The Artist - A film by Justin Anderson
- Thread starter FatBird19
- Start date
Texture
Well-known member
Congrats to FatBird19 on this excellent first entry.
While interesting enough to watch, hats off to Justin Durban, the true story teller of this production. Yes, we saw the connection between the two characters but Justin's music really made us wonder, "Where is this relationship going to go?" The music drove the action and occasionally drifted into progressions of minor uncertainty helping to build dramtic tension.
Cool "B roll" though I would have liked to have seen a few direct POVs of the aritist drawing. A couple of extreme closeups of his eyes. Seeing is what an aritist does best.
It would have been easier to have this story veer off into disaster. The ending could have appeared contrived cliché, but the director and his capable cast somehow pulled it off.
Refreshing...
While interesting enough to watch, hats off to Justin Durban, the true story teller of this production. Yes, we saw the connection between the two characters but Justin's music really made us wonder, "Where is this relationship going to go?" The music drove the action and occasionally drifted into progressions of minor uncertainty helping to build dramtic tension.
Cool "B roll" though I would have liked to have seen a few direct POVs of the aritist drawing. A couple of extreme closeups of his eyes. Seeing is what an aritist does best.
It would have been easier to have this story veer off into disaster. The ending could have appeared contrived cliché, but the director and his capable cast somehow pulled it off.
Refreshing...
Robert Eldon
Well-known member
The Artist – review
I like the way the movie starts so sweetly. I’m ready for a story. And then the girl smiles and the guy is drawing and smiling back. I’m a sucker for romance. But wait… she’s not smiling at him. And they’re not together. He’s… stalking her…? This is a real great set-up. It worked perfectly to the end.
I liked the cut away shots of the locations. I think this gave it a mood and good pacing. Where was this shot? Obviously, the beach at Huntington, but what about the ‘town’ scenes? Very nice.
The music really made this for me. Great job to Justin. This was my favorite music from the whole fest. I really liked the nuances of the sweet music, but then these little notes that made you go… hmmm… wait a minute, that almost sounded a little sinister… but, nope… it’s O.K.
Favorite acting was at about TC 3:53 when Eric is going down the street and does a little dance. It is adorable and dorky (wait… did I just say that?) and we all know that we do that, when we think that no one is looking. It showed an ‘un-masked’ happiness with himself and his ‘project’.
Favorite shots at TC 2:33, 3:08, 4:11
One of my favorites. It was nice to have a movie with a real happy ending. One of my top 5.
I like the way the movie starts so sweetly. I’m ready for a story. And then the girl smiles and the guy is drawing and smiling back. I’m a sucker for romance. But wait… she’s not smiling at him. And they’re not together. He’s… stalking her…? This is a real great set-up. It worked perfectly to the end.
I liked the cut away shots of the locations. I think this gave it a mood and good pacing. Where was this shot? Obviously, the beach at Huntington, but what about the ‘town’ scenes? Very nice.
The music really made this for me. Great job to Justin. This was my favorite music from the whole fest. I really liked the nuances of the sweet music, but then these little notes that made you go… hmmm… wait a minute, that almost sounded a little sinister… but, nope… it’s O.K.
Favorite acting was at about TC 3:53 when Eric is going down the street and does a little dance. It is adorable and dorky (wait… did I just say that?) and we all know that we do that, when we think that no one is looking. It showed an ‘un-masked’ happiness with himself and his ‘project’.
Favorite shots at TC 2:33, 3:08, 4:11
One of my favorites. It was nice to have a movie with a real happy ending. One of my top 5.
RobertE said:
Thanks a lot. That really means so much.
I started with that setup of appearing as though he's sitting right in front of her because when it's revealed that he isn't it destroys any trust of Eric that was initially built up and it's meant to make the viewer feel somewhat emotionally betrayed.
Thanks for the compliment on the intro.
We shot the town footage in old town Whittier. It's a really nice area.
The night before the day's shoot there I went out to the location from 2-3am planning all the shots I wanted to take throughout the town. It's really a beautiful place so I wanted to make sure I'd have time to get all the shots I wanted, and we did.
yes, Mr. Durban's soundtrack was officially awesome. Outside of the movie I even enjoy it as a listening piece. Great work.
thanks,
-Justin
Michael_Petro
Veteran
My wife liked it too
thats 2 liked it alots from my house
thats 2 liked it alots from my house
Robert Eldon
Well-known member
No kidding? My wife pretty much grew up in that area and knows of it well. I have never been there, but would like to see it sometime in the near future. It didn't have a 'Southern California' look to it. Great location!
RobertE said:
That's one of the reasons we chose it.
The town feels very classic and comfortably settled; not a feeling one typically gets in SoCal.EDIT: Everything was shot within a 3 block area on one street, which is about the extent of what's there. The area has so much character to it though that it made it easy to utilize the space with interesting environments.
Robert Eldon
Well-known member
Well again, great use of the location and you got the 'feeling' that you wanted. There was one shot, I remember, having a tree with red leaves. What was that?
Have you been to Orange in California? There is an area called the Orange Circle that also has that 'classic' look (Unlike other areas in O.C.). I believe that Tom Hanks used that area for 'That thing you do'.
CinematicRicky
Member
Really appreciate it! We shot that right behind a Cafe, the one in the beginning actually.RobertE said:
Justin Reade
Active member
Excellent work!! I really enjoyed this short film. I thought it was a great use of imagery, shot compositions, and no dialogue! This is a real winner!
Justin Reade said:Excellent work!! I really enjoyed this short film. I thought it was a great use of imagery, shot compositions, and no dialogue! This is a real winner!
Thank you.
What was really freeing was that during production we had the film planned out to the point where it never crossed my mind that we needed dialogue. It relieved a lot of stress during editing knowing that we didn't have to add that aspect.
What we have largely to thank for getting that across though in the end product is Justin Durban's amazing score.
arielman
Well-known member
Really enjoyed this one . Thought the music was perfect for the film. the actors despite havig no lines pulled this off nicely!!.I also like the way you shot this .
I especially liked this because there is no killings etc as in others . I think you picked the perfect ending for this short which makes it stand out from the others .
Nice work !!!
Ian
I especially liked this because there is no killings etc as in others . I think you picked the perfect ending for this short which makes it stand out from the others .
Nice work !!!
Ian
Justin, I really enjoyed watching your short. A lot of great shots. Great job building the creepy vibe up to its highest level then going in to the oh its all okay mode. You pulled the ending off without getting cheesy. I think it is hard to tell a story with no dialogue but you kept me interested. I think I would have liked more ambient real audio though. The waves crashing, sounds of the pier, background noise etc. That would have really locked me in to being there in the moment.