"The Five Worst Days in the Life of Bartholomew Saxton" - Jason Spinos

jasonthewho said:
I think there is narration that may be extraneous. However, I think there are several things that are necessary, at least, with the way I told the story.

In the opening scene with the family tree, I don't know if the graphics alone would make it clear that Bartholomew was not born a Saxton.

Without saying that the fifth worst day was the day he was born, one might think that Edward Saxton is Bartholomew Saxton, and that the fifth worst day in his life was when he discovered a baby in a trash can.

Without the line of narration prior to the day Bartholomew met Veronica, I think this day's inclusion may not seem fluid and might seem like an unexplained contradiction.

Mainly, I wanted the narration for the style of the piece as being more of a book, more of a story being told. Think the beginning of The Royal Tenenbaums.

I understand that the narration does not work for everyone though. I just think that without it, the way the movie is written, it would be incoherent.
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Fine points. I'm glad that you thought out the element instead of just having it in their for the sake of narration. It's just a personal preference issues, and I did not count it against your film.

Again, I enjoyed the piece and you did it well.
 
Hey Jason,

Jut caught the flick. I really enjoyed this. It was a nice, fun story with an interesting narrative feel to it. Also, it's pretty nice to have a movie titled as negatively as your was end on a happy note.

I really liked how things were referenced at different parts of the film and then brought back into others (i.e. the clock, Veronica and Batholomew's wedding, etc.) I think that was good.

Lighting, score, camera movements all worked really well for me.

Overall I'd say a nice little piece that was fun to watch. Good work. Can't wait to see what you come up with next.
 
Although this was really Jason's film...as someone who was largely involved in making the film on both sides of the camera, I just wanted to say that I appreciate all the comments on the film.

It has been great fun getting to be a part of creating Bartholomew and all of his mythology.

Yay Bartholomew Saxton!!
 
Jason, this was one of the films I had been wanting to see since you first started pimping it around the forums. Sorry it took me so long to finally get to it. Excellent work! It was well worth the wait! My only issue was that some of the dolly shots were a little shakey, but other than that the story and everything was fantastic!
 
Another of the fest that I really enjoyed, it's up there near the top of my list. It's a clever narrative structure that doesn't get lost in its concept alone, but is actually quite earnest and heartfelt. I felt really bad for the guy and that's very much to your credit. The last "day" of the film really sold it for me... a great way to end the film and a nice capper to your narrative... not something I foresaw so well done!
 
Thanks Nick! Glad you finally got around to it, and that it didn't disappoint! I agree about the dolly shots. Something I'll be working on next time.



Thank you so much jojopop! Glad that you liked the ending and that you felt something for Bartholomew! Thanks for watching and commenting!
 
Thank you, Jason!

Thank you, Jason!

Richard the Butler here, a.k.a. Brian "Giant Puffy Head Floating Over Young Bartholomew" Tankersley. Just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to act on film, especially in such a well-produced project.

Jason, I love how the project turned out. It has a bit of a Coen brothers feel, which appeals to me, especially the baby discovery and Bartholomew death scene. Kudos to Kendall for his reaction take upon opening the trashcan.

Of course, I am biased, but I thought the acting was good all-around. Can't wait for the feature, for which I'll slim down a bit. Just let me know when I need to start training and what martial arts Richard needs to use.

MBT
 
I loved it! The format made it interesting the whole way through and I think it had a great quirky, off-beat vibe to it. Loved Bart. Also, it was great visually without ever drawing my attention to what you were doing with the camera - all the emphasis was on the story.

I felt like day #2 and #1 were too much the same, which made it a little confusing. That would be my only complaint.
 
Richard the Butler said:
Richard the Butler here, a.k.a. Brian "Giant Puffy Head Floating Over Young Bartholomew" Tankersley. Just wanted to say I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to act on film, especially in such a well-produced project.

Jason, I love how the project turned out. It has a bit of a Coen brothers feel, which appeals to me, especially the baby discovery and Bartholomew death scene. Kudos to Kendall for his reaction take upon opening the trashcan.

Of course, I am biased, but I thought the acting was good all-around. Can't wait for the feature, for which I'll slim down a bit. Just let me know when I need to start training and what martial arts Richard needs to use.

MBT
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Thanks for dropping by Brian! As for what martial arts Richard needs to use... All of them. All. Of. Them.
 
On behalf of the Young Bartholomew, I wanted to thank you, Jason, for doing such a great job on the film. Zack (in his words) "had a blast and it was totally cool!" I thought the entire film was very well done!! And the entire cast and crew that we came in contact with were just great to Zack and very professional! The Young Bartholomew scenes will look great on his acting reel. Hopefully those scenes will help him get some other parts in LA once we get there in August! :thumbsup: Thanks again for giving Zack a great opportunity!---

Candy (Zack's mom)
 
Candy

I thought Zack did a really great job. His scene was one of my favourites in the fest. Good luck in LA.

Jason
 
In the past few days, DVXusers Ben Sliker and Justin Kuhn sat down and chatted over AIM while simultaneously watching the same TIMEFEST films. We call them, "The AIM sessions". Here's their thoughts on "The Five Worst Days in the Life of Bartholomew Saxton"

This is a 'special edition' of the AIM sessions, Assistant Director Brad Mate has tagged in for Justin from the crew of JAM. Please excuse the stupid out of order time stamps by iChat.

spesliker (12:02:21 PM): ready?
TheBrad84 (12:02:32 PM): yep
spesliker (12:02:51 PM): 3
spesliker (12:02:53 PM): 2
spesliker (12:02:54 PM): 1
spesliker (12:02:59 PM): go
TheBrad84 (12:02:51 PM): i'd like to start off by saying this is my favorite title of the fest. it sounds like something vonnegut would write...
spesliker (12:04:00 PM): i never knew dropping stuff on babies could be funny.
TheBrad84 (12:03:53 PM): yes you did
spesliker (12:04:16 PM): sh*t ... you got me.
spesliker (12:04:25 PM): little shaky on the dolly
TheBrad84 (12:04:17 PM): love the title cards
spesliker (12:05:21 PM): the VO is soo close to where it needs to be
spesliker (12:06:02 PM): the butler needs to be british
TheBrad84 (12:05:52 PM): yes
spesliker (12:06:12 PM): apparently michael caine wasn't available
TheBrad84 (12:06:11 PM): the vo is so arrested development
spesliker (12:06:28 PM): KILL THE BIRD
spesliker (12:06:57 PM): this bedroom doesn't look very victorian
TheBrad84 (12:07:04 PM): yea, its quite a change
spesliker (12:07:45 PM): depressing, i'm soo depressed right now
spesliker (12:08:08 PM): and there's no babies to make me laugh.
spesliker (12:08:53 PM): this guy's moustache rocks
TheBrad84 (12:08:46 PM): yes its mesmerizing
spesliker (12:09:02 PM): hands down best moustache of the fest
TheBrad84 (12:09:06 PM): i dont know how you can have a bad day with a moustache like that
spesliker (12:10:18 PM): set design wise, that bedroom was a huge letdown, it made me forget about the awesomeness of the rest of the locations
TheBrad84 (12:10:35 PM): i dont really get the time period they were going for here. he's born in 1952 but the dress and atmosphere suggest something more antiquated.
spesliker (12:11:20 PM): yeah ... like turn of the century
spesliker (12:12:01 PM): some great acting/writing going on in this tho.
TheBrad84 (12:12:05 PM): yeah, very strong.
spesliker (12:12:28 PM): just needed a little push over the edge to make it great.
TheBrad84 (12:12:27 PM): some of the shots liek the shaky dolly and hand held took me out of the story
spesliker (12:13:37 PM): yeah, this kind of story needs either A. really well composed static long takes, or B. ridiculously smooth lateral dolly shots. They did a pretty good job with shot composition with the static stuff.
TheBrad84 (12:15:03 PM): i thought some of the framing really telagraphed the movement. like i dont mind if the framing is there because something is going to fill that space soon but it takes too long sometimes and seems weird.

Jason,

I think we got most of our nit-picky critiques out in the session, but I'd really like to say that this was very strong in the writing department, acting was up there as well. I absolutely love the depressing/dark/funny combination. I'm not quite sure that I would have thrown the "happy ending" in the short film, but it offered a nice rebound from the previous scene. The scenes that worked the best were the ones that were both depressing and funny. Try to bring that out even more, I think Bartholomew has at least another short film in him, if not something bigger, he's a great character.

That being said, some small improvements in production value would really make this film shine, most notably the dolly moves and bedroom set.

Great Job on this short, great use of the theme and very clever way to format the film. :thumbsup:
 
I really appreciate you guys taking the time to do this! Thank you for your compliments, and I think all your criticisms were dead on.
 
Thanks (on behalf of Zack) for the kind words, Jason (Red Shoes). Zack loves checking out what people had to say about the film.
Thanks again,
Candy (Zack's Mom)
 
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