Darkline Entertainment Presents 'Broadcast'

Wow... you already know how much I loved your short... just watched to leave some comments here in your thread... the pacing and beats of this short are absolutely perfect... every little pause and cut just works so well... your actor did a great job, believed him for every second of the short... it had a very I AM LEGEND feel to it... but I like the vagueness of the ending... was the guy actually there? Was there really people there? I love it... on a technical level this IS the BEST of the fest, without question... the look, cinematography, sound, music, editing, all top notch on every level... you've certainly outdone yourself with this little short :) great work, and we'll see you in the finalists.
 
Stunning. I'm mainly going to be echoing comments, but here I go...

This felt completely professional. Your actors were great, the cinematography was simplistic, it didn't attempt unnecessary flashiness and allowed the story to flow, the special effects were damn goo given the time frame, the sound design and soundtrack were the best I've seen in this Fest so far and truly made your story, mainly I was just saying wow. I got very nervous at the end, I was expecting something terrifying or something amazing- you had me completely wrapped up with your main character.

Criticism- I did not like the resolution of the story. You created such a beautiful balance throughout the film- I had no idea whether he was alone or not. I didn't really care or feel like I needed a reason for the apocalyptic destruction, but I did want a hint as to what to believe. I am fine with ambiguous endings, but as far as plot goes, I felt like this didn't make it far enough. I feel like I at least needed one of the stories to buy into, even if you maintain doubt through a final shot or something similar. It's really hard for me to criticize anything about this, because I enjoyed it all the way though, I just didn't leave with the satisfaction that I had while I was watching.

Overall, fantastic work, thanks for sharing this movie with us, and I will look forward to anything you do in the future.

JC
 
Beautiful film. We loved it (Lisa and I). I feel like I got the ending, it didn't feel ambiguous to me at all, but perhaps I am mistaken. I'll comment more after I watch it (and my other favorites) again, and take some notes.
 
I've been busy watching and commenting all night (some truly great entries); but wanted to take a moment to thank everybody for commenting on my short. Myself and the crew are very happy that some of you like it.

I knew the ending would divide people, and I'm sorry to hear a few of you think of it as weak or rather generic. Personally, knowing what it means to me I dont feel that way, but I'd rather not go into too much detail of what it's supposed to mean at this point. I'm happy for people to draw their own interpretation from it. Good or bad. If some of you like it, it then I'm even happier ;-) Be interesting to hear your theory Majikfraug...

Deed, you might be right about the phone thing. I was torn between the 'I've been here a long time and the phone has never rung, everyone is dead - im a bit cautious' and 'wow, contact'. I'm quite open to the fact that this could go either way.

Jstunzi, you're right the banner is CG and we struggled to get the effects done int time for the competition. No excuses, but things get compromised when your down to the wire. ;-)

But thanks for the other comments , the crew are having kittens that their work is being watched and commented on so positively. We are only a small crew and I'm ecstatic.

Thank you all, I read all the comments and take them seriously.
 
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really good to see something with this level of production value in the fest. It felt really pro throughout. From the acting to the shot composition and music, really spot on. The shots transitioning from normal life to Armageddon became a bit redundant for me. maybe I am missing the point because I have two guesses about what going on here. A lot of talent on display here though, well done.
 
Kudos to you and your team Darkline. To see you guys make such a BEAUTIFUL looking film.....my jaw was on the floor. Production value, post-production value, VFX et al..... Fantastic!!!!

However, I must agree with the consensus, the ending needed more. Believe me, I love an ambiguous ending (hell, I have one in my film), but you went through so much to sell us on the "there/not there" parts of the film, I just think you needed to at least give the audience a 'hint' at a possible resolution. I just don't think that the realization that he is not alone is enough for your amazing film OR for a TwilightZone type of film. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I missed something....but I do know that I will go back and watch it a few more times.

Maybe you just made too good of a film, and without a HOME RUN type of ending, people are going to bum out on it???

Aside from my comments on the story ending, Everything else was OUTSTANDING. I really can't wait to see what you guys do next.
 
Once or twice ever fest comes a film I hate to love. The only real reason being its production value hits like an atomic bomb and blows everyone else away. It instantly makes every other film look like it was filmed in grandpa’s garage using the family camera. This is that film.

That poor man/amateur gripe aside. Broadcast is GREAT. The best I’ve seen so far, by far. Loved the flick from beginning to end. Just wish the resolution was a bit more ‘clear’ …though it really works best with that ominous ambiguity. Obviously you don’t need to hear about how good the aesthetics were. You know it was great. So I’ll just say a few things. Loved the abandoned city shots. Pulled off the apocalypse quite well. But none of that matters unless your acting kicks ass. It did. Great job. :beer:
 
Very well done. You obviously put a lot time, effort, and dare I say it, money... into this, and it shows, big time!

I'm afraid I will have to agree with some others and say that I was disappointed by the ending. Because of the obvious references to "I am Legend" "28 days later" etc... I was expecting some major twist at the end. As it is, the movie just sort of... ended. :huh:

Besides that, excellent in every category. I predict a first place finish for "Broadcast." Deservedly so. Great job! :beer:
 
I do find that we come to expect the "twist" in a short--and twists do work, don't get me wrong--but a short is also a chance to work outside of the box. To take us places we don't expect and play with the form. There's more room for shorts to experiment with storytelling because there aren't the multi-million dollar budgets and marketing campaigns that necessitate that the film reach everyone. This short has conventional elements, which probably leads us to expect that twist or more conventional resolution. But there are also some pretty experimental elements, and I think there can be fun in trying to decide what that ending means to me. Maybe if I watch it more than once, it will begin to reveal new clues. Maybe if we all hadn't seen the apocalyptic sci-fi genre film so many times, we wouldn't be demanding a more literal ending. Audiences want what they want--I just enjoy when shorts demand a little more of me.

I gave this one a 10 for more reasons than I could count.
 
Great effects... great acting... great feeling of loneliness and despair.

I do feel the transitions between past and present became rather repetitive and tiresome.

I also wish I could have walked away knowing more about what happened in the end than I did.

From a technical standpoint, there is no question that this is a beautiful, wonderful film. I love the flying birds in the destruction shots... totally sold it for me. Wonderful sound and ambience from normal life to armageddon.

I'm certain you will be in the finalists, but I suppose that's just a guess. Bravo, sir!
 
This is the best film I have watched so far and not just for the FX shots but for the general mood created. Great feeling of loneliness throughout the film. The acting was really strong and pulled off the desolate world feel.

One thing I would agree on with the above comment is that I wasn't 100% clear on the ending. What specifically happened to the world and what happenend to your main character at the end?

Other than that this film was great.
 
Ive watched them all, and this is my favourite. If I could vote it would get a 10.
I dont care how the world ended but I would have liked a slightly more involved ending.
Outstanding job.
 
I have to second alot of the replies here.

Overall great production! The mood, acting, sound, camera work and VFX. The ending was not my cup of tea though. I was hoping for more.

Great film with a few gripes about the ending. One of my top films :)
 
Wow, once again thank you to you all for the comments.

I'm really torn between trying to explain the ending and leaving it open for people to decide. I could put a detailed explanation here of what it means to me; but at the end of the day no amount of my explanation is going to change the way people respond to the piece.

Sean, Im really glad you liked the ambiguous nature of it, and it seems like some people are responding to it, others not. If I had gone for a solid ending I don't think that would have been the film I wanted to make here. I'll probably go out and out commercial next time, but I was aiming for a more oblique vibe and something that left a lingering impression rather than neatly tied up the ends.

But I learnt a lot from making it and I enjoyed pushing myself in a different direction.
 
I thought this was quite an achievement. There's so much jam packed into this short. All the nameless extras who are great at their parts, the contrasting deserted/populated shots, the excellent sound work, SFX shots, a standout lead performance, and so much more.

I wonder if you could talk about how you shot the contrasting shots (perhaps you already have somewhere in this thread).

I am with the people who wanted a more concrete ending. That's always my tendency though, to want a clear and specific ending.

Regardless, I thought your film was fantastic. Kudos.
 
Cool I get to talk about something other than the ending....lol ... and thank you for the kind comments

well the abandoned shots were not that hard. Essentially I got up earlier than I would like, to go back to the same places and film them empty on a sunday morning. CC'd them, and exported reference stills to work on. Mark and I (mainly mark) did photoshop work on the images with 3d models but mainly stock photography to make them ruined, smashed windows, cars, rubble etc. you just have to look hard to get elements from the same angle or something that can be cheated to look right. Then throw those elements over the top of the plate footage in AE and mask the moving elements (such as the newspaper blowing) back over the top. The motorway is never empty so this was just patched together from several stills when there were maybe only 10 cars on the road and cloned out.

Notice all of those shots were locked down which really just makes it a retouch job on a still image and nothing super complicated. It prob looks more complex than it was.

The most technically interesting shot was pulling away from the building. It was shot in the car park just on a lower level and I replaced the floor with a 2D building side and a 3D banner. I kept the shots pretty simple due to our time limit. So that shot could be solved with a basic 2D track as it pulls directly back with no perspective change. I'd love to try something more ambitious with 3D tracking for the next short but time seems to run out.
 
Here's another one of those "WOW" moments for me. I LOVED this film. Really great job all around. I would really have to dig to find anything negative to comment on. Camera work was great. The look of the film blew me away. Acting was spot on. Audio was tight...and the VFX ruled. This is sure to be a finalist!

Excellent work!
 
Great movie, it's hard to say anything else after all those replies before. In short, a
Anyway, great shots out there of emtpy streets etc-you gave me some wicked ideas.:D

The ending has a couple of explanations...

1) parallel dimensions, where broadcasting is heard on both sides (that COULD be a little confusing :/)
2) nothing actually happened back there, everything was in the head of main actor
3) the world ended, the main actor died, and the figure in the end is none else than alien that hosted actors body (ok that one's B-A-D:()

...but I guess none of it is like that you thought it be. You COULD put an explanation here, but I guess that depends on you.

Have I said I learned a couple of things from this film? I didn't? Well now I did. :D
 
Fantastic - I am only a member in dvxuser from the last fest, so I didn't know your previous work, but this film is one of my favourites. The acting and photography was absolutely top. The story was very intrigues - these parallel worlds! I was impressed of how many locations did you use and all the props in them. I adore the view over the London skyline and like also the idea that the Sir Norman Foster egg could be destroyed! :Drogar-Love(DBG): The special effects are perfect. This is one of my 10 star films - Compliments! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Susanne
 
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