BOUNTY ON A DEAD MAN'S HEAD - By Matt "Defcon" Harris

[dre83]

It' s a west, different from the rest :-p

I liked the sound of the saw and the axe to be more in front.

The guys in the white clothes is ADR ?... I miss the sound of there steps in the leaves.
You can use tape (you know, musictapes) for it.

I miss some more "west" elements in it.

The acting I find less... (of the white guys, the cowboy was ok)

The guy at the other side of the radio.... is he a monster ? :-p

I like those type of titles which are a phrase somewhere in the story.

[Russell Moore]

This was really good. A stand out in the fest. The story felt almost too big for this short, but not in a bad way. I just wanted more.

That was your dad? He did a really good job. I bought into his character completely.

The only thing that bothered me at all, was how the worker's in white voices sounded. It just didn't sound like it was actually coming from the actors.

Otherwise, good story. It looked great. Really good short.

[soffcore]

Didn't have a chance to read this whole thread - so sorry if my comments are repeated...

I thought this was really well shot, and really well put together. Technically, one of the best in the fest. Loved the time lapse and the dolly shots. And what a great location too. The Fx worked wonderfully; I'm assuming almost everything was practical?

My issues with the film were the acting of everyone that wasn't the lead (thought he had a great look.) I think the ADR issues had to do with the dudes in white. Just didn't seem to match for the most part. ADR is tough to pull off and i think it was a little to "clean."

My other main criticism is that I don't really see how this is a western. I'm fine with the sci-fi aspect and that it's a contemporary film - but there are certain contrivances, certain themes that make up a western film and I just didn't see any. I'm sure you have an answer for me - so I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Overall - really great work.

[Matt Harris]

Dre/Conlan/Soffcore, thank so much for taking the time to watch and review, I appreciate it and your comments and criticisms don't fall on deaf ears, i agree with most of them, here are some thoughts:

2. The voices from the hazmats: I completely changed the conversation in the first scene with the rusty barrels. So the clean ADR is a tough sell there, but in a few other scenes i think the ADR works when you see the mouths moving beneath the mask. But i agree with this and will learn for the next time.

2. The effects were practical for the most part Soffcore, thanks for asking because we had a lot of fun trying to create the "mental powers" in an old school way. If you look closely at the scene where the bottlecap pops off, you can see the string being pulled. I made fake blood, I had never done that before. The blood "burst" was CG but the blood on the suit was real. It took me hours of editing and matching up clips to achieve this.

3. So how was mine a western? I was watching a lot of "mountain man" movies like Jerimiah Johnson and Deliverance and Seripham falls. These movies are about "man vs. nature" and "man protecting his land", so i adopted these concepts. Also, as art imitates life, we do own that cabin and we do have to fend off environmental pollution so there is a unique truthfulness to the movie.

More specifically, when the carpenter faces off against the hazmat guys, it's supposed to be a "duel", with one using "mind over matter". The carpenter living off the land, protecting his land, standing up to external forces; these are classic western themes.

In closing, I'd have to ask how is Serenity a western? They have great costumes surely, but the music they used was very western and that carries the theme. Otherwise it's sci-fi. I was treading the same line, whether I was successful or not is your call.

Again, thank you for watching!
Matt

[soffcore]

Defcon, the more i thought about it, the more i realized that the man protecting nature does fit in the western genre. i was actually on my way back here to say that and saw your reply! So you won me over on that for sure!!!

And about the ADR, in thinking more, it's less about the technical "hotness" or "crispness" and more about the naturalness of the dialogue and the reading. Were your booth actors in there together or did one do his lines, then the other? I think it's really hard to feel like they are naturally having a conversation when they are in such a controlled environment, and I think that's a skill that actors have to work on. It ain't easy.

Again though, I liked this one a lot - great work!

[xxrotinivol2]

This was entertaining, fun, felt like a bigger story was at play, but it worked as a short. I loved the way it was shot, some shots were a bit dark, but seriously, looked like something I'd see in a movie theater or on TV. I wish you saved the dolly a couple times, because it is used a lot, and I think it could be used in more pressing scenes, sometimes I didn't understand the motivation for the use of the dolly shots, but overall man, a great movie. I understand the western element, feel like the cowboy hat was thrown in at the last second, but you got the element in there. Awesome job man, looking forward to seeing what you do next fest!

[Nitsuj]

I loved how this opened up. I felt like I was going on a journey with the main character in discovering his new abilities with him. I would have liked to have just stuck with the main character the whole time. I didn't think we needed to know exactly why he had these new abilities. Just sticking with him and learning with him would have sold it for me. I think when the other characters were introduced it kind of fizzled for me but I still gave it a high rating. A great idea in there that just needed a little chisel. Good luck!

[Mobie540]

Man, this one was just starting. Definitely a Hero origin story. Reminded me of Spiderman where Peter Parker was testing out his new found powers. Now you have to go all Spiderman 2 and focus on the bounty hunter. Wish this one was twice as long to show the face off. Great establishing shots with the VO. I'm impressed with the camera work and shot selection.

Some small things bothered me:
I'm sure it was touched on the ADR for the clean up crew, maybe if you went MAH's route with chem masks. Plus I wish they had gloves on.
The hero looking through the telescope, why does he need a telescope if he has super vision? Small gripe, no biggie.
One goof, the phantom wood chop, I saw hands on the ax frame right.

Great job overall.

[Matt Harris]

Thanks watching Mobie540, the ADR was a bit spotty and we were deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere when our costumes showed up... without gloves. nothing we could do, lol. As for the telescope, the carpenter is still learning and figuring out his powers so that's why he still used the telescope. My guess is he won't be needed the telescope anymore! But yes I did have a handful of movie mistakes with my short, I just had to make do. I appreciate you stopping by!

[Matt Harris]

xxrotinivol2 - "cowboy hat at the last second" - that was part of the tension building: is this movie going to be DQ-ed or not?!

No but truthfully, we only had a walmart near us and it didn't have cowboy hats (?) or else my main character would have been wearing one the whole movie. I'm glad we didn't use one though because I think it would have cast a shadow on his face and we wouldnt have been able to do the "head flip" mental power technique as well.

thank you for watching my friend!