"Sweetheart" by StrataTek Studios

[Bryce A]

Hey, I like the fact that you stuck a doc in the fest. Need to be more of that if you ask me! heh. Anyway, I wasn't too sure about it all until the "twist." Being that they hadn't been together since High School, as I expected from the moment I pressed play.

I'm sure it was comfortable for them to be shot on the couch, but I found the having the wall so close to their backs was distracting and a tad boring. It would have been nice to get some more depth/meaning in the background during the interview shots. Also, it might have given you an op to backlight them or somethin'. Just my thoughts. Keep it up!

[Slimothy]

I love documentaries so this was a total treat for me. I really, really enjoyed this. One of the few times I every think....hmmm maybe marriage might be good in the future.

Great job man.

[jmc]

I hadn't read this thread before I watched it and I thought, "Wow! These actors are really believable!" Then I realized they were too good.

I really like this one. I didn't even notice the editing the first time through, except for the cut at 0:48, and that was an audio issue. One shot I kept wanting to see the 2nd time through, was a shot from the side where the shallow dof could rack between the two of them.

Great work on this. A nice departure from the norm, and your subjects were very charismatic and engaging. Now you've got me wanting to do this with my grandma...

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks for the constructive criticism, I'll definitely keep those in mind for future docs...in fact I might make it a norm to challenge myself to do a doc/moc for EVERY fest (and then submit something else as well) just to see if I can actually pull it off well or not

[Luis Caffesse]

Wow Charlie - what a hell of a story.
First off, I LOVE that you put a doc into this fest.

Well contructed, well shot, I love the wide shot of them on the couch.
I'm not sure what else to tell you other than I really enjoyed this.

Yes, there are some slight camera/audio issues I could mentioned, etc etc - but honestly the story overshadows all those little things.

The only thing I would say storywise is that I would have liked to have heard a bit more factual details on what happened between the time they were children and now - just a couple of 'milestones' would have done. As it is I feel like I got a good sense of their story, but I feel like I couldn't turn around and tell it to someone else - does that make sense? Also I would have loved to have seen a stonger closing clip... the way she says "we laugh a lot" feels like she's going to keep talking - then suddenly credits rolled. I've done a bit of doc work myself, so I know you've got to work with what you get - but it woudl have been nice to have a punchier ending, and maybe hang on them for a second before going to the credits.

But that's a pretty nit picky thing.
Overall - wonderful little portrait of true love in real life amongst so many films attempting to show us fictionalized versions.

I'm looking forward to your future work in the fests to come.

[Charlie Anderson]

Thanks Luis. I can't wait until I actually have a chance to plan and not do something last minute

[iSTy]

Awwww, bless, how lovely