Metal Storm - Echo Productions

Whoa I can't believe I haven't commented on this thread so far. I thought I'd gotten to pretty much all of them. The last few days have been a blur.

This movie had many tight elements. I think my favorite was the lighting. The car chase scene was great, but I have a dislike surrounding Suburu Imprezas. I just can't stand those cars. That's not you, that's me.

I loved the scene in which the bad guy shoots, the the other guy falls away leaving the camera focused on the woman. Her reaction was nice. I also like the flashback scenes. I enjoyed the performance by the bad guy, but I kept thinking "Everybody Loves Raymond". He reminded me so much of Brad Garrett. None the less, it was a groovy performance. I liked the doctor. He seemed authentic to me. Some of the lines were cliche, but sometimes cliche fits.

The one I couldn't handle was the main actor. He might be really nice and cool in real life. I just didn't buy his performance in this heroic tale. It seemed a little heavy handed at times.

Overall this movie was pretty cool. I didn't get bored and it was fun to watch.
 
Oh well, it's still a rice rocket. If it was enough to get me confused - I'm not really into those types of cars. That's just my personal preference. It didn't influence my opinion of the film or how I voted. I took my preexisting dislike and set it apart from the car chase scene and saw it for what it was.

It was a great scene. I liked the car mount type stuff you used. Although I would be a bit wary of attaching my DVX to a suction cup device. That seems scary if it were to fall off.
 
I had a camera falll off a car once (a Panasonic DV952) and the footage is great. The camera is rocketed off the car and falls maybe 15 feet in front of it with the lens facing towards the car. Then you see me quickly jump out of the car and run towards the camera--all the while you can hear me saying "No, no" over and over again in full panic mode. It's hilarious now.
 
Shaun you could use that video footage for a film. Just create a scene in which the driver hits something (maybe a squirrel) and then show the POV of the squirrel as it gets hit and tossed to the road. Then the driver runs over to it saying, "No.. no.. no...". Next cut to a craneshot above the driver and squirrel. The driver looks into the sky and shouts "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" :)
 
Shaun Patrick said:
dude, imprezas are hot but I think they're using a Lancer....
Click to expand...

It's a Mitsubishi Evo. I'd never seen one before - but that car was insane in person! Looked like it was out of a car show floor.

Thanks for all the comments!

Noct - I love that scene w/ the doctor falling away as well!

And , yeah - everyone thinks I'm Brad Garrett's little brother. Anyone know his agent? :-)

Of course there's the time I told a couple of girls at the bar that I was him after they sent someone over to ask - but I had forgot his name and made up a different one. They said, "Oh, yeah - nice to meet you".
 
Shaun Patrick said:
I had a camera falll off a car once (a Panasonic DV952) and the footage is great.
Click to expand...

mjm's greatest fear! But seriously, we had bungie cords coming out of our ears in case we thought we needed them. We never even attached one. Of course, there was the time that the oncoming horse trailer (which seems to take up more than half a two lane road) was coming at us, and I rolled down the window and just held on to it! That's surely an out-take!
 
mrpunch said:
Of course, there was the time that the oncoming horse trailer (which seems to take up more than half a two lane road) was coming at us, and I rolled down the window and just held on to it! That's surely an out-take!
Click to expand...

I wish we had our audio of that take, though, when we were all in the car screaming. It wouldn't have been too bad since I took that ins policy out two days before.

Thanks for the comments, all. Danny Martin (the lead) wasn't our first choice, or second, but he sincerely exceeded my expectations. He took direction very well, and he gave a lot of effort to the role. He's only a HS senior, so I'm very proud of his performance.

The car is a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution....it's been modded a little. I got to drive it a few times during production...what a blast. 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. Yum.

Thanks for the comments on the doctor's dying scene. Brandon, who played that role, said his wife told him, 'Honey, you die well.' I had fun shooting that shot where we rack to the girl after he collapses...just wish I didn't have to change iris to make it look right.
 
One more thing, I would NEVER hesitate to put my camera back up on a that car mount...as long as the surface is smooth and clean. It was good and steady. I hope MrP is prepared to do a car chase in all future movies.
 
Hello -

Very good job! Story was very coherent, but I would've liked some sort of twist at the end, or something else to make me go hmmmm....

great lighting and color correction.
acting was good and consistent, esp. from the woman and the villian.
Music was kind of video-gamey (I expected a voiceover to come on and say "FINISH HIM!!!") but it was appropriate and accented the story well in all parts.
Good intensity. Montages near the end (during the car ride) were used effectively.
Your car stuff worked out very well. I always cringe when I see car chases coming up because they're hardly ever done well - but not the case here. good job.
The gun trick was neat, and so was the last shot.

Nice work!
 
Thanks for all the comments, this was a blast to make. I didn't realize how hard it would be to play a doctor. There wasn't much for that character to do, and I just didn't want him going through the motions. The lines were cliche and cheesy, but I've already explained that previously. I'm still sticking by my looks of guilt. And I think I die good, as mentioned before and by my wife:)

It would have been cool to have some kind of twist or shock at the end, but we really couldn't think of something to do because of time restraints. By the time the they announced the one minute extension, we were already done shooting. The original script had the agent figuring out what the power was, and at the ending conflict, picking up a 2X4 and beating the tar out of the main character. He's just about to deliever the final strike when a shot rings out and the agent falls over. The girl had picked up the gun and saved the day, and the two of them decide to run and hide together.

As I was writing, more and more stuff just kept flying into my head, and by the time I was done, I had a pilot, a few episodes, a season finale, and a season 2 premiere show all in my head. It was hard to narrow it down to 5 min, and boy it took some effort and a little frustration (sorry mjmcneese!) But I'm really happy with the way it turned out. There were a few things I would change, but no one's film is perfect and I don't want to start George Lucasing the thing to death...

Thanks!
 
I still liked the lines in the first draft that I read.

Ending shot. Rachel and Martin are driving away.
Rachel: Where are we going?
Martin: North
Rachel: How do you know?
Martin: Trust me, I know.
 
conrad_johnson said:
The gun trick was neat
Click to expand...

Thanks...that was fun. Just used some fishing like that I 'roto'd' out to pull it out of the villians hand. And then we just had the hero act like he caught it...came out pretty smooth, but it maybe could have been better.

Now, I love...LOVE our score. It's not at all what I 'wanted' before our composers took over, but as they started to piece some of it together, I fell in love. I realize that it's not a typical movie score, and I'm fine with that...love it or hate it, I'm glad people are noticing. The composers worked their tails off on that...they'd never done anything like that before.

Thanks for the comments...keep it coming!!!
 
the car chase scenes would have been impossible without mrpunch (i was the stunt driver with the 'subaru impreza'). he came through big time with the camera mount. i had never seen one in person but it worked out very well and mrp made me very comfortable about attatching it to the car. just as mrp stated before, mjm could just watch through the lcd what shot was taken. it was sweet. the chase scenes definately helped the film, but i believe the story with some great acting that was done so well with the lighting, shots, and editing. the cast was awesome, producer was 'ok'. just kidding mjm, you did a sweet job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top