Short Film "Shadows of the Evening" with a score by Herman Witkam

Chris Messineo

Chris Messineo

Veteran
Our team, Off Stage Films, is taking part in NYC Midnight's Movie Making Madness 2006.

We were given two weeks and assigned a genre (drama) and a subject (debt). We came up with the film: "Shadows of the Evening"

Herman Witkam, who has scored several DVXuser films, did an amazing job composing and performing the music.

Anyway, if you get a chance to watch it, I would love to know what you think of the film.

Thanks a lot,

Chris

p.s. If you're curious you can read the original script.

p.p.s. Also, if you're so inclined, you can vote for your favorite films in the contest, but mostly I'm just interested in your feedback.
 
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i'm waiting for it to load all the way up before i begin to look at it. looks good already though so far. what were your settings and did you use any special lenses or filters?
 
Filmboy77,

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you are digging the look. It's taken a few years, but it finally feels like we are maybe getting the hang of setting up our shots. :)

Here are a couple of grabs:

shadows02.jpg


shadows06.jpg


Both of these shots are straight out of the camera, as we were able to get what we wanted on set (which saved a lot of time in post).

No special lenses were used, and we primarliy lit with Kinos and clamp lights.

Chris
 
Chris,

It was really good. I enjoyed watching it. Light was excellent.. Acting was okay. the guy seemed to strugle in and out or his character some. Audio had some major issues with peaking, but over all a great film. The score was good as well. I think that Herman did a fantastic job.
 
Hey Chris, good luck in the contest. I'll give you a vote!

The lighting was really solid, I thought. I might have made a little more interesting choice in the bedroom, maybe with a "blinds" gobo or something. But overall, it was pretty unobtrusive and natural, I thought.

The red on that wall in the first scene is crazy blocky and munched up. I know it's probably compression, but did you have any problems with that wall in the uncompressed version? Just asking because I've seen that on two HVX shoots I've been on, and had to light it up to smooth it out.

In the very first scene after the title, there is a weird edit, where it looks like some black space between the cuts.

I don't really see why you used the going back in time gimmick. It doesn't really buy you anything in my view. Every time you go back, it doesn't inform what we've seen before nearly enough in my view. For instance, I saw what happened in the bathroom, but failed to see how that affected the other scenes. She's kind of bitchy to him, but...is that all the result of "not taking her medicine?" Didn't seem like much compared to the expectation built by what was printed on the bottle.

Also, does he not know about "her medicine?" How has that affected their relationship to this point? Is that the REASON he never told her about the job? To protect her? Just asking a bunch of questions that might have taken the story and people in some more interested directions, and made them more specific, than the standard "walk out."

The actors didn't seem all that well rehearsed to me.

But WOW, that woman is beautiful!!!! Holy Frijoles!!!! I've seen her in your movies before, right? I wish I would have thought of her when casting for my DramaFest Entry! She might have smoked my piece up something fierce!
 
Mark,

Thanks a lot for the detailed review.

Mark Harris said:
The lighting was really solid, I thought. I might have made a little more interesting choice in the bedroom, maybe with a "blinds" gobo or something. But overall, it was pretty unobtrusive and natural, I thought.
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That's awesome that you guys like the lighting. Like I mentioned, it's taken me a few years, but it's cool to know that even a guy like me can learn to do it. :)

Mark Harris said:
The red on that wall in the first scene is crazy blocky and munched up. I know it's probably compression, but did you have any problems with that wall in the uncompressed version? Just asking because I've seen that on two HVX shoots I've been on, and had to light it up to smooth it out.
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That is 90% compression related and 10% reds in DV. It is definitely better in the original footage.

Mark Harris said:
In the very first scene after the title, there is a weird edit, where it looks like some black space between the cuts.
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I just noticed that as well. That is a mistake on my part. Those two clips must have a couple of empty frames between them. :(

Mark Harris said:
I don't really see why you used the going back in time gimmick. It doesn't really buy you anything in my view. Every time you go back, it doesn't inform what we've seen before nearly enough in my view. For instance, I saw what happened in the bathroom, but failed to see how that affected the other scenes. She's kind of bitchy to him, but...is that all the result of "not taking her medicine?" Didn't seem like much compared to the expectation built by what was printed on the bottle.

Also, does he not know about "her medicine?" How has that affected their relationship to this point? Is that the REASON he never told her about the job? To protect her? Just asking a bunch of questions that might have taken the story and people in some more interested directions, and made them more specific, than the standard "walk out."
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I think you might of missed something. Listen to the girl's prayer again. If you're still confused, then that's my fault as writer/director.

Mark Harris said:
The actors didn't seem all that well rehearsed to me.
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I love the nuances of their performance, but if they appear rushed that's my bad as the director. Since I was also the DP, I might not of given the actors the full attention they deserved.

Mark Harris said:
But WOW, that woman is beautiful!!!! Holy Frijoles!!!! I've seen her in your movies before, right? I wish I would have thought of her when casting for my DramaFest Entry! She might have smoked my piece up something fierce!
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She was in my two previous films:

"The Riverbank" and "Lost and Found"

Thanks again for all of the great feedback,

Chris

p.s. Thanks for the vote.
 
i liked the short. i agree about the audio though, it was some serious peaks in there when they yelled. what kind of mics did you use?

as far as the going back in time effect i think you could've had the same impact telling the story straight through. just my opinion though. other than that i thought it was shot very well.

the husband sounded very actorish to me. in other words, i didn't really believe him for some reason. the little girl did a good job. oh, and that main chick is hot :violent5:
 
Yeah, I did miss that. Sorry. I get it now. Though I think it might have helped to point that up a little, even with a cu on the girl as she prays or something, or a dolly in while the girl prays, maybe. Seems like it breezes over considering it's the big reveal of the film. I get it now though. Sorry.
 
Mark Harris said:
Yeah, I did miss that. Sorry. I get it now. Though I think it might have helped to point that up a little, even with a cu on the girl as she prays or something, or a dolly in while the girl prays, maybe. Seems like it breezes over considering it's the big reveal of the film. I get it now though. Sorry.
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I TOTALLY agree. If I could get one more shot, it would be a CU of the prayer. As it is now, it's pretty easy to miss and if you miss it, it all kind of falls flat.

Chris
 
Well, just took a look at the short... it kind of lulled me a bit... I think it could have been a little tighter in some of the writing. Also, I agree with the comments on the man's acting... he could have used a bit more work. The woman and little girl were pretty good... Is that the woman's real voice singing at the end? Very nice. Overall the look was pretty good... I did feel there was a lack of depth on the "light off" shots in the little girl's room. Anyway, nice job!
 
Thanks for the score, I enjoyed listening to them. I watched in 3 differnt parts. when I needed a break I would watch. It was bad of me to treat your film that way, but I missed the end. Did Mommy kill daddy?
 
SurJones said:
I watched in 3 differnt parts. when I needed a break I would watch. It was bad of me to treat your film that way, but I missed the end.
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Unfortunately, this isn't the kind of film you can watch in snippets. It requires the audience to do a little bit of thinking. Some people like that and some hate it.

Chris
 
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