"Cristo" by: justin r. durban

LOVED IT!!

I won't give anything away...

Great story, nice acting, nice effect work, and great music!

Nice work!

I'll post more later after another viewing.

Cheers,

Mike
 
HOLY CRAP!!! JUSTIN!!!! You have shot such a beatiful looking and sounding film!!! OMG! I love your scoring!!! Will you do my next film!??!?! PLEASE!!!

The imagery was wonderful. Some of those shots are just incredible!

I really enjoyed the story. I did feel that it dragged a bit in the second half. (Too much internal shots, back and forth of a storyline that didn't move far. I know what you were doing but at about 3/4 way through I was wanting a new shot or something different in the story. Just my opinion and I thought that I would share that.)

Overall, I think that this is the best film I've seen so far. (Don't get too excited... I've only seen 4 or 5!!! :) )

Seriously... wonderful work! And what a score!!!

btw - TOM, YOUU ROCKED!!!!

-Ted
 
I think this is in my top 3 so far.

The cinematography was very good. It looks like you had a nice location and you took advantage of it with some really nice shots. The whole thing has a rich blue and green look to it. I think my favorites were the underwater shots....not just for the novelty...but because I thought they looked the best.

The acting was pretty good all around. I think the older guy was superior to everyone else. One thing i didnt like was how the younger guy walked towards his father on the edge of the pool. It seemed a little goofy and worked against the confrontational mood.

I see on your bts photos you did some greenscreening. I wouldnt have known otherwise...it looks very good. The other effects were pretty good...the arm shooting and explosions.

The score was fantastic. The standout section of it for me is the last underwater shot. But the whole thing is great.

I dont think i understood the story completely....but sometimes i'm kind of slow with that.

Your direction was good.

Altogether a very good film. Nice job.
 
One of the better ones I've seen so far.
But I didn't really see how it fit in the whole "spy" premise? It felt a little bit of a stretch in that regard.

I thought Dan Payne did a great job. Great presence and believability.
I personally thought that his son's performance could've been better, but I think it comes with experience.

The visual effects were great.
I really dug the narrative structure as well. All the "flashback" scenes were my favorites. And I agree that the underwater shots were definitely awesome.

Some of the CU's looked a little grainy for whatever reason, but overall not too detracting.

The film felt very saturated (very vibrant colors) and I felt it needed a darker edge to it given the subject matter. Also, some of the shots had overexposed elements in it, but I know that that is really hard to control outside.

Kudos on the film!
 
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This was a good one. Great score (of course), excellent photography. Acting was top notch. The father reminded me of Robert Wagner, I don't know why.

Anyway, so when's the series going to air? I swear, this one felt like I was watching a television series in the same vein as Heroes or Jericho or something like that. I think you've got a REALLY GREAT and salable premise. I would sincerely think about working this thing into a pilot or something.

Good job. Thanks for screening!
 
Standard Disclaimer: I've watched half of the films so far and have yet to see a bad film. Congratulations to every film maker, everyone did a great job. All my comments and criticisms are meant to be constructive and helpful and in no way am I trying to take anything away from what you accomplished.

Good: Liked the story. Visual effects were very cool (especially liked the blood splat on the girl's face. Flashback were very good and effective.

Not as Good: The acting from Cristo Sr. was bland at times. Noticable continuity shift towards the end (sun disappeared and image became really grainy). For about 2.5 minutes towards the end the film seems to slow down a bit since we only see shot/reverse shots of the two Cristos for the most part (the flashbacks in the beginning and the action at the end make the film more dynamic during those parts).
 
I didn't understand the spy motif and I would have liked a stronger performance from the son and a smaller performance from the Dad. I loved the cinematography of the flick and I actually enjoyed the vibrant colors. Gave it sort of a different take on the whole in the future kind of thing!
 
Thank you everyone for the wonderful comments about the film.

There's definitely a bigger picture and this short is merely a small portion of it.

Going in... I wondered to myself if you guys would see this is a spy flick and I believe it's not entirely a spy film in the traditional sense, but rather as a small clip from a bigger world revolving around bio-mechanics, cyborgs, and "Rivals" out to assasinate the competition. Otherwise, I could have brought in on the nose elements such as a secret opterative to hand out spy equipment, hidden briefcases, bandaged/wounded right arms, usernames/passwords or the police/swat team. :)

We are definitely working on a Pilot Episode and ultimately the feature film script. There's a whole lot that can be done and hopefully next time I'll have more than my backyard to shoot the film. :thumbup:

I'll do my best to answer any specific questions about the story so keep em' rollin and thank you again for watching! Happy Spy'fEsting!

/j

oh, and the score if anyone would like to download it: "Cristo OST"
 
I really enjoyed it. good stuff. it's a shame that you didnt seem to have the nice blue sky/sunny day for the whole of your shoot as a few parts seem to have been filmed in dull conditions and are a little more grainy as a result. The underwater shots are awsome though, and the old dude's performance. The story just about held me to the end as well.

one of the best so far.
 
jamesh said:
I really enjoyed it. good stuff. it's a shame that you didnt seem to have the nice blue sky/sunny day for the whole of your shoot as a few parts seem to have been filmed in dull conditions and are a little more grainy as a result. The underwater shots are awsome though, and the old dude's performance. The story just about held me to the end as well.

one of the best so far.
Click to expand...

ha!!! THe day we shot it was the *ONE* day it decided to rain in L.A. So, there was this massive overcast all friggin' day that made it a nightmare not to mention an hour or so of rain pushing the shoot times till like 6:30-7:00 pm. (hence... ubber grain)

Underwater stuff was cool to shoot. Matt did a great job on the underwater stuff adn couldn't have shot it without Robert Eldon's Underwater Housing Unit.. (UWH) :) I'd highly recommend playing around with one.

/j
 
Great imagination on display here. I like the play for keeps tempo at the beginning. The shots of the girl underwater are beautiful. Great job.
 
I'm not into the story, Justin, but the underwater shots are sublime.
Love the watch, too.
 
bosindy said:
Great imagination on display here. I like the play for keeps tempo at the beginning. The shots of the girl underwater are beautiful. Great job.
Click to expand...

Thank you James! girl + flowing dress / underwater=eyecandy :thumbup:

/j
 
Visually the best one I've viewed so far! I love the color correcting/effects and I thought your actors were slightly better than most of the others on here.

rich nation
 
Hey Justin, yours was my first to watch pick. I loved the colors, shots and the use of cut-aways that a lot of films from these fests lack. The story was cool but the dialog went on a little too long between the two for a 6 minute short. The underwater shots were VERY nice and I really love the shot of her head sinking. That was great. You made one location look more than it was it seems too. I didn't feel cramped or stuck in one place except for the lengthy dialog.
The music of course rocked. I never really heard it but felt it.
They keep getting better and better. Keep on keepin on!
 
/////////////////////////////////SPOILER ALERT!/////////////////////////////////

BEST SINGLE SHOT OF THE FEST: Girl falling into the pool. Game over, man!
SECOND-BEST SINGLE SHOT OF THE FEST: Second shot of girl in the pool.
THIRD-BEST SINGLE SHOT OF THE FEST: Girls' CU with splatter on her face.
WHAT I LOVED MOST ABOUT YOUR FILM: I love that "Blade Runner," "A.I.," synthetic human vibe. That's one of my most favorite sci-fi themes. Really loved the end shot of the girl. Stunning cinematography! Excellent use of focus pulls!

And last, but certainly not least . . .

BEST SCREEN KISS AWARD: "Cristo."

My only misgiving is that the score seemed a little weak . . .

[just kidding!]
 
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