The Ore

Drat, haven't gotten a notice or rec'd the DVD yet ... but I remember paying for it. :huh: Really looking forward to getting a copy, unless I'm mistaken ... let me know Sam if you've got anything in your records for payment rec'd from me.
 
Definitely encourage everyone to form their own opinion about the short! I'm happy to say that after digging into the BTS, the things I said were pretty accurate. Makes me feel better about my review. LoL.
 
Just watched it last night, you guys did a great job with everything and it looked amazing. Hope it does well on the market.

The one little thing that I noticed was the letter boxing line drifted in a few shots leaving a line from the original frame.
 
Review of The Ore

Review of The Ore

This was also posted over on The Ore forums....

Here goes... my unedited, candid review of The Ore DVD.

I popped the disc in and the first thing I notice if the amazing DVD menu! Wonderful presentation, I feel like I am watching something from a major studio. I click the introduction and am treated to a very candid interview of our two directors, Sam and Jesse. I then begin the film. The first shot takes my breath away as I see an amazing expansive city, and a whole sci-fi world I can believe. Then we see our first character, a woman standing with the wind in her hair. The shot takes me off guard as some of the motion doesn't seem to match the background, as I know it's green screen. Then the amazing ring shot comes next, and I forget all the qualms I had with the shot previous. The movie finally comes to an end, and I feel somewhat satisfied. I truly wish it was longer, and the character's had more time to develop. I was a bit confused in the opening 6 min. or so, and didn't realize that the woman in the beginning was also the attacking woman in the Opera House. I also found the whole ending a little weird... is the planet now full of energy, is the child not dead? Visually the film was beautiful. I commented to a friend that some of the shots on the mountain look like they are straight from a sci-fi epic like Lord of the Rings. Incredible detail. The costuming and props were excellent. The actors were all well cast, save Gregory Lee Kenyon as Silvan (IMO). The music was also very good.

Then I went on to view some of the special features on the disc, and I really enjoyed those a lot. I love seeing how others work on set, and in post/pre-production. The bonus features alone are worth the price of admission here.

Overall, great work on the DVD. The presentation was awesome, and the effects and visuals in the film were incredible. The story overall needed more developement in my opinion, but for 20 min. you did what you could. Great great work, and you've inspired me even more to get out there and keep making films! Thanks guys!
 
I agree basically with what Brandon said. My overall opinion is that you've created a very beautiful, moody world here. Unfortunately, the picture I get of what's happening in this world is not very clear. I think the pacing of the story has some problems (for instance, Finn suddenly appears after the movie is halfway through and becomes arguably the protagonist). I never get to fully understand what the story is. Is this woman's baby special, or can any baby be converted into this ore? Like Brandon, I didn't immediately realize it was the same woman, and I had some questions throughout the movie about which events were happening in present time and which were flashbacks. So I'd say there are some significant story problems. However, it was still enjoyable to watch, and the performances are very good for the most part. As someone who also generally bites off a little more than I can chew, I can really appreciate what you've done here, and here's to hoping for the next one! The production value you've managed to achieve is generally outstanding.

The DVD special features, by the way, are really great. I appreciate the thoroughness of the features, and that you don't just skip past the critical information about casting and on-set realities to get to the VFX candy. I also appreciate the honesty and candidness of these features, and how you aren't strictly concerned with making yourselves look good. The design of the DVD is every bit as good as the design of the movie itself. Congrats on this.
 
appreciate the candidness, you guys. thanks for watching and giving your two cents.

We were trying to play with structure a little bit and just give hints to what this world is. obviously, there's a lot more to cover and hopefully we'll have a chance.

I'm glad that you like the mood of the world. To me that's almost as important as understanding the plot. It's interesting, we talk about it on the DVD a bit, but a lot of the backstory about this world came about after we finished the script. In a sense, the short was a jumping off point for us creatively; i think there's a lot more to be done.

Thanks again for watching and taking the time to talk about it.
 
Hi,

Just received The Ore DVD and...wow!. That's an outstanding achievement for a short, and the BTS justify by themselves the price of the disc... And script and actors really shine by themselves...

I only have a small 'but', and that is because I've found a lot of compression problems, mostly on the film itself, also in BTS (you already state so in the presentation) but not in menus (color banding, blocks, and some strange color blockiness). I understand most of these artifacts are due to 4:2:2 to 4:2:0 conversion, mpeg2 compression, and whatever color correction you did on them, but sometimes are, in my opinion, too obvious. Or perhaps something strange on my side (I'm in PALand, but also tried on PCs and macs)...

I would be grateful if you could share with us what was your encoding route, since according to the BTS, you followed a lossless post workflow from P2. It really looks as as way too low bitrate

Apart from this, you got a winner. An english subtitle track would be a plus, for all of the dvxusers whose language isn't english! :-)

Congrats

Jose
 
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Geeez I'm jealous ..MrFloppy(Spain) recieved his already ...GRRR stinking Post Office .

Lets hope it comes next week .
Ian
 
Hey Guys

Well the DVD arrived today . I was wondering as I had ordered a DVD from the U.K 2 weeks ago and it arrived last week .
I guess it must have been misplaced in the postal system I guess .
Looking forwrd to watching .
Ian
 
MrFloppy said:
Just received The Ore DVD and...wow!. That's an outstanding achievement for a short, and the BTS justify by themselves the price of the disc... And script and actors really shine by themselves...

I only have a small 'but', and that is because I've found a lot of compression problems, mostly on the film itself, also in BTS (you already state so in the presentation) but not in menus (color banding, blocks, and some strange color blockiness). I understand most of these artifacts are due to 4:2:2 to 4:2:0 conversion, mpeg2 compression, and whatever color correction you did on them, but sometimes are, in my opinion, too obvious. Or perhaps something strange on my side (I'm in PALand, but also tried on PCs and macs)...

I would be grateful if you could share with us what was your encoding route, since according to the BTS, you followed a lossless post workflow from P2. It really looks as as way too low bitrate

Apart from this, you got a winner. An english subtitle track would be a plus, for all of the dvxusers whose language isn't english! :-)
Click to expand...

Hi Jose, thanks for the compliments - glad you enjoyed it. The DVD was encoded at a fairly high bitrate (around 7, I believe), so I imagine the artifacts you're seeing are from certain scenes where the HVX image is pushed too far, or lower light circumstances. I definitely avoid watching DVDs on my computer screen, with its 1920x1080 resolution - even on studio discs the image is a blurry mess. On my 720p NTSC LCD at home I barely see any compression hits or noise, but I certainly know every set it different.

Subtitles would have been nice, yes - we were so down to the wire I'm afraid they got overlooked. Next time!

PS: for those who have ordered within the last 3 weeks, the 2nd batch of DVDs are shipping today and tomorrow.
 
Yeah I hate watching DVD's on my computer screen. For some reason it blows EVERYTHING out... even pro produced hollywood films! Weird...

Anyway... I've watched the Ore on several BIG HD-TV's and it holds up great!
 
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