2timesPro Presents "How To Get Away With Murder"

The nagging wife! Can't we all feel the pain? I also thought this was very funny and yeah, the use of the wine was hilarious. I also thought it was good how it was set up like he was really filming it for youtube.
 
thanks for all the positive feedback, from everyone, it means a lot because you guys are all film makers too. i've liked all the films that i have viewed this far.
 
Very good film! I enjoyed the story, the acting, music was GREAT, camera work, it all worked for me. Basically, I felt comfortable and relaxed throughout. I could tell from the get go, I was in the hands of a competent filmmaker.

To elaborate, watching these films has been akin to getting in a taxi cab in NYC. You never know what you're getting into. Some drivers are good, others not so good. The ride is a series of speeding, screeching to a stop, flying around corners, getting lost, you all know what I'm talking about. Some drivers are so good, you forget you're in a taxi. You can enjoy the views.

Watching many of these films has been like that.

You're a good driver! I look forward to your next film.:beer:
 
Frosted Flakes! The glass of red wine. LOL!

Really good actors. Perfect choice of music. Nice editing into the music. Told a nice story. I Smiled throughout. Enjoyable.

Very, very good.

Thanks very much for making this.
 
This is definitely one of my favorites and the only one so far that I'll actually share with my son, that goes a long way. Humor was awesome! I love your actors. I love breaking that fourth wall. Too rich. Nice job. I miss Dahopa crazy short humor films, so I'm glad to see someone as nuts as he is.

Nice job!
 
Kudos to Mentat

Kudos to Mentat

Hi all,

I just wanted to take a minute to say how glad I am to have become a part of the dvxuser community. I've been browsing through the work being exhibited and supported here, and I've really enjoyed what I've read and seen.

More specifically, I want to congratulate MentatDUKE on this production and to thank the team for letting me work on this film. It was an extremely enjoyable experience: I enjoyed the collaboration and I look forward to more opportunities to come. I can only hope that my addition to the effort has done its part.

Thanks again, guys!

Steve
 
This just might be the film that did it for me

Not only was I entertained, but many elements came together to give me a complete experience

The actors were more than competent and both showed great comedic timing. Your shots were very well executed and the score was a perfect compliment to keep such a dark subject matter light

Visually; in terms of compostion, your film has the best shots I have seen do far. You seem to have really taken care to compose the frame and the dolly moves seemed structured and not just moving for sake of moving.

I was engaged from the get go and never waned.

The only regret I have is that during the suffocation sequence, i would have preferred a few different shot selections. I felt the profile shot was not effective and held on way too long.

Other than ? Excellent. Great job in all categories. I was entertained, visually stimulated, believing in the actors and felt a part of their world. I love how you showed no restraint in keeping the camera wide.

You definately have some skills and I hope you keep pursuing and studying hard.

My favorite so far.
 
leenewton said:
The nagging wife! Can't we all feel the pain? I also thought this was very funny and yeah, the use of the wine was hilarious. I also thought it was good how it was set up like he was really filming it for youtube.
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Glad you were able to relate, Lee. The writer/director is married, so maybe that's where he gets his marterial from. :)

Maximus said:
Very good film! I enjoyed the story, the acting, music was GREAT, camera work, it all worked for me. Basically, I felt comfortable and relaxed throughout. I could tell from the get go, I was in the hands of a competent filmmaker.

To elaborate, watching these films has been akin to getting in a taxi cab in NYC. You never know what you're getting into. Some drivers are good, others not so good. The ride is a series of speeding, screeching to a stop, flying around corners, getting lost, you all know what I'm talking about. Some drivers are so good, you forget you're in a taxi. You can enjoy the views.

Watching many of these films has been like that.

You're a good driver! I look forward to your next film.:beer:
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Maximus, thanks for the positive feedback. We're flattered. Your cab analogy means a lot. Appreciate it!

George_Bailey said:
Frosted Flakes! The glass of red wine. LOL!

Really good actors. Perfect choice of music. Nice editing into the music. Told a nice story. I Smiled throughout. Enjoyable.

Very, very good.

Thanks very much for making this.
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Thank you George. I've been working with these actors for so long, I almost took for granted how talented they were. Their hard work and patience during long setup times went a long way. Our composer is great also, I think he gave the movie a lot of heart. Watching the scored version for the first time felt like a whole new movie. It was amazing.

Charli said:
This is definitely one of my favorites and the only one so far that I'll actually share with my son, that goes a long way. Humor was awesome! I love your actors. I love breaking that fourth wall. Too rich. Nice job. I miss Dahopa crazy short humor films, so I'm glad to see someone as nuts as he is.

Nice job!
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Wow Charli. Thank you so much. You're too kind. How old is your son?

J.R. Hudson said:
This just might be the film that did it for me

Not only was I entertained, but many elements came together to give me a complete experience

The actors were more than competent and both showed great comedic timing. Your shots were very well executed and the score was a perfect compliment to keep such a dark subject matter light

Visually; in terms of compostion, your film has the best shots I have seen do far. You seem to have really taken care to compose the frame and the dolly moves seemed structured and not just moving for sake of moving.

I was engaged from the get go and never waned.

The only regret I have is that during the suffocation sequence, i would have preferred a few different shot selections. I felt the profile shot was not effective and held on way too long.

Other than ? Excellent. Great job in all categories. I was entertained, visually stimulated, believing in the actors and felt a part of their world. I love how you showed no restraint in keeping the camera wide.

You definately have some skills and I hope you keep pursuing and studying hard.

My favorite so far.
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John, thanks for the positive, well thought out feedback. We all know you're a tough date, so I'm pleased that our movie had an effect on you. Thanks for the compliments and confirming that we're on the "right track" in our film studies. I'm really glad this film has connected with its audience.

Thanks for watching, all.
 
This film was a lot of fun to watch.

I liked the humor and the performances very much. I also really liked the score, as I think it fit the tone perfectly.

Well done.
 
REVIEW:
Oh, definitely a favorite of mine. Good stuff. I like the Desperate Housewives-esque score, really worked for the piece.

The wine glass... simply awesome. That's something Godard would have done as a real "f*ck you"! Bravo!

Acting was terrific and the characters were totally believable as husband and wife.

Great job! I look forward to more.

FILMMAKER-TO-FILMMAKER:
I felt that you either had to go the YouTube route where the husband is taping this whole thing, or just shot it straight up. If the whole YouTube thing is part of the story, we need to see hiim taping more or something.

Nice dolly push in in the bedroom.

Ok, so the suffocation scene. I love that you held that shot. But I don't think it fit in with the "flirtiness" of the piece, if that makes any sense. I also think that she would have struggled more and took a lot longer to pass out (first) and then die. But then again, I'm not Quincy, so...

Love the ending... "Did you sit down?" Classic and perfect.

Anyway, bravo again and good job!
 
Wow, cinealma. Thanks for the detailed review. It means a lot coming from a filmmaker of your caliber. Be careful about comparing us to Godard though. Wouldn't want to swell our heads would ya? :)
Glad you liked what we did with the wine glass. We definitely got a kick out of it ourselves, so it's good to see others did also.

I can't say enough about our composer. We were really lucky to find him. Can't wait to work with him so more. A great talent.

I'm glad you liked the actors. I take them for granted and forget just how good they are. They've allowed me to simply expect brilliance. Lucky to have them.

Regarding the YouTube style, we didn't want to be too overt or self-referential with it, but we definitely wanted the voyeuristic qualities suggested from when the husband first mentions it. To put it simply, we cheated. ("The Office" does it. Why can't we? I mean WHY is there a documentary crew at Dunder Mifflin?) :) But we think the movie is better for it. It's all about what you can get away with. We knew that the audience would carry the suggestion in their subconscious all the way through, so why get into all the logistical and artistic sloppiness that would come along with doing the entire movie YouTube style? Just have him break the fourth wall, and use a lot of static shots (especially during the suffocation scene). Slight of hand is your friend.

I'm glad you like the bedroom dolly. It's my favorite shot of all my films. I'm a sucker for a motivated, moving camera.

Regarding the suffocation scene, I hear where you're coming from, but since you mentioned Deperate Housewives, I'm sure you know that all dark comedy must juxtapose the darkness with the flirtiness. We saw this in Edward Scissorhands. We saw this in Death Becomes Her. We saw this in Heathers. When you come with the raw, you can't chicken out. Otherwise, the cutesy moments aren't as disturbing as they need to be.

Good discussion. Thanks again for watching with a critical eye. :beer:
 
mentatDUKE said:
Regarding the YouTube style, we didn't want to be too overt or self-referential with it, but we definitely wanted the voyeuristic qualities suggested from when the husband first mentions it. To put it simply, we cheated. ("The Office" does it. Why can't we? I mean WHY is there a documentary crew at Dunder Mifflin?) :) But we think the movie is better for it. It's all about what you can get away with. We knew that the audience would carry the suggestion in their subconscious all the way through, so why get into all the logistical and artistic sloppiness that would come along with doing the entire movie YouTube style? Just have him break the fourth wall, and use a lot of static shots (especially during the suffocation scene). Slight of hand is your friend.

I'm glad you like the bedroom dolly. It's my favorite shot of all my films. I'm a sucker for a motivated, moving camera.
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I get what you're going for. And I think that can work out great. I'm thinking that going from a handheld camera operated by the main actor (even turning it on himself) for the first minute and then to a more cinematic style with sweet dolly shots, without really any motivation makes me think "what happened?" Maybe if we saw him put the camera away or some kind of shot where we see the camera is no longer being operated by the actor, that might have clarified a bit what we are seeing visually. Just a thought, is all.

Regarding the suffocation scene, I hear where you're coming from, but since you mentioned Deperate Housewives, I'm sure you know that all dark comedy must juxtapose the darkness with the flirtiness. We saw this in Edward Scissorhands. We saw this in Death Becomes Her. We saw this in Heathers. When you come with the raw, you can't chicken out. Otherwise, the cutesy moments aren't as disturbing as they need to be.
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Oh, I definitely agree. But the tone for me was just a little too serious in the way it was shot. In other words, regardless of whether this guy was a good guy or a bad guy, I still really liked him. Maybe if he had a little trouble doing it right, or maybe if she kicked and flailed about deleriously while he fought her to keep the pillow on her face in a clumsy way... in the end, he removes the pillow and he eyes are wide open and her mouth is wide open... her face might scare him a little, he say "ooh!", and so he covers her face back up with the pillow... I just thought the tone didn't fit with the rest of the film, no matter how nice the scene was (one of those kill your darlings kind of thing).

Just some thoughts. :beer:
 
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts John. It's interesting how different filmmakers' style and sensibilities affect the way they tackle a work. I wonder what Star Wars would be like if James Cameron, Michael Mann, or Stephen Spielberg directed them. What an amazing art form, this thing of ours... :)
 
This was a nice change of pace, compared to the more traditionally dark fair. It had some good laughs, and some good acting (facial expressions, especially) to help with those laughs.

Technically, I don't have a ton to offer for critiques ... it was just a good film, that I enjoyed watching. Nice. :)
 
Thanks Norm. It's good to see you in the thread. I enjoy watching your work in all the fests, so your kudos mean a lot. Good luck with "Berlin".
 
Hey Mentatduke,

I thought the story was pretty good. Nice shots and good actors.

You probably could have done this a little more like a youtube video where it was him holding the camera a lot or setting up the camera. Maybe in some instances missing the action of what he did, but having him recount it to the camera more like a youtube confession. That would make a more realistic and organic though you'd have to cut the nice dolly shots out. Such as he could come into the room after he has smothered his wife and be talking to the camera all out of breath with her lifeless body in the background. "So I just...umm...smothered my wife...to death. Yeah, she's dead." Pause, cut to him eat cereal etc. Maybe with some youtube footage camera of him using it and some with another 4th wall camera.

This also could showcase some of the actor more since he (and she) were good.

I think the idea of doing a Youtube confession of someone murdering his wife is very clever, but I would have liked it to be more like a 'home video' feel. I know the film is shot the way it is now, but I guess I felt you started with the youtube vibe and then didn't follow through. Could have been a little shorter, too?

Good lightning, nice shots and good actors. Your story was good with a nice character arc. Good job.

Laters,
Ando
 
Thanks for the feedback, andoguru. While your idea is interesting, I feel it's a bit too over the top. We were going for a more subtle approach. In addition, the conceit of the YouTube video (setting up the camera, monologuing to the camera, etc) would have made the film less effective rather than more effective. One must be careful not to let the "gimmick" overpower the actual film. The concept should be an aspect of the piece rather than the entire piece. But again, it's always interesting to see how different filmmakers tackle the same script. I'd love to do a fest where everyone has the same script. That'd be cool.

Thanks again.
 
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