GHOSTS FOR HEROES - Geoff Reisner

I really liked this one, Geoff. You've had some good entries in the past but I think this one is the best so far. I really can't believe you were able to shoot it that quickly. Very professional! :thumbsup:

SPOILER:



















It was definitely Suicide by Cop, Tim. For the life insurance...
 
Hey Geoff. Great work, as always. I'll quibble with Blaine about it being your best, but for throwing it together rather last minute...um yeah, it rocks pretty hard.

I like the amount of visual storytelling. The camera work got in the way a little for me. That part of it felt rushed. I guess only because your films are notable for how meticulous you usually are with the camera, this one stands a hair down on that count. That said, even on a bad day, you can shoot the **** out of a film. :)

Your actors and your direction of them were all great.

I would rethink the music. For some reason I have been on a music kick in this fest. Probably again because I have spent so much time watching THE WIRE this year. Super simple, with no soundtrack outside of certain songs at certain times. So it's made me very aware of music sometimes crossing the line into melodrama. There was nothing wrong with the music in itself, but at times it felt a little heavy. Maybe just a tweak to the arrangement would do it. This might be taste, but like I said, I am just super sensitive to that right now. I mean, the soundtrack in your dramafest entry was an example of basically the perfect soundtrack. It was almost a character, but it never beat you over the head, and always knew when to pull back.

Wow, you really shot this in like a day or two? It's pretty stunning how, with such a non-linear time frame, you were able to keep the story specific in your head with that little prep. And with Kholi in the car in traffic. You deserve a patience award.
 
Mark Harris said:
Hey Geoff. Great work, as always. I'll quibble with Blaine about it being your best, but for throwing it together rather last minute...um yeah, it rocks pretty hard.

Wow, you really shot this in like a day or two? It's pretty stunning how, with such a non-linear time frame, you were able to keep the story specific in your head with that little prep. And with Kholi in the car in traffic. You deserve a patience award.
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Hey man! >=\

By the way, Blaine is right. There's some stuff missin' hence VFX, etc.

I personally can't believe how well it came together, and I was there.
 
Mark Harris said:
Hey Geoff. Great work, as always. I'll quibble with Blaine about it being your best, but for throwing it together rather last minute...um yeah, it rocks pretty hard.

I like the amount of visual storytelling. The camera work got in the way a little for me. That part of it felt rushed. I guess only because your films are notable for how meticulous you usually are with the camera, this one stands a hair down on that count. That said, even on a bad day, you can shoot the shi* out of a film. :)

Your actors and your direction of them were all great.

I would rethink the music. For some reason I have been on a music kick in this fest. Probably again because I have spent so much time watching THE WIRE this year. Super simple, with no soundtrack outside of certain songs at certain times. So it's made me very aware of music sometimes crossing the line into melodrama. There was nothing wrong with the music in itself, but at times it felt a little heavy. Maybe just a tweak to the arrangement would do it. This might be taste, but like I said, I am just super sensitive to that right now. I mean, the soundtrack in your dramafest entry was an example of basically the perfect soundtrack. It was almost a character, but it never beat you over the head, and always knew when to pull back.

Wow, you really shot this in like a day or two? It's pretty stunning how, with such a non-linear time frame, you were able to keep the story specific in your head with that little prep. And with Kholi in the car in traffic. You deserve a patience award.
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Thanks for the indepth thoughts, Mark. Yea, the music for me is the one area I'm still going to be playing with. My composer didn't have a lot of time to work on it this go around and so I ended up making a few bits and pieces of the music myself. This is probably why it sometimes sounds like two different movies. heh.

We shot a full day friday and then did the downtown LA pickups on Saturday morning. No one cared that I had guys running down an alley away from a bank. We must have done 10-15 takes of that run.
 
Great camerawork, Geoff, as always. You have a pretty solid style and I think I could pick your work out of a crowd. This looks great, as did WTHL and WTTP. All very similar lighting and mood. I enjoy this "look" quite a bit.

The story was interesting, and I liked the way it was told nonlinearly.

Actors were great, but I think the roles might have been miscast. It was very difficult for me to buy any real sense of financial desperation from this young, attractive, well dressed couple with no kids...:) If they had been in their 40s or 50s or even much older, or were clearly on the brink of poverty and starvation, I think the story would have had a lot more impact.

I liked how you were creative in suggesting bigger setpieces, but I think ultimately the story strained the limits of your actual production value. Exteriors of the bank and hospital as well as three plainclothes cops in the right place at the right time started to make me too aware of the budget of the short.

I think you said this was a last-minute project for you, done in a couple of days? That right there makes this a pretty impressive piece of work. I hope you're proud of it.

Thanks for sharing this as a non compete, I'm really glad you finished it. Look forward to more from you. :thumbsup:
 
Jared Meyer said:
Actors were great, but I think the roles might have been miscast. It was very difficult for me to buy any real sense of financial desperation from this young, attractive, well dressed couple with no kids...:) If they had been in their 40s or 50s or even much older, or were clearly on the brink of poverty and starvation, I think the story would have had a lot more impact.
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I believe they were now in financial crisis due to her current medical condition. He obviously felt that they didn't have the money to handle the costs of her ailment/treatment. Probably didn't have any coverage since they are so young and the illness was unexpected and sudden.

I'm sure Geoff can explain it better.
 
BTW, I love the cops choice of words. Almost baiting him on even though he didn't know what he was intending to do. At least that's the way it seemed.

"Come on nice and fast. Let's make this easy.. let's make this simple. Come on! Come on!"

His reaction to this was perfect. Was this done intentionally?

Mike
 
Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
BTW, I love the cops choice of words. Almost baiting him on even though he didn't know what he was intending to do. At least that's the way it seemed.

"Come on nice and fast. Let's make this easy.. let's make this simple. Come on! Come on!"

His reaction to this was perfect. Was this done intentionally?

Mike
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Part script, part improv. That was one really long take and I'd throw out suggestions and ideas every 10-15 seconds for him to play off of.
 
Nice worked. Not what I expected and very interesting to watch. I wasn't the biggest fan of the non-linear editing used here. It was unquestionably well put together, but there wasn't really any motivation for the story being told in that fashion. It got in the way of watching the story for me after a little while. In small does it doesn't bother me, but here it was too much in several places where you cut around to several time-frames and I lost focus. It seemed like you wanted to confuse the audience just to add an edge to the story. Probably just my taste though. As I said though, it did look very good and had a professional feel to it.

Acting was very good, and the way you showed the bank robbery was very well done as well. Shot of him on the ground I liked a lot as well.

Excellent work overall.
 
Geoff, great camera work and lighting. Thanks for putting this out. It made me think of Michael Bay films....
 
Geoff, Damn dude.

Your films always bring me the chills. Thanks for pulling them out once again.

/j
 
Most impressive film of the fest. This is really in another league, not to be disrespectful to the other filmmakers. It was professional in every category: cinematography (duh! parts of it looked like it was shot on 35), acting, music, script, design, editing, and most especially directing.

Although, you're out of the competition, you've now got a film to be proud of. If you don't have an agent already, this should do it!

Great job! :thumbsup:
 
Geoff, dude... when are you opening a school? I've got my tuition check right here.

This was great, but you already knew that. :)

Worked well on every level, just wished you push the financial aspect a tiny bit more, but thinking about it... doing this might have thrown off the ending.

Love it!
 
Wow. That was impressive.

No surprise, the cinematography is wonderful - it does feel like film.

The story, the performances, the edit, and the directing are all fantastic.

Very well done.
 
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