Irish Gangster Short Film

[ShamrockFilms]

THE LAM

If you like gangster/mob films, give this one a look.

- 98% of the music was playing in the room during the scenes to give it a reality feel. I wish I dubbed the music in after, but what can ya do? Live and learn.

- The feature film "Townies" is losely based off this short. Townies will be shot on the DVX100 with the same documentary/reality style, this short was not shot on the DVX100.

The Italian guy "Tom" was cut out of the publicity stunt video because his acting isn't "believable". Sorry Tom!

I'm "Mickey" in this short.

(still need to mess around with the look of the closing credits and add music to it. Enjoy)
http://www.towniesmovie.com/lam.mpg

[ShamrockFilms]

You won't get "whacked" for your comments. :kali:

[Jon Starr]

I hope I don't get wacked, lol.

But to be completely honest... I was kinda bored. I mean it was an interesting style, but at points I was just wondering "where is this story going?". At one point when they were driving I just skipped ahead cause I was bored, then came to the ending. Not sure how it got to the ending, but it seemed a bit much.

Spoiler:

They shot him for shooting everything? I'm assuming that's what it was? If that's the case then:

1) why didn't they just take his camera, or take the tape?
2) if it was just because "he" saw too much, why'd they take him around in the first place?
3) Why'd they leave the camera running after he was shot, even in the trunk?
4) Who edited this thing if the guy filming it died?


Also just a last note on the sound levels. Not sure if it's my comp, but I had to put up my speakers just to hear it. In the car I also had to put it up, maybe try and put the music down a bit. Then cause my speakers were up, the gunshot scared the shit out of me. It was WAYYYY too high compared to the audio of the people speaking.

Also, even though the acting was decent, some of the lines felt forced. Like the "what am I, on reality tv?" line.

[ShamrockFilms]

I hope I don't get wacked, lol.

But to be completely honest... I was kinda bored. I mean it was an interesting style, but at points I was just wondering "where is this story going?". At one point when they were driving I just skipped ahead cause I was bored, then came to the ending. Not sure how it got to the ending, but it seemed a bit much.

Spoiler:

They shot him for shooting everything? I'm assuming that's what it was? If that's the case then:

1) why didn't they just take his camera, or take the tape?
2) if it was just because "he" saw too much, why'd they take him around in the first place?
3) Why'd they leave the camera running after he was shot, even in the trunk?
4) Who edited this thing if the guy filming it died?


Also just a last note on the sound levels. Not sure if it's my comp, but I had to put up my speakers just to hear it. In the car I also had to put it up, maybe try and put the music down a bit. Then cause my speakers were up, the gunshot scared the shi* out of me. It was WAYYYY too high compared to the audio of the people speaking.

Also, even though the acting was decent, some of the lines felt forced. Like the "what am I, on reality tv?" line.
The Lam is a prequel to Townies and also an "edited" version of a publicity stunt video.

1. Now THAT would be boring.... They're gangsters. That wouldn't make for a very interesting ending or publicity stunt (taking the carera away from him).

2. The filmstudent was needed for his basement, for a hide out for the character Butchy. As you could see he was being a royal pain in the #ss with the camera, even egging Mickey on from the backseat of the car. Mickey ordering his execution displays Mickey's power. It also shows that the Butchy character does what he tells him to. The mob will use "outsiders" and when they're done with them, they'll often get rid of them to rid any ties to them. This is just how it is and that is the reason the filmstudent was killed. Plus, Irish gangsters will kill you for looking at them the wrong way. I'm surprised the filmmaker lasted as long as he did.

3. I doubt the character Butchy knows anything about powering a camcorder on and off. In the publicity stunt version, we left the camera running until the tape ran out.

4. The publicity stunt version was never edited. It was all shot in long takes with no cutting, no fading, no nothing. It was raw right out of the camcorder.

The gun shot being loud.... That was the point. I intended it to be way to loud and scare the s#it out of you.

The Italian actor ("What is this reality TV") wasn't in any of the publicity stunt. I cut all his scenes because he wasn't believable enough to me.

The unedited version of the lam served its purpose, it caught media attention and we got free press out of it.

Thanks for watching.

[J.R. Hudson]

I couldn't get past the first few minutes

It was an excercise in bad with it's faux reality show presentation and over dramatic acting. It came across in the category of trying too hard

I always found that the best gangster films are the ones that make you actually care about the characters one way or another. Friedken said it best in saying, it isn't whether or not we love or hate the characters, but whether or not wee find them interesting

I didn't find anything interesting about it at all. Maybe it's the poor audio ? Maybe it's the kind of Blair Witch black and white hand held docu style way ...

I don't know

Hopefully Townies will be better

The dude with the hat could act pretty good; but then you wonder if he can act beyond the 'Tough guy, cussing' routine.

-

Not being too harsh I hope; I love gangster films and I am Irish. So, I'm on your side and only want the best.

Keep at it !

[ShamrockFilms]

Thanks and thanks for the compliments on "Butchy" (Jeff Carter). The other guy (Italian guy) is not in Townies.

The lam is what it is. I'm not crazy about it either. It wasn't easy to shoot a short film in "first-person", but it was fun nonetheless. I'm sure you'll like Townies a lot better as it has a story to it and the characters are hopefully likeable even though they do bad things. Thanks John.

[J.R. Hudson]

Great news and even better you can take some harshness on it.

[Tibby]

You should take a look at Nicholas Winding Refn's "Pusher" trilogy.

[ShamrockFilms]

The "Pulp Fiction" of Denmark. Great movie. Similiar documentary shooting style that what we'll be going for with Townies. A real rarity to run into people in the states that have seen it.

[Jon Starr]

1. Now THAT would be boring.... They're gangsters. That wouldn't make for a very interesting ending or publicity stunt (taking the carera away from him).

But see that's my point. It would make sense that they would want to take away the camera... at some point. It's almost unrealistic. I suppose you could bend the truth a bit for this, but still. If you want to make it feel real, tie up the loose ends.


2. The filmstudent was needed for his basement, for a hide out for the character Butchy. As you could see he was being a royal pain in the #ss with the camera, even egging Mickey on from the backseat of the car. Mickey ordering his execution displays Mickey's power. It also shows that the Butchy character does what he tells him to. The mob will use "outsiders" and when they're done with them, they'll often get rid of them to rid any ties to them. This is just how it is and that is the reason the filmstudent was killed. Plus, Irish gangsters will kill you for looking at them the wrong way. I'm surprised the filmmaker lasted as long as he did.

Okay, makes a bit more sense. Guess cause I was bored and skipped it I missed some of that.


3. I doubt the character Butchy knows anything about powering a camcorder on and off. In the publicity stunt version, we left the camera running until the tape ran out.

I suppose. But I mean the average person sees a camera and knows that the "off" means off.


4. The publicity stunt version was never edited. It was all shot in long takes with no cutting, no fading, no nothing. It was raw right out of the camcorder.

Okay, but then who got hold of the tape? Plus it shows a murder. Perhaps he's not smart enough to find an off button, but wouldn't the mobsters afterwards take out the tape and destroy it, or if they can't take it out they would hide the camrcorder, destroy it, burn it, whatever. I mean hell, it recorded a murder for crying out loud.

I'm just saying this because you're emphasising for it to be realistic.

Something like the blair witch project, well they found the tape in the woods and someone put it together to show. That adds to the realism.

Perhaps if the camera was pulled out with the guy, and fell to the ground. gun shot, people scurring, you hear the car drive away, and fade out. That's more realistic because someone might have found it on the street and the mobsters made the mistake of leaving it.


The gun shot being loud.... That was the point. I intended it to be way to loud and scare the s#it out of you.

Don't scare someone by putting the gun shot loud. It should be loud, yes, cause it's a gun shot, but don't put it to the point where it's too loud. People don't expect it anyways, and it would scare them one way or another as long as you don't make it quiet. Just look at the audio levels and compare it to the levels of the voices. It shouldn't be much louder than that. I mean you don't want someone to be listening to it late at night and wake up the whole family because he couldn't hear the voices and turned up his speakers.

[ShamrockFilms]

On the publicity stunt version the camera was shut off as it was put in the trunk and the screen turned blue. I should have mentioned that. I think I forgot its been such a long time since I've seen that version. Actually, let me go on my old computer and see if I can dig it up. All good points you have.

But the gun shots in "Heat" were a lot lounder than the dialogue, that's one of the things I liked about that movie. The realism of the gun fire. I wanted the gunshot in the publicity stunt version as loud as it would sound near a camcorder, but you're right I should have turned it down a bit for the edited version.

[Jon Starr]

Well you can keep the gun loud, just make sure you take a look at the levels. Check how high the levels of the voices are. Make sure they're not too low, because people's ears will adjust to the level of the people's voices, or they'll put the speakers up (depending on how they view it), and of course make sure the level of the gun shot doesn't go into the red.

You can keep the gun shot louder than the people, just have to be careful of the level. I Hadn't watched your film recently so I've forgotten the level of volume it was.

Anyways good luck with the publicity stunt version. You have a good idea here. I like the style. Although the edited version was a bit boring, as long as you keep the interesting parts in the publicity stunt it should be good.

[StefanHaynes]

Reminds me of August Underground, only not nearly as atmospheric.
(Isn't it odd that my first two posts are from a sadistic psycho-film, yet my personal taste is much closer to Maya Deren's films...)
Oh well.
It was watchable, but little else. The dialouge was somewhat shoddy as well. I never really "felt like" I was there. And the slow-mo near the end was just plain uninspired.
I do 'ere so much hope later films will resonate somewhat better with me.

[FutureDVXUser]

How come I only get 59 seconds of it?

[ShamrockFilms]

Really? hmm.

[FutureDVXUser]

Yeah, I dunno... Maybe it's my computer... Does anybody else only get 59 seconds of this movie?

[Tibby]

The "Pulp Fiction" of Denmark. Great movie. Similiar documentary shooting style that what we'll be going for with Townies. A real rarity to run into people in the states that have seen it.

Ehhh... I think it's way better than Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction is all style no substance. Where "The Pusher Trilogy" excels (Part II being my personal favorite ) is it's characterizations. Very honest. Very real. Refn is striving for a realism which Tarnatino's characters sorely lack, making them two dimensional. They are interesting stylistically, but lack depth. Refn's characterizations feel like real people.

The point is this, these types of films have been made ad nauseum. The only time they really seem to work anymore or have any impact whatsoever is when the characters are fully realized.

A lot of people want to emulate Tarantino (I think he's overrated) when they should study the stuff that Refn has done (as a modern example). Less modern examples would be "Mean Streets" or "The French Connection". Goodfellas being the perfect synthesis of substance and style for this particular genre.

A lot of filmmakers can ape style, thats easy. Few can manage substance.