George Villalba presents " NO MIDDLE GROUND"

Ok Barry, thanks,

Guess I have to just change my way of thinking on this. I apologize for offending anyone, including George.
 
I applaud your interpretation of the rule, Barry. In my opinion, its sort of a nice way to emphsize that these projects are to be original works -- not some recycled piece you had laying around for a year. That said, slavishly requiring incorporating the character name into the film causes me to cringe. Having the character name in the credits accomodates both the filmmaker and the purposes of the rule.
 
We're just sticking to our own rules as far as the naming thing goes. We didn't specify, so the default is to accept the loosest interpretation. As always, we're not looking for ways to disqualify films, but we do want to make sure the films aren't recycled.
 
the focus of the dvxfest is to get our community to make films.

That is, and always has been, what its all about.

Its not about a certain camera, its about a certain community.
 
I just watched this and was blown away. Excellent story and execution. My favorite film of the fest. Great work George. :thumbup:
 
This fest, I never looked into the BTS threads, I just waited and looked at all the submissions and then narrowed it down to four. No doubt for me, this was my number one after first viewing them all. Granted, there are a few minor criticisms mentioned through this thread that stand and are valid in my opinion, however, the combination of cinematography, editing and performances by your talent made this one my first choice. Congrats GV, Mike and crew for what you have achieved.
 
Holy crap.

This was so well done man. Beginning, Middle, End. Interesting, great acting, great usage of weapons, blood, practical effects.

Simply freakin' amazing. Congrats on a VERY well done short man.

It's one thing to "see it coming", it's another to do such a "cliche" very well. You totally nailed it and I'm happy to have invested my time in watching this ALL THE WAY THROUGH the credits.
 
Great work. Really well put together. Very professional amazing work.

My only caveat would be that while the technical skill was deft, I got no sense of YOUR voice as a filmmaker, and I would like to very much.

But again. Really, really great work from a technical and story standpoint, even if somewhat by rote.

I'm really glad you screened it for us. :beer:
 
The best film I've seen so far. I'm going alphabetically and haven't finished, but I think it's going to be hard to top this one.

The acting, the lighting, the cinematography, the editing, the music....all of it was hands-down awesome.

The production value was truly inspiring. You guys did a good job with the fake blood, the locations, etc.

Here are some things I thought of while watching it, just to give you some feedback that might help you as you make your final edit for your longer version of the film.

1) The cutting between shots at 0:07 and 0:18 was a little jarring to me just because of the different angles. The latter one you can definitely get a sense of depth because of the table providing the z-axis, but the first one you can't as it's pretty flat. I was just curious if you might be able to use either one or the other for both shots? I don't know if that's possible at all considering how you shot it, but just a thought.

2) The house scene where they are discussing the target didn't seem to match the high contrast look you have in some of the other scenes. I'm not sure if that is intentional, but it seemed a little flat...like you could probably deepen the blacks more, etc. Also, the CU shots with Bryce Bishop don't seem to match the warmness of the rest of the scene. I would work on color correcting those specific shots to match.

3) The clipping on the audio when Paul Hunt screams. I don't know if you would be able to fix it, but I just thought I'd mention it. And also I felt that when the Drug Lord hits him at 3:59 that it needed to sound more powerful of a hit.

I'm already on board to purchase the DVD when you guys release it.

Seriously, you guys did an outstanding job!

I loved it.

Kudos!
 
This was just plain good and felt bigger than a 6 minute short. It told a nice story well in the time it had and I liked it a lot! I enjoyed the characters.
 
This was one of my favorites. I loved the look of it. It was really beautiful. The sounds were tremendous. This was one of the few where I believed the violence and it made me cringe. Great job.
 
reiterating once again that i thought the violence was the most realistic in this film, i also like the idea of breaking bones as opposed to chopping off fingers, a nice creative touch (i can't imagine the pain)
 
Great job. Goes to show how good audio work really matters. Everything else was very well done, too.
 
Truly excellent work, George. Cinematography, editing, performance were really top notch. Great sense of pacing and yet each scene felt like it was allowed to breathe naturally. I believed the violence and I was absorbed. Absolutely loved the chase up in the aspens--great visuals!

Bravo!
 
All right, you are clearly some kind of super-filmmaker. I dunno if you got bit by a radioactive Speilberg or what. But I am going to be a little harder on this one because you are so good.

I had two big beefs:

1) Story. Straight out of a box. I had a really hard time caring enough to finish it from about 2 min on. I know that's nearly impossible in 6 min anyway, but I think as good as you and your team are, you should be able to focus it on more original material.
2) Characters - also straight out of a box. same stuff.
3) Acting. I thought the Hispanic guy, the one who hires him to begin with, was pretty silly. I think numbers 1 and 2 hindered him greatly, and he didn't have enough time, or think about it enough to come up with some specific choices about his character and make it three dimensional. I felt like that across the board. The difference to me between an actor and a great actor, is that the great actor will make VERY specific choices about a role and make it very personal, so that when we see it, he is playing the part as only he can play it. The just-so actor will do what is expected and not really dig to find anything real about the character.

That's it. You don't need me to tell you your strengths as technically, you are far above me as a director.

But DUUUUDE, how did you convince Corey Feldman to be in your movie???? That rules! :)
 
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