SHORT: A Real Hero

HMSanchez87

HMSanchez87

Member
Hey, my name is Hector M. Sanchez Jr. and I decide to do a limit time release on my short film “A Real Hero”. I plan I sending the film to several festivals but I wouldn't mind seeing what people think of it before I even send it off. I feel like you never really get feed back at festivals, yeah you win some awards, but you never honestly know what people thought of it.

Now “A Real Hero” is simple story, girl walks home late at night and gets attack by thugs. Someone hears the young girl screaming for help and has to make a choice, keep walking or do something. Honestly the film was my own way of ranting through cinematic narrative, that when you see something horrible happening, do something to stop it. It’s becoming a common practice to see someone in need of help but walk away as if nothing.

This is the second film I directed, the first being “Shadows Of The Mind” which you can also check out: Click Here. So please tell me what you think and if you like it, don't forget to press the heart button on the video. Also please listen to it with earphones and don't use your laptop speakers. Hope everyone likes it.

Link: A Real Hero

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Official Website: www.HectorSanchezJr.com
 
Overall I thought it was a nice, simple story. I think it's good for filmmakers to make pieces like this as it's a great way to learn.

My biggest issue with the film is that I didn't feel like the guy was conflicted in his choice. Especially since you are advertising the piece as about the choice that he makes, it would have been nice to see him in his process of making that decision. As it is, we see that he sees what's happening, and suddenly he's there fighting them. This makes the whole piece feel a bit arbitrary as no characters have any real internal struggle.

Also I was not a fan of the music choice and slow motion for the fight scenes. For me, it made the violence melodramatic.

And my final bit of criticism is I didn't understand the whole deal with the pen and paper. Clearly she was not deaf, so why wouldn't she answer his question audibly?

You got some really nice shots though. Overall decent acting.
 
Thanks for the comment, to answer your last question. I did some research and its common for women who have a dramatic event to go into shock. They become mute almost, so he used the paper to communicate with her.
 
In one word? wow!
Some great potential (to me at least!) in many aspects: cinematography, lighting, camera work and most important, story telling.
As said, I didn't saw any conflict about getting involved or not, but still, it was a good little short film. Made with the best possible intentions.
Only issue for me was the sound: when she was screaming and yelling for help, I'm pretty sure it clipped on the VU meters and it's been worked in post. Not that it sounds bad, but it was quite hot. Knowing that she was about to scream, your boom operator should have raised the mic a little up in the air to prevent that to happen. But if it's only that, it's not much of an issue! The movie was good and I enjoyed it!
Great work!
 
Thank you, I really appreciate your reaction to the film and I'm glad you liked it.

And you are definitely correct on the sound clipping when she screams, but I must defend my boom Operator lol. He had moved when she scream but the problem was actually the recorder we used (H4N). It seemed certain voices clip or distort, even when the gain was as low as possible. The Thug with the Knife had a voice that distorted no matter what he said, high or low. So we had to give his lines to the other thug.

We later learned it was a software issue lol.
 
jghenderson said:
Overall I thought it was a nice, simple story. I think it's good for filmmakers to make pieces like this as it's a great way to learn.

My biggest issue with the film is that I didn't feel like the guy was conflicted in his choice. Especially since you are advertising the piece as about the choice that he makes, it would have been nice to see him in his process of making that decision. As it is, we see that he sees what's happening, and suddenly he's there fighting them. This makes the whole piece feel a bit arbitrary as no characters have any real internal struggle.

Also I was not a fan of the music choice and slow motion for the fight scenes. For me, it made the violence melodramatic.

And my final bit of criticism is I didn't understand the whole deal with the pen and paper. Clearly she was not deaf, so why wouldn't she answer his question audibly?

You got some really nice shots though. Overall decent acting.
Click to expand...

JG, very... VERY good notes/thoughts. This is exactly what I came to after watching it.

HM you made some very bold choices up front, some of which I could never actually make as a filmmaker and while quite a few of them could've come off the wrong way, you just crossed the line of making them work. Good job.

The problem for me was what JG described, and you lost me the moment you put him into a fight without exploring his choice, and the way the fight was presented.

Pacing was good up to that point, though, and good to see people just shooting!
 
So the biggest problem is him showing up to fight and the slow motion. I felt showing him, and then 30 seconds later him jumping right in, was a way of showing how things feel to happen so fast but yet slow.

Not sure if that makes sense lol.
 
Kholi said:
HM you made some very bold choices up front, some of which I could never actually make as a filmmaker and while quite a few of them could've come off the wrong way, you just crossed the line of making them work. Good job.
Click to expand...

Ohh and thank you on the comment, I was trying to ride a thin line but keep it grounded with out taking it to a un-tasteful place.
 
It is hard to show conflict in a short without giving a lot of background on the conflicted character. 2 shots rang out to me that would have shown me he was conflicted, take these ideas for what they are... just ideas and quick thoughts.

1 takes way too long so I won't even describe it but the second could be the hero, in the car and talking on the phone. He's obviously enjoying himself and the conversation. He sees the girl get taken and you can see that he is distraught. He looks the other way, turns a little in his seat and tries to continue talking on the phone, this time much less light-heartedly. He looks back again then looks away... he seems to make up his mind about leaving as the shot closes in on him turning the ignition on in his car and maybe the brake lights turning on...

Then he shows up at the scene as the hero....

Like I said, just a thought that I had when I asked myself "how would I show the hero conflicted"...
 
gundar said:
It is hard to show conflict in a short without giving a lot of background on the conflicted character. 2 shots rang out to me that would have shown me he was conflicted, take these ideas for what they are... just ideas and quick thoughts.

1 takes way too long so I won't even describe it but the second could be the hero, in the car and talking on the phone. He's obviously enjoying himself and the conversation. He sees the girl get taken and you can see that he is distraught. He looks the other way, turns a little in his seat and tries to continue talking on the phone, this time much less light-heartedly. He looks back again then looks away... he seems to make up his mind about leaving as the shot closes in on him turning the ignition on in his car and maybe the brake lights turning on...

Then he shows up at the scene as the hero....

Like I said, just a thought that I had when I asked myself "how would I show the hero conflicted"...
Click to expand...

This seems to be the biggest issue, not showing enough conflict between the character making a choice. It's a lesson learned and appreciated criticism. I'm going to leave the video up for one more day and hope to hear more about what everyone thinks.
 
Well, thanks everyone for the replies and critiques. The video was only up for 3 days and I think I got a pretty good reactions. I hope it does well in the Festival line, thanks again.
 
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