'The Cake' - The Allentown Film Crew

I can certainly appreciate this film on a number of levels. In a way, it sort of correlates with my own film on the way certain aspects develop.

The image and sound were very solid throughout, but I felt some of the sound mix wasn't quite right. I understand what was intended, but it just seemed to lack a certain fluidity (though only in a few spots during the party scene).

I thought the Liberace guy was pretty darn good and felt natural, but the rest of the film just didn't feel quite right to me because things weren't developed prior to this event. And if using exposition to establish these relationships, it gets very tricky.

But I still think that this film did what it set out to do, so nice job! :thumbsup:
 
This movie makes me miss strange costume party days...

I like the overall tone and feel. Well paced for the most part and you've developed some interesting characters.

Speaking from a cinematography perspective... I feel the majority of your shots were too close to your subjects and the lens choice too wide... I found myself feeling the presence of the camera too often and this is usually a result of that shooting style. I would have liked to have seen more distance and longer focal lengths, just slightly... I think it'd give you a more cinematic feel to your films.

Story wise... I get it, yet I'm not sure what you entirely set out to achieve. I guess the ending felt a little forced to me... them getting together... although I do like 'how' they do it because of that mistake in the cake. I think it's more the way they act in that final scene, a little too comfortable perhaps? I'm not sure. But thinking of it right now... I think the guy was a little more believable, I sensed more of a strain in him, yet the girl seemed too relaxed given her feelings. Anyhoo, thanks for sharing and look forward to more from you.
 
Not bad, I agree with the others, Liberace could have livened things up a little more. I thought the pace was good, the story kept my attention well enough that I didn't pay too much attention to the technical side, as it should be.
 
I think the depressed guy on the couch could have been axed. Maybe have Liberace answer the door?

The acting was pretty good for the most part and I was able to follow the story quite easily.
i thought the guy biting down on the earring looked like he might have to go to the hospital after that one. :)

The payoff at the end played out well though.

Technically... the shot that moves around the party to the couch looked a little shaky.
Pretty good other wise. Maybe more shot variety would have helped though.

MAH
 
I think the problem with Liberace is that he is so funny in that opening sequence... He kinda steals the show before it really gets going.

This was a sweet and funny film - I think upping the ante in terms of conflict, esp. with the black cat girl and the deli guy, would have really elevated it to the next level but I enjoyed it all the same. I really liked the lead a lot; she was lovely and did a very nice job.

I'm a bit confused - who is Jane Doe? I think I get that she is involved with the film, but I'm not sure in what capacity.
 
Will Clegg said:
I think the problem with Liberace is that he is so funny in that opening sequence... He kinda steals the show before it really gets going.

This was a sweet and funny film - I think upping the ante in terms of conflict, esp. with the black cat girl and the deli guy, would have really elevated it to the next level but I enjoyed it all the same. I really liked the lead a lot; she was lovely and did a very nice job.

I'm a bit confused - who is Jane Doe? I think I get that she is involved with the film, but I'm not sure in what capacity.
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I felt exactly the same way about Liberace. I ended up not caring nearly as much about the girl and the vampire as I should have. Their relationship wasn't important to me. I just wanted some witty dialogue and Liberace doing some variation of a Latin dance on a piano (maybe nix that last bit).
 
Will Clegg said:
I'm a bit confused - who is Jane Doe? I think I get that she is involved with the film, but I'm not sure in what capacity.
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I made the genie and black cat costumes. I was also present during the entire pre-production process (meetings, script selection, and such), and helped with small tasks during the shoot.

Thanks for asking.
 
My intention was to write an opening sequence that would grab the viewer from the first moment. Perhaps this succeeded a little too well.
 
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Jane Doe said:
The conflict was fine, considering the tension levels and all that was going on while filming that fireplace scene (with only 3 take...gives the editor much less to work with at the end). All in all, it turned out better than I had expected. I was half-expecting not to see a finished product at all.


Of course, all projects are going to leave us thinking "we could have done this better" or "maybe we should have added that."
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What would help that scene more would be if the story being told had more connection to the film. Right now it is pretty random and Jessie is not really paying attention so the viewer instantly gets that this guy is not interested. Tension could probably be built up there though the dialog.

Jane Doe said:
The intro was really fantastic. I loved the song choice as Liberace entered the scene and pointed at the kid on the bike. It really set the mood. The friendship between him and Margot seemed very real, as did their dialogue. They both did a very good job.
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I thought the acting was really good throughout. I felt that that was the strongest part; which, by looking at the comments, seems to be what most are saying.

Jane Doe said:
There were a few scenes that were a little unclear, like the scene where Margot realizes she's lost her earring. The angle on her face wasn't quite close enough to show her concern for losing her earring. If I hadn't read the script, I wouldn't have had a clue what that scene signified.
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I was actually considering addind a line via ADR to make that scene clearer but decided against it as it would feel like to much focus was placed on the earing. I agree about the way it was shot though. A little to far back.

Jane Doe said:
I think the credits rolled a little too fast, though, and people/jobs were listed that weren't in the film, and vice-versa.
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The credit speed was due to the 6:00 time limit. It had to be placed over the last scene which wasn't ideal. In the longer cut it is by itself and rolls at a slower pace. Not sure about the extra credits. They are pretty much the roles people had.

I thought it came across well. I was concerened when I saw the first edit but having scene the finished product it is pretty good.
 
mjjason said:
Not sure about the extra credits. They are pretty much the roles people had.
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I understand the need to keep the film at 6 minutes. Maybe 5 seconds taken off the Simon/Margot couch scene would have left more room for credits. I just figure that so many people put a lot of time and effort into the project, but the credits roll by too fast to read their names without pausing.

The director, producer, etc, had their names very prominently displayed at the beginning and the song credits held for quite some time on the screen, but the actors and crew seemed like a mere blip. I only bring this up because it was mentioned to me by two others completely unrelated to the project that watched the film.

Also, there are trick-or-treaters credited, but I don't recall seeing any in the film, as well as a "drunk @sshole", who I don't remember seeing either.

I also wonder why the part where black cat whispers in Draculas's ear was cut, along with the part where she asks if "he's ever been patted down" and runs her hand down his chest. Those flirtatious actions might have made Margot's jealousy seem more believable. As is, it sems like she's pretty peeved over not much of anything.
 
The credits are the same for both the longer and shorter version. Once the fest is over the additional scenes including the trick or treaters and the longer fireplace scene will be in the longer version that will be up on Vimeo and Youtube. The credits were kept the same because of that.
 
A fun watch. Liberace was flamboyant, but hey, it's a party.

Love 'drunk asshole' in the credits. Very funny.

I think you could have handled the lost earring differently. Once we saw it drop in the batter, the rest of the film was pretty much a foregone conclusion - somebody was going to eat it. Maybe play it up more in the bedroom. Your lead actress has a very expressive face, and could have told us a lot just by realizing one of the earrings is missing.

Also like the couple. That odd mix we all like to see.

Nice, light-hearted flick.

alex
 
I liked this a little better than your last film but this one still didn't quite do it for me.

I felt the story was flat. Everything was pretty much laid out 1-2-3 and it unfolded that way. I never wondered if the two were going to get together...everything pointed that way and played out that way with no real hurdles. Perhaps you meant for the Black Cat to be a stumbling block but it was obvious the guy wasn't buying it.

Another problem you had was that the Liberace character was more interesting than your lead. I would have spent a little less time on him and used it to make your lead more interesting. His main purpose seemed to be to distract her so the earring could "get lost" and to set up the fact that she liked the Jesse. I would have liked to have seen her a little more uncomfortable around him since you set that feeling up in the cake baking scene with Liberace.
 
It seems to me ... a secondary character has moved up from comic relief to a more interesting role, I'm speaking of liberace. You did a great job of grabbing our attention but it was tough keeping interest in less interesting characters. They need to be made more endearing or fleshed out elsewise they come across as flat. Almost too straightforward ... no real obstacles or challenges to have but fun nonetheless.
 
Blaine said:
I liked this a little better than your last film...
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Wow, surprised anyone even remembered that one. Hopefully we will get better as we do more and more films.

One thing I notice is that not many people are commenting on the technical aspect of the film. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I can see it being good in that the film-making blended into the film and nothing really stood-out as being poor technically. But maybe it was too formulaic. In the end I will take it as a compliment that not many people criticized the technical aspects of the film.
 
Alot of people have commented on the Liberace character, and I suppose it is good to get a reaction to something. I certainly did not want the film to be completely ignored. Having said that, the way that opening scene was written was alot more subtle than it turned out. The music and the way it was acted made him a very big character. The way I had written the script was that I wanted it (the whole film) to be kind of weird or avant garde or loopy. I think I had mentioned this in passing in some of our meetings. As it was going I figured it was better to just play it for laughs otherwise it might seem pretentious. It seemed to be the direction(comedy) it was going anyway.

Having said that, even if Liberace was played down a bit, I still don't think the other characters were strong enough. So I am glad it did get some laughs, but I'll try to work more on character development and conflict more on other scripts I write. I did learn alot though!
 
One of the issues we had with this short was that we never really sat down in the beginning and fully fleshed out how we wanted this to feel. I think most, including myself, kind of focused on their respective roles but no-one really stood back and looked at the big picture of how we want this movie to flow. What kind of movie it should be. That is definitely a discussion we need to have on the next one.
 
Not a bad film. I do see development from the last project. I agree that the characters need to be fleshed out a little more. On the technical side, it went pretty smoothly. The audio was a little muffled at times, particularly the first scene, so I didn't always catch what they were saying. The cinematography worked fine as most don't expect a lot of "arty" angles from a dialogue driven film. I think I see what you're going for and your film is definately moving in that direction. Thanks for sharing!
 
I thought this was a fun film to watch but I agree with some earlier postings that the main characters were a little flat which made it difficult to really root for them like I wanted to.
 
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