THE FARMER - Maximus

Kyser said:
Possible Spoilers....

The sound could have used some work on this one but I liked some of your shots and editing. I won't give too much away at this point though.

I'll comment more later...

Nice work man!

Mike
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Yeah, sound... I didn't do a mix, ran outta time. Scheduling will be a priority on the next film, among many other things of course. :)

Thanks for watching!
 
bosindy said:
SPOILER

Hey I admire your journey to make a film. It really is a tough thing to do and this is a good start. The criticism is meant to be constructive.

For some reason the playback was jumpy and strobing. I was very distracting. I thought the kids needed a little more direction. They were a little flat and it could have been improved with some coaching. The chase could be tightened up a bit to build tension. I would maybe rethink the pig noise that the killer makes.

The room you set up with the chopping block was genuinely terrifying and I thought it was well thought out. The stuff of the farmer approaching really built nicely.

Overall I admire the effort and look forward to seeing more from you in the future.
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Yeah, this was a real learning experience, to say the least! Some things I learned better than others.

I couldn't get a good quality compression under 50mg, that's why the jumpy strobe effect. It definetely wasn't intended! At 62mg the film looked pretty good, even at 51mg it was acceptable, but I could not get it below 50mg without going to 5fps, hence the look. I almost didn't send it in at that point, but decided that showing something (anything?) is better than nothing.

My sons were my reluctant "actors", and I'm pretty proud of their work, all things considered.

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.
 
You have some great set pieces that added to the creepy atmosphere. The strobing affect reminded me of what happens when you try to make something look 24p that was recorded in 29.97 If that was the case you should have left it in 29.97 it would look more filmlike with a smart de-interlace and a good colorgrade.
 
Thanks Movie Stunts.

I actually purchased Nattress Film Effects with the intend of using G Film: de-interlace, convert to 24p, cc, etc... but again, *sigh*, I ran outta time! I didn't even get a chance to install them - Next film I hope! What we see now is raw 29.97 shot with my reliable, but now obviously obsolete Sony PC115. The only post work I did was the widescreen matte, and blue tint added to the final scene, both in FCP3. I was surprised how easy it was to use those filters! They're kewl!
 
That was something that I forgot to mention. The set scene (you know the one) was VERY well done. I could probably never create something that looked that good. Very realistic looking with great attention to detail.

The boys must have loved it! :)
 
I applaud your effort for getting it done and I know what you mean about almost not turning it in, because you ran out of time and couldn't get it exactly how you wanted it.

The gitterness was a problem, but if the story wasn't intriguing, I wouldn't have finished it. I did. Bravo to your sons, but they're acting was a little flat (probably because they were reluctant like you said), but the set was cool and so were many of the shots. Cool poster too, if I haven't already said that.
 
Maximus, this was, aside from the technical problems, one of my favorite. The acting on the part of the kids could improve quite a bit. But that shot where you followed the farmer a little and just showed the axe and legs was great. And the very end was very creepy. Some shots jumped around and got me lost a bit as to who was where, but that is typical with horror style. Good Job altogether. I enjoyed it.
 
Maximus, good use of child actors. It had an old school back to basic feel of classic horror films. You really did a good job of keeping me engaged. Your villain freaked me out a bit man. And the last shot. Of course i KNEW he was gonna be in the bed with the kid but I still couldn't help but be disturbed at the end. As the camera slowly panned to reveal it, i was just like "No. Please dont. C'mon. Please..."

haha. Good job.
 
Well done short! Good use of natural lighting, and a nice location. The kids did a good job as well, very natural. It didn't scare me all that much, but the elements were there, good work!
 
Kyser said:
That was something that I forgot to mention. The set scene (you know the one) was VERY well done. I could probably never create something that looked that good. Very realistic looking with great attention to detail.

The boys must have loved it! :)
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Thanks Mike. I just gathered old junk that was lying around to create the "set". The challenge was to make it look like a madman did it, and not some "designer". At one point early on it looked like an antiques dealer display. Had to rough it up a bit.

Yeah, my boys loved it, for about ten minutes! After that it was hard to round them up. They were much more interested in playing Xbox. And they laughed a lot. That was my biggest challenge was trying to get the boys to stop laughing and take this movie seriously! I was beginning to question their commitment. Kids!


Kdawg said:
Maximus, this was, aside from the technical problems, one of my favorite. The acting on the part of the kids could improve quite a bit. But that shot where you followed the farmer a little and just showed the axe and legs was great. And the very end was very creepy. Some shots jumped around and got me lost a bit as to who was where, but that is typical with horror style. Good Job altogether. I enjoyed it.
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Thanks alot, Kdawg, I appreciate it. There are some parts I'm happy with, and many others that need improvement. But for me, this festival was about learning, and I learned a lot. Most importantly, I really enjoyed the whole process. I got big plans!
 
leenewton said:
I applaud your effort for getting it done and I know what you mean about almost not turning it in, because you ran out of time and couldn't get it exactly how you wanted it.

The gitterness was a problem, but if the story wasn't intriguing, I wouldn't have finished it. I did. Bravo to your sons, but they're acting was a little flat (probably because they were reluctant like you said), but the set was cool and so were many of the shots. Cool poster too, if I haven't already said that.
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Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Will do better next time - I promise!

mentatDUKE said:
Maximus, good use of child actors. It had an old school back to basic feel of classic horror films. You really did a good job of keeping me engaged. Your villain freaked me out a bit man. And the last shot. Of course i KNEW he was gonna be in the bed with the kid but I still couldn't help but be disturbed at the end. As the camera slowly panned to reveal it, i was just like "No. Please dont. C'mon. Please..."

haha. Good job.
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Thanks alot, mentatDUKE! I'm glad you picked up on that old school vibe. I was trying for that gritty 70's feel, not Grindhouse, but more Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Deliverance. Kind of a pseudo documentary, anti-slick feel. Hey, I had a $0.00 budget, and I believe the budget dictates the aesthetic! :laugh: BTW, earlier in the thread we discussed suspense techniques and the time factor. In this case I used intercutting to build suspense, and I think it worked out alright.

Happy to hear that last scare got you - that's what it's all about!

Brandon Rice said:
Well done short! Good use of natural lighting, and a nice location. The kids did a good job as well, very natural. It didn't scare me all that much, but the elements were there, good work!
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Thanks, Brandon. I'm happy you mentioned the natural lighting. We shot it in an old barn with no electricity, and it was pretty dark, even in the daytime. The hayloft where a lot of the action took place, got nice sunlight late in the afternoon, for about forty minutes. So that was our shooting time frame, 5:00 to 5:40 on Sat. and Sun. The next week is was 4:30 to 5:10, and the third week 4:00 to 4:40. The only artificial light I used was a rechargeable fluorescent worklight I got from Home Depot. It held a charge for over an hour, and had a nice diffuse light.

Yeah, the kids did pretty good. Only a director who has worked with untrained child actors knows what it's like. :grin:
 
I just watched this again, kept most of these on my PC.
I just wanted to add that I really liked some of the angles that you used. Very interesting perspective...

Nice work,

Mike
 
I wanted to be able to watch this; but the strobing just killed it for me. I had to tune out. Is this an intended technique or is my QT tripping out ?
 
Great job with the villain at the very end. Those types of scenes are tough because the viewer absolutely knows what's going to happen, so you have to surprise them by making the payoff even scarier than they expected. You definitely delivered on that front.

In the scene where the kids discover the farmers 'tools' have you thought about using a series of static shots rather than pans? On the one hand the pans simulate the kids' perspective. But I think the effect might be stronger if instead you gave a series of powerfully composed closeups of the instruments instead.

I like how you used the intercutting to build suspense, but I thought that the build-up was a little too long in the beginning. All in all you really seem to have picked up on the tricks and tropes of slasher films. I can already imagine your next film, with tighter editing and some of the other improvements people have mentioned, will be really scary.

davide
 
Kyser said:
I just watched this again, kept most of these on my PC.
I just wanted to add that I really liked some of the angles that you used. Very interesting perspective...

Nice work,

Mike
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Thanks. :smile:

J.R. Hudson said:
I wanted to be able to watch this; but the strobing just killed it for me. I had to tune out. Is this an intended technique or is my QT tripping out ?
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I believe the strobing was a result of my ineptitude at compression. Wasn't intended, that's for sure.

davide said:
Great job with the villain at the very end. Those types of scenes are tough because the viewer absolutely knows what's going to happen, so you have to surprise them by making the payoff even scarier than they expected. You definitely delivered on that front.

In the scene where the kids discover the farmers 'tools' have you thought about using a series of static shots rather than pans? On the one hand the pans simulate the kids' perspective. But I think the effect might be stronger if instead you gave a series of powerfully composed closeups of the instruments instead.

I like how you used the intercutting to build suspense, but I thought that the build-up was a little too long in the beginning. All in all you really seem to have picked up on the tricks and tropes of slasher films. I can already imagine your next film, with tighter editing and some of the other improvements people have mentioned, will be really scary.

davide
Click to expand...

I'm happy that last scare worked for you.

I agree. Quick cuts would have been more powerful. Wish I'd thought of that! :smile:

I learned alot from this experience, and I will apply much of this to my next film. Although horror was fun, I look forward to a different genre.

Thanks again for your feedback!
 
REVIEW:
Ok, so, yeah, problem with the playback. But I stuck it out and I'm glad I did. I wish I could see a clean version.

Anyway, good job. I liked this one a lot. Great location, and reading through a previous post, great job in working the light and really knowing your shooting logisitics. The acting by the kids didn't really distract me, they sounded like, well, a couple of kids. I like how the little brother tells his big bro how scared he is and wants to go home and then in the next shot the big bro, of course, makes his little brother go up the ladder first.

I liked the score, really heightened this little film up.

Felt like I was watching an episode of Goosebumps on TV with my kids or something.

Good job, I look forward to more films from you here.

FILMMAKER-TO-FILMMAKER:
I know you slapped this thing together, ok. But you're going to go back and finish this thing up right? RIGHT?

The only real audio problems I felt were traumatic were the opening exterior... sounded like LOTS of wind noise on an on camera mic. You can chop that out and lay in some nice location track.

I LOVED the pig noise dubbed on top of the maniac. Worked great for me.

I think the pacing was very nice. I like the dream quality of it, you know, pieces of unreality thrown in like you see the farmer's legs in the doorway, clearly dead, but then, POW, no he's not, he's right there in your face. Dreams are really like that, you know.

Anyway, please finish this puppy up and post it. Good job, again.

Cheers!
 
Thanks John for the kind comments. I enjoyed reading all of your reviews this fest, so am very happy you liked my film! Your opinion means alot!

In particular, I'm happy you mentioned the music, as Chris Hurn did an amazing job. Even more amazingly he did it in less than 48 hours!

I do hope to finish it, as I shot so much extra footage! Most importantly was the opening, with the boys in bed, and John tells the story of the "crazy old farmer who chopped up little kids with an axe and ate them." This was intended as a bookend for the ending, and also sets up the urban legend, the boy's relationship, etc...

I can't believe how much I overshot! That's one of the main lessons I took away from this fest. Next time I'll make sure the story fits the time limit. :)
 
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