so we only had about 6 hours to shoot the whole thing and have it edited. As for the long over the shoulder shot in the beginning well we got kicked out of the subway, they seem to be film snobs out here in Hollywood. Huh who woulda thought!! lol. I was just happy to get it in the running!:) Much love for the thread! Thanks guys!