Acceptable Losses - A Chris Curl film...

Thanks for sharing that review Chris. That was the most helpful review of all of them that I've read on any movie. I wish this guy would watch my movie and critique it. He goes well beyond limited technical aspects to deeper story telling techniques and connecting with the audience.

This definitely helped me. So thank you. I thought he was going to rave about what a great movie it was, that took some courage to post.
 
Nemesis TS said:
Thanks for sharing that review Chris. That was the most helpful review of all of them that I've read on any movie. I wish this guy would watch my movie and critique it. He goes well beyond limited technical aspects to deeper story telling techniques and connecting with the audience.

This definitely helped me. So thank you. I thought he was going to rave about what a great movie it was, that took some courage to post.
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No problem, I don't know about it taking courage, if I was putting product out there and saying "This is the greatest thing ever, and if you have a problem with it you just don't get it" I could see wanting to keep something like that a secret (and that's something i have seen only a very small amount on this site). I do agree about it being very helpful, it is critiques like that and some of the others i have received that I will be reviewing in my head next time i am putting a project together and hopefully leading to a better piece. I know it will help me and i hope it helps you and anyone else that reads it.
 
I watched this one again and it's quite a production! I have to give you credit for all the effort it took to create the sets and FX. Very well done in that respect.

It immediately seemed weird to me why the guy in the control room appears to be standing like 6" from that huge screen. I desperately wanted a med shot of him. I think it would open up his acting possibilities too.

I loved the look, but your spaceman didn't quite feel like he was in space. Needed a little bit of 'float' perhaps? Would've been nice to have a med or wide of him too, but I'm sure that would mean extending the set/ fx

I think that review you posted sums it up nicely, and says to me- this is too much story to fit into 6 minutes. And by its very nature, the dialog comes off a little contrived as it has to burn through the plot at warp speed.

Aside from the excessive CU's the one thing that took me out of it was the writing on the screens. It was just blocks. Looked like dna strands? Is this some new form of writing in the future? I didn't buy it.

I dug the music, loved the look and lighting, costumes, but it ultimately fell short in the script dept. (Sorry Keaton)
 
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Chris, I was there on the set and no how many times I watch this (4 so far), I can't put myself in the point of view of looking at the set from the outside. I think you did a marvelous job of setting this film up and pulling the world into view, insomuch that I honestly forget that I was right there when a lot of that was shot. Serious kudos, again bro.
 
A very, very likable film.

Here are some random thoughts:

The opening sounds & visuals are a great starting point. I love anything with that "distorted" audio track simulating a garbled, long-distance transmission.

The shot around :56 is just masterful. Don't know why I like it so much, but when you threw up screen grabs I really liked it then and loved seeing it in action. All "screen display" material looks great.

The acting: So it's not all diamonds, but there are some great moments. I like "I'm flying a little blind here, I could use a little help" And the line that precedes that from MC. I'm not a fan of the choice to hide Nelson's eyes in the opening shots, but maybe that's just me.

Set design: Mission control comes off sparse (I know you gave out some info on that) Maybe if there was a person or two coming up to Dom with lines or handing notes/readouts. (not just the phantom handoff of the directive) More people in the background, even if blurred. More busy sound design in the background might help too. Something to create more of a sense of urgency. The fact that Dom was wearing one of those nerdy Oxford short sleeve shirts....that scores points!

The whole Orbital Dynamics branding was off the hook, really....I'm watching that film Moon right now and I think your logo was more solid than whatever they're using in that feature.

I'm not going to talk too much about the CG space effects, I'm sure that's been covered. If you could team up with someone to finesse those space shots, this could be crafted into something so much better. All the plates of the Earth below are nice.

Your set design...that's your strong suit and it shows. You know, I'm sure the shot with the steam rising has been praised by many.

The muffled audio when the helmet is sealed, I'm sure that has been covered as well, but I wasn't digging it, too hard to understand dialogue, and it just didn't seem to fit. I would go with a "radio transmission" sound for that.

Finally, the way the film ends: Aces. When the title comes up at the end, bravo.
I really liked this one, so hopefully I didn't say too much stupid stuff!
 
So there has been alot of good feedback that I really appreciate so let me ask this, is this film worth polishing up (NOT shooting more live footage, but redoing animation, revisiting the edit and sound mix) and then entering in some fests? I'm not asking to have my ego massaged or anything, I am just way to far in it to have an objective opinion, I really have no idea, and if my energy is better spent moving forward, I can do that too.
 
I showed it to a few 'regular viewers' and they loved it. I'll send you their feedback. But it's worth the effort. No one saw the end coming, so as long as you don't enter it into a betrayal fest you'll be cool.
 
yes, touch it up a bit. it was a great short. i always touch up mine once the fests are over and even the smallest changes can make the biggest differences.
 
Go for it. Its a good short and with a bit of polish to the cg it will be a great short. Dont be despondant about not making the final, CGI rarely makes the cut here.
 
OK, so I have to be honest, I honestly did not expect or deserve to make the top 10 so that did not disappoint me, but to get my placement and to see I did worse than the first film I did for a fest, which is obviously an inferior product in every way really confuses me. Placement isn't the reason I did this project, but right this minute it vexes me...I am vexed.
 
Well, I was really into this movie after seeing bts & captures. After watching it, i must admit I was a bit disappointed. As it was stated a couple of times in your topic, the astronaut was to nervous, if you can fix that with ADR the movie would be much better. Also I had problem with color corrections, i would go much darker and colder, get that "dark lonely space" feeling to it. And yes the animation needs work. Also I don't think that cut on his voice while he has his visor on works, maybe over com, like the other guy? my two cents
 
namelok said:
Well, I was really into this movie after seeing bts & captures. After watching it, i must admit I was a bit disappointed. As it was stated a couple of times in your topic, the astronaut was to nervous, if you can fix that with ADR the movie would be much better. Also I had problem with color corrections, i would go much darker and colder, get that "dark lonely space" feeling to it. And yes the animation needs work. Also I don't think that cut on his voice while he has his visor on works, maybe over com, like the other guy? my two cents
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yes, that's all been covered. I'm not saying it's perfect, I am just saying compared to the quality of what I had done before, it is better yet performed worse and that suprises me, that is all.
 
well I still think it is a strong entry and you should polish it and enter other fests. i'm sure that it didn't perform worse, just that there were a lot of strong entries this time, lots of the entries that i thought are top10 for sure didn't make it. At the end i think that there will be a lot of entries with so little difference in points.
 
yes it is puzzling as it was easily top 10 for me and possibly top 5 and everyone I showed it to and showed some of the other films they agreed it was flawed but was amongst the strongest entries. I can only assume 1 of 2 if not both things happened:
1. this was a particularly strong fest where a lot of real top movies were made...and
2. perhaps other people had much stronger silent campaigns of getting all their friends to bombard the movie with 10/10 votes
 
I appreciate that (even if I think you are being generous) I am in no way implying #2, it was in fact a very strong fest, my venting is purely on a personal level, to put in 10x the work and improve in every way and rank lower than I had previously, I mean obviously we all want to improve every time we do this, just stings a bit, that's all, don't want to make a bigger deal of it than it is.


Homunculus said:
yes it is puzzling as it was easily top 10 for me and possibly top 5 and everyone I showed it to and showed some of the other films they agreed it was flawed but was amongst the strongest entries. I can only assume 1 of 2 if not both things happened:
1. this was a particularly strong fest where a lot of real top movies were made...and
2. perhaps other people had much stronger silent campaigns of getting all their friends to bombard the movie with 10/10 votes
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I'm new here and this was also the first short I watched (last night). I instantly though 'goddamn, this didnt reach the finals?'

I watched 10 more and am still thinking the same thing :)

Congrats. (not seen the finalists yet though).
 
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