-The Things Between Us a film by Eric Meisner-

This is quite an achievement with a difficult subject matter. I'm sure you love reading these comments for criticisms, not for praise all of the time. I'm sure you have gotten a lot of praise already, so I'll cut to the chase. The story felt very jumpy, especially in the beginning with Justin's crying VO turning into the calm VO. It certainly made a familiar story feel more original, but I thought it took away from it. Justin's first crying sequence was not convincing. It felt forced. Don't get me wrong. Justin is a very good actor, but he didn't go there, and sometimes its scary to go there, or its hard to build up that emotion. The B&W thing... you know what to do about that. At the very end, Mallory's voice in very low in tone, making it difficult to hear what she is saying unless and turn up the volume. I would just mix the music down a notch and it should be fine. BTW, beautiful music throughout. Every shot and edit has a conscious thought behind it. I loved them all.

You moved me and I like that.
 
Very moving.

I thought it would be impossible to play in the sad emotional spectrum and have anyone care for the characters in only 6 minutes. You proved me wrong.

I was taken in and the emotional chills came over me right from the start. The music is due in large part, but coupled with the gorgeous imagery and the emotions we see bouncing from happy times, to sad times, it was a big wallop. You got me.

I especially liked the editing style. The overlapping audio and cuts made for an intricate and engaging style. I'm maybe one of the few that liked the transition to B&W. I almost did it with AtR, but chickened out at the last minute. It's a bold choice and I like it.

Only one shot was not up to par with the rest: The ext. when he sits in the car. Other than that- Awesome awesome, and awesome.
 
Very nice job. Gorgeous lighting and shots. I wanna compliment something that maybe noone has yet, as it's a bit random, but, thank you so much for not crushing the blacks when color correcting. It was wonderful to see the varying tones in the dark areas of the screen. So many people trying to make something look "film like" make the mistake of crushing the blacks, whereas you simply lit things beautifully and dramatically creating beautiful areas of light and shadow. Rock on.
 
Beautiful. Just simply goregous.

Lighting and composition was amazing. Hell, where'd you find these actors?

Not only was the little girl the cutest thing I've ever seen, but she was also very talented.

I like the look, and I especially liked the transitioning from scene to scene, blending in audio and what not. Great style in that end.

I rated this high,

Robbie
 
armisiano said:
Very nice job. Gorgeous lighting and shots. I wanna compliment something that maybe noone has yet, as it's a bit random, but, thank you so much for not crushing the blacks when color correcting. It was wonderful to see the varying tones in the dark areas of the screen. So many people trying to make something look "film like" make the mistake of crushing the blacks, whereas you simply lit things beautifully and dramatically creating beautiful areas of light and shadow. Rock on.
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I concur with this very much. :thumbup: Shying away from excess contrast and making sure I get good, dynamic exposures with no hot spots has been something I've been focusing on for the past year and a half. I didn't do this nearly as much with Tiny Dancer because we had an extremely limited amount of light to work with (and shot on dvx), but it's still always a focus of mine, and you made the images in your film look terrific and not over-cooked.
 
Great composition and lighting. You had some great shots where you really kind of painted the scene with the light. The only shot that kind of threw me was near the end when she was standing by the window looking out and we se her looking at the left side of the screen. Then it cuts straight to her looking at the right side in order to show her husband entering.

You created a story that requires the actors to be in a completely raw emotional state and for the most part, they are. All three of them give solid believeable performances. Great score. This is a well made film with great production value and emotional story. Good job!
 
I think most people have heard but I just wanted to give kudos to Meisner for doing so much with so little! He essentially had a 3-person crew (counting himself) for the entire shoot. He lit the whole film with about 3 or 4 lights.

The scene with her in bed was shot at mid-day...no problem except for the fact that the actors had to leave in the middle of the scene and came back after it was dark. He had to match mid-day sun using only 3 lights and it looks IDENTICAL! My jaw was hanging open when we brought up the original shot on the computer and then walked into the room to see how he had matched it.

And on top of all that he was able to give good direction to the actors when needed.

Of course, his storyboards/shot list and the fact that he had put in the time to do several rehearsals with the actors really paid off!

It was really an amazing experience to watch one human being do so much! If I ever tried to do a film of this quality with only 3 people I can assure you...we would all end up on the evening news as a triple murder/suicide! :laugh:

So, you are officially "The Man" Eric!

(and when I say, "The Man"...I don't mean, The Man...like "The Man is puttin' me down!")
 
Very nice job. Liked the lighting in the opening scene.
Are the actors professionals?
I personally would have not done the BW switch, but I have to say it worked here pretty good.

Every shot seems to be verry thought and well elaborated.

Cudos,

Frank
 
I think this is hands down the best photography in the fest. The actors were really great too - I wasn't really feeling their first emotional exchange, but from that point on I bought it all. This was really well crafted and I am seriously in awe of how great it looks after reading Daniel's last comment about lack of crew, lights, etc. Great job.
 
okay, first off this is something i don't like to watch, i got three young ones of my own and i can't go where you wanted me to go .... that said i watched your film anyway.

you broke my heart.

photography - tops.
acting- tops .
music - tops. so spot on.
story- tops. the use of black and white, and then the return of the girl into the story is what did me in... the movie was just long enough to get me past my guard is up phase.

congrats on a really moving piece.
 
Eric, this was wonderfully shot. For me though it felt self indulgent from a cinematography perspective. I have no idea but I just felt very little connection for these characters. And I have two daughters.

I dont think it was performance, as they felt real and natural. But, there was something not right for me. I really wish I could put my finger on it.

And there were 2 shots that stood apart for me, first at about 0.50 (exterior house) and the second at 2.53 (exterior car). So much time and skill in every shot in this piece, I just wondered why these shots were so average?

Great sound, great images. Obviously you have great skill.
 
SMarston said:
Broke my heart! you did a very good job at keeping your audience pulled to the movie. the woman actor was amazing i felt all her pain, it even made me cry. great story!
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Smarston... I glad to see that it moved people in that way. My actors did a fantastic job and want to give them a silent around of applause with words and letters. This was Gracie's first short and she did a great job.

warau said:
I agree with most of the previous comments this was a great effort! The only thing I can add is that it seemed the color/ mood of the film was unstable, throwing in the B&W made it seem even more so. Was this a conscious choice?
Other than that, I really liked this film!
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Warau, the B&W was a flip of the coin choice. I didn't have it in the first cut then decided to put it back in the final cut. My original idea was to put all of the flashbacks into B&W, but truthfully they didn't work as well as the Ext. Porch scene did.

It looks the majority of people did not care for it or found it jarring, but some liked it though.

Norm Sanders said:
I'm not going to bother reading the other comments ... want to keep my thoughts fresh.

First, this was a strong piece. Started out a little slow to me, and I didn't really get it until they were having their 1st emotional break, where he's pleading to not lose her too. Then I got it. I felt he was a TAD off in his performance, but only slightly ... that is TOUGH ground to cover, so I don't want to be too critical. He still did a fine job. I think it would have added a complexity to the story/character, if he hadn't broken down in front of her like that, and had been strong because he felt he needed to. It would have made that moment when he cried in the car all the more powerful.

She did a nice job in this, and really dug the ending. She had some solid voice over performance as well. They both look good on screen, as well as together.

As far as EVERYTHING you did on this, that is a HUGE undertaking, and often times too much. In this case, I think it was too much. It is SOOOOO incredibly difficult to shoot AND direct at the same time, because both require 110% focus, yet is impossible to do when you have to split your attention between two things, making sure framing & focus are good, while still trying to really concentrate on performances? SO hard!

You're a MASTER at the camera, as far as I'm concerned, with what you did on PLACEBO. Amazing work, and I'm a huge fan of yours. If you had to sacrifice something between camera & directing on this short, I'm glad it was camera, as directing is truthfully more important for the characters, performances, story, etc. Don't get me wrong, there was still some solid cinematography here, but nothing in comparison to what you did with Daniel, when you could concentrate on camera only.

Also LOVED the transition you did to outside with the color grade change... crafty, and nicely done!

In the end, this actually made my eyes well up some, which is pretty amazing for a short to get that emotionally vested in it. NICE job! I've put it in my "worth watching again" folder, because I want to show this to my wife. It also rated high for me, whether my above comments reflect that or not. Hopefully they don't come across as harsh. I truly enjoyed this film, and thank you for making it, Eric!

Oh, and lastly, that little girl put an ear to ear smile on my face. She was AMAZING, and her moment with her mom, where she talks about butterflies, etc. absolutely stole the show!
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Thanks Norm, I really enjoyed your film also. I agree with you. I did way too much on the film and really lost track of crafting the performance over framing and lighting. That being said, back to My actors.... They put so much effort and heart into their performances and were willing to meet anytime, and or talk via email or phone about the project. They really sunk their teeth into it. As I mentioned before this was Gracie's ( the little girl) first project. Mallory (the mother) really bonded with Gracie and was responsible for 75% of Gracie's great performance. Did I also mention Gracie was only 4 and memorized all her lines...Watch out for her.

I'm happy that you enjoyed it.

Blaine said:
Very poignant and personal story. Herman's music fit like a glove, less is better in a story like this. I think anything bigger would have been maudlin and cut against what you were trying to achieve. I thought the cinematography was very well done. Got pulled out a little by the B&W sequence, seemed to come out of nowhere. Mallory was very good in her portrayal of desperate hopelessness. (btw, I remember her from a movie I prescreened for a fest last year, Bloodwine.) Justin also did a good job. It's difficult to work with and get a performance out of child but you did it with Gracie, kudos.

The story was quite familiar. You told it well but didn't really offer anything new. This is the kind of story I certainly expected to see in a LossFest.

Other than the B&W and the lack of freshness with this story of loss, I think you hit on all cylinders. Good job.
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Thanks Blaine I glad you enjoyed it... Let's talk Music... Herman is a Godsend and put together such an elegant score that enhanced the pictures emotion ten-folds. The themes and certain instruments that represent each character and their state of being. I'm so grateful that he was able to do the music.:thumbup:

Round 2 of quotes and comments coming back in 3... 2... and breakfast...
 
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Awesome! I really enjoyed this film. The colors were fantastic. Loved the lighting, score, acting. That little girl was very cute and performed well.
 
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