"Lakeside" - by: Matt Thompson & Justin R. Durban

well... tim just loaned us the jib along with a few lights and a lil' monitor that we only used once. :)

Thanks Michael! I'm glad you digg. Digital dude needs more work and in the final cut, we are going to have elliot go back and redo those scenes. can't wait to put up the BTS footage of some of these fx shots. Some you'll have no idea. :)
(small stuff that urked the crap out of me)

/j
 
Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Lakeside


Script
As many have said, it felt incomplete. I think you mentioned earlier it was a part of a feature, if so, let’s see the feature! What you wrote here is good, feels very Hollywood, which is good, if you want the script produced!

Acting
The Ranger was pretty good, but I felt the rest of the actors were a bit shaky. Lots of the lines felt forced. Your lead male was pretty good, and he looked like Joaquin Phoenix!

Cinematography
Nice. Dug the shots at the beginning especially! Some of the interior dark cabin scenes seemed too flat for me.

Editing
Pretty good stuff here as well, it moved along briskly. One note in particular, I loved the cutaways to the dog on the girl’s lap when they were in the car, very nicely done there!

Score
Good stuff, flowed right along in the piece, didn’t stand out, which is good in this case!

Overall Impressions
Felt a bit incomplete, but I want to see the feature. It had a polished feel to it. One other note, the effects were cool! The first creature shot made me jump. Nice work there!
 
I'm likin' the comments guys thanks a ton I poured a lot of hard work into this as did everyone who worked on it. Justin has been a zombie editing and scoring! I'm really happy to hear that you guys want to see more! Many of these shorts end, well open ended... like Justin said killing them all off wouldn't solve anything either. My goal was to simply entertain and keep your attention for the full six minutes if we did it, let me know!!! I apperciate all you guys here and I'm lovin' the fest you guys are all so talented! Keep it up.
 
Thank you brandon. Excellent and honest review.

Cabin lighting.. ehh.. was a bit tricky. I suppose there wasn't really much time to establish the badass fire place in the back.. Otherwise, I would have LOVED to have fired that thing up. (which, we did to keep our actresses warm)(Chris was a great help and a trooper in the frigggin' cold.

leaves you wanting more!! MORE!!! :) Btw, everyone listen to "Cruisin' Down to Big Bear"? matt jumped on my guitar, loaded up sound forge and hit record. One pass boom. We had our ranger's tune. I recorded three other songs, but Have yet to release them yet. I think it would be a fun promotional package to have the Ranger's Soundtrack available. Stupid ass po-dunk music to really put you in the hill billy mood. :)

keep em' flowin. I think its at that point where people will nit pick the nitty gritty just to pick. Which... is perfect.

ditto to what matt just said.


/j
 
Well, this has to be up there with the most professional looking entires here.

It really did look like the start to a feature film. Very well shot, edited, and acted.
As a start to a feature I really could not fault it, I wanted to know where it went from here. However, this being a short film competition I have to judge it as a 6 minute piece and it didn't really hit the mark.

I would guess that's not a problem for you as you could probably take this opening and get fuding for a feature film from it. This is a great showase of your abilities. It scores in every checkbox for me.

As a short though it just doesnt feel complete, it's more like a trailer for a much bigger event and as such it's a hard one to judge....

But I can't commend you on your skills and professionalism enough. You could go places with this....
 
Darkline said:
Well, this has to be up there with the most professional looking entires here.

It really did look like the start to a feature film. Very well shot, edited, and acted.
As a start to a feature I really could not fault it, I wanted to know where it went from here. However, this being a short film competition I have to judge it as a 6 minute piece and it didn't really hit the mark.

I would guess that's not a problem for you as you could probably take this opening and get fuding for a feature film from it. This is a great showase of your abilities. It scores in every checkbox for me.

As a short though it just doesnt feel complete, it's more like a trailer for a much bigger event and as such it's a hard one to judge....

But I can't commend you on your skills and professionalism enough. You could go places with this....
Click to expand...

Thank you thank you! Yes.. Trailer'esk. I think Matt hit a good point. Either way, if we ended with the kids dying or the kids killing the creature, it still does not really end. We wanted to rattle your nerves for the full 6 minutes and keep you away from the stop button. :) (or volume control for that matter)

Your review was most helpful and always something to do better in the future.

cheers,
/j
 
oh you certaintly had me gripped! no way was I going to turn off.

I agree there was no time to kill the kids or the monster. But as good as that is it's also part of the problem. The pacing throughout was that of a longer piece, not a short; if you had rushed the end it woulnd't have fit. So hard to say really, maybe you could have ended with more of a big cliffhanger, as it stood it almost seemed like someone turned the projecter off.... you know like "you wanna see more? give us $300,000!"

but seriously you could pitch this for funding...
 
How many sick sherrifs are there in USA? ;)

Very professional beginning, the shots of the car are very well established and how you cut to the in-car is great.
Acting was REALLY nice! The creepy guy just ACED and I wanted MORE from him!
I dont quite get why you'd leave such a small dog outside but I guess you had to for this movie, but for realism you wouldnt, its cruel to leave it there (just a side note).
Is there a longer version? I want to see what happens even though I know it's gonna be a bloody mess! Still it had me wanting more!
The sound design was ok but at the beginning the song was not very well received, maybe UP the level a bit.However the change to the in-car was very well done in terms of audio as well, nothing abrupt, all very smooth and normal as you would expect in a big production.

As for that demon-like thing...it was ok! It didnt bother me in terms of quality, but since you didnt mean to tell more of this story you could have gone away with just cameos and not a full body shot. It would be scarier that's what I'm saying, to keep a 'fog' around this villain. In my humble opinion, if this was a feature I guess the story goes with the creepy cop being something like a monster right? I know it's a cliche but I'd rather have the creepy cop being a mass murdered because you had there an excellent actor who would definitely scare the hell out of us even if he held a pen!
 
Brandon Rice said:
Lakeside


Script
As many have said, it felt incomplete. I think you mentioned earlier it was a part of a feature, if so, let’s see the feature! What you wrote here is good, feels very Hollywood, which is good, if you want the script produced!

Acting
The Ranger was pretty good, but I felt the rest of the actors were a bit shaky. Lots of the lines felt forced. Your lead male was pretty good, and he looked like Joaquin Phoenix!

Cinematography
Nice. Dug the shots at the beginning especially! Some of the interior dark cabin scenes seemed too flat for me.

Editing
Pretty good stuff here as well, it moved along briskly. One note in particular, I loved the cutaways to the dog on the girl’s lap when they were in the car, very nicely done there!

Score
Good stuff, flowed right along in the piece, didn’t stand out, which is good in this case!

Overall Impressions
Felt a bit incomplete, but I want to see the feature. It had a polished feel to it. One other note, the effects were cool! The first creature shot made me jump. Nice work there!
Click to expand...

Thank you brandon for your review! I'm glad it flowed for ya and of course made you jump!

ya, the score I worked closely with on Matt. It was actually probably the only 'heated' pull/tug that we encountered for the entire production process. I was screaming... YES!! more score! He was screaming.. "NO! MOre Metal Saw Sound fx!! " (j/k) . So, we comprimised. There was a lot more music, but we decided to let the sound FX soundtrack take care of that. Pull you in, take you out feel. Ya, Christian did a fantastic job. So did the rest of the cast. I'd definitely like to work with everyone again. Specially Mr. Dapsis. He was a real 'trooper'

/j
 
VersuS said:
How many sick sherrifs are there in USA? ;)

Very professional beginning, the shots of the car are very well established and how you cut to the in-car is great.
Acting was REALLY nice! The creepy guy just ACED and I wanted MORE from him!
I dont quite get why you'd leave such a small dog outside but I guess you had to for this movie, but for realism you wouldnt, its cruel to leave it there (just a side note).
Is there a longer version? I want to see what happens even though I know it's gonna be a bloody mess! Still it had me wanting more!
The sound design was ok but at the beginning the song was not very well received, maybe UP the level a bit.However the change to the in-car was very well done in terms of audio as well, nothing abrupt, all very smooth and normal as you would expect in a big production.

As for that demon-like thing...it was ok! It didnt bother me in terms of quality, but since you didnt mean to tell more of this story you could have gone away with just cameos and not a full body shot. It would be scarier that's what I'm saying, to keep a 'fog' around this villain. In my humble opinion, if this was a feature I guess the story goes with the creepy cop being something like a monster right? I know it's a cliche but I'd rather have the creepy cop being a mass murdered because you had there an excellent actor who would definitely scare the hell out of us even if he held a pen!
Click to expand...

thank you versus for the review. (damn, i really need to goto bed)

Yes! Longer version. That's good right? I agree on the song. I wish I would have beefed it up more, but after watching and listening umpteen hundred times, I felt it was too abrupt and I didn't want people immediately reach for the volume to turn it down. WHICH.. i've had to do with SOOO many of these films in the fest. I guess I was right. :)

Saul. yes. He was awesome. SOooo much great stuff to choose from in terms of his performance. He's one of the nicest guys ever though.

FOg on the creature. I can see your point and I suppose we could darken/hide/fog him up a bit more. I would haev love to of gotten a close up right after he's in the doorway, but we wanted him in... and booOM! out. so there really wasn't much time.

Storyboards were definitely key to this film. I think when I did the initial edit, it was just over 7 minutes? Which, I think was a fantastic start and the SB's helped that pacing.

Thanks again! you rock!

keep em' cruisin'.

/j
 
here's some more storyboards for you guys.

enjoy!

lakeside_storyboards2.jpg


we wanted to have the dog pulled out and off to the right of screen and you can hear the sound FX for that FX shot, but that was one that look too damn stupid so we yanked it out.

OOh.. and for the dog. Yes, there's no way we'd leave such a cute little "Nestle" outside like that, but that unfortunately was the only dog we had! Good thing Matt bought that little furry coat right before dinner. Otherwise, we would have never seend the little guy "Freeze his ass off"

we wanted a white dog.. but, that fell through. make do with what ya got. Either that or use Matt's Fat Faced Kitten! :thumbup::beer:

/j
​
 
Best opening shot! I saw that truck blazing down the trail and then the Title appear and thought to myself..."and here is our horrorfest winner...."

All around decent acting, but great performance from the sherrif. That guy literally disturbed me. If that was real life, I would have punched that guy in the face and drove off on the flat tire, haulin @$$ on rim at 50 mph. He was that f-in creepy!

Cinematography was brilliant in some parts and average in others. I almost feel like some shots/setups were pushed really fast whereas others allowed you adequate time to setup frame and lighting.

The one thing that kind of bothered me was the editing/pacing. I was so hyped in the beginning with the cinematic visuals and energy but the whole scene with the sherriff (while creepy as hell) slowed the story down way to much for me. I think it winds down too much and that carries into the rest of the film then as well. I'm not as pumped in the later action sequences with the creature.
 
Hey guys wow! I'm so glad everyone is enjoying it. I know everyone keeps saying this feels like a feature. Well... good...;) Even though it's an excerpt from the feature it is takin' out and custom written for a short. I think it should leave you wanting more lol. I know a lot of these shorts have ended and I'm like "damn, no, keep going I like!!!!" Anyway I've been watching all the films and you guys the ones who aren't should be doing this professionally, serious competition and great talents! Can't wait to hear what else you guys have to say.
 
Prety good guys. The acting in some points killed it for me. The "go get hmmers and nails" part let me down pretty bad. but the bat thing eating the chiuhauha ROCKED HARD. I love that part.

You score well. :) Great little flick. nice touches liek the bat thng killing the genny was great!
 
Lakeside

This is one of my favorities and I am, leaning on it being my personal favorite. I only give out one 10 each fest and I am strongly considering this one to be it.

It was just plain fun. It had a solid cast who actually had character. Everything worked for me on this one. It just clicks and is fun to be a part of it!

Well done on all levels !
 
John_Hudson said:
Lakeside

This is one of my favorities and I am, leaning on it being my personal favorite. I only give out one 10 each fest and I am strongly considering this one to be it.

It was just plain fun. It had a solid cast who actually had character. Everything worked for me on this one. It just clicks and is fun to be a part of it!

Well done on all levels !
Click to expand...

John, wow.

Thank you so much and I'm most definitely honored to hear this. I'm glad you enjoyed our film and I hope everyone else did too.

cheers! :beer:

keep those crits coming!

/j
 
John, you have no idea how much that means to me coming from you *tear* been on here a while and honor your opion and work. Thanks man.

-Matt
 
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