V-656

[MrFluffy]

Film with Kids and CG is right up my alley

The kids did really well although the boys cried a bit too much given the girls cool demenour

You did really well with this, especially given the restrictions on software (you used poser right?). The V656 had too much floor slide (it didnt move forward as fast as the feet, so it appears to be on ice). The rendering didnt make it feel real, you really need environmental lighting sampled at the location or a light rig that matches the location very well, for this to look real. But these are all issues with using poser which has no match move ability, limited rendering and poor animation tools.
Upgrade to a proper 3d package and you'll rock.

Overall I loved this film. Congrats to you and the crew!

[taylormade]

Yeah, Poser - especially version 7 - just doesn't have the chops to do this right. I figured the entire thing was sort of cartoonish so I could get away with it with a little leeway. Seems I was wrong. I had the same problem you did, time rendering verus full quality. I guess the lesson was, one actor, one room, no special effects. Still, it was a joy making it and working with the kids. I hope there was enough from them to make it work for you. I'd love to spring for Maya, ZBrush, 3dsMax and V-Ray, but with the economy the way it is, I'm lucky to struggle by with Poser and AfterEffects!

[MrFluffy]

Seems I was wrong.

Not for me. I loved it.

[Matt Harris]

I personally can't fault any of the animation because it's such a huge undertaking especially considering the deadline. There's always more time to work on it, but for what you got accomplished for your entry is pretty incredible to me. I can only imagine how much work went into the filming of this, and then incorporating the cgi. Not to mention you have multiple actors acting against nothing in nearly every shot. And for that i give you major kudos. Not to mention I like the film overall and thought it a great "kids" movie, you should pitch this thing to networks as a saturday morning show.

[Dustin R. Rogan]

first off, working with kids, you deserve an award for that (even if they are related i believe two were right?) they actually did pretty well in my book, the other too seemed over the top. But that aside, having to work with children and having them work with imaginary actors....o.O GIANT GOLDEN FREAKIN KUDOS to you sir! Excellent job!

Rogan

[Nemesis TS]

Fun film. The kids seemed to have a good time doing it and did a good job. I thought the cg was really good. I've done some stuff with after effects so I know how difficult and time consuming that can be. Cool kids movie, this could hold its own against some of the other popular kids programming I've seen.
Awesome job!

[Hawk Teflon]

Wow, yeah, I totally forgot about the fact that the kids had to act with nothing there. They sold it so well that I didn't even think about that! Awesome!

[Lynchenstein]

I thought you did a great job. I watched the BTS earlier on so I had an idea what to expect. My expectations were surpassed though.

Spoiler:

The girl's robot was by far the best looking with believable movements. The rest were a little too jerky with no acceleration or deceleration in their movements if that makes any sense. I guess my mind expects larger robots to be slower due to their mass, but I didn't get a sense of mass from the big bots. Having done a tiny bit of animation years ago in college I can appreciate how difficult it was to put all of this together in the time you had, and here I am nitpicking minor details - so enough of that!

You must have had some of the models either built or in development prior, right? The V-series was very complex and it could have taken weeks just to get that done. It looked like it jumped right out of my XBox - I mean that as a compliment BTW.

I can only imagine how much fun it was for the kids involved - a movie a killer robot? Sign me up!

Spoiler:

I also loved the twist at the end with the cyborg teacher - I didn't see it coming.

[lawriejaffa]

Unfortuately I lost my initial feedback that I typed here doh! So apolagies for the slightly shorter version but if you want to ask me any further questions on my thoughts about about v-656 id be happy to oblige.

Essentially i found this to be a charming and fun film, that was marred by wooden performances from the children. It is a childish film (and thats fine) but with a zappier pace, zappier jokes and better performances could almost have felt like a kind of robo-fetishistic tim and eric style comedy piece.

It is in my top 5 imperfect though it is (even if it does have the 'dad has forced his kids to make a pet project with him vibe' - (better that with your film than some of the others i guess haha!)

[Chris Messineo]

I really enjoyed this film.

Great title sequence - what a fun way to open the film.

What I really liked here was the story. It felt complete and I especially liked the twist with the teacher.

The CGI (for a short film fest) is also really impressive. It's got a great B-Movie quality and I mean that as a real compliment (I am a massive Ray Harryhausen fan and his films feel the same to me).

What didn't work for me quite as well was the tone, which wasn't always consistent. I wish everyone had played it a bit more dramatically and closer to the vest (for example, the reaction to the destruction of their teacher felt a bit over-the-top).

Still, this was one of my favorite films in the fest. Really well done.