The Simp Takes a Holiday: bosindy, Tekashi, Arabian

RCFreiert said:
Nice work Jim and crew! Great comedy combined with geniunely tender moments. It's great to see a really fresh and totally unusual take on the festival theme.

I'm sure we'd all love to see the "behind-the-scenes" footage -- it looks like you had a great time making this one, and it shows in the final product. The performances were very good -- my compliments to your actors; and the film score complimented the subject perfectly. It's too bad the time limit didn't allow you to hold some of the shots longer -- I'd love to see you cut an extended version.
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Thanks Bobby, you need to change the location on your avatar to Denmark. EDIT: you beat me to it


i may throw together some bts if people are interested. Probably when I start working on a longer cut.

Say hello to the new doctor for me, tell her I have started on the volume II of my medical questions and the completed works should be done around mid march.
 
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Maximus said:
Great job! I really liked this. Clever premise, and a great idea for a short film. Taking the Gimp from Pulp Fiction, and giving him a life outside the box.

I loved the opening. Bang - phone ringing, right into the story, Inciting Incident, the bad news that will change the status quo.
The film looked great. I think the cinematography is the best I've seen in the fest.
Acting very solid, particularly impressed with Ted's performance.
That's why it worked so well for me, it was played so straight.

This reminded me in many ways of "Blind Date", another very impressive film. The theme of not jumping to conclusions about someone, not judging a book by it's cover, was well done. A film with a message, despite first impressions. Yes, this film did have emotional resonance, despite being hilarious. Kudos! :beer:
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Maximus,

thank you very much for this review. There are some beautifully shot films in the fest so that is quite a compliment. One of the things I decided was a must after my last film, was to always have a decent monitor on set. We had a 19' lcd for focus with the Brevis and also a composition monitor.

I still stubbornly refused to story board and that was a mistake, especially considering how fast we were moving. ( I think it is because I haven't figured out an efficient way to do it.) There were a few times while editing that I craved a cu I didn't have. All and all though, I am really happy with the look of the film, particularly the opening sequence of the 5 or 6 shots.

As far as the performances go, I was trying to have the actors play it sincerely and told them to try not to be funny. I think there is a natural inclination to try to ham it up on a film like this and I tried to stay away from that. Given the fact we couldn't do a lot of takes, I am really happy with what we got.

Thanks again!
 
If nothing else went right in the film, the ending would have been worth it. Fortunatley, a lot went right, but with a crew like yours, how could it go any other way?

Clever story, great acting, brilliant technically... Enjoyed it! (Might even have to go pick me up a leather mask.)
 
Thanks DJ,

people seem to like the ending. The Mask was the most expensive prop in the shoot coming in custom at $185 from Canada. The ones from the U.K., and this seems to be the epicenter for this stuff, go for around $400. Who knew the s & m crowd had so much disposable income?
 
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bosindy said:
Thanks DJ,

The Mask was the most expensive prop in the shoot coming in custom at $185 from Canada.
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So, I assume now that the mask will be making a cameo appearance in all your future films? :grin: It's either that, or have a "Simp" Charity Auction (though I can't begin to imagine what group the proceeds would go to).
 
This wins awards for originality and strangeness. Are there awards for that? :)

Seriously, I enjoyed this. I was never quite sure where the story was going and I really like that in a film.

Technically, Aram did a great job with the shots. I really dug the framing and the lighting.

Well done.
 
Bob, the mask is retired for anything other than maybe Holloween

Thanks Chris, I am looking forward to seeing your film down the line.

Ken V - the story is a fictional comedy that is influenced by the Gimp from Pulp Fiction meets Garden State meets Edward Scissorhands. It really isn't a lifestyle at least I hope it isn't. Thanks for the sound comment. I did a bunch folley and adr on this.
 
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very cool.

my favorite part is when the simp goes to drink some tea ;)

my second favorite was the simp sleeping in the closet.

as others have noted - well shot, pretty good pace and some great comic beats.

great job!
 
KenV said:
^^

=) Yeah I know. I was just trying to bust some balls.
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Now that's funny. Thanks for the sound comment again, its great to hear from a sound guy. we shot with a shotgun in the kitchen and it took quite a bit of effort to get the sound decent on that.
 
Cliff Wildman said:
very cool.

my favorite part is when the simp goes to drink some tea ;)

my second favorite was the simp sleeping in the closet.

as others have noted - well shot, pretty good pace and some great comic beats.

great job!
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Thanks for the comments. I am glad the physical comedy is paying off. Tim O'Connor who played the simp really gave me a lot to choose from, which isn't easy when basically you can only see the eyes of the character.
 
EDIT: you are new here so you don't realize viewing is open. Good luck buying all the fun new gear.
 
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i loved this entry. I think the hard cut to the title over the simp's wailing and thrashing is my favorite cut in the whole festival. this was like if Hal Ashby directed a Tarantino script - -Harold & Maude meets Pulp Fiction. really dug the Cat Stevens-esque "pocketful of promises" cue. and i have nothing but praise for Ted Arabian's performance. something very warm and rich about that character despite the anger on the surface. favorite lighting was the demasking scene at the end. very nice. loved it!!
 
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Zak Forsman said:
i loved this entry. I think the hard cut to the title over the simp's wailing and thrashing is my favorite cut in the whole festival. this was like if Hal Ashby directed a Tarantino script. really dug the Cat Stevens-esque "pocketful of promises" cue. and i have nothing but praise for Ted Arabian's performance. something very warm and rich about that character despite the anger on the surface. favorite lighting was the demasking scene at the end. very nice. loved it!!
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Thanks Zak,

I wish I could have let the wailing go on a few more seconds after that cut. thanks for mentioning it.

I will definitely tell Steve Mayone the comment about the song. I got lucky with all the music. I knew I was going to use the Blue Ribbons song in the bar, but other than that I went through a few cds of people I knew to try to find something with the right vibe.

I had the opportunity to shoot The Blue Ribbons (the other music I used in the film) awhile back and Steve was sitting in on guitar for their regular guitarist. I absolutely love his work on this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCjkQndBRfk at about 5 minutes in.

Aram, gelled that last shot warm and it worked well in contrast to the rest of the film which I pushed towards the cooler tones.

One of these days I am gong to ask for a handheld lesson. Thanks again.
 
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Thanks for the comments. I love working on films that take a different spin on things. Better to swim against the grain instead of trying to conform.
 
My Boston peoples represented! I like this movie, well done Bosindy. It was quirky
and fun... and creepy all at the same time. It reminded me of a movie called FIDO
or any concept showing a strange character (zombie/serial kilelr etc.) fitting into normal society. Ted you were great! You look pretty cool on camera. Good job guys.
 
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