©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©©º°Aram Bauman & MsManhattan "5B" ©º°¨¨°º©©º°¨¨°º©

Well since I had to sit most of the time I used a 9" sony upsidedown and the magnet trick. The little bit of handheld stuff was shot by Deedive.
 
Review | POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! I watch the movies first time around strictly for enjoyment, second and third for review.

Hey Team, great entry. It's cool what you pulled off even with a handicap. (No offense, that was a compliment!) That was a pretty creative intro you put together!!!! Nice touch!

Script - A horror story, that's for sure. I saw it coming from the get-go, but that's almost the point. I can imagine it played out on paper a bit creepier than on screen, a straight forward piece. I didn't like the very end. Not the resolution per-say, but the way it went off. Candles Re-light, what does she get burned then?

Direction - The STRONGEST point of this short EASY. On the second watch around I had chuckled aloud at the professional shots. Great use of the adapter as part of the camera, definitely. Nice framing in most parts. The part where the girl jumps on the couch was weird. But you held on some really funny (haha) stuff. I loved it.

Acting - Couldn't get into acting, but I'm sure the girls tried their hardest. There were some good line deliveries. My personal favorite was "oh hell nah". It was actually hilarious.

Cine/Lighting - Really dark. There were things I felt like I should see but couldn't at all because it was just too dark. I wanted to reach in and lighten things up a bit. Some of it worked well, like the hallway scene but at times that also got too dark. Compositions were good for the most part.

Editing - Not too shabby at all. Dun ever have much to say in this field, just whether it stood out as not so good or good. Only a few odd cuts and holds. Fade-outs in the wrong place, maybe? Just an opinion.

Sound - Voices weren't so muddled. The ambient noise in the beginning even worked. Background music went unnoticed and was, for the most part, a part of the short. So that worked as well.

Special Effects - Neato mouse movement and Quija board thingy shifting. looked like the magnet under the table trick yeah?? It was a nice little addition. As well as the candles being relit. On the first watch it was just natural, which is the point.

Scariest Moments - I'd say the stand up and turn-around part. It was effective. Expected, but effective enough. Not saying that I jumped or anything... - cough-

Overall consensus - In comparison to your Hero-Fest entry this is a lot better. And maybe because it wasn't Special FX driven and you didn't have to worry about framing for this and that. I think you did a great job! Thanks for entering!
 
Acting: Adina @ Taina we’re great, keep it in the family!
Script: Liked the dialogue and concept saw the ending coming.
Direction: Nice shot’s and blocking. Great job.
Music: Perfect. Loved the Foley’s too.
Editing: Tight.
Lighting: Spooky with a glow!
Loved: Titles, the shot’s, the dog’s reaction, quirky delivery of lines, blocking, candles going out, moving mouse and Ouija, flame effects.
Hated: Not much only that I saw it coming.
Overall: Loved it!

One of my favs! Great job Aram!
 
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED this one.

LOVED IT.

So this is probably one of the best I've seen thus far. Cinematography was good. Editing was the one thing I think I had the biggest problem with - it could have really used some tightening up, and it seemed like a lot of the cuts came just a moment too slowly.

Sound was okay, and the score was great.

Screenplay and acting were really the strongest points for me, so it's funny that you threw this together last minute with family in tow. The girls seemed so natural, that it seriously seemed like you had provided them with liquor before shooting (I hope you didn't...did you?). I say that because that's the only surefire way I've found to get actors to loosen up and act naturally. The girls were really great.

The only "clunker" I really noticed was at the end when the curly-haired girl is saying good bye at the door. I didn't really like the closeup - it seemed almost as if the straight-haired girl was looking at her through a keyhole (which would've been funny), only she wasn't.

I totally didn't see the end coming. I was half-expecting this to be just another movie (as I've seen many that have done this thus far :( ) where there are a bunch of creepy/disturbing little occurrences and then it just...ends. So I thought - ooh, creepy oujia board and that will be the end of it. But you're better than that, now aren't you - the ending was great. And so, it actually gaves me chills. Woo hoo - first movie in horrorfest to give me goosebumps! You should get a prize.

Good work overall. I hope you can make it over to my thread to let me know what you think about my short.
 
Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

5B


Script
Really dug the script. It was kind of predictable, but I still liked it a lot!

Acting
Probably the weakest part of the film. The scenes inside the apartment and when they were in the room were pretty good, but the scene downstairs wasn’t so hot, and first impressions are important.

Cinematography
Wow, Aram, you’ve got a style to your work, and I love it. Nice dark lighting on this one, and the Brevis held up quite nicely. The one shot that’s been mentioned before was the CU on the ghost when she’s leaving… didn’t like that shot too much.

Editing
Good flow, never felt awkward on any of the cuts.

Score
Great score, very fitting for this film. Very nice!

Overall Impressions
Pretty good piece. I could never really get into it because of the bad impression I was left with the acting in the beginning. I did however love the scene when they were playing the game, that rocked and was intense. Thanks for the watch!
 
Aram and MsManhattan-
Good to see returning regular(s), you're the first vet whose film I've seen so far. You should make sure your thread is easy to find, the name 5B isn't very good at catching the eye. I guess there might not be too much you can to about that...
Anyhow, this is a solid effort pretty much in keeping with your past work. I'd say this is a bit more professional than your entry for Sci-Fest, probably because you eschewed heavy VFX work in favor of organic lighting and mood effects. I think this does the film a lot of credit, shows some exciting growth.
There are definitely some loopholes in plotting and pacing. The editing is a little draggy, and far too focused on the performance of the girls. While they are terribly cute and fun to watch, they don't tell your story very effectively. I'm not sure what story the goofy dead girl was telling, but it wasn't the story in the script. She was huggy and very, uh, intensely tweeny. Which would have been fine, except that the mood of the piece didn't really call for it.
The sound had ups and downs, I guess that's inevitable when shooting on such a short schedule. The music was fantastic. Justin, give yourself a round of applause. A classic score, I enjoyed the punch-up moments a lot, even though they weren't always reflected on screen.
The cinematography is nice in an abstract way, but again, it's serving its own purpose, not the story's. The endless focus on small things (racking through candles, Ouija boards, computer mice) is a healthy attitude from a DVX+35 point of view, but not so much from a story point of view. The close-ups were held past the point of good sense, especially on the dead girl. That first scene was almost entirely a close-up of her at the end...we didn't even see our supposed heroine leave.
There's always a lot of good stuff at work in your movies. I enjoyed this one, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the next one as well. Take care.
-Ben
 
this was good fun!

I really liked the black actress, I think she was fun and mental - but in a very engaging way. The thing that stood out for me was the dialogue and delivery, nicely handled all round. Lighting/editing/sound all to a high standard.

If you want me to be critical I would say that the ending did flag itself quite early on (we guessed it from the point they started the ouija); and the end wasnt exactly scary. After all, she seems like a nice girl, so I couldnt see why this was even a problem if she did come back and they became regular playmates!

That said it's one of the better ones for sure. I never lost interest.
 
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