C A C H E - snodart/theloniusjones

[theloniusjones]

HOWEVER; I see you guys in the mirror in the doctor's office.

Yeah, the room that we shot that scene is was kind of on the small side, and it was a tight squeeze getting everything and everyone in. I actually didn't notice the reflection in the mirror until you pointed it out. Snod edited the short though, and has seen it more than I have, so he probably noticed it. I remember we briefly considered ditching the mirror before we started shooting, but we only had 2 hours in the office to shoot the scene before they kicked us out and set the alarm. We were shooting after hours in a small medical clinic that my mom runs. This was the biggest office in the place.

Only part that I really was confused about was how he got there. I would have like to seen more on the 'napkin' in terms of information on the guy. Perhaps a few things crossed out, or even additional notes portray he found out who this perv was.

This is great critique. It's one of the plot points that we questioned. I think it's one of the biggest challenges of telling a story through film, especially in short format - it's really tough to decide where the audience will need more and where they should get less. I think you're right, we should have given a bit more there.

I would even fade it out and what would have made it really creepy would be to hear him continue to weep during pitch black. Mess with those ears.

Great suggestion. When I was doing the sound for that part I got really fixated on a part of the audio where his weeping gets distorted, and forced myself to fade to cut it out, but we thought it worked for the tone of the scene. Fading the picture first then splicing some weeping from another cut would have been a great solution, though. I think we may have considered fading out from the weeping scene sooner now that I think about it, but we were so attached to that dolly shot because it took us so long to set it up and get the follow focus right for it that we couldn't let it go. I think that's another one of the tough decisions you have to learn how to make as a filmmaker, where you have to be willing to cut things out that you spent a lot of time and energy on in order to serve the story and convey the emotional tone of the scene. I think I remember reading an interview with Steven Spielberg where he was talking about how hard it was for him to cut out footage of the robotic shark in Jaws (his editor wanted to show less and he wanted to show more), because they spent so much time building it and getting it to work right. And part of the greatness of the movie is how subtle and implicit the menace of the shark is. Plus the cut footage looked pretty bad when you see the behind the scenes stuff. I just thought of something - you know the way the shark sort of skims the surface with his dorsal fin above water before attacking, when you hear the famous musical cue? Great whites don't really do that, do they? This is what happens when you get your education from films. But anyway I've heard some people say that this is one benefit of having someone else edit your film, or taking some time off between shooting and editing, so you can forget how much time you spent on that certain shot and how happy you were to finally pull it off, and decide more objectively what works and what doesn't.

Anyway, it's nice to get some constructive, objective feedback. Snod and I thank you.

 

[snodart]

I wasn't 100% sure what the rules were about posting too much info before the voting ballot was out, but it's out now so I wanted to make some more detailed comments to the feedback.

Wow. Talk about impressive. And it had a real storyline, too.

The great stuff:

1. The lighting. The focus. The clarity. Generally, all in all, the cinematography. The visuals pop. Beautiful.
2. The use of the 35mm adapter could be included in the above comment, but special kudos for designing your own adapter and using it so well. This short should put you in the adapter business in and of itself.
3. The story. Made sense. Beginning, middle and end. And it raises some real ethical questions with no easy answers. So the film looked great and made me think. Holy smokes.
4. The acting was great. Your star nailed it. And I loved seeing a believable guy playing the doctor. Nice job at casting.
5. Costumes really worked for me. Good tone and very believable.
6. Nice touch with the guy delivering a BIG clock. It didn't have to be a big one. It could have been something smaller. But big looked better and was more interesting on screen and was just a really nice touch.
7. Nice dolly shot to the guy stirring his coffee. Again, a nice touch that wasn't strictly necessary, but added to the feel and presentation. Well worth the time to set up.

Here's what I wasn't too sure about:

• The killing scene behind the blinds. I'm not sure it reflected the talent and the skill demonstrated in the rest of the piece. Perhaps a little cliche, but bear in mind I'm digging deep for ANY negatives here.
• The music? Really soft when present. But it still fit in beautifully. Maybe I should just move this comment up into the "what I liked" category.

So that's about it. An awesome short that I was really pleased to experience. Fantastic job.

Thank you.

#1 and #2:
theloniusjones (my brother-in-law) and I have been putting ourselves through a sort of at-home film-school. Part of that has involved studying movies, commentaries, and behind the scenes goods. That was a huge help in at least giving us a place to start with some of the lighting and shots in Cache.

As for the adapter. I about killed myself trying to get that thing built in time to use it for Hero-Fest. Big thanks to Edwierdo for his great thread which gave me a huge starting point (and all the great folks that have posted their findings). I just kept refining and refining (and not sleeping) until deciding to go with a vibrating GG. I am very happy with it, but from shooting with it have realized a few small changes that I need to make in the newer version. And if this sounds like a plug for my Snod35 DVD, it is! I am beyond excited about it.

SPOILERS:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

#3: The story. We weren't able to start shooting until mid-May, so that gave us a good deal of time to work through the story. We wanted to go with something non-traditional as far as the super hero genre goes. I wanted to explore the idea of throwing some reality into the super hero notion. When a police officer is forced to shoot somebody, I doubt the officer goes on about their life unaffected. I would imagine that such an event would stay with most people forever. I wanted the story to put the viewer in the shoes of that person as much as possible.

#4 The acting. David Concannon was simply great. His dedication to the project was amazing. He essentially told me that he was available from the time he got off work until the next morning when he had to be back. I can't say enough about how great he was to work with.

#5 Costumes. We kept Mr. Nell's clothes simple, dry, and bland. Of course the hooded sweatshirt helps to show his self-proclaimed super-hero mindset. The kid's costume we were able to grab pretty easily from a costume store. The picture of Mr. Nell as a child is actually a picture we took of my daughter in the costume. We photoshoped David's head from one of his childhood photos onto it.

#6 and #7. I'm glad you noticed this. I struggled with figuring out how we were going to get a grandfather clock with no budget. This is our first true production and we didn't want to take any short cuts unless we absolutely had to. My wife found the big clock at Wal-Mart for $60. It is a piece of junk, but I think it passed itself off pretty well.

theloniusjones came up with the dolly shot during our test shooting at the coffee shop. Big thanks to Stell Coffee and Tea Co! There was going to be another 50 second scene that took place at the coffee shop that ended up being axed. We probably spent around 14 hours total there doing lighting and shot tests. The scene ended up being too complicated for the time that we had. With more experience we might have been able to work through it, but we had to move on because the clock was ticking. We knew exactly what we needed though when it came time to shoot the short scene that we did used from there.


As for the scene behind the blinds. You bring up a good point with this comment. I see how this shot does rest one the line between acceptable and cliche. The idea with the story was to pull the viewer into the character up until the bat hit scene. At that point, my goal was to keep the viewer as a spectator of the event and not inside with the action. I can only imagine how great Dave would have been if we did get inside with the action.

For the score, we just ran out of time. theloniusjones did the guitar work at the very end. He was going to score the whole movie, but time just crept up on us. I had to do what I could for the other parts a few hours before uploading. If Cache makes it onto the DVD or to the Hero-Fest screening, the completed score will be with it. In fact he is working on it right now. He is a great musician and I know it will make a difference.

Snod,

I must say.. very, very well done. I need to get your snod35 now!

My Thoughts:
well... dahopafilms pretty much hit them all.

I dig the sound FX of him having the 'lapses'. At first I thought the film was going to be another "Run Lola Run" and I was pleasantly pleased when it took a nother direction. I liked hearing the sound re-visit.
Action was dead on. Best i've seen so far.
Cinematography was great. The movements, the feel, the urgency and the feeling you have towards the guy. HOWEVER; I see you guys in the mirror in the doctor's office. I'm sure someone here could AE that out. or... am I wrong? Only flaw that stood out.
Music. Eh.. I have to disagree. I'm not sure i liked the strings. They were nice, but they really didn't make me feel anything like I would have liked to. The guitar piece at the end was fantastic; however.
Only part that I really was confused about was how he got there. I would have like to seen more on the 'napkin' in terms of information on the guy. Perhaps a few things crossed out, or even additional notes portray he found out who this perv was.
At first, I thought that was the main character in the window. I'm sure there's a reason why his shirt was off too. Was this to convey he's... well, I'm sure there's a reason.
The end was good. Maybe a tad too long. I would even fade it out and what would have made it really creepy would be to hear him continue to weep during pitch black. Mess with those ears.
only beef. Dude, Credits?

Other than that. Fantastic work and sensational short.

cheers.
/j

The mirror. LOL. I looked at that 100 times I think. In the end, it turned out to be the beveled edges on the mirror catching some light (at least that's what I told myself). Probably would have been wise to AE it out either way. Now everybody will see it! lol

I agree with you about the napkin. I think it might have helped.

We cut this down from about 8 minutes to 05:59 and 23 frames... so the audio after the fade and the credits were chopped. Full version will have both.

The shirt off was to help show the unexpectedness of the attack. We tried with the shirt on as well, but off just seemed to work better.

Thank you both for the extensive feedback. This is a tremendous learning tool.

EDIT: lol, looks like theloniusjones and I were posting at the same time.

 

[Edgen]

You are welcome fellas. Just trying to help out.

ya, It was such a short shot and otherwise flawless with the mirror. Sorry.. I guess everyone will be looking for that now eh?

yes.. its hard to let go of shots. The dolly was superb and ya, something like that with the rack focus is just hard to let go. Regardless, it was effective.

/j

 

[snodart]

Excellent work. A truly great piece. I really liked the color, the lighting, the composition of the shots, the acting. All were phenomenal.

I really liked pacing of the story and how it was developing but the ending didn't work for me. I only say this because I really respect the work you put into it and think it is great. If I didn'like the film I wouldn't take the time to explain.

I did see where the ending came from in terms of emotional build up but not through charcter development. I got the impression that he was a relatively normal, good guy, who has a tortued side. I though murder, even the murder of a pedophile seemed to be too extreme for his personality. In the scene where he saves the girl from the pedophile I didn't get the impression he would have done anything to him given the oportunity nor that he even wanted to but was simply satisfied with saving the girl. So the next scene seemed out of place. Perhaps it's just me though. I think the ending could work but there needed to be something in the character to lead us to it. Even a different reaction when he looks over at the car and sees him drive off. Perhaps his run over to the car could be a little more passionate, not so much that it ruins the tense feel of the scene though. I guess the main reason I think the ending seemed off is because in the car scene, he knows what is going to happen and when he sees it actually happen his reaction is very subdued.

I hope you don't take my comments badly. I really liked the film and thought it was an exeplary piece of filmmaking. I can't wait to see what you come up with next.

By the way, your baseball bat to the face on your site is brilliant. I didn't know AE could be used so effectively.

Alex

I'm here to learn so any and all comments are welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to express your thoughts and ideas.

SPOILERS::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

With the story, the idea was to put the viewer on the side of Mr. Nell while at the same time allowing for the shock of the attack to exist. By the way, I'm not attempting to justify what we did, but just explaining our goal with the story. I (I say "I" because theloniusjones may have a other points to make) didn't want people to walk away from this with a feeling of victory, but with a pit in their stomach. I wanted the viewer to be okay with Mr. Nell seeking out the pedophile and let them assume that it would play out as a typical hollywood style battle. The thing Disney is great for.

Example:
The hero and villain are fighting the end battle... the villain slips and is hanging by fingertips from the ledge... the hero, being good, tries to pull the villain up... the villain tries to take advantage of this by attacking the Hero, but causes himself to fall.

So with this example good wins but not by killing. The villain is the cause of his own death. Most all Disney movies work this way as well as many blockbuster type movies. I think this is great and even necessary (homage to Joseph Campbell).
The goal with Cache was to lead the viewer in this direction, but to force them to think about it in terms of reality. Though it would be ideal, most actual events don't play out with an all is well feeling at the end. This is the idea we wanted to explore with Cache. With Mr. Nell's unexpectedly brutal attack on the pedophile, I wanted the viewer to say something like: "I wanted him to get that guy, but not like that, damn". So in a way, I wanted to effect the viewer in such a way that they might be forced to take a closer look at how they view such events (in reality vs. hollywood). My wife is a forensic pediatrician and deals with child abuse cases. I told her once that I would have no problem beating the life out of a child abuser. Later though, when I really thought deeply about what I had said and tried to imagine what it would be like to do such a thing.... I ended up with a pit in my stomach.

 

[DarrenRyan]

Expertly shot and crafted all around. I liked your take on the theme. Acting very strong. Everything about this served the story. Nice work!

 

[Beat Takeshi]

Well it definitly left a pit in my stomach. It felt real and I could feel his torment. The scene where the man was going into the bedroom to I rape the kid (that was my take on it) made me cringe. The shot of him going in over and over really drove the point home too. I guess thats the hero as a kid and thats why hes so tormented. The way i saw it also was that if he had that power to see the immediate future his whole life then he knew when he was going to get raped everytime. That part totally gave me the biggest lump in my throat.
I have a short that kind of deals with the same issues I plan on shooting at the end of the year. No, I was never molested but I have kids and thats the one thing that scares me being a father and yeah, that baseball bat scene was appropriate. I think I would have let him live a little longer so I could burn his eyes out with a hot fork.
I should consult with your wife before I shoot this.

 

[Alex DePew]

First off, sorry I forgot to put the spoilers line in my original post. I just added it in.

COMMENTS BELOW CONTAIN SPOILERS::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I'm here to learn so any and all comments are welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to express your thoughts and ideas.

SPOILERS::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

With the story, the idea was to put the viewer on the side of Mr. Nell while at the same time allowing for the shock of the attack to exist. By the way, I'm not attempting to justify what we did, but just explaining our goal with the story. I (I say "I" because theloniusjones may have a other points to make) didn't want people to walk away from this with a feeling of victory, but with a pit in their stomach. I wanted the viewer to be okay with Mr. Nell seeking out the pedophile and let them assume that it would play out as a typical hollywood style battle. The thing Disney is great for.

I was definitely on his side. He was well developed and the viewer is drawn to him through his pain and his isolation. His character is well concieved and beautifully acted. And you definitely suceeded in getting that unnerving feeling at the end. What I didn't realize is that this film's run time was cut down significantly. I think there could be some more build up in the part where he decides to take an action. He has been mostly passive and brooding, so I found the action unclearly motivated. If you have extra footage I think it could be worked out. I think the ending works it just felt slightly rushed considering the pacing up to that point. We don't see his decision to do it. He is a very internal person and I saw him reacting to his environment and trying to cope with his power/delusions but not as an active, take action type. Again, I am not trying to tear down the film. I thought it was excellent and that the way you tackled the genre was original, well thought out and beautifully executed.

With Mr. Nell's unexpectedly brutal attack on the pedophile, I wanted the viewer to say something like: "I wanted him to get that guy, but not like that, damn". So in a way, I wanted to effect the viewer in such a way that they might be forced to take a closer look at how they view such events (in reality vs. hollywood).

I see what you are trying to say. And I think this is a strong message for the movie. I think then there needed to be a longer more nefarious scene to build the villain more and feel that there was serious peril. There was an uneasy feeling seeing her get in the car and leave the bike/scooter behind, but I think this scene could have been lengthened. When it got to the point of him hitting the Villain with the bat I was taken aback because I also felt he was making a huge judgement based on limited information. Had he had a vision that included a shot of the girl in the car uncomfortable and scared and/or images of the pedophile shot to make the viewer disgusted and angry it would have sold it in my mind. And when it cut to him after the vision, we could see him being more active, running towards the car to stop this disturbing scene from becoming reality. I think this piece works and would love to see the full version. I may be wasting my breathrogar-BigGrin(DBG) and everything I need is in the longer version.

My wife is a forensic pediatrician and deals with child abuse cases. I told her once that I would have no problem beating the life out of a child abuser. Later though, when I really thought deeply about what I had said and tried to imagine what it would be like to do such a thing.... I ended up with a pit in my stomach.

Years ago, when I was 18 or 19 or so, I volunteered at the NY Hospital Burn Center. The majority of the patients were little children and the elderly. I was there to try and lift the childrens spirits and to play with them. There was once girl I will never forget. She had third degree burns over her eyes. The mother, who only sporadically showed up at the hospital, said she crawled into the radiator. The doctor called child services and I asked him about her. The doctor told me there would be no way a child could be that close to a radiator for that long and not have any burns on her arms or hands. I wanted to do something but I felt so terribly impotent. I knew I couldn't do anything. I let the system take care of the mother and the child. Had this happened now, at 28, I wouldn't have handled it much differently, I still wouldn't have done anything to the mother. I would however most likely would try to follow the case and see how the child is doing. That is the single most heartbreaking thing I have seen in my life. I had to hold the child down for the doctors to put eyedrops in her little eyes to try and see if they could preserve her eyesight. The funny thing was she was the most happy baby even though she couldn't see. She was a little angel and I hope she is now living a blessed life.

So sorry to take this discussion on such a disturbing path. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I think that has been waiting to get out for a while now.

Back to the pit in the stomach of thinking about actually going through with the violence against the attacker. I agree that though many have an idealized notion of what violence is. They think that killing someone, if justified, would not affect their pschye. I can't speak with authority, I am not a psychologist or well read on this subject, but I believe no matter the circumstances it is a traumatic event that will leave the person with an emotional scar. I think it depends on the person how deep that scar would go.

EDIT AFTER READING ARAM'S POST: (his came while I was typing)

I didn't see the scene in bedroom with the kid in the cape in the way Aram did upon first viewing, but his reading of it makes a lot of sense. And I think this might be some of the justification that I was looking for. Maybe it was just me who missed the allusion to the childhood incident(s).

 

[wesley]

excellent camera work and lighting. and one of the more "plausible" hero stories . kinda reminded me of unbreakable.

and scene outside with the kiddienapper is gold.

one of my favs

 

[Ian Slessor]

snodart,

Well done.

CACHE was a very powerful piece.

I liked how he worked with timepieces and somehow was able to see ahead in time.

Cinematography, lighting, sound, acting all top notch.

I got the idea that the character had been abused as a child and, for me, what I thought was going to be discovered, almost to the end, was that the man in the car was actually the little girl's father who wasn't allowed to talk to his daughter and that the protagonist had killed an innocent man.

But I was wrong.

Well done. You're in my top 3.

sincerely,



ian

 

[theloniusjones]

I got the idea that the character had been abused as a child and, for me, what I thought was going to be discovered, almost to the end, was that the man in the car was actually the little girl's father who wasn't allowed to talk to his daughter and that the protagonist had killed an innocent man.

I don't think you're necessarily wrong. We never discussed this specifically, but we definitely wanted the audience to question whether the pedophile was truly guilty. Mr. Nell acts on limited evidence and makes a drastic decision that in our minds is motivated by his tortured childhood. We envisioned him questioning his vision, questioning his "powers", and questioning taking the vigilante approach that superheros often take. We wanted to show less of the pedophile's sins because, like Snod says in his post, we didn't want to give the audience justification for his acts, to make it more unsettling.

I like your interpretation and I think it fits in with what we were trying to do. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Blaine]

Very powerful piece, Justin. You and Tim have created a real piece of art. I love the story because of its depth. You spent a good deal of time setting up Mr. Nell's psychosis. Juxtapose that with an alternate reality and you are left questioning what is real. Just as was Mr. Nell. For me, this being a super hero exhibition and all, I took Mr. Nell's apparent psychosis as being true super human powers. This story really reminded me of the issues raised in Bill Paxton's movie, Frailty. What's real and what isn't.

The acting was excellent. I believed every one of your actors was real. Tight story with everything having a purpose. Considering the length of your movie, I personally think the whole thing with the napkin was perfect. We saw the license plate number and the address. I really didn't need to know how he got the address, just that he got it. In a full length feature, perhaps spend some time on it, but for a 5-6 minute short, you set it up perfectly.

The look you created was again, spot on. I loved how you handled your lighting. It just goes to show what effective pre-production can accomplish.

The music was very minimalistic but entirely appropriate for you movie. I do believe that you could have benefited by raising the levels just a bit though. I really liked the soft pretty piece of music set against the baseball bat beating scene at the end. That was a master stroke of storytelling.

Watching this, I'd say you have all the chops to do a feature length film. Find the right piece of material, go out and make it!!!

 

[david jerome]

I can't believe that's the same camera I have. It was beautiful. What a very intense story. I would love to see a full feature with this character.

 

[Anthem78]

Great job. One of my favorites. Top three definetly. I loved the lighting and camera work.

 

[snodart]

Very powerful piece, Justin. You and Tim have created a real piece of art. I love the story because of its depth. You spent a good deal of time setting up Mr. Nell's psychosis. Juxtapose that with an alternate reality and you are left questioning what is real. Just as was Mr. Nell. For me, this being a super hero exhibition and all, I took Mr. Nell's apparent psychosis as being true super human powers. This story really reminded me of the issues raised in Bill Paxton's movie, Frailty. What's real and what isn't.

We spent of good deal of time working through Mr. Nell's character. This was no easy task and we went through a number of ideas and options... so thank you. The super human powers... We tried to find a ballance between making the powers seem real and making them seem like a product of Mr. Nell's mental state. Our intentions were to make it unclear and let the viewer decide. In the same way we tried to make Mr. Nell seem a bit off while still allowing the viewer to become attached to him. I hadn't though of it until you said it, but there is a commonality between this story and Frailty.

The acting was excellent. I believed every one of your actors was real.

Thank you! I have to agree, the actors were great! David (Mr. Nell) was huge for Cache. Not only was his acting great, but he aslo recruited his friend Herman to play the part of the doctor (also a stand up job). The rest of the cast was made up of family and friends; and I think they did a great job as well. The Pedophile was played by one of Tim's friends, J. Wayne. It was his first experience with acting (as far as I know). He did a great job as well and pulled off a nice fall with the bat hit. We did not hold auditions for the parts, so I feel very lucky that we ended up with the people that we did.

Tight story with everything having a purpose. Considering the length of your movie, I personally think the whole thing with the napkin was perfect. We saw the license plate number and the address. I really didn't need to know how he got the address, just that he got it. In a full length feature, perhaps spend some time on it, but for a 5-6 minute short, you set it up perfectly

That was pretty much our reasoning behind it. We talked about ways to show him getting the address, but like you said, it probably wasn't necessary and with 5-6 minutes there just wasn't time anyway.

The look you created was again, spot on. I loved how you handled your lighting. It just goes to show what effective pre-production can accomplish.

Thank you. While I was working through ideas for the look, I spent some time looking at a couple of movies for ideas. I probably spent most of my time with The Machinist and Memento. I wasn't trying to match any of them though, but just use them as a reference to get some ideas rolling. We spent a ton of time going to the actualy locations and testing different lighting set ups prior to the actual shooting days. So the comment on the lighting means a lot to us. Pre-production... yes. I learned so much in making this short, but the single most important thig that will stick with me is the importance of pre-production. I now see pre-production as being comparable to the months that a fighter spends training before a fight. When everything has been addressed before hand, things flow so much better while shooting. Things never went perfectly or exactly as planned, but it still made a HUGE difference when it came time to shoot and later edit.

The music was very minimalistic but entirely appropriate for you movie. I do believe that you could have benefited by raising the levels just a bit though. I really liked the soft pretty piece of music set against the baseball bat beating scene at the end. That was a master stroke of storytelling.

I agree about the levels 100%.

Watching this, I'd say you have all the chops to do a feature length film. Find the right piece of material, go out and make it!!!

Thanks. Tim (theloniusjones) and I have talked about it and both feel that we need some more shorts under our belt before we are ready to do a feature. This is really our first true production. Most of what we have done up to this point has been tests and a couple of shorts (the kind that are made over a weekend).
http://snodart.com/clips.php
Prior to Hero-Fest we had both agreed that we needed some form of motivation to force us to do something with 110% of our effort. Not too long after, I came across Hero-Fest announcement, so we got started with ideas right away. It was perfect timing for us. We are very thankful that Jarred and DVXuser take the time to put these fests on. It has helped us to take some big steps forward in our skill level and knowledge.

Thanks for all the comments Blaine.

I can't believe that's the same camera I have.

I remember saying the same thing when I saw SIMILO for the first time. I would give you a link to SIMILO in case you haven't seen it, but I don't think it is up anymore. I remember telling Tim that if they could make it look that good, then so could we. Not sure we quite did it, but it gave us something to shoot for.

It was beautiful. What a very intense story. I would love to see a full feature with this character.

I would love to work on a feature based on this story someday. There would be so many different ways to play out the story in a longer or full length version... it would be a blast to work out. I don't think we are quite ready yet though. We still have much to learn for now.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[MiataFilmSomething]

I havnen't read all the comments on this film yet, so I don't know if I'm begin redundant, but I really liked and appriciated the acting in this one. The main character was absolutley great. Very convincing and moving performance.
Good job!

 

[Beat Takeshi]

Yeah, Im guessing that this will be the winner of the fest.

 

[Brandon Rice]

I watched this film... great job overall... didn't care too much for the story... too depressing/weird for me... but it was well done and did what it was trying to do... the acting was fabulous and the cinematography was great.

 

[JwrFord]

It's been said countless times but I really enjoyed this film. Everything was at a pro quality. While watching the scene in the clock shop I said allowed (at a very innappropiate time and place) "Thats ****ing good lighting" sans the poo poo. That statement stayed true throughout the piece. I too loved how minimalistic the music was. It kept with the ideas intended theme (it seems) and inconjunction with the great story telling kept me from looking at the clock. Non established environments also really kept me on my toes. Great job.

 

[snodart]

Thanks all for the new comments.

I watched this film... great job overall... didn't care too much for the story... too depressing/weird for me... but it was well done and did what it was trying to do... the acting was fabulous and the cinematography was great.

Thanks briceman. I had a feeling that not everybody would care for the story as it is not a very uplifting one. I Appreciate your honesty. We just didn't want go with a typical hero story. Our hope was to make something that was a little more challenging to watch.

Non established environments also really kept me on my toes. Great job.

I'm glad you mentioned this. I was concerned about not having them. We shot some establishing shots for several of the scenes and planned on using them. They just didn't work though. It broke the flow too much I think. Also, with only 6 minutes, there wasn't any room for it. The original "long" version was around 9 minutes. While I chopped and hacked away to fit it into 6, I felt like I was destroying all of our work. The funny thing is that we like the 6 minute version better now. I think it has to do with not wanting to let go of certain things because of the work that was put into it (as theloniusjones mentioned). Anyway, the new longer version is only around 7 minutes.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[theloniusjones]

While watching the scene in the clock shop I said allowed (at a very innappropiate time and place) "Thats poo pooing good lighting" sans the poo poo.

Thanks for the lighting comment. We used Lowel Omni lights. We have two, one with a detachable softbox (I think it's made by Westcott), and one with barn doors. We used the softbox for the clock shop scene that you're referring to, with a bounce (either a white foamcore or a white collapsable reflector disc also made by Westcott). We used the Omni with barn doors as a hard light source for scenes like the psychiatrist's office, also with a bounce. We also like to use black foamcore as flags/cookies to shape the light, especially for scenes with more noir-type hard lighting like the psychiatrist's office. We also have a Lowel Prolight that we like to use for highlights, but the bulb died so we didn't end up using it much on this short. The next lights we'd like to get are a fresnel and some flourescents (the Omnis tend to really heat up the room!). Anyway thanks for the comments. Feel free to ask any questions. It's nice to share how we do things and learn from how everyone else does it.