"Picture" - A film by Amy Beth O'Brien

Amy, this was a very well made film. I love the way that you took your time telling your story. It unfurled naturally and never felt pressed for time or like it was dragging on. You have amazing shot composition going on her and I really like how it was lit. It looked like you not only worked with lights, but worked with the absence of light as well in order to create your final image. You worked with a great crew.

Both actors did a good job. Music was perfect. I can't really think of anything else to say except that it's a beautiful film. Always a pleasure to see your work in the fests.
 
Finally got it to downlooad. Worth the wait.

Let's see. The house had purple walls/accents. Coinidence to Purple Macaroni.



Very beautiful film. The actress did a great job, especially the crying in the bathroom scene. Nice angles throughout. It was beauitful architecture, and she was alone in this big house, which to me added to her solitude. Nice.

Just a tad thrown off at the end. It seems the girl is still alive but deformed??


A little dark at points. Opening scene more or less telegraphed something happend to the child. None of that really took away from the superb artistry of this film.

Certainly memorable.


Alex
 
First time it rejected me somehow, and I didn't want to write enything cause I said-let's watch it again.

Now, the things are quite different. It's amazing how these shorts needs full atention to get them right, otherwise you can end up being totaly confused.

Picture is very emotional film, which I sincerely doubt a man could perform as female filmmaker. The whole story developing was a little bit slow and monotonus, but I think it was neccesary for the effect on the end.

I like the music very much, it really flows with story.

The little girl could be something like her conscience in metaphorical sense, rather than ghost.
In any way, I liked this film a lot, and I'm glad I gave it another chance (I guess that's with us younglings-rash about most of things:huh:)
 
Amy, nicely done! I was engrossed in both the story and the visuals. Very strong production valuesl excellent sound and cinematography. Samuel Naiman did such a great job of matching the tone of this piece. The lighting and shot selection are spot on. I love the slow move behind her in the hospital ward hallway and that ultra slow push into the kitchen at 1:40ish... I can tell you guys took the time to light and rig properly. You've got a lot of setups; curious, how many days did you shoot?

Also, I like how the first scene is more bright, more airy in tone/lighting and then the following scenes have this underlying dark mood to them, as if it were raining or just after a rainfall. That's just the impression I got and it helped to set a strong tone for the rest of the film.

The Durbanitor did some fine work here as expected :)

Lastly, some strong directing at hand here. Your lead did a fine job and the little girl as well. I believed in their world. Good mixture of both physical and dialogue driven beats. Overall, a solid film with strong production and good story. Thanks for sharing!
 
I enjoyed the light in this flick. It was soft, diffused and full of deep shadows. All of that paired with the color tones of the locations made for a piece easy on the eyes. The pacing and music were great as well. Story-wise though, I felt there was no real urgency in finding out what was going on (and I don't mean the pacing). The conclusion, while I normally applaud ambiguity, left me a little unfulfilled (though, yes if we’d followed her through the door, it would have been too much). I did like how the mystery was set up asap with the girl in the beginning. A very solid pic.
 
Amy,

After enjoying your last couple of entries, I was looking forward to see what you came up with for this fest, and you didn't disappoint. I enjoyed this from the beginning with the establishing shots and credits, it felt like it was time to settle in and be told a story. Nice.

Everything about this film is pro. Nice use of a great location, lots of great color and the lighting and camera movement felt right on.

The editing had a nice flow to it, and conveying that the little girl was there... and then not, didn't seem contrived, but very natural. There was only one time that I got confused and it was the 'cut to' near the end when the woman leaves the house and then is walking down the hall in the hospital. My first thought was that she walked out of the room and into the hospital hallway. Maybe a 'fade into' with her already walking down the hall would have worked here. imho. :)

Wonderful acting here by Laura! She took her time, conveyed a lot of emotion with very little to no dialog. I especially thought she did so well when she broke the glass and also the crying scene.

Nice camera collection! Was that set design or does some one actually own that collection?

I really like the music. I'm a big fan of Justin Durban and knew instinctively near the beginning that this was his work, but it was right on with the theme and I really enjoyed the 'nursery' sounds. It really set the mood at the right places.

Favorite shots were at about 1:38 with the dolly in, about 3:01 at the sink, and about 3:46 in the bathroom.

This was one of my favorites in this fest. Another great film from you. Keep up the good work!

-Robert
 
Sorry for being a bit MIA. Had to catch up on stuff I put off to finish "Picture" and I've got another film in a local fest this weekend. A bit crazy.

Thanks so much for all of your feedback! I'm happy people are enjoying the film. Again, I have to give credit to a great DP and crew for helping me make this film what it is.

I do like to take my time and just watch my characters, but that's becoming a pattern of mine. I'm thinking of writing an action flick for my next time out. . .

And for those who want to know the "whys", here's more from the mind of the filmmaker:
(highlight to read)
I understand the confusion in the storyline and just who the Little Girl is supposed to be. Part of that is my fault for not wanting to be very direct. Also, I think the answering machine message needs to really be clear to get an important bit of information. He says in there "I just had a great talk with the doctor," giving us some hope that things are going okay. The baby is not dead, just born too soon and sick. Rebecca blames herself for this, even though she followed her doctor's orders, and has to overcome her guilt and grief ("losing" the "healthy" child she dreamed of having) in order to accept the reality of what is going on. The Little Girl who appears to her is the hope that Rebecca must hold on to in order to move forward. (Zak said it best at the top of page 11: the "young girl (is) a future echo of the girl the baby would grow into".) Taking the picture is accepting the reality - a picture makes it permanent. It says "This child is mine." One of the pictures is of the baby being held by her mother (cameo appearance by Cheyenne in a roundabout way).
 
I for one would love to see an AmyO action flick. :thumbup: With kids?

I think you're right about the answering message. I also feel like you could hold on the shot of the picture at the end a little longer. A reshoot with a nice push-in might really drive it home too.
 
I used every frame I trimmed from elsewhere to hold on that last shot of the pictures without going over 6 minutes. I will extend it a bit for later releases. I agree, it needs to sit for a bit more.

Action with kids? Don't know. Perhaps a child will be in the film in some way. I do really like working with children - even when they aren't my own. I did a bit of kids and action in "Girl vs. Boy," (if you count a foot chase on the beach "action") but I think for what I have in mind, I will stick to the grown-ups doing the action parts. :)
 
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Great use of camera movement, I thought. And I see a lot of people were somewhat confused by the ending, I thought it was an interesting twist on a twist.

(Spoilers ahead)

We think the girl is dead, and it's her ghost talking, but it turns out it's a future version of the girl, and she's very much alive. What I gathered from the ending, maybe it's been said here before, but I thought that perhaps the mother abandoned the baby. I know she's living in a nice house, and she's not exactly desperate, but the father being absent, I thought that maybe she had left the baby at the hospital, and the image of the child was her guilt telling her to go take care of the baby. That was one theory I got from it.

Anyway, great job, Amy.

Hey, I'm almost eligible to vote, this will be my 49th post ;)
 
This is one of my favorites. Easily.

I loved damn near everything in this one... acting, look, feel, visuals. Awesome work.

The acting is great - both the little girl and your lead do fantastic jobs. It's a very subtle performance that could easily sway into melodrama but I think you've balanced that very well.

The 'haunting' aspects are sufficiently creepy -- unsettling to a point yet there's a sense of poignancy in their presence. They succeed in creating enough intrigue to have you guessing, but they don't overstay their welcome. Another fine balance handled with care.

And then you've got the ending tying everything together... and it's truly effective. In essence you've got a really simple story but you've told it really well. Kudos on that.

The few gripes I have: the audio when the husband leaves his message is really garbled -- I had a hard time making out what he was saying. The ending bright light to white has a little bit of cheese on it... but ultimately I was still pretty satisfied.

Great job... one of the few that I felt really had heart!
 
SPOILERS BELOW

Amy, you've made a beautiful film, the most emotional piece in the fest I think. You're very good at slow pacing, it didn't drag at all - the editing was lovely and I think the jump cuts at around 3:40 when she's putting the plaster on her hand are great - they just gave that umph that the rest of the pacing needed. Justin Durban's score went beautifully with it too. I loved the filmography - the look of dim natural light and the camera movements. My criticisms are the same as others - the phone call sound and the confusion. Not that it took me out of the film at all. I rather thought the girl had died and there was a second, new born child in the hospital. I therefore thought that she was remembering the first child while hoping the second would survive. However, I've read your explanation above and it is rather beautiful, especially with the idea of taking a picture as accepting reality.
This is definitely a finalist for me.
Jason
 
Thanks for your feedback. The answering machine will be fixed! :) It's unfortunate that it is such a stumbling point in this venue, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to have so many people watch and give feedback before I send it out to other places. I can give it that much more polish.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. The story is one that is close to my heart, so I'm happy it's being well received.
 
Thanks, Michael. Hard to know how these things will come down. Congrats on making the finals! :)
 
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