HANG IN THERE! -- Last Minute Entry

[Tom Marshall]

Hey man, I could have composited a wine glass in there for ya...

[Chris Messineo]

I thought this was great.

I especially liked the story. It kept me interested throughout and the characters were fun.

I also loved the camera angles. Lots of great shots. The sound was a little rough (I missed a couple of lines), but the music was superb.

I'm sorry this one wasn't in the competition.

Very well done.

[J.R. Hudson]

Seems like only yesterday we danced in circles; me ragging you for not getting busy and me most likely taking out my own angst on you

Wow !

I loved this. Dude, you have skills. You really impressed me with this entry. The story was wonderfully creative and your attention to detail on the audio layers was the best of the fest.

So many of your shots and comps were great ! Whether dutch or pushes or wide shots or overheads ... You really took great care to not waste shots and keep us entertained visually !

Not one time did I get bored with a shot. This was beyond the normal balse coverage of master, reverse, reverse ... this was very creative use of the camera !

I loved the story; the supernatual elements, the fight with death, awesome !

The audio of the tv shows and the pasing traffic were great and really helped draw me into this piece !

The actors were fun, if not completely polished !

My only subjective needs:

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

The score, although well done, I thought was too serious for this lighthearted film; a more FRIGHTENERS sounding theme I think would have worked; something scary, but with a playful tune (Google the FRIGHTENERS track)

The night and darkness shots called for some light :P Using light to pretend it is dark, you know ....

This hands down would have gotten my vote as the best film of the fest if not for the late entry ? I am really stoked seeing your work; you are miles ahead of most people here IMO.

Your shots, the story, all of it came together.

Really enjoyed this one ! Please stay busy shooting and please retain your creativty and shot selections !

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

She wasn't having sex with anyone, she wasn't cheating. She was just masturbating to porn or something. Wasn't this the reason why he now wanted to live? Maybe I missed something.

I'll have to watch this again.

Mike

[J.R. Hudson]

Ah yes; of course. I knew this.

Why I said two bodies ... Hmmmm ...

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

Ah yes; of course. I knew this.

Why I said two bodies ... Hmmmm ...

LOL! No problem... had me going back to watch again.

Edit: On that note... I really enjoyed it, again.

A couple of things...

I thought that the shot of the hanging, while excellent, would have been a tad better if the camera moved and kept the front of him in frame. Once we start to see his back you can start to see the rigging and wire alongside the rope. Keep the shot face on and you are golden.

This was a very good thrown together short. Excellent really. My favourite part is when his friend gets the phone call while he is taking to his almost dead friend. Very nice moment.

Great work.


Mike

[Kholi]

Seems like only yesterday we danced in circles; me ragging you for not getting busy and me most likely taking out my own angst on you

Wow !

I loved this. Dude, you have skills. You really impressed me with this entry. The story was wonderfully creative and your attention to detail on the audio layers was the best of the fest.

So many of your shots and comps were great ! Whether dutch or pushes or wide shots or overheads ... You really took great care to not waste shots and keep us entertained visually !

Not one time did I get bored with a shot. This was beyond the normal balse coverage of master, reverse, reverse ... this was very creative use of the camera !

I loved the story; the supernatual elements, the fight with death, awesome !

The audio of the tv shows and the pasing traffic were great and really helped draw me into this piece !

The actors were fun, if not completely polished !

My only subjective needs:

The Girl having sex screamed for a POV looking through the window; not just to see a hot chick having sex, but to really hammer that home. Maybe a POV seeing two bodies through the blinds ?

The score, although well done, I thought was too serious for this lighthearted film; a more FRIGHTENERS sounding theme I think would have worked; something scary, but with a playful tune (Google the FRIGHTENERS track)

The night and darkness shots called for some light :P Using light to pretend it is dark, you know ....

This hands down would have gotten my vote as the best film of the fest if not for the late entry ? I am really stoked seeing your work; you are miles ahead of most people here IMO.

Your shots, the story, all of it came together.

Really enjoyed this one ! Please stay busy shooting and please retain your creativty and shot selections !

Wow Hudson... that's the third very unexpected review. I really wish I would've had time to really work on this harder, I didn't and so next time I'll make sure not to go out and rush rush rush.

I know the audio really sucks, I DID put as much effort and knowledge as I could into cleaning it up to the best of my ability. Next time, there'll be a sound guy.

KYSER-- Yeah you are right about the masturbation thing. I didn't want to throw the girl in there actually doing it because it sort of detracted from the entire story the way it was shot. I wish I could've figured out a way to shoot that and still match the tone. Also, the audio track that's in there has a male and a female voice. I need someone to really rework sound altogether (along with picture, honestly cause I suck at editing) to drive home a lot of dialogue.

Also, you're very right about the hanging shot. Thinking back, I should've tried to make sure he was rigged to where he wouldn't have turned too much, but given the time constraints I wanted to get that shot before we ended up getting in trouble.

I had no permission to shoot anywhere, it was all "okay whatever let's just shoot it!".

Enough excuses though, I thank everyone that has commented and when I go into my next one I'll hold every note in a notebook to review as everything is pretty spot on.

[andoguru]

Hey Kholi,

I like the story. The overall idea of having the dead guy and his friend try to stop him from killing himself was neat.

There were a couple parts I felt were unmotivated like why the guy wanted to go by his girl's house when he knew he had no time to waste. I mean I know the reason, but the transition to having him go over there seemed awkward. I know you were rushing to shoot it and put it together so maybe you're going to smooth it out. It might have been a problem with the beginning and me not fully understanding why he was committing suicide.

Death looked cool and very nice tackle.

I think if you were able to put a little more time into it and flush out some of the kinks you'd have some really cool, not to say it isn't good right now.

Laters,
Ando

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Just seeing this believe it or not.

Will save my excuses.

Really nice job.

I think the strongest element was the concept.

It's not a cop out IMHO to not say why he showed up before he killed himself. If there's an explanation that wouldn't put you in reams of exposition for exposition's sake it doesn't come easily to mind. So I'm more than fine with it being unexplained. It's a short film. I much prefer get on with the story than "when a friendship is truely special sometimes a man's ghost will appear before his death to warn the friend according to ancient chinese ghost story" or something.

Also the tone of the film was a little punk-rock, so it kind of worked to be - screw you man that's just the way it is, ghost comes before he dies.

The acting was pretty good and the dryness of the performances gave it a nice tone.

There's nothing wrong with this movie that can't be attributed to rushing and first timeness ... and most of its been mentioned so no need to go into it.

Basically. hats off to you in big way for getting past the excuses so many make and finally making a film. Which even with some technical problems was infinitely watchable, inventive and entertaining. But now you've shown us you have talent, can tell a story, and can tell a story that interests us. Now you MUST make more movies and make them often. You could own these fests.