Alex DePew - "Memories"

[Alex DePew]

Right click on the poster to download "Memories"
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/12185/1159125736.jpg (http://dvxuser.mikkowilson.com/horrorfest/Memories%20-%20Alex%20DePew.mov)

"Memories"

A Chocolate Milk Films Production

Starring
Jenilyn Rodriguez
Brad Heikes
Erin Cunningham

Directed by Alex DePew
Written by Jason Sheridan
Cinematography by Ryan Penny (HybridCreations)
Score by Justin R. Durban (Edgen)
Sound Design by Joe Johnson (Conrad_Johnson)

Crew
Timur Civan
Mark Harris (desperatecomfort)
Steve Boling
Sandesh
Natalia Britez

Not going to give away too many details, want people to watch this without knowing too much. This is a teaser post! More to come later.
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4485/screengrabstr8.jpg

I'd like to thank all the DVXusers who helped me put together this short. Without you guys this movie wouldn't have happened.

[Mark Harris]

Sweet, glad to see you finally with your very own thread.

[VersuS]

Good luck! Nice grabs! Especially the first one!!!

[kimko]

wtf i just posted this? well anyways i'll do it again. great shots Alex you got some good people on board ....yeah Justin! can't wait to hear it too!

[Alex DePew]

Sweet, glad to see you finally with your very own thread.

Yeah I procrastinated, but I finally got it up! Thanks for your help on the shoot! And your film is looking great. Can't wait to see it.

[Brandon Rice]

Hey... some real nice looking shots there... it looks like a very cerebral movie. Looking forward.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Hey welcome dood.
Those grabs look nice.

[Mark Harris]

Give us some grabs with the FOG!!! Smoke it up! Smoke it up!

[Alex DePew]

Give us some grabs with the FOG!!! Smoke it up! Smoke it up!
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9716/desperatecomfortatticon2.jpg

Here's a quick one before I head off to work. It stars the Manhole creator himself!:thumbup:

[Mark Harris]

Yeah, if I saw that ugly son of a bitch coming up to the attic, I'd be scared...

[Beat Takeshi]

Yo Alex, looks good. Can't wait to see your joint.

[hvxabuser]

movie looks very different... in a good coolio way. nice shots!

[conrad_johnson]

I'm doing sound for this film, and let me tell you, you're in for a treat. Very top-notch writing and cinematography. This will be a good one!:)

[Edgen]

Looking forward to seeing the final version of the film! :) Especially anxious to hear the sound FX!

/j

[TimurCivan]

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9716/desperatecomfortatticon2.jpg

Here's a quick one before I head off to work. It stars the Manhole creator himself!:thumbup:



DAmn...... Mark looks scary!! You should use that shot for the "Coming of age demon segment of your movie"

[TheatreGuy]

I just had to write and tell you that your banner is awesome. Really nice work.

Grabs are looking good, too!

I can't wait to see all of these films!!!!!!!!!!

Ted

[Ralph Oshiro]

GREAT poster! Pretty girl! Grabs look great! Looking real good there buddy!

[Alex DePew]

Thanks for the comments guys. It's getting close to the end. I can't wait to put this one up! And to watch all the others.

[Beat Takeshi]

Stick some more screenies meanie!
~
edit: sh*t I forgot to call you back now that I think about it. I'll hit you up tomorrow

[HybridCreations]

Sneaked in a thread when I wasn't lookin' eh Alex? Grabs look cool. So much hard work went into this in one tiny little weekend....not including what Alex, Justin, and Conrad have been putting in with the post work. Thanks to everyone who helped out, can't wait to see how this looks.
-Ryan

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

looking forward to it doood :)

[Lingothree]

Hey Alex -

Judging by your short, you've grown by leaps and bounds since herofest. I really liked this. It's all very tasteful - the cinematography, acting, writing, editing. That makes it stand out in this festival, I think.

Would have been cool to see a real baby in the sink rather than a doll. But that may have gotten you in a bit of trouble, no?

Who is that breathing at the end?

[Brandon Rice]

Memories


Script
Good script. I liked the twist at the end, and the dialogue was good throughout.

Acting
Wow, your lead was excellent, I believed her, and felt for her. She also had a good look, pretty, but not model pretty, I don’t know how to explain it, but it worked for the film.

Cinematography
Really simple, yet really effective, everything looked nice, nothing stood out bad in this area.

Editing
Solid, everything worked for me here.

Score
Very good, totally fit the film.

Overall Impressions
Another one I could see being a sleeper hit of this fest. Really good storyline, good acting, good cinematically. The obviously fake baby at the end threw me off a little, but I got over it. Nice work on this one, really nice work!

[FlintMI]

Everything on this shoot was great, lighting, acting, direction, camera angles. The fake baby at the end was a shame, but what can you do?!!?

Alex, a major major improvement over Hero Fest. Amazing work. Really proud of you and also your decision to move forward with your filmmaking career! Behind ya all the way!

[Matt Sconce]

Matt Sconce's Review of Memories
SPOLIERS POSSIBLE!

Script
The script rocked!! The only concern I have is what the heck was that about some girl in the attic. I feel that that plot element never went anywhere.
Acting
Your actress could be Rachel Weiss's Sister (from enemy at the gates). She did a GREAT JOB! I loved her acting. Believable and absolutely amazing.
Editing
The editing was excellent, and I did not see anything I thought was out of place.
Score
Worked well for the film.
Overall Impressions
DUDE! This amazed me! Definitely one of the best of the fest for sure! I think you have gone light years in comparison to your entry in Hero Fest. As film makers, we always are trying to get better. We are always trying to make it to that next level. You have jumped several levels with this entry! Congrats!

[Alex DePew]

Thanks so much guys. I really appreciate the kind words. I had to seriously cut this down to make six minutes. There were a few scenes with Charlotte in them (the character from the diary) that I had to cut which would have had her character as well as the parallel between Charlotte and Shelly make more sense. It will definitely be in the longer version.

The best comments and the one I have recieved from three people now is that I have made serious improvements over my last movie. These are great comments that really help me to strive to make every short as good as I possibly can make it. I want everything I do to be excellent . I know I'm not there yet. But every film is a tremendous learning experience and I try to see what went wrong and correct it and see what went right and remember it for next time.

As a side note, if you saw the movie and have criticisms I am happy to hear them. Tear it apart. I am a man, I can take it! This forum should be primarily to help each other out. And if there are problems that you see and point them out that is the biggest help you can give.

Thanks for the comments. I will definitely watch everyone's films and vote and I will comment on as many of the films as I can over the next few days.

[Alex DePew]

Hey Alex -

Judging by your short, you've grown by leaps and bounds since herofest. I really liked this. It's all very tasteful - the cinematography, acting, writing, editing. That makes it stand out in this festival, I think.

Would have been cool to see a real baby in the sink rather than a doll. But that may have gotten you in a bit of trouble, no?

Who is that breathing at the end?

Yup I couldn't find anyone willing to lend me their baby. And I think it was some girl Conrad Johnson is dating or something. He said she was way hot and had a cool voice so he used her.:)

[TimurCivan]

Alex I think you will find that you will be a sleeper hit. Not very Promoted..... But well loved. :)

[Alex DePew]

Alex I think you will find that you will be a sleeper hit. Not very Promoted..... But well loved. :)

Thanks man. I really appreciate that. You and Mark made one hell of a movie. My top pick so far. I will give you your props in your thread tomorrow. I gots to go to sleep, I was hustling all day long and then I shot some footage for a short doc I'm putting together. Long day, but it was awesome.

[Beat Takeshi]

Hey Alex, your improvments are 10 fold on this one. The actress did a really good job I thought but the audio on the guy seemed like a different mic and threw off her stuff. You did a great job this time.

[Kholi]

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

Hey Alex. Just got a chance to check out MEMORIES and I'm impressed. If it hasn't been said yet, you tripled your talent all-of-a-sudden. Crazy, man!

Script - I think you have a solid thing going on with the script. Nothing out of the ordinary for the horror genre, but it doesn't need to be; that's why Horror is such a success in the motion-picture world. I can tell that you wrote for much more than six minutes. I'm not sure how you would condense this, either. Maybe the subject matter just wasn't six minute material? There are always ways to do it, but I won't say that you could have without reviewing the actual script. I like the character development you get into in this amount of time. I can already see that there's trouble between them by the simple universal language of "silence at the dinner table". That's a very good thing to showcase in a short, and you get it done rather well, here.

Direction - You've leapt clean over your shadow, man. Changed it up like whoa. Your dinner-table dolly shot was NICE. Very smooth, very well paced, ended at the right moment. And your framing was better than your last entry to a fest. A little straight forward at times, but nothing completely unpleasant. Congratulations on improving!!!!

Acting - So far, from what I've seen (alphabeticaly order here), your actors are displaying some of the best work. Your guy got frustrated, gave the right facial expressions and your girl took it like a trouble woman would. They play well together. I didn't like her crying scene, it was a little too forced but otherwise she did well. GOod job, dude.

Cine/Lighting - I actually couldn't wait to get to this part. Man, what did you do? You really amped it up here. There's a real distinct look to your short, and it's very close to breaking away from the DVX look to me. I'd love to know how you got great lighting in the bathroom scene. It was dark, then the lights flicked on and it wasn't too dark at all. The lighting was just there waiting to happen. Is this all natural with bounce? Or did you rig it up to the lightswitch eletrical outlet so that they'd turn on when she flipped them on? I liked it dude, I really liked your lighting. You've stepped up here as well.

Editing - I've noticed that I never have much to say about editing unless it's really bad. I can say that I didn't like the intro, even though I knew what you were going for. Otherwise I dunno what to say about it. It wasn't bad.

Sound - Overall the shortcoming of ... the short? Music was a bit redundant but tolerable, the sound mixing was a little hollow and choppy as well. Though whatever Mic you used wasn't too bad. I didn't hear a lot of ambience going on, just the empty room sound. Sound should be tightened on a re-cut if at all possible.

Special Effects - Dead baby in the sink. It's something to be said about being bold enough to even put a fake baby in a sink of cloudy white bloody water. I can't harp on that too much. The blood looked like blood to me, the knife in the stomach could be painful. The sink turning on wasn't as effective because I didn't see it turn on from the right angle. But otherwise what you had going on was okay.

Scariest Moments - Darkness in the bathroom. I was thinking she'd turn on the light and she'd get straight hoodwinked or something.

Overall consensus - You've outdone your previous work. I'd like to know what Buddhist Film Temple you went to so I can fly out there and spend a week learning how to get off my ass, get out of the apartment, and get on with doing instead of wanting to do. You really have improved, Alex. TO you and your team, great work! Thanks for exhbiting and do let those interested (myself included) when the longer cut is available.

[Norm Sanders]

Kholi, I've still got to watch Alex's film, but I just wanted to say that I keep coming across your reviews ... good, bad, or ugly, you give DETAILED feedback on what you like and don't like.

And they're well balanced, like a good critique should be. Stuff that'll let the filmmaker know what the audience/peer didn't like, but still inspiring enough to want to keep at it vs. just wanting to throw in the towel because they feel like there's no hope.

Just wanted to publicly say how much I appreciate your reviews. Again, just good balance. Great job & thanks for taking the time.

[Kholi]

Kholi, I've still got to watch Alex's film, but I just wanted to say that I keep coming across your reviews ... good, bad, or ugly, you give DETAILED feedback on what you like and don't like.

And they're well balanced, like a good critique should be. Stuff that'll let the filmmaker know what the audience/peer didn't like, but still inspiring enough to want to keep at it vs. just wanting to throw in the towel because they feel like there's no hope.

Just wanted to publicly say how much I appreciate your reviews. Again, just good balance. Great job & thanks for taking the time.

That's the first official review of my reviews on the boards. Thanks, Norm. I wasn't looking for praise at all. I just wanted to give feedback to everyone because they all deserved it for doing what I wish I could.

Glad to hear that it's appreciated, though.

[Aaron Marshall]

I liked the look of the main actress. She had nice facial features. The lead male acted well. Overall the acting was pretty good save a few moments with the female lead. It was very minor but a few moments were slightly off.

I just don't get the film as far as horror goes. It's not scary to me. It's more sad than scary.

The score didn't go well with the film. I'm not sure if Justin couldn't relate to the material, or what. It seemed intrusive.

On the other hand I think this film blows away your Hero entry.

[VersuS]

Guys!!! GUYS!!! This one deserves A LOT OF ATTENTION coz I see so far not many have picked it up yet....

One of the most original stories....it moves away from the killer stuff...goes into the psychological territory and it does that very well with the diary and some excellent acting!

I loved the cinematography and the lights, the editing really worked for me and it ran smoothly as hell!

However I didnt really understand how we jumped to the last sequence where she enters the kitchen with her hands covered in blood....

Loved the look of blood though...very realistic...

I saw some dvxusers contributed to this one!! Nice!!! I envy your collaborations guys!!!

I have to say something here, I will go into further detail in a few days when I'll post a General Comment for the movies of Horrorfest.
Memories along with many others reminded me of video sequences I ve been seeing the past 10+ years in Adventures ...Phantasmagoria, Gabriel Knight, Black Dahlia....and so on...
Its not a negative thing I guess....but most of them look like sequences that you d find in a game like that...a video segment that transitions the player from one level to the other, or a video sequence that is part of an action that triggered some events....

[Steve_Arm]

Closing shot is jut brilliant with the camera masking behind the door and we just get a glance at the blood. Awesome.

[Blaine]

This one is just so much better than you last one. You should win an award for most improved.

I thought his reaction to her saying the faucets were leaky was a little over the top. It might have made more sense had she told him they turned on by themselves, but just saying they were leaky didn't add up to the reaction he gave...

As other's have said, the doll just pulls me out of the whole story. It's just too obviously not a baby. It would be nice to rework it, perhaps taking a different approach by finding a way to make the doll and asset rather than a liability.

These are fairly small concerns considering how well the story is put together but I think they are things that would push this story to the top.

[TheatreGuy]

Hello Alex, I have to say that I was rivited to your film! It has such a big film feel to it. I felt like I was watching a Hollywood blockbuster.

Your cinematography is just beautiful and the shots are well framed.

I loved the implentation of the running water. Never thought about a faucet being terrifying, but you made it so.

I thought that your actors were top notch!!! Huge kudos to them.

The scenes flowed very smoothly from one to another.

The story was nicely established, however the ending was confusing to me. I gather that a 6 minute deadline was approaching and the ending had to be reached. But I was unclear why she stabbed herself.

Was ishe living out the troubled existence of the previous owners?

Was she living out the troubled past of her own?

I will watch this again and see if maybe I just missed it.

But all in all, I was into your film!

The music and the sound was quite good. (Did I notice his mic drop out at one table scene?)

Oh, I am sure that it has not passed your attention, but the opening titles are difficult to read. This, I am sure is due to the small and compressed state that we have to submit these films and the speed at which the pages turned due to the time limit.

But the opening effect was worth it, regardless!!!

Great job!

I look forward to more of your work!

Ted

[Paul Coleman]

Lead actress is world class. :thumbup: :thumbup:

[jpbankesmercer]

Acting: Lead-girl was great. Lines for male lead seemed a tiny bit forced but he was still solid.
Script: A solid story for once just a tad light on the ending, wanted more backstory for her.
Direction: Smooth, some really interesting ideas.
Music: Super (nice score man), audio on voice needed to be faded just a little bit more in and out – just being ultra picky sorry.:(
Editing: Really smooth.
Lighting: Lovely. Solid warm glows that worked. You got skills!:thumbup:
Loved: Animated book titles, table track, hand writing in book, I liked the V.O. thought it worked here, faucet coming on, the script ending. The end shot (nice man!)
Hated: Not much, the blood on hands irked me because of it’s thickness and the baby seemed a bit big for that sink :) – but it did work. The titles at the end OF COURSE were rushed but at least you got them in.
Overall: A solid story well acted, I thought she was going to go a bit more crazy and I think you gave good validation with the last sequence. It built nicely. Well done a tight great short.

[Robert Eldon]

I really liked this one! It's in my top 5. Rated high in all categories.

I really like the composition of the shots and beautiful camera work. I like the camera movements (dolly, etc.) and they don't draw attention to themselves. Wonderful lighting. The acting also gets a high score. Great job. I like the reflection of the Shelley (was that the name?) character in the china cabinet. Good editing and good story. The ending kind of falls apart for me, but as a whole, this was done very well.

[HybridCreations]

Thanks so much to everyone giving reviews for this. This was my second time working with Alex as his DP (HeroFest being the last) and I appreciate all the talk of improvement. Please keep the critiques coming, we certainly utilize them.



Cine/Lighting - I actually couldn't wait to get to this part. Man, what did you do? You really amped it up here. There's a real distinct look to your short, and it's very close to breaking away from the DVX look to me. I'd love to know how you got great lighting in the bathroom scene. It was dark, then the lights flicked on and it wasn't too dark at all. The lighting was just there waiting to happen. Is this all natural with bounce? Or did you rig it up to the lightswitch eletrical outlet so that they'd turn on when she flipped them on? I liked it dude, I really liked your lighting. You've stepped up here as well.


Kholi, thanks for the very in-depth review and the kind words. It's funny that you mention the bathroom scene. That was the most challenging scene to light of the entire short....just kidding, it was all done for us. There were some really nice glamour/makeup lights already in the bathroom along the top of the mirror. We discussed using additional light and bounce, but finally decided to add nothing and I think it works. Certainly made the switchflip shot much simpler. Overall I think the lighting for the whole short worked to give that psychological thriller vibe although in hindsight I would have utilized shadows more to increase the tension and mystery of the house itself.
-Ryan

[TimurCivan]

Ok, all done, about to send it off. Good luck everyone!

My top 5 in no particular order....

Broken Circle
Dead Inside
Rekindled
Bloody Mary
Memories


You see Alex TOP FIVE BEOTCH!!!!

[Brandon Rice]

Heck ya! Awesome short!

[jpbankesmercer]

Best of luck guys!

[TheatreGuy]

Alex, Congratulations on your film! One of my favorite cinematically!!!

Great elements.

Best of luck to you!

Ted

[Alex DePew]

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

Hey Alex. Just got a chance to check out MEMORIES and I'm impressed. If it hasn't been said yet, you tripled your talent all-of-a-sudden. Crazy, man!


Thanks so much. This is the best compliment. I really concentrated on making sure every shot had purpose and worked within the story.


Script - I think you have a solid thing going on with the script. Nothing out of the ordinary for the horror genre, but it doesn't need to be; that's why Horror is such a success in the motion-picture world. I can tell that you wrote for much more than six minutes. I'm not sure how you would condense this, either. Maybe the subject matter just wasn't six minute material? There are always ways to do it, but I won't say that you could have without reviewing the actual script. I like the character development you get into in this amount of time. I can already see that there's trouble between them by the simple universal language of "silence at the dinner table". That's a very good thing to showcase in a short, and you get it done rather well, here.

I also liked the script. It actually had more dimensions than I could put into the film due to budgetary and time constraints. There were scenes where the walpaper started to tear. And then at the end when she is running through the house all the wallpaper is shredded. It accentuates the house's role as an ominous figure leading her to the bathroom and her death.


Direction - You've leapt clean over your shadow, man. Changed it up like whoa. Your dinner-table dolly shot was NICE. Very smooth, very well paced, ended at the right moment. And your framing was better than your last entry to a fest. A little straight forward at times, but nothing completely unpleasant. Congratulations on improving!!!!

Thanks for the compliment. The dinner table dolly is also my favorite shot. I really tried to focus on framing and composition during this one more than anything and I'm glad it showed.


Acting - So far, from what I've seen (alphabeticaly order here), your actors are displaying some of the best work. Your guy got frustrated, gave the right facial expressions and your girl took it like a trouble woman would. They play well together. I didn't like her crying scene, it was a little too forced but otherwise she did well. GOod job, dude.

Thanks, I was supremely glad to not be acting in my own short this time around. And I thought all my actors did a great job. There was even an excelent acting job that I cut out of the short to make it under 6 minutes. There were a couple Charlotte scenes that didn't make it into this cut. They will be there though after the fest.


Cine/Lighting - I actually couldn't wait to get to this part. Man, what did you do? You really amped it up here. There's a real distinct look to your short, and it's very close to breaking away from the DVX look to me. I'd love to know how you got great lighting in the bathroom scene. It was dark, then the lights flicked on and it wasn't too dark at all. The lighting was just there waiting to happen. Is this all natural with bounce? Or did you rig it up to the lightswitch eletrical outlet so that they'd turn on when she flipped them on? I liked it dude, I really liked your lighting. You've stepped up here as well.

I can't take credit for this aspect. This was Ryan's (Hybrid Creations) work and I was very happy with the way it came out. I agree that it worked very well and the bathroom scene as Ryan mentioned was really the least setup in terms of lighting. For the silhouette I just turned on lights in adjoining rooms and closed the door until it looked good. When the light turned on it was simply the vanity lights over the sink as well as the overhead light.


Editing - I've noticed that I never have much to say about editing unless it's really bad. I can say that I didn't like the intro, even though I knew what you were going for. Otherwise I dunno what to say about it. It wasn't bad.

By intro do you mean the book or the scene in the attic? I'm curious.


Sound - Overall the shortcoming of ... the short? Music was a bit redundant but tolerable, the sound mixing was a little hollow and choppy as well. Though whatever Mic you used wasn't too bad. I didn't hear a lot of ambience going on, just the empty room sound. Sound should be tightened on a re-cut if at all possible.

I used a Senheisser G2 and a Rode NT-G2. I was actually happy with both the score and the sound design. I thought Edgen and Conrad Johnson did great jobs. But I appreciate the comment and I will definitely give this consideration for the re-cut.


Special Effects - Dead baby in the sink. It's something to be said about being bold enough to even put a fake baby in a sink of cloudy white bloody water. I can't harp on that too much. The blood looked like blood to me, the knife in the stomach could be painful. The sink turning on wasn't as effective because I didn't see it turn on from the right angle. But otherwise what you had going on was okay.

I will definitely cut down on the number of times I show the baby. And I know exactly what you mean about not hitting the right angle for the water sound in the first bathroom scene. That frustrated me immensely that I didn't get enough coverage.


Scariest Moments - Darkness in the bathroom. I was thinking she'd turn on the light and she'd get straight hoodwinked or something.

Glad I had a scary moment. :) I know this wasn't a real scary piece.


Overall consensus - You've outdone your previous work. I'd like to know what Buddhist Film Temple you went to so I can fly out there and spend a week learning how to get off my ass, get out of the apartment, and get on with doing instead of wanting to do. You really have improved, Alex. TO you and your team, great work! Thanks for exhbiting and do let those interested (myself included) when the longer cut is available.

Thanks so much for your kind words. The Buddhist Temple is on the corner of 81st and Amsterdam. But seriously folks, I just took a lot of time to review what didn't work in my first film. I did a lot of studying on composition and framing and how the viewer interprets camera movement, framing, angles, etc. and tried to use it as much as possible in this film. I also have to give credit to my phenomenal crew and actors. They really stepped up to the plate and made this film shine. I will definitely let you know when the longer cut is done.

And as to getting off your ass and doing instead of wanting to do, it just takes one step at a time. Or a good swift kick to the head from the Buddist Filmmaker Monks.

[cinealma]

This was one of the best looking films in the fest. One of the rare ones where I felt like I was actually watching a movie. Great photography, sound, score, acting, everything. The only thing that was a little vague for me was the ending. I'll have to watch it again to see if it makes more sense to me.

Anyway, great job.


John G.

[steve2bees]

Hey Alex, good luck tonight. I was holding off on commenting here hoping I'd get around to a thoughtful review of yours, but I'm running out of time. Anyway, wanted to tell you I thought you pulled it together well. This was really tough, since you ended up having to jettison some of the visual elements on which you had originally planned. Congrats for sticking it out and getting this done and done well.

[Kyle Stebbins]

honestly, guys, i thought i was going to have to skip ahead and watch bits and pieces of this one at the beginning... but once it got going, it really got going... and i watched the ENTIRE thing... TWICE!!! I LOVE THE STORY!!!!

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO!!!!!
-kyle

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Great job guys.

WOW, easily the most improvement film to film from any one fest to another that we've ever had.

But beyond that it was just poo pooing solid in its own right.

Nice story, lots of subtlety and restraint, really liked the subtle so good you might not notice it dolly.

opening credits to small too read ... we will accept it as a convention of the titles if the font is much bigger in that book or even spans both pages --

Way to go Ryan and Alex & all!

[Geoff_R]

Just got around to seeing this film finally. Great opening with the titles/book and subtle dolly in the attic. I like the fact that you guys went more for story here; it carries more substance than most entries.

I like both of your actors 'individually'; they deliver good performances but for some reason, their interactions at the dinner table turn me off. I think it's how the husband reacts whenever she says something, especially the plumbing/pipe bit. Even I thought he was overreacting to her comment.

Good bloodwork on the hands and that ending scene is pretty twisted when she stabs herself. The baby shot took me out of the film; it just didn't look real to me. I think it would have worked better if you hadn't seen the entire baby-- maybe just the baby's arm as it's under a bloody towel on the floor or in the sink still with a bloody bath towel over it and the hand is just floating loosely...just an idea.

But again, big props on the story element.

[MsManhattan]

Nice job, Alex. This really shows a lot of growth since the HeroFest. Ryan has some truly pretty shots in this. Congrats, best of luck, and happy b-day!

[Texture]

Exponential growth when compared to your hero fest entry.

A fully developed story, good lighting and well directed actors.

Keeping my eye on you man! You're learning fast!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Cheers,

Erik

[Norm Sanders]

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

MUCH growth & improvement over the HeroFest submission. I thought her acting was really strong, and the male’s was pretty good as well. I was a bit confused on the story though, and the title of MEMORIES, because I didn’t know if the journal was real, if they were her memories, what the deal with the baby was, if it was all a hallucination, etc. Sound levels were pretty fair except for one part in the middle … when the guy spoke at the table he sounded WAY far away from the mic compared to other times. Otherwise, great job Alex & looking forward to your next submission. Oh, VERY cool opening titles as well … hopefully your DVD version has those & the end credits slowed down a tad. J

[TimurCivan]

i'll congratualte you at the bar tonight.... half drunk, and slobering on you about how hard your movie rocked.... Happy birthday Alex.