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[xxrotinivol2]

This was a really interesting short. I loved a lot of the imagery, especially the key, and the shots of the boss on the phone. From your avatar, I presume your a Gilliam fan, and I can definitely see his influence in your style. Great characters as well. Some of the film was incoherent for me, and some shots and audio didn't seem on par with the rest of the piece. Overall, though a compelling entry. Looking forward to seeing more.

Jason, thank you for watching and commenting. Yep, love Gilliam (even Imaginarium which was mostly incoherent, lol, Tideland is too much even for me), but ya, first time working with the 5D, and I got sleepy or was seeing double or something, because there's just a couple shots that are off, I agree. But what can you do, other than re-look at your movie a week or two later with fresh eyes and have a billion great comments later and make this short better. Really liked Beans by the way, a lot. Simple, well shot, great story, comic, sad. Thanks man for your comments, great to hear your thoughts!

[Homunculus]

I liked this one it was unique and fun to watch.

As others have said the actors/characters were the best/strongest thing about it. The story was interesting to see unravel as well. Loved that 'stone faced' indian guy lol.

Now the weaknesses I saw

a lot of over use of depth of field. Remember it's just a tool, doesn't mean every single shot needs to be super high DoF. It's a tool used only to train the eye onto something that you want them to be focusing on. But especially in the beginning the real shallow DoF was very distracting in a lot of the shots that should have used a wider lens.

In the middle sections like around 3:15 section I felt the white balance was off and everything was a bit too red/orange which gave it that video look.
Otherwise there was some nice shots and framing in there good job, this was one of the better entries in my most humble opinion.

[Mobie540]

There's some nice lighting and the actor's did a great job. I especially like Fastwater and Big Al character's. Big Al has that old mafia personna to him, it's great. I'm not a technical guy but a story guy. I didn't understand the main character's motivation for stealing the case, greed I suppose and going to Chihuahua for some reason. Made it hard to relate. Also, not sure how Fastwater caught up with him, but I'll assume Fastwater is like Anton Chigurh, the ultimate badass. There are some comedic moments. I liked the cutting back and forth during the phone conversation, liked how you tweeked the audio there. Nice McGuffin with the case. Good job!

[xxrotinivol2]

Homunculus, thank you for the comments. It is my first time shooting with a camera that gives me so many options, just wanted to find a good f-stop, and kinda stuck with it. Looking thru it now, I definitely see what you mean, and the next round of shooting I do will be more mindful of the DOF and when it's used, along with the lens, to really accentuate the important moments in the scene. I got a 35, 50, and an 85 to play with, probably should've done the 35 more often and lowered the f-stop to a 3 or a 4. Thank you for the positive comments, it was a fun short to make.


Mobie540, the main character's motivation: he had been a longstanding associate, he's stuck with two people he doesn't like, and he doesn't get the responsibility of carrying the briefcase. He feels betrayed by his boss, angered that he's not THE ONE to carry it, so he wants to take whatever is inside that briefcase and make money off it. He's curious and greedy. Fastwater tracks him, b/c Fastwater is following him the whole time, that's his job, to ensure that shipment gets to Big Al. Thank you for the comments!