The Man From Hollywood - BrianV, Profnoxin

I watched it again, with the right version. I really liked the actors you got. The story was a bit confusing, and I still don't know quite to make of it. I really liked the third guy, he had a sort of David Caruso feel to him. Cool stuff. Definitley one of the better pieces in this competition.
 
Yeah, the very condensed story was a concern of ours, and our own private preferred version has more "breathing room" for the story, but we think ultimately if people can get the basic gists of what's going on and have a good time by the end, then I suppose that's all we can ask for.

And we hope that's the case. :) What does everyone else think?
 
briceman said:
I really liked the third guy, he had a sort of David Caruso feel to him. Cool stuff.
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By the by, we like to call him a mix of David Caruso and Kevin Spacey. I hope he likes David Caruso. :)

*shrug*
 
Sexy! We're up! F**k yeah!!!

When I downloaded there was some jitter... kind of odd... but from what I heard the old version was far less intact. When we are allowed to, we're going to have the less condensed version for viewing. We'll post our site up after voting is completed. Dig that hacked out DVX look.

I love taking a camera that produces such clean images, and just digging my hands in there and creating harsh messy, Cross Process reversal looking ****. Who says you can't get by without Magic Bullet?

Dig.
 
I liked what you did here and how you were able to work it into a Sci-Fi theme. My only complaint would be that this was supposed to be a heart throb from the 50s. In the flashback scene, give him an appropriate hairstyle. It seems like such a small thing but it was a deal breaker when it came to suspension of disbelief. Other than that you had a nice short.
 
Hmm, for some reason I had some real problems making out the dialogue at times. The sound mxiing seemed a bit off. The story itself was interesting, and I thought the performances were a storng point. I would've liked to know more, though. You mentioned the compressed story, but I think it's really important to at least give the audience a reason to care about what's going on from the start. I thought the editing and the way the story mvoed back and forth in time were all interesting, I just had a problem getting involved in the story. I know it's short, but I think you could've done more in the time with some different choices.
 
Just watched it & was smiling by the end. It's cool with the powers that he had ... very cool. I also liked the back & forth of how one scene would run into the next via dialogue, etc.

However, the sound mix on this was pretty poor, as I had a difficult time making out what they were saying, more than one time ... when those were issues, it was usually when the background sound/hiss was too loud ... like you had poor gain in the mic during production and had to boost the heck out of it in post to get any audible at all.

Aside from the audio issue, there was pretty severe interlacing in this, but perhaps it's also due to this compression. BTW, I did TRY watching the original version that was all jacked up by the compression, then quit to wait until I could watch this one. It was a mixed bag, that other version, as there were some parts that it jumped back and forth SO fast, or stuttered, that I really wondered if it was on purpose ... and if so, then it was somewhat amazing editing ... very edgy, etc. But, since I'd read that there were issues, I realized it probably shouldn't be that way & waited for this one.

But I'm off topic ...

The acting, in parts, really bothered me, while in other spots it felt dead on and was great. Just wasn't super consistant, though it was UP more than it was down, if that makes sense.

The style and your marketing (i.e. font choices, layout of graphics, etc.) is great.

Oh, but like the others, I was lost with the story in the middle, as it wasn't making sense. Even at the end, there are still parts in there that don't make sense to me, though I got the gist of the overall story.
 
Cool man. I didn't quite understand the guys powers, but it was really neat to watch. What did the villian do to become the guys advesary? I really liked it.
 
Thanks all. Luckily alot of these comments we were expecting. We were walking a knife-edge between "explain everything" or "twilight zone atmosphere," whereas the audience only needs one thread of a gist of story to satisfy one part of the brain while the rest enjoys the neatness the short has.

As for sound issues.... yeah, the production sound turned out quite raw, and we did what we could. Hopefully it didn't kill it too much, but it's certainly something that is what it is.

In the end, I'm just happy that despite poor points given, people still ultimately enjoy the short, and give us good marks for being entertained in general.....which I suppose ultimately is the goal.

Thanks for the comments, all! Keep em coming! Keep watching!

Envision, I'm just curious which parts of the acting you felt were lax compared to other (for future directorial reference, depending on what precisely it pertains to).

Again, thank you all. Keep it coming :)
 
man i can't wait to download these shorts on something faster than my dialup.... but anyways .....I LIKE THE TITLE !!!
 
Okay, I'm going back to watch it now ... as I am, I've got additional Q's:

What's he doing with his hands at 1:24? We cut to a few CU's, so I assume he's doing something important, but I never realize what.

At 1:58, what's the guy doing to him? Just carving him up like a Christmas Turkey? I never see the importance of this later, nor any wounds to make me think/remember it later.

Acting: They've grown on me the second time viewing, but for some reason 2:12-2:35, I'm just not digging the antagonists performance ... then improves.

At 3:44, I can't stand the way the protagonist says the line "You made me an offer", but he's probably supposed to sound flat, and uninterested in the scene, I'm assuming? At least it's how it came across to me.

Sheesh, those were nit pick comments ... I'm kind of embarrassed now.

Oh, and I see that he was untying his hands, as after the antagonist shot his side-kick/goon, the protagonist just stood up, dropping the rope. I also see the blood running down his arm from the carving ... which I still don't know why it was taking place exactly.
 
The simplest answers are often the best - The goon's reason for cutting him up? He's a dick. Or a masochist. Etc. The wounds do persist, we just don't show the side of his arms all that often. Lastly, the goon is breaking his fingers, and he's living it in the bar and in the room. Not terribly important to the plot, just showing that Dean is existing in a couple of different times at once.

Lastly, you answered your own question, Dean is disinterested by the villain's shtick.
 
Ah, there's something I didn't get ... was that Dean was experiencing that pain in two different times ... I thought he was hullicinating (find a happy place, find a happy place) while he's getting the crap kicked out of him, then brought back into reality every so often, the first time I watched it.

Also, I still wouldn't have known it was the goon breaking the fingers, as it was too much of a CU ... should have pulled back more to see the goon reaching back there. Maybe you did, but I sure missed it. Again, in hindsight, I thought Dean was working on the ropes, since they just fall off at the end.
 
As far as knowing he was breaking his finger, there was this sound effect that was of bones breaking, but maybe that didn't come across well in the compression.

Oh, and everything Profnoxin said, I agree on :) *high five*

Thanks for the good and constructive word, all. Keep it coming :)
 
I heard the SFX of bones breaking ... just didn't know that was the goon's hand back there doing the work. Thought, hmmm, maybe it's a Houdini thing ... if I break all the bones in my hands, then I can slip the mushy bag of skin that's holding it altogether through the ropes more easily.

Certainly wasn't a hang up for me ... just wasn't clear.
 
Ok, I finally got to view this one...

I thought the concept was sound, and the stylized look worked well.

The actors overall turned in respectable performances. Your main antagonist (Spacey-Caruso) has a great look about him...the camera really liked him. The lead also did well. The goon's performance may not have been quite up to par, however IMHO. I must say, however, that he did resemble Matthew Perry in certain shots.

The music selection was dead on. Cheers on that wise creative choice.

As far as the edit...
I must say that the cuts was noticeable at times, especially early on. I also was left with some plotline questions. I caught the "Highlander"-like vibe of Sean, in that he is an ageless journeyman through the centuries. What I didn't catch however, was the following:
Does the antagonist share Sean's "gift"? If he does, would Sean's powers affect him? If he doesn't, why would he get close enough to Sean to let his mind be controled...why not kill him from afar? His "dialogging" (to borrow a phrase from The Incredibles) with Sean is ultimately his undoing...something that he should have known would happen.

I am not trying to nitpick by any means...and I throughly enjoyed your film (especially as a self-proclaimed Twilight Zone fiend myself.);)

:beer: Cheers Fellas
 
I liked it, but when I started watching it, I expected Quentin Tarantino to open the door and start talking franticly to the camera.

But seriously, it was a cool movie, I liked the actors and the quirks of the guys powers. When he lit the cigarette with his finger... Well, needless to say it was badass.

And the ending was cool. I liked the performance by the antagonist.
 
CallaghanFilms said:
As far as the edit...
I must say that the cuts was noticeable at times, especially early on. I also was left with some plotline questions.
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By that do you mean you could tell that were were trying hard to trim it down?

Oh, and as for David Caruso's level of powers, I'd think of it as a man trying to bridge the gap between normal man and "more than man," so not only is his ability not as strong as Sean's (true breed), but as such he's not impervious to having it dealt back at him.

Granted, it's more important that people accept that while watching instead of after I explain it, but for what it's worth that's what we were getting at. :)

As far as the performance of the "meat puncher," I dig it because it sounds like a square trying to be a tough guy... a guy who shows up in a tweed jacket that is trying hard to be intimidating...

...only to decorate the wall with his brains by story's end (ummm... hope you watched it before reading this).

Thanks again, all. Don't stop there, guys! Onward! :D
 
spencer said:
I liked it, but when I started watching it, I expected Quentin Tarantino to open the door and start talking franticly to the camera..
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Hehe... this comment intrigues me. :) By that do you mean you detected a Tarantino-esque vibe to the movie (or de Palma, as they can be more or less identical), or that Dustin ("kirk kingman") reminded you of him?

Though I'm not exactly a de Palma fan myself, there are no wrong answers :)

;)
 
This story was confusing for a little while but when I finally got it near the end I wished the middle was as clear. I liked the edits and the grittiness but the audio killed it for me. The sound track worked I thought though. I think the ending would have been a little stronger if the guy just said the line and shot himself instead of squinting from not wanting to do it.
 
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