Ad Infinitum

Congratulations guys! I'll probably be watching the webcast from Texas and pulling for you guys (us "time travel" films have to stick together)...! :D

I know you are still enjoying the excitement of making Top 8 but I am looking forward to seeing what you do next!

Ciao.

Piatt
 
just re-watched the end of this again, can't get over how awesome it is. great payoff guys. congrats on top 8!
 
Hey guys congratulations on the top 8. I really enjoyed the film it is one of my top favorites in the fest. Good Luck. Hope to see you all in LA.
-Pauly
 
In the past few days, DVXusers Ben Sliker and Justin Kuhn sat down and chatted over AIM while simultaneously watching the same TIMEFEST films. We call them, "The AIM sessions". Here's their thoughts on "Ad Infinitum"

This is a 'special edition' of the AIM sessions, Assistant Director Brad Mate has tagged in for Justin from the crew of JAM. Please excuse the stupid out of order time stamps by iChat.

spesliker (11:39:56 AM): do you have ad infinitum?
TheBrad84 (11:39:45 AM): yes
spesliker (11:40:03 AM): YAY!
spesliker (11:40:16 AM): ready?
TheBrad84 (11:40:15 AM): yep
spesliker (11:40:30 AM): 3
spesliker (11:40:31 AM): 2
spesliker (11:40:32 AM): 1
spesliker (11:40:34 AM): go
spesliker (11:40:42 AM): sweet opening title.
spesliker (11:41:08 AM): again with the antiquated time machines. RADIO SHACK PEOPLE.
TheBrad84 (11:41:10 AM): radio shack would still be antiquated.
TheBrad84 (11:41:15 AM): they like dollies as much as we do
spesliker (11:41:19 AM): AND WE LOVE THE DOLLIES
TheBrad84 (11:41:12 AM): true that
TheBrad84 (11:41:46 AM): its a little creepy
spesliker (11:42:11 AM): i'm scared of basements
spesliker (11:42:25 AM): ack shadow on face
spesliker (11:42:47 AM): i feel the story takes a little while to get off the ground
TheBrad84 (11:42:36 AM): floor lighting
spesliker (11:42:51 AM): another hot sh*t dolly shot.
spesliker (11:43:16 AM): they apparently have lightbulbs in their pants, or that board is glowing.
spesliker (11:44:27 AM): the hair lighting is phenomenal
spesliker (11:44:39 AM): YOU CAN'T PLAY GOD AND WIN NOAM
TheBrad84 (11:44:31 AM): lol
spesliker (11:45:10 AM): that's why he's got a GF and you don't Noam
spesliker (11:45:20 AM): and yes ... i looked up the characters anems.
TheBrad84 (11:45:16 AM): seriously. who names their kids noam? big chomsky fans?
spesliker (11:45:38 AM): epic fail on spelling of name by ben
spesliker (11:46:01 AM): all the sudden it actually sounds like a basement.
TheBrad84 (11:46:12 AM): creepy
spesliker (11:46:43 AM): idiot ... that should have been a sigma X^2 ...
spesliker (11:46:51 AM): HE BUILT A TIME REWINDER INSTEAD!
spesliker (11:47:43 AM): thoughts?
TheBrad84 (11:48:37 AM): the payoff made the view worth it. thought the rest was a little bland in acting. dollies were excellent. writing was good, especially the "giving up/growing up" line.
TheBrad84 (11:48:59 AM): score was nice
TheBrad84 (11:49:09 AM): sound mix could have been better
spesliker (11:49:57 AM): i've written up some notes, but story-wise, i described it as pretty "safe"
spesliker (11:50:39 AM): i think the giving up/growing up thing could have carried more emotional weight if they explored it more
spesliker (11:50:55 AM): tell us more about the characters, who they are vs. what they are doing
TheBrad84 (11:51:24 AM): i agree
TheBrad84 (11:51:46 AM): i feel the other character was just there to carry a 5.5 min convo

We really enjoyed this film. That's first and foremost, it was really fun to watch more than one time. The production value alone would be worth a second watch. To carry my thoughts from the session, I think the issue I have with the story is that it is very safe, and by that I mean it doesn't really branch out emotionally or story-wise into any specific area. You touch on a whole lot of small elements about these two characters, but never really tell us much more than that. I think you could have chosen one or two elements in the movie and expanded them more vs. trying to get them all in. For instance, the majority of the front end word play is comprised with fairly standard concerns, e.g. Rick is annoyed he's up at 3 AM, annoyed at Noam's arrogance, disbelief in time travel, concerns about what will happen, what most anyone would feel in that situation. And then right before they push the button, you throw an emotional bomb out with the "giving up/growing up" line, something that would carry some real emotional weight between these two guys, and it's brushed aside right away. ACK! Would have really liked to seen some sort of story line develop between these two, instead of the more (by comparison) superficial conversation they do have.

But like I said, this movie was fun on repeated watchings. I kept wanting it to work out for them even tho i knew what was going to happen. And you guys are dolly masters, would like to know your setup. Congrats again. :thumbsup:
 
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I really enjoyed this one. The ending was great and the build up to it was nicely done. I thought the actors did a good job.

The lighting was well done and the editing. The soundtrack was kind of a non entity for me.

Really good job.
 
Hi guys,

Ditto here - well written, sweet/novel ending (in retrospect, very fitting title), interesting lighting, practical props, and inspired Indie lighting. Perhaps the camerawork could use a few tweaks for added creativity, but everything was solid and supported the theme. Same on the audio/music, just right for stong Indie.

Thanks for sharing your unique entry - ALL STARS for creative entry.

Michael
 
Wait a minute... 3 seconds? ....Wait a minute... 3 seconds? Wait a minute... 3 seconds? Wait a minute... 3 seconds? Wait a minute... 3 seconds? Wait a minute... 3 seconds?

Did he make an escape button? :D
 
Ben Sliker said:
We really enjoyed this film. That's first and foremost, it was really fun to watch more than one time. The production value alone would be worth a second watch. To carry my thoughts from the session, I think the issue I have with the story is that it is very safe, and by that I mean it doesn't really branch out emotionally or story-wise into any specific area. You touch on a whole lot of small elements about these two characters, but never really tell us much more than that. I think you could have chosen one or two elements in the movie and expanded them more vs. trying to get them all in. For instance, the majority of the front end word play is comprised with fairly standard concerns, e.g. Rick is annoyed he's up at 3 AM, annoyed at Noam's arrogance, disbelief in time travel, concerns about what will happen, what most anyone would feel in that situation. And then right before they push the button, you throw an emotional bomb out with the "giving up/growing up" line, something that would carry some real emotional weight between these two guys, and it's brushed aside right away. ACK! Would have really liked to seen some sort of story line develop between these two, instead of the more (by comparison) superficial conversation they do have.
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Haha! Thanks very much for the AIM session, guys. I enjoyed it, and especially the thoughtful criticism at the end.

The production value is largely due to Ad Infinitum's pretty awesome DP and Gaffer, Olivia Kuan and Bernard Hunt respectively. They were a pleasure to work with and very patient with me.

I'll agree that the dialogue does come off as 'playing it safe.' In retrospect, I think that's because I wanted write something sort of light-hearted and whimsical instead of taking the dramatic route. As a result, some portions of the film lack a certain weight.

I went overboard with the conversation, ultimately. My greatest fear was that the film was going to come off too talky. And in a few places it was. This was my first experience with writing dialogue and it's taught me a great deal. It's funny because I'm always thinking about how my favorite moments in movies are largely dialogue-less. Perhaps I used the dialogue as too much of a crutch to establish character and plot.

Anyway. Just musing. Thanks again!

Cedric Akins said:
Who was the gaffer? I know this is a strange question, but I am very interested in how the lighting was done.
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The crew is listed in the second post. The gaffer was a guy named Bernard Hunt and the DP was Olivia Kuan. They were a great team -- able to improvise very nice shots despite my lack of proper planning and pre-production. If you're looking to get a project off the ground in the NY area, I'd look 'em up! Olivia's website can be found here:

http://www.oliviakuan.com/

If you have some specific questions, maybe I could get her to post about it here!
 
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