'Aetas' - an Epic Medieval Tale

Great work Shawn, Ken and crew!

The bugs in the forest actually served the shots. Gave it depth and "atmosphere" and something to gauge the speed by. Looks like those annoying flies knew what they were doing all along! :)

The first shot of the sundial and the final image...gorgeous!

Great working with you Shawn. You will have to let me know next time you have a project in the works because I want to audition. :)

Great work everyone!
 
I cannot thank you enough for the effort you expended on this. What an amazing film. Herman's score and the dialogue are incredible. The landscapes were million dollar locations and the wardrobe absolutely perfection.

Shawn, you have brought a whole new level of production to the community and I, again, have to thank you for being willing to put in 1,500 miles to bring these images to us. Desert, snow, forest, oceans .... my God this was astonishingly gorgeous.

And I am absolutely smitten by your lead actress. What a beauty she is and how wonderfully natural was her performance.

Ten out of Ten for me, man.
 
This was exceptionally well done, especially considering that most Medieval fantasies are really corny. You found a very beautiful tone to the piece. Good choice using another language--what was that language?

I didn't totally get the story by the end--I'll have to watch again. But the look and feel, the costumes, the cinematography, were all the best of the fest so far for me.

EDIT: I should add that I agree with Noel that the grading could be pushed a bit more. I mean, I did actually notice that it felt washed out, not in a "desaturated look" but in sort of a lack of grading way. I'm finding with Red footage that I get used to the look of the RAW files and start to see saturation as being overkill, but in reality, the stuff benefits from more saturation and contrast than I first think. Just another opinion, but interesting that Noel noticed the grading too.
 
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Had to watch this one first, and I'm glad I did. Gorgeous photography and I love that you showcased all of what Oregon has to offer (you should share this with the Film & Video Office). Everyone involved did a wonderful job, from the actors to the costume design to the score. My only let down is an echo of what others have said. I felt like the conflict and struggle to find the sundial wasn't really there, and that would have made this an even better film.

Awesome work guys. Hope to see you around town. :)
 
This film was very well shot! I especially loved the shot reverse shot between your masked man and the protagonist. Something i liked a lot about this film was that while it was the same time as all of the other films... It seemed longer, you really found a way to captivate your audience and i think a lot of it has to do with the way you composed your shots. Very nice exploration sequence as well.
Great work!
 
one of my favs, beautifully shot and the great score by herman really adds to the magic of this film!
 
Beautifully shot, Shawn. It's a gorgeous travelogue for the state of Oregon, they should use it to attract tourists. I would have loved some of the color in the images to pop a bit more but that's just nitpicking. Herman's score was excellent. Really nice job, guys. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
Great Film! You get 5 stars just for that opening shot. Nicely done. Although it bothered me a bit when we first see the two main actors out of focus. I know you did it on purpose, but it bugged me. But other than that, great stuff.

best,

JP
 
just checked out your short, shawn. it's clear what you set out to do. and i'm basing my thoughts strictly on how successful I think you were.

I'd say you had some nice photography and some lovely locations. wardrobe, when it didn't betray its intended era, had some interesting flourishes -- the Kingdom of Heaven inspired mask for example. And certainly, the Red One added a professional sheen to the images, if not a bit washed out in some places. is this final color?

on the flipside, i thought the story was muddled, the characters unconvincing and the emotion was unearned. the use of dissolves and fades to white, which repeatedly evoked "the passing of time" to the point of tedium was uninspired. just my opinion. we all know this is a highly subjective art form and in this case, i simply didn't connect with anything here – which surprised me, i expected something more grounded and less esoteric from you.

would love to see you apply your eye for composition to something with a stronger narrative drive and more compelling characters.
 
Your movie has the best scenic scenes. I really like the time elapse scene. The costume is nice. The actress is beautiful. However the story is a little bit simple. You could also adjust the footages a little so they look more contrast. Overall it's nice movie. You did a great job!
 
Wow, what an amazingly beautiful film. I guessed this was done on a RED - I love the shallow DOF, and the bokeh! Phenomenal. She is truly beautiful, but even better, she can truly act. Great score!

No artificial lighting???? That's amazing.

Beautiful, simply beautiful. I'm off to watching it again.
 
A very romantic story. The photography was great. All above very professional. But there is something I missed - I can't really say what it is - perhaps the film needs a little bit thrill. Lovely work!

Susanne
 
Absolutely stunning images. There wasn't a poor sequence among them, but the main character passing in front of the waterfall with the brown rocks was the best of the lot for me. Herman Witkam's music was exquisite. The acting was very good.

A truly beautiful film but, like many others, I felt the lack of conflict. You've done an incredible job fitting such an epic tale into six minutes, but obviously you have had lo leave some things unsaid. As I understand it, the main character takes Death's cloak. Since his sword is covered with blood afterwards, I imagine he kills him, at Death's own insinuated invitation, thus releasing Death from the burden of eternal life and taking on this burden himself. If this was what you intended, however, I don't think we were really made to feel this burden.

Nonetheless, a very wonderful and courageous short. I take my hat off to you.
 
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I know everyone else has said this, but it can't be stressed enough -- beautiful film, Shawneous. The visuals in this film are inspiring. The richness and diversity of the settings goes a long way in making this short film feel like a concatenated version of an epic feature film. When coupled with the tremendous score -- well, the resulting production value is impressive!

The opening of the film is far and away my favorite part. I think your male lead did a very nice, understated job. I loved the masked man, and sorely missed him throughout the rest of the short! What a cool voice. What a cool look! I got a very strong Faun-from-Pan's-Labyrinth feel from him. And I absolutely mean that as a compliment.

The middle portion of the film was beautiful to watch, but felt like it was just a montage of time passing. If it was meant to be an illustration of the hero's hardships on his quest to find the sundial -- well, I think it lacked that kind of impact. I would have loved to see something here that really made us root for the hero of the story. That way, your very pretty ending would have been the perfect conclusion.

Still, lovely job. I enjoyed it. Even moreso on the second viewing, probably because I knew more about what to expect and spent more time enjoying the images.

Congratulations!
 
Shawn, I enjoyed finally getting to see some of your work. Like I'm sure everyone else has said, the cinematography was wonderful; you really couldn't have picked more beautiful locations for this piece. I like the ambiance; the subtitles really added to the authenticity. And as others said, the score was phenomenal; I was looking for Howard Shore at the end lol. Really a great production all around and I'm glad you had a great time on the project. I'd say this definitely has an edge for quality!

EDIT: I guess I should add my most respectful nitpicking...If anything, I agree with others that the image could have popped a bit more...More color tones for the different locations maybe...you nailed the diffusion on that first shot of the female lead in the last scene though. Also I think more dirt and grit on the male lead could have been appropriate...that way the clean, diffused look of the end would have stood out more. I guess a more contrasty/hard grade on the previous scenes could also do the trick. But thats it as far as my nitpicking.
 
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