A Tear For You - A Frank Glencairn Film

Postmaster said:
LOL - Chris is from New Jersey. :beer: But I´m sure he will appreciate the leeway. :D

As I said, I grew up with american TV and movies - so you can expect some cliches.
Look at it as american folklore in the mirror of an "old europe" film maker wanabe.

Cheers, Frank
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Wow. I figured the accent for European. There goes the leeway :happy:
 
This is a technical virtuosity. Every shot, almost every frame is a beautiful photograph. Your lighting, camera moves and color grading paid off. The actors had a wonderful retro look that really set the mood. I did notice, in the first scene, your actors’ eye lines were breaking the director’s line. This problem happens more often, than not. Also the actors’ performances were a bit stilted. The last shot is stuck in my head and I can’t get it out. It is truly a strong image. The music is unexpected and haunting. Great job.
 
Story was ok. Dialogue just sounded a little bit "scripted" for me. I dunno if that was the acting or the actual lines. Visuals were utterly pro. Audio didn't cut it for me. Sounded like white noise popped up everytime someone talked (particurly the woman). Thats when noise reduction comes in extremely handy. Actually noise reduction is magical.

Don't mean to sound negative, still a solid movie.
 
On an emotional level I wasn't feeling this. The dialogue or acting fell flat for me, it was too unnatural and robotic. The characters in the story just seem to be uninterested or too cold and I wasn't invested in their story.

On a technical level... wow, this is shot beautifully, every scene is wonderfully lit and consistent. Excellent use of framing, its a fine thing to look at. Maybe open up the shots a little wider so we can get a feel for the surroundings but overall it is solid and fine-tuned. Great job.
 
I thought it might be a good idea to let you guys know, what I was thinking while developing characters, blocking and lighting.

So here it goes:

The Visual Language of O.T.F.Y.

There is a story behind the visible story that can not be told in 6 minutes.
So I tried to let it "shimmer between the lines" by using analogys and metaphors in my visual language. So I can almost double the information within the same time frame. There is not a single random frame in there. Everything has at least one reason or motivation.

I´m hoping, that the unconscious mind picks up those bits of additional information and transfers it to a feeling, that helps to understand the untold story.

1. Opening sequence - The Gramophone

It all starts with a romantic song, till Chris interrupts it and plays his own tune.
Pretty much what happenes to their relationship over the last years.

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2. Introducing Chris - The cold light and the mill

Chris got a lot of cold light coming straight to his face from the outside world.
He is not only facing the loss of his fortune (literally) but also the social cold from the world of capitalism and greed. A cold social Darvinism that knows no mercy for those who lost everything. The little musical box is like the treadmill he is in for years and he kepps winding it all the time.

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3. Intoducing Jenny - At the threshold.

Jenny stands between the cold space of Chris and the warm space where the christmas tree - an ancient symbol for light in the darkness - is situated.
She is torn between those two poles, between her fading love to Chris and her yearning for warm love and hope. While standing there she is bitter, cynical and snappy.

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4. The Light of Hope

When Jenny turnes away from the "dark" (blue/cold) side she gets into the light of hope in the dark, that is emblematised by the tree. That is also reflected by the color grading. Also her attitude changes. She talks in warm words of hope now.

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5. Chris`childhood memories

There is one little moment, when Chris awakes from his Zombie like state.
It´s the moment when he remembers his childhood. I tried to aggravate that moment by having a shimmer of warm light on his face that almost supresses the cold blue from outside. Till the blue light takes over again.

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6. Washing hands

When Jenny is washing her hands, that refers to an old symbol of beeing innocent, but also getting rid of things. The grading is pretty neutral and will get green accents and greenish shadows in the next scenes. Whereby green is known as a color of hope and spring (new begin after death).

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7. The Mirror

A mirror in film is often a mark for a turning point of the charakter. Looking in his own eyes is looking in his soul. A very traditional - even vintage - film language I used here.

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8. The empty suitcase.

As the grading gets more greenish (new begining) we see an empti suitcase.
Jenny´s life in the moment - just empty. She starts to fill it with her own stuff and a picture (memory) of Chris.

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Visual Language - part 2

9. The closet.

A closet is a dark place where you hide things.
She only taks a light coat and let everything else she had there.
Leaving her past in that dark place, giong into the light (mind the HMI on the right side), thou her future is still blurry (out of focus).

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10. Twilight

When Jenny calls Lilly, both of them are lit by warm and cold lights at the same time.

As a side note: I made the police lights in Aftereffects and I´m friggin proud of them. :)

What appears to be police lights is also the process of transition.
Torn between cold and warm - unsecure future, but they are leaving the lights and head for a new morning.

...ummm I hope that doesn´t sound too esotheric.

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11. Silence of the treadmill.

Lilly stops playing dad`s melody and lays his treadmill down - so she also frees herself from the domination of her father - who never had any time for her. Now his treadmill is silent for ever and so is he.

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12. Stone cold

Dad is dead. But he also found peace and disburden himself by jumping out of that window. Consolation and release from his sorrows.
What`s left of him is the Chris, Jenny once fell in love with.
So that romantic melody - "their melody" comes back for a moment.

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Frank
 
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Like the explanation of the lighting. Amazing how much thought you put into it. You are a true visual filmmaker.

The visuals were exemplary. I was disconcerted though, by the crossing of the line. I was confused where they were spatially in relation to each other.

The music is haunting. How did you get the rights to that song? It's amazing.
 
Camera, sound, acting, grading, was very nice in this film.

The set design and wardrobe seemed fitting as well.

My only con is the framing you chose on the man. The side of his face look out/and speaking.

Just looked funny I guess.

Overall, good fillm man!

Robbie
 
I thought it was a good idea, cause he is not much connected to her anymore.

Looks like that did not work at all.

Frank
 
hey quick comment - i used sinks/hand washing, suitcases, and a mirror in my film, too.. for much the same reasons. :)

great looking film, excellent production. thank you for posting about the visual language you used in telling the story.
 
Postmaster said:
I thought it was a good idea, cause he is not much connected to her anymore.

Looks like that did not work at all.

Frank
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I think had you shown them both in the same frame and we could see that he was intentionally doing that to her... it would have worked much better.
Just my 2 cents though. It still works on some level. :thumbup:
 
ahhhh I smell some Fassbender.....much better than the Tarantinizing I see all over.

Excellent filming!!!!! a little too unemotional for my liking but the music and the setting, the whole congrinuity: excellent!!! triple A !

In the middle it drops a bit but the lights, the images, the wardrobe, the props, all extremely well done!!!!

I didnt mind the sound so much, yes there is some noise when the female speaks, but the mix was sensible, no overloud sound fx, excellent choice of music!

and one of the films that took the "loss" theme and kept it til the end, actually one of the few where the theme was kept alive very subtle and with a straight line!!! I actually remembered what the theme was.

invest in some good audio stuff and continue!!! :thumbup:
 
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I thought this film looked great, but there wasn't much going for the story. It was a simple story to be fair, and I think you did a decent job filling us in on the characters world without just flat out telling us.
 
your movie was soooo well made. i loved all the shots and music, the calm voice of the husband. if i had walked away from the computer, just hearing it in the background would have been relaxing in some weird way, but it was a little too slow for my personal taste.
 
Really well done visually. The lines were somewhat wooden to my ear but not distractingly so. I did think the ending might have been stronger if you had left his body out of it. But, what do I know. Good job!
 
You did a great job shooting this...really...just beautiful. The story seemed to darg a bit for me and I had a hard time believing the actors in their roles. I didn't feel the emotion that the guy had lost everything. The very end...left me a little flat, I already knew he jumped, didn't need to see the body.

Everything else worked for me, cinematography, sound, lighting, editing...excellent!
I always look forward to your films.
 
Doing some second rounds. Dang, still need to finish up the first!

Still love it as much as the first viewing. And I noticed something this round ...

Is it my imagination, or did you purposely move the guy closer to the window each time you cut back to him? Seems he's advancing inch by inch, then we see the window, and then it kind of becomes clear what's about to happen.

What I really love is we see her reaction to finish what we think we know.

If that was intended, then that is brilliant story-telling. If not, well, brilliant happenstance.

alex
 
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Frank this was visually wonderful. A sheer delight in lighting and composition.

That said some angles betrayed your mood slightly insofar as the relationship between the two main players, well not betrayed, I just think some 2p's would have allowed you to show the relationship visually as well.

Sound, you know about that. Story, kind of slid away a little at one point.

Really solid, and again some of the best lighting I have seen this fest.
 
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