_______A_n_t_i__D_e__P_r_e_s_e_n_c_e_______

I havn't seen the film yet, (DL now) but your script excerpt or concept of the frustrations of writing a script is classic!
 
Highly innovative idea which kept moving and moving throughout. Constantly top notch acting without ever going overboard. I absolutely loved the set design and the prop choices.

This was not only a beautifully stylish and colorful flick but your use of makeup, post edit effects, on set stunt work and effects, and dialogue were execptional!

Really, Really Good!
 
Aim session. Anti de presence.

Aim session. Anti de presence.

Carrying on the tradition from Timefest, the AIM sessions have returned, a live stream of whatever may come out of our heads as we watch your films. Here are Ben Sliker and Brad Mate's thoughts on "Anti De Presence"

9:35:31 PM Ben Sliker: ANTI DE PRESENCE
9:35:46 PM Ben Sliker: you will enjoy this.
9:35:56 PM Brad Mate: k
9:35:58 PM Ben Sliker: rdy?
9:35:59 PM Ben Sliker: 3
9:36:00 PM Ben Sliker: 2
9:36:02 PM Ben Sliker: 1
9:36:03 PM Ben Sliker: go
9:36:48 PM Ben Sliker: that chair was a little short to be a proper barricade.
9:36:54 PM Brad Mate: lol ... what was she thinking?
9:37:19 PM Ben Sliker: damn jehovah's witnesses
9:37:31 PM Ben Sliker: SHOO I TELL YOU
9:37:34 PM Ben Sliker: SHOO ...
9:37:53 PM Brad Mate: im guessing the moral of this story is to not let anyone with a bible into your house
9:38:13 PM Ben Sliker: i could totally use some candy corn right now.
9:38:23 PM Brad Mate: mmm. candy corn....
9:38:29 PM Brad Mate: what were we doing again/?
9:38:35 PM Ben Sliker: MOVIES
9:38:38 PM Ben Sliker: WATCh
9:38:39 PM Ben Sliker: REVIEW
9:38:55 PM Ben Sliker: this guy is "outside his mind"
9:39:04 PM Brad Mate: I AM FREAKING OUT MAN
9:39:20 PM Brad Mate: ugh lighting
9:39:20 PM Ben Sliker: i'm going to get you a hot cutout like that for your room ... it can be your GF.
9:40:17 PM Brad Mate: WTF
9:40:23 PM Ben Sliker: lol
9:40:31 PM Brad Mate: is this guy a drug dealer or a jehovahs witness
9:40:31 PM Ben Sliker: crystal ball and candle
9:40:42 PM Ben Sliker: classic
9:41:09 PM Brad Mate: i think you need a bible that hasnt had the insides cut out for this to work...
9:41:15 PM Ben Sliker: lol
9:41:24 PM Ben Sliker: he's performing and exorcism lite
9:41:37 PM Brad Mate: no but seriously give me my poo pooign money
9:41:55 PM Ben Sliker: BEST. ENDING. EVER.
9:42:03 PM Brad Mate: oh
9:42:04 PM Brad Mate: my
9:42:07 PM Brad Mate: science
9:43:02 PM Ben Sliker: lol, production value was slightly lacking in some parts (camera moves, sound) but i really love this piece
9:43:12 PM Ben Sliker: most notably watching people react to the ending.
9:43:13 PM Brad Mate: yeah its an awesome concept
9:43:43 PM Brad Mate: i was wondering why there were colorings all over the place like the fireplace
9:44:34 PM Ben Sliker: it's very much a nod to some previous stories/tv shows/films but I'd rather watch someone do something that's been done and do it awesome, than watch something that's orginal that sucks.

yeehawnow, you probably have noticed that this AIM session is a little bit shorter than the other ones. Cause frankly, when a film is engaging and awesome, it's hard to A. make fun of stuff, and B. bring yourself to look away to be able to type it into a chat. Even with my second viewing, I was waiting in anticipation for Brad's reaction to the end. It's one of those things that's so simple, yet you never figure it out until it's right in front of your face. Awesome stuff man, Awesome.
 
Ben Sliker said:
9:36:48 PM Ben Sliker: that chair was a little short to be a proper barricade.
9:36:54 PM Brad Mate: lol ... what was she thinking?
9:37:19 PM Ben Sliker: damn jehovah's witnesses
9:37:31 PM Ben Sliker: SHOO I TELL YOU
9:37:34 PM Ben Sliker: SHOO ...
9:37:53 PM Brad Mate: im guessing the moral of this story is to not let anyone with a bible into your house
9:38:13 PM Ben Sliker: i could totally use some candy corn right now.
9:38:23 PM Brad Mate: mmm. candy corn....
9:38:29 PM Brad Mate: what were we doing again/?

9:39:20 PM Ben Sliker: i'm going to get you a hot cutout like that for your room ... it can be your GF.


9:41:09 PM Brad Mate: i think you need a bible that hasnt had the insides cut out for this to work...
9:41:15 PM Ben Sliker: lol
9:41:24 PM Ben Sliker: he's performing and exorcism lite
9:41:37 PM Brad Mate: no but seriously give me my poo pooign money
9:41:55 PM Ben Sliker: BEST. ENDING. EVER.


yeehawnow, you probably have noticed that this AIM session is a little bit shorter than the other ones. Cause frankly, when a film is engaging and awesome, it's hard to A. make fun of stuff, and B. bring yourself to look away to be able to type it into a chat. Even with my second viewing, I was waiting in anticipation for Brad's reaction to the end. It's one of those things that's so simple, yet you never figure it out until it's right in front of your face. Awesome stuff man, Awesome.
Click to expand...

Those are my favorite lines. Thanks guys! You didn't tear it to shreds, but I understand and it's a real compliment.

Funny how the pills play as candy corn. They are actually vitamin C pills. I have a closer shot that shows more detail that I left out, because I thought you could see them clearly, but maybe I'll put in back in later, so you THINK it's candy corn at first, then see that they are pills. Yet another instance of "things not as they seem". He he he.


Composer-

Thanks for your comments, and this being your first post ever. Do I know you?
 
bts-little-house.JPG


Shooting the little house lightning scenes.

I have some great outakes and other BTS stuff, but they're real spoilers so I don't want to post before everyone has a chance to see the movie.


Thanks heccky for the view and compliments.
 
Dick Campbell said:
great finish - didn't see that coming. acting a bit wooden at times, but overall, kept me guessing.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I think...

We experimented with the acting in rehearsals to see how far we could go in the direction of "they act and move like *what they are*" (don't want to give it a away here, but if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about) and we have a really funny take where they went WAY far out in this direction. I'll post that one a little later... :Drogar-Dum(DBG):

So even though they may seem a little wooden at times, just know that it was done on purpose, and hopefully makes sense, (and works for you) especially on multiple viewings.
 
I'd love to address the critiques of Anti De Presence. This forum is great for improving your craft and that's mainly why I do it. So far I feel like I've been showered with praise, and while it feels really good, I think it could be better.

My own personal critiques-
-Sound mix is a tad flat. I think at the 11th hour I compressed the mix a little too much.
-There are quite a few continuity errrors, but nobody has mentioned them yet, so maybe the story keeps attention away from it.
-The lighting in the living room scene could've been moody-er.

Other critiques I've heard.

-A few lines of dialog are too low, especially the beginning at the porch.
-Double and triple shadows in the living room.
-lack of camera movement in the living room scene. (where should it go?)

Nobody seems to have a problem with the story or script. Any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone for helping me become a better filmmaker!
 
yeehaanow said:
Composer-

Thanks for your comments, and this being your first post ever. Do I know you?
Click to expand...

Yes, I believe you do. It's your old pal/composer Neal Acree. I wanted to stop by and show my support since I think you really knocked this one out of the park. I also wanted to thank all the people (including yourself) that have mentioned the music.

I should point out as well that you wrote some of the music yourself and did an excellent job putting together a temp score. You are a man of many talents.

Here's wishing you the best of luck at the fest.

Neal
 
i actually notice many continuity issues on the first viewing.
1. like the crane shot in the start one shot he wasn't holding the bible..the next shot he was
2.the shot with him leaning the chair toward him
3. This one is big...when the drug dealer was walking over to the "addict" right b4 the addict went to his knees. We see the dealer walking to him with a decent amount of space between them...next shot we see him right up on him.
4. the shot with the guy fidling with the cardboard cut out...i noticed quite a few more..those were just examples. what i find is that ur just a tad off, either b4 or after in the sequence. like with the leaning of the chair...he leaned back...then we see him lean back again. To tell u the truth continuity is one of my nitpicks so i guess thats why i noticed so many and without the ablility to rewind it as i had...it would have passed with just a "huh..what just happened?" reaction and moved on. :)

However I still LOVED this film!! i;d be echoing alot of people about what i liked about it so i wont get into that. ..but i must echo the crystal ball thing. I was like " are u kidding me...he just HAPPEN to have that in his house, oh puleezze" :D. It was all revealed though.

Good Job man!!
 
Last edited:
This was really a super-clever, well done piece. I thouroughly enjoyed it. I thought everything worked well, including the music. The actors were really good and I think that's one of the most important things with indie films. Everything else can be great, but if the actors don't pull off the story, everything suffers, so nice job. I kept wondering though what it would have looked like if it had been in B&W. It would have really been twilighty! Good job.
 
Holy smokes! I absolutely love your set. You mentioned that you are getting mostly praise... well, it is entirely deserved. I can see all of the hard work that went in to making this movie and I am extremely impressed. Your story rocks as well. The only thing that threw me was an occasional focusing issue and one or two odd cuts but I'd have to go back and re-watch to really be able to point them out (minor stuff).

Great film!

:beer:
 
I enjoyed this a lot. Very, very nice work. I haven't read the entire thread, so I may be repeating some things, but here it goes.

-I enjoyed the soundtrack. At times it was a bit overpowering, but overall I felt it moved the story and enhanced the feel.
-The acting was pretty good. I wasn't distracted or taken out of the story due to poor acting as I have been in a few of the shorts.
-Many of your camera moves were beautifully smooth and professional feeling. I especially liked the shot of the two men heading upstairs.
-The art was great- what a beautiful match between the doll house and the set. The transition between the two worlds was brilliant.
-The plot and "twist" were very fun. It was a bit slow paced as the two men kind of sort of make the transaction upstairs, but once we get past that and into the ghost stuff, it picks back up.

Things that weren't my favorite:
-There were some continuity jumps between some of the shots. At the beginning, the guy with the bible starts to turn around and you cut to his CU and he's completed the turn. Just some very minor jumps that didn't quite feel right. Overall, however, I ignored them and followed the story.
-Lighting felt a bit flat in the room upstairs. Not distracting, just felt like it could be a little more interesting
SPOILER:
-I wondered why the men could fight the "ghost" when it was the girl who was creating the story. Then I realized it could just be that the little girl made the entire story in the doll house and the action stopped when she dropped them. Then I questioned whether a little girl would be making a story in her doll house about a drug exchange.

Overall very nice work. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

JC
 
composer said:
It's your old pal/composer Neal Acree. I wanted to stop by and show my support since I think you really knocked this one out of the park. I also wanted to thank all the people (including yourself) that have mentioned the music.

I should point out as well that you wrote some of the music yourself and did an excellent job putting together a temp score. You are a man of many talents.

Here's wishing you the best of luck at the fest.

Neal
Click to expand...

Thanks Neal! I couldn't be happier with the score, especially the big exorkism scene to the end. Still freaks me out. About the temp score... I always feel like I want to preserve the movie for the composer to see it without any temp score, so that they can come up with something without being steered by the temp track, but Neal encouraged me to temp it, as he only had one shot at it due to time restraints. It turned out to be a very good thing I did, because I didn't really know what I wantd until I tried some things over it. I've suggested this to other people here, and it's truely amazing what it does- Take any piece of music, and play it over any scene. Try weird stuff that you would never think would work, and inevitably, you will discover something. I'm lucky to have a giant music library in iTunes so I can play the video and skip around till a song clicks. Soundtracks of similar movies are especially helpful. I temp'd Anti De Presence with a bunch of music from The Exorcist and Hellraiser.

The other thing that happens when you discover a great temp score is that you suddenly want to reshoot the scene (or entire movie). This was the case with the big seance. I found some bombastic choral music that worked very well, and layed in some thunder and wind sound FX that I liked a lot, and then I wanted to reshoot the scene to match. What we should've done is had all the crews hands in the lights, creating swirling shadows and flashing lightning. (something I could do in post perhaps...uuhmmm NATE? FX GURU?)

If I would've found this music BEFORE shooting, we would've done it. Another reason to have music in mind before you even shoot. (would've been a fun this to play on the set too)


jambredz said:
i actually notice many continuity issues on the first viewing.
1. like the crane shot in the start one shot he wasn't holding the bible..the next shot he was
2.the shot with him leaning the chair toward him
3. This one is big...when the drug dealer was walking over to the "addict" right b4 the addict went to his knees. We see the dealer walking to him with a decent amount of space between them...next shot we see him right up on him.
4. the shot with the guy fidling with the cardboard cut out...i noticed quite a few more..those were just examples. what i find is that ur just a tad off, either b4 or after in the sequence. like with the leaning of the chair...he leaned back...then we see him lean back again. To tell u the truth continuity is one of my nitpicks so i guess thats why i noticed so many and without the ablility to rewind it as i had...it would have passed with just a "huh..what just happened?" reaction and moved on. :)

However I still LOVED this film!! i;d be echoing alot of people about what i liked about it so i wont get into that. ..but i must echo the crystal ball thing. I was like " are u kidding me...he just HAPPEN to have that in his house, oh puleezze" :D. It was all revealed though.

Good Job man!!
Click to expand...

Glad you loved it. In response to your continuity comments- 1. HUH? I see that he has the bible is both shots. He's holding it a little differently when we cut to the overhead shot. I had to work the editing magic to get that scene to work at all, due to major time-restraints when we shot it. The others I could probably adjust and make them better, but my feeling is that most people don't even notice, so why bother reconform my massive sound mix. Major PITA.
In general though, I work on the philosophy that if people notice those little things then you've got much bigger problems with the movie anyway, so I tend to be somewhat lax about continuity, as you've pointed out. Also, I will use the take with the best performance over the take with the best continuity/focus EVERY time.

Marlon Ladd said:
This was really a super-clever, well done piece. I thouroughly enjoyed it. I thought everything worked well, including the music. The actors were really good and I think that's one of the most important things with indie films. Everything else can be great, but if the actors don't pull off the story, everything suffers, so nice job. I kept wondering though what it would have looked like if it had been in B&W. It would have really been twilighty! Good job.
Click to expand...

Yeah! Jason and Andrew worked really hard to perfect their characters. I'm very pleased with their performances. I will say that REHEARSALS were key to this. If you could've seen them at the first rehearsal. :zombie_smiley: (no offense guys) It was then that I realized what a difficult and nuanced scene "the big middle part" is.

I will do a B&W cut after the fest. That's a good idea, and I was wondering that myself. Quite a few people have mentioned how much they like the colors, so I don't know... Try it and see, I guess.

stinkpot said:
Holy smokes! I absolutely love your set. You mentioned that you are getting mostly praise... well, it is entirely deserved. I can see all of the hard work that went in to making this movie and I am extremely impressed. Your story rocks as well. The only thing that threw me was an occasional focusing issue and one or two odd cuts but I'd have to go back and re-watch to really be able to point them out (minor stuff).

Great film!

:beer:
Click to expand...

Thanks! Chris Shumway did a great job designing the set, and thanks to the crew that helped paint and dress it. It really throws you for a loop. I'd love to know which cuts bothered you. I've lost all perspective after seeing it so many times.

King Cole said:
I enjoyed this a lot. Very, very nice work. I haven't read the entire thread, so I may be repeating some things, but here it goes.

-I enjoyed the soundtrack. At times it was a bit overpowering, but overall I felt it moved the story and enhanced the feel.
-The acting was pretty good. I wasn't distracted or taken out of the story due to poor acting as I have been in a few of the shorts.
-Many of your camera moves were beautifully smooth and professional feeling. I especially liked the shot of the two men heading upstairs.
-The art was great- what a beautiful match between the doll house and the set. The transition between the two worlds was brilliant.
-The plot and "twist" were very fun. It was a bit slow paced as the two men kind of sort of make the transaction upstairs, but once we get past that and into the ghost stuff, it picks back up.

Things that weren't my favorite:
-There were some continuity jumps between some of the shots. At the beginning, the guy with the bible starts to turn around and you cut to his CU and he's completed the turn. Just some very minor jumps that didn't quite feel right. Overall, however, I ignored them and followed the story.
-Lighting felt a bit flat in the room upstairs. Not distracting, just felt like it could be a little more interesting
SPOILER:
-I wondered why the men could fight the "ghost" when it was the girl who was creating the story. Then I realized it could just be that the little girl made the entire story in the doll house and the action stopped when she dropped them. Then I questioned whether a little girl would be making a story in her doll house about a drug exchange.

Overall very nice work. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

JC
Click to expand...

Thanks for your detailed comments. I agree with your critiques, and I'll work to fix them, and try not to make those mistakes in the future. Most mistakes were simply a result of time contraints. We shot the porch scene and walking up the stairs in one furious two-hour shoot. (Three big camera setups) The living room scene and the kitchen scene were all done in ONE day. I wanted two, but schedules wouldn't allow it. (The down side of using talented actors involved in many other projects.)

I'm glad the story worked for you. That's what I was working the most to accomplish with this movie- a story that is both enjoyable and can be understood by all. Films are ALL about story-telling to me, and I managed to suppress my geek-side enough to focus on the story and not the cool technical stuff.

Response to SPOILER *****
Highlight to read SUPER SPOILER

My original idea was that these guys, and their story is all in the girls head, played out with her dolls, hence, the wierd set, stiff body movements, . The question then becomes, "Why and how would a little girl come up with a story like this?" If you notice, the girls father is wearing the same shirt and pants that "Jack", the drug user is wearing. That was intended to allude to the notion that the girl gets this story from her father, who is alone, (mother has died) depressed, and takes antidepressants, and maybe other drugs that cause hallucinations. The girl perhaps misinterprets this drug-taking as a bad thing (it might be), and thus plays out the story as such.

However-- --- There is a bigger Twilight Twist that came about purely by accident. I'm going to spell it all out here how I see it, so SEE THE MOVIE FIRST... please.

First off, as I have tried to mention in other posts that if these guys are dolls being moved by a girl with only two hands, and they are both moving, where do the other shadows of hands come from? I hope those DO play as hand shadows? Also, when we tilt up after the transition from real to dollhouse (or is it the other way around) you will notice that the girl doesn't have her hands down in there (and she has that creepy look on her face) When she leaves, says, "I'm gonna get you", repeating the line from the seance, and then says, "It's evil", as she closes the door. (I think I need to bring those lines up in the mix btw) Then as we tilt down and do the whole freaky reveal thing, the dolls start moving by themselves at the end. I think they DO move by themselves, and she "plays with them" but still controls them to a certain degree. This is the part that is still open to interpretation, but I think adds a nice little button twist, or "refrigerator question" as JDS labeled it.


End Super Spoiler

:dankk2:
 
Robbie Comeau said:
And she'd need three hands why?

Sean, are you kidding? I thought that "Exorkism" line was brilliant!!

Robbie
Click to expand...

SPOILERS:



No, I wasn't kidding at all. The line took me out of the film completely.

1) the filmmaker had generated really good tension and creepiness--the line suddenly veers towards comedy, and I didn't feel I was in a comedy

2) the characters are quite authentic. One's a junkie whose life might be at stake from some sort of haunting. The other is a drug dealer who has inadvertently stumbled into the same jeopardy. This is great stuff. And then the character asks if the dealer can perform an "exorkism." This is completely inauthentic. The character isn't a child. Or an idiot. Everyone knows the correct pronunciation of exorcism. Who would ever say "exorkism"?

3) I guess if it's from the child's POV (playing with the dollhouse), then she might not know the correct pronunciation of exorcism. But then I gotta wonder how she knows about junkies and dealers who bring drugs hidden inside bibles. ;-) And we just don't know anything like this yet. If it's a "tell" or a clue to the final reveal, it should be handled differently.

4) The line is not funny. Granted, funny is very subjective.

Only giving you my extra thee cents cuz you asked if I was serious, and I was. I thought it was a great short, with the exception of a couple of these tonal shifts to comedy. Same with suddenly grabbing the crystal ball out of nowhere. It became inauthentic and slapstick when I didn't feel as though I were in such a film. I felt like I was in a horror film. Can you imagine in the movie The Exorcist if a character had come to perform an exorkism and then "magically" presents a crystal ball from behind a closet door? It would feel like the wrong moment in the wrong movie. That would work if Austin Powers were conducting an exorcism.

Maybe the point is that subtle choices can really alter the experience for the audience.

Great film over all. One of the best of the fest.
 
I can't really say what hasn't been said already..

I liked your film. Definitely did not see the end coming.

congrats on entering the fest!
/j
 
From the early days of this thread-
Edgen said:
you got me man. i'm thoroughly confused and aimed to be this way throughout the script.
cheers!
/j
Click to expand...

yeehaanow said:
THIS time (unlike my timefest entry) I guarantee that you will understand everything in the end... The whole time I was writing I always asked myself the same question: "Will Edgen say, 'I don't get it'" If the answer was NO, I started over.
Click to expand...

Back to present time-

Edgen said:
I can't really say what hasn't been said already..

I liked your film. Definitely did not see the end coming.

congrats on entering the fest!
/j
Click to expand...

It seems that I achieved my goal, and there was no confusion on your part, at least on the "surface" story? Thanks for the comments. Always enjoy your work.

sean90291 said:
SPOILERS:

No, I wasn't kidding at all. The line took me out of the film completely.

1) the filmmaker had generated really good tension and creepiness--the line suddenly veers towards comedy, and I didn't feel I was in a comedy

2) the characters are quite authentic. One's a junkie whose life might be at stake from some sort of haunting. The other is a drug dealer who has inadvertently stumbled into the same jeopardy. This is great stuff. And then the character asks if the dealer can perform an "exorkism." This is completely inauthentic. The character isn't a child. Or an idiot. Everyone knows the correct pronunciation of exorcism. Who would ever say "exorkism"?

3) I guess if it's from the child's POV (playing with the dollhouse), then she might not know the correct pronunciation of exorcism. But then I gotta wonder how she knows about junkies and dealers who bring drugs hidden inside bibles. ;-) And we just don't know anything like this yet. If it's a "tell" or a clue to the final reveal, it should be handled differently.

4) The line is not funny. Granted, funny is very subjective.

Only giving you my extra thee cents cuz you asked if I was serious, and I was. I thought it was a great short, with the exception of a couple of these tonal shifts to comedy. Same with suddenly grabbing the crystal ball out of nowhere. It became inauthentic and slapstick when I didn't feel as though I were in such a film. I felt like I was in a horror film. Can you imagine in the movie The Exorcist if a character had come to perform an exorkism and then "magically" presents a crystal ball from behind a closet door? It would feel like the wrong moment in the wrong movie. That would work if Austin Powers were conducting an exorcism.

Maybe the point is that subtle choices can really alter the experience for the audience.

Great film over all. One of the best of the fest.
Click to expand...

The "Exorkism" line was meant to be another clue that makes you go "WTF?". The idea is that it is said how a little girl might say it after hearing it once, and in fact, our little actress said it exactly like that when we asked her to. It wasn't meant to be funny, but if you think it is, then I guess that's a personal opinion. The Ball and the Candle thing has the same idea. Theses are props that she has right there, and so needs no time to produce them. I think most people have felt that it is the biggest WTF moment, and really heightens the Twilight aspect of the film. My feeling is that if you don't know if you should laugh, be afraid, or some other emotion, that's perfect for this genre, as is keeps you unsettled, off-balance, and generally wondering What THE HELL is going on here. Like AmyO said- "The clues are all there all along", and not till the reveal is it clear why things are as they are. If you think it should be handled differently, you might find a lot of objection, because many here have latched on to those specific moments as being ones that stood out for them. I'm willing to listen though.

Glad you still enjoyed it, and thanks for clarifying your comments.
 
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