Envision & RebeccaD Present "Where Silence Falls"

Norm. Norm, Norm, Norm.

I rarely comment on the films, but I gotta say -- this is the best thing you've ever entered. By far. A *huge* step up. You crossed the threshhold. You know I had my share of issues with Sparrow; man did you ever fix it up here!

Rebecca, all I'm gonna say is: you're hired. I don't know for what yet, but ... man, I gotta put you to work in something. That was nearly gold all the way through, although like Kholi I kind of didn't buy the ultimate cry/freakout part, but overall you really brought it. If I were handing out awards for "best actress" in the DVX DramaFest, you'd absolutely get a nomination, and after I rewatch a few, you may get the trophy. :thumbsup:

Norm, for acting you were okay. Not the best, but probably a darn sight better than most of us would be able to pull off. I agree that it was probably a case of Rebecca blowing you off the screen. :) It was a bold move to put yourself in your own film, and it turned out fine.

What I think I enjoyed most was just the little stuff. Like when you changed your shirt, I internally groaned -- like, oh, come on, what's this, "Norm wants to show off his manly chest?" But no, it was actually expert filmmaking, because when you went over to have it out with the neighbor, that one brief glimpse you gave let us (the audience) know that you could really take care of business! That part was perfectly done. Layered in in a way that we'd never notice, yet springing to mind when it became relevant. That was good filmmaking technique.

Congrats on your best fest entry ever. And now we're all really looking forward to your SpyFest entry!
 
You know, I think Norm definitely held his own with the acting. His choices really fit the character and if people don't agree with his choices, then so be it. I think the commitment from the character was very honest and I had absolutely no issues with it. I feel the buildup from him thinking "Oh, my son must be at a friends house or something... I'll go find him" up to the point where he was storming to the neighbors house to confront him had a very honest and sincere build up... so Norm, don't worry about the other people's reviews of your acting. From a fellow actor, I think you did a fine job.

Oh, and no, I don't think Rebecca "blew him away" either. They were simply different characters.
 
Oooooh, I'm going to get in SUCH trouble because I keep jumping onto DVXuser instead of finishing packing for the trip in the AM (getting up at 4am & still not finished packing!).

Barry ... I can't recall if you've ever posted in one of my fest threads yet or not, so I'm elated, to say the least. Especially because you tend to stay away from them, unless you feel it's really warranted ... so I take this as a massive compliment.

I'm also overjoyed that you caught onto little layers in the film. One of the things we were hoping to show (again, as a silent layer) was the fact that the VERY opening shot has a school in the background. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints we had to cut into this shot quite a bit, so it's barely visible by the time we open into the shot. The idea is that when the audience learned Bill was a registered sex offender, they may also remember seeing a school in the opening shot. This is something we'll extend the opening with for the final master file.

Tommy & Barry both, thanks for the compliments on the acting. Again, I view these shorts as an opportunity for me to do something else that I enjoy doing, without the risk of blowing a feature film by trying to do too much (direct & act). I also enjoy acting with/against Rebecca, but I know I need to step up my game some in the next one (if we enter)! That, or just make sure I dumb down her material, and give my character the better moments, lol. :grin:
 
Envision said:
Barry ... I can't recall if you've ever posted in one of my fest threads yet or not, so I'm elated, to say the least. Especially because you tend to stay away from them, unless you feel it's really warranted ... so I take this as a massive compliment.
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I normally don't comment on people's films; I'm usually a bit blunt and such, and I don't ever want to discourage anyone, but I don't like handing out platitudes either. So normally I just keep to myself. But not this time! And yes, you should take this as a masive compliment because my comments to you are massively complimentary. I'm serious, this is in the running for my vote and I think you may have shown the most growth of any of our DVX Fest entrants. Congrats on a great job. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. This one was very impressive.
 
:2vrolijk_08: Egads! And on that note, folks, I'm going to go to bed now! You've made my night/weekend, Barry! :dankk2:
 
Barry_Green said:
I'm serious, this is in the running for my vote and I think you may have shown the most growth of any of our DVX Fest entrants. Congrats on a great job. Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. This one was very impressive.
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Barry, thank you so very much. I really appreciate your feedback. Norm is now over the moon! :)

There have been so many comments/critiques since I last posted, they are hard to address them all. Thank you so much everyone!! We worked hard on this story to make it seem as real a fear as possible. I lost my son for about an hour a couple years ago at a campsite, and honestly, much of that experience really helped me get into this character. I also know that people respond differently in a crisis situation. Some people completely lose it from the get go, while others are a slow boiling process.... Anyway, it is a definite fear for most parents, and one Norm and I felt people could relate to, with little back story.

Justin did do a phenomenal job on the score. We sent him back a couple times to fine tune some parts, but we are more than satisfied with the results. Thank you again, Justin!!

Norm, you were a fantastic director and a great actor to work with. It was easy for me to read off of you, and that says a lot.

Again, I truly am grateful for everyone's feedback on this endeavor and have thoroughly enjoyed my viewing of many of the films thus far!! What a great fest!!

Rebecca
 
OK im ready to chim in with my honest review of it

Cinematography - It was ok A little to wide and under light at times. I like CU and MCU thought thats just me, but some shots look under exposed. but i like the shot of him walking across the yard.

Sound - Hmm pretty normal nothing distracting or aduio issues I could find....

Editing - Felt like it was paced well for what story you were making.

story - OK the story was fine, just the ending came out of no where. Why the neighbor we needed some back story of him perhaps if i was set up making the neighbor look like a decent man then you find out his dark past then it would have been stronger. It makes it look like an oops moment with the neighbor and makes your character look like he has to be the strong guy but more like an monster (ask questions later type of guy) granted its your kid in tropuble but you do know this neighbor well the audience doesnt know.

Acting - Pretty ok but needs some work on emotional parts both actors. It felt like you were trying hard. but it was better than I thought it would be.

OVERALL - an ok film just work on your screenplay and acting chops and you'll have something. I could see this on ABC Family or Lifetime.
 
Envision said:
... but, I'm trying REAL hard to not believe that I suck too badly, lol.
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hahaha... NO! You didn't suck at all! I wouldn't even use that term in describing your performance!
 
RebeccaD said:
Barry, thank you so very much. I really appreciate your feedback. Norm is now over the moon! :)

...

Norm, you were a fantastic director and a great actor to work with. It was easy for me to read off of you, and that says a lot.

Rebecca
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Wow, Rebecca ... first, I'm impressed that you were still able to post this after 12am!! What were you doing up so late? I finally was able to go to sleep by about 1:30 this morning, lol. Shahna (my wife, for everyone else) kept asking me why I was so wired & couldn't sleep. I blamed it on Barry. :grin: Ok, that, and the fact that I'm always stressed I'll over sleep & miss a flight.

Thank you, Rebecca, for the kind words. I'll say it publically ... I don't want to make another film without you. I believe we play well off of each other creatively, whether it be at the beginning stages of development (coming up with the story line & writing the script), through production (whether it be your ability to take direction EXTREMELY well, or be an excellent peer to act/read off of), and into post production with your similar tastes/style in the score, CC, timing of cuts, etc.

And above & beyond that .... thank you for your friendship. You, David, and your kids have become close friends of ours, for which I'm grateful.

Spidey, thanks for the review, appreciated.

Ted, no worries, I know you didn't mean that at all. I was just getting hit with series of similar comments & I was fighting to believe otherwise. Again, in comparison to Rebecca & Reid I may not have shined as bright ... but SOMEONE has to be the weakest performer, right? :) Otherwise, I'll look forward to continuing to refine the acting as well, especially when wearing the challenging hat of the director.

Speaking of which, I have to give SERIOUS thank you to Stefan Scherperel. While I have to be honest, he's one of the nicest guys in the world, so I think that's a challenge he has to overcome when it comes down to cracking the whip & keeping the cast/crew on schedule (he still did reasonably well at this, however), I wanted him in this role because I respect him as a director & knew I couldn't watch myself (or everything else) while I was in front of the camera. So VERY often, I would defer to him on what take was best, his thoughts on how something went, mood, etc.

So in effect, a large portion of the success of this film is due to him as well, I believe. Thank you, Stefan. :beer:

And to the rest of the cast/crew as well ... each person played such an important role in this, that without even just one of them, I guarantee it wouldn't be where it's at.

That said, I'm looking forward to some small tweaks to the film, and specifically fixing the interlaced/29.97 issue for the master file, making the film look & work that much better.

My plane's taking off soon, so once I leave PDX here I'll be out of service the rest of the day making this daunting trip to the East Coast, but look forward to checking back soon. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting through the rest of the DramaFest entries on the plane! :thumbsup:
 
Bravo, Fantastic, beautifully done.

It seems like your found yourself A-list cinematographer. Well, maybe not A but B++ just because of the vignette in the kitchen shot. The scenes are well captured making this an interesting and adeptly filmed drama.

Let me guess what the character's do for a living, Body trainers? :) Good looking people with strung presence in the camera. The neighbors looks Hollywood like... well casted.

I think your movie has the benefit of a fine story well written... the pace of development kept me going.

Great job, one of my favorite so far.

Best regards,
 
Envision,

I did not know you were that muscular of a guy. For some reason, when I see your headshot I imagine you as a fairly thin guy.

Your reactions in the house seemed authentic. Almost everything was well acted, even the initial punch. The subsequent punches were a bit silly to me. I didn't really think you were beating his face in. Some simple sound design, and more camera angles would have helped. Justin's score was nice. It fit most of the time, but during the beating it crescendo'd a little too high. I think everything that is wrong in this film comes to head in those few moments of the beating.

I felt for both characters. The father, and the accused. I also liked the theme of "look before you leap". Don't assume, it only makes an Ass out of U, and Me. I think if sex offenders have to register, I think theives, murderers who get out on parole, DUI offenders, and druggies should too. I want to know if my neighbor has ever stolen a TV, or killed someone. That way I'll know to deadbolt my locks, and not smart off to him/her because I might get stabbed. But, that's no way to live or think about people. I like how this film expresses this thought.
 
Norm, nice film my man! This is the best that I've seen you put out yet and out of the 8 or so films that I've seen so far, your's is my favorite.
 
One of the few films in the fest to actually have an arching story line with a beginning middle and end. Being a writer myself I know how hard that is to do in the allotted six minutes. So very well done. Looked good, sounded good, was good. Some acting might have been a tad over the top, but you're a front runner in my book.
 
RomanJaquez said:
Bravo, Fantastic, beautifully done.

Let me guess what the character's do for a living, Body trainers? :) Good looking people with strung presence in the camera. The neighbors looks Hollywood like... well casted.

I think your movie has the benefit of a fine story well written... the pace of development kept me going.

Great job, one of my favorite so far.

Best regards,
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Thank you so much, Roman! Much appreciated!
 
You are welcome Rebecca,
I too would like to wrok with you. You have skills girl... keep going! your are good at acting.

Cheers,
 
Brandon Rice said:
Add that bone sound with this... and you'd be surprised ;) These are used along with imagery and they are perceived as sounding totally real.
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Yeah, you can always layer effects and change the pitch to build up something powerful.
 
Hey Guys,

I thought this one was really well made. It felt like I was watching a real movie, maybe a lifetime movie, but a real honest to god movie. So well done there. I looked and sounded good. I'm glad you didn't ADR, I think a lot of the performances would have suffered. And speaking of performances:

Rebecca, wow, very good. Your range of emotions was excellent. I had my doubts about your talent when I watched Semele first but this confirmed that your are a great actress.

Norm, I have to admit I thought your were pretty good hear. You did the part well and it was pretty believable you would do what you did.

As for the story, I liked it... I agree with some of the earlier comments on establishing a few other characters but I also understand that in six minutes you did what was required and it worked.

The music was great and my hat goes off to Justin here. Very nice.

I agree with the previously stated that the second stage of punches was a little "fake" and the there was a few forced lines but if you watch ours... there is a few also ;)

Good job guys. I can't wait for Trinity River now.
 
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