"The Commitment" by jeans

[jeans]

I wanted to shoot the movie this weekend, but it looks like the main girl is away. At least I shot some tests before she left. Probably nothing that will actually be in the final picture, but at least I have some footage to play around with and color correct. Here are the grabs.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

this looks interesting
hope you can work it out

your avatar is truly frightening though, lol. :laugh:

[Matt Sconce]

I am confused, what movie is this for? I am interested in hearing more. :-)

[MOVIE STUNTS]

The look of these reminds me of a drama, not a horror film.

[jeans]

The look of these reminds me of a drama, not a horror film.

I know what your saying, maybe because of the warmness. I like the way it looks but maybe it's not foreboding enough. Here is the first way I color corrected it. It's basically just bleach bypass with black diffusion all the way up. Do you think it is more effective like this?

This movie is not yet titled. I was going to save that for last.

[n8ture]

Looks nice. I like the silhouette in the doorway

[TimurCivan]

The look of these reminds me of a drama, not a horror film.


that makes it scarier... ITs serious.

[mameragex]

What's the title?

[cinealma]

I like it. It actually looks like 70's style horror films, especially those from the U.K.


John G.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

I know what your saying, maybe because of the warmness. I like the way it looks but maybe it's not foreboding enough. Here is the first way I color corrected it. It's basically just bleach bypass with black diffusion all the way up. Do you think it is more effective like this?

This movie is not yet titled. I was going to save that for last.
OH yeah, much better. This has a more stale look to it, could be the greenish tint. Anyways i like it much better.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

that makes it scarier... ITs serious.
The look is key, If it's too warm people get comfortable... and possibly sleep. (good thing these shorts are only 6 mins max). You want your audience uncomfortable, if you are going to scare them. Of course neither you or I know if a hideous monster will appear behind her and rip her head off in front of her little brother as he hides trembling in a corner... We just don't know that. In which case it would be acceptable up till that point, then raping us of our comfort.

[jeans]

Of course neither you or I know if a hideous monster will appear behind her and rip her head off

Is she screaming or laughing?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I'm confused ...

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Me too... Nice afro though.

[jeans]

Nothing to be confused about, just photoshop fun.

Real shoot begins tonight.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I get that ... but I'm still confused ...
Oh well :)

[jeans]

I get that ... but I'm still confused ...
Oh well :)

Oh, I guess I am too then.

I will post some stills of the actual movie later this week and hopefully have a title.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

nah ... it's just me ... maybe I shouldna drunk that whole bottle of cough syrup *burp*

[jeans]

Okay I came up with a title and a poster. Shooting is to begin once it gets dark.

[jeans]

Alt version.

[Matt Sconce]

Alt version.

I really like the second one!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Yeah, alt version.

Really evocative actually.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

I third that.

[jeans]

Thanks, I like that one too. I had my first day of actual shooting. It was tough. I had the F stop at 2.8 for some of the scenes that I meant to have wide open to make the most out of the dim light. Also The girl in my movie, who is also my roommate, was getting a bit frustrated with trying to act. I haven't told her yet that we have to re-shoot some of it. I thought this was a simple movie.

[jeans]

Modern version. Photo by my roommate Mark Lies. Original photo included as well.

[Matt Sconce]

Thanks, I like that one too. I had my first day of actual shooting. It was tough. I had the F stop at 2.8 for some of the scenes that I meant to have wide open to make the most out of the dim light. Also The girl in my movie, who is also my roommate, was getting a bit frustrated with trying to act. I haven't told her yet that we have to re-shoot some of it. I thought this was a simple movie.

It seems like that is how a lot of "simple" movies become. To do something right, it seems like it takes a ton of hard work. Props to you and good luck!

[jeans]

It seems like that is how a lot of "simple" movies become. To do something right, it seems like it takes a ton of hard work. Props to you and good luck!

Thanks, here's a screenshot of last nights shoot. I'm not sure if it will end up in the movie.

[Matt Sconce]

Thanks, here's a screenshot of last nights shoot. I'm not sure if it will end up in the movie.

cool! That looks creepy and makes me wonder what the story is about :-) :thumbsup:

[jeans]

Okay my actress Laura quit. Well not exactly. I have someone else in mind but if she can't do it, then Laura will finish. It's kind of a bummer, but it will probably be better this way. I can't decide if I should change the image on the poster as well as the name. :crybaby: :thumbsup:

[conrad_johnson]

I love that makeup!

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Thanks, here's a screenshot of last nights shoot. I'm not sure if it will end up in the movie.
You had better hope it doesn't.... You dont want to be dq'ed.

[jeans]

You had better hope it doesn't.... You dont want to be dq'ed.

Well, I don't think I'm in it to win anyway, but I thought we were allowed to show images from the movie, just not video.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

It's supposed to be BTS grabs Only. I think alot of people will be in for a big surprise. Check the rules section to be sure.

[TheatreGuy]

I love that you are so willing to share your thought process as you work on your short. As a newbie, I find it inspiring.

Keep up the good work and good luck with your actress issue.

BTW, the second poster is MUCH better than the first.

And what is up with the two photos by your roommate Mark Lies. Is that before and after through the dvx using different scene settings, lighting or both. Very nice effect in the after photo.

[jeans]

I love that you are so willing to share your thought process as you work on your short. As a newbie, I find it inspiring.

Keep up the good work and good luck with your actress issue.

BTW, the second poster is MUCH better than the first.

And what is up with the two photos by your roommate Mark Lies. Is that before and after through the dvx using different scene settings, lighting or both. Very nice effect in the after photo.

Thanks, and no that makeup photo was taken by a digital slr camera. The one on the left is from the same photo shown on the right, just cropped differently and level adjusted.

[Matt Sconce]

You can show ANY still. You cannot show FOOTAGE from the movie. Don't even worry.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Not ANY, Production stills.

[MOVIE STUNTS]

nevermind it's cool, got clarification from Hudson.

[TheatreGuy]

Thanks, and no that makeup photo was taken by a digital slr camera. The one on the left is from the same photo shown on the right, just cropped differently and level adjusted.

Wow! That is really impressive! I wouldn't have known that was the SAME photo!

[TheatreGuy]

nevermind it's cool, got clarification from Hudson.

Just so I don't screw up... Are you saying that you CAN post a still from your footage? I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I've seen other people say that you cannot use still from the actual movie.

BTW - anyone know other people quote multiple posts in one posts?

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Just so I don't screw up... Are you saying that you CAN post a still from your footage? I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I've seen other people say that you cannot use still from the actual movie.

BTW - anyone know other people quote multiple posts in one posts?

Yeah, stills are fine, just no moving footage.

[TheatreGuy]

Cool. Thanks!

[jeans]

I had my first shoot with a new actress. Here's a grab. Second shoot is scheduled for sunday night.

[Matt Sconce]

Nice!

[jeans]

Here are two images of looking through a peephole. One is a real peephole, the other is a mask in FCP. I can't decide which is better. Obviously the fake one is of far higher image quality, but is it less creepy because of that?

[Mark Harris]

Here are two images of looking through a peephole. One is a real peephole, the other is a mask in FCP. I can't decide which is better. Obviously the fake one is of far higher image quality, but is it less creepy because of that?

Well, I always think you should start with the highest quality footage possible. You can then have complete control over how "real-peephole" you want to make it. Also, you have better footage in case you decide to zoom in, or manipulate it in some other way.

Dude, you should make that avatar a horror entry of its own...

[TimurCivan]

i think the real one looks MUCH better.

i like that you maintain that soft low contrast lighting scheme. IT looks very subtle. its sophisticated. i love it.

[Lingothree]

The white dude is scary. I looked like that once when I was 4 and got into my mom's tub of flour.

I'm liking the peephole on the right.

[jeans]

Well I'm finished filming. I'm in the process of editing. There's very little dialog in this picture, so I decided to do all the audio after the fact. I'll post a couple more stills before the due date. A lamp that is in a bunch of scenes of the movie fell over and broke yesterday. I'm very glad we finished shooting it.

[Jaime V]

grats on wrapping up filming. I wish I was in your boat...time is running out! <panic>

[TheatreGuy]

Hey jeans, congrats on the wrap! Looking forward to the film and more stills. They look creepy as hell.... like your avatar!

Good work! Back to mine!

[conrad_johnson]

Here are two images of looking through a peephole. One is a real peephole, the other is a mask in FCP. I can't decide which is better. Obviously the fake one is of far higher image quality, but is it less creepy because of that?
The second one is way better in my opinion:Drogar-Smoke(DBG):

[jeans]

I finished a very rough cut of the movie. It's 8 min, however there's a lot of fat. I don't think it will be too hard to cut down. There's still quite a lot to be done with the audio/music. Garageband is going to get put to good use.


Dude, you should make that avatar a horror entry of its own...

Unrelated to horrorfest, but here's a link to a short video I made in the same way as the avatar.

http://www.nickquest.com/videos/diviant1min.html

[Charli]

To trim from 8 minutes, that's not bad at all. Good luck.

[jeans]

Finished the under 6min cut of the movie. It was harder than I thought, but I'm happy to say that it's now down to 5:59:14. Still sound to work on though. Will be cutting it kind of close.

[jeans]

Almost done the audio. Should finish tomorrow. Will post some final grabs then. After that it's time to deal with the 3/4 letterboxed to 16/9 output. Crap. Hopefully I'll be uploading wednesday.

[jeans]

Okay, didn't quite get done today, but still so close. Here are a few more grabs. The last one is a shot of my fancy lighting rig. If you look to the right of the frame you can see where the bulb melted the floor thus facilitating the need for the plate. I thought the floor was tile, but it's just plastic.

[jeans]

I just rolled over into senior member. Now I can vote for MOVIEMASTER (just kidding) but who knows.

[avatuar]

grotesk shots!!!

[jeans]

grotesk shots!!!

I'm guessing that's not a compliment. Do you really think they're bad enough to warrant three exclamation points? Maybe grotesk means awesome like bad means good. I'm just glad you didn't think they were grotesque. I think your grabs are nice, though your banner kind of looks like the next rip off of The OC. Seriously I think it's okay. I'm just sick of seeing young actors headshots.
Maybe you could let me know what exactly bothers you about my shots. The softness? The low light and grain? The green tint? Really, I'm not being sarcastic. I don't think my shots look amazing or anything, but I did spend some time making them look the way they do. I would really like to know why they look bad to you.

[Ben Sliker]

yeah dude, linoleum does well with liquids, but has a little trouble with extreme heat. lol.

imagine what a 1000w spot would have done!

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I'm guessing something is being lost in translation in the grotesk thing, because the shots neither suck nor are they grotesque.

[Brandon Rice]

In fact... your shots are quite nice :thumbsup:

[jeans]

Thanks Jack and Brandon. I appreciate it. I wouldn't really mind if someone thought my shots were ugly, just like to know why. Though maybe your right about the translation thing Jack.

[jeans]

Well I'm waiting for my h264 to finish encoding. It says 36 hours. Holy crap. I hope that's not right.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

sometimes that's way off.
Also there is a bug that causes compressor to have insane render times.
it shoud take in the neighborhood of 10 - 45 minutes depending on what you got going on and your computer.
to fix the big try renstalling compressor. and the Qmaster then restart
and then upgrade
and then restart before you start FCP again.
DO NOT reinstall FCP in the middle of a project. But I just reinstalled compressor and q master because my batch monitor wasn'ty coming up after my computer crashed last month.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

also ... you should "export quicktime movie" from FCP using "current settings" and then drag that master movie into compressor, rather than outputting to compressor from FCP ... much quicker

Finally ... if your memory is a problem ... make sure you have single pass not multipass checked on the encoding ... prob won't be able to tell on the web and not worth it if its giving your system fits.

[jeans]

Thanks again Jack. As usual you are a wealth of knowledge.

[jeans]

Well this movie is all put to bed since Saturday. It felt very good to be all uploaded. I never really got the export I was looking for, but I got something good enough. I never thought it would be scaling issues and not compression. I wonder if I had something set wrong. The mpg2 was just fine. I don't know why the H264 was so much harder. I even tried exporting at 360 instead of 400 with the thought if the file was exactly half of the horizontal rez, it would be able to scale better. For some reason all that process delivered was 6 min of crazy wavy lines. I wonder if that happened to anyone else. Anyway I'm finished and glad of it. I can't wait to start watching these movies.

[gwmesler]

I'll bet you could simulate the real peephole better with a tube or cone instead of the mask. That way you can experiment with the size of the hole.

[Beat Takeshi]

Hey you fooker, you made me hit my knee on the table. :)
That scared the crap out of me.

[jeans]

Hey you fooker, you made me hit my knee on the table. :)
That scared the crap out of me.

Sorry about that. Please don't sue.

Thanks to the moderator who changed the title of my thread. I'm assuming it was Barry since he mentioned it in another thread.

[jenningsp]

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING


hello. i just watched your film. pretty damn good.
so far it's the only one that actually got me. i was laughing at my self for being sucked in. when i saw the door opening i was wondering if someone was behind it, so i looked really closely and BAM!
i think it helps that i was watching this on a huge 22" monitor and i was only a foot away from it :)
there were no credits at the end... who did what????
the buildup was so slow, but if it was any quicker, i don't think it would have worked as well. that's about all i can say. very cool

[Matt Sconce]

Matt Sconce's Review of The Commitment
SPOLIERS POSSIBLE!

Script
I really have no idea who was "coming home" The script was kinda not there for me...but oh the ending! I think I almost jumped out of my chair and punched myself in the face for falling for it at the same time.
Acting
The acting was okay for me.
Cinematography
I thought the peephole shots were genious as was the door at the end. Good stuff!
Editing
It felt a little drawn out and long to me, but that is the setup for the end right?
Overall Impressions
Interesting short. One of two that made me physically Jump in my chair. Congrats!

[gwmesler]

You f+*&ing piece of sh^%!!!! I was so pissed at you after I saw this. But, then I realized how effective it was. Nice job creating the tension. The music and the actress were both great. You really pissed me off.

[VersuS]

MY GOD ALMIGHTY!!!! I just watched this.................my heart is still pounding crazy!!!!! I VE BEEN CURSING OUT LOUD FOR THE LAST 10 MINUTES!!! F*** YOU!!! F**** YOU!!! (this is what i ve been screaming out loud next to my balcony, i guess the whole neighbourhood is curious right now...)!!! I just rung my buddy and told him to WATCH THIS NOW!!!!
I cant believe it.......

Man....You have given the scariest movie in horrorfest!! I ve watched all of them....I got a few yikes here and there....but this one.......oh my god!! and i live alone......f***********************

I liked it! It started well....nicely delivered the line 'i promise' with the title....and nicely placed the radio to inform us that her guy was killed....i mean everybody must got that....

Then I was watching her come and go in the appartment....no sounds....no dialogue...no score to distract you....smooth editing....nicely lit.....convincing acting (though in the peep hole scene i expected from a girl to scream or jump...)....

And in the end...I am like...ok ..5.50...5.51....5.52...door is opening....5.55...ok let him walk in....5.56....5.57....AND JOHN IS OFF THE CHAIR!!!!!!!!1

[JoshuaNitschke]

Holy shit.

So far the only one that's made me jump.

Goddamn.

Like others said, a little too drawn out, but I see how that's necessarry.

[Barry_Green]

I thought the buildup was way too slow, but the ending was so much fun that I totally forgot how long it took to get there. I was too busy trying to get my heart re-started! :thumbsup:

[jeans]

Thanks to everyone for commenting. I'm glad the end was effective. The whole movie is kind of a delivery device for that. I can definitely see that it could be to long for what it is. I'm a fan of slow movies, and I think I actually liked the 8 min version a little better for how it moves from shot to shot. But I know that it's different for me since I made it. I think I probably could have accomplished the same scare with a 4min movie, maybe. That or maybe a bit more could have happened to fill the time. An attempt was made to show as little of the apartment as possible because it's a mess and not very picturesque. Probably should have just cleaned it. There was also a scene that was intended for the beginning with the girl talking to a friend that then leaves. That was cut because of production time constraints and scheduling. Me and Lucas, who made this movie with me and also played the dead boyfriend, decided it was unnecessary. Maybe if that scene was in there and the walking around the apartment alone was cut down, it wouldn't seem so slow.
The beginning of this project was me and Lucas sitting down and writing down things that we thought were scary. Then we decided where it should take place. Then we decided what the story should be and should happen.



there were no credits at the end... who did what????

To answer that question, Me and Lucas conceived this thing pretty equally. I shot it and edited it, then Lucas helped me cut it down from 8 min and pointed out some awkward shot transitions. I ended up doing the music/audio, though he had made a couple songs that we never ended up even trying to put in the movie. I wanted to get it done so just left it with minimal mood music, which I think worked just fine. Kate, my other friend in this movie who played the lead and only girl, helped in the beginning on coming up with things from movies that were actually scary. She was also a trooper in that she had a lot of trouble acting scared without laughing, but kept at it. In the scene when she is reacting to the eye in the peephole, Lucas was actually behind her grabbing her at just the right moment to scare her.

My friend Lucas also makes a lot of short videos and songs of his own. You can check them out at his website http://kingdomofthezodiac.com

[Steve_Arm]

!!!I'm laughing my a** out! I'm still shaking, you totally freaked me out!

[Darkline]

Hehe

nice short here Jeans!

I loved the build-up... and the final shot.... well - all I can say is...'did you see our short?'

great minds think alike eh? lol

[Charli]

First I wanted to fall asleep. The short moved as fast as molasses. At the
end, I wanted to hit you because you scared the eebie-jeebies out of me.

The ending did it.

[jeans]

Hehe

nice short here Jeans!

I loved the build-up... and the final shot.... well - all I can say is...'did you see our short?'

great minds think alike eh? lol


I hadn't watched it yet, but I just did and I have to say it is my new favorite! Awesome. Really well done!

Oh, also we thought about using a video camera to see the ghost/monster. Quite alike in that aspect, except yours was not at all slow.

[Darkline]

really Jeans? you're joking me!

The end of yours still got to me, even though I was thinking...'I wonder if he's going to do what I did?. Lol. As I was thinking that my mate lept from the chair...

But seriously three of use here watched it and we liked it. I think its the hardest thing for a director to do, to keep interest when there is not much narrative going on. But I think you did it!

[jeans]

really Jeans? you're joking me!

The end of yours still got to me, even though I was thinking...'I wonder if he's going to do what I did?. Lol. As I was thinking that my mate lept from the chair...

But seriously three of use here watched it and we liked it. I think its the hardest thing for a director to do, to keep interest when there is not much narrative going on. But I think you did it!

No, not joking. The video camera idea was one we were considering early on when we were thinking of things that are actually scary. I'm glad the end still got you, and I'm glad it kept your interest up to that point. I really liked the VFX in yours. They just enough, not overdone or cheesy. That's tough. It was one aspect we didn't even want to deal with.

[Paul Coleman]

Definitely got under my skin. Good stuff. :beer:

[luster]

ya got me

[TimurCivan]

not only didi poop myself... but i pooped mysefl like no other..... it will take me days to clean this up....

BEAUTIFUL and such Simple lighting.



Kinda a cop out at the end but..... i'll forgive.


She scariest part was the bald guy looking back in the hallway.

[Rock Punk!]

I screamed like a school girl.

[Kholi]

Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.

Hey man. You suck, hard. You have been the only one to make me jump in my seat. My girlfriend was like "wtf is wrong with you?" Dude you got me, so hard. I swear none of the rest have made me jump but you got me out of my chair. Son of a --

Story - I like the haunting thing. I think that this might've been another skeletal piece. How many pages did it span? I can't really say too much on the script, other than the content reflects something that's shorter than what I sat through. I dun get why her hubby had to come back and scare her to death, though.

Direction - Some nice shots. A lot of it was static and I think, coupled with how long this was going on without any action, it seemed a little boring and uneventful. But you did have nice shots for the most part.

Acting - The chic's facial expressions were really weird. And for someone who's got an unknown banging on her door constantly, she didn't seem too worried at all. Your monster was straight oogly.

Cine/Lighting - Not too shabby. I noticed that in the hallway the light seemed too hot. Like it was flooded and the casting of the shadow was unnatural. Like the light was coming from the floor. Think it could've been a bit on the spooky side to help with the haunting tale.

Editing - Whoooo this was really long. Your cuts were fine, timing was okay I think. But the entire thing was just way too long, especially for the pay off. THough you did get me to jump.

Sound - Your banging seemed to be the "main course" so to speak, of this entire short. It wasn't loud enough for me and I had on headphones. Seemed soft. Your end scream stood out more than anything else, here. The weird sounding voice on the phone was cool.

Special Effects/Art Direction/Wardrobe - Can only comment on the scary thing at the end. He looked freaky. lol

Scariest Moments - The end of course. You win for making me jump.

Overall consensus - Way too long for the pay-off that you delivered. But you did deliver an actual scare which is lost in this fest. So you get crazy points for the unexpected. Thanks for showing!

[Mark Harris]

Hated the end. In my opinion, it was a SUPER cheap shot, and basically negated the work you were doing up to that point. I liked the tension building up, and to me it was EXTREMELY scary and creepy to see the guy in the hall and in the mirror.

The end did make me jump of course, but I felt like it was just so tacked on and designed to be a gimmick that it really was dumb to me. It felt like one of those fake commerials that used to go about the Internet, where you watch for the "ghost" in the right hand corner of the screen, and then a crazy loud zombie jumps at you.

[TimurCivan]

It felt like one of those fake commerials that used to go about the Internet, where you watch for the "ghost" in the right hand corner of the screen, and then a crazy loud zombie jumps at you.

I knew someone was gonna do that at some point though... :)

But seriosly, despite the ending, the quality wit hwhich you crepped me out with that hallway scene, you still scored like 2nd highest in my judging.

[jeans]

Hated the end. In my opinion, it was a SUPER cheap shot

I think it's kind of neat that you and your partner in Bloody Mary both disliked the ending. You must work well together.

Anyway I can't really argue that it is a cheap shot. It is, it's a sucker punch, but sometimes sucker punches win the fight. I'm not suggesting that I thought I would win horrorfest. I had no illusions about that. I'm just making analogy here for the hell of it. I really just wanted to scare people. I think being caught off guard like that when you're focusing on something is the most efficient way to do that. It taps right into your instincts. Scaring people with something that's more creepy than surprising, is more hit or miss.
I made sure the audio level of the whole movie was low, so people would have to crank up their volume and be really hit by it. It is a trick, but even if it feels tacked on, it was pretty much what the whole movie was based around. I think most of the movies have moments like it. I guess it's just a matter of degree that determines if it fits in the story, or if it takes you out of it. But it's the end of the movie, it's time to come out anyway.

I guess I'm kind of bummed that you think the end negates the rest of the movie. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm glad you liked it up until the end. Anyway it does what it was supposed to do. I do appreciate the thoughtful comments.

[snodart]

Thanks alot. I just gave birth to a wrinkle neck brown trout. :Drogar-Evil(DBG):

Nice build up... every second that I started to get tired of the pace, there would be something to pull me back in.... and it got more and more creepy as time went on. All of which was a perfect set up for dropping the bomb.

The overall look was a little bland. Not sure if it was intentional or not. I think it worked well with the intruder/creepy bald guy and the set up for the big scare.

There were a few awkward cuts while the woman was at the reading chair. otherwise congratulations.. you scared the sh!t out of me. Good stuff.

[Matt Sconce]

I thought the build up, while slow, did work, and now that I realize I missed the line about her significant other dying, It all makes sense. I love the peephole scene. I will say that again! It was genious!

[VersuS]

Hated the end. In my opinion, it was a SUPER cheap shot, and basically negated the work you were doing up to that point. I liked the tension building up, and to me it was EXTREMELY scary and creepy to see the guy in the hall and in the mirror.

The end did make me jump of course, but I felt like it was just so tacked on and designed to be a gimmick that it really was dumb to me. It felt like one of those fake commerials that used to go about the Internet, where you watch for the "ghost" in the right hand corner of the screen, and then a crazy loud zombie jumps at you.

Exactly, its the one with the car that is driving in the countryside. My brother said the same thing with his wife and that's why I wouldnt put this one up in the ratings. However, and this is something that should make us wonder....this one was one of the 5 films that had something scary or jumpy in them. The rest were mellow in terms of horror for my taste.

[jpbankesmercer]

I'm a fan on slow build up's.
'Audition' used this technique to great advantage having maximum impact.
Your film was the first to make me physically jump, so....Props :thumbup: :thumbup:

Yeah I know it was a cheap shot but hey that's Horror, cheap and nasty.
I liked the overall creep factor to your film.

Best bits: The peep hole shot's (must have been hard to get!), the voice on the phone at the end...Of course the end.

Thought the lighting was a bit flat in places but you know something I think it added to the overall creep factor.
Good film, well done.
J.P.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS FOR BROKEN CIRCLE (WE NEED EM TO GROW!)

[FlintMI]

yah, the scary guy jumping out when you least expect it car commercial:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-831306317701749270

still made me jump. great sound design and timing. (both)

[Jaime V]

jeans,

I just finished watching your film "The Commitment" and I had to post while it was fresh in my shorts...er mind.

I really liked this film. I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, but I think the combination of the Title of your film, the tagline (Some promises are not meant to be kept), the phone call in the beginning and the sound bit from the news on the TV worked perfectly together to get this film rolling. You knew immediately that her husband had died, and that he was still going to keep his commitment to her, and in this particular case, knowing it made it scarier. This is the only film so far that I found scary, and I've only got twelve more to go.

The last scene where your scary albino jumps at you I thought worked well for your film. The first 5:59 was a great tension and creepiness building slowburn, and the shock at the end was a great payoff, like going from 0-60 in one second. Even though I was almost expecting something like that, it still got me. I'm normally not a fan of those types of tactics (basically just the shock-value scare), but I think it worked in your film.

Acting: I think your actress was pretty decent. The only time I thought she was off was with the bathroom mirror scene; I thought she should have been more scared.

Your set: was this just shot in your apartment? If so, congratulations for making your apartment work for you. It looked...I don't know...real and plain. I can't decide if it would have been better if it was "dressed up" more, or if it worked better looking like someone's real life apartment.

Anyway, congratulations on your film. Thanks for creeping me out.

ps: I've been meaning to ask you...what the hell is going on in your avatar?? I can't make it out.

[jeans]

jeans,

I just finished watching your film "The Commitment" and I had to post while it was fresh in my shorts...er mind.

I really liked this film. I'm not sure if it was deliberate or not, but I think the combination of the Title of your film, the tagline (Some promises are not meant to be kept), the phone call in the beginning and the sound bit from the news on the TV worked perfectly together to get this film rolling. You knew immediately that her husband had died, and that he was still going to keep his commitment to her, and in this particular case, knowing it made it scarier. This is the only film so far that I found scary, and I've only got twelve more to go.

The last scene where your scary albino jumps at you I thought worked well for your film. The first 5:59 was a great tension and creepiness building slowburn, and the shock at the end was a great payoff, like going from 0-60 in one second. Even though I was almost expecting something like that, it still got me. I'm normally not a fan of those types of tactics (basically just the shock-value scare), but I think it worked in your film.

Acting: I think your actress was pretty decent. The only time I thought she was off was with the bathroom mirror scene; I thought she should have been more scared.

Your set: was this just shot in your apartment? If so, congratulations for making your apartment work for you. It looked...I don't know...real and plain. I can't decide if it would have been better if it was "dressed up" more, or if it worked better looking like someone's real life apartment.

Anyway, congratulations on your film. Thanks for creeping me out.

ps: I've been meaning to ask you...what the hell is going on in your avatar?? I can't make it out.

Thanks so much for all the comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. I'll try to answer your questions/comments in order. With the title, tag line, news broadcast, and phone message, yes I'd say that was all deliberate. Just wanted to get the point across as quickly and quietly as possible. The only thing that worried me was that since I made all the audio in the movie low, to force people to up their volume for the end, people might miss something from the beginning. I know of at least one person who did miss it. I exported a couple different versions with different levels and tried them on a computer at work with small speakers.
As for the actress (a good friend of mine, who did it as a favor), I would have ideally liked her to get more scared. But I think she did a really good job considering how much trouble she had not laughing.
The set was my apartment yes. I'm glad you think it works. I would have liked to shoot in a more interesting place, but at least it had a long hallway.
As for the avatar, it's distortion made by scrubbing broken divx clips. I posted a link to a video I made in this way earlier, but I'll re-post it. Thanks again.
http://www.nickquest.com/videos/diviant1min.html
Oh and don't bother trying to go to the home page. It's temporarily down.

[MOVIE MASTER]

you go jeans! 696

[Brandon Rice]

scared the crap outa me.... AGH!

[MOVIE MASTER]

scared the crap outa me.... AGH!
ahhahahhaahhahaaaaaaa!

[Michael_Petro]

OK so its 1:15 am and I see the commitment show up at the top of the forum.. i'm like did i see this yet..nope .. ok so peephole, knew it was coming got me anyway(nice one) mirror scene new it was coming got me again( nice).. last scene didn't see coming at all thought something was gonna come flying down the hallway.... now my kids are wondering why my pants are wet while I'm nailing a 2x4 over our peephole.. you owe me a new pair of shorts a bathrobe and a new chair(i'll be sending you a bill:) )

cheapshot sucker punch whatever ... it was effective..the biggest scare of horrorfest so far good work man...

[zenbarai]

OH MY GOD!!!!

I think I almost had a heart attack.

That was one of the best scares I've ever had in a horror film. Seriously.

whoo!!!!

Ben

[Michael_Petro]

OH MY GOD!!!!

I think I almost had a heart attack.

That was one of the best scares I've ever had in a horror film. Seriously.

whoo!!!!

Ben

yeah there should be a warning label :)

[jeans]

I can't tell you all how much I enjoy reading everyones stories and jokes about how the movie scared them. It has made this whole process even more fun and rewarding. Thanks everybody.

[Michael_Petro]

I can't tell you all how much I enjoy reading everyones stories and jokes about how the movie scared them. It has made this whole process even more fun and rewarding. Thanks everybody.


Just showed my wife this Priceless absoulutly priceless :)

[Lingothree]

Hi -

You have the most startling movie, for sure. So if that was totally what you were going for, you win. Okay - so here's my feedback. If everything you put into this movie (I haven't read in detail your entire thread) was a device to make the viewer distracted by the length, the weird editing, etc., only to scare the crap out of him/her at the end, then you can disregard my thoughts below because you pulled it all off quite well if that was indeed your motivation.

Otherwise, I think you have the bones for a good short here, but it still could use a lot of work. Would love some character development, so we get some sense of who these people are, so we have another level tacked on to the "holy crap that's scary" level.

Editing could use a lot of work overall. A lot of shots seemed unmotivated (like the girl reading in the chair, cut to shot of her head, then her legs, then her head). Same with the first shot of the staircase - why was that there? The editing also didn't flow well, yet the strange edits/shots didn't seem to have an artistic motivation, either.

First keyhole shot didn't look good - was that on purpose?

Sorry if you've already addressed this, but is the title a play on something in the story, or is it a reference to the movie itself (commit yourself to sitting through it, and it will scare the beejeezus out of you)? If it's the latter, then I suppose all the weird editing, lack of story, etc. were indeed devices to play us into the trap at the end?

Way to make a movie that has got me thinking about your motivations. Not many have done that thus far.

[jeans]

Hi -

You have the most startling movie, for sure. So if that was totally what you were going for, you win. Okay - so here's my feedback. If everything you put into this movie (I haven't read in detail your entire thread) was a device to make the viewer distracted by the length, the weird editing, etc., only to scare the crap out of him/her at the end, then you can disregard my thoughts below because you pulled it all off quite well if that was indeed your motivation.

Otherwise, I think you have the bones for a good short here, but it still could use a lot of work. Would love some character development, so we get some sense of who these people are, so we have another level tacked on to the "holy crap that's scary" level.

Editing could use a lot of work overall. A lot of shots seemed unmotivated (like the girl reading in the chair, cut to shot of her head, then her legs, then her head). Same with the first shot of the staircase - why was that there? The editing also didn't flow well, yet the strange edits/shots didn't seem to have an artistic motivation, either.

First keyhole shot didn't look good - was that on purpose?

Sorry if you've already addressed this, but is the title a play on something in the story, or is it a reference to the movie itself (commit yourself to sitting through it, and it will scare the beejeezus out of you)? If it's the latter, then I suppose all the weird editing, lack of story, etc. were indeed devices to play us into the trap at the end?

Way to make a movie that has got me thinking about your motivations. Not many have done that thus far.

This is a very good review, other than the fact that yes some of this was covered earlier in the thread. The movie was made to scare you with the end. Everything is setting you up for that, the length, the low volume level, but not the weird editing. Nobody has called it that yet. It's an interesting comment though. There are a couple things that can account for that. One is that there were almost no real planned shots. Well they were planned in the sense that we knew what was going to happen and where it was going to take place, but as for setting up good shots in those places, I did not. Just shot from the hip for the most part. Tried a couple different things and picked between them for different reasons. I am used to doing things completely off the cuff. This movie was probably the most planned out thing I've ever done, and it was still very freeform. I pretty much subscribe to the post-modern ideas of everything being random and arbitrary. This is actually the first thing of any real substance that I've shot with my DVX since I got it around 4 months ago. I myself find the movie more awkward (shot to shot) than the first cut of it. But that was 8 min and like has been said before, it was slow enough at 6.
Another issue is that I tried to show as little of the apartment as possible, because, well, it's a wreck. The living room is a bedroom, some of a bed can be seen in the doorway shots. Also everything inside the apartment was just lit with room lights. Like the shot of her in the golden chair reading for instance, is only lit by the lamp showed in the frame. This was another way of showing less of the apartment, but it was also limiting. Overall I was pleased with the way it came out. I really wanted to shoot somewhere else though.

I guess I find your comment interesting because I'm wondering if you are actually picking up on all this stuff, or if it's just a case of taste.

There (was) supposed to be more development in it IE dialog between the girl and a friend, as well as the possibility of a flashback scene with her and her boyfriend. Me and my partner decided to cut those for, acting/post production/time constraint reasons. We thought it would still accomplish what it was set out to do.

The first shot of the staircase was put in to break up two shots that didn't cut together well. At first I thought it was odd, but eventually it seemed normal to me. That was a very astute observation. Really, no one else noticed, or at least didn't say anything.

Honestly I didn't notice the first peephole shot as being different from the second. They are actually from the same shot, but shooting through the keyhole was tricky. Just a slight difference in distance from the door drastically effected the light level seen through the peephole. It was the only place we tried to light well and it didn't make much difference. Earlier in this thread are shots of the real peephole and a fake one I made because of this. I just ended up going with the real one because the consensus was that it was creepier.

The title has to do with the story, what little there is. But someone else mentioned that in another thread, that it applies to the process of viewing the movie as well. I wish that was my intention, I like that a lot. It would have been clever, but it is just a coincidence.

Well thanks for the input. Sorry for the length, but this has been my favorite comment to respond to.

[TheatreGuy]

jeans, man, I am so sorry.... I have been following up on my "job" of critiquing and I seemed to have over-looked placing my review here! Which really bums me out because I could wait to come over here and yell at you for SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!!

Lord, oh mighty! What a great set-up. What a build! Man, I knew it was coming and I STILL didn't see it!

Man, hats off to you! Great job!

I LOVED IT!

Ted

[Lingothree]

Honestly I didn't notice the first peephole shot as being different from the second. They are actually from the same shot, but shooting through the keyhole was tricky. Just a slight difference in distance from the door drastically effected the light level seen through the peephole. It was the only place we tried to light well and it didn't make much difference. Earlier in this thread are shots of the real peephole and a fake one I made because of this. I just ended up going with the real one because the consensus was that it was creepier.

The title has to do with the story, what little there is. But someone else mentioned that in another thread, that it applies to the process of viewing the movie as well. I wish that was my intention, I like that a lot. It would have been clever, but it is just a coincidence.

Well thanks for the input. Sorry for the length, but this has been my favorite comment to respond to.

I was one who voted for the real peephole - funny. The 2nd shot was fine, but I didn't get what was going on when I saw the first. Of course, viewing the 2nd shot cleared up the first for me.

Man - when someone else attributes a good idea to you, you have to say you had it all along!

[Gord.T]

I think doing a short with no dialog can be very tricky. You really pulled it off. The story was self explanatory. I liked the keyhole shot.

At the very end, I was waiting for something to happen. I looked down at the time and thought what could happen in 5 seconds? She's not gonna
make it. Sure enough, you totally lured me in looking at the door.
Scared the bejezzes out me.
That's twice today, and really, I should know by now, but NOPE.
You win. Good stuff. -gordo.

[jeans]

Man - when someone else attributes a good idea to you, you have to say you had it all along!

Then I would feel like a fraud. At least admitting I didn't think of it first, I get to feel honest.

[TheatreGuy]

Hey jeans! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FILM!!!

You did a GRRRREAT JOB of scaring the pants off of me!!!!

Best of luck to you and want to see more of your work!

Been a fun time!

Ted

[jpbankesmercer]

Best of luck Jeans!

[Slimothy]

That last part scared me pretty good. Good setup. Good cinematography. That dude looked pretty scary.

Good job.

[iSTy]

lol, scared the sh*t out of me lol

[cinealma]

OMG! That was like one of the best amusement park rides I've ever been on!!! I, like so many others, was lured right into your trap, my friend. You set me up REAL good.

The film looked great and like a magician, you kept me looking one way while getting ready to scare the sh*t out of me with the other.

Honestly, I never saw it coming.

Good job.


John G.

[Michael_Petro]

I showed carli(the lead in betrayed) this movie and she screamed dude hard core I LMAO. You are in my top ten don't know where yet but there still doing the ballot :)

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

haha ... just watched this fed through our TV, sitting on the couch with my GF and our beagle ... prying his little claws out of the ceiling now :grin:

[Michael_Petro]

man I Love this movie! many people need new garments BWAHAHAHAHA!

[TimurCivan]

haha ... just watched this fed through our TV, sitting on the couch with my GF and our beagle ... prying his little claws out of the ceiling now :grin:

Lol. Poor Bernie!!!!!