Is it too much to ask for feedback?

[Anthony Todaro]

@ Marlon - Well said. I totally agree.

@ Zaza - Ironically, the spoiler tag is kinda hidden... For anyone who didn't see it... it's in the 'advanced' section and it's that blank square.





One last bit... This idiom describes something that should never be in an honest review, no matter how subtle.
Left handed compliment, just doesn't cover it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damn_with_faint_praise

Can't wait to check out everyone's work. Bring on the popcorn!!!

[Jason Ramsey]

my voice and diction professor used to say to give a "glow" and a "grow"...

sometimes people like to act like tough love and saying things sucked is what would happen in the "real world", so they should get used to it... But, keep in mind this is meant as a collaborative environment where we can learn from each other and try to help each other... You don't have to stroke someone and tell them their film is great when it isn't... Be honest... just give them meaningful feedback that might help them to do better next time, rather than just putting it down. This is an educational environment, and even though you guys are competing against each other, most people seem to get that it's also meant for us to try to help and encourage one another.

Just a friendly reminder to try and make the extra effort for each other, as I'm sure we'd all appreciate the same. It's a small group this time, so everyone should have an opportunity to at least return the favor of a critique of some of their peer's films.

And, put your thick skin on as the recipient of reviews too Even though, we'd want to discourage the "this sucks" kind of critiques that don't offer any kind of improvement suggestions, some people will be more... "honest" than others.... learning to take the good and the bad is the nature of hte beast... Failure is a huge part of trying to succeed in the arts.

It's a utopian ideal, I know... But, doesn't mean we can't strive towards creating an open, honest, and positive feedback atmosphere.

[Jason Ramsey]

@ Zaza - Ironically, the spoiler tag is kinda hidden... For anyone who didn't see it... it's in the 'advanced' section and it's that blank square.

yes... kinda broken with this new editor at the moment... but, you can also use the bb tags for it which are (without the spaces) [ SPOILER = ] YOUR SPOILER HERE [ / SPOILER ]

Later,
Jason

[Lynchenstein]

Yes please!
Aside from the joy of making the film, I want to learn by doing. I have no formal training in the art and/or science of film making but I really want to get better and make good films that people will enjoy (and I'll continue to enjoy making).
The win for me is to learn what more experienced film makers have to say about what I've produced. It's nice to hear about what people liked, but it's important to hear about what they didn't and why. It's even more important to me to hear the suggestions on how to improve both technically and artistically.

I'm sure I'm saying the obvious. So, when the time comes please give generously.

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

It's very tough. That idiom 'damn with faint praise' is kinda understandable. I gave comments on 100% of the shorts in FictionFest, all of my comments were totally truthful, but on a few I had to give small doses of the truth, because I was afraid that if I was completely truthful I could have only stammered 'geez, this sucks ass, sorry, please go work on your craft. what didnt work? everything...the lighting, the direction, the story, the acting, the props, the wardrobe, your camera settings and the editing choices'. Instead its better to just compliment the one or two things that sort of stood out. Now obviously my comment above would have really only applied to like one or two films in the last fest, many were quite competent, but i'm just making a point. I did feel that if I had given comments like say, Lawrie, I would not have won as I would have pissed off at least one guy just enough to duck me lower in the ratings.

[Ryan P. Kelly]

As a new guy both here and in film making I am hoping for an honest critique from everyone. We were pretty hard on ourselves yesterday afternoon and wouldve loved anothe 12-36 hours to fix the problems, but I guess thats the nature of contests and deadlines. So please let me know what worked and more importantly what didnt. I plan on viewing all the films multiple timesand commenting on all of them...probably get the cast and crew together to watch them all and give you guys feedback from our "team" as well as my personal thoughts.

[ZazaCast]

We were pretty hard on ourselves yesterday afternoon and wouldve loved anothe 12-36 hours to fix the problems, but I guess thats the nature of contests and deadlines. So please let me know what worked and more importantly what didnt.

Here's the first lesson I learned... start earlier.

[Lynchenstein]

It's very tough. That idiom 'damn with faint praise' is kinda understandable. I gave comments on 100% of the shorts in FictionFest, all of my comments were totally truthful, but on a few I had to give small doses of the truth, because I was afraid that if I was completely truthful I could have only stammered 'geez, this sucks ass, sorry, please go work on your craft. what didnt work? everything...the lighting, the direction, the story, the acting, the props, the wardrobe, your camera settings and the editing choices'. Instead its better to just compliment the one or two things that sort of stood out. Now obviously my comment above would have really only applied to like one or two films in the last fest, many were quite competent, but i'm just making a point. I did feel that if I had given comments like say, Lawrie, I would not have won as I would have pissed off at least one guy just enough to duck me lower in the ratings.

Good points. I imagine that everyone who feels good enough about their project to go ahead and submit it, must feel at least a little bit of pride in themselves and their work. But as Jason mentioned, part of submitting your work to critics is to have a thick enough skin to not let negative comments be taken personally and an open enough mind to evaluate the good and the bad comments and see what changes to your process you want to make, based on the feedback. I also think that part of critiquing someone else's work is delivering the negative feedback in such a way so it likely won't be taken personally.

Did you really hold back on some feedback out of concern for not winning?

[ZazaCast]

Good points. I imagine that everyone who feels good enough about their project to go ahead and submit it, must feel at least a little bit of pride in themselves and their work. But as Jason mentioned, part of submitting your work to critics is to have a thick enough skin to not let negative comments be taken personally and an open enough mind to evaluate the good and the bad comments and see what changes to your process you want to make, based on the feedback. I also think that part of critiquing someone else's work is delivering the negative feedback in such a way so it likely won't be taken personally.

Did you really hold back on some feedback out of concern for not winning?

You also have to take the comments with a grain of salt...everyone has an opinion, but that doesn't mean it's always right.
After a bunch of comments you'll start to see a pattern & when a bunch of people see the same thing, it's worth taking note.

...just don't lose your individual creativity & style....

[Jason Ramsey]

seems like a good thread to revive this old write-up from Jack Daniel Stanley.

Worth a read and a consideration at the least, and probably some of the new guys haven't seen it yet:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread...ving-Criticism