A Little Mouth to Feed: MACGREGOR, BARRY GREEN, JIMERSON, HUDSON & JDS

[Kholi]

Funny you should mention that.. I was going to suggest it would have been a little more believable and scary had the mother been maiming the victims. The root of the story really isn't the child, but the womans transformation from the submissive Christian backwoods emotionally abused wife desperate for an escape (via motherdom) to a monster -in order to get there. To me the chucky baby brought me out of the story by being so self-sufficient. It would have lent itself better to the story by appearing as completely evil while at the same time extremely vulnerable and needing of it's mother. (which was her motivation)

I haven't had a chance to really comment yet, I am hoping to get to a review and comment of all of the shorts tonight but, before this slips my mind, I want to acknowledge Ming's post as a fantastic one.

Very great thoughts, and shows that you actually looked beyond the pretty image that we can expect from such a great team and get into what's behind it.

 

[Ben Sliker]

dammit jack, now i had to go back and watch it ... again ... lol

as i watch the first sequence back again, it's "the others" that gets me, I think the rest of the conversation could slip by without making me think there's a bunch of babies somewhere. That being said, I don't think the scene would flow nearly as well without it.

With the wine, the part that bothered me the most about it was the close-up pouring shot ... i think that could be cut altogether and the effect that's she's "boozing" herself up would still play from the painful drinking of the next shot and the "where you at?" line afterwards. I think that would fix the pacing of those couple shots too, cause the rest of the sex/birth sequence is money.

 

[EJ Pennypacker]

Hey JDS and crew,

I had the chance to view this last night, so just some GOOD and BAD I'm gonna throw out there (probably repeated but I'm not going thru all 13pgs lol).

GOOD

The set design was professional and 'polished'. Big WELL DONE on that front.

The color palete/choice of the production was fitting with tone of the film. Nice.

The acting was solid and professional.

The sound/score the same.

The pull-back reveal of the crosses in the ground was a nice touch.

The baby-doll CGI was excellent. Hats off.

The editing was nice and smooth and each scene impressed me how easily it flowed into the next.

BAD

Minor point, but the actual time setting of the story I thought was 'period' like in the 18/19th century (costumes/sets), so when we cut to a modern-day light-bulb in the woman's hand, it threw me off big time. It made me think of 2008. I'd love to have seen perhaps the home lit with candles and laterns instead.

also another *minor* point, the coverage/blocking in the very first scene seemed off with the man CU talking, then cutting to a 2-shot of them both. It seemed the guy walked out of frame or was positioned at an odd angle to the camera so when you cut back to them both, it didn't seem to synch up with continuity. (I can get an exact time-reference if you'd like)

Other than that, a nice tight production that plays on all our greatest fears, THE DARK. well done.

EJ

 

[Marlon Ladd]

If you do get to work with Jack be prepared to want to spit the last day but then look back and figure he got you to push it to the wall like very few directors ever can!

Honestly...Jack even took some weaker moments of mine and made them look strong in the final edit....that was him not me! Hope you get to work with him and if he ever needs me I would be there in a heart beat....

he was easy to talk with....he understands the process for the actor and was willing to let the crew wait while he got us where we needed to be....even talked to me during one scene that sound could be edited...and honestly....when i see that reaction shot from it....it is my favorite moment in the whole thing because i have never seen that look on my face....

THAT was Jack working with the actor!

You did a really good job Michele (I still see you as that character - freaky - LOL) and you can tell that Jack knows what he's doing. And since I'm a director myself I know that's it's much easier to be able to direct actors and actresses if you know where they're coming from, like Jack does - since he has also acted before.

 

[Marlon Ladd]

Jack, yeah, I let Jason take me to the dark side. LOL. Sorry, I was right all along!

 

[Kirk Attard]

Great work Jack.

I think it's one of the films with the best production value i've seen on this site. I hope to see a full feature in the future.

I especially enjoyed the scene where the camera pulls out and shows all the little crosses. Camera work throughout the film is great. Definitely the best all rounder. I think everyone is relieved it is not competing.

Good job to all the team and good luck for future productions.
Keep it coming.!

 

[sean90291]

As usual, Jack and Mac show they have keen eyes and masterful control. I'm sure everyone loved the reveal of all the small crosses as much as I did. This had beautiful production values (though I couldn't help noticing the anachronistic light switch). I loved your casting. You got great performances. Flawless choices...except for a few lines that hurt my ears bad. Best of the fest for me so far.

 

[Darkline]

Hiya Jack,

You've certainly added another great looking film to your body of work here. Shot selection was great, good performances... technically flawless. The cross shot has been commented on but it really did work well.

My only useless comment would be that the story went exactly where you expected it to once you'd had the gobbling baby midwife scene. But I think this is minor as you've provided the most well rounded film in the festival (from what I've seen so far) and excelled in all other departments.

great job. I think people are harsh on you because they know what you're capable of.

PS there wasnt enough nudity for my liking, I want to see porn and more offensive material to all sections of society. I want to leave feeling dirty. I hope you dont dissapoint next time.

 

[Cool Lights]

Hi Jack,

Great entry here! The pullback in the cemetery is great and I love the little light in the background and the smoke / fog. It's those little touches that really add something to each scene.

Really top level cinematography on every scene and it looks like a lot of attention was paid to small details. Maybe I missed it in this long thread but what did you use for a studio, where the sets were shot?

Would love to see a BTS of lighting, etc. Also, I didn't think the baby looked bad and it's actually a good thing to only show glimpses of something like that--regardless of how well the puppet was done. Remember the original Alien? We didn't see so much of the Alien itself except in quick cuts and that worked in favor of creating a lot of tension and making it far scarier.

 

[Matt Harris]

thats the funniest thing ever, i downloaded the jpeg and plan to send to people.
who came up with that? if somehow im posting this wrong, im refering to the "oh snap" flow chart.

 

[Maximus]

Good job.

I've been a big fan of macgregor since Similo (the best film I've seen yet on dvxuser IMHO). :love4: Hope we can work together someday. Aren't I cheeky?

Solid work Jack as always. I almost used that poster font - Bleeding Cowboy? Looks cool.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Good job.
.... I almost used that poster font - Bleeding Cowboy? Looks cool.

Yeah that's it. I think I may change the title font at the end to that.

Folks that don't know, check out
http://dafont.com

Hi Jack,

Great entry here! The pullback in the cemetery is great and I love the little light in the background and the smoke / fog. It's those little touches that really add something to each scene.

Really top level cinematography on every scene and it looks like a lot of attention was paid to small details. Maybe I missed it in this long thread but what did you use for a studio, where the sets were shot?

Barry's garage. He has a sweet little set up. He's got a corner lot and there's a garage attached. But on the other corner there is another garage with a small workspace. So that one he has converted into a mini studio with as much sound proofing as possible etc.

If you notice, it's the same door in every scene. We used the practical door that leads from the small workspace into the garage. So the door is also oversized. For the bathroom scenes, we flipped the whole scene in post - had the actors part their hair on different sides just so we could have the door open left to right in one room.

Everything was shot on the same side of the wall except for going into the darkened bedroom. To match continuity from when we see the midwife against the door and now seeing it from the other side, we dressed the opposite side of the wall in the workroom.

Would love to see a BTS of lighting, etc.

There's something special planned for that. I think.

Also, I didn't think the baby looked bad and it's actually a good thing to only show glimpses of something like that--regardless of how well the puppet was done. Remember the original Alien? We didn't see so much of the Alien itself except in quick cuts and that worked in favor of creating a lot of tension and making it far scarier.

In general I agree with that approach and the baby is getting mixed reviews. But I have this scene in my head though where he looks up and creepily into the camera ... post was a very condensed process and I had to learn matchmoving and how to replace the puppet's eye within a few days. Hopefully it will get better with some more TLC when there is time, or maybe I can find away to just throw a shaft of light over the eye. Maybe that shot can be trimmed significantly as well.

 

[Tom Marshall]

Minor point, but the actual time setting of the story I thought was 'period' like in the 18/19th century (costumes/sets), so when we cut to a modern-day light-bulb in the woman's hand, it threw me off big time. It made me think of 2008. I'd love to have seen perhaps the home lit with candles and laterns instead.

It wasn't a period piece. The very first shot was of the woman holding a pregnancy test, so that sets the timeframe to within the past 10 / 15 years or so. The wardrobe choice was a legitimate one, as I'm sure there are people to this day that dress that way. Almost had an Amish feel to the characters, although that's a different geographical area and not the same, but similar. And lighbulbs have been around for quite a while now, so that didn't bother me.

I think this thing had a great look to it. I would have liked to see some more fog in the cemetary scene, but that's just my choice. I would have liked to see a little more grittiness in the scenes too. The lighting was great and the shots cut together well. The story was pretty good. I don't have a frame of reference for the characters, so I can't really comment on whether their behavior was realistic or not, but I'm assuming it's accurate. I would have liked to see more of the characters exposed, per se, as in more elaborate set design or more colorful dialog. I realize it's hard to pull something like that off in 5 minutes though... This would be better as a 15 - 20 minute short as you could explore the characters more...

 

[Matt Harris]

Jack (and crew) i just saw this now, it wasn't downloading correctly for me all week.
I gotta say i am pretty impressed (read: blown away) on all aspects of the film. This short offically elevates the bar on dvxuser films, and has personally inspired me to make better work. Thank god, er, i mean satan that you aren't able to receive votes.

 

[Cool Lights]

For the bathroom scenes, we flipped the whole scene in post - had the actors part their hair on different sides just so we could have the door open left to right in one room.

Hehe. Good thinking. I have heard about Barry's garage and I know he's got lots of other interesting things planned there.

In general I agree with that approach and the baby is getting mixed reviews. But I have this scene in my head though where he looks up and creepily into the camera ... post was a very condensed process and I had to learn matchmoving and how to replace the puppet's eye within a few days. Hopefully it will get better with some more TLC when there is time, or maybe I can find away to just throw a shaft of light over the eye. Maybe that shot can be trimmed significantly as well.

Or make friends with a CG artist ;-)

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

.....


Or make friends with a CG artist ;-)

I have a guy. But he moved to Canada and I don't have his new number

He has some very good vamp outs on his real -- you know like in buffy where the personal is normal and then their face changes. He also put glowing sushi eyes in the thug in bonehand, so he should be able to do something much better.

 

[Billy Pilgrim]

Did he do the part in 18 Seconds where you get run over by a car? I thought that looked great.

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

No I did that. Entirely composited from location footage. It was a lock down shot, so I didn't have to know how to match move at that point.

 

[Mark Johnson]

For the bathroom scenes, we flipped the whole scene in post - had the actors part their hair on different sides just so we could have the door open left to right in one room.

This is the kind of dedication and attention to detail that characterizes every Jack Stanley production. I still am so very grateful to have had the chance to work with Jack on REKINDLED last year so that I could see how he interweaves detail throughout production.

The pull-back of the makeshift graveyard is my favorite image yet seen on this board. We had a group watching on a big plasma and everybody softly said "sh*t" as the reveal occurred. That's a classic marriage of beautiful framing/lighting with story information that really hits you in the gut.

I do hope that the relatively new members of the forum go to Jack's site to view all his shorts. You can pick up so much and Jack has always been very willing to share info about how he achieved his images.

Last thing, Jack. Do you have a finish target for the companion piece you guys have been working on?

 

[Michael Anthony Horrigan]

I do hope that the relatively new members of the forum go to Jack's site to view all his shorts. You can pick up so much and Jack has always been very willing to share info about how he achieved his images.

I've watched all of Jack's shorts on his site. Rekindled is one of my favourites!


Cheers,

Mike