Kill Shift - A Marlon Ladd & Hawk Teflon film

[Matt Harris]

Marlon, whenever I'm at work and Hawk's at my place editing, I always notice all my beer is gone and there's usually a piece of jewelry missing. You too?
JK, great job and major props to Hawk who pulled this off at the last minute and saved the day!

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

To all involved, great job!

Now this is a HorrorFest film. I haven't watched them all yet, almost done. But I have a feeling I'm looking at one of the top three. Could be #1.

Loved the circling camera in the beginning. Solid acting all around. Hell, even the closing credits looked amazing. And this felt like a complete short. Great concept. Good location too.

And the older version of yourself at the end, very nice way to bookend the movie.
Very smooth work, fellas.

Gotta watch the rest now.

[ZazaCast]

Sweet! Marlon gets my 'Best Male Lead' in this one. I was hooked from the first frame and nothing seemed to be out of place...what a ride.
Great location and all the actors hit their mark. Hawk did a great job on the rotoscoping (I ALMOST couldn't see it ). As MAH said, loved
how the opening & ending tied it all together. I'm usually not a fan of all the (Michael Bay) lens flare and visual EFX but it didn't take away from the story.

Excellent job, but again I've seen what you guys can do when you put your mind to it! Congrats.

[Matthew B]

Really nice entry guys. Solid performances and great set BTW. I'm a sucker for an action film, so this has a bit of a soft spot for me.
I did feel as though the cinematography was very inconsistent. One shot would look great, then the next would look not as great, almost as though it was shot on two different cameras.

I loved the opening shots with the old man and the cool particle effect, well done on that Hawk. And nice performance Marlon.

[Marlon Ladd]

To all involved, great job!

Now this is a HorrorFest film. I haven't watched them all yet, almost done. But I have a feeling I'm looking at one of the top three. Could be #1.

Loved the circling camera in the beginning. Solid acting all around. Hell, even the closing credits looked amazing. And this felt like a complete short. Great concept. Good location too.

And the older version of yourself at the end, very nice way to bookend the movie.
Very smooth work, fellas.

Gotta watch the rest now.

Thanks, MAH!! Big praise coming from you. Your critiques are always right on and greatly appreciated.

Sweet! Marlon gets my 'Best Male Lead' in this one. I was hooked from the first frame and nothing seemed to be out of place...what a ride.
Great location and all the actors hit their mark. Hawk did a great job on the rotoscoping (I ALMOST couldn't see it ). As MAH said, loved
how the opening & ending tied it all together. I'm usually not a fan of all the (Michael Bay) lens flare and visual EFX but it didn't take away from the story.

Excellent job, but again I've seen what you guys can do when you put your mind to it! Congrats.

Thanks, ZaZa! Glad we could be competing with you in yet another dvx fest. This is where it all started for many of us. We took our lumps and kept on going. Thanks so much for the critique! So glad you enjoyed it and I'm still so super excited about your film. I just can't tell you how cool it is to see a fellow filmmaker do his thing and you definitely did YOUR thing!

Really nice entry guys. Solid performances and great set BTW. I'm a sucker for an action film, so this has a bit of a soft spot for me.
I did feel as though the cinematography was very inconsistent. One shot would look great, then the next would look not as great, almost as though it was shot on two different cameras.

I loved the opening shots with the old man and the cool particle effect, well done on that Hawk. And nice performance Marlon.

Thanks, Matt! Glad you enjoyed it. The opening is probably my favorite part of the film. Matt Harris provided the cc on those shots and they turned out fantastic! I'm curious though about what shots you may be talking about being inconsistent. Can you give me an example?

Also thought your film was excellent and I'll be getting to your thread soon as well. Thanks for dropping in.

[Chris_Keaton]

Not sure why you went with the funny DVX opener. Nice location. The start felt a little slow for me. I think that may be because the threat wasn't made clear initially, so what should've been tension felt like filler...initially, but once we see the monster well then it all works. Very nice!

[Chris_Keaton]

Oh and for some reason I had to crank my sound all the way up to hear it.

[Matt Harris]

I loved this short guys, Marlon and Hawk, great job. I'm a sucker for sci-fi soldiers with guns skulking around abandoned buildings, and you nailed it.
Solid acting all around, all 4 of you. I particularly liked the exchange between the guy and the girl, how we got a glimpse of their relationship, and then she shanks him.
I bought it, it just worked for me. You created a world here, and it was believable. Shape Shifter effects were awesome. Marlon I like how you had yourself as an old man at the end, waiting, guns drawn, for the return of the Shape Shifter. It gave the movie more of an epic feel. I'd certainly love to see you turn this into a feature or webisodes series. I think it's my favorite thing you have ever done!

[Matthew B]

Thanks, Matt! Glad you enjoyed it. The opening is probably my favorite part of the film. Matt Harris provided the cc on those shots and they turned out fantastic! I'm curious though about what shots you may be talking about being inconsistent. Can you give me an example?

Also thought your film was excellent and I'll be getting to your thread soon as well. Thanks for dropping in.

Sorry Marlon only just saw this. The inconsistency could easily be fixed with a tweak on some of the grade. A handful of examples to give you an idea:
- the cu at 1:05 has much more of a greener bias than the previous shot and the next shot.
- 1:53 & again at 2:02 - this is one of the shots that to me feels like a different camera, not as crushed as the other graded shots.
- 2:54 - more magenta bias than previous shot.
- 2:55 - back to green bias.
Just simple little things like that, could most likely be fixed with another grade. But this is just nitpicky stuff.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Cool to see everyone banding together to get this thing cut and uploaded BTW!



The DVX bumper is awesome. But pretty sure it doesn’t match the tone of your movie.

The anamorphic flares in the very opening shot are a bit much IMHO, but I love all the flares and stuff on the close shot of the old man’s hand. Beautiful.

Nice location with the police guys. Nice steadicam.



SPOILERS

Ah man. Why you gotta kill the sistah first? Kill the other dude.
...Oh good she’s back. But what happened to her? Suspense.

END SPOILERS



I like these darker shot of you with the flashlight a lot. They don’t see to match the reverse though. Doesn’t seem like you need a flashlight in your OTS.

Very much like the far low dutch angle shot in the hallway.



SPOILERS

Oh don’t trust her dood - she’s changed. Don’t! Don’t! Too late.
Oh snap didn’t see the shape shift effect coming and nicely done.
Nice acting and lighting for the Evil Version of his partner - the shadow of his cap plays well. Subtle but clear.

END SPOILERS




Nice combat and choreography.

One suggestion - maybe dub the other actor with your voice at the end so it matches. You’re doing a pretty good older voice over. His line doesn’t match and is maybe not as good. Conversely, maybe have him do the voice over?

Ggod short and your After Effects is redonkulous.

Nice job as usual sir.