"Once A Hero" - Envision / 235 Studios

Beautiful looking film. The Letus really produces some amazing results with a good DP. I really dug the look.

The story confused me a bit, but that should be cleared up with the longer version, which I can't wait to see.

One suggestion that I would make would be to cut perspective on the rain sounds at the beginning.

How on earth did you get the rights to a Skillet song? Congrats to whoever pulled that off!

I see a definite improvement over your Sci-fest entry. Can't wait fo the full version!
 
Thanks Justin. Ryan just e-mailed me wondering if we should have just cut a trailer instead to the full cut vs. trying to CRAM a story into the 6 minutes. Eh, live & learn.

I also agree the rock song just comes IN & OUT. In hindsight I should have just had Brian Moody create a special cue for this short version there, but he did the best he could to simply take the existing music for the 23 minute cut & chop/blend it down for this version.

I've never really noticed the issues everyone's talking about with the audio, so I wonder if it's just in this compressed version. Otherwise, I'll have to remix the living room scene, and possibly ADR the entire entry way scene, which is right now all actual set/production sound with the rain we had coming in from the towers.

If I can get a pro on board for the FX on the extended cut, it'll make a LOT more sense when Meltdown/David dies, not to mention the extended cut has all the stuff that's cut out from the time he says "I can't be saved" to when he walks up towards her ... there's confrontation, further dialogue exchange, etc.
 
fixitinpost said:
How on earth did you get the rights to a Skillet song? Congrats to whoever pulled that off!
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Rights? We're supposed to get rights for that music?

Just kidding! I was able to track down their label, Ardent Records (division of Sony), and got the standard rate of just a hair over $0.09 per DVD ... so we've got unlimited festivals, two online venues (iFilm and Atom Films), and up to 500 DVD's under the current license.

In the perfect world, we'll be getting the final DVD out to the Skillet band, and if they dug it with their song in there maybe there could be some cross promotion, though again that's in the perfect world.
 
fixitinpost said:
Beautiful looking film. The Letus really produces some amazing results with a good DP. I really dug the look.
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Thank you.

fixitinpost said:
How on earth did you get the rights to a Skillet song? Congrats to whoever pulled that off!
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Yeah, Norm did a great job getting ahold of those rights- it was fun to see things like that come together.
 
Good work guys. I know how hard it is to take a longer piece and cut it down by 2/3. Curugon and I couldn't do it for our film, so we didn't enter.

I felt like the mood was great, the plot a bit rushed and the acting only OK. The girl's cockroach monologue was well-written, but not well acted. It reminded me of Kill Bill 2. Loved the bank set. Overall some really nice production value and I look forward to seeing the full film.
 
Note: I have not read most of the responses yet, until I had a chance to write mine...didn't want to be unfairly influenced



I enjoyed this film and it is clear in watching each film you have entered that you are learning and growing as a filmmaker. This is hands down your best entry yet.

The locations were fantastic and I loved the dark, mysterious feel you gave to all the scenes. My biggest complaint with this piece, and it isn't a show stopper, is that I know there is more to the story and I'd like to see it...I'm not 100% sure the full story comes through in this cut, in particular who is the woman that is all over the guy after the heroine finds stinger in the coat pocket? And why does he say he can't be saved, turn green and then he's on the ground? I know there is more that I'm just not seeing, but I am left, in this cut wondering about those things. But again, they don't take away from enjoying this project.

Knowing how short the time was for getting special effects in I am very impressed...I spent several days just trying to fix my unlocked camera plates so I could make a guy disappear and trying to mask out extras who wandered into frame to "watch the action". I'm sure they'll just get better as you have more time to fine tune them.

Everything was well framed and the dark coloring of the piece was fantastic. I love the image you get with that letus adapter...gotta get me one o' them. :)

I had trouble hearing what was said in a couple places. In particular, the rain makes it hard to hear what is being said in the opening until she says something about "...lost my powers.". The audio in the opening living room scene has a slight "ring" to it, but that may just be compression.

I like the lighting...it has a noir feel to it, even though it is in color and is not a 1930s gangster flick. But the deep shadows and overall dark tone made me think noir.

The score is fantastic...the composer did an excellent job of expressing the story without drawing so much attention to itself that you were pulled out of the film.

The actors did an excellent job. However, there were two parts I wasn't real keen on. First, when the guy yells "NOOOO" after the heroine died...it felt very over the top to me. The other was the cockroach stuff. The lines were fine, but her delivery felt strange. It was almost like she was trying to "sound" tough and it just sounded forced.

Overall an outstanding job and I'm glad you submitted it. I'm really looking forward to the extended version as I'm sure there is a lot of great story in there to match the great technical aspects!!

Thanks for sharing this film, I really enjoyed it!!

Larry
 
Larry, thanks a ton for the VERY detailed feedback. Very much appreciated.

As a side note, I've updated the first page with a small poster to get into the promotion swing of things! :thumbsup:
 
OOoh ya!! I dig the new poster. Very very slick indeed! It sets the mood of the film right off the bat.

/j
 
The lighting was great.
The sound was awful.

The scenes in the apartment had a great look to them--you established a particular mood (again, props for the lighting choices)--but the "superhero" scenes came off really cheesey and stiff.

Also: what the hell is going on??

I see that there is supposed to be a longer version. Hopefully, that one works.
In terms of story-telling, this film needs help.
 
Awesomeness! I love how Jason just joined yesterday in time for comments. :thumbsup: Either an existing member that's afraid to give critical comments under their real name, or was just invited to the forum by one of the entrees.

So Jason ... when you blast a particular area (i.e. sound, cheesy & stiff, etc.), would you mind elaborating on particular sections, or things you think could have been done to improve them?

That said, glad you liked the lighting. When our lead actress (Rachelle Morrison) submitted her headshot, I was intrigued by her look but immediately also wanted to know who the photographer was. Called him up & asked if he'd be interested in being our gaffer. He did a great job.

Yes, the longer version works. We started making the film because of this festival, but let it become bigger (and wanted it to as well) than the 6 minutes ... MUCH bigger. Perhaps it was a mistake to enter this into the festival, as it was a huge challenge to try & make sense out of it within 6 minutes, but I'm still glad we did as the reviews are still fairing decently, and I'm picking up some things to adjust (i.e. sound) in the final mix of the full cut.

Thanks again, but if you could be so kind (Jason) as to go into a little further detail on the negatives, it's a lot more help to the community.
 
Envision said:
but if you could be so kind (Jason) as to go into a little further detail on the negatives, it's a lot more help to the community.
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I agree... specifically on this film and on Jack's Bone Hand film...
 
Calm down.
The dialogue comes out too muffled. There are times when the score overpowers it and there are times when it's just too low.
I'd suggest playing with the levels--in a movie that's as particularly hard to follow as this one, being unable to make out the dialogue is a killer.
 
Very high command of camera and lighting skills. Great shots truly.

I didn't see Jason's comments as "Blasting" just honest. This forum could use a little more of it.
 
I don't think anyone here has a problem with honesty, we are just looking for more than, "The sound was awful."

If the sound is awful, then please say so...but also say why you think that. Was it poorly mixed? Did it sound good but you couldn't understand the words? Etc, Etc
 
We shouldn't be deleting, ignoring, or discouraging posts because they disagree with the predominate wisdom and have a little fire. It's very frustrating to see a truly different voice silenced because it's not playing nice, because it's being a little rude. Sometimes you have to cut through the crap to get to the point. You can't always tip-toe when you're talking about something you're passionate about. And I don't think you should need to. Let's have it out! Let's fight for our films.

But that's just my humble opinion. :)
 
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