CLARA by Defcon aka Matt Harris

** SPOILERS

Hey Matt,

This was a cool concept. The opening crawl of the film screamed JOHN CARPENTER at me -- and intentional or not, I totally dug that... gave the film a very 80s-90s sci-fi vibe.

There's some nice vfx work in it... the POV look was pretty neat although I didn't particularly like the electrocution at the end. Did you use AE's lightning for that?

I had a lot of fun with this one overall. Nice way of weaving together a sci-fi concept and love -- definitely felt like a throwback to not only the films you mentioned but also an episode of Outer Limits!!

Good job!
 
Matt,

where is that logic board, ehem, located on the Clara? I liked this as a future apocalyptic fantasy tale. The POV works well in the 6 minute form. I think I was hoping for more from the reveal though, as to make up and wardrobe; more hot futuristic. The lead actor was good, it isn't easy to play directly into the camera. Having seen your spyfest and hallowsfest shorts as well, I see a real signature developing and it is a really cool one.

Congrats!

Jim
 
Thanks Blaine, your verbal whiplash on CABIN was the tough love that got me working hard to tell a cohesive story for this fest. ;)
 
Hey Matt, I enjoyed this film.

I think that you overcame some really challenging elements here... specifically, the main character working pretty much solely with a POV camera.

I did find myself wanted to have some other shots in this film... like Michael and CLARA in a two-shot. But then I was thinking that you were never going to show CLARA and leave "her" a mystery. However, you ended up showing us CLARA by the end.

I have a sense that your eventual reveal of CLARA was supposed to be an "Oh, wow!" moment but I didn't get that. I was more wowed by the fact that CLARA had killed her mate and now was going to play with it. All this to say, that I think you had some great opportunities to show us something other than Michael from CLARA's POV. Just my opinion.

I loved the art direction here. Very nice for a low budget film. You really created a futurist world that was cohesive and believable.

There seemed to be jump cuts where you didn't really need them. I felt that you could have continued the action in a section without the jumps.

The static wipes didn't always make sense to me. Some seemed appropriate while others didn't.

You actor did a commendable job! Not an easy task to perform directly to a camera.

Overall, I think that you did a great job on this film. You ventured into the future and delivered something that was believable and interesting.

Finally, congrats on your version of "love." An interesting take on the theme!

btw, the logic board...? Very funny placement.

Congrats to you!

-Ted
 
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Ted we actually shot B cam macro footage which i plan to incorporate into the CLARA Director's Cut.
Im hoping this "non-CLARA-POV" footage helps expand the scope and should also
help me patch up some of my jump cuts.

Although I do think jump cutting gets a bad rap. Michael Clayton, one of my favs of this year utilizes jump cuts beautifully.

In terms of the CLARA reveal, i like my intentions, but i know i didn't execute a
"holy crap" moment, i guess its more subtle.

Thanks for watching and posting!
 
hey Matt, don't get me wrong... I don't mind jump cuts. There was just one scene where I felt they were out of place.
 
Matt

Very imaginative film. The subjective camera shots worked nice. I liked the story and the acting was money. Maybe the robot could have sounded more feminine? Loved to see what you come up with next.
 
Interesting short, love the concept, and the guts to go for a sci-fi. Using a man's voice for Clara drove me crazy! The ending was a bit silly with him as quasi-vegtable and I didn't get it. Did she lobotomize him?
 
I wasn't digging the film until I got the John Carpenterishness of it all. I was thinking it was outlandish, but not on purpose... But, on purpose, I've no problem with it. So it works. The Clara-o-vision worked as well.

My only criticism is the length. It felt like I knew where it was going early on and then it took awhile getting there. ...but I don't have any advice on where to trim. Though in some dream, I would have liked to see Clara playing house with the dead/veg michael two months down the road.... creepy.

On a side note: When Michael the photojournalist pulls out his gun, I imagine I felt a bit like how Police officers feel when watching corrupt cop shows like "The Shield." You're giving our profession a bad rap! But once I got the Carpenter thing, the over-doneness of it made sense. So... forgiven.
 
Very interesting take on the theme. I really enjoyed this one!

The only places I felt the jump cuts were out of place was in the opening car ride. It felt like you were cutting out mistakes, rather than for effect.

I didn't even notice the camera op in the shower until someone here mentioned it.
 
Of course this looks great and is really slick. Top notch CC and FX. Everything down to the end credits is pretty polished.

Really dig the John Carpenter-esque score and scrolling text and opening city shots with the credits. Nice … is this Miami?

Maybe a slight misstep to have his name be Michael … since that’s Hasselhoff’s name in Knight Rider and the voice reminded me of Kitt. Also not sure why we didn’t have a silky smooth chick voice … I mean if tech has advanced to the point where we can make a totally lifelike on the outside woman … seems like we could master the voice, especially since computers can actually do that now … so that seemed like a bigger misstep.

Whoever’s apartment that is is pretty sweet.

The computer POV and overly looks great and works well throughout.

Your kind of mining some archetypical sci-fi territory … the robot that develops feelings and goes bad, but it felt pretty fresh and it did seem like your own spin.

Not much to say other than that … as with your Hallows fest entry, it looked great and I enjoyed it. :beer:
 
Guys thanks so much for the comments.

I shot this at the last minute so i know its rough around the edges,
but the director's cut is coming and will be much tighter.

shawneous: good call! you solved my ending; he was supposed to be dead but
lobotomized is even better. I'll play that up when i re-edit.

jmc: jump cuts in the car, yup, gotta fix that. and i will!

jack: not miami, those are shots of LA from my roof, i live
across from the viper room on the sunset strip so thats really
LA. And yes thats my studio, so i did'nt really set dress it all that much,
but enough to give it a retro-futuristic look. if that makes sense.

Naming the main character michael was a huge subliminal mistake,
I was going for the kit voice and clearly had Knight Rider on the brain.

Clara's voice will be swapped out with a sexy chick on the director's cut,
it's driving me crazy.

Thanks for watching and thanks for a great fest!
 
Defcon said:
Clara's voice will be swapped out with a sexy chick on the director's cut,
it's driving me crazy.
Click to expand...
I was thinking there must have been some message I wasn't understanding as to why CLARA has a male voice, lol. CLARA's voice was I thought well acted but obviously didn't fit.

I really enjoyed this one, it moved fast enough I thought.

Well done.
 
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