Tom Marshall
Actor!!!!!!
Justin, your score kicked ass, buddy! :beer:
WHERE THE HEART LIES ... Johnson, Hyten, Golden & Bullis
- Thread starter Mark Johnson
- Start date
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Yeah, as always Justin, phenomenal work!
pmark23
Veteran
Awesome camerawork and sound design. Lighting and composition was great. I like the squished aspect ratio (assuming you meant to do that).
I couldn't hear the dialogue some of the time. Sometimes the acting seemed forced or out of place.
I knew there would be a twist, but I was expecting something sappy and sentimental. When the twist happened, something broke in my head. **twitch**
Awesome.
I couldn't hear the dialogue some of the time. Sometimes the acting seemed forced or out of place.
I knew there would be a twist, but I was expecting something sappy and sentimental. When the twist happened, something broke in my head. **twitch**
Awesome.
KenV
Active member
Durban,
Ok so i hate to be the bearer of bad news/critisims especially on a professional level, and especially since im much lower on the food chain than you, but, Durban, I felt your score was too obvious at points. To the point I thought I was listening more than watching, a trailer.
Your work is 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x, better than mine, and I do like your scores,
But in my mind the score was way too obvious and too much. A little less would have done it. But in my mind I would't know how to do alittle less. But still, just a little less and this would have been perfect.
. . .
perfect
Ok so i hate to be the bearer of bad news/critisims especially on a professional level, and especially since im much lower on the food chain than you, but, Durban, I felt your score was too obvious at points. To the point I thought I was listening more than watching, a trailer.
Your work is 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000x, better than mine, and I do like your scores,
But in my mind the score was way too obvious and too much. A little less would have done it. But in my mind I would't know how to do alittle less. But still, just a little less and this would have been perfect.
. . .
perfect
Last edited:
Slimothy
Veteran
Thanks for taking a look man. I am a bit confused by your mention of a "squished aspect ratio?" It should be a cinemascope.
Great film. The look, feel and tone of the film was just through and through fantastic. Great cinematography! To me, this was one of the very few really polished pieces I saw in the fest.
My only complaint is that I felt the climax of the story was a little too much on the predictable side. I was actually hoping you guys were headed in a different direction, but then it veers right into Tales From Crypt-ish territory (although, that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing... I was just hoping for something different).
That aside, however, this was very well executed. Great job!
My only complaint is that I felt the climax of the story was a little too much on the predictable side. I was actually hoping you guys were headed in a different direction, but then it veers right into Tales From Crypt-ish territory (although, that in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing... I was just hoping for something different).
That aside, however, this was very well executed. Great job!
Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
Awesome, awesome awesome. I finally got a chance to watch it all the way to the end and I loved every minute of it. The shots were great, lighting, sound, music... felt very much like watching a "real" movie. Glad you entered man, and you better keep it up.
Raising the bar for all of us.
My only note was that there was a little confusion at the end there, where I had to go back to watch it three times, and I'm still not sure what happened. Is the husband dead? How did she set him up? Questions that can only be answered through a second nstallment perhaps? (hint hint)
Raising the bar for all of us.
My only note was that there was a little confusion at the end there, where I had to go back to watch it three times, and I'm still not sure what happened. Is the husband dead? How did she set him up? Questions that can only be answered through a second nstallment perhaps? (hint hint)
Nathan Beaman
Well-known member
nicely done.
very nicely done. beautiful look and feel.
very nicely done. beautiful look and feel.
Luis Caffesse
Admin
Alright guys - just under the wire I'm making my way in here.
I haven't paid too much attention to what has been said already - so if I'm repeating feedback you've already heard...well... then I guess I'm not the only one who thought this way
First off - DAMN.
I've told you each individually and I'm telling you as a group now - you guys were really firing on all cylinders during this production. From a techincal standpoint there is almost nothing to say at all. If I were to flip on my tv and see a clip of this playing I wouldn't think twice about it - and what I mean by that is that the production is solid, professional, and consistent. This is the kind of stuff I love seeing coming out of these fests, and it's the best work I think I've seen you guys do.
Geoff was clearly on top of things in this one - I thought the camera moves were well done, well paced, and the lighting was moody enough to fit the piece but not outrageous enough to be distracting (which could happen easily with a piece like this).
The sound and music were great - and added to the dramatic weight of the piece, though I did feel the music was slightly overpowering at times. I'm not a 'music guy' by any stretch of the imagination so I don't know if it was because of the music itself or simply because it was too loud - but I can tell you there were a few times I caught myself paying attention to the score, which means I wasn't paying as much attention to the story.
The story is the only place where I feel you could have improved this a bit.
Though honestly it may be a limitation of the running time. I would have liked to have had another scene with the husband and wife to give me a better feel for their relationship - and I woudl have liked to have seen a bit more of his friend as well.
But like I said - there is only so much you can show us in the time allotted.
The problem now is that we have so little time with them together that, while I'm hooked in and interested in the events as they unfold, I'm not really finding myself invested in the characters themselves. So while it was exciting to see how things played out, in the end if would not have made a big difference to me who lived or who died.
The ending also seemed to come a bit out of nowhere - granted I was looking for a doublecross of somekind - but the way it played out seemed to come from left field a bit for me. It was definitely surprising, which is good, but looking back it didn't seem 'inevitable' - which is where it falters a bit for me. Maybe I missed it but giving us some clue to the fact that these two had some sort of relationship would have helped - or even a clue that he was was involved with someone would have helped.
But that is a small critique in what is an otherwise incredibly well put together story.
I'd love to see you guys put together a longer cut, and I do hope its in the works.
This was a fantastic piece overall - thanks for putting in all the effort and raising the bar on the fests once again. I hope you take my few critiques as they're intended - just some honest feedback to hopefully help you raise the bar on yourselves even more next time around.
Congrats on the film.
:thumbsup:
EDITED TO ADD:
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention... I really liked the Schwarzenegger line.
It gave us a tiny moment of levity in a really tense piece.
I would have loved to have seen more moments like that... and wish we had a few in our own film as well.
I haven't paid too much attention to what has been said already - so if I'm repeating feedback you've already heard...well... then I guess I'm not the only one who thought this way
First off - DAMN.
I've told you each individually and I'm telling you as a group now - you guys were really firing on all cylinders during this production. From a techincal standpoint there is almost nothing to say at all. If I were to flip on my tv and see a clip of this playing I wouldn't think twice about it - and what I mean by that is that the production is solid, professional, and consistent. This is the kind of stuff I love seeing coming out of these fests, and it's the best work I think I've seen you guys do.
Geoff was clearly on top of things in this one - I thought the camera moves were well done, well paced, and the lighting was moody enough to fit the piece but not outrageous enough to be distracting (which could happen easily with a piece like this).
The sound and music were great - and added to the dramatic weight of the piece, though I did feel the music was slightly overpowering at times. I'm not a 'music guy' by any stretch of the imagination so I don't know if it was because of the music itself or simply because it was too loud - but I can tell you there were a few times I caught myself paying attention to the score, which means I wasn't paying as much attention to the story.
The story is the only place where I feel you could have improved this a bit.
Though honestly it may be a limitation of the running time. I would have liked to have had another scene with the husband and wife to give me a better feel for their relationship - and I woudl have liked to have seen a bit more of his friend as well.
But like I said - there is only so much you can show us in the time allotted.
The problem now is that we have so little time with them together that, while I'm hooked in and interested in the events as they unfold, I'm not really finding myself invested in the characters themselves. So while it was exciting to see how things played out, in the end if would not have made a big difference to me who lived or who died.
The ending also seemed to come a bit out of nowhere - granted I was looking for a doublecross of somekind - but the way it played out seemed to come from left field a bit for me. It was definitely surprising, which is good, but looking back it didn't seem 'inevitable' - which is where it falters a bit for me. Maybe I missed it but giving us some clue to the fact that these two had some sort of relationship would have helped - or even a clue that he was was involved with someone would have helped.
But that is a small critique in what is an otherwise incredibly well put together story.
I'd love to see you guys put together a longer cut, and I do hope its in the works.
This was a fantastic piece overall - thanks for putting in all the effort and raising the bar on the fests once again. I hope you take my few critiques as they're intended - just some honest feedback to hopefully help you raise the bar on yourselves even more next time around.
Congrats on the film.
:thumbsup:
EDITED TO ADD:
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention... I really liked the Schwarzenegger line.
It gave us a tiny moment of levity in a really tense piece.
I would have loved to have seen more moments like that... and wish we had a few in our own film as well.
Kyle Stebbins
AD GURU
Man, this thread is seriously a behemoth. Wow!
Mark Johnson
The Dude Abides
Matt, the husband, is indeed dead. The closing scene of the wife (Lisa) phoning Jack (the friend who murdered him) shows that the two of them have been having a long affair and the husband unwittingly gave them the setup to get rid of him. We made some choices in how we edited this to NOT give away too much, hoping that puzzling out the ending would be part of the fun. We've been very gratified by the comments and critiques and we can't wait to shoot the next one.
We do have quite a bit of coverage that we couldn't use in this 6-minute limited running time and we hope to learn from the comments of the wonderful viewers here as we edit a new version.
We are humbled by the talent and imagination shown in this fest. Now, if we can only have the next fest allow the inclusion of giant robots and scantily clad vixens we will be set.
Slimothy
Veteran
Wow, that's actually a huge compliment as I've been a fan of your work for quite some time. I've been over to your urban rhino page more than a few times. Thanks so much Nathan.
Tim.
Bryce A
Well-known member
Hey Mark. Great film. It was a treat to watch the acting in this. I thought the ill-fated husband did a wonderful job with a hard role. All three main characters were perfectly cast. Kudos to the actor and director collaboration.
My only beef would be the vfx. Just didn't look right enough. I'd love to see what you can do with a flick without a gun.
Great work!
My only beef would be the vfx. Just didn't look right enough. I'd love to see what you can do with a flick without a gun.
Great work!
Mark Johnson
The Dude Abides
Bryce A, we really appreciate your comments regarding the acting. I'm especially pleased you recognized that Heath Finn did a great job with a tough role. Of course, people will have their own opinions, but I share your own.
I especially agree with you on the VFX. As posted earlier, we had to change the VFX for the gun shot at the last minute and it was a rush job. I do look forward to reworking that scene. THANKS so much again for those notes!
Mark
I especially agree with you on the VFX. As posted earlier, we had to change the VFX for the gun shot at the last minute and it was a rush job. I do look forward to reworking that scene. THANKS so much again for those notes!
Mark
Was Electric Image used in any part of this production?