"Late" --- A film by Drew Ott

ZFarms Productions said:
What did you use for the underwater shot?


there were a couple of edits that took me away from the story during the first scene when the guy first walks into the room with his parents. nothing MAJOR, but they did make me go "what was that?"
Click to expand...


For the underwater shot we didn't have any lighting. I brought some reflectors I was going to try to sink, but it looked nice enough with natural lighting.

Which edits in particular stood out? Serves me right that it feels a little weird -- that's one of the only scenes I didn't prepare for with a shot list.
 
i was wondering what underwater housing you used for the underwater shots.

the edits were right before he goes to sit down in the chair. it seemed off to me. you show him walk through, then the parents, then back to him, and there's a lot of negative space behind him. when you cut back to that shot it was only for a split second before you cut again to him sitting down. IMO there was no need for the cut back, just showing him sitting down would have been fine. Again, MY OPINION.
 
Great job on this film.

I liked the minimal score, especially how it only started very faintly halfway through the film and then gained consistency once he started his trip. So I looked at your credits to see who did it and find that that not only did you write the score but you performed it too!! The lighting was excellent throughout the film - I really liked it in the nightime road scene where he gets picked up with his bicycle. Camera work seemed good.

My only criticism is a minor one with your script - I feel we didn't really have quite enough invested in him finding his Grandmother alive. Yes, it would have been nice, but to me it didn't seem like the end of the world when he finds she has died.

A fantastic job though: you are obviously extremely talented and I look forward to watching you develop further.
 
Thanks for the comments on the score. I've just started composing and it's a lot of fun.


My only criticism is a minor one with your script - I feel we didn't really have quite enough invested in him finding his Grandmother alive. Yes, it would have been nice, but to me it didn't seem like the end of the world when he finds she has died.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. There's a deleted scene that makes this aspect much better, so maybe I'll post an extended cut once voting is over.
 
I liked this a lot and assumed dude just jumped in the pool and didn't kill himself.

The lighting was great and the camera work worked for me.

If that's a "skin" shot than I'm getting too old, bikinis just don't do it for me anymore.
but in all seriousness I saw it as giving one context as to her getting in the pool, nothing more, nothing less.

Oh yeah, what did you shoot this on? (went back quite a few pages and couldn't find this info)

Great work,
-Joe
 
Drew Ott said:
Oh whoops, you weren't asking about the pool scene, but the bike scene.
...
What I've learned about lighting is that it's best to do lighting tests before shooting. People keep mentioning the lighting in the pool scene as one that stood out. I did tests for that scene and had about 6 hours with a friend to tweak that until it was exactly how I wanted. If I hadn't done that, I would have had no idea of what to do on set. I attribute anything that looks "good" to having the time for lighting tests.
Click to expand...

I was asking about both. Visually those were my favorite scenes.

Lighting tests are always a good idea. Ben and I did lighting tests for In Pieces, but we never got around to 'em for JAM. Maybe it worked out.
 
There was a camera test that Ben did by himself and sent to me, I was pretty sure we could do it based on that because of the proximity to the wall. Then we got there and Ben wanted it wider than the test shot, so it turned out to be a little challenging after all. My gaffer felt that the dolly into the large shadow area is way too obvious, that somebody is obviously waiting there, but people seem to get down on that shot the most. I wish she'd put that in my ear while we were actually shooting it, but I still dig it. Next time I do that shot it'll be a little bit more of a surprise though.
 
Last edited:
Great work Drew. Man, there are some shots here that deserve to be "best of fest" examples. I gotta give you huge props for the score. Man, the choice of Clair de Lune at the end was extraordinary. I'm putting this aside to watch again later tonight.
 
I love this guy ...

Gohanto: I'm not really a fan
Kholi: There's a lot of things that could be improved
Simon Höffer: Didn't work for me.
jpsheets: Wasn't so hot.

I mean, who else has the anchovies to post those excerpts?!

The good news is that there are only 4.

a
 
Last edited:
The hells? I didn't give Drew a thumbs down. His short was one of like four or five I actually ccommented on.
 
Out of context of course! Maybe I should clarify that.

Note: amended.

Your whole review ...

What an awesome short, Drew. Naturally there's a lot of things that could be improved but I seriously could see exactly where you were going with it. Love the narrative, man.

I love Claire De Lune by the way, Lamb's Angelica tipped me onto it and I think I listen to it once a week.

Really good job man, I'm glad ya got all the way through this. It got laughs out of me where I think it was actually supposed to be funny.

"That's not too bad.... I guess.". LoL.


Alex
 
Last edited:
Kholi if you don't want me to quote you, I won't.

I intentionally took a lot of out of context stuff for my sig.
 
That line was great. I just didn't want anyone thinkin' I gave your short a thumbs down. LOL.

Seriously one of the only ones I commented on.
 
alex whitmer said:
Funny thing, that.

Drew insisted on that line being in the film. I tried to write it out as drafts progressed, but in the end, there it was!

alex
Click to expand...


Haha, that's funny. It's still my favorite line I think. Some of my other contributions didn't work out too well in the end.

The line, "I'm pretty sure she's dead," was supposed to be funny. Totally didn't come across as humorous in the finished script.

Also, "You are, legally speaking, still our little boy." Not sure if that was funny to anybody.
 
I think they both came across as funny, and the father delivered that 'still our little boy' line perfectly, like a worn record with no real sincerity.

a
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top