The Artist - A film by Justin Anderson

Justin, you made a nice, sweet movie. You did a good job of telling a story without dialogue. Nice cinematography however there were a couple of times when things got blown out. The acting was very good, but I'd expect nothing less from Dave and Amanda. The music was indeed another character in your movie. This is a piece of poetry. Good job.
 
Last edited:
Tell your DP I said hi, the house lighting was neat. I also thought the lights coming on behind her was just as neat.

Kudos to this team. Visually appealing piece you have here!
Click to expand...

Thanks man! Hi to you too! :dankk2:
 
I really really liked "The Artist" it was a great story, one well worth telling and told in a subtle and very tasteful manner.

It was such a great pleasure to see Amanda's work again, she is so talented and such a wonderful person. I am certain you had a great time working with her.

This may be the best performance I have seen from David thus far, he is a really solid actor, so versatile and so skilled. He falls in that very rare category of actors that I refer to as chameleon actors, they can simply become whatever is needed.

The score was excellent, the camera work solid and served the story well. I did have a sense that there was something a bit wrong with the delivery aspect ratio, everything felt just slightly compressed vertically. Not by a large amount, just ever so slightly. I can't explain nor even imagine what might have caused this, but it comes off that way for me. Could just be me putting these two actors up on such a high pedestal that my perspective is a bit skewed.

Thanks for making this film, I really enjoyed watching it!
 
I, too, am a big fan of this film. What was great for me was that I swore that this was a sixth sense ripoff and just knew David's character was dead. It was so damn cool to come to the end and realize what was really going on. Made me tear up and really struck a note with me.
 
Mark Johnson said:
I, too, am a big fan of this film. What was great for me was that I swore that this was a sixth sense ripoff and just knew David's character was dead. It was so damn cool to come to the end and realize what was really going on. Made me tear up and really struck a note with me.
Click to expand...

Me too! I thought one of them was surely dead, man.
 
I just showed this to my wife and she cried. She LOVED it! She said if she could vote, she would vote for you. Good job!
 
msconce said:
I just showed this to my wife and she cried. She LOVED it! She said if she could vote, she would vote for you. Good job!
Click to expand...

I totally teared up at this movie too! Still one of my absolute favorites in this fest so far....:)
 
Sheash, I think this is Rebecca's favorite film by far, as she's posted in it SO much in just one day ... more than our own thread, lol!

Justin, I read on your first page that this was your first entry ... PLEASE don't tell me, however, that this was your first film, or it'll make me want to quit right now!

This immediately went into my 'to watch again' folder. BEAUTIFULLY shot, scored, acted, written, etc. One of the things I loved so much about this was that it was a refreshing love story. While I thought the guy was a stalker, and the music even made me feel on edge for the lady when she came into the house, I was warmly surprised that it was her husband doing a VERY romantic thing for his wife.

I loved it. Period. I'll get a more detailed review (including any critiques I can try to come up with) later, once I've reviewed the top films again.

Now, and I know I'm going to sound like the bad guy for asking (unless it's been asked already), but why did you choose not to have the name Eric/Erik or Erica/Erika anywhere in the story? Doing so, IMO, make this an automatic non-compete film. It would have been SUPER easy to have the name in the card (either To or From), or she could have mouthed his name, when she turned to see him, etc.

That doesn't stop me from loving the film any less, but I've got to know what's going on for the whole voting aspect of it. Yours is not the only incredibly crafted film that seemed to disregard the name issue either, so I'm not picking on yours at all when asking.
 
I think the Eric/Erica thing is so overblown... this film was obviously made for this festival, and David's in it etc. I think it's totally fair for this one to be in competition! This is my top film so far btw.
 
This one was put together pretty well. Alot of times EXT shots can turn out to be really nasty, but you did good here man. Some of the camera work was a bit jerky, and I think it could've been a bit shorter, but overall the look was pretty damn cool.

David looked excellent in this short, as did Amanda. Great job casting.
 
It's not my type of movie... but, it gave me this great happy feeling at the end. Happy is good when writing papers. Normally I'd find an ending like that cheesy as hell, but I actually liked it! Very sweet. Well acted also. Nothing crazy over the top which can easily happen with motion-dependent acting rather than dialogue-dependent.

Loved the look of it all... simple, but effective. Hard to pull off day-time stuff without something always being overexposed, but yours looked great. I enjoyed this one...

-Lloyd
 
Wow! I briefly looked at this thread earlier in the day when I was heading out the door and now I finally have a chance to respond(including viewing some films). I took so long to say something that I feel I need to generally address everything first.

Thank you. Thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement; they mean so much after so much work. I'm overjoyed that many people have connected with the film as I have. At times this was a very hard project to make as production problems arose and I had to drive around and make calls like mad to keep it from falling through. More often then not though, when I was focusing on the story I wanted to tell rather than overcoming the problems I had to tell it, I felt happy believing I was making something meaningful. It was a great experience to make and it definitely lifted my spirits.

I think the idea originated from a desire to make something very different. I have seen an overwhelming amount of intro student projects about stalkers or, more commonly, the mob and I wanted to make something that was along the same lines as what's been done before but better. I spent about an hour going through cliche stalker ideas and I liked the idea of a stalker who was an artist because I thought it lent itself to some good cinematography ideas, then it came to me that maybe I should rebel against cliche formula completely and turn the film into something happy and inspirational rather than something sad and depressing. While I could explore the sad route and possibly make it into a good film, I wanted to tread the path that was unique. I quickly thought that it should be a romantic movie and, after concluding they should be married, the story formed that is here today.
In my mind I created a world for these two people that would make sense for what I was trying to do. I wanted him to present all that he'd done for her in a romantic way so I set this presentation piece on their anniversary and after shuffling the idea around for about a week I gradually formed the image of the film in my head.

The more I thought about it, the more I hated the original idea of making a good stalker film. It wouldn't have accomplished anything new or anything of value to me(at least not in 6min of story development) and I just wasn't interested in pursuing it anymore. I wanted to explore some often unseen and underutilized stories in human drama; security, devotion, the acts of a trusting relationship. I wanted people to walk away from the film feeling moved and inspired, and hopefully want to return to it again. As I continued into development I realized that the stalker element is what makes the story work. The strength of their relationship is confirmed by a contrast of who Eric is not against who Eric is, and so when the reveal happens it makes the end conclusion of what he's done for his wife both real and powerful. I think part of the reason I love the story so much because it taps into my need to remember that some things don't turn out terribly and instead I'm reminded to appreciate and enjoy what is good.

Again, thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
 
Last edited:
Brandon Rice said:
Story & Acting
Wow. This was easily one of the most well executed shorts of the fest. At first when I started watching it and seeing this guy draw pictures of this woman, I was like, ew, he’s some weird stalker or freak. Then at the end when he’s actually been doing it for an anniversary present, I nearly lost it. So touching, and everytime I watch it, I still well up. The acting was amazing! David and Amanda both did outstanding jobs in saying everything without ever saying anything. This short is the first one that truly touched me. Thanks!

Technical
While this isn’t the most technically stunning films of the fest, the soft colors and shot selections work. I think the editing is just right. You nail the beats you need to nail, and I love the locations! And just a special word about the music. This is one of those films where the music is really another character driving it along. I think it’s for sure the MVS (Most valuable score) of the fest!
Click to expand...

Yes, Amanda and David both have amazing control over the emotions they display. Even without words I was completely convinced of everything they were portraying; it's a real testament to an actor's ability when they can perform incredibly even without a major acting tool.

And I can't say enough about Justin's score, as has also been mentioned several times in this thread. It took some work to perfect but he perfectly nailed down all of the beats I was looking for with a score that I enjoy listening to even independently from the film! And you're right, the score is almost a character unto itself. Great, great work.
 
Zak Forsman said:
My impressions of THE ARTIST:

there is something to be said for stripping away a number of elements to bolster what’s left. congratulations on crafting a visually told story. not many people can do that this well. many, many nice compositions. of course, Huntington beach is a beautiful locale to be working in.
Click to expand...

yes, thank you. Part of the challenge I set up for the project and for myself as the director was to try to do a lot with very little. Although I don't have a hankerin' to do more silent films I felt it worked as I had hopef for this one.


heheh. Funny story about Huntington beach. Everything except for the house in the final scene was shot in one day(7am-3pm). When we finished doing the downtown work(at about 11am i believe) we broke off in different cars to drive to Huntington. As we were driving we all received calls from each other because no one knew off the top of our heads how to get there! And of course this sends me into a panic; "the film won't get finished cause' we can't get to the beach!" We all got there eventually and took 5+ different paths to get there, and then we got the rest of the film shot.
...I was the last one to the beach btw....by about 20 minutes. :eek:
 
Mark Johnson said:
It was so damn cool to come to the end and realize what was really going on. Made me tear up and really struck a note with me.
Click to expand...

wow, thanks man. That means a lot.
 
A beautiful and uplifting entry. The ending sure pushed some buttons for me emotionally, very well thought out and executed. David C's character was a likeable and came across as devoted. The score really expands and highlights the emotional ending and, imo, Justin Durban enhanced that with truly great composing.
 
I was really glad to see the end of this one. By this I mean, thank you for not producing another depressing episode of the crime of the week tv show. I'm glad to see you were able to touch the hearts of several forum members. I was also touched. Nice way of going back to earlier scenes and pointing out the rings.
 
Wow, luved it :)
thought there was gonna be a sinister side to it, but nope, it was brilliant. (maybe I'm just a romantic at heart :oS
Thank you.
 
I really liked your film. It was quite moving at the end. As a guy whos been married for just over a year, it really touched me!

The actors were good. The girl displayed some great emotion!!!!

Good job!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top