"Black Ice" by Evin Carr

Thaks for all the well wishes everyone.

This was very much a one man show, which was good in a way, because I was in control of everything, but also kind of bad in a way, because, well, I was in control of everything...
 
My impressions of BLACK ICE:

the interesting thing is that your shots were either locked down and awkwardly staged, or they were dynamic and fluid in a really great way. editing kept this story watchable. I think some real talent is shining through here. I’m not even sure what this was about. ha ha! question: was watching a guy tow an suv for so long mismanaged story pacing or a stroke of genius? I’m leaning toward the latter. the characters were great. yes, the amateur performances were evident, but so was their believability as real people. I think given more time to work with these non-actors and to get them to take it a little more seriously, it could have lent the work an improved sense of authenticity and naturalism. keep developing your craft, eric. i'm excited to see your future works.
 
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Thanks for the review Zak.

I wanted the editing for this to be interesting, and I shot a lot of coverage so this could also be an excercise in editing for me, so I'm glad you liked it!

Regarding the camerawork, I shot this whole thing handheld, using the tripod collapsed with the pedistal extended a little as a handle, the rig being a sort of ghetto stedicam, or, "ghetto-cam" as we call it.

And yea, his dreads are pretty beast, lol.
 
Cool flick!

I like your characters, they have a lot of personalities... I think your actors can make an American Classic for the young audience. Keep making movies this is something you do well! I am sure that with a few filmmaking techniques down and a bit more of experience you can make some really good stuff.

The dialogue was not the best one I have seen in this competition... which makes me think you guys where just up for a fun experience making this movie and not being all crazy about movie details such as set design... I like your props though... those cars were just the right tools to have to make your guys look serious.

Make more movies I want to see your future work.

Best regards,
 
It looks like you guys probably had a blast making this film.

You seem to have a kind of MTV shooting style going (mainly the outdoor scenes), which could develp into something really awsome.

The only thing that didn't work for me was the sound. Did you use the in-camera mic? If so, you may have needed to raise the diologue levels a bit in post, as well as lower the music levels a tad.

You definately have talent, and hopefully you continue to create!
 
"yo randy!" fun times.

i like the confederate flag sticker on the big dude's sticker. completes the picture.

my opinion of this short: ???

not much to say here. keep at it guys!
 
Thanks guys for watching, and commenting.

This really was fun to make. Like Roman said, we weren't really obsessed with the details, and I really just wanted to get out and make something, more for experience than anything.

Regarding sound, I used one channel of on board mic and then had a Rode shotgun (courtesy of Jerry, fixitinpost) to get in for the dialogue. But with the hurried schedule and everything it was kind of, "hey, can you stick the boom in there for this scene?" So it was usually too far away.

Plus I balanced the sound using my headphones (I know, a big no-no) but it was like 11:30 Wednesday night and everyone had gone to bed so I couldn't really make any noise...

The funny thing about Randy's character, it's not really a character, that's just him, confederate sticker, big truck, flannel and all, haha. All I said was, "just be you."

As far as shooting style, I was going for kind of a Tony Scott feel, but it's a little difficult without the 9 cameras he shoots with, lol.
 
lol, nice one, the acting wasn't exactly the best, but the story was good, didn't think much of the sound but at least i heard what was being said. and the music wasn't my taste. but all in all, i liked the storyline.
Thank you.
 
Way to enter Evin! The dreads killed me on that dude! Wow! The actors looked like they were playing a game of pretend rather than taking it seriously for you, but otherwise I think there are some good qualities about this film and I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with next....
 
This film looks like it was a lot of fun to make.

Thanks DUDE. What martial arts were they using at the resolution?



:beer:
 
Much to the dismay of the guy getting beat down, most of the fight was worked out on set, from a bunch of guys who don't know any martial arts, so it took a few takes to get it right. And then a few more takes to get coverage. Then a few more takes just for fun... :)

It was kinda hard to take anything seriously, but I was happy just to get enough takes where someone didn't bust out laughing halfway through. I've got a good supply of bloopers, though.

And I fed them, which kept them happy. lol, it was great, after we finished the first day we all went to Carl's Jr, and I walk up and go, "Can I get 14 spicey chickens and 8 big burgers?" The lady just hung her head and slowly punched it in. It filled 3 trays.
 
I'm a '24' junkie, so when they tied up the guy and pulled out the fireplace poker I was anticipating some Jack Bauer'esq torturing to rain down... Sadly your characters had a little more empathy for human value :) But I did enjoy your flick and you did a good job managing everything.

Were most of these guys your friends or were they actors? I don't mean that in a negative way, it's just appears to be that way from some of your earlier comments and I'm curious because I can't get my non-film friends to do anything film related.
 
Yeah they're all my friends who were nice enough to help out. I'm pretty lucky cuz everyone was cool and started to get into it. The lure of free food helped too, lol.

We all hang out anyway, so this way we could do something constructive :)
 
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