"CONSTANCE" Brought to you by BPress- Krew East Side! Mark Harris and Timur Civan.

Well there are two minor issues with the visuals that are my fault, not timur's.

In the bedroom fight scene, I am going to composite that into an exterior shot of a building with blinds obscuring it. And in the last scene in the car, I want to composite in some reflection on the window. I just ran out of time.

But the point is (and it's made to some degree now), that every time you see her, she is in some kind of cage. That's why the blinds in the first scene, the bed rails in scene 2, and why I shot the last car scene from OUTSIDE the car.
 
Hey,
Just caught this beautiful piece of work. Loved the visuals and the acting. Exceptional. The mood and pacing were well devised and I really enjoyed. Now, unless I missed something, I feel like I was left cold as to the relationship between Constance and the lead. We see him watching her in the very beginning but I can't quite grasp what his/her/her fiancee's overall relationship is. Did I miss something? Have you already mentioned it in the thread?

Also, was the first shot with the sign and the lead and the bilnds composited? Cause it looked like when you faded a portion faded a little faster then the rest. Which might be me or might be something I missed. If it's in the thread let me know and I'll hunt it down.

Again, though, beautiful work.
 
To me, this short is an example of a full body production. Everything in the frame seems to have been well thought out, from wardrobe, make-up, to props, framing, lighting, angle, lens, camera settings (well, I guess you hardly take your cam off b-press)... definitely looked top notch.

I coulda used more character development. Since you went with exhibition only, I guess its a fair request. I hardly got to know who was who and what and why before its over. That said, it was alot more enjoyable on the 2nd go because I felt I knew and understood the characters a bit more. Then again, it might by that same mystery that prompted me to watch it once more.

Great piece mark, timur and krew.
 
Zak Forsman said:
maybe you didn't hear him.... FIX YOUR F*CKING SOUND DESIGN!!!!!!
:2vrolijk_08::2vrolijk_08::2vrolijk_08:
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Sorry I think I was missing my coffee that morning too. And I think I liked your film so much I watched it twice on two seperate occasions and posted twice without knowing it.

I still like.
 
Danielleus said:
Hey,
Just caught this beautiful piece of work. Loved the visuals and the acting. Exceptional. The mood and pacing were well devised and I really enjoyed. Now, unless I missed something, I feel like I was left cold as to the relationship between Constance and the lead. We see him watching her in the very beginning but I can't quite grasp what his/her/her fiancee's overall relationship is. Did I miss something? Have you already mentioned it in the thread?
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Well, it was my hope that the visual alone would define the relationship. The lead is outside, looking into what is essentially a cage, where she is being abused by the bad guy. I did not want to make the words the bad guy was saying audible, because i hoped that the visual would carry it. Maybe not. But the idea is that the visual says it all. He is outside, looking in on her and the bad guy and NOT TAKING ACTION, not entering the bar to go get her away from him in that moment. This makes him ashamed, so that later in the piece he feels like he has to prove himself to her. "I can handle him" and then going to get the gun and facing off.

Also, was the first shot with the sign and the lead and the bilnds composited? Cause it looked like when you faded a portion faded a little faster then the rest. Which might be me or might be something I missed. If it's in the thread let me know and I'll hunt it down.

Again, though, beautiful work.
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Yeah, entirely possible that the composite is not 100% perfect. I was working on a 4 yr old p4 so could never view anything in real time, so it was a laborious process. But going to go back after fest and make get it all tightened up.

Thanks for commenting!!!!
 
Arrik said:
To me, this short is an example of a full body production. Everything in the frame seems to have been well thought out, from wardrobe, make-up, to props, framing, lighting, angle, lens, camera settings (well, I guess you hardly take your cam off b-press)... definitely looked top notch.
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I had done a movie over the summer, which is still not quite done(need music and a sound mix) which was much more in the vein of Zak's film. And I learned a lot from throwing out many aspects of the process and just focusing on the bare minimum. That film can be seen in rough here:

http://www.desperatecomfort.com/media/media/suicidenote/suicide_note_720.wmv

So when it came time to do this one, I wanted to take what I learned in THAT film, and bring it into a much tighter, more traditional film structure where everything is thought out.

I coulda used more character development. Since you went with exhibition only, I guess its a fair request. I hardly got to know who was who and what and why before its over. That said, it was alot more enjoyable on the 2nd go because I felt I knew and understood the characters a bit more. Then again, it might by that same mystery that prompted me to watch it once more.

Great piece mark, timur and krew.
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Yeah, well it was a 6 page script. So I did not know it was going to be exhibit only until I got into post and was no happy with how it paced at 6 min. Just too fast and rushed. So...

But I agree. More and more I want to make 20-30 min shorts, just to have more time to really detail the characters more.

That said, one of my writing goals in this was to write absolutely NO exposition at all. So the language is intentionally thin and allows for some reading between the lines. Granted, this needs work, but that was the goal and probably one reason characters might not have felt fully formed enough.

Thanks so much for coming to watch and comment!!!!!!
 
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Looks great. Really liked the time lapse, especially with him in the car as the traffic flies by. Very film noir. I liked that there was really no villain. The bald guy kept his word, now he expects Constance to keep hers. Nice dilemna. What happens next?!

My only beef, and it is quite trivial, was the Buddy Holly glasses. It gave him kind of a goofy look (no offense intended). Maybe that's what you wanted.

Great job!:beer:
 
Maximus said:
Looks great. Really liked the time lapse, especially with him in the car as the traffic flies by. Very film noir. I liked that there was really no villain. The bald guy kept his word, now he expects Constance to keep hers. Nice dilemna. What happens next?!

My only beef, and it is quite trivial, was the Buddy Holly glasses. It gave him kind of a goofy look (no offense intended). Maybe that's what you wanted.

Great job!:beer:
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I appreciate you checking us out. The goofy look actually was intentional. Well the glasses served two purposes. That actor does a lot of comedy with me, and something simple yet defining like those glasses instantly separates him from the comedy role he does. Visually, to an audience, I mean.

But also, his doughy appearance, the glasses, all serve to indicate that he is in no way ready to take on the bald guy, who is all money, and slick and very clean and lean. So it was on purpose.

Thanks so much for commenting!!!
 
Hey, loved Constance. There are a few things that really got my attention: the cinematography was great, the soundtrack is probably my fav in the fest, props to the actors for playing it so straight, and having only music during the argument.

Something else I am keen of is the shot of his bleeding stomach. I'm not sure why, but I love the fact that his belly is bulging over the belt buckle. I suppose in a world of chiseled body gun mayhem, it just helps to say that he is out of his league. ...and I think somewhere behind that camera lens he always knew it.

Anyway, my only beef would be the opening sequence. I loved the look, but I thought it played out a bit too long. Otherwise great job. Keep it up!
 
This was a very cool film. I wish this had made it into competition, but I can see how compressing it down in length might have hurt. Regardless I think you did a great job.

The opening sequence was actually my favorite aspect of the film. I didn't think it was too long -- I liked the tension that it built. Also, it looked gorgeous. The compositing was done very effectively here and it just pulled the whole scene together. What was weird was at first glance, I thought the scene was CGI -- maybe my eyes were getting tired, but the characters that appeared inside looked CG to me, but then I guess I adjusted... I don't know what that means, but nevertheless, very cool scene!
 
Great cinematography, lighting, and sound and production design.

The beginning drags a bit -- could be cut a bit shorter. The reflection of the guy in the window is cool, but he moves too much and becomes annoying. The dialogue was hard to hear sometimes.

Were the interiors smoked? They look awesome.

Too bad it's not in competion -- this would be up at the top easily. I think it could have been cut to 6 minutes, but with a story like this the longer the better.
 
Thanks for the comments! Yeah, the interiors of several scenes were in fact smoked up.

I tend to agree with you about that dope in the window moving too much. It's one of those things I did not notice until I got it into post. But I am re-cutting that scene now based on a bunch of comments, and trying to make him a little less jumpy.

Anyway, thanks so much for coming and checking us out!
 
Very nice Mark! you did one thing i hold dear to my heart. It's a movie, you showed it, not told it with dialogue. That deserves alot of respect, my friend! I don't think the beginning is too long, especially with the style of the rest of the film.

Booya!
-Joe
 
Just wanted to say thanks for a great fest everyone, and thanks for checking out and commenting on our film!

See ya in "INSERT FEST HERE"-Fest!
 
I'm looking forward to your next offering. Hope it falls in the compete category so your hard work will be rewarded. :beer:
 
Mark. Are you going to be doing something for the next one? If so, it had better be 6 MINS! You keep having great entries that are non-compete.
 
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