The Watchman: 8 minute Director's Cut.

Michael Anthony Horrigan

Michael Anthony Horrigan

More Cowbell Pictures
As some of you know I made this short film for DVXUser's TimeFest.
I managed to make the final 8 out of around 70 entries.

A little bit about the movie and the process. This was shot entirely on the Canon HV20. No adapters were used. Technically I made the movie entirely by myself. The only help I had was from Herman Witkam for the score, and the actors of course. I am a one man crew. So much so that a ladder, a broom pole, and some duct tape acted as my boom operator. I hope to get some help next go around since this is definitely limiting my abilities.

It should be noted that Justin Durban allowed me to use some canned music for my initial entry. I was having so many computer issues that I wasn't able to give Herman the time to properly score it. Without Justin's music I probably wouldn't have made it to the finals. Thanks, Justin!

Having said that, it's wonderful to have a movie professionally scored. The Hallway scene definitely has new life. Thanks so much to Herman Witkam.

So... enough with the blabber.
Here it is... almost 2 minutes longer.
I really wanted to keep the scene that you will now see around the middle but had to cut it due to the TimeFest 6 minute limit. I'm glad that I can now show it to you.

Thanks again to everyone who watched and voted! Hope you enjoy the new cut.
A special thanks goes out to the gang here at DVX and especially to my wife.
Thanks for the support!

The Watchman: Director's Cut

Click the link above or right click> save as.

Cheers!

Mike
 
I know a lot of Members saw the original. I'm especially looking for comments from people who know nothing about it. A fresh perspective of the new cut would be helpful.

Cheers!

Mike
 
Hey,

Just stumbled into this thread, knew nothing about your film, decided to watch it on my lunch break. I loved it. I was hooked from the beginning and never once felt like clicking off, as I usually do when watching people's short films. Nine times out of 10, they fail to hold my attention, either due to weak story or weak visuals. Yours had neither. Great job.

Cons:

Some camerawork I thought was needlessly shaky in the first half of the film. It took away from the smooth visual style you created early on with the nice dolly shots. I also noticed that the dolly shots seemed to disappear from the film, would've liked to see more of that.

Pros:

Score was excellent. The storyline was excellent as well. Great introduction of the timepiece at the beginning, and loved the way you brought it around full circle at the end with him using the watch to time his "window." That watch was used very effectively to both propel the plot forward and reveal layers within the character. I loved the concept of a guy who is obsessed with time and think you could definitely do a longer piece with that idea.

You dialogue was great too, you made absolutely no attempt to over-explain things with stilted dialogue, instead letting the visuals tell the story (the notebook flashback at the end worked like a charm). Some excellent shots in there too, especially the hallway scene. You must've blocked out points for the actress to hit in that, because the "reveal" of the guy and then his "disappearance" were note-perfect. I also found the clean-up where the main character was washing blood off his gloves to be very visually stimulating and creepy as well. Great ending, again, you didn't belabor the "twist" in the story...I understood everything that happened perfectly fine and thank you for not forcing me to sit through an extra minute of exposition explaining it all to me. The story really pulled no punches (the final words "f'ing c..." were particularly haunting and appropo). Whole piece was well-acted throughout too.

For a one-man crew, you did a hell of a job. Congrats!
 
Thanks for the great in depth review. I'm a big fan of dolly shots but I really wanted to try something different this time. Hence the static hallway shot.

I'm glad that you liked it so much! It's also nice to get a fresh perspective from someone who hasn't seen the previous cut.

Endings are tough, I'm glad that you liked it. I hate movies that hit you over the head with what has just taken place. I'll pass on the praise to my actors as well.

Thanks again. I appreciate the time you took to do this.

Cheers!

Mike
 
Yes, please do. The acting never once took me out of the story, which happens so often with independent shorts that use sub-par acting talent.
 
Awesome entry dude. I don;t know if I ever got around to a critique, but it was an awesome film. I liked the addition of the scene as it fleshes out more character and background. Music was of course awesome (go Herman).

I had no problem with the shaky cam since it was consistent to looking from his POV so I thought that was handled very well. For those who don't quite get the reasoning behind the shaky cam, well you guys have a lot to learn about the visual narrative.

Rock on dude.
 
My God! I have been trying to download this for days. The last two days it was going too slow. I started it earlier today and it kept disappearing on me (and it was still going slow for some reason). Then, I had computer issues and had to shut down which killed it once again.

I will watch it eventually! I swear!
 
I loved the film originally (it received one of my higest ratings)!
That said, I still think I like the original cut the best. The additions didn't really do anything to advance the story, in my eye.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (I think Bush said that...)

To me it was great the first time around...and this one is just as good...not any better.

Kudos to you!
 
puckthemad said:
Awesome entry dude. I don;t know if I ever got around to a critique, but it was an awesome film. I liked the addition of the scene as it fleshes out more character and background. Music was of course awesome (go Herman).
Click to expand...
Thanks! I agree with the addition of the scene as well (obviously). :) I believe that it does flesh out the character a little more, as you put it. It also adds the fact that he has been watching these people for some time now, that was missing form the first cut. By doing so he learns how he is going to pull it off as well. Thanks to the timing and repetitive behaviour of the dog walker.

The only people (so far) that have a problem with it are those who have seen the shorter cut. That doesn't surprise me at all.

Glad that you could see past that and appreciate it even further!

Cheers,

Mike
 
ZazaCast said:
I loved the film originally (it received one of my higest ratings)!
That said, I still think I like the original cut the best. The additions didn't really do anything to advance the story, in my eye.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (I think Bush said that...)

To me it was great the first time around...and this one is just as good...not any better.

Kudos to you!
Click to expand...
Thanks, man! Well... if it's just as good I'm cool with it. The more background for the audience the better. I think it does add some key elements, as noted in the post above.

I won't touch the Bush quote. :huh:

:D

Thanks for watching again!

Cheers,

Mike
 
ZazaCast said:
The additions didn't really do anything to advance the story, in my eye.
Click to expand...

For me, it worked much better in the longer version.
The scene where that guy comes to the car and talkes with the Watchman transports the story pretty good.

As I said - one of my rare 10Star ratigs (even in the short version) :)

Can´t wait to see Führerbunker Michael.

Frank
 
Postmaster said:
For me, it worked much better in the longer version.
The scene where that guy comes to the car and talks with the Watchman transports the story pretty good.

As I said - one of my rare 10Star ratigs (even in the short version) :)

Can´t wait to see Führerbunker Michael.

Frank
Click to expand...
Thanks! I really appreciate that.
I have a feeling that The Door is going to kick butt!

Cheers,

Mike
 
ConspiracyPenguin said:
My God! I have been trying to download this for days. The last two days it was going too slow. I started it earlier today and it kept disappearing on me (and it was still going slow for some reason). Then, I had computer issues and had to shut down which killed it once again.

I will watch it eventually! I swear!
Click to expand...
Come on, Penguin! If your PC can't play a small QT you better get rid of it. :thumbsup:
 
Hey Mike. Just wanted to drop in and leave some feedback. I don't know about the first cut, this is the first version I have seen. It was excellent! Great pace, good acting, good directing (Really good camera work). I loved the hallway shot. I like to use those in my horror shorts. I really dug it man, good luck with everything. IDK if it was mentioned but can you give some input as to what was used i.e. what adapters, how many cameras, how long did it take to shoot etc.

Very well done.
 
GGF NYC said:
Hey Mike. Just wanted to drop in and leave some feedback. I don't know about the first cut, this is the first version I have seen. It was excellent! Great pace, good acting, good directing (Really good camera work). I loved the hallway shot. I like to use those in my horror shorts. I really dug it man, good luck with everything. IDK if it was mentioned but can you give some input as to what was used i.e. what adapters, how many cameras, how long did it take to shoot etc.

Very well done.
Click to expand...
No adapters. One Canon HV20.

Had to reschedule shooting about 7 times due to weather. Shot the hallway scene and all the indoor stuff in one night.
Shot the fight outside over the garbage in about 20 minutes.
Seriously, we had no choice.

Shot the scenes of Sam watching people outside in one morning. Shot the outdoor night scenes/argument over two nights.
A few pick up shots another night.

Glad you liked it!

Thanks for watching.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Haha, it's funny you having the same problem as myself. When we shot our first short, I only had weekends to shoot on and for 2 and a half months straight it would rain every weekend. I remember that whole summer cause I was so depressed thinking it will never happened but then in mid august I had a window for a day where it didn't rain and got in work. The Canon hv20, wow, it's amazing how you made it looked like you easily used a HVX or DVX for it, well done for using a small camcorder.
 
GGF NYC said:
Haha, it's funny you having the same problem as myself. When we shot our first short, I only had weekends to shoot on and for 2 and a half months straight it would rain every weekend. I remember that whole summer cause I was so depressed thinking it will never happened but then in mid august I had a window for a day where it didn't rain and got in work. The Canon hv20, wow, it's amazing how you made it looked like you easily used a HVX or DVX for it, well done for using a small camcorder.
Click to expand...
So you feel my pain as to the weather issue. :D

Thanks for the amazing compliment. I would love to get my hands on a better camera. Someday...

:beer:
 
Aright Mike, I have put this off long enough. :evil: I finally got a chance to see the extended cut (thanks!) and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the 6 minute version I saw for the fest. Let me make some overall comments that may be repeats of my post in your thread over there a while back:

I love the drab coloring. It gives it an almost black and white feel which really sets the mood well. Your shots were superb, especially the hallway one. It made me anxious. The score was great and the acting was well done. Now for the added scene...

As far as cutting it for the short version, I can see why you did. It didn't do anything to advance the plot, it just accomplished (yet again) that if the guy went on the property one more time the police would be called. One positive thing it did was introduce the audience to the fall guy, which I think is valuable. That being said, maybe you could have used that scene to establish a reason why this man wants the other guy to take the fall for his wife's murder. Maybe their exchange could have been less stuff that was already stated and more of a past conflict being brought up.

Overall, though, it was still just as great. I have told you several times that your film was one of my favorites for the fest. You are very talented and what you made that little HV20 do was nothing short of brilliant. Keep up the good work, and if you ever need help with anything let me know!
 
ConspiracyPenguin said:
Aright Mike, I have put this off long enough. :evil: I finally got a chance to see the extended cut (thanks!) and I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed the 6 minute version I saw for the fest. Let me make some overall comments that may be repeats of my post in your thread over there a while back:

I love the drab coloring. It gives it an almost black and white feel which really sets the mood well. Your shots were superb, especially the hallway one. It made me anxious. The score was great and the acting was well done. Now for the added scene...

As far as cutting it for the short version, I can see why you did. It didn't do anything to advance the plot, it just accomplished (yet again) that if the guy went on the property one more time the police would be called. One positive thing it did was introduce the audience to the fall guy, which I think is valuable. That being said, maybe you could have used that scene to establish a reason why this man wants the other guy to take the fall for his wife's murder. Maybe their exchange could have been less stuff that was already stated and more of a past conflict being brought up.

Overall, though, it was still just as great. I have told you several times that your film was one of my favorites for the fest. You are very talented and what you made that little HV20 do was nothing short of brilliant. Keep up the good work, and if you ever need help with anything let me know!
Click to expand...
Thanks! That scene has about 3 good reasons to be left in. Introducing the audience to the fall guy is just one, but very important. Don't forget what he learns by watching him. That helps tie things in with the flashback. That and it helps move the movie from the garbage scene to something more. Having it go directly from the garbage scene to the hallway scene was too jarring. It needed more.
How did he plan this out?

I needed to show that he's been watching them for over a week and planning things meticulously. The subsequent confrontation juts helps add fuel to the fire. One more reason to hate them.

Thanks again for finally watching! :Drogar-Love(DBG):
I'll keep you in mind for future projects.

Cheers!

Mike
 
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