86th Street Studios: "Catherine" by Nic Aragon

Thanks! I think my worries of it being misunderstood are going away. Just flow with it and witness it is exactly how it should be viewed. Im not trying to tease, or try and add anything that isnt there with a quirky ending, just a 6 minute experience that is COMPLETE. Something that seems to be lacking, im glad though, its different
 
Catherine


Script
Good script. Pretty basic storyline. Well written dialogue overall.

Acting
I think this is the weakest aspect of your film. The actors didn’t do it for me. Your lead felt wooden and unnatural, especially when she was talking with the repairman guy.

Cinematography
Nice! You have a great distinct look to your film, and I dug it, great shots.

Editing
Not fantastic, not bad. I can see where you had to cut it for time restraints, the whole thing seemed a tad rushed to me.

Score
Pretty good, I liked the feel, but it got monotonous after awhile.

Overall Impressions
You’ve got a great short here, and it has a beginning, middle, and end. I was happy it didn’t leave me hanging. I’d like to see a directors cut of this, maybe paced a bit slower. Thanks for the film!
 
thanks brandon, there will be a directors cut, just need some time to get everything together again for the score
 
Cynic821 said:
thanks brandon, there will be a directors cut, just need some time to get everything together again for the score
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Cool, I think having a slower pace may help some of the dialogue and acting as well... good work here.
 
Thanks for the honest review Brandon (I did the music). Since Nic wants to do a director's cut I'm thinking of adding elements to the score to mix it up a bit, I did find myself recycling bits and pieces over again.
 
JaydeeG83 said:
Thanks for the honest review Brandon (I did the music). Since Nic wants to do a director's cut I'm thinking of adding elements to the score to mix it up a bit, I did find myself recycling bits and pieces over again.
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I think that'd be good. Adding some dynamics to your score would help a lot. But as I said above, I like the tone you had to it :)
 
Directors cut is almost already done anyways, since it was edited first, then cut down to 6 minutes. Too bad we didnt get to use the track thats in the first post.
 
Good work overall.

I like that we're introduced to the major characters in the laundry room. I used to HATE going to the laundry room when I lived in an apartment, and having to interact with my weird neighbors, so that really conveyed the sense of alienation you seemed to be going for, which is great for character development.

Unfortunately, I feel like that fell flat as soon as the female lead and maintenance man left the laundry room for the hallway. I would have loved for them to make a few quick comments about the creepy neighbor (but really, a glance in one another's direction behind his back in the laundry room does the trick, too) - but instead we got a long, drawn out literal dialogue explanation of everything the viewer needs to know about this movie. That stuff should mostly be explained in actions rather than words, and I think your time would have been better spent in further character development.

The reason I mention character development - the story itself is pretty simple. Not a bad thing - and in fact (since you're such a big fan of proper endings) it has an effective start, middle and end. But the end falls flat, for me, simply because I don't really care about the female lead, the dead woman, the killer, and the creepy neighbor. I just don't know enough about them yet. Devote a little more time to character development and an exploration of the relationships among them and the ending would have been great.

Other than that, I liked the style, and your piece looked good overall (although I'm not a big fan of all the white and yellow blank walls...). Good work.
 
Thanks Lingothree. Im going to be making changes based on your and others suggestions and i hope you would be interested in seeing the remake that is longer.
 
Ok, I don't have much to say that hasn't been said. Some really nice shots, didn't really like the hand held pov stuff, but I don't like that in big budget movies either. I think it's because camera can never really simulate how someone sees and it just always feels fake to me.

Score....loved it when the drums kicked in.

Like other people said, the acting was a big wooden.

Other than "why did that long haired guy go up to save her" the actual story was fine. Not spectacular, not bad.

One of the better shorts on here.
 
Nic, I liked the story but I have to say that when I saw the long haired guy pick up the keys, the first thing I thought was "now he can get in to save her." My biggest beef with the story revolved around the keys. When she left the deadbolt locked, I wondered why she bothered to take them in the first place. I am hoping she left the deadbolt locked on purpose, otherwise, I would have thought she would have noticed that the door didn't close all the way. But on the whole, I liked the story, as it was complete. It was similar to a couple of other stories in that she had moved into a house/apartment where something terrible had happened but there were a lot of common themes throughout the contest.

Personally, I had a problem with the cinematography. I found WAY TOO MANY shots to be out of focus. It may have been a stylistic choice, but it felt like a mistake. I don't think the 35mm adapter was used to its greatest effect here. The overall look was soft, often just out of focus. Was the vignetting done in post, therefore a conscious choice? I thought it might be, but wasn't sure.

I think your choice of music was good. It set the mood and fit your pacing well. It didn't stand out and say "listen to me," so I liked it.

My favorite shot in the movie was the closing shot from the outside, looking in. I wished more of the movie could have had that look to it.

Overall, it kept me entertained, thanks.
EDIT: Just to make it clear, I liked the story. I just had the one minor beef with the keys because it felt too obvious. But as a story, I liked it.
 
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The strongest part of this project is the screenplay itself, which is suspensful by only hinting at who the killer is until the end. The story entertained me. Audio technique is the weak part. Let me suggest renting a pro shotgun and pole next time. Take care on the levels, EQ, and delay to ensure the ambience and placement of the dialog makes it believable. Too bad because the actor's deliveries were excellent. I hope this is helpful feedback and not discouraging. After every project I'm always wishing I'd done something different. There's always a next one.
 
So, in order to remain as uninfluenced as possible, I have not read the previous remarks-

For what it's worth, here are my thoughts, hopefully they live up to your standards, and are not just lame ass fluff. ;) :)

I really like the opening titles- well done. They felt like they were a part of the actual shot, and not compt in. Overall the cinematography was good, but the handheld style got a little old for me- especially when peoples heads went out of frame (3:48ish) I kept wanting the camera to move so I could see what was going on ... which took me out of the moment as a viewer. You used DOF well, but the lighting was over the top at times- with the blown out footage, and the transition from properly expose to overexposed was harsh- it didn't seem natural. Some of my favorite shots are the keys on the washer, the reflection in the mirror of the killer, and the last shot of the door back looking through the window. All of these are creative uses of composition, space, and lighting to tell the story.

I liked the score. It was original, and different then the typical score for this genre. Although the score, with the editing at times made it feel more like a music video then a horror flick- so it felt more up beat then scary / horror. I think that this contributed to feeling distance to the film - no connection to the characters.

As for the script, after it was revealed that someone had died in her apartment I knew what was going to happen next- nothing to orginal here. But that is not to say that I didn't like the story- I did like it, I just knew what was going to happen.

The stiff acting did not help much, and I think it is the weakest part of the film. As it felt forced a lot of the time, and there were moments where it felt like the actors would look directly into the camera lens- (2:27- it feels like she looks at the camera as it pans over to the guy. I can't tell if she actually does, but it feels that way when i watched it the first time.)

The editing was good- I felt like it has a nice pace to it. Although for your comments on being original in other threads, I thought that it was interesting that you chose to use the traditional flash to white with the accompanying sound for the flashback scenes. I think it works here- I was just expecting something different. There were a couple of shots where the shots did not match up- (2:31 specifically) as the guy was moving in the previous shot, and then he is as stiff as a board in the next shot.

I didn't care to much for the VFX- the blood on the wall. If she was slashed to death in the shower why is it all neatly running down the wall from above the shower head level- it felt unnatural. I did however like the image of her running her hands across the blood.

Overall I think this is a decent flick. The major thing holding this one back is the acting- IMO.

There you have it- I hope that I provided you with a detailed review, that denoted both what I liked, what I thought could be improved, and didn't add to the smoke blowing.

BTW- what is that blond chick doing on DVXuser? I chucked when I saw the computer screen in the background with DVXuser on it. :)
 
Acting: Your lead girl, (love her look), thought she did well.
Script: Standard but solid with a nice twist.
Direction: Some nice ideas in here.
Music: Great loved when the drums came in, really helped build the story.
Editing: A tiny bit choppy but it worked.
Lighting: Very interesting bleachy look, nice.
Loved: The opening/ titles – straight in! Some of your framing, BW feel with intensive reds (WOW), the white transitions, track-back on the door (Sweet), the kick to the face, how the creepy dude turned out good (Yay! Creepy dude.) :)
Hated: That first pan (don’t know why, maybe because it didn’t reveal any new information), some of the out-of-focus shot’s, not much else.
Overall: I REALLY liked this film, boy the competitions hotting up. You told a great story with a solid look and feel to it. Props!

See I'm not all bad being as you left me a one sentance review :)
 
Hey Nic, Man...I have to tell you. You have such a smooth and gentle way of telling a story. I really enjoyed watching your film. It was easy on the eyes.

And easy on the ears, too! Absolutely, one of my favorite scores of this festival! It mirrored your shooting style so appropriately.

Your story left me a little confused at times. I guess in particular, the dead brunette.

The best part of the story, for me, was the non-streotyping of the "weird" dude. I loved the way you portrayed him and had him come to the rescue. Slipping the keys into her hand at the end was just a beautiful touch.

Cinematography was strong. I loved the images and the camera work.

I loved the opening titles. Nice touch there!!!

All in all, I loved the story you told. It was so well put together and the music was just outstanding.

Great job! Looking forward to more of your work!

Congrats Nic!

Ted
 
This photography on this one was outstanding. I loved the dreamy vanilla and yellow colors of the film. Soft focus? Intentional or not, I liked the soft look. One of the best looking films in the fest.

The acting by the lead actress was terrific. Very natural.

The music seemed a little loud against the rest of the soundtrack, but that's more of a technical issue.

The script is the weaker part of this film. The dialogue read more like just day-to-day BS rather than driving the story.

It's kind of weird because you expect a LOT from this film because it looks so damn good. Maybe you could ADR a new dialogue track? (Only half kidding).

In summary... a classy looking film that suffers from a unmotivated script.


John G.
 
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