HERITAGE - Geoff Reisner

It's nice to see my home town used as a backdrop for a DVX-Fest film. All the best movies are shot in Chicago, right? Can't wait to see more.

GO BEARS!
 
Geoff_R said:
Chicago's a great city but I can't wait to get out to LA, more film people!
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And a ton of Chicago film people too (mostly Cloumbia College grads). I gotta say, if the weather weren't so freakin' brutal in Chi-Town, I'd live there again in a heartbeat.
 
Finnian said:
And a ton of Chicago film people too (mostly Cloumbia College grads). I gotta say, if the weather weren't so freakin' brutal in Chi-Town, I'd live there again in a heartbeat.
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I'm a Columbia student, not yet officially graduated...but I did a semester in Los Angeles in the summer and yep, I found that tons of Columbia grads are out there! Did you go to Columbia?
 
Yes I did, unoffically the class of '97. I say unoffically because I didn't finish up there. It's a great school that does a really good job preparing people to work professionally in film and television. I really enjoyed my time there.

Had Bob Enrietto passed before you did your semester here? I really enjoyed him as a teacher.
 
Yea, unfortunately I never got the chance to meet him. I heard so many great things about him, I was disheartened when I found out. I got the impression he was one of those rare people that made a huge impact on many lives during his time.
 
Geoff, Loved your film man! The ending definitely caught me off guard and some of those shots were beautiful! I'm sure I could go into soo much more details, but all in all it made me smile and say, "Hell ya" :)

cheers!
/j
 
Holy crap!! F*ck, this was the first drama fest entry I've seen that floored me. The story was engaging, the lead actor was perfect (in style he reminded me of Josh Hartnett in Sin City), the cinematography was great, your dialogue sound recording was great (kitchen scene was a little to echo'y), the score is awesome! The only thing I didn't like was the girl's acting wasn't up to the same level as the actor. The final scene is so cool. And the turning point half way through where we learn his dad thought he'd talked to God, wow! Gave me goosebumps and really put it into high gear. I haven't watched all the entries, but at a minimum you deserve to be in the top 3, perhaps the winner.
 
Wow! Thanks guys!! I just got home and I'm excited as heck that all the films are finally up. Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated!

Yea, the sound in the kitchen is boomy, it annoys the crap out of me. It was so much worse prior to using Soundtrack Pro to remove some of the hum from the nearby fridge. That's the one scene I 'm going to try and ADR when my actor is next available.

Now I gotta start viewing some of these films!!
 
Story & Acting
The writing and acting was awesome! A well crafted story! I loved the part when he was reading his father’s journal, that’s what I call good writing! Great twist at the end! This is easily in top 3 for me! Wow! Did I mention your male lead was brilliant?

Technical
WOW! This is some of the best cinematography of the fest! The shots all worked to carry the story along. Your lighting never drew attention to itself, but rather just enhanced the scene. Editing was clean, music was great. The sound was good as well! Rockin’!
 
Heritage. Wow, Geoff, I've just got to comment that this goes into my 'to watch again' folder, which not many are going into (okay, I'm lying ... I've got nearly 10 in there, as there are some GREAT films this fest).

Anyway, I liked the story ... but LOVED the twist/ending where it wasn't God that his father had talked to & obsessed about. Great acting as well. Of the films I'm saving to watch again (to see who the winner is in my book), then I'll go through with a much finer comb, so look forward to a more detailed review later. For now, however, great job on this.
 
REVIEW: HERITAGE

Darned devil got behind you, huh Geoff? Interestingly haunting. Perhaps, for me, just a bit too long for the punch. What's kept me going? Visuals.

You know what this feels like? What's that one movie with Denzel Washington, and he's chasing a demon that transfers it's soul by touching someone? That movie. It's a drama, and this feels like it could resemble something like that. I don't mind the voice-overs one bit, in fact your talent has a voice that I could actually listen to. What I think's gone on here is that the six minute time-frame might've been too much to resist.

These voice overs, coupled with the visuals could've worked exactly the same for me if the parts where Eric interacted with his girlfriend weren't there. If he were filling the girl as part of the audience, along with us, I think it would've had the same effect and moved along a lot quicker toward it's ultimate end.

It looks great, though. I think my favorite scene would've been the very last, where the devil tilts in to whisper into Eric's ear. Pretty nice, dude, and not a bad way to use your slow-mo option. I didn't notice it until I went back for a second viewing! Thanks for not beating me over the head with it.

Not bad at all, Geoff. By the way, what did he whisper? Hehe.
 
Geoff, nice job on this entry. Your lead actor was absolutely solid. The score was beautiful and fit the film perfectly. I liked the story, although I was thinking it was a schizophrenia issue that ran in his family. I'm a therapist, so I guess it's easy for me to go there with it...lol. My one critique would be the actress whom I didn't feel held up next to your phenomenal actor. Cinemetography was beautiful as well. Nice job!
 
This was an altogether strong package. the acting was good, the cinematography great, and the story excellent. nice job! I enjoyed it!
 
Thanks Kholi, I see what you mean about the narrative bits with the man & woman; in my first cut, those scenes were almost twice as long. As far as what he whispers in the end...haha...not too sure, but at the end of some takes, Chris would bust out laughing so Michael must've been saying something ridiculous. I had my head too involved with camera so I never bothered to ask myself.

That was the one element that bothered me when making this film...spending the majority of my time with camera and tweaking lighting setups. I'm fine shooting with no crew, that's never been an issue for me, but I've always felt like I needed at least a small lighting package to shape a scene. The problem is that I then spend too much time setting up lights...it takes time away from working with my actors and blocking (totally wish I could re-shoot the first bedroom scene, I barely rehearsed that scene)...oh well, lesson learned...next film will be different.
 
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