"WELLSDAY" -The Abuse of Time

Michael Anthony Horrigan said:
I didn't think that the music suited this at times though.

Mike
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I agree that some of the music didn't go at all. I really didn't have enough time (in production OR post). That was something I really wanted to devote more time to.
I had spent the majority of my time in post just getting the content to match up.
I first cut it exactly to the script....but the timing/pacing felt really off. So I tinkered with it for a day or two....to get it to where it felt a little more right. Definitely not perfect, but something that could play (in our dry, comedic sense).
 
This story amused me and I felt really sympathetic with the main character. I could perfectly understand that he needed this 5 minute time portal. Very funny story. I loved also the saxophone music. Compliments.

Susanne
 
This actually made me laugh out loud several times -- rare these days, even for full-budget Hollywood comedies. I love the whole leitmotif with the boss -- "I'm watching you." However as a whole, the pacing seemed off, and I wasn't really drawn into the story -- it was just a montage of independently funny jokes. The audio levels also took away from the humor a bit, as I almost missed some of the jokes.

I think you have some funny ideas, and look forward to seeing what you produce in the future as your skills improve.
 
I like the story. It made me laugh. The flow is a little off sometimes but overall the movie is nicely made. You did a great job!
 
Thanks everyone. I'm glad our piece is getting laughs, that was the main goal.

I actually wasn't even going to submit this (due to our inherent production problems, everyone's time constraints and the fact that this was the first thing we shot with the HVX-200....fresh out of the box). But I thought, what the hell, at least some people will find it funny.

Thanks again, and I hope there's a cure for those with bionic ears.
 
Hey, I thought your film was funny. It got a few laughs out of me. I agree that it was a little off-beat as some others have said but it's exactly the off-beat nature of it that I found funny at times. So maybe that's a good thing..

My favorite part was when the boss is talking about doubling their salaries and then mentions he needs it done by 5pm... and the guy with the glasses says "that's going to be really really hard..." I was rolling :)
 
Very funny! Amazing what you did in one afternoon! Looked great. Loved the time portal design and fx. Didn't get the title "Wellsday"? ... too generic and blah IMHO.

"Milky Discharge", now that's a keeper! :thumbsup:
 
Maximus said:
Very funny! Amazing what you did in one afternoon! Looked great. Loved the time portal design and fx. Didn't get the title "Wellsday"? ... too generic and blah IMHO.

"Milky Discharge", now that's a keeper! :thumbsup:
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The title was merely a bit of wordplay, a double entendre, a pun. Take a typical 'day in the office'....say a Wednesday (or any 'day' really). I combined that with H.G. WELLS, the man who probably romanticized time travel the best......since our story was about a guy abusing his time travel device in a modern setting (the office).

Once again, I'm glad you guys can see past our technical misgivings and laugh a little.
 
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Funny piece for the most part. Some of the humor felt a little on the adolescent side, but it somehow worked to your advantage with the characters you developed.

The 'I'm watching you' got a little old. I think you could mix that up a bit next time around.

A few really good laughs, nice shots, pace was good.

alex
 
I really enjoyed this. Definitely one of the funnier pieces in TimeFest. It dragged a bit in the middle and some of the scoring didn't work for me, but all in all I had fun watching this. :thumbup:
 
This film had a few fun moments. I wanted to punch that boss in the face and hit the mute button at the same time. There were so many clichés in this film and they started to get old after a while. The actors were decent. (some of them at least)

I think you could have done so much more with this film. But alas, it looks like you guys had fun making it.

Congrats on entering the fest.
 
Liked the light tone of this and that you guys did a comedy. Not too many in this fest. I guess though for the most part this didn't really gell with my sense of humor. It felt like it was trying too hard.

I thought the "C.O.C.K." chalkboard joke would have been funnier if each of the letters had said something normal, like "Concentrate. Organize. Calculate. Kelvin." The joke was just a little too "in your face" for me.

I really liked the POV shots of the guy walking down the hall with the reactions of the office folk in the toilet paper scene.

I also really liked the shots through the window blinds.

Good work!
 
Thanks to all for your comments & critiques.

I just finished watching (at random) all of the Timefest entries. I didn't go alphabetically like a lot do. The last ten or so really do drag (whether they actually drag or not).....you just keep watching that QT playhead......

I won't title my next DVXfest entry with a "W", that's for sure.......maybe "AAA something". lol


I am very glad that our piece has been getting laughs. We really just slapped this together quickly, and, in doing so, sacrificed quality. I can't wait for the next 'fest' to actually use more of the allotted 3-4 months.

our group has been making short films for over a year now. Ironically, this one was not one of our better efforts (my fault entirely....as I tried to wear too many hats). One of the axioms (usually) followed here is, "you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't go out and make them". Events like DVXfests are a perfect example. KEEP SHOOTING.


For anyone interested, here's one of our better entries (same cast/crew). 2nd place in a "1-week" film challenge, here in Hawaii, this past January (shot with DVX-100B).

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2084793136
 
nice comedy, liked the twist, although not sure of the band name, was it made up??
thank you
 
iSTy said:
nice comedy, liked the twist, although not sure of the band name, was it made up??
thank you
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What do you mean? Are you telling me that you don't have any "Milky Discharge" on your iPod???

yes, it was made up (on the spot actually).
 
Hey,

I just caught the flick and totally dug the idea. I enjoyed the effects and thought the sound worked for the most part. You actors did a fine job and thought it worked as a comedy.

However, I think you brought out the strongest point at the end, when we discover that both guys have a time machine. I think if you subtly worked that aspect into the rest of the film (every time the lead uses it it seems like it's not working cause the other guy is STILL getting the better of him, etc.) and then revealed that aspect at the end it would have been great.

Overall I enjoyed the piece and think it has potential to be even better. Good work and good luck in the next fest.
 
Danielleus said:
However, I think you brought out the strongest point at the end, when we discover that both guys have a time machine. I think if you subtly worked that aspect into the rest of the film (every time the lead uses it it seems like it's not working cause the other guy is STILL getting the better of him, etc.) and then revealed that aspect at the end it would have been great.
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When we (Jon Hall & I) were developing the story it really played more like a skit than anything. I went back and tried to give it more narrative (although, in hindsight, it probably would've worked better as a skit). We also tried to work in some inherent 'consequences' of the character abusing the time device as well as give the other character more weight (such as exactly what you pointed out).

We did shoot a bit (2nd plot point) that would've shed more light on the denouement..... but, unfortunately, that bit hit the floor......well, the original cut was around 9 min.

Again, in hindsight, the story could've most certainly been tightened. We didn't even think we were going to make a Timefest entry since we kept coming up with stories where time was an element but not a THEME (well.....like most of the Timefest entries lol).

Late May rolls around and we come up with this story and decide to just go for it. I ask a friend if we can shoot in his office, he agrees, but we can only shoot on this ONE particular day. So, I pen it in a day, email to the cast (the night before we shoot)....no time to rehearse and/or tweak the story. We only have from noon-6pm to get this shot as some of the actors are coming from their work and others have to go to work after. We literally take the HVX-200 out of the box and shoot and I find out immediately how hard it is to pull focus (ok....so no rack-focus shots today). People arrive late, it takes longer to set up lights and we end up shooting from around 2:30p-6p.
Due to all of the somewhat organized chaos, I/we make a butt-load of mistakes. Mostly though, the culprit was me trying to wear too many hats.

1) Story could've (should've!) been tightened/tweaked before shooting.
2) Should've boomed everything (to try and save time, I put the mic back on the camera 1/3 of the time.....rookie mistake)
3) Even a short rehearsal would've been nice (but then again....see #1)
4) I should've shot it with my trusty DVX-100b....until I had more face time with the HVX.
5) POST. Due to all the story/shooting problems, post was a nightmare....but I brought it on myself. However, I still think I could've cleaned it up (if I had a spare week to work on it!?!)
6) Way more problems to speak of.....but if you've made it this far into this post, thank you and sorry to bore you.

All that said, our short didn't turn out that bad. It had some funny moments and people seem to enjoy the reveal. Could've been better, sure. Next fest for sure!

Thanks for listening

Chris
 
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