Broken Circle

Hmmm.

I feel out of place.

It's definitely impressive that the whole short was one take, I can't imagine how difficult that would be to pull off. Kudos to you for pulling it off, and I mean that.

But cinematography wise, I found it incredibly boring. I got really tired of that revolving after the 3rd time around.

Screenplay...eh also a bit boring for me.

Sound was not so good either, quality wise, but the soundtrack itself was pretty good.

You have skills, but in my completely honest opinion...I was bored to death. If I wasn't voting on this for a contest I wouldn't have finished it.

I feel bad saying this with everyone else raving about it and I hate giving negative reviews, but that's how I felt.
 
Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Brandon Rice’s comprehensive and completely subjective film review

Broken Circle


Script
Whoa! Was this all adlibbed? The script was quite realistic in every way

Acting
Again, whoa, all of the performances were top notch, especially the guy playing the devil/demon.

Cinematography
One shot, you’re kidding me! Amazing! Lighting was good too, and the flickers worked!

Editing
None required. It was one shot!

Score
I’ll just put in sound design stuff here, the demon’s voice was SCARY! Made me literally feel nauseous.

Overall Impressions
Wow, this film did it, this was the first one to make me feel physically sick after watching it. It was bloody or gory, but just disturbing and realistic. I have a major headache and stomach-ache after watching this. I think you did your job, I gotta go lie down now…
 
This was definitely one I had trouble getting through, as people have said. But I think it's important to draw a line between scaring your audience into nausea and pounding their senses into submission.
It's nice to see someone with a strong artistic thread tying a film together. Too often, the films of this festival tend to be disjointed exercises in style without much beneath the surface. Broken Circle is original, and is worth watching in every way.
That said, in the process of being and becoming unique, it also loses a lot of meaning and content. The circling process reminded me of Hitchcock in Rope, but there, it's done with a purpose in mind. It takes a story that would otherwise have been stagy and dull, and makes it restrictive and kinetic. Lifeboat's another that experiments in that vein - the whole film (more or less) taking place in a single, tiny lifeboat on the ocean. This film was just SO loud, especially at the end. The ugly digital clipping didn't help the effect of the film in my eyes, and the deliberate rotation of the camera meant that we missed half of the most important lines.
I think this film would play well on a larger format.
Minor taste-related notes. I think a t-shirt was definitively the wrong look for the British character. Everybody else was dressed in more appropriate Wiccan garb. And for me, the sometimes-on-sometimes-off voice of the possessed demon boy was a little cheesy. When it had the full resonance it worked fine, but the rest of the time not really.
The film had a very nice build to the emotional climax. There's a lot to learn from here in terms of pacing.
In conclusion, fascinating (if not very enjoyable) film and congratulations on a difficult job well done.
-Ben
 
Virum said:
Hmmm.

I feel out of place.

It's definitely impressive that the whole short was one take, I can't imagine how difficult that would be to pull off. Kudos to you for pulling it off, and I mean that.

But cinematography wise, I found it incredibly boring. I got really tired of that revolving after the 3rd time around.

Screenplay...eh also a bit boring for me.

Sound was not so good either, quality wise, but the soundtrack itself was pretty good.

You have skills, but in my completely honest opinion...I was bored to death. If I wasn't voting on this for a contest I wouldn't have finished it.

I feel bad saying this with everyone else raving about it and I hate giving negative reviews, but that's how I felt.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the one shot props! Dude sorry you didn't like the rest of it!
 
Last edited:
Brandon Rice said:
Broken Circle


Script
Whoa! Was this all adlibbed? The script was quite realistic in every way

Acting
Again, whoa, all of the performances were top notch, especially the guy playing the devil/demon.

Cinematography
One shot, you’re kidding me! Amazing! Lighting was good too, and the flickers worked!

Editing
None required. It was one shot!

Score
I’ll just put in sound design stuff here, the demon’s voice was SCARY! Made me literally feel nauseous.

Overall Impressions
Wow, this film did it, this was the first one to make me feel physically sick after watching it. It was bloody or gory, but just disturbing and realistic. I have a major headache and stomach-ache after watching this. I think you did your job, I gotta go lie down now…
Click to expand...

Thanks Brandon.

The whole idea with the camera rotation/ concept was to make people feel nauseous and imbed some realism in it.
So sorry but I’m glad I made you feel sick

J.P.
 
yea i give you much credit for having the courage to forgo conventions and create a unique and very interesting take on the genre. Greatness comes from guys liek you. :)
 
penfever said:
This was definitely one I had trouble getting through, as people have said. But I think it's important to draw a line between scaring your audience into nausea and pounding their senses into submission.
It's nice to see someone with a strong artistic thread tying a film together. Too often, the films of this festival tend to be disjointed exercises in style without much beneath the surface. Broken Circle is original, and is worth watching in every way.
That said, in the process of being and becoming unique, it also loses a lot of meaning and content. The circling process reminded me of Hitchcock in Rope, but there, it's done with a purpose in mind. It takes a story that would otherwise have been stagy and dull, and makes it restrictive and kinetic. Lifeboat's another that experiments in that vein - the whole film (more or less) taking place in a single, tiny lifeboat on the ocean. This film was just SO loud, especially at the end. The ugly digital clipping didn't help the effect of the film in my eyes, and the deliberate rotation of the camera meant that we missed half of the most important lines.
I think this film would play well on a larger format.
Minor taste-related notes. I think a t-shirt was definitively the wrong look for the British character. Everybody else was dressed in more appropriate Wiccan garb. And for me, the sometimes-on-sometimes-off voice of the possessed demon boy was a little cheesy. When it had the full resonance it worked fine, but the rest of the time not really.
The film had a very nice build to the emotional climax. There's a lot to learn from here in terms of pacing.
In conclusion, fascinating (if not very enjoyable) film and congratulations on a difficult job well done.
-Ben
Click to expand...


Thanks for you kind comments, for people to even mention the Rope in-relation to Broken Circle, WOW.

The camera rotation was a stylistic approach I thought through and stuck with, I knew it would annoy/ make people physically nauseous but that’s what I wanted, I stuck it out. Blocking the lines was a nightmare, I thought about going in rotation and having lines said in-shot all the time but decided it would make the script too linear. I knew with such a tight space, I would get away with having some lines off camera.

T-Shirt again (Kubrick reference), I wanted to show Daniel’s character as the least involved/ not taking his role seriously, hence out-of-place T-shirt.

Wormwood’s voice…I had two scores from Andi. The first one I did not use because Wormwood’s Devil voice was constant. I felt that it was too Exorcist. I wanted Isaac’s character to be wrestling with the demon. I also wanted to build the film into chaos/ crescendo with full on screaming.

Thanks for you kind words and constructive criticism.

Cheers.
J.P.
 
TimurCivan said:
yea i give you much credit for having the courage to forgo conventions and create a unique and very interesting take on the genre. Greatness comes from guys liek you. :)
Click to expand...

Coming from you Tim that is a massive compliment. :crybaby:
 
No seriously i got scared in yours. i get goose bumpy when the chick yells "theres something under the table".... that gets me.....
 
I have to say when this started I was smirking. I can understand why some people may lose interest.

However the more it goes on I felt the better it got, building and building. Lovely touches on the physical aspects of people as the camera revolves.

This is Exactly what I was talking about when I was saying some films might not have the best cinematography or effects, but that should not make a difference to the fact they are great pieces of horror. This in my opninon (Ive only seen half of the entries) is the creepiest one so far. By the end of the short you're not sure what's happened but it's all going off and the actors were great. You concentrate on the 'feeling' of horror rather than showing it. To me thats what horror is about. You feel like something big is about to happen and cut before we see it. Very nice.

I'm not saying this because you're a fellow brit either! You took a simple idea and made it work for you, that to me is what good directing shows.

I have half to go, but this is in my top 3 so far.
 
TimurCivan said:
No seriously i got scared in yours. i get goose bumpy when the chick yells "theres something under the table".... that gets me.....
Click to expand...
Cheers mate, Hazel was great, so was genuinely scared. I originally wanted to throw a live snake onto the table, but thought about the safety issue, so she really had to sell it, and did in spades!
 
FEEDBACK/SPOILERS:

Script: It's nice to see a script that calls for multiple actors and they all play a
part, not just window dressing. The rants from the one who did the channeling
got old in a hurry. I think at least in the 'Exorcist' the demon had more lines.

Direction: Dizzy. Reminded me of Brian DePalma's spin in "Blowout" but no, really,
though I understood the effect, it was just too much spinning at the end. Maybe
if you had slowed the turns we wouldn't have felt it quite so much, though, that
was your point, I'm sure.

Acting: Believeable except I got tired of the demon. Give villain better lines.

OVERALL: Creepy, yes, but only mildly entertaining. What was spot on was the
good use of all of the actors. I felt I was in their room, hearing a real conversation
the only thing that was distracting was the demon. Give him better lines and it
probably would have come off with a greater creep factor. Good attempt and
again, nice to see someone use ALL of their actors well.
 
Cheer Charli glad you enjoyed it. Nice to get somefeed back on the script, I trained as an Actor so wanted to really work with them. Script wise didn't want to follow the old Syd Field I,II,II. Just let go a little.
Jp
 
MAN OH MAN!!!! What a ride!!! I heard these last few hours about the one-shot wonder...and finally I watched it....To be honest, what you did, one-shot around a table is not in my head difficult as a thought...what rocks is the fact that you had a one-shot 6 minute FULL DIALOGUE film with VERY INTENSE acting and some seriously talented FX (horns man!! yeah!!!)!

I loved the story!!! One of the best so far! Acting is beyond belief and stands right next to Bloody Mary in how natural this all feels.

Sound was ok, nothing special and I didnt mind the demon, I thought what he said was just enough what needed to be said, I mean you cant put this demon next to the Exorcist just because they're demons Charli!! C'mon!!!!!!!!!!! Follow the story and then tell me if it's the same. We dont want more lines!! I understand that you are a writer and you judge things with that in your head but sometimes you have to accept that the other guy had a different vision in his head so what seems good for you is not necessary. The story was solid, it was well informative to the viewer, I understood perfectly what I was watching and the progress and all....along with some clever directing I was there anxious NOT TO BREAK THE CIRCLE!!!

Once more though, another score-less flick that I dont know how to rate in that category without making it fall downhill in the overall rating.....

PS. Are you british? I was amazed by the fact that you did this...never thought Brits can pull off such a theme...Amazing....Actually I love UK and lived there...but the British accent makes me wait for IT Crowd, Little Britain, Black Adder and so on....now I guess I'll wait for the Jolly Ol' Demon to appear and ask me for a cup of tea ;)

PS2. BTS question, how hard was it to get this without them laughing with the demonesque voice? Or was that recorder later?
 
Virum said:
Hmmm.

I feel out of place.

It's definitely impressive that the whole short was one take, I can't imagine how difficult that would be to pull off. Kudos to you for pulling it off, and I mean that.

But cinematography wise, I found it incredibly boring. I got really tired of that revolving after the 3rd time around.

Screenplay...eh also a bit boring for me.

Sound was not so good either, quality wise, but the soundtrack itself was pretty good.

You have skills, but in my completely honest opinion...I was bored to death. If I wasn't voting on this for a contest I wouldn't have finished it.

I feel bad saying this with everyone else raving about it and I hate giving negative reviews, but that's how I felt.
Click to expand...

Feel the exact same way.
 
not to take their place in here by standing up to your remarks guys but I have to say what I feel...I totally get your 'boring' feeling and where it comes from. For example (oh there he goes again)...many people I know saw Blair Witch and hated it coz of the running around of the camera, made them feel dizzy, werent really 'open' to such techniques. I for my part LOVED it. Now, this movement of the camera around the table....I have to be honest...I didnt find it annoying not for one bit....I was so hooked up with what was happening...and also I was waiting to see how the demon's horns would grow and figure out how the hell he does that...so it was ok with me...and the story..well maybe this has to do with personal taste.....boring is something that leaves you without any interest whatsoever....I found it interesting....someone else could say that it was way too interesting....who knows....there was a story that's the key...and the story was not static...it grew and moved and reached a climaxx...so if you find the story boring its ok i guess...some people like blondes,others prefer brunettes....
 
VersuS said:
MAN OH MAN!!!! What a ride!!! I heard these last few hours about the one-shot wonder...and finally I watched it....To be honest, what you did, one-shot around a table is not in my head difficult as a thought...what rocks is the fact that you had a one-shot 6 minute FULL DIALOGUE film with VERY INTENSE acting and some seriously talented FX (horns man!! yeah!!!)!

I loved the story!!! One of the best so far! Acting is beyond belief and stands right next to Bloody Mary in how natural this all feels.

Sound was ok, nothing special and I didnt mind the demon, I thought what he said was just enough what needed to be said, I mean you cant put this demon next to the Exorcist just because they're demons Charli!! C'mon!!!!!!!!!!! Follow the story and then tell me if it's the same. We dont want more lines!! I understand that you are a writer and you judge things with that in your head but sometimes you have to accept that the other guy had a different vision in his head so what seems good for you is not necessary. The story was solid, it was well informative to the viewer, I understood perfectly what I was watching and the progress and all....along with some clever directing I was there anxious NOT TO BREAK THE CIRCLE!!!

Once more though, another score-less flick that I dont know how to rate in that category without making it fall downhill in the overall rating.....

PS. Are you british? I was amazed by the fact that you did this...never thought Brits can pull off such a theme...Amazing....Actually I love UK and lived there...but the British accent makes me wait for IT Crowd, Little Britain, Black Adder and so on....now I guess I'll wait for the Jolly Ol' Demon to appear and ask me for a cup of tea ;)

PS2. BTS question, how hard was it to get this without them laughing with the demonesque voice? Or was that recorder later?
Click to expand...

thanks for you VERY kind comments :thumbup: :thumbup: :crybaby:



The demon voice was a hard one to get right; I think we all smirked at some point. Props to Paul who played WormWood he originally ran-a-mile from the character and I forced him to do it :)

Thanks again it means a lot to me/ crew/performers, we busted our guts to give it our best shot.
 
Cynic,

Broken Circle is one of those films you either love or hate. Sorry you felt that way dude, you gotta remember this cost $0 to make, we just all piled in our creative juices to pull something off that was slightly interesting J All crew/ performers gave valuable time for gratis, just to see what we could achieve and carry on doing the thing we love.
 
Aside from the typlical things, like bottled blood and what not, we are zero budget as well, the only reason my budget says 400 bucks was because of emergency actors , and my brother paid for them. I wont make excuses for a film because of budget. But i just didnt see a story in here. Just something building up to get nothing from it. It seemed gimmicky from the get go til the end for me.
 
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