000689.mov

I'm pretty sure this style is here to stay. It's not gonna die. not when PA3 made $54 mil last weekend.

heh, you are NOT gonna like mine then Keaton, but i gave you a "like" on facebook today so be easy on me. :)

In all seriousness, this genre seems to be getting pigeon-holed into a "devil / satanic" theme what with paranormal activity, rec 1 & 2 and the excellent "the last exorcism". I give Brickhouse credit for not going the satanic route (although that may contradict a previous post of mine), and I myself didn't go the satanic route either.

But i think the faux-documentary will forever have it's place in cinematic history because we are now a generation where everyone videos stuff everywhere they go. As a writer, I have had fun figuring out the genre, and i think when you tackle it Chris, you will have fun too. Just don't so satanic horror.

Catfish, Cloverfield and District 9 did some nifty faux-doc stuff that was interesting and not just "satanic" horror.
 
Matt Harris said:
I'm pretty sure this style is here to stay. It's not gonna die. not when PA3 made $54 mil last weekend.

heh, you are NOT gonna like mine then Keaton, but i gave you a "like" on facebook today so be easy on me. :)

In all seriousness, this genre seems to be getting pigeon-holed into a "devil / satanic" theme what with paranormal activity, rec 1 & 2 and the excellent "the last exorcism". I give Brickhouse credit for not going the satanic route (although that may contradict a previous post of mine), and I myself didn't go the satanic route either.

But i think the faux-documentary will forever have it's place in cinematic history because we are now a generation where everyone videos stuff everywhere they go. As a writer, I have had fun figuring out the genre, and i think when you tackle it Chris, you will have fun too. Just don't so satanic horror.

Catfish, Cloverfield and District 9 did some nifty faux-doc stuff that was interesting and not just "satanic" horror.
Click to expand...

If I do it, it'll probably be a sci-fi. Or some weird fantasy thing. In either case I can justify the camera. :)
 
Interesting film, but didn't do it for me. I like this style, but was hoping for something fresh. Its been done to death (I'm with Keaton on this one).
What I came away with was a bunch of unrelated clips...jerky walking from "The Ring" and body contortions & vocalizations from "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", all with a "Blair Witch Project" feel.
Excellent effort but it fell short for me. (I'm sure you must hate me by now... but like all critiques, just take it with a grain of salt...sugarcoating doesn't do anyone any good)

FYI... "Cloverfield" has been the ONLY film I've ever walked out of the theater on....the shakey-cam just killed me....I almost puked my $7 twizzlers all over my shoes!

Spoiler:
Thoughts...for what they are worth:
- first 1:10 of the film...left me wondering if I should jump ahead or just stop watching.
- next :30...all I want to do is scan the tattoo on your arm to see what comes up! If he's bugging you, go wake him up.
- 1:47.... why does he keep saying "Sea Bass"? Great, now I'm hungry.
- it's sleep walking... end of story.
- 2:43... who's filming this? Did Danial turn the camera on before going into his trance & break dancing? Scene was WAY too long.
- Couch in the door....why do you crawl under it... just move it out of the way. This makes no sense to me.
- I think Danial has a man-crush on the guy... why would the character throw him to the side, then take the time to grab his camera before running outside. I mean wouldn't he want his pants first? ...and why is he scared of Danial now? Up to this point he really hasn't been bothered.
-"Don't go in there"...who is he talking to?
- Now Danial has a friend? WTF

I know this all seems harsh, but maybe you can see some of my points? It's all meant as a positive to help you see another point of view and grow as a filmmaker.
This is just MY opinion...and you know what they say about opinions. :happy:

I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!
 
Keaton, see now i'm gonna hound you to watch the films of this genre, you might like a couple!

in terms of found footage sci-fi: The movie that came out a few months ago, Apollo 18, was pretty cool. Check it out.

Brickhouse sorry if i hijacked your thread.
 
Za, you're right, that's another thing to consider with this found footage stuff, how shakey is the camera? That can get real annoying. Cloverfield abused that to high hell.
 
Sooo.. It's Paranormal 3b

This was a film I wanted to just hit the stop button on but I gave it a full potential and benefit of the doubt.

I applaud your efforts to make a film, but encourage you to go above and beyond something that's been done. Simply switching to 'night vision' mode and hitting record, mixing with strange whispers that are supposed to be off camera, and doco style blips and edits just doesn't cut it for scaring an audience. I want to jump!! I want my nerves to be on end... I want to feel it's for real.

Get out there man, let your mind loose and really show us what's in your head. Not what's in the mind of others.

/j
 
I'm torn. Parts of this I liked, other parts, not so much.

I liked the setup. The roommate, the odd sleeping habits, etc...
I didn't like the "standing over him while he was sleeping" parts.
It's alright to borrow, but using direct moments from other movies, especially scenes that aren't that old, that kind of bothered me.

On the flip side, I get that part of it is just seeing if you can pull it off effectively, so I understand that. It's a great way to learn. That's why I'm torn.

The ending needed more for me. I was also confused by the sudden inclusion of additional characters.

Keep at it though. I thought this had some really interesting moments.
I was very interested in what was going on so that's a good thing.

Cheers,
 
I'm just now getting into this genre myself more as a viewer. I had a found footage short for my Timefest entry but it wasn't executed well. Anyway, I watched Paranormal Activity 2 last night for the first time. Need to see part 1. So the voyeur aspect of me always seems to get in to these types of movies. You're beginning drew me in and it was a nice setup. There was some humor too. The second half of the film, the execution was lacking. I didn't understand why he was filming himself sleeping, need something motivating that. Maybe I missed something. And then the guy standing over him was more weird than anything. Maybe if he was just standing there instead of contorting his body. I dunno. I think if given a do over, you'd rock the last half.
 
I liked how you began this and thought the start stop style how your main character was using the camera was great. I think the story need a little more character development with the roomate to gel. The additions of extra characters in the end was just confusing. It was a creepy story and with a little perfecting it could have been great. I think the genre is here to stay and this little film has got me thinking of tackling a 'found footage' story down the road. hmmmm maybe there might be a dvx festival just to this genre????
 
I think Michael's comments really echo my thoughts.

I think you have some great stuff here. I REALLY dig the whole 'youtube guitar video' setup, in fact I wished you'd started with this, because we all 'get it', and used that as your narrative entry point.

Good acting on both accounts and solid 'found footage' style camera work.
 
This one I found a bit confusing. He's talking into a camera, it's just such an easy way to go that I can't really stay interested throughout. It was creepy to a degree, but not quite entertaining. The actor was okay, would have liked him to play off someone, but again, the stop-and-go camera just got a bit old.
 
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