To Kill a RockStar - A Film by Preston Jarvis

Michael_Petro said:
I'm 101 :) do I get a prize or something:)

Ted man your freaking everywhere but i dont see your little movie yet MR :)
Click to expand...

I think post #101 deserves . . . :beer:a beer!

now I gotta top that for Ted's big #100 . . . I'll come up with something, don't worry.
 
Theodore J Arabian said:
WooHoo! I'm post #100 on your thead!

Preston, I look forward to your film!

I've enjoyed conversing with you during dramafest.

Best to you!

-Ted
Click to expand...
here you go, Ted . . . congrats on my #100! (look familiar?) haha


th_smiley_abyt.gif
sarcastic-kneelsuckers.gif
th_smiley_abyt.gif



yupi3ti.gif
yupi3ti.gif
ketten_015.gif
yupi3ti.gif
yupi3ti.gif
 
Bwaaaaaa haaa haaaaaa haaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

That's awesome!!!

(but becareful... those are Larry's smilies that you pilfered!
 
Theodore J Arabian said:
Bwaaaaaa haaa haaaaaa haaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

That's awesome!!!

(but becareful... those are Larry's smilies that you pilfered!
Click to expand...
yeah, it's more of an ode to your #3000, of course. I'm not really that excited about 100 posts, it's all in good fun!
 
I know... I realize. And who ever thougth that a dramafest thread would hit 3000???

I didn't!

Congrats to you on your FILM!

I am looking forward to it!
 
Theodore J Arabian said:
I know... I realize. And who ever thougth that a dramafest thread would hit 3000???

I didn't!

Congrats to you on your FILM!

I am looking forward to it!
Click to expand...

I predict TTN thread will be at 4000 very soon.

Canobi the fish will be missed. I'm sorry for your loss Preston. He was my friend.

david jerome
 
The rear mirror ornament is really distracting as it swings in and out of the shot. Gun shot sounds kinda like a staple gun. Good male lead actor his lines sound really convincing, I buy his persona, not so sure about the female, her lines sound contrived. Too much background music. It just doesn't stop, doesn't let you think. I guess it's ok, being about a rock star.
Overall feeling: what???
 
Hey Preston, Great job! I enjoyed your film.

Personally, I thought that the story was a little thin. I really would like to have seen some kind of conflict. Maybe an inner conflict of the hitman. The story just seem to happen and didn't make me feel anything.

Your shots looked great at times. I love your opening and closing sequences. The stuff in car looked good but the Rosary beads hanging off the mirror were a distraction. In the first few shots, I didn't know what it was (it was just teasing the frame). I was glad when I figured out what it was. So, in my opinion... get it in the frame or take it out.

I liked your hitman. I didn't care for the woman, too much. I think that this is probably more to do with the writing of her dialogue. It just didn't seem real.

Also, I really don't know what kind of money she was expecting to get from her rock star husband. The house that he was living in didn't seem to be that spectacular!

Anyway, I did enjoy watching your film.

Good job!
 
Good notes, Ted. Almost mine exactly. I enjoyed the premise and story. Same reaction to the rosary at first. Distracted me. One thing I totally enjoyed was when I first watched it I swore that was a SHARK in the water! Rewound it and I'm thinking dolphin? Pretty cool.

And I also found myself thinking (what?) at the radio announcement "found in a mobile home he had owned". I couldn't help but think, 'oh oh, couldn't afford the Kurt Cobaine mansion set I guess.' Its just that this story calls for the trappings of success around the guy and it kind of weakens it to see him as a sort of pathetic figure in a pathetic surrounding. Know what I mean?
 
Mark Johnson said:
Good notes, Ted. Almost mine exactly. I enjoyed the premise and story. Same reaction to the rosary at first. Distracted me. One thing I totally enjoyed was when I first watched it I swore that was a SHARK in the water! Rewound it and I'm thinking dolphin? Pretty cool.

And I also found myself thinking (what?) at the radio announcement "found in a mobile home he had owned". I couldn't help but think, 'oh oh, couldn't afford the Kurt Cobaine mansion set I guess.' Its just that this story calls for the trappings of success around the guy and it kind of weakens it to see him as a sort of pathetic figure in a pathetic surrounding. Know what I mean?
Click to expand...
well Mark (and Ted!), I guess I chose unwisely. without boring you here with all my motives, I'll just try to clarify the mobile home thing: I actually had it scripted for a huge, waterfront mansion, and we secured a nice location for the "kill scene", but I changed it to help depict the idea that money can't buy happiness.
Kurt Cobain was never comfortable with his wealth; it was against his ideals. he frequented seedy motels and drug dealer's apartments (especially near the end of his life), even though he had a huge mansion right up the hill. this is what I tried to portray here; I never thought anyone would get hung up on it.

oh well, hope this helps you see what I was trying to do.

and here's a little trivia for you - it's the same mobile home that David shot Ajar in. :)
 
You know, that's way cool. I wasn't at all aware of Kurt's frequenting seedy places although I knew he was way uncomfortable with his wealth. That's what made his end in his big house poignant for me. I do understand what you were doing and it explains the radio announcer's comment. Fair enough for me, dude. What about the 'shark' though? Was that a dolphin? Did you shoot that footage?
 
Mark Johnson said:
You know, that's way cool. I wasn't at all aware of Kurt's frequenting seedy places although I knew he was way uncomfortable with his wealth. That's what made his end in his big house poignant for me. I do understand what you were doing and it explains the radio announcer's comment. Fair enough for me, dude. What about the 'shark' though? Was that a dolphin? Did you shoot that footage?
Click to expand...
thanks.

the dolphin - everytime I go outside, I either see gators or dolphins. ok, not every time, but a lot. that's not my dock, it's about 5 minutes from my house. I grew up on that water, though.

I was shooting the drawbridge shot, and David said, "dude there's a dolphin." so I panned and waited for him to come up again, and got lucky he was in frame. it's not a great shot until he surfaces. then it's cool.

by the way, that's what Florida looks like in January - we wanted to stop shooting and go swimming!
 
I just started watching, but wanted to pop in real quick to say that David Jerome looks just like Joe Walsh in that opening shot, and I laughed my ass off...

Dude, this film was awesome. Of course, I am partial to the noir-ish back-stabbing. I just thought it was a lot of fun. And it was a pretty complete little story, though I think you could have some fun with a longer version.

Shooting, editing and all served the story and were unnoticable, I thought. That's a compliment, BTW.

I think we may need to team up for some early adventures of Roy Washington and Casey. See my film Katrina and you'll see what I mean. :)
 
Last edited:
Just watched it, enjoyed it. Though the hit man's bogus accent was really distracting. Every time he talked I got pulled out of it. I like the premise. I had heard conspiracy theories that Cobain hadn't killed himself and it was nice to be able to see one played out
 
“Just make sure you got the money honey” Best line of the fest.

ECU with the blond hair blowing in the breeze was pure art. Your daytime shots were well shot with deep colours and nice perspective (oddly enough the best shots were during the end credits). Whereas, the night exteriors were much less effective, in that regard. The dichotomy between the day exteriors and night exteriors is probably more a function of your lighting kit and the camera, but reexamining the finale location might have been a better solution. Acting wasn’t the strong suit, but the effort was appreciated.
But I felt that you could have revealed more of the character through a different action than driving. With this time frame, you could have really elucidated the characters with the choice of what they are doing while they are talking to one another. An example of revealing character by action, is the intro to the Usual Suspects where we get a flavour for the characters by their occupations or their actions.

With regards to the story, it didn’t really draw me in or make me empathize with any of the characters. Take out the Cobain reference and I wouldn’t have cared at all. At first, I thought you were going for a Courtney Doc/fiction vibe, but it didn’t pan out. What was your theme? And what did you want to say to us as an audience? That’s what I missed in the telling of your flick. Clarifying your intent through a script rewrite might be efficacious to get the theme that I felt you were trying to exhibit. And crafting a less ‘on the nose’ dialogue version could be another consideration. Although, some of the lines made me smile (refer to first sentence ;) )

Thanks for making this. The choice of subject matter was a nice surprise, and there were some real beaut’s of shots.



:beer:
 
I think it's so funny that some are hung up on the rosary. I thought the broken beads were absolutely inspired and symbolic of the character's defective morality.

As for the music, everyone that has watched both yours and David's films has commented on how well the music fit and wondered who did it.

Excellent job. I thought the film rocked. ;)
 
I liked some of your angles and lighting, I didn't mind the beads in frame, though maybe they could have been included in the other angle to match. The acting was okay, but what exactly is this piece supposed to be? I've seen the documentary on the Courtney conspiracy/Cobain murder thing, so is this just a retelling of that? And the line about "don't condescend me, I'll kill you too" seems awfully close to Floyd's line in True Romance. I'm not sure if I liked the overall piece, but I appreciate the effort you put into making it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top