The Artist - A film by Justin Anderson

FatBird19 said:
haha. yeah, if you look at the screenshots on page 4 you'll see the aspect ratio it's supposed to be at(2:1). It was 11pm on the 31st and I couldn't encode the h264 file in time so I gave it to someone else...he didn't get the aspect right. :kali:
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Thanks for the clarification and acknowledgment of the issue. The 11th hour has certainly claimed more than its fair share of victims, a small aspect ratio error is one of the more minor ones. Good to know that I wasn't just "seeing" things!
 
This sorta thing is so hard to do without sugar coating - you really nailed it. I'll bet there's a few cynics in this crowd surprised by both the payoff and their emotional reaction (me included).

As mentioned the proximity play which introduced him as possible stalker was very nicely handled.

The soundtrack is blowing my mind. An odd off note here and there (2.10, 2.27 eg) and that light piano with the occasional undercurrent of something (possibly)sinister...but so subtle you can't be sure. Manipulation at its best. Subliminal where so often this is done with a heavy hand. I'd really enjoy hearing you and Justin explain your thought process in the creation and the chopping of the score. And Justin D, did you draw on anything in particular when composing?

I was a little thrown when she got back to house...not sure if it was the crossing of the line or the soundtrack flowing (god I love trying to explain music :)) when she abruptly stopped (4.12)...just a little jarring for me. And when she arrives at the scene I would expect she would look at the pictures first, and study them. Then read the note. Anyway, minor blips for me and they didn't spoil the payoff. (That moment where she holds her ground and appreciates him...wow.) This effort is probably my no 1.
 
Justin,

Congrats on your film. Edgen's score worked out well. It added tension in some places that was interesting.

I like the premise. It's romantic, yet refreshingly innocent. Good job.
 
Beautiful story,

I like the twist... you prepared me to think about the happiest creepy stalker and the happiest naive victim as if you the filmmaker are failing to give me background information about them... what I mean is, you played with my emotions and challenged my intelligence to predict what is going to happen.

I am so used to going to the theater and watch movies that give a lot of clues away to prepare you for what is about to come... the plot happends and I am all ready for it... on the other hand, opposite to Hitchcock, you've managed to present a series of event and hint to the viewers and on top of that, without much ado, you surprised the audience without disappointing their expectations. An a risky thing to do which you and your actors pulled it off very well.

I am not sure if this makes much sense, but If I have to put it in simple words, I guess what I am trying to say is... you did a fine job at story telling and manipulating the situation on the screen. :)

Best regards,
 
I really liked this film, top 10. I'm usually not a fan of shorts with no dialogue, but this was done well enough to keep my interest. The inserts of the drawings were fairly seamless, which can be hard to do. Good job and good luck.
 
Wow! Beautiful film!!! Lovely cinematography. And how wonderful that the entire film was done with a single use of dialigue but felt so complete.

The score was just precious. I loved it.

I do question why a man would let the love of his life feel that their anniversary was missed just to capture a day in her life in drawings. It seems that he had the entire day free and could have spent it WITH her saving this wonderful "gift" for another day. But that is just me and wouldn't make a very interesting film! Just a thought that I had.

Great job. The film beautiful and so well executed.
 
Theodore J Arabian said:
Wow! Beautiful film!!! Lovely cinematography. And how wonderful that the entire film was done with a single use of dialigue but felt so complete.

The score was just precious. I loved it.

I do question why a man would let the love of his life feel that their anniversary was missed just to capture a day in her life in drawings. It seems that he had the entire day free and could have spent it WITH her saving this wonderful "gift" for another day. But that is just me and wouldn't make a very interesting film! Just a thought that I had.

Great job. The film beautiful and so well executed.
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I'm glad you loved the film. It was definitely a challenge to make it work with almost nothing but visual based exposition. :)

I wrote this earlier addressing a criticism similar to yours:
FatBird19 said:
yeah, after filming was over one thing that I realized I didn't get across well enough was who this woman was. She was on the phone all day supposedly for work as she's talking to clients. Although I think the mind fills in the blank for what she could be doing for her day it would have made the film more complete to me if I had just one shot of her scratching an item off her to do list or shuffling through some paperwork. I was actually trying to get that in for this festival but I ran out of time to get that shot.
Minor detail I think but it would have made the film just a little bit better.
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You bring up a point that I think makes it all the more necessary to clarify what she's doing all day. Becuase you're right, if she had absolutely nothing to do on her anniversary then she'd be spending time with her husband.

thanks.
And again, thanks for the compliments.
 
STMad, Thank you for the kind words.

Inspiration? Well, a lot had to come from Justin's direction. He was very, VERY specific as to what type of music he wanted, and I did the best I could to portray that. I think a lot had to do with the lead actress. She's beautiful. So when writing I wanted something to reflect her and her daily life with a mix of a general longing for perfection and reflection upon these two characters. Then, through a mix of Concannon's performances to offset the happiness.

Thank you Aaron.

btw.. who's drawings? :)

/j
 
Edgen said:
STMad, Thank you for the kind words.

Inspiration? Well, a lot had to come from Justin's direction. He was very, VERY specific as to what type of music he wanted, and I did the best I could to portray that. I think a lot had to do with the lead actress. She's beautiful. So when writing I wanted something to reflect her and her daily life with a mix of a general longing for perfection and reflection upon these two characters. Then, through a mix of Concannon's performances to offset the happiness.

Thank you Aaron.

btw.. who's drawings? :)

/j
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The character called for someone to draw the pictures in the story. Justin gave me a shot at creating these throughout our day. I love to draw so it worked out.
 
Edgen said:
STMad, Thank you for the kind words.

Inspiration? Well, a lot had to come from Justin's direction. He was very, VERY specific as to what type of music he wanted, and I did the best I could to portray that.

/j
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and did a stellar job I might add. :D
 
concannon said:
The character called for someone to draw the pictures in the story. Justin gave me a shot at creating these throughout our day. I love to draw so it worked out.
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I met with David about a week before shooting(at Chipotle.....go, Chipotle). He told me in an e-mail that he's an artist and I knew that would be perfect if I could have the person who played Eric actually draw the pictures. He some paper out and I told him to draw a guy at the salsa booth. Five minutes later the salsa guy was drawn on the paper and I was convinced.
Just one of the many circumstances on this film that happened to work out perfectly. :D
 
There is a magical moment around 2:51. Images, music, and camera work are astoundishing there. That is a true moment for me.

The twist is great. Later I find the end excesivelly romantic.

BTW, your pixel aspect ratio needs to be fixed, but you probably know that.
 
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