"THE TRADE" a Flyin' Monkey Films Production

My favorite shot in the film is the first shot of the girl. There is a great atmosphere to it.

I thought this was a pretty complex plot and not pulled off as well as it could have been. Maybe it had more to do with the limited time you had to convey the story, I'm not sure. I'll give it another viewing. Regardless, it made my "A" list.
 
Okay, man, this film was FREAKY!! Good job on the rack focuses. I really liked the shot of her when she was talking to the guy and how he was out of focus. They only thing I noticed about that whole thing was the sound of the fog machine sprouting fog ever so often. Probably most people wouldn't know what that sound was, so probably isn't a big deal. I love the part where he says, "I stole it from a man." Very cool. The rack focus shot of the two of them was so good, I almost didn't want to ever see him at all, because it really played crazy things on my mind imagining who or what that person actually was. I mean, I was trying to make that shot focus so I could see, but it was more frightening that I couldn't. Nice and creative, Rodney.
 
Thanks guys. And thanks Marlon for outing me on the fog machine sound. I kept it in there cuz I thought it sounded kind of creepy, but now the whole board knows. :grin:

Glad you guys all liked it. Keep em coming! Now, where's Kholi?
 
The story was great and very much "Twilight Zone". You imagery was cool but the size of your .mp4 output was big and a bit jittery on my screen. Overall cool though.

:beer:
 
I liked this film! Really good score, interesting shots all around (especially when she was talking to the devilman). Had a cool dark, artsy feel to it. The format did seem a bit big & played back funky for me too (and I have a really fast machine?).

Overall...great film & enjoyable to watch...other than the fog machine!! LOL!
 
I have to concur with the others here. Her conversation with the guy was really freaky, especially because he kept moving around and you couldn't exactly make out what he was or what he was doing. Like disjecta said I also like that first shot of her. Actors did a good job. Liked your composition. Glad to see another person in Atlanta on here. Great job man.
 
I enjoyed it. I think you didn't need to show the devilman in full focus. It was way creepier when I could not make out what it was. Fantastic score. Good job. When she couldn't speak it was driving me crazy. It felt like drowning or something. real tense. It worked.
 
Really moody lighting, I dug that. You used a fog machine I take it? Put to good use.

The acting was rather weak in my opinion, I think better actors would have made this a stronger piece. Especially the devil character, his continuous squirming made me think he got his inspiration from Gollum. Yes, devils squirm, but they do so menacingly. He was funny. Also, why make him wear jeans? Completely naked would have been a better stylistic choice.
 
Whoa, very well done Rodney!

Love the beginning of the movie! I immediately knew this going to be a good one! The titles were really nice as well. The scene with the devil in the blurred out background was cool. Really liked the red light into her face near the end.

Now the nitpicking:
Her voice sounded dull when talking to the devil. And the devils voice was peaking when he got loud.

I would have preferred as well to not show the devil. He looked too human and his acting was not so strong so that could have been hidden as well. He looked akward with the jeans.

The knife choice was a bit odd in my eyes. Thats not a knife to stab someone.

Overall really great short! Very well executed and an intriguing story as well! Nice work my friend :)
 
I usually don't try to defend my choices, so take this more as an explanation than anything else:

We kind of struggled with the choice of knife there since it didn't make sense for her to carry around a switchblade, so we asked ourselves: what kind of knife would some one who feels vulnerable carry around that offers some sense of security? Used properly, a box opener can be a formidable tool: look how effectively it was used during the 911 attacks on the planes.

Thanks for the review Simon. I'll fix the edit with the devil man and use the original shot. Maybe there I should have used some type of VFX,but had nothing really planned. Oh well: check out the Director's Cut and hopefully I'll get a chance to fix that issue. Damn jeans and freezing actors...
 
Interesting story. I liked it.
I kind of wanted to see more shot selection. No need for so many rack focus shots either.
The audio was a little mixed but not bad.

The story is what really did it for me.
Nice job!

Mike
 
I liked the cinematography but would have to agree with MAH not so many rack focuses for the sake of doing a rack focus. The story was compelling. The only thing that threw me off was we could hear her crying and making noises and such vocally, but if her vocal abilities were removed no sound would occur there, was it for effect or just an oops? I did like the whole feel of the movie and the titles rocked.
Pauly
 
Mutes can still make noise, just not use their vocal cords. You can hear discernible grunts and other noises from them.

As for the rack focuses, some people just hate a rack focus whether it is used to further the story or if it's just there as a tool. It's up to you to decide if the rack focus does the job it was intended to do.

Thanks for the review and glad you liked the movie.
 
Very dramatic and intriguing story. Extremly beautiful the cinematography and the score was fantastic. Very well done - Compliments! :thumbup:

Susanne
 
puckthemad said:
Mutes can still make noise, just not use their vocal cords. You can hear discernible grunts and other noises from them.

As for the rack focuses, some people just hate a rack focus whether it is used to further the story or if it's just there as a tool. It's up to you to decide if the rack focus does the job it was intended to do.

Thanks for the review and glad you liked the movie.
Click to expand...
I liked the rack focuses! :thumbup:
I just thought maybe a few were unwarranted.

As I said, I really liked the story. The girl and devil both came off very well.
 
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