CallaghanFilms Presents "The Gaussian Project"

kimko said:
wow! we all told Callaghan this was a great story. but he had to cut out so much between time constraint, with the actors and being under 6 mins. there is so much more but darn it! it would have solved the mystery, everything you have said Luis and D and G HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD! Brett and i were sparring with our words and looks, it was a moment. we upped each other until i had gained control which i in turn walked out telling them my demands on their level they only understand. and the compassion was a couple of paragraphs of my speech that was taken out. now it was editted out for time and possibly because when it was time for my CU i was burnt out running my lines for the other actors for their CU (Brett was on a time constraint), so i might have sucked big time!i did not get any sleep for 2 days straight i was also helping with crew from 6am on to 11pm and i told Chad that i was hating my voice it was a pitch too high (so i agree with you there Penfever)anyhows, now you're all saying that i got something! like what! a disease huh what you talking about Willis:D hey thanks all:thumbup:
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There he is...the man of the hour!
I hope you're taking all these comments in, my man! Hell, you even got your own thread started that praises your acting chops.

Everyone,
Can you believe this cat doubted himself? I told him all along that his performance was on in a big way, but he didn't want to listen...and I was guilty of a mortal directing sin:
I let him watch the dailies with Michael Craven and I!
Fughedaboutit!
Never again...Freakin' actors! (kidding...I'm just kidding...I love actors...especially those with 100+ posts under their belts...again, kidding.)

Kimko,
To quote Ralph Kramden,
"Baby, you're the greatest."
I can't wait tackle the next one with ya.

:beer:
 
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man you wouldn't believe it i posted last night at 1:30 am and the friggin thing(computer) went offline argh! i posted a long one too! then having to go to work at 6am on the freeman movie. i'm still trying to download our short it's 3 hours. anyways i just got off the phone with Tim and i'm going up to his place so i can see the other shorts so i can comment and vote. this friggin dialup takes 3 hours for each short
 
I haven't read anyone else's review, so if I repeat anything then I'm sorry...

The Gaussian Project – From the opening titles all the way to the end I felt like I was watching a 70’s sci fi political thriller. That is a huge compliment and I loved the look. It felt like a 70’s film. The dialogue was good, enjoyable, and in general in worked for me. I think that the sound could have been better with recording the dialogue. There is nothing negative I can say about the story. For the camera work I thought it was very well shot throughout. I liked your shot selection and liked how you progressed throughout the project. The opening sequence grabbed me by the balls and kept me on this journey. Good job overall. I wasn’t crazy about the whole communication device because like I said, it looked like a 70’s film and that just didn’t work for me. The payoff at the end was well worth it though. From start to finish I thought this was one of the better films I saw and there isn’t a lot to critique. Your acting was good, the special effects appropriate, and it just worked well. The only thing I didn’t like was the very end, but cool effect none the less. Congrats on a great submission.
 
xl70e3 said:
Alright, so I watched it... Cheap rehash of Van Damme's TimeCop with some unshaved kimko instead of Van Damme and without butt-kicking and time travel vfx...







:D

j/k, of course. Loved it, Callaghan. Great story, dialogue, acting all around (:beer: to Kimko, you definitely have that something about you). Thinking man's Sci-Fi it is. I also liked the lighting in the office scene, looked totally pro. And the costumes. And the vfx.

Yeah, there are issues - mainly sound (it's not just Norm, I had trouble hearing some lines too and levels were jumping like crazy) and pacing (I don't mind the length of the first scene, but the end flew by in a blink... damn 6 min limit) - but nothing a Director's Cut couldn't fix.

Good job.
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hey the next movie; There's Something About Kimko and i'll have long blonde hair AND WHEN I TAKE OFF MY COWGIRL HAT MY BANGS WILL BE STICKING STRAIGHT UP! sorry Chad i just had some wine and stole your thread!( where's the cheese, man that's silly. i gotta go
 
Z B Brox said:
I agree that the acting was pretty top-notch here, but I share a lot of concerns about the story. The dialogue (what I could make out, I also had problems with the sound) was pretty dead on, and that alone made the conference room scene worthwhile.... but that ends up a case of winning a battle but losing a war, I think. You have a nice scene, but the time it takes up force you to rush through the actual story, and that hurts the film over all. It's tough to find that balance, because you need enough of that good dialogue and those strong performances to engage us in the plot, but it becomes almost an outline after that scene ends. Some real strengths here, but I think you've got to look at the film as a whole first. Tough to do when *you* have all the important stuff already in your head, but it's necessity for the viewer.
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I have to say I SO agree with ZB Brox here. I felt the editing and cinematography were great, that the opening scene starts off so strong in every department, especially the acting... but then the rest just feels so rushed that the story suffers. On my first view I didn't "get it" at all. A good setup, but the rest felt disjointed, and the sound issues made it even tougher to follow.

I thought it had a lot of potential, but because it felt so rushed and the ending quite abrupt, it did steal away it's own thunder.

Music was good.

Thanks for sharing it, and I'm glad you got the opportunity to work with some cool actors!
 
The look was very nice but I had a hard time hearing what one of the people at the table in the begining were saying. That made it hard for me to understand the plot of the whole film. I know there is some time travel but what is happening? Your cinematography was excellent though, very classic look. Great work
 
Hey!

Just watched your film. (Am going to watch it again so some of this may change.)

Overall, I liked it. You had a solid look and feel and achieved it well. Stylistically it was a nice athmosphere and choice. Kudos on the work you did there.

It may have been done for the time limit of the contest but I would leave the opening text up a little longer. Some people are slow readers. Minor point though.

My two biggest negatives are the pacing and the sound. I kept looking at the clock saying "3 minutes and they're still just talking"... "4 minutes....". The board room scene really dragged. It was hard to tell what information was important and what wasn't. I had to rewind it a few times because it just didn't hold my interest. The dialogue was well written, but the scene felt unnecessarily "talky".

As for the sound, it was very uneven in that scene as well. Levels were off. A couple of lines were almost lost.

Acting was also a bit uneven. Some good deliveries some not so good.

The eneding can also be a "huh" moment...like what just happened, why, and why do I care? I feel like some of that is because the information that was important in the boardroom scene was lost.

Very nice effort. A lot to recommend. I really enjoyed the look of your film more than anything. Wonderful work! Congrats!

Robert
 
TheYankee said:
...From the opening titles all the way to the end I felt like I was watching a 70’s sci fi political thriller. That is a huge compliment and I loved the look...
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A huge compliment? You bet yer ass it's a huge compliment!! I can't thank you enough for that one, Yankee. :beer:
Once again though I gotta mention Mike Craven's part in adding to that look that you mentioned.


I meant to post some useless trivia about my story earlier, but became side-tracked by one Sci-Fest film or another.

Brett Rice's character is Robert Hergewel III. Hergewel (so far as I know) is not an actual surname. It was a little homage that I made to the father of all science fiction...

HERGEWEL
Her = Herbert
Ge = George
Wel = Wells

...as in H.G. Wells.;)
 
Great. I've had a chance to get through everything and have now had the opportunity to take a closer look at the shorts I've really enjoyed. I absolutely love the production design that went into yours. Usually, a single set can get boring but I could have spent MORE time in your board room. Your story grabs me and pulls me along with it. I'd love to see this in an extended version so some of the elements could have been more developed, i.e. the chase through time. Again, your acting was some of the best (most polished and natural) of the festival. There were maybe two others that could compete on that level. The double cross was nice. Here, again, is where this particular piece could benefit with a little more time to develop it. I paid more attention to the score this time...excellent music.

The only thing negative I have to say is the sound in the board room bothered me. It seemed uneven and voices seemed to come from the wrong speakers several times. i.e. Right speaker when the actor was on the left.

With all that said, I'd LOVE to see a longer version of this. I watched it and you left me wanting more.
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I know I'm the last person to be talking about sound (re: The Man From Hollywood), but the audio during the beginning sounded a little too muffled. However, at the same time I could still understand what they were saying. Just a note. Maybe it was an EQ thing or something with their mics (not sure how they were wired). To boot, it did sound 70s, if that was the pitch.

I got very anxious during the beginning, waiting for something to happen... and well... lots of waiting, and I'm a patient moviewatcher.

Dug the actors for the most part.

*shrug* I should be more detailed, but I'm scrambling to watch everyone's. I'll be back :)
 
EditPhish said:
I have to say I SO agree with ZB Brox here. I felt the editing and cinematography were great, that the opening scene starts off so strong in every department, especially the acting... but then the rest just feels so rushed...
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Thank you for your feedback. I am quite proud of the boardrooom scene myself. As I've said regarding the time...more would have been nice, but I still feel this cut works.

Cheers:beer:
--and your film is one of the next ones that I'll be screening.
Lookin' forward to it.
 
darkfader said:
...very classic look. Great work
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I have been a student of classic film since early childhood.
I do hope some of that classic style was channeled through me.

Cheers:beer:

Thanks for screening it.
 
The Gaussian Project

The Gaussian Project

Visually I liked your film alot. I enjoyed you taking a unique tact on the color corection side of things. I don't think I saw another film that had your "look" and that uniquness was noticed and apreciated. It was moody and fit the story well.

Congratulations in attempting to capture the distruction of the world in 6 min. And doing a fair job at it.

I did'nt have a problem with the length of the boardroom scene like others did...your actors kept me in it and it fit your story.

Also, best title in the festival. I remember being intrigued from the first time I saw it posted...and that what a title is suposed to do, make you want to see the film.

Kip Kubin
 
I'll echo the compliments on the look of your piece and the CG at the end. Some neat looking stuff. The acting was good and amongst the strongest in the contest. Props, especially, have to go to Kimko! Great job overall.

With all that out of the way, let me launch into my critique. Your film is really top heavy with the boardroom scene just lasting way too long. Essentially, in my opinion, it's a scene of tensionless exposition. Yes, the acting is strong and the writing works but all the technobabble is completely anti-climatic. The scene leads to nothing. Maybe the overall concept is too big/ambitious for 6 minutes but the first scene fails to effectively set up the climax and as a result I don't feel anything (or even care for that matter) when Kimko's character is killed and the world explodes.

I think a lot of the blame rests on shot selection and not on the script so much. We jump into the boardroom scene and it's meant to be a standoff between these characters and tension is created on the script side. Yet, the visuals seem to be working in direct conflict with the script. The majority of the scene is shot in WS or MS with long stretches of dialogue passing with little or no reaction shots. There is very little visual tension created as a result and, I feel, the scene kind of sputters to the end. You have great actors and reactions/expressions are 90% of good film acting. I guess it's just hard to read an actor's face in a WS.

Anyway, for an editing standpoint there were several awkward moments that just really stood out. The first reaction shot from Kimko (he raises the glass and takes a sip) seems to be a 2 seconds late and it just lingers way too long. It just seemed really strange to me.

Finally, the CU of the Bald actor at the end of the scene. The framing is correct but his eyeline is completely weird because he is looking off screen in the direction of his co-worker. I realize that he is contemplating something that Kimko has said but the shot is disorienting because he starts off looking at his co-worker and not Kimko. Had he started with an eyeline towards Kimko and then looked towards his co-worker, it wouldn't have been disorienting.

Well I'll stop there. Again, good job.
 
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Ought2bCommitted said:
...Overall, I liked it. You had a solid look and feel and achieved it well. Stylistically it was a nice athmosphere and choice. Kudos on the work you did there...
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Robert,
Honestly, man...Thank you for that.

Ought2bCommitted said:
...I kept looking at the clock saying "3 minutes and they're still just talking"... "4 minutes...."
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I appreciate your take, but for me that chemistry between Kimko and Brett was pure magic. I'm getting the vibe that many viewers of the film agree with me, and that they felt that dynamic spark themselves...
But alas, you are not the first to feel that the opposite is true...

:beer:Cheers, my man
 
Blaine said:
Great. I've had a chance to get through everything and have now had the opportunity to take a closer look at the shorts I've really enjoyed. I absolutely love the production design that went into yours. Usually, a single set can get boring but I could have spent MORE time in your board room...
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Blaine,
Again...thank you. You are more than kind.

...That is what I was just saying about many people (myself included) not wanting the boardroom "chess game" to end...while, on the other hand, there have been a few that found it long-winded.

To each his own of course...
but it amazes me how the same scene
can be seen in such contrasting viewpoints.

Cheers
beer.gif


HA! Now I feel like Prometheus stealing fire from the gods...
Now I Have My Beloved Beer Smiley Back!!!
 
Hey, I'd just like to clarify something: It's not that I think, myself, that the boardroom scene was too long in of itself. I think it was too long given the length of the film. It's a nice scene, and the problems I had weren't within the scene, it was with the time it stole from telling an effective story with the other scenes. As a writer, one of the hardest things to learn is when you have to kill your darlings, as it were, sacrifice something you really love for the good of the overall piece. So, please, don't take my comments as a knock against the mojo your actors had going on! :) I just found that once that scene was over, you were out of time for the plot.
 
THX-1138 said:
Visually I liked your film alot. I enjoyed you taking a unique tact on the color corection side of things. I don't think I saw another film that had your "look" and that uniquness was noticed and apreciated. It was moody and fit the story well.
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Kip,
beer.gif
Thank you, my man. I really do appreciate that.
As for the look...
I had originally debated on utilizing black and white, but decided to visualize what Rod Serling would had done had he again cranked up the machine that was the Twilight Zone ten years after its original run. That's why Jeremy's "70’s sci fi political thriller" comment nearly blew my mind.

THX-1138 said:
Also, best title in the festival. I remember being intrigued from the first time I saw it posted...and that what a title is suposed to do, make you want to see the film.
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Again, thank you very much.
I know that many people think that I based the title on the NLE plug-in.
But, that wasn't it at all. While doing research, I found that one of Einstein's biggest inspirations was a Carl Friedrich Gauss (apparently credited with being the "father of quantum physics.") I though Gauss...Gaussian...The Gaussian Project sounds ring-a-ding.

Cheers
 
Holy crap! How did you get that shot of the world blowing up? Just kidding...

Sound was a little boomy - too much 400 hz. Also, the sound panning was distracting, because it wasn't true to the camera view.

Overall, great job.
 
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