"Bits and Pieces" by: Justin R. Durban

and some BTS photos:

Part of our 1st set.. ended up scrapping it the next day. but, at least you can see how we set up the coke carton crates for the ceilings. James McMahan tieing the crates. Justin is supervising.
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Aileen getting her 'scar'
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David Collier takes a break as John Hafner (DP) checks some stuff.
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Jessica Isam applies makeup to David Collier
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David Collier progresses...
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The Attic shoot. We just got the location right before setting up lights. so we were scrambling to figure it out.
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Jessica Isam (makeup) and David Collier (mummy)
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David Collier caught with his hood down.
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John Hafner (DP), James McMahan (production designer), Elliot Cole (PA), & Jessica Isam (makeup) prepping the embalming scene.
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Applying some blooooood to Aileen
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Edgen said:
and some BTS photos:

Part of our 1st set.. ended up scrapping it the next day. but, at least you can see how we set up the coke carton crates for the ceilings.
BitsAndPieces_BTS01.JPG


What a great idea for the ceiling, it looked so good, so did you through some small lights in the ceiling with it? To help produce the light rays.
Click to expand...
 
Troy Ruff said:
What a great idea for the ceiling, it looked so good, so did you through some small lights in the ceiling with it? To help produce the light rays.
Click to expand...

Huh? :)


Yes.. we through a few lights through the tops and added some smoke to give the light rays. We used twisty ties to put them all together. Once it was hung up, we found a bunch of dead grass and weeds to hang from the ceiling.
 
Every one of your films has been better than the previous one and this is the best yet. Nice little story, great young actress, beautiful use of light and colour, wonderful score - nothing bad to say really. Excellent job.
 
Edgen said:
Huh? :)


Yes.. we through a few lights through the tops and added some smoke to give the light rays. We used twisty ties to put them all together. Once it was hung up, we found a bunch of dead grass and weeds to hang from the ceiling.
Click to expand...

sweet that worked beautifully. I love the color and lighting through the whole film. Great set design, very creative. Great job.
 
Justin! Wow, definitely a solid film here and your best yet, I was very impressed with the story, production value and direction. Good job also on the child actor, that is difficult!

The mummy costume and production design worked exceptionally well.

What didnt work as well is the dialogue, there's too much of it for me, I think you'd find a lot less is more, mostly from the mummy.

Looking forward to seeing more from you!
 
There are so many great things to say about your film from the poster, to the storyline, to the set design, to the final product. I loved the Frankenstein Monster, lonely, deformed, and needing companionship from someone in a similar situation. This created an interesting dynamic between the two characters. The end through me for a loop because I didn't understand why he needed to kill her for her to remain with him? Was he going to kill her anyway? Would she return to life in a similar state as he is in? These things escaped me.. Maybe you could elaborate for me. :) If you already explained this I appologize I have very little time with school to go through all the threads. Thanks!
 
I really liked this, another great find. The girl was amazing, the music was fantastic. I can't believe you did so many scores for other films last moth too. Guessing that's your day gig?

The canon 7D looked great, impressive looks.
The only thing I did not care for was the montage of the little girl and the monster playing. I'm not sure how else this exposition could be handled during a 6 minute film, but it took me out of the diegesis of the film during ite.

Truly heart warming moments and a BIG surprise Kill!!

Nice work, Sincerely!
 
MOVIE STUNTS said:
There are so many great things to say about your film from the poster, to the storyline, to the set design, to the final product. I loved the Frankenstein Monster, lonely, deformed, and needing companionship from someone in a similar situation. This created an interesting dynamic between the two characters. The end through me for a loop because I didn't understand why he needed to kill her for her to remain with him? Was he going to kill her anyway? Would she return to life in a similar state as he is in? These things escaped me.. Maybe you could elaborate for me. :) If you already explained this I appologize I have very little time with school to go through all the threads. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Thank you movie stunts..

Yes, in the mummification process, the egyptians (amongst other cultures) believed that if you saved all the body parts of a human, they would be able to use those parts again in their afterlife. So, in a sense, the mummy is selfish in that the girl will live forever with him. So he does what a Monster does and kills her. We contemplated having another small shot of a 'mummy girl' rising up at the very end to show that she's still alive, but we figured we can just let the audience make their own conclusions. (or perhaps a shot of a wrapped arm and fingers and have her move slightly to show that she's now alive.)

Thanks again everyone for watching!

:2vrolijk_08:
 
Less is more, don't over complicate the ending. Trust the audience to figure it all out in the end. The ending is just fine!
 
Leave the ending as is. It's perfect. I got the mummification process immediately and understood his intent so it was rather sweet and poignant... and yes selfish. I don't know how much you should really spell out for audiences, but any fixes there should be in what he says. He refers to her bits and pieces... maybe sometihing about his own bits and pieces as well? Together forever.

He could have left his heart in San Antonio for all we know.... :grin: get it? get it?
 
Justin... BEAUTIFUL FILM... one little continuity hiccup for me (water heater) I quickly forgot about it though. Other than that FAN FRIGGIN TASTIC. The music is of course... wonderful... the look of the film was truly breathtaking. I loved the lighting trick... very clever. Please give props to your team for a really well executed film!
 
Congrats man. At first I didn't know what to think, but as the movie moved on I got more hooked into the story. The acting/make-up/effects on the monster was awesome!
 
Stunning visually. Had me watching every corner of the film for details, all of which worked. One very fine example of attention to set design.

Your lighting person and set designer deserve pizza for life.

Great acting on the girl. The matron felt like one of those off-the-shelf characters and could have been more originally portrayed. Monster very cool, but also very robotic in his delivery. Voice a bit affectatious.

Love the ending.

Very cool film.

alex
 
Hey Justin,

Again a great film. You've really been working on your visuals in the last few fests and fusing it with storytelling.

I was a bit of a thickie and I had to come to your thread to get the ending (I didnt realise what he was doing to her). But when I read the responses I realised it was just me being stupid and I should have got it on first viewing.

It's in my top 3, well done.
 
damn man, that was one beautiful done piece of video. I absolutely loved your work in this project. I would really love to hear a little bit about the effects used for the face of the mummy? How is that process done?
 
Justin,

Very nice! Your films just get better and better. One of the things that I really liked about this was that your poster (awesome poster by the way) set up some expectations about the film, and the images from the film satisfied those expectations. They did not disappoint. Too many times, I've seen a really cool poster from filmmakers, only to be disappointed by a poorly made film.

So you're working with kids again :) and the acting was really good. I appreciate being able to see the 'monster' for so much of the film. That was very well done and kept all of the shots interesting.

I did NOT expect the twist (pun intended?) and was genuinely shocked when it happened. I think I exclaimed out loud , "Oh God". :) and spilled by tea.

This film had a great story arc and I was engrossed the entire time. There were beautiful images, especially with the monster and the girl at his lair, and some nice camera movement. I loved the locations and the lighting.

Did you enjoy working with everyone? That's how I enjoy making films, with that kind of collaboration. I wish I could have been there. :) Congratulations to your team!

This film was a nice surprise (I didn't know that you were entering this fest) and very well made from story to cinematography, costuming to acting. Very well done! :thumbsup:
 
I really liked the way it was shot. But it kind of fell flat for me as soon as they started their long dialogue. It's not necessarily bad, it's just that I was expecting something different from the previous scenes, and then all of a sudden I felt like I had changed the channel. Looks great, sounds great. Great entry.
 
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