BACKFIRE - By Matthew R. Harris (Defcon)

Homunculus, beers on me if you are ever in LA. Flattery will you get you everywhere. No but seriously, thanks dude, means a lot. Thanks for the viewing.
 
Straight into it with the dark sound and score – good intro! Some nice dolly shots early on, they definitely helped build the tension towards the house, though maybe there was one too many, IMO. A few less would have really sold the shots that made use of the dolly.

You put some very interesting shots in this, combined with the score I think this worked pretty well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the hotspot areas, I guess that was pretty hard to avoid in your location. For example when he first walks in the door, and then around 1:22. It was a tiny bit distracting.


I liked the silhouette shot with the blinds, that’s a cool look – good use of the window that was there, I thought that was great.


I wasn’t completely sold on the story - a tiny bit more on their relationship with each other would have helped with the betrayal. The fact that the guy shot the gun even after he told him three times it was going to backfire didn’t really settle with me. I know he was caught up emotionally, but the whole scenario didn’t settle with me, personally. Having said that, none of that stopped me from enjoying the film.


Acting was pretty good throughout, both characters kept very consistent, and played well to what was going on.

Memorable Moment

The section just before he opens the door and you have that high angle shot, that was pretty cool. Right after you had the score come back on with the creepy stuff, cut to wide, and it really came together. That was cool!

Overall, I really enjoyed watching this. I was on the edge of my seat for many of the shots before the ending, waiting to see what was going to happen. Congratulations!
 
You really know how to move the camera effectively! Especially in the whole opening sequence and the tracking along the girl.

Also liked the deep focus shot with the car bumper in the foreground, very foreboding angle.

The framing of Jimmy pointing his gun, where they are both in different boxes, is very cool.

I would have preferred if Bobby had just let Jimmy die instead of finishing him off. Although I see how that adds another layer of betrayal. Or I wanted Bobby's own gun to backfire.

Some of the color correction seemed a little extreme to me, particularly green Jimmy in his car.

Really nice visual storytelling!
 
Wellllll, I was gonna say that I liked jimmy's acting the most, but I guess I can't go there...unless he's a method actor and had really gotten into some of that WHITE before the shoot, which made jimmy a real character. Anyway, cool job! I dig the camera movement, did not have a problem with the backfire and I love how the dead cocaine chick was all jacked up on the floor.
 
I didn't realize it was the same actor until I read the thread. That actor did a phenomenal job. Both character felt very distinctive.

You also did a wonderful job with the sound, it was moody and atmospheric, and just over all sounded great.

As others have mentioned I really dug the composition in many of your shots. Lastly, the title is great. Well done.
 
Thanks Chris. You and I both banged out last minute entries, deadlines can be motivating right?
Anyways congrats back to you on your short with 100% approval rating. You are killin' it right now.
 
matt -

you found the way to my heart, and that way is gratuitous dolly shots. The front half of the film was really engaging from the way you kept the camera moving, and, of course, you have your signature green-yellow thing going on to. I liked how the colors added to the character who was freaking out from the coke. the only shot choices that I was so-so on were the up angles through the end convo, but that's just personal preference talking.

Kudos to your actor for playing both parts, it's gotta be rough having no one to play off of, esp. in a stand-off scene.

so when are we going to see Glassjaw again? :)
 
gratuitous dolly shots, i love it, i probably should have named my short just that!
special shout out to my father who built me a sick dolly and 4 foot track out of wood
and skateboard wheels mere days before the BACKFIRE shoot. so yeah, i put it to good use.

Thanks for asking about GLASSJAW, my first short ever which premiered in Spyfest 3 years ago.
I have shot an additional 12 minutes of footage and broke it all down into webisodes. It's a mess
of a story, the CC is all over the place, but it's a lot of fun. I will be premiering it in May on dvxuser.

Thanks Ben for watching and reviewing!
 
Serious cool, and your choice of color palette was pretty gnarly! The faded greens reminded me of a Matrix-style tone.

I'd be curious to know which shots were done on the HV30. :D
 
Rod the hv30 shots were, wow now that i think of it, a lot of the short.

I'm a run and gun guy. period. i do the sound, lighting, set ups all by myself.
that's why my movies are crap (LOL). so the HV30 is a god-send for me.
although i recently ordered the new canon rebel that shoots 1080p so that is to
be my new baby.

anyway, to answer your question:

1. hv30 - in the car
2. hvx - close up of jimmy outside
3. hv30 - all wide dolly's of jimmy outside
4. hv30 - all wide jimmy dollys in the house
5. hvx - kitchen / drug OD chick (but dolly shot was hv30)
6. hvx - hallway scenes of actor facing off to himself
7. hvx - end death scenes

so you can imagine, i have no DP, i am juggling 2 cameras, white balancing
multiple scenes both indoor and out, and then color correcting. tough stuff!
I'm not Mcgregor, as if you hadn't noticed. (cue tiny violins).

Thanks for askin' Rod. I loooved you short. It's right up my alley.
 
The "look" of this really reminded me of Clara. I enjoyed this one more, though. Good job by your actor in a dual role. Overall, this was a solid outing. I'll be looking forward to seeing more.
 
Phew, i got off easy with your comments, as one who has been skewered in the past.
Thanks Blaine for watching it, and you are totally correct sir when you say this reminded you of
CLARA because both shorts used dolly's. a rarity for me. I also appreciate that you recognize my previous shorts so thanks man!
 
So did both of them have jammed weapons? This was cool; only a couple other films I've seen so far make me want to see what happens before and after. I didn't realize at first that the whiteout look and color effects were deliberate; and I got a little mesmerized at the light beams/refraction coming off the SUV when the guy was getting out of it - that was a clever angle to take that from.
 
only the drug addict had a jammed gun, he never got it fixed, or however you want to interpret the story.

the low angle shot behind the car just seemed like a dynamic angle, and the wide angle adapter on my hv30 always flares up when i aim it towards the sky. and i never met a sun flare i didn't love.

Thanks for watching Abdeziel!
 
Great drop-in scene man! This was perfectly contained... the tension was great and a really loved how you move the camera around... nice and smooth. Your actors did a great job as well. The color grading was a bit much for my taste but not too distracting. Great job!
 
yeah it is. now we just call him "The Falcone". Richard if you want to see The Falcone playing an italian-jersey-gangsta role, check out our quest fest entry THE SOLUTION. Drew was very good in it.
 
I've enjoyed the performances in this. At first I said oh no, not another gun toting character! but you pulled it off nicely. These two made me believe that they were really in this situation and not just doing it for the camera. It also made me a bit nostalgic in a strange way where I felt like I was just watching a random tv show or a tv movie. :beer:
 
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