Brandon Rice - "Welcome To The Party"

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN.....


Some really great DOP work. I loved Justin's music as well...
The ending was pretty sweet.

Sound was excellent as well.

I'll add more later...

Cheers,

Mike
 
Great stuff Brandon and crew! Lots of production value in this one, though I did feel the story could have had just a little more "punch" to it at the end.

That rack to and from the clock with the time-shift in between was really well executed. And the one shot with the lead under the table, and then she moves just a little and her eyes come in to he light and you see the fear, brilliant!

Really good sound design too, did a great job of setting the mood along with the slow opening shots of the scene.

- Mikko
 
Honestly these are the kinds of things I love about being a part of this site - because its gives us the chance to see peoples work grow and (hopefully) improve over time.

That said - I think this is the best thing I've seen you do so far, Brandon* - I thought it was well shot, well acted, well scored, just punchy enough for my taste - and didn't feel like it had any wasted time in it.

Great work - good look, but most importantly - you really creeped me out.
In the end, that's what its all about

:thumbsup:




*Refering to narrative fiction here - not counting 'IRH'
 
Awesome Brandon.

I agree that it was well lit, acted, edited, scored, directed, etc.

Great sound. Technically everything was there.

...but where was the wine glass? Did I miss it? More later.
 
Very pro Brandon. I especially liked the quick dolly through the office. Great camera work. Great score. I'll add more later.
 
opening shots were amazing, cinematography was off the hook! sound was great, acting was really good, may that be a strong sign off a solid director? ; )

Good job man!
 
Good stuff B-Man. As many have said, great job of pulling all of these elements together into a coherent whole. Geoff's photography, Justin's score, the acting, etc. That really is the a director's job, pulling all of these departments together and using them to tell the story.

And it's great (and annoying because I am so old) that you have a good grasp on that at such a young age.

If I had one beef, it would be that I saw the end coming a mile away. Maybe it's because I've a lot of similar stories? Dunno.

I think maybe a more subtle color shift. Like in the past I've done color shifts with key frames, so that I did not exactly have to do a crossfade, say, the color shifted over the course of the same shot. Maybe something more subtle like that would have helped.

I am kind of nit-picking, but like I said, it's because you are getting such a good handle on this whole process so young, I'm probably jealous. :)

Just keep pushing it, boyeeeee. Keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself, so you keep growing and growing.

The whole team did great work on this, though.
 
Kyser said:
POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON IN.....


Some really great DOP work. I loved Justin's music as well...
The ending was pretty sweet.

Sound was excellent as well.

I'll add more later...

Cheers,

Mike
Click to expand...

Mike... truly appreciate you checking the film out, and look forward for a more detailed review later... glad you enjoyed it! :dankk2:

mikkowilson said:
Great stuff Brandon and crew! Lots of production value in this one, though I did feel the story could have had just a little more "punch" to it at the end.

That rack to and from the clock with the time-shift in between was really well executed. And the one shot with the lead under the table, and then she moves just a little and her eyes come in to he light and you see the fear, brilliant!

Really good sound design too, did a great job of setting the mood along with the slow opening shots of the scene.

- Mikko
Click to expand...

Thanks Mikko!

I do agree that rack transition with the clock turned out just fantastic! We went through so many different ideas of how to do that, but in the end it really turned out nice!

Just curious... what kind of "punch" would you have liked to see at the end?

Thanks for your review, and for checking the film out!

Luis Caffesse said:
Honestly these are the kinds of things I love about being a part of this site - because its gives us the chance to see peoples work grow and (hopefully) improve over time.

That said - I think this is the best thing I've seen you do so far, Brandon* - I thought it was well shot, well acted, well scored, just punchy enough for my taste - and didn't feel like it had any wasted time in it.

Great work - good look, but most importantly - you really creeped me out.
In the end, that's what its all about

:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

LUIS!

Thanks brother! Always appreciate your review, and thoughts... I am glad you've seen growth in me as a filmmaker... that's what it's all about man...

And I am glad it creeped you out! It still creeps me out! :)

Jay Rodriguez said:
opening shots were amazing, cinematography was off the hook! sound was great, acting was really good, may that be a strong sign off a solid director? ; )

Good job man!
Click to expand...

Hey Jay! Thanks a lot man...going to be getting over to your film in just a few minutes...

I give all props for the cinematography to Geoff and Wes... they both really rocked the look here! I still think I maintained a style I really like, and is similar to some of my past work, but Geoff's skills really took it to another level!

I just want to work on something bigger with these guys now!

Thanks for the review man....

Mark Harris said:
Good stuff B-Man. As many have said, great job of pulling all of these elements together into a coherent whole. Geoff's photography, Justin's score, the acting, etc. That really is the a director's job, pulling all of these departments together and using them to tell the story.

And it's great (and annoying because I am so old) that you have a good grasp on that at such a young age.

If I had one beef, it would be that I saw the end coming a mile away. Maybe it's because I've a lot of similar stories? Dunno.

I think maybe a more subtle color shift. Like in the past I've done color shifts with key frames, so that I did not exactly have to do a crossfade, say, the color shifted over the course of the same shot. Maybe something more subtle like that would have helped.

I am kind of nit-picking, but like I said, it's because you are getting such a good handle on this whole process so young, I'm probably jealous. :)

Just keep pushing it, boyeeeee. Keep pushing yourself and challenging yourself, so you keep growing and growing.

The whole team did great work on this, though.
Click to expand...

Mark! I ALWAYS appreciate your honesty in your reviews! It is these kind of reviews that both encourage and challenge! :)

In regard to the story... to be honest... it really evolved over time to what you see on screen... at the time of shooting I felt it really worked... and again, I didn't want to "give away" the ending, but wanted to foreshadow it... maybe a little too much?

In regard to the color shift... we were also dealing with a time shift here too, so that made this even more difficult... this transition was another one we really labored over up till the moment we shot.

Thanks for the comments man!
 
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Brandon i really liked how clean and professional your film turned out.
I need to watch again before i comment on the story but quick question: what is the
relationship between guy and girl, are they just coworkers, exes or does he simply have a crush on her?
just curious, trying to figure out the opening exchange bewteen those 2 and what you were thinking.
 
Defcon said:
what is the
relationship between guy and girl, are they just coworkers, exes or does he simply have a crush on her?
just curious, trying to figure out the opening exchange bewteen those 2 and what you were thinking.
Click to expand...

coworkers... I'll leave the interpretation of the dialog up to you though... :)
 
Visually well done, I liked the cinematography. The use of color was smart to indicate the transition. I thought the actress was good. The pacing of her realization felt fast but with the time limit understable. Geoff shines on the shooting and the directing was good as well.

I though the score was a a bit too big for the piece. It felt overly dramatic and felt like we were entering lifetime network zone. I also didn't like the jacket over the shoulder of the male actor. It felt a bit stilted. the dead but don't realize has been done, but works here.

One tylenol wacked her, so most of the people I know would be dead, but overall I liked where you went with it. Good job.
 
Oh Lord,

First thing I had to do when I logged on this morning was say this:
I shat myself upon watching the film the second time, and the part where the lights go out, the electricity in my entire house went out. So I was half expecting the words;

kieran... Kieran.... KIERAAAAN...​

To come out of the darkness, it's wa halloween here early anyway so thats my excuse, but yeah I'll keep it short now. Great film. Hopefully you'll get the time and crew to do another one soon?​
 
bosindy said:
I though the score was a a bit too big for the piece. It felt overly dramatic and felt like we were entering lifetime network zone.
Click to expand...

Hm. I actually think the "bigness" of the score adds a lot here... But hey, it's all subjective.

bosindy said:
One tylenol wacked her, so most of the people I know would be dead, but overall I liked where you went with it. Good job.
Click to expand...

Well, actually I tried to sell it in the flashback that she had been taking a lot of pills... not just the one... but I don't know if it sold or not...

Thanks for watching!
 
Ki-Ki said:
Oh Lord,

First thing I had to do when I logged on this morning was say this:
I shat myself upon watching the film the second time, and the part where the lights go out, the electricity in my entire house went out. So I was half expecting the words;

kieran... Kieran.... KIERAAAAN...​

To come out of the darkness, it's wa halloween here early anyway so thats my excuse, but yeah I'll keep it short now. Great film. Hopefully you'll get the time and crew to do another one soon?​
Click to expand...

HA HA... thanks man!

Weird, with your avatar, I feel like I'm getting a review from Jack Bauer himself! :)

Thanks for your review though, and I'm glad it made you a little uneasy hehe
 
Brandon Rice said:
Well, actually I tried to sell it in the flashback that she had been taking a lot of pills... not just the one... but I don't know if it sold or not...
Click to expand...


First off - the pill thing wasn't a problem for me... the thing moved so fast I didn't really have time to stop and think whether or not it was 'believable.' That said - it never occurred to me that the flashback was showing me she took more than one... it seemed like it was just flashing back and repeating the action.... showing me that the pill was the culprit. So if you wanted me to get from that that she had taken many pills, then personally I don't think it was effective in the way you wanted it to be.

But again - it didn't hurt my enjoyment of the piece overall.
 
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