Mécontentement

[Inexistence]

http://www.inexistence.cc/Discontent/Discontent_001.jpg




05.10.06
Thought I'd post an alternate design just for kicks.


http://inexistence.cc/Discontent/One_Sheet_002.gif

[MOVIE STUNTS]

HVX or DVX?

[Inexistence]

100B and I'm still waiting for my B. Green book!

[Brandon Rice]

I really like that poster. And cool cool title as well. Good luck

[VersuS]

Welcome and Good Luck!! Great to See a FRENCH title in here! Are you french as well? Wanna tell us what the story is about? You got me excited with the 'mecontentement' title!!!

[cinealma]

Too cool. Like the poster, too!


John G.

[TimurCivan]

The poster is Gorgeous.

[dvpixl]

yea love the poster

[Inexistence]

Thankyou for all the kind words! It's a horror/fantasy short about a man wanting to
join the French resistance and fight the war against Germany. It has a little twist in
the end that might make some viewers say "What the F*&# was that?"... in bad way.

Versus, I'm not french but, I think it fits the story though:)

[VersuS]

The story sounds extremely original and interesting!!!! Looking forward to it!!!!

[MOVIE STUNTS]

Sounds very cool,... Oh and I think the poster is sweet too.

[Lingothree]

Looks interesting.

[Ralph Oshiro]

Great graphics and type treatment! Slick work!

[Inexistence]

I have not visited the thread in a while so I thought I would post a few shots
from the short while we wait.

Thanks Rez!


http://inexistence.cc/Discontent/Stillls_Mecontentement.jpg

[Brandon Rice]

WHOA!! Great look!

[griffin]

You've got a tank?!?! that's phenominal. How'd you pull that off?

[snodart]

Sounds very interesting. Agree with the others.. great poster. Those grabs look very nice. Looking forward to checking it out! Yea, a tank!?

[Inexistence]

Unfortunately the tank is just 3d and not featured in this cut down version
of the short. But that would be cool to have a real tank!
I have a few fx shots that were not going to be completed in
time for Oct. so I had to cut them out till I had time to render them. Infact
there were more stealth fx shots that I could not fit into the schedule aswell.

I'm just crossing my fingers that the current edit holds the story together!

Thanks guys!

[Rubix³]

Awesome poster.

Good luck with the movie.

[luster]

i really like your poster. nice design and great color choice

[MOVIE MASTER]

Cool Poster

[Inexistence]

thanks for all the compliments on the poster everyone!

[Brandon Rice]

Films up, hope everyone watches... I am about to check it out! :)

[Kyle Stebbins]

loved it loved it loved it loved it... fanTASTIC film. i dont know how you did some of that, and i really wish i could myself... i loved the b&w and the vfx were tasteful, so real. -- the language was beautiful and during the credits, the snappy war jolts were superb! 5 stars on a round! fantastic work!!

[dvpixl]

it was subtle and felt like you were purposefully holding back what the character was seeing... and paid off at the end with great fx.

[VersuS]

I am totally in love with this one!
Maybe its the French (went to a greek-french school...dont ask why)...maybe the theme (huge fan of the era)...maybe the poetry in all this.....maybe the subtle score in the end.....but most of all WHAT YOU DID WITH THAT VFX IN THE END!! I WAS HOLDING MY BREATH!!

I know most people will say that this is not a horror movie....and it probably isnt so sadly I wouldnt put the prizes in your direction, however I am voting no matter what, horror or not and you get very high marks in my ratings.

One thing though, try the subtitles once more, and keep them a bit long by putting 2 lines. At the beginning they went by pretty fast and couldnt read them all.

Nice sound design and angles, and frames and the guy was perfect...loved the foley...tank passing by...

PS. before getting shot he holds the rifle in the most NOT LIKE THAT way...is this because he didnt know how to (your actor) or just to portray the fact that all his life he was 'away' from all this...keeping himself 'clean'....?

[JoshuaNitschke]

Gorgeous filming. Simply gorgeous.

Not horror though. Screenplay gets low marks because it doesn't fit the genre, not because it's bad, but because you didn't write something to fit the contest.

But it's a beautiful piece of work. Just not right for the contest.

[Matt Sconce]

Matt Sconce's Review of Mecontentement
SPOLIERS POSSIBLE!

Script
It was a pretty good story. A guy who feels guilty he did not do more to stop the germans, and decides to fight. I agree that this was not a horror movie. More of a Drama tragedy, or period war movie.
Acting
Your actor did a great job!!!
Cinematography
This is beautifully shot!
Editing
I think all your editing worked bery well and helped the story flow effortlessly along.
Overall Impressions
Interesting movie. You definitely captured a beautiful tragic story.

[avatuar]

umm I can't find it in my zips what's the file name?

[Kholi]

Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.
Nice poster you guys have up. I hadn't seen the thread until I watched the movie so it's new to me. And so are you! So welcome, even if you've been around a while.

Script - This wasn't horror to me. I guess you can list horror as a lot of things but I can't see anything that stands out to me as "horror". Maybe "horrors" of war. But, in reviewing the script for what it was, outside of this contest, it's a short poetic narrative and wasn't bad at all. The V.O was rather prose, which worked with the visuals.

Direction - Over-all nice frame-ups. Even the way you tackled subtleties was okay with me. The end where he gets filled with bullets worked from afar. I'm not a fan of "old war flicks" but whatever snippets I've seen and can be remembered, this fits.

Acting - Silent acting. Facial expressions are to be relied on but in a short like this you can't really go on much more than that.

Cine/Lighting - Your choice for black and white was revealed as it played on. The lighting still persisted through and added variations of blacks to whites, really rich values. Nice.

Editing - I liked the stacatto beats you added in at certain points. First one that came to mind was the one, two, three when the guy stepped into the woods for the first time. I also like the way you edited through your plant-growth scene, and the credits.

Sound - I didn't know what the guy was saying, but the V.O sounded great. So did the sound effects. A lot of weight to things, bass even. Scored well, dramatic, thoughtful tones.

Special Effects - I liked the plant growth and the tanks. You guys should hook up with some other DVXusers in that area.


Overall consensus - Not a horror-fest short, to me. But as anything else it's a good showcase of work. I liked watching it through.Thanks for showing it.

[Inexistence]

I completely agree with all comments. I had a long hard time debating to which
elements might be borrowed from the horror genre and woven them loosely
into what I, in my own mind, is a terrorfying thought. Being useless, in denial,
day dreamer, and becoming rooted in such a way that provides no progression
in life. To me the horror of becoming a tree is more than I need as a justification
for the contest but, that being said, it's on the very fringe. The imagery I
deemed creepy but, not disturbing. This short slowly evolved into something
I was not expecting. I liked the age old tradition/mythology of one being
metamorphosed into a tree and how it might feel during that transformation.
Needless to say the story happilly developed into a different genre
inheriting loose elements of horror from it's previous incarnation.

Thanks for viewing everyone! Oh god I gotta leave work and go home!
Slowly getting through my reviews...

Oh and thanks Kholi. I've been sorta in and around the DIY section for the last
few months. Crazy 35mm adapts are addicting!

[khmuse]

I liked this film on a lot of levels. It was deceivingly simple, a perfect minimalist approach. The sound design on this one was its best aspect, it just made the film work.

I normally don't like all available light exterior films, but this one pulled it off by selecting great locations and shooting at the right time of day.

The final effect was good, but it was already a solid film up to that point.

Excellent and worth watching a number of times.

[Kyle Stebbins]

i would definitely hire you for graphic design on any of my projects...

[TimurCivan]

This was Gorgeous.

[Blaine]

This was an interesting concept, however, the black and white was a little "washed out" for lack of a better term. I would love to see this with a lot more contrast. In fact, I bumped up the contrast on my viewer and voila, that did wonders for my enjoyment of the pictures. Not sure how you'll feel about the manipulation but I've got to have that nice contrast on B&W.

I hope that doesn't sound like Bruce Dickinson asking for more cowbell...:)

[Kholi]

I think my monitor is hopped up on contrast because I got that contrast from the get-go. THis might be a problem for viewing other fest entries. I should look at these on my laptop to see what's what.

[Blaine]

I think my monitor is hopped up on contrast because I got that contrast from the get-go. THis might be a problem for viewing other fest entries. I should look at these on my laptop to see what's what.
Probably couldn't hurt. I'm on a Mac and I think they show a bit darker so I have to take that into consideration and occasionally make adjustments.

[Inexistence]

I definitely know some shots had a little more contrast than others and that it aslo
varied from monitor to monitor. In the end I settled for the middle ground between
the 3-5 seperate monitors I looked at. Blaine, I do see your point about having nice contrast though!

Thanks!

[Gord.T]

I Like these kinds of films. I wish there were more
of this kind of thing. Liked the story and the subtitles, music,
vo and film look, all fit together. The acting was
totally believable. Was not expecting the ending.
Very spooky-eerie and very well done.

[Darkline]

The ending was something else. Really nice vibe you had there. I actually held my breath when i saw that thing rise out of his chest.

It's good to see some entries that do not conform to the typical horror genre. For me it was a bit too much dialogue after a while, I'd rather the VO to be a counterpoint to the visuals rather than a copy of what we're seeing onscreen - however that made the ending probably stand out more....

also nice having the start as the end, it gives it a sense of completion.

well done, very interesting piece.

[Inexistence]

I had this first written as a short story. Then my writer and I went through and
cut out everything we deemed unnesessary. Afterall the cutting we had a heavy
skeleton to work with. When we hit the translation phase the narration ballooned
by 20 percent so we cut and streamlined even more. I have to admit one thing
though, this is my very first film ever and I quickly realized, with the first few
takes of the VO, that it was still heavy. We acutally had the narration continue
at the end and that was axed for more visual impact.

You're right on point Darkline!

oh yeah, about the counterpoint to the visuals, that's a bit of a grey area. It
was more biased toward viewer comprehension than I had anticipated for the
final product. That was the part of the proccess I found most difficult to change
in post after all the footage was ingested. I need to reshoot some parts as well.

[Darkline]

i guess i didnt take into account the translation part - i thought you were French...lol I can see how that would make you go 'ahhh' when the translated script came in....

brave effort in my eyes!

[Inexistence]

oh christ i was putting myself out on a very short and thin limb with this one. hehe

Truth be told, I've learned that english can be exceedingly redundant, moreso
than I had myself beleive, and that french can be imprecise just enough to
bloat any translation by 20 percent or more.

[avatuar]

Dude I can't find this file where is it? Can you post up an external link?

[Inexistence]

Dude I can't find this file where is it? Can you post up an external link?

yeah I know:beer:it's one of the ones that was a late upload not in the zips.
I've been getting that message a lot lately. Still Brandon was lighting quick
with helping me out and I owe him something like a case of beers... maybe even a keg.



http://www.inexistence.cc/Discontent/Mecontentement-EricDiga-Inexistence_2.mov

[Ralph Oshiro]

Wow--that was really, really good! A period film! Great job! Lovely and sad!

[Kyle Stebbins]

http://www.kylestebbins.com/UseforDVXUSER/cheersforfest.jpg

[Inexistence]

http://www.thedrawlyn.com/sub/geekfest/geekfest_20010310/ZZ-cheers.jpg


HAHA! *clink, clink, clinkin' of bottles*

[TheatreGuy]

Inexistence, this was a masterpiece of a film. The cinematography was just beautiful. I felt like I was watching a piece of art!

The story was both tragic and wonderful. What an incredible grasp of filmmaking you have. It is so nice to see something that you weren't expecting... at all!

Bravo! Well done.

Ted

[EJ Pennypacker]

I think if you'd included that shot of the tank while he was hiding, I quite possibly would of wet myself.

A fine piece of film-making. Art in video form!

Have another Stella on me.

EJ

[TheatreGuy]

Hey again, I just watched your film again and showed my wife (it is one of the few that I can show her because she is not at all into horror, nor myself for that fact...)

Anyways, I wanted to comment on the opening shot of the trees and how I really enjoyed that shot. And by the time the film ends, that shot means so much more.

I love that kind of stuff!!!

Again, great job.

Ted

[TimurCivan]

My mom loved this!!!!!

shethoughtit was beautiful.

[luster]

nice work.

i really like this one. it's one of the few films in this fest that really took some chances.

others have commented on it looking washed out, but i assumed this was intentional, and i thought it worked quite well with the piece.

the music, the french, the look, the vfx, all had the same kind of dreariness that really matched the tone of the piece. i think this is an exceptional work.

the whole time i really wanted to see what was going on outside of the space of the main character - the tanks, the soldiers, the destruction, etc.- but i thought it was a bold move to leave them out. we've all seen this stuff before, and know what it looks like so i actually thought not showing them was more powerful. going along with this, i wish you would take those snippets of tanks and planes out of the end credits. although really cool, i really think they are unnecessary and actually take away from the piece.

a couple of minor technical things that can easily be fixed: sometimes during the voiceover i could hear the cuts and it was a bit distracting - you might try rolling the fade a bit more, or adding some kind of room tone to fix that. the footsteps also seemed way off sometimes- maybe try playing around with the timing and levels a bit (i don't think they should all be at the same level).

[Ralph Oshiro]

Inexistence, this was a masterpiece of a film. The cinematography was just beautiful. I felt like I was watching a piece of art! The story was both tragic and wonderful. What an incredible grasp of filmmaking you have.Well said, Ted. I agree! One million percent! A beautiful piece of fine art filmmaking!

[Inexistence]

Hitting the nail on the head on all points here!

At one point during the final audio stage I had to switch to using a
basic workstation at work which had really junky speakers and my
headphones barely made a difference. But, yeah everytime I hear/see
the footsteps, VO I cry:crybaby:

As for the snipets at the end, I have more use for those as part of
the story. I'm going to post a laundry list of revisions and complete
them before the end of next week!

Thank you again everyone! It's been a truly enlightening experience
here and it has brought to light exact weaknesses that I have to
work on... how can I express my gratitude?!:(



nice work.

i really like this one. it's one of the few films in this fest that really took some chances.

others have commented on it looking washed out, but i assumed this was intentional, and i thought it worked quite well with the piece.

the music, the french, the look, the vfx, all had the same kind of dreariness that really matched the tone of the piece. i think this is an exceptional work.

the whole time i really wanted to see what was going on outside of the space of the main character - the tanks, the soldiers, the destruction, etc.- but i thought it was a bold move to leave them out. we've all seen this stuff before, and know what it looks like so i actually thought not showing them was more powerful. going along with this, i wish you would take those snippets of tanks and planes out of the end credits. although really cool, i really think they are unnecessary and actually take away from the piece.

a couple of minor technical things that can easily be fixed: sometimes during the voiceover i could hear the cuts and it was a bit distracting - you might try rolling the fade a bit more, or adding some kind of room tone to fix that. the footsteps also seemed way off sometimes- maybe try playing around with the timing and levels a bit (i don't think they should all be at the same level).

[arielman]

Truly like the story line here ...different from everyone Else's so far .

I wish the short was a little darker and not washed out looking (my preference) but I do understand the look you were after .

I find the opening shot of the trees a nice touch as I also filmed the exact same scene for ours , also for the opening scene BUT was left out do to time .
Funny too is you also used a tree not absorbing like ours but expanding outward .
It is always refreshing to see something different !!!!!
The only other complaint I have is the shots of the dead men were a little to quick for me . That's it .
Nice short !!
Ian

[snodart]

Excellent work. The depth of the story is great. The visuals only added to the depth. Excellent use of CG (it actually served a purpose other than eye candy!!). The footsteps were mentioned, but other than that... I fail to see anything other than a work of art. Nice job!

[jpbankesmercer]

Acting: Your lead was engaging and interesting to look at.
Script: Interesting and original but not Horror.
Direction: Some very interesting storytelling techniques used, well done!
Music: Nice.
Editing: Smooth.
Lighting: Lovely natural lighting, lots of sun flares, yaay! :dankk2:
Loved: That first shot! BW, tank Foley (ACE), the smoke when he get’s shot, the end credit’s (best of the fest WOW!:thumbup: ), to the end shot back to the start.
Hated: That you didn’t show the bodies.
Overall: A very emotionally involving piece here, loved your use of sound FX, off camera ideas to tell the story. You guys have got skills and lots of them!

J.P.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS ON BROKEN CIRCLE (THANKS)

[TheatreGuy]

Hey Inexistence! Congratulations on your film!!! I really enjoyed this. So different in so many ways. Such great work you did!

Good luck and hope to see you around again!

This has been a blast!

Ted

[jpbankesmercer]

Best of luck guys, loved it!

[Mark Harris]

I'm going to echo what others have said here:

Cinematography: AMAZING. I didn't think it looked washed out so much as just the look you intended. Either way, it was quite stunning. I think I read you just shot in sunlight. Is BW just done in post? Anything else you did to it, as far as cc/contrast/etc.?

VFX: Holy shit, I did not see that coming. I haven't read the thread, so if this was covered, point me to it. I didn't really understand what was happening at the end, but wow, was it something to watch!!!

For my tastes, there might have been some more character action. Not sure exactly what that means, but for me, you pushed right up to the limit of what V/O can accomplish. If this movie were 10 minutes, it might not have worked.

Acting was great. That guy was just very simple and in the moment, never seeming like he was working at it at all. Very very nice work.

Story: Wow. Though I would not really call this horror, it was defeinitly one of the best story/character studies in the fest. A real issue for that character to deal with, and not just be killed or chased, etc.

Please, please post the revision when you get it done.

Also, EXCELLENT use of sound effects. I didn't notice anything about the footsteps, you say above, but just because I was into the story, I guess. But the battle sounds were REALLY well mixed to sound authentic and at various distances from him.

Very nice work!!!

[Norm Sanders]

Just finally getting the time to copy the notes I compiled in a Word doc while watching the shorts:

The cinematography in this was EXCELLENT – brilliant in spots. Absolutely loved it. However, the subtitles went too quickly at times, making it difficult at the beginning to keep up. The sound was top notch when we heard the tank going by … nice job. I didn’t quite understand the story, more specifically how this was supposed to be horror, other than some people can consider war horrific, which I don’t disagree with, but not sure that it warrants a war film to automatically qualify for the horror genre … feels like more of a statement is trying to be made by this film ... if that's the case, personally for me when I'm watching a film that appears to be making a statement vs. entertainment value, it's a huge turn off. The VFX were also quite good at the end, where the tree grows out of the man.

[Matty_g]

the poster designs would make awesome tshirts.

i loved this project.

[Inexistence]

Thank you everyone! All your comments are very much apprieciated!

desperatecomfort, the BW was done in post to change the feel of some shots.
It definitely needed a somewhat dreamy, hazy, quality and I found that pretty
difficult when trying find a middle point between different monitors. I used
SA Color Finesse to bump the midtones with a hint of green and everything
else remained greyscale. I lightened/darkened a few edges in AE, color balance,
levels etc.

I have to give it up to my actor Ian Novick. I posted on craigslist, he sent
an email and my writer and I were like... "That's him!" He is a very creative,
intelligent actor. Ian stayed in character the entire 3.5hours in the wool shirt
and pants. Infact the first shot in the film, where Ian is sitting, was a sorta
random moment between shots. He took direction very well and I plan on
using him for my next project. I can't thank him enough!

As far as the story goes, this version contains some horror elements but,
the recut will definitely not have the same response as to whether it qualifies
as horror or not:)



I'm going to echo what others have said here:

Cinematography: AMAZING. I didn't think it looked washed out so much as just the look you intended. Either way, it was quite stunning. I think I read you just shot in sunlight. Is BW just done in post? Anything else you did to it, as far as cc/contrast/etc.?

VFX: Holy shi*, I did not see that coming. I haven't read the thread, so if this was covered, point me to it. I didn't really understand what was happening at the end, but wow, was it something to watch!!!

For my tastes, there might have been some more character action. Not sure exactly what that means, but for me, you pushed right up to the limit of what V/O can accomplish. If this movie were 10 minutes, it might not have worked.

Acting was great. That guy was just very simple and in the moment, never seeming like he was working at it at all. Very very nice work.

Story: Wow. Though I would not really call this horror, it was defeinitly one of the best story/character studies in the fest. A real issue for that character to deal with, and not just be killed or chased, etc.

Please, please post the revision when you get it done.

Also, EXCELLENT use of sound effects. I didn't notice anything about the footsteps, you say above, but just because I was into the story, I guess. But the battle sounds were REALLY well mixed to sound authentic and at various distances from him.

Very nice work!!!