"Revenge Therapy" A Brian Parker Film

good story

loved the frozen breath, really cool. liked how the tables were turned. guess i would only like to see some backstory if possible, like show how she killed off the two other people once the reveal is in. acting was really good. didnt like the music at all, sorry, didnt fit. like to see more of this story, she was compelling enough to want to know more about her.
 
stinkpot: Thanks stinkpot. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. That's an interesting point about the shot of Gabriel's POV. Glad you liked the cold room effect. It was actually burning up in there. Humidity gets to me and I sweat like a dog. You can actually see that my face was wet. I guess it could be considered cold sweats though. Thanks for the feedback stinkpot!
 
hoz: I'm glad that you liked the story and acting. The acting was my main focus for this film since I've always been getting caught up in the technical details. Yeah, the music is going to have to be reworked. I was thinking about expanding the story. Like I said before, it kind of felt like a comic book origin story for a villan when I wrote it. Glad that you found her character compelling. Thanks for the feedback man!
 
How did you get Forest Whitaker in your movie?! It was like season 5 of The Shield all over again. Figgin-A, he never returns my calls!

The style saved the film! The music and the editing effect choices were great. The music really set a mood that differentiated the piece in a fest full of intense scores and (melo)dramatic emotional cues.

The script and twists were fun, though not entirely convincing. However, I felt the acting carried it through. I felt they were strong performances considering the scope of the production. I read a post saying you were focusing on acting this time around, so mission accomplished.

Once again, great job creating a unique style and voice. Seriously, can’t wait for more!
 
it's funny: the 2 film makers from Atlanta in the festival have a character named Gabrielle. Fine, I shot in Toronto, but still.... Nice Twilight Zone moment there.

We're gonna have to grab some beers next time I'm in ATL Champloo. You've got some good ideas going on there.

I'll be back in a bit to give a review on Revenge Therapy: gotta let it sink in first.
 
Bryce A: Wow, I guess it's unanimous. Everybody thinks I look like Forrest Whitaker. Damn...well, it's cool as long as I can marry a woman who looks like his wife does.

Glad you liked the music Bryce. You're one of the few. The script was OK as far as I'm concerned. There was a little bit of stretching there but as long as the work I put in on the acting came across, I'm happy. Means a lot to me that you liked the style of it since you made one of the best films in this fest in my opinion. Thanks for the feedback man!

puckthemad: LOL, I noticed the name thing too. Creepy.

Hey man, just let me know when you're in town and we can make it happen. I'm game. I look forward to your review.
 
Champloo said:
Wow, I guess it's unanimous. Everybody thinks I look like Forrest Whitaker.
Click to expand...

that was you?! Dang, guess I need to look at those credits again. I've been making an effort to pay more attention to them this fest, but that fact slipped right by me. Haha... oh man... well, it's not so much that you LOOK like him, but it's the mannerisms and slight nuances in the performance (more important that mere looks i might add). It was So. Very. Whitaker. You just need to get that lazy eye thing going on.

I love that I was talking about you. heh.... :beer:
 
Lots of very good stuff here!

I liked the story, and the twist ending. Things are not as they seem...
Nice lighting, and the color shift worked really well.
The last music cue was good, although I feel it could've been filled out more.
The acting was good, although it was hindered by several things-
The audio. Sounds like you had the camera set on Auto level correction? Or maybe you did some kind of normalizing? Between dialog lines the noise kicked up. You could fix this with a noise gate. Another thing- some of the framing on the Med CU's. There's a lot of head-room, but not any chin-room. Typically, it's done the other way around, and IMO more pleasing that way, also you can get the boom closer when the frame is at the top of their head. Lastly, some of the dialog was unnatural, and therefor, very difficult to play. A rewrite or two would've gotten the story across and given more depth to those characters, because the situation is THERE. SPOILERS****** You got a guy that HAS to kill this girl because he knows what she has done, although he probably doesn't want to, he's got to keep her from doing it again. Then you have this girl that doesn't remember killing, and the confusion and anger for accusing her, then the discovery when she remembers. There's so many moments in there that were a little bit glazed over, due I think, to the factors I mentioned above.
One last nitpick was that she should've been tied to the chair. When she stood up, I was like, "huh?" why isn't she running all over the room. Think about it, if you woke up tied up in a room, and your friend had a gun and an evil look, wouldn't you try to get out of there or something?

Definitely got a "Heroes" vibe to it.

Good job.
 
Bryce A: LOL...it's cool man. Maybe I can start slipping into Hollywood parties once I master the lazy eye. :cheers:

yeehawnow: Glad you liked that many things about it.

The last music cue is definately my favorite. I'm going to do some reworking on the overall score. Yeah, I hope to be able to get a sound person from now on.

Thanks for the comments on the acting as well as that was one of my main things I wanted to improve on with this short. I agree that the way the story plays out is a bit of a stretch in the sense that she is trying harder to escape but in all honesty, I was a little hesitant to copletely tie Quynh up. I mean, she and I are cool and all but that room is admittedly a little creepy and people are crazy nowadays. In retrospect, maybe I should have and just run with it. But I digress, thanks for all of the feeback man, really. I appreciate it.
 
I liked this at the beginning, her acting was quite poor all the way through, but he was solid, very natural. At the beginning. Then, after about 3 minutes, and they're still talking heads - it was too long. Too long. I think you should have shortened it quite a bit, it would have made a tighter, stronger entry. Great lighting, and the audio wasn't bad. I dug the reverse ball shot near the end, worked like a charm.
 
gabrielflorit: Yeah, pacing was a concern but I wanted to give time for the situation to escalate in an organic way. That's mostly the fault of the script as I should have done some more revisions. Thanks for the constructive criticism, man. Glad that there were some things that worked for you.
 
Great short Champloo, really enjoyed it. How did you do the cold breath effect by the way? You know I would have liked to see half the dialogue cut and instead seen flashbacks of what happened, one from his perspective and one from hers. Kind of a mini Rashamon. That I think would be fantastic. But overall great job.

best,
Jon
 
Thanks jpsheets. The breath was done with particles in After Effects. You know that's not a bad idea and now that you've said it, I'm thinking really hard about some reshoots. I might have to do that. Thanks for the feedback man.
 
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 Mates thoughts on "REVENGE THERAPY."

spesliker (12:35:55 PM): REVENGE THERAPY!
TheBrad84 (12:36:02 PM): rdy
spesliker (12:36:14 PM): 3
spesliker (12:36:15 PM): 2
spesliker (12:36:17 PM): 1
spesliker (12:36:18 PM): go
spesliker (12:36:59 PM): VIGNETTE!
TheBrad84 (12:37:04 PM): this guy went to the school of john abbot mitchell
spesliker (12:37:24 PM): OH NOES!
spesliker (12:37:26 PM): A GUN!
TheBrad84 (12:37:59 PM): i like how thats the thing that worried her....not waking up tied up in the basement surrounded by instruments of death
spesliker (12:38:36 PM): this guy is pretty transparent
spesliker (12:38:43 PM): AUDIO LAG ... YUCK
TheBrad84 (12:39:23 PM): why wouldn't i go out with you? well theres that whole middleground where you're a psycho
spesliker (12:39:38 PM): IM gOING TO KILL YOU AND THEN WE ARE GOING TO BE HAPPY TOGETHER, WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT.
spesliker (12:40:21 PM): i just had a seizure
TheBrad84 (12:40:33 PM): ugh
spesliker (12:41:00 PM): lol ... apparently she needed superpowers to break through that 1 strip of duct tape.
spesliker (12:41:13 PM): IM SOOOO COLD..
spesliker (12:41:31 PM): what's with the music here?
TheBrad84 (12:41:39 PM): i just gotta dance
spesliker (12:42:13 PM): dead people fall a lot harder than that.
spesliker (12:43:03 PM): ummm ... so if he knew that she wouldn't understand why he would kill her, why would he try to explain it to her?
TheBrad84 (12:43:33 PM): thats always the problem with these kinds of things
spesliker (12:43:45 PM): i'd sneak up like a ninja on someone like that.
spesliker (12:44:07 PM): FOR THE GREATER GOOD.
TheBrad84 (12:44:10 PM): i dont get why he'd have a problem with her dating another guy when she ended up killing him.....really dude? are you that insecure?
spesliker (12:44:33 PM): or is he just making that up to justify it to her
spesliker (12:45:02 PM): btw, i'm excited about my first "hot fuzz" reference, can't believe it took this long.
TheBrad84 (12:45:03 PM): she has superpowers that killed his fiance.....do you need more justification?
spesliker (12:45:31 PM): lol SHE WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND THAT BRAD
spesliker (12:45:35 PM): alrighty
spesliker (12:45:38 PM): moving on

Champloo, here's my big suggestion for this scene. Lighting. We're a big fan of killing people in garages, but if you take a look at your grabs, like this one:

1225320263.jpg


There is SOOO much stuff going on behind him that's it's very distracting. Give him some nice high powered lighting and you can stop down to the point that some of it goes away. We know that it's a garage, use your lighting to make people pay attention to his performance instead of the background. You can also increase the depth of field of these shots by using more light (hence, lower f-stop, shorter DOF for the lens) Cheers! :beer:
 
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