"One Man's Epic"

[Norm Sanders]

So we're 6 days into the judging, and a thread STILL hasn't been started for this yet? Amazes me, as this is the second film I've had to create a thread for in the last couple of hours.

That said, what the heck was this about?? The CLOSEST thing I could guess was that he was a time traveler or time & space traveler & could transport to different places/times at whim. But that's about all I could get from this.

No dialogue, no acting other than walking around & looking surprised at times.

"One Man's Epic" what? Epic head trip after a bad OD on something?

I was lost on this one. Sorry.

[Aaron Marshall]

Yeah, it was pretty weird story wise. On the technical side of things it looked pretty darned nice. There's a reason why some people are exclusively directors, and a reason why some people are exclusively cinematographers. This seemed like a cinematographers demo reel or something instead of a story.

I love the locations of course. I felt like I was walking around some of these places.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I thought he was just overwhelmed by the history / mysticism / mythology of the sights and places he was experiencing.

I don't think there's anything to suggest here that this guy couldn't be a director or story teller, I just don't think he was interested in a beginning middle end story ... just conveying the sense (as in essence not logic) of "One Man's Epic" experience.

I've seen a ton of these kind of place / mood films. Usually from Prague for some reason, where people that like making films just go get a bunch of cool images and ... well .... film them.

So I think that's what this guy was up to and he did a good job with some nice visuals by those standards.

Hopefully he'll drop by and tell us what he was on about, himself.

[Aaron Marshall]

I agree. There's nothing there that says he couldn't be a good story teller. Good cinematographers and photographers are good storytellers. I meant what I said as a compliment to the guy. I think honing a single craft is probably a lot wiser than trying to do everything and spreading yourself too thin. Although I can't really talk. If I had it my way I would stick to one thing and get all kung fu with it.

You seem eager to make your film more acceptable to a wider audience. Do you honestly think this particular film would be acceptable to a wide audience? Here's what I'm getting at. I meant to convey that I think this guy would probably make more money as a DP for another director at this point. At least based off of this work. It's hard to tell. I think his cinematography was in the top 20 percentile of the herofest.

Something surrounding a hero was the precedent for these films. So "by those standards" doesn't really hold up. I'm artsy fartsy enough to buy a bunch of random images and to appreciate good cinematography. Which I already commented on. Who knows, maybe he'll be the next big thing as a director?

[Norm Sanders]

Sure guys, but what was SUPER HERO about this?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

lightening fast ... and remember ... they didn't have to be SUPER

[Norm Sanders]

I thought they DID have to be super ... because I was poked fun at when I was wanting to do something about regular every day heroes such as firemen, but then the comment came back that we weren't doing "Donate A Kidney Man". Hmmm. Oh well. :)

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

oh wait ... I thought I was in the Fedora thread ... lol ...

as for the super thing I don't now what made him super in this one ...

but the thematic link to hero is that Hero's in the classical sense Hercules, Homer, etc. have "Epic" journeys.

But no ... on the mandatory superness thing ... I pressed and pressed for an official word on Super and it was always just "whatever HERO means to you"

[Ben Sliker]

it's a pretty impressive vacation video ...

[Osiginon]

I think Jack Daniel is right on this one. At first it was difficult for me to find the subtext for this film ( I was the composer ), as it appeared to be about a man and his many sojourns. However, I realized that there is a definite structure to the film. There are periods of conflict and rest, all building up to a final confrontation. But like Jack Daniel stated, these confrontations are not actual physical battles, but seem to be one man's internal battle with the overwhelming mysticism and history of the locations. For instance, the first "confrontation" is with stonehenge. Not at, with. But obviously, stonehenge does offer much of a fight. But again, it is just an internal battle. Once the hero truly faces the ancient site, the battle is over; the internal conflict is resolved. And as for the more fantastical scenes - the Lochness monster, the teleportation - I would venture to say that these are instances of mysticism winning over the mind, but James Rolfe (director) might say differently. Despite its lack of strong narrative, I think the film was creatively constructed, and like others have said already, the cinematography is gorgeous.

[Matthew B. Moore]

Dude, HERO FEST! I find nothing heroic about you walking around in Europe with a camera. You film belongs some where, but not in this comp. Come back when you are will to, atleast, entertain the genre.

It did look cool.

[MiataFilmSomething]

I though it had a cool music video feel to it. Not much on story, as said before, but it looks like much of this was done by a crew of one, so you gotta work with what you got...

[Blaine]

To me this was much more a travelogue than a narrative story. It had some nice imagery but I saw no story. Travels in England with a beautiful score. I made the mistake (I now see) that this was a video done by a composer to showcase his compositional talents.

[highland_watcher]

For my two cents, I think this looked great at times, though I know anyone who gets motion sickness easily wouldn't have enjoyed it. I didn't get any story of an epic though the idea crossed mind once. All I could say was darn I can't wait for the day to travel to the U.K and see all the places it was filmed. It's my families ancient home.

[Cryogenic Filmworks]

I did like the music and architecture.

[jpbankesmercer]

One mans trip around the U.K. what happened to Manchester? :)
Well done on the cinematography...and...finishing it?
Sorry for me this fell short of Hero expectations, its always good to finish a film...I liked the music...Just got a little lost in it but not in a good way...
J.P.

[Larry R]

Note: I haven't read the other posts yet, so I may repeat comments that have already been made.

Hmmm... I don't understand. I was really hoping for more traditional super heros in this fest, but unfortunately that didn't come about. But at least the rest had a "hero" story I could grasp onto.

This one just had a guy walking around some fantastic landscapes. The look was beautiful, but I don't know that it belongs in this contest.

Just grasping at straws here, but after watching a couple times the only thing I could think of was some metaphorical "hero's journey", except that nothing "heroic" happens.

Sorry, it looked good, but I don't think it fits.

[arielman]

I liked the way this film was shot ..NICE.

Lack of a HERO or Super Hero .hmmmm.

Could he be saying these men of days gone by ...Knights ..were some type of HERO...to many in those days , they were .

Mythology of men fighting dragons and of course Nessie , could rank them as Heros.

Like someone stated..maybe he is overwhelmed with the History around him.
I'm just guessing of course .
Ian

[Norm Sanders]

So did this person just drop their film off & leave to never return? Odd that they never started a thread for it, nor have they ever chimed in yet with responses.

[arielman]

Envision (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/member.php?u=3632) ..for sure , I'm interested on the theme behind his short as in Hero , who or what is the HERO ?

Lets hope he chimes in here soon .

Ian

[Dahopafilms]

I liked the look of this. And I tried to come up with the Hero theme - all of those places he visited had heroes at them at one time or another. But that was the best I could do.

As I watched it I was counting off the places I'd been and enjoyed it, but maybe a bit of an explanation from the filmmaker could shed some light on what he intended vis-a-vis the theme.

Different is good ...

[Cinemassacre]

Hello everyone, I just checked by, read all your questions and comments, so I'll attempt to shed some light.

Why's it a hero film? Well, many of the theories I've read are true to what I was thinking. Take out the word "Super". It's just a "Hero film". Think medieval. The conflicts occurr within himself and his own journey. The story is completley open for interpretation as there's no dialogue or obvious plot structure. Take it for what it's worth and make something up. The turth is I was on vacation and had no actors other than myself to work with. Yep, that's me walking around, often holding the camera and pointing back at myself.

Why didn't I make something better? I didn't have any time. I was working on another film which didn't fit the hero genre at all. This is what always happens. For example I'm starting an action film later this summer, so I won't have any time to dedicate to a "horror" film for the next contest. It's just my luck.

Last February, I finished a 17 minute horror film "The Deader the Better" which I rushed a minute of test footage into last year's Zombie contest.

So, don't judge my directing or writing ability on my vacation film. It was made to showcase some great locations in England & Scotland as well as give a composer a chance to score something.

If you want to see my serious work, please check out "The Deader the Better" at this link

http://www.cinemassacre.com/Current_Projects/tDtB.html


More of my films are here on the main movie page:

http://www.cinemassacre.com/Movies/movies.html


Hope that helps explain what I did and who I am a little more.

I'm halfway through watching the rest of the films and I think all of them have great attributes to them. I hope to see you around for Horror Fest.

-James Rolfe
Cinemassacre.com

[spidey]

pointless pointless pointless. Wheres the hero? the adventure? the story? the point? I mean I seen art film but this.... is a guy with handheld of Europe. I saw some one say yeah good cinematography and i wanted to say "Yeah Europe looks good through any camera." I mean what was the point????

Sorry but this isn't hero.