a ralph oshiro film--"LEVEL 4" spyfest 06.07

[Geoff_R]

Thanks Ted, everyone, for all the very kinds words. But I just quickly wanted to point out . . .
THERE WAS NO STEADICAM FOOTAGE IN "LEVEL4." "LEVEL4" was mostly shot all HANDHELD! One dolly shot, and a few sticks shots.

You run really well with a heavy camera in your hands

 

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

Ralph! Amazing visuals. Please finish it!

 

[aravance]

Wow. Very impressive prologue.

Majestic scenic shots. Great lighting in the control room. Great cinematography in general.

I agree about your shooter's outfit though. It looks cool, but feels out of place.
Feels more Rambo-ish then street urban tactical.

But yeah, very sharp!!

Kudos!

 

[Ralph Oshiro]

REPLIES TO VIEWER FEEDBACK PART 2:

FANTASTIC images you just posted, Ralph! Will post on the film itself soon . . .

Looking forward to it, Norm!

The sound is great, I love the score (who did the music?).

Ted, you are too kind—thank you for all the generous comments! The score I purchased at some place online. I bought 12 tracks for $100. I searched and searched their site, so that I could credit the composer, but none was mentioned. I guess that's deliberate.

The command center footage was wonderful and the few lines she gave were great.

Thanks for the kind words, Justin! I love that several here commented on the "control room" shots (see below). Diane was on-screen for like four seconds, but I think she was great too, and her delivery, near perfect.

Nice beginning. I can see why you want to wait to get everything up to par. I think it will be worth it.

Thanks, AmyO! I LOVED "Girl vs. Boy" by the way! Thank you for the encouragement. And yes, I do want "everything" to be "as good." So, thanks to all of you here, I'm gaining the motivation to soldier on, and make "LEVEL 4" what it was supposed to be.

Probably could have benefited from some tighter filming, especially of the girl running across the parking structure. She seemed to struggle a bit with all of the gear. And I just don't buy the speed that she's going. Tighter might have made her look faster.

Yes, I agree. That sequence is supposed to have a vehicle element to it (and more, authentically dressed SWAT guys). The vehicle is supposed to pull up to the location (tires screeching, of course), and the SWAT guys get out, and get their gear out of the trunk, all covered in Steadicam. The picture car for that scene isn't ready yet. All the "victim" coverage was to be handheld; all the "police" coverage was to be Steadicam (although there was NO Steadicam footage used in "Prologue" as shown).

Hot production quality! There is a lot of reat film making there. Would have liked to see her feel more comfortable with that gear though but I can't wait to see the final story come together. Great job!

Thanks! Yes, she had had no previous weapons experience. Plus, the fake AR15 she was carrying was a little lame—have a much better one now. Sarah told me that some of her stunt guy friends have been doing some weapons training with her since.

Ralph, I loved everything in the film other than the wardrobe of your shooter. Shorts and a big knife doesn't seem tactical for someone in a city chasing a mark.

I couldn't agree with you more! That comment is spot-on. That footage was never supposed to be in the film (as you pointed out—her wardrobe doesn't fit). That was only her "screen test." But I ran out of time to schedule her "real" shoot. I can't tell you how much that bothers me!

You run really well with a heavy camera in your hands.

Thanks, Geoff. As you probably know, it's actually much easier to shoot good handheld with a heavier camera.

Ralph! Amazing visuals. Please finish it!

Thanks, Shawn! Thanks to everyone's generous remarks here at DVXUSER, I am slowly convincing myself that this is worth completing.

Wow. Very impressive prologue. Majestic scenic shots. Great lighting in the control room.!

Thanks! High compliments from someone who submitted something as good as "Imprint." Awesome dolly shots in that parking garage! I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear the comments on the "control room." I can't wait to reshoot that "set." I now have aluminum miniblinds along the whole wall behind the desks, and an as yet, unused cityscape translights to hang outside the windows.

 

[Matt Sconce]

Absolutely flawlessly beautiful camera work. Some shots just had me quoting wayne's world. "We're not worthy...we're not worthy." The actress at the command center ROCKED period. She was superb in my opinion and I wanted more screen time with her. I am sure there will be later in the rest of the movie. I thought this was a great prologue to something bigger and am excited to see what that is! I think you raised the bar and improved since horrorfest. Amazing stuf!

 

[Ralph Oshiro]

Wow, Matt! I'm speechless! Thanks!

 

[Dahopafilms]

OK Ralph.

I've watched your film a couple of times now. And now it's time to comment.

Nope. It's not a finished, complete piece. But I knew that going in from your earlier posts.

What it is, is a crisp, beautifully shot, extremely interesting teaser of what will come next. Seriously, when it was over I kinda stopped for a second and was just pissed off that there wasn't more. The images were great. The actors were extremely attractive (and you should be able to get any actor in town to work with you if you can produce images like this for their reels). Your direction and framing and story (to the extent there was one) sucked me in. I just freaking wanted more.

And I loved the scene on the escalator. Particularly when you ask yourself "Did I just see what I thought I saw?" - when in fact you didn't see anything at all. Leave it to the imagination of the audience (like the chainsaw kill in Scarface - everyone thought they saw something gruesome when nothing graphic was actually shown on screen at all other than some blood splatters on the wall). And maybe you should think about that approach if you're having troubles trying to get actresses to play your more "revealing" scenes. Leave more to the imagination and let the viewer fill in the blanks.

So those were the images. What about the story? I couldn't honestly tell, but there was clearly something happening here. Again, I wanted more.

Ralph, you have more filmmaking horsepower than perhaps you realize or accept. Focus on the stuff you do. Keep it as simple as possible (I think you've already made reference to this), but push ahead on this because if you don't, that will one less really great film for us all to enjoy.

Lastly, as for your actress in the control room, she is amazing. What a great look. What a great find. Minimal screen time, but she definitely got everyone's attention and she has that certain "it" factor that makes you sit up, take notice and want more of her. And that scene was beautifully shot anyway - so you only enhanced our interest in her.

So please finish this. For our sake.

Thanks for this, my friend.

 

[Matt Sconce]

What was the actress' name in the control center?

 

[Dahopafilms]

What was the actress' name in the control center?

"Diane Docter", I think.

I couldn't find her on IMDB.

 

[Matt Sconce]

Wow, Matt! I'm speechless! Thanks!

Seriously, your visuals were amazing. I really really enjoyed them.

 

[Brandon Rice]

Ralph.. I haven't yet had the chance to send off a full review to ya, but I did want to echo what everyone is saying, your cinematography was genius.

 

[-zach-]

Ralph, I watched my favorites with my brother, and he usually starts out skeptical, but especially when he saw the control room girl, he looks over to me wide-eyed and exclaims, "It looks like a TV show!" and I was like, that's a very nice compliment. So, coming from a "normie" as I call them - I think that's a great compliment.

 

[Keystoned]

wow looked great

looking forward to the full piece

 

[Charli]

Ralphy - sexual scenes you're not sure you can cast, huh? For some reason, why doesn't that surprise me? My suggestion to you is that you pair up with a screenwriter and get some dialogue in that story. Give a pretty girl something rather cool to say, don't just give her guns now.

 

[Norm Sanders]

Really late in getting my thoughts on some (most) of the films, but here's what I pulled from it. Visually, this was absolutely stunning, as is expected from you. You've got a great eye for all things visual. Speaking of visuals, I LOVED the colors that were coming through in the subway, up the escalators, etc!

Ouch, I wonder how sore your actresses' feet were after running barefoot all that time, lol?! Made me cringe seeing her go up the escalators barefoot ... must be a phobia of mine I wasn't aware of.

Story wise, you've already stated that this was incomplete, but I don't even have a clue why they're after her, who she is, etc. The whole bit comes across as a chase sequence, and that's about it. The spy/assassin seemed to be more in the role of a sniper, so I questioned her having an AR15/M16 (couldn't tell which) vs. a more accurate sniper rifle/scope combo. Would certainly look forward to seeing this expanded.