WHERE THE HEART LIES ... Johnson, Hyten, Golden & Bullis

I am just so stoked on this one. Every element really worked for me. One of the most 'professional looking shot' (if not the) shorts I have seen on here (or any site)

Where can I start ?

The lighting is perfectlly done. Very motivated and real in feel, not at all contrived. The talent just rocks. From the opening scene, the tension was hnarly as he sat and watched his girl flirt with his friend. So much said, with merely the eyes.

There were no wasted lines in this; I felt each line and shot lent itself to the next frame.

I am blown away at the shot selection; wide, close ups, long shots from outside the home. Wow you guys ! I loved the MOTEL sign shot, felt almost a homage to Psycho !

Every single element worked for me on this and I can't even think of the HUDSON .02 Express.

Great job !

-

Tim

I've been a huge fan of yours since Zombiefest' Human Endeavor. That was one of the more compelling of that bunch where you showed your prowse with action; you got it down brother.

So Cal Mang.

-

The two FRONTRUNNER's I see for me are this one and Luis's.

5 Stars !
 
J.R. Hudson said:
5 Stars !
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AH SNAP! Hudson has spoken! Nice!

Great work on this one again guys! I don't usually come back to a thread unless I really dug the film. Hudson made a good point about your shot selection above, it was nicely varied, and well suited for the film! How you guys got all those shots in that little amount of time is beyond me!
 
Exactly B Masta

I am in love with the variation of shots; and every one of them just kicks ass. Visually (and not to take away from the other elements that work), this one sets the bar for DVXUSER
 
I thought this was great. It was aesthetically pleasing and very enjoyable! One of the best I've seen on this site, for sure.

-Kegan
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I am blown away at the shot selection; wide, close ups, long shots from outside the home. Wow you guys ! I loved the MOTEL sign shot, felt almost a homage to Psycho !
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Thanks so very much for your review and kind words, John. I wanted to make a comment about the MOTEL sign. You see, we didn't have that shot and found it to be problematical given the difficulty of using the HVX in low light situations. We eventually did go out to get the footage using an indieSlider to push in on a motel sign we found on Foothill Ave. When we got back and looked at our footage it just sucked horribly. Unusable. So, on the last day before submission I went to iStock and bought a still image of a motel sign. I then added the subtle neon flicker and faked a dolly in with some 3D trees blurred in the foreground. We ended up being pretty happy with the shot and I don't think many people suspected it was faked from a 2D photo.
 
J.R. Hudson said:
I am just so stoked on this one. Every element really worked for me. One of the most 'professional looking shot' (if not the) shorts I have seen on here (or any site)

Where can I start ?

The lighting is perfectlly done. Very motivated and real in feel, not at all contrived. The talent just rocks. From the opening scene, the tension was hnarly as he sat and watched his girl flirt with his friend. So much said, with merely the eyes.

There were no wasted lines in this; I felt each line and shot lent itself to the next frame.

I am blown away at the shot selection; wide, close ups, long shots from outside the home. Wow you guys ! I loved the MOTEL sign shot, felt almost a homage to Psycho !

Every single element worked for me on this and I can't even think of the HUDSON .02 Express.

Great job !

-

Tim

I've been a huge fan of yours since Zombiefest' Human Endeavor. That was one of the more compelling of that bunch where you showed your prowse with action; you got it down brother.

So Cal Mang.

-

The two FRONTRUNNER's I see for me are this one and Luis's.

5 Stars !
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WOW. Thanks for the review Hudson! It's posts like these that make you glad you stayed up so many nights trying to get the damn thing done. I can't wait till you get over to the West side. We're going to tear it up man.

Tim.
 
Mark Johnson said:
Thanks so very much for your review and kind words, John. I wanted to make a comment about the MOTEL sign. You see, we didn't have that shot and found it to be problematical given the difficulty of using the HVX in low light situations. We eventually did go out to get the footage using an indieSlider to push in on a motel sign we found on Foothill Ave. When we got back and looked at our footage it just sucked horribly. Unusable. So, on the last day before submission I went to iStock and bought a still image of a motel sign. I then added the subtle neon flicker and faked a dolly in with some 3D trees blurred in the foreground. We ended up being pretty happy with the shot and I don't think many people suspected it was faked from a 2D photo.
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wow Mark, you amaze me with the voodoo that you do with graphics. One of these days I am going to ask a favor, but I am going to wait until I really need it.
 
Clearly the man has talent... it's amazing how polished some of the shorts are getting... this one was full pro. Absolutely ready for the big leagues man. Great job. I just don't feel like criticizing these great entries... if I was absolutely FORCED to come up with something then I'd say the head-shot could have used a professional touch... and I don't think the lead was handsome enough for that hottie in the first place... but that's reaching for something to criticize in an otherwise incredible short. Extremely good man.
 
MattinSTL said:
if I was absolutely FORCED to come up with something then I'd say the head-shot could have used a professional touch... .
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Total agreement, man. I had a long discussion with Jack last night on this point. The thing is, that the shot was completed and looked great except for the fact that I had composited the gun in the doorway with a muzzle flash. When Tim finally got around to studying the scene (on the last day) he told me that Jack (the shooter) would have been inside the room and we wouldn't have seen the gun or muzzle flash. Thus, the scene you see was a RUSHED and very unpolished substitute. This is the first scene on the list to be replaced for the next cut.

We have some GORGEOUS shots that didn't make this version due to the 6-minute limit. Not to mention that our BEAUTIFUL and very talented actress AMANDA HILLS got left on the cutting room floor this time. However, for the slightly longer festival cut we're including her scene and also have some very nice shots that we believe not only help sell the story, but dramatically increase the production values.

I know a lot of people talk about cutting longer versions and don't get around to it (and we've been guilty of this ourselves in the past). However, I can tell you 100% that we're doing a somewhat longer cut that we'll be submitting to a series of festivals.

Thanks everybody for being patient with us and our spotty track record! We're not a threat to Jack Stanley's dream team ... yet! But we can promise you we're going to be shooting OFTEN and that we'll be trying to learn each time we roll camera.
 
This film is amazing, really...the story, the camera movement, the lighting and the hot chick of course. It's professionally done. Excellent job, one of the best short films that i've seen so far!!!
 
The moment viewing opened this was the first film I watched. I have to apologize about not commenting, but truth be told, it was because I was left speechless. Seriously.

I decided to check out every single other film before I opened my mouth so that I could see how this held up. And the jury is in….

Oh, it held up.

It did more than hold up.

It trounced everything its path like a T-Rex on a blood thirsty hunt. If you haven’t watched this flick yet, beware…. WTHL will grab you and will not let go. Consider yourselves warned.

To the filmmakers:
I do not know what I can say that everyone else hasn't already said.
“This is amazing.” “WOW. WOW. WOW.” “This is film making.”

All I can add is thank you for a great experience and I WANT MORE!

Spoiler in Black
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 From a technical stand point, it was perfect on every front. Subjectively, I think you could have went with a little less music in the dinner and bar scene. In addition, the ending elicited a tad bit of confusion, with the coworker, but that very well could have been what you were trying to make audience feel. These are only subjective comments though, and they do not take away from the experience of your film. Bravo!
 
Mark and company. I will say this is a very visually satisfying film. Rich in color and solid in composition, it reeks of professionalism. In the story I saw angst, anger, lust, greed, contempt and fear. What I never saw was love. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing the camera either.
I really liked the locations. Set decor was top notch. Actors were solid except for the "friend." He seemed to be pulled from nowhere. More of a story point than an acting point.
So from the technical aspect of lighting and focus and good solid filming you obviously get an A. From the overall theme/ prop aspect, not such a good grade. The story has been done to death and lacks originality. I believe I read somewhere the camera is a webcam on her computer monitor?
Would I watch the film again? Likely once more. But it wouldn't be my choice of fun films to watch repeatedly.
Pretty pictures but not a pretty story.
 
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Wild Imagination Films said:
... So from the technical aspect of lighting and focus and good solid filming you obviously get an A. From the overall theme/ prop aspect, not such a good grade. The story has been done to death and lacks originality. ... Pretty pictures but not a pretty story.
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Really appreciate the comments and especially that you took the time to watch the film with a critical eye. We had a ball making this one and I REALLY appreciate your kudos on the technical side. We're trying hard to master a lot of technical chops and it is gratifying to feel we are making progress. I understand your comments about the story and we value your observations.
 
This story has been done so many times, you know what’s coming, but I really didn’t care. The camera, lighting and acting was superb. Great work…
 
Thanks Anthony, for the compliments. I do find it interesting that the story plays, to some, as a very familiar plot. The original emphasis of the story was the use of the internet which makes impersonating someone extremely easy and plausible (something that you have to admit is a relatively new phenomenom). What this tells me is that what is reading as predictable is the conclusion (admittedly very much a "Double Indemnity" or "Body Heat" scenario.

This is valuable insight and, as a writer, it is helpful to consider how we could have taken the novel part of the story (the internet subterfuge) and made it more prominent while not playing out the conclusion with the ambush scene. On the other hand, some people particularly enjoy seeing new takes on familiar themes or even complete rehashes if done well. It all reminds me that the same story can be told many different ways and some of those ways are much better than others. In our case we originally had a complete rough edit of the film that played out in a linear fashion per the script. What ended up as the cut you see in this festival is a RADICALLY altered version that jettisoned some specatular scenes that you'll see in the grabs posted at the head of the thread because we elected to use the flashback approach to set things up. What a great lesson this was! First, it shows the power of editing and, second, it shows that getting this stuff done in time to allow you to REALLY work on cutting is probably one of the most important things you can do. Had we not given Tim the time to work through multiple edits we would have had a much, much weaker film.

Anyway, I thank each and every person who has contributed comments here because we evaluate ourselves largely on the feedback the film generates. Our goal is to do better every time and hopefully take to heart the response of a very passionate and discriminating filmmaking audience.
 
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Mark Johnson said:
What ended up as the cut you see in this festival is a RADICALLY altered version
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Yeah, I remember your early FrameForge posts showed your story starting in a linear way.

I'm glad you made the changes, because it was a darn fun ride. It was gorgeous! Every frame was a beauty shot. Please, make a DVD with bonus features on your lighting setups.

And your editing; there was so much energy injected into the pacing by using the flashback approach.

So professional, so glossy, so top-ranking. Wow.
 
THANKS artofsuntzu. How do you feel your own previz turned out now that you've finished your film (I must confess I haven't watched yours yet, but will be doing so this afternoon).

We appreciate so much your kind words.
 
VFX Breakdown for Scene NOT in this Cut of WTHL

VFX Breakdown for Scene NOT in this Cut of WTHL

We had to give up a lot of gorgeous scenes in this 6-minute version due to simple lack of time. I thought I'd post this breakdown of a frame effect that didn't make it into the film, but which is still one of my favorite shots in the longer version:

 
Hi Mark,

I am so glad to be able to say this but you and your team have made a great short film here. It's rare I don't have any minor comment or issue with a short film (such is my over inflated ego critique), but this was spot on.

Everything from the well handled script to the technical execution was faultless. Normally it's one or the other; either the script is good but the tech isnt up there or vica versa. I rarely see both hit the mark. This did.

I'm so glad you've produced something that finally shows what you're capable of, as your other entries have been compromised due to lack of time.

Great work, well done, the best I've seen so far.... I've nothing else to say ;-)
 
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