"Four" - A film by Amy Beth O'Brien

Thanks guys! Glad you enjoyed it.

Just waiting on my downloads and then I'm gonna dive head first into fest viewing! Can't wait!
 
i enjoyed it. The cuteness factor was definitely there. I understand the nature of the slow pacing but even just a little quicker or a few more events (she's bored, and in pain i get that). I may have had the volume up enough to catch what was said though it was soft at times.

Great visuals though, i thought your composition was great especially the window scenes.

One thing i didn't like was the use of the focus pulls to show things. Wait, let me finish. I liked them, especially the first one for the book but then the one right after for the clock was too close and from a similar angle in my opinion. If you had thrown that shot in a minute or so later i wouldn't have a problem.

great short.
 
I loved this film and I thought the pacing was perfect for the viewer to feel what the little girl was feeling. The meditation shot made me laugh out loud. I think the only thing would be to fade those shots instead of cuts to make it seem like more time has passed than what really has. I had to rewind to hear the timeout is over.
The shots had a very nice feel to them and I wondered if they were lit or was it natural lighting. Good job there.
 
Thanks for the constructive comments, guys!

Beat Takeshi, if you go back to the first page of this thread, I posted a BTS shot of my set-up. I basically used natural light and added some artificial fill to help get proper exposure with the adapter on the camera.
 
Amy, First of all, I’m glad to see you back in the fest. I enjoyed the fact that you bring something different from other films to this fest. I enjoyed the film for it’s cute story line. My kids and I laughed at the cut shots where your character was in different positions and played with the chair cover. I also like your use of DOF and the score was very nice.
Stuff to work on: Mostly I thought the pacing was a bit too slow. The cut shots could have been tighter. I think for a piece that is intentionally slow, it needs to have that drawn out feeling, so it makes it tough to get it right without loosing pacing.
 
liked the orgignal concept. The pacing, music and camerawork all fitted with the idea so it worked well for me. good job.
 
It was a cute short. I thought some shots were a little longer than needed and editing could've been tighten up. The piano was a bit loud during the girl's first line of dialogue but the piano overall was fine and added to the mood. My favorite was the jump cuts in the chair.
 
That little girl can deliver, eh? :)

Gorgeous photography. Good job, I enjoyed it quite a bit. What a difference an adapter makes in the visual storytelling, I def. gotta get me one.
 
I watched this with my wife and laughed. Our girl is four and gets timeouts several times a day so it really made us think about how boring that might be for her.

The jump cuts of different positions on the couch were great. I would have paced it a bit quicker. Beautiful photography and of course the casting was 10 out of 10.
 
TOO CUTE! Sooo cute. But maybe to a fault?
The flick was great. Loved the kid. Loved the time out “twist” at the end. A great use of time as a theme. Felt stretched, but definitely worked with the time out aspect. If anything was wrong, it might have been that the kid was toooo cute (yes, the meditation shot) and it felt like the film relied on that a bit too much. But just a bit.
Great job!
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm torn on the pacing. I'll have to revisit that when all is done. I like the leisurely pace of it, but I do understand there is a fine line between that and just too slow.

As for the cuteness factor, I knew it would be there. You can't make a film like this and not have it. Too cute? I definitely wasn't trying for that. I suppose there could be worse faults for a movie to have, right? The films I've made to date have been based on or inspired by real life happenings (yes, even "Girl vs. Boy" which is really metaphor for the relationship between siblings). Mostly because I know that's within the reach of my available actors (read: kids). But, I like to find the humor in life and play it up, and perhaps when doing so in this story it came across as cuteness.
 
AmyO said:
Too cute? I definitely wasn't trying for that. I suppose there could be worse faults for a movie to have, right? The films I've made to date have been based on or inspired by real life happenings
Click to expand...

Great to hear your pulling from real life. The film really gets that feeling across. In regards to too cute. I think if you end up trimming Four up a bit to satisfy the pacing mongers (myself included) it would solve the cuteness "issue." Watching it i felt like the length was being justified by the fact that the actress was so fun to watch. Once again, a fine line. I hope that makes sense.

You have an amazing actor/director combo here! You've a real gift for working with kids. Keep it up!
 
I really liked the cinematography, the actress is so cute and did a great job. I liked the twist on time. Makes you wonder what your kids due when we send them to their rooms.
 
Thanks for your comments, Pauly! Glad you enjoyed it.

Bryce, thanks for your follow up clarification. I can see your point. This film has gotten such a (surprisingly) positive reaction that I feel taking another look at the wait is in order to strengthen it. I will keep your comments in mind. :)
 
You've made a very sweet little film. Has a very nostalgic feel to it. The music is nicely appropriate -- a sorta rainy-day piano song. It goes without saying that the little girl is adorable, and you did a very nice job getting her to perform. The photography was very pretty, and definitely added to that nostalgic feel.

I liked the fact that the short is definitely from the kid's point of view. It occurred to me that it might have been neat to see a childs-eye-view of the parent (just legs, Calvin and Hobbes style) walking up before the little girl tosses away the book she wasn't supposed to be reading. Just an idea -- I certainly don't mean to outstep my bounds, here! But I do love the idea of the whole thing being completely subjective from the child's point of view.

I will agree that the film could be trimmed down a bit. In fact, the chair montage scene was the best in the short, I think -- a nice, entertaining way of shortening the film while still giving us a sense of the girl's boredom.

Nice job! Very pleasant to watch.
 
Very sweet. It is very nice to see a film like this - without action! I think it is difficult to make one with only one person, in one location, and this is a young child and the audience give you for six minutes attention. I think the film is nearly perfect and it wanted only a little bit more explanation at the beginning or at the end, why the main character has to wait. I love the music - it works very well with rythm of the film. Lovely - compliments!

Susanne
 
Thanks for the comments, Susanne. There is an explanation at the end of the film, but my lousy sound mix garbled it. There is a line "Time out is over, you can go play" at the end, but it isn't very loud or clear apparently. Sound design is my weak point, and I need to work on that.
 
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