"Love" a new short film by Ted Arabian

Hey Matt (Defcon) and Geoff, thanks for watching and leaving comments!!!

Matt, I am going to explore with some CCing and see what happens. It will be a good exercise for me.

And Geoff, you know... I DID say that I despise the sun and natural light when in reality I wish that I could always shoot in natural light. If only it didn't move across the sky and have things like clouds come and go!

Seriously. I knew I only had 1 day to shoot and I just couldn't take any chances.

But, you know... I love your idea of the suggested set. I can just see it. I wish that I could shoot this film all over with the suggestions I've received. There have been so many good ones!

Thank you both again for the comments. I am glad that I am growing as a filmmaker and really do look forward to applying what I've learned here.

Thanks boys!

-Ted
 
Hey, Ted. Finally watched it and liked it. My girl is sexy as hell and I loved the shot from above at the beginning. I liked the story here. Had no idea that she was a working girl. Just thought that they were having a regular affair. I thought the relationship was emotionally engaging between the two. Good writing.

Some of the footage seemed jittery and I don’t know if it was me or the compression or what. The only other thing I saw was that it sort of had a mixture of a play feel and a film feel. I didn’t know if you were reaching specifically for one or the other.

Almost forgot, cool lighting (but with you I guess that goes without saying).
 
Love
Very well done. From the opening shot to the end. I think that because I knew that you created the set, it seemed more like I was watching a theater performance than a movie. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing, it had a distinctly different look than most of the films. I love the moving camera while the dialog is going on. My favorite shot is probably through the bamboo while she is lying down. There are a lot of great images though!

The acting was good. It never took me out of the story. I felt for the girl and her emptiness? I didn’t quite understand the photo and the ‘v.o. memory’? Was that her mother she was remembering? I think the most ‘telling’ shot is when she is lying on the sofa, amongst the bills, photo in hand and then the phone rings. Great editing by the way! Good continuity!

For what this is, this film is in my top 12. Great job Ted!
 
Wow! Ted, you are improving leaps here! Easily your best effort. Though I have to ask, did you recently get a jib? :-) There were too many gratuitious crane shots :-).

Enjoyed the set design and lighting. At first I thought it was over the top, but when I realized it was her "den", it totally works. A bit too many superfluous focus buzzes and jump cuts (the 'DVXUser Fest Look') but generally speaking, a solid step up.

Oh, and just to be nitpicky, pick different lingerie next time. The 80s stuff was killing me. Budget $100 for some nice Victoria's Secret or Frederick's next time!
 
Marlon, Thanks man. Yep. Your girl is a ho! Sorry dude!

I definitely had some importing issues that I cannot seem to get past. I just don't get it. You would think that would be the easy part but I keep getting import warnings. I had to eventually take what I had if I was going to make the fest!

Glad you liked!


Robert, Thanks for the comments. I really put a lot into capturing images this time.

As for the photo, that was her at a young age. She was telling her then boyfriend that she wasn't ready to settle down. She wanted to explore the world. She gambled and she lost.

I did try to get more info in that moment but I didn't want to linger on the shot too long, you know.

Really appreciate the top 12 ranking!!!

And really appreciate the comment about editing!

Thanks again!



shawneous! Great to see you on my thread. I am glad you checked out my film and gave comment.

I am exploring with my jib, trying to create a floating tripod. Guess I should reconsider that, huh?

As for jump cuts... maybe I don't know the definition but I don't think I have but 2 and that is at the end during her breakdown. Anyone feel free to point this out to me as I am curious.

I will work on the lingerie for you but none of that was from the 80's! LOL, it may not have been the high-end stuff but I thought it worked.

Thank you guys for checking in here!
 
Hey Ted, I finally go to watch it in full and its definitely the best joint yet. I loved the stage style look and the reds didn't bleed as much as they looked like they were on the clips I saw before. The story was exactly how it was described to me and I felt the pain of the woman and hated the guy. It was almost Twilight Zone style to me. Good work!
 
I really dig this short. This is another one where I don't feel like being critical because the strong elements were so strong. This is a cool perspective... something I never would have considered. I was totally pulled in. If nobody has said so... man, how about that Herman Witkam? Jeez dude... I hope you do me the honor when the time comes. You got da' skillz dude. OK... I felt like the woman's sobbing was ADR and a little off... and that was just about all I can criticize... even though she was a little older I found her very sexy and she seems perfectly cast. For a while there I told myself that the twist was going to be that he was secretly (to his wife anyway) a gigolo... but when he threw down the money I realized that wasn't the case... and then it was cool to see where the story went emotionally. I was very impressed... very impressed man. Good job.
 
Very good film Ted. I enjoyed it. Liked the casting and the story. Great set design. The aesthetics themselves were pleasing and it also had a quality like the room was at the center of a void, cut off from the rest of the world. Good shots of her getting dressed. A very good piece overall and interesting as well. Good job!
 
good film.

i give props to your actress i thought she really did a fine job with the role and even though she is older she played off sexy okay. the set was too obvious stage looking for me but i understand after reading a little about how you made your film you only had one day to pull this off? you made a lot out of one day, man. the man was good too but i didnt care too much about either one of them. i got that she liked him but he obviously didnt care about her so i couldn't and didnt want to root for 'em. then we find out she is for hire. okay. good twist. but then, i don't know, the photo was good but i didnt quite know who was in the photo with her... i read above and now see that it was her old boyfriend. this is a pretty cool idea and i think your film would've been a lot better if you spent some more time on that thought. congrats on your film! i think it was pretty ambitious. thanks.
 
A sad tale well told. I liked the opening camera angle spinning and dropping. Other shots were well chosen. I thought the music was really well suited. Well done.
 
Ted, what's with the new avatar? I feel betrayed. Now you look like well-dressed villian from a big budget Hollywood flick. The other pic looked like you were having fun. . .now you look like you're about to torture. LOL. A quote from the new "Batman" movie; "Why so serious?"

I'm kidding ya'. It's a good pic.
 
Aram, Matt, Champloo (what the heck is a "Champloo" anyway???), hoz and kurtmo...

Thank you all for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts.

hoz, yeah... that photo bit could have been done better. What I really wanted to do was shoot a sequence of her when she was young and refusing the proposal of her boyfriend. Just no time! And i didn't want to make the viewers sit there and look at that photo for too long. I appreciate you sharing this. Something that WILL be addressed in the re-cut.

Champloo, I appreciate that "void" comments. I, too, felt that that. Kinda like what some other have said as well as Aram... A bit of a Twilight Zone feel to it.

Matt, THANK YOU for receiving my film so well. I am delighted by your comments. Obviously, it is great to hear such kind words.

........


To everyone who has taken the time to write down and share your thoughts, I thank you so much!

I learn so much from these posts that you guys write. It is just so invaluable and extremely appreciated! I mean that. And that is why I take the time myself to return the favor to each and every filmmaker.

Thank you!

-Ted
 
Ted,

That was a well made short. It seemed like it was a play translated to film. There was something about the pacing that reminded me of an old twilight zone episode. Near the end I wanted to hear Rod Serling make some comments about love. "Sometimes what you throw away you can never get back."

Good job on the score Mr. Witkam.
 
Last edited:
Aaron Marshall said:
"Sometimes what you throw away you can never get back."
Click to expand...

Aaron, that is an awesome line!

i have had several comments made in comparison to the Twilight Zone (one of my favorites when I was a kid!).

This would be a great line to end it with if I had gone with that idea!

Thanks for watching!

And Yes...

HERMAN WITKAM is an OUTSTANDING COMPOSER!!! :) :) :)
 
Great stuff! I really like your take on this situation. It's a little bit of a role reversal from the stuff you usually see where the John is the one who falls in love.

Great job with the camera movement and lighting. This looked really good!

Nice work, Ted!:beer:
 
Ted

I was curious as to the set build ? I liked it. It really added an atmosphere; I was curious as what led to a decision to do this ?
 
Thanks Horse for checking out my flick! I appreciate the comments.

Really great to hear from you. I hope that you are doing well.

..........

Hey Hudson,

There are a couple of reasons why I decided to build a set for "Love."

One, I didn't jump into Lovefest until January 17th, kinda late. So I was looking for a location that I could shoot quickly in and have total control over lighting.

Two, The space that I built the set owes me quite a bit of money so I decided to make a deal with them... shave some of the debt in exchange for a weeks rental. (The theatre is dark for a period of time and this really worked to both of our advantage.)

And Three... I have been thinking about shooting on a set ever since I read about Mark Harris' experience shooting "Katrina." I was anxious to give this a try.

I am a scenic and lighting designer by trade and I thought that it would be very cool to do this for my film. HOWEVER, I learned a lot in this experience.

I need to adjust my approach next time.

I knew that this set was going to be a bit of a "fantasy land." This was easily done with all of the materials and set dressing stuff that I own. On stage, it was beautiful. On film, it is a bit surreal. Had I used hard-covered walls, I would have a more realistic effect. BUT fabrics made for a quicker build and gave me freedom to move the camera about by simply pushing the "walls" aside.

Essentially, time was an issue. I always opted for what I could achieve quickly. Basically, I had three days to create the set and the lighting, one day to shoot and one day to strike before heading down to Boston to assist Jim on "The Simp."

I am looking forward to shooting on this stage again. I don't know what my next film setting will be but if I can shoot it on the stage, I'd like to. I have built some incredible sets... very life-like. Always with attention to detail. I would like to shoot a film on a set that does not have a "theatrical" feel to it.

Thanks for asking!

-Ted
 
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