"Happy Ending" A Bernie Hipos Film

Bernie Hipos

Bernie Hipos

Well-known member
Here's my short film for lovefest '08, it's actually my first time making a film. I posted some pics here for behind the scenes and a screen grab. As you can see i used an old fishing rod given to me by my friend as my boom pole and it worked like a charm. Anyway, goodluck to all. Cheers!

Here's our movie poster. Hope you'll like it.
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as you can see here our DIY boom pole with audio technica AT875R shotgun mic. it's a fishing rod folks...

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screen grab of the main character
 
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HAPPY ENDINGS -- THOUGHT TYPENESS! From... THE MIND!

Sometimes I actually do more "thoughts" than a review. As your first film, I think that thoughts are more appropriate than an actual review because they're more prone to help.

I think that you're working with content that you have knowledge about. Does it come from family background? You know, deep down, what you have to do. Don't be afraid to mimic things from your favorite movies like camera placement, blocking, etc.

It's a good way to learn! I'm not going to gripe about anything, but I am glad that you got out and did it because honestly (as much as I yap on these boards) the only way to learn how to do it is to do it.

Exhibit again! And thanks!


 
You put forth great effort. Im sure you know some of the problems and I also know that you can learn from your mistakes. I dont need to talk about that.

I really liked the culture in this film, the mixing of language. The asian market. And those kabobs looked really dang good! I could tell that you dont make films all of the time, and thats ok! Keep making films. When you do your next film, you will see a major improvement on all of the technical details and also more freedom to focus on direction.

Thanks again for posting your film, especially your first. It takes guts.
 
I definitely think there's certainly something in the premise, but the story just needed some time in the gym to lean itself up.

What I got was that the central story was a guy who was tempted by society and status, but couldn't shake his love for a girl. It's a good premise, but your script focused on the character who doesn't change, the girl who never faltered in her love. If the ending has been something like "and then she says too late and walks away", then the audience would have known why we were watching her life. Time brought her strength to quit this guy. It doesn't need to have a sad ending, that's just an idea.

I'm curious as to what you were saying with the language switching? I'm not saying it was bad, just that it slightly confused me.

Technically I wasn't too disappointed. There were some issues, but when you're presenting a simple story about love too much flash can be distracting. Often times it's best to do what you did, turn on the camera and let them act.

Keep it up, man.
 
>kholi, hunter richards and wcs

Hey guys thanks, I didn't know that you guys posted about this...lol, been busy watching all the films. Anyway, this is my first short and really there's a lot of things to work on like my audio and some stuff like blocking and camera movement. It's been really great that I was able to share this film to all of you, Thanks again for taking time to watch. Cheers! :happy:
 
Obviously there were a lot of technical issues but not terrible for a first timer.
You will learn from this experience and I expect to see you in the next fest! :)

The acting seemed pretty good as did some of the camera work. Especially considering that this is your first short.

Kudos!
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
Obviously there were a lot of technical issues but not terrible for a first timer.
You will learn from this experience and I expect to see you in the next fest! :)

The acting seemed pretty good as did some of the camera work. Especially considering that this is your first short.

Kudos!
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Hey man, thanks for that appreciate it. I'll tell my actor and let her read this, you made her happy. :)Cheers!
 
Hey Bernie,

My father is pinoy, but unfortunately, I can't understand Filipino. Though I could definitely relate to the culture and the actors. FYI all, that half filipino half english talk is authentic. It just how they communicate many times. Same with some spanish people, no?

That said, I thought the intro didnt need that strong sephia tone. Didnt seem like it was a flashback from the present or anything like that. Simply seemed it was something that happened first, followed by a subsequent scene. Now if the following scene pictured her recalling that moment, then it might warrant its use. I only mention it because I thought it was distracting for your story is all.

Last thing. It was also distracting that the girl's kabob was down to the last bite but the guys was still almost untouched. IMHO, I think next time you should switch it so your girl doesnt look too hungry, unless you want her to :)

I'm glad you were able to submit, and I appreciate you stickin to your roots. Keep it up, homie...
 
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Arrik said:
Hey Bernie,

My father is pinoy, but unfortunately, I can't understand Filipino. Though I could definitely relate to the culture and the actors. FYI all, that half filipino half english talk is authentic. It just how they communicate many times. Same with some spanish people, no?

That said, I thought the intro didnt need that strong sephia tone. Didnt seem like it was a flashback from the present or anything like that. Simply seemed it was something that happened first, followed by a subsequent scene. Now if the following scene pictured her recalling that moment, then it might warrant its use. I only mention it because I thought it was distracting for your story is all.

Last thing. It was also distracting that the girl's kabob was down to the last bite but the guys was still almost untouched. IMHO, I think next time you should switch it so your girl doesnt look too hungry, unless you want her to :)

I'm glad you were able to submit, and I appreciate you stickin to your roots. Keep it up, homie.
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Hi Arrik,

Thanks for taking time to comment, appreciate it. hahaha i didn't notice the kebob (we call it barbecue in the Philippines) lol. Good to know that your dad is Filipino. Regarding the movie, we were supposed to use the english language but you know, I guess we'll be more convincing if we use our native language called Tagalog. I totally agree with what you said regarding the sepia tone of the movie. I was having problems with the editing process and color correcting the clips. Also, I had a terrible audio on that scene because we don't have much crew to help us out during the shoot to hold the boom mic, that's why I end up using the sennheiser g2 lapel mic.
 
This is your first short? Wow, way better than my first attempt. A little practice will serve you well, but I think this is a very well put together first short. I especially liked the pan up establishing of the building. Just looked very nice.

And also, for being your first short, its quite amazing that you're one of the very few people here who didn't have to cut your film down to 5:59 on the dot just to be legal. Congrats on that.
 
Bernie, I haven't had a chance to watch your entry yet, but thought I'd point out your signature banner - it looks like you had spell check turned on and some of the words didn't pass spell check. :)
 
This was a nice film for your first film. I LOVED that this was a genuinely international entry. I know in HorrorFest we had a Greek dude put up his vampire flick all in Greek. Not sure how many others we've had this year.

I'm sure you know about or have heard about the issues, so I won't really go into them here.

What I liked too was how you allowed them to pass in and out of English mid-sentence, so seamlessly. Which is very much on the money for a lot of people who've moved here from non-English speaking countries. In NYC, you hear it all the time. So I loved that you let that little detail just be there. Gave it a realism that I think some of us might have missed.

Keep it up! Get into the next fest!
 
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