"Bits and Pieces" by: Justin R. Durban

This is an appealing and very attractive tale of monstrous woe, that is shot very well, with some effective use of FX, and an excellent performance from our child actor - aaaaand great production design.

No effort has been spared it seems - and it pays off in the production value and overall quality of the film.

This as a singular piece is very demonstrative of professional talent. It even features a fairly original monster, whose behaviour certainly catches many a viewer off by surprise.

Never the less, there are imperfections in this film that are worthy of discussion.

There is an absence to the storie's meaning or a lack of sophistication at least - in its purpose. Most saavy audiences will immediately suspect that this film isn't going to end happily ever after. (The nature of this film won't see it placed on the listings of the Disney Channel for sake of its twist working.)

On the presumption that the kid is 90% going to buy it, we are not left with a whole lot of purpose in the story.

Why this is important - is it shows you the director having something to say - especially relevant for the authors of fairy tales - were there morals.

The nature of this story makes it a little obscure, for any decision the child could have made that would reveal a right and wrong lesson in this film. This absence will leave some people a little dissatisfied with the childs death at the end.

Of course there are guys that wet there pants over rubber masks and pretty lighting - but for sake of story these things are not as scrutinisd by fascinated filmmakers than often - your average audience member.

Underwhelming would be the description for the end. What you meant to say with this film is not clear enough for such a powerful end - and the result is quite arguably, superficiality (the very prettiest - tip off the hat for that) but superficiality never the less not unlike Mahlen either.

(Im focussing on the point of critique but as a note, i would rank this film highly for sake of its other merits well worthy of recognition.)
 
Justin,

Cinematography: I loved the look of this film. Your DP is great and really knows what they're doing. Congrats.

Music: Hmm, your tunes sound big budget, but they just don't do it for me melodically. You hit on the Hans Zimmeresque vibe, and if you're a fan of his scores you'll love this. I personally am not. I thought the score took away from the film at some points rather than adding to it. It swelled too much at key times which I found inappropriate and imposing for the claustrophobic atmosphere you created (a great one at that). I think some of it could have used some quiet time, some breathing. Silence is still music.

Story: At first I was falling in love with the motif two people being tattered aesthetically and connecting. If I were a fish I would have definitely been all over the bait. But, like an impatient fisherman you jerked on the reel way too soon before I was properly on the hook. Three quarters through the film I was thinking, "This is way too saccharine.", then the climax is reached and it too abruptly changed from sweet to bitter.

Edit: Your edit was pretty good for the most part. There were a couple of cuts that seemed kind of awkward. You might take a cue from your decision to get a killer DP and get a killer editor as well. There's a massive difference between a good editor and a great editor. You're very capable and could probably edit someone else's film nicely. I'm not sure you had the distance from your film's material to do an outstanding job.

Makeup and Effects: The quality in this department was incredible. I'll go ahead and add in that the costumes looked great as well. I loved the rags on the monster. I also liked the hair and conventional makeup.

Overall: Outstanding job putting this together. It looks like a contender for any big budget movie. Your storytelling has improved greatly since Fallout, but it still needs a lot of work. You seem to be this multitalented guy who has an amazing handle on technology, but sometimes I feel you rely on that aspect of your talent too much. I'm glad you made it into the top and you deserve to be there. Awesome job. Keep in mind my critique was set to "how could this be closer to perfection?" and not "pat my buddy on the back" mode. That being said, let me switch to "pat my buddy on the back" mode and pat you on the back.
 
Aaron Marshall said:
Justin,

Cinematography: I loved the look of this film. Your DP is great and really knows what they're doing. Congrats.

Music: Hmm, your tunes sound big budget, but they just don't do it for me melodically. You hit on the Hans Zimmeresque vibe, and if you're a fan of his scores you'll love this. I personally am not. I thought the score took away from the film at some points rather than adding to it. It swelled too much at key times which I found inappropriate and imposing for the claustrophobic atmosphere you created (a great one at that). I think some of it could have used some quiet time, some breathing. Silence is still music.

Story: At first I was falling in love with the motif two people being tattered aesthetically and connecting. If I were a fish I would have definitely been all over the bait. But, like an impatient fisherman you jerked on the reel way too soon before I was properly on the hook. Three quarters through the film I was thinking, "This is way too saccharine.", then the climax is reached and it too abruptly changed from sweet to bitter.

Edit: Your edit was pretty good for the most part. There were a couple of cuts that seemed kind of awkward. You might take a cue from your decision to get a killer DP and get a killer editor as well. There's a massive difference between a good editor and a great editor. You're very capable and could probably edit someone else's film nicely. I'm not sure you had the distance from your film's material to do an outstanding job.

Makeup and Effects: The quality in this department was incredible. I'll go ahead and add in that the costumes looked great as well. I loved the rags on the monster. I also liked the hair and conventional makeup.

Overall: Outstanding job putting this together. It looks like a contender for any big budget movie. Your storytelling has improved greatly since Fallout, but it still needs a lot of work. You seem to be this multitalented guy who has an amazing handle on technology, but sometimes I feel you rely on that aspect of your talent too much. I'm glad you made it into the top and you deserve to be there. Awesome job. Keep in mind my critique was set to "how could this be closer to perfection?" and not "pat my buddy on the back" mode. That being said, let me switch to "pat my buddy on the back" mode and pat you on the back.
Click to expand...

That was a wonderful review aaron. I appreciate your feedback and the pat on the back. :)

Cheers!
/j
 
Thanks a lot for that amazing compliment Aaron. I had an amazing time doing this project. This is only my third project as DP and I was VERY spoiled to have to opputunity DP a project with such an amazing level of quality and talent from all involved. An amazing team effort and everyone got a chance to really offer something that improved the final product. Wanna thank Justin for being patient enough to let me, dolly, rack focus, and pan/tilt, 5+ takes in a row till we got the shot. Also thanks for the time I needed to fiddle with the crappy borrowed light kit to get it looking good. :) Thanks to Leah for such a great script. Prob the most important aspect, all the camera work in the world can't make a bad story good.

I can't wait to do it again! The suburban full of film equipment I bought for 'Bit's and Pieces' is just sitting around gathering dust so somebody put it to good use already! (well not really, I shot a feature trailer last week but that is wrapped now so I'm bored again)
 
Really enjoyed your piece. Fantastic look. The sound design was great. Holding back on giving us a peek at the monster's face was a nice touch. We may have guessed the ending, but it is a fantastic film, and highly enjoyable.
 
Great piece of work Justin! I thought this was one of the best, got some Q's about the storyline but overall this was really good. The canon 7D did great!
 
Justin... very nice job with this one. Your stuff keeps getting better and better. Tell Nicholle she did a great job. I really like her as an actress.

That was a weird little twist at the end and I was thinking, "Wait... wtf??" The twist slowly revealed itself which was nicely done.

Cinematography was fantastic. Nice job on that, John. :beer:

I anxiously await your next film dude... :)
 
Bits and Pieces just placed 2nd in the Jury Panel vote and 3rd place for the DVXuser.com panel vote!!

wew hew!!

here's the winner thread:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=191215


*************


Congratulations to each and everyone of you. As always...

The fest is here for you guys.

This was a real tight battle this time around. Both the member vote and the Juror's vote. In fact, we really had no idea what the juror vote was going to turn out to be until all of them were in.

Was a fun and interesting ride this time.

So...... First, the results of the Panel Vote

1st (8.57) DISPATCH by Nobelo
2nd (8.29) BITS AND PIECES by Edgen
3rd (7.29) RED AND THE WOLF by AJ Brooks
4th (7.00) ONE PERCENT by Michael Anthony Horrigan
5th (6.86) THE TELL by lyonfilms (5)
5th (6.86) THE DEVIL’s TOY by Sprocketboy
7th (6.57) MERCY by Troy Ruff
8th (6.43) THE JONES' by Marlon Ladd
9th (6.29) MONSTERS BEWARE! by cinealma
10th (6.14) THE COOKIE JAR by chstick
10th (6.14) SINNERGY by Geoff_R
12th (6.00) ATTACK OF THE KILLER AUTOMOBILE by mobiledeli
13th (5.71) LEARNING TO PREY by Shawn Philip Nelson
(link to view each juror's ballot)


Jack Daniel Stanley... Tell 'em what they've won! (Jack really kicked ass for you guys. Make sure you tell him thanks.)

SCREENING SLOTS not only for first place as announced, but for the TOP THREE FILMS @ BOTH
TEXAS BLOODBATH
&
FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FESTIVAL

*In addition FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FESTIVAL has offered to screen the top three films from each year's horror themed fest moving forward! Too cool!

Fee waiver for DISPATCH at SHRIEKFEST

REVIEWS for the 1st place film, but other finalists may receive reviews as well.

At least one film not in the final top 3 has peaked interest from a distributor (we'll put you in touch).

And Justin Durban will be contacted for a blog talk radio interview on Indie Horror Radio with Parrish Randall.

THANKS AGAIN TO OUR JURORS!!!!

:



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DVXuser Member vote results:

1. Dispatch - NOBELO 8.6421%
2. Red and the Wolf - AJ Brooks 7.2809%
3. Bits and Pieces - Edgen 7.2255 %
4. Sinnergy - Geoff_R 7.2083%
5. The Tell - lyonfilms 6.7841%
6. One Percent - Michael Anthony Horrigan 6.5876%
7. The Devil's Toy - Sprocketboy 6.5824%
8. THE JONES' - Marlon Ladd 6.4943%
9. Monsters Beware! - cinealma 6.3774%
10. Mercy - Troy Ruff 6.3000%
11. Learning to Prey - Shawn Philip Nelson 5.8878%
12. Attack of... Automobile - mobiledeli 5.8700%
13. The Cookie Jar - chstick 5.7722%


--

Prizes for the member vote will be announced tomorrow. Still wrapping up a couple of them. They will be listed in the following post as well as who won what. I'll try to do much better with getting the prize stuff taken care of quicker this time. :)

---

Thanks again to everyone who entered. I'm really glad to have been able to watch such a wide range of films in the fest, to see some filmmakers grow, and others mature, etc, etc, etc.

Thanks to JDS for putting together a kick ass panel to mix things up a bit and hopefully introduce something new that we've been wanting to do with the fests for a long time in addition to the member vote.

Thanks to Larry, our FestMaster. Though, he may never see daylight, he is always hard at work behind the scenes making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Thanks to all the other mods as well for helping to make DVXuser a great place, and DVXFest the coolest and most open fest on the web. Always free. and it will remain open to all who wish to participate in the process.

Thanks to everyone who picked up their camera and made a film. That's what it's all about. Doesn't really matter if you fell on your face or rose to the top. It's the process, and the experience of it all and actually doing it that matters most. I hope you will all continue to make films for fun, for work, or for any reason that you may decide to pick up a camera.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to rate the films, and to those of you who also took the time to provide such wonderful feedback for the filmmakers.

----

Enough thanks? Next Fest?

...

...

...

BetrayalFest. Betrayal. yup.​
 
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